Grateful Dead

Started the anniversary thing and got hopelessly behind. But that's a good thing. These shows are as good as it gets.

The fat man rocks!

Bro, I've been there, on both sides. I have examined the option of suicide because it would solve so many problems. Except that it's a permanent solution to a (likely) temporary problem. And my reasoning has always captured that by saying to myself, "It's not like going to Canada for the summer..." It's welcoming nothingness, surrendering being a conscious being. Plus, you don't get to take the CD collection with you. That snaps me right back. Seriously, at times I've considered checking out. But then I always say that I can try harder, do better, and that the sunshine and the high of being a sentient being is too good to give up til I got to. I love being alive. So we know I haven't had really bad depression because for suicidal folks there's no sunshine, no future, no stepping back from the abyss. Spade and Bourdain both prove that facades mean nothing. And that people who are going to do it don't send signals so someone can stop them. Let's not extrapolate to our missing crewman here. And, yes, there's something we all can do every day to appreciate the people around us and let 'em know they make a difference in our lives. And praying, which doesn't have to be a religious thing. It's a prayer to the unknown powers of the universe and helps channel our feelings and sometimes those vibes do get through at the other end. Keep on loving, keep on trucking, HF

1-I am alone. 2-I am a burden. 3-Everything would be better if I was dead. Take care of each other. Friends or family can be vital in breaking this chain of thoughts.

28 years ago today. Damn “where does the time go?”First trip to the promised land and first Cali show. Love Cal expo, remember it was super chill GA, and drinking Anchor steamers at a concert! What a trip; 3 Cal EX, 2 JGB at Warfield, 3 Shoreline....booyah 8-17&18-18; just orderd tix for these Jerry G Birthday Band shows. Interesting line up. My cousin turned me on to a great video of them at the Rocks last year....figured we have to go since it’s in the hood.....usually go to Folk Fest in Lyons that weekend, but don’t get much “dead” associated music out here.... https://www.jambase.com/article/star-jerry-garcia-birthday-band-play-2-…

The "Elvis" of bad boy of chefs commits suicide in France, Friday 8 June 2018.Heck, he was only 4 months older than myself. --- Other deaths of *public folk* this week: Kate Spade, the fashion handbag designer sister-in-law of actor David Spade commits suicide, Tuesday 5 June 2013. She was only 55. --- Now playing: Dark Star - 10/26/89 Miami Arena Now drinking: QUAD from Weyerbacher, Easton PA

Exactly what I do, every month or two, hit the reset button with The Who or a few other decent high fidelity recordings, put something on the victrola at volume approaching a live show and see about blowing a fuse or two. Will measure decibel levels with an old RS SPL meter so to not get carried away. Some systems provide enough distortion that listening loud gets painfull all too quicky, I can run some old but super efficient Klipsch Cornwall IIs up to 95-96 decibels driven by an old high end Onkyo receiver... really, 90-92 decibels is plenty loud enough for short periods for this codger. Most listening is done around 82-85 decibels. Permanent damage can happen at sustained levels above 100db, even long levels in the 90s. You might want to check your levels. Music certainly needs some headroom to become dynamic, show the spread between soft and loud. This is on the "if it blows up or catches fire" system, don't really care. Went to see Steve Vai about five years ago, now that was really very very loud, plaster falling from the ceiling loud. I work for that house, they made sure we had earplugs. Neighbors say they enjoy the old time GD music they hear walking the road by my house. No excessive noise visits from the local authorities in thirty years... but we are so small around here, they know me and i know them. We are all neighbors. And in three weeks, another law changes.... garden supply houses are already advertising on TV about indoor gardening set ups. It's hilarious. A quick shout out to the doc, he turned out to be an old neighbor of sorts, pleased to learn that he actually lived nearby many years ago and knew the area where I live, this is in Vermont, after all. To think we were zooming by each other twenty whatever years ago on the only main road through, not knowing which dead show might be on our car stereos, could it be synchronous? First dead show was Baltimore March 73, why did I go, because I could! Finally! I missed them badly several times, they first played DC at Georgetown U in 1970, then a free show at American U fall of 1972, then Baltimore fall 72 too, was up in Maine for all of those... had listened to them for about five years, still have all the original vinyl, trashed of course... be nice, otherwise I will bore you to tears with my mindless midlate 60s/early 70s DC music scene stories like how Roy Buchanon worked in a local barber shop cutting hair to get by, how Bo Diddley moved from Chicago to DC, then set up a small recording studio in his home on Rhode Island Ave NE which became a music hang out or how Muddy Waters was the house band at The Cellar Door for weeks on end, they were there so much early in 1973, one night our table was so close, literally under Pinetops piano I went to see Muddy open for Clapton in Augusta Maine in the mid/late 70s and walked out when Clapton came on... Just could not listen to what sounded like pop music after getting down with the real authentic blues cheers!

Evil stuff. Got Anthony Bourdain too (or so it seems).

Sorry to hear about Doc. That email read like depression's internal override--I'm done, don't do it, its all bad anyway. Wishing Doc well. Sometimes you ought to pull out your full Live at Leeds or Live at Hull or Isle of Wight or Tommy deluxe with the '69 compilation version, and just listen to the Tommy suite loud. I tend to skip the silly songs (Fiddle and Camp and the 20-40 second ones), but the rest is amazing. Stunning what Townsend, Entwistle and Moon can do.