On Saturday night, Cornerstone Research Collective presented “The Way of the Infinite Harmony,” its first holiday benefit at the historic Masonic Temple at Hollywood Forever, boasting a lineup packed full of L.A. heavyweights Madlib, J. Rocc, Flying Lotus, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Quartetto Fantastico, Austin Peralta, DJ Nobody, Blank Blue, Mia Doi Todd, Domingo Siete, and psychedelic visuals by VJ Fader. Party proceeds were to benefit the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (M.A.P.S)–a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to use psychedelics to treat medical conditions and to educate the public about psychedelics and marijuana– and chemist, pharmacologist, and drug developer Alexander “Sasha” Sulguin, who recently suffered a stroke. As easily predicted, the Masonic Temple was engulfed in one gigantic weed cloud as L.A.'s beat-heads smoked the night away for a good cause.

It was a very classy affair. The Lodge's courtyard was adorned simply with red lanterns, centered around a firepit around which joints were passed in an infinite loop. Strains like the mind-melting Kilimanjaro were shared by all.

Inside, people gathered in the Eastern Star Room around its massive fireplace for mellow and acoustic performances from Domingo Siete, Quartetto Fantastico, Austin Peralta, and Mia Doi Todd. The Hit+Run crew provided live scree printing with special infinite harmony artwork in one corner, while a snowy wonderland was set up in another where people were posing for photos with a reindeer. Fantastic prizes like the $600 Volcano Vaporizer were raffled off throughout the night at $5 a ticket.

Blank Blue, Madlib, J.Rocc, Flying Lotus, and DJ Nobody were in the main hall, with multi-layered video mapping provided by VJ Fader, his Diamond Dreamcatcher, and three projectors beaming down on the stage. The Lodge convulsed with bass booming so loudly that everyone was levitating. By the time Flying Lotus stepped in around 2, the window-less main room of the temple was filled to the brim, so densely packed that it was hard to breathe, with every other person lighting up every few minutes.

Around 3AM, the party began to wind down, and people stumbled out of L.A.'s historic cemetery, high as hell and probably drunk too, exhausted and excited after seeing what was obviously one of the best shows this year.

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