Grateful Dead

....updated dead.net is passable on my computer. Now home, in my chair, relaxing, and dead.net sucks. Sorry. It sucks on mobile. Now I'm tense again. I need some more wine. Still testing out that search bar on top though.

Freshly arrived in San Francisco from France, October '76, I had two priorities: buy a guitar and a record player; I quickly round up an old acoustic Norman from a pawn shop. As I make my way back to my hotel on Post, I run into a crowd of people in front of the very fancy St Francis hotel; this funny looking, agitated guy wearing a straw hat comes out followed by a bunch of reporters, grabs me and asks me to back him up while he plays Oh Susanna on his harp, which I did. I was then interviewed by a couple of SF Chronicle reporters who informed me the guy in question was Lester Maddox. I had no idea who he was, being more familiar with Pompidou and George Marchais, so they gave me one of his pamphlets...felt pretty bad, especially since the Chronicle published the piece with my name in
there(article was kinda' funny though.) To put that in a more relevant, historical context, that was just two days after the excellent Dead/Who Day on the Green shows.

I take your point, Charlie, but feel it is made from a position of power. I love going to London for all sorts of reasons-but it is sickening to see so many homeless people bedding down on the street for the night. Its one thing being kind to your neighbour-these people don't even have neighbours. Me putting a coin in a cup by their side shows what a great guy I am-but it doesn't change anything. I can't speak for America, but in England if you leave it up to the individual, then its survival of the fittest. Or luckiest. The only way I can see the most vulnerable people in society being helped is through political change-it can't just be left to gratuitous acts of kindness by individuals.

Dark Star- I hear all your points & even actually agree that Trump is probably not a racist. But what Gillum said in Florida about his opponent probably works with Trump “Now, I’m not calling him a racist. I’m simply saying the racists believe he’s a racist.” So it would be cool if the rhetoric from the very top could be toned down. Instilling fear about invasions, calling out CNN, Obama & Hillary as enemies rather than opponents simply empowers the sickos out there to hate even more. I know it's simply a political tactic, but it could lead to some serious sh*t. My ears and eyes are wide open, so I see a lot on the left that is inciteful as well. If Democrats win the house they simply need to put forward an agenda, work with the Trump administration on immigration, healthcare, etc. If it devolves into let's start an impeachment, then we will never come together. I truly don't know if we can get it together as a country, but I'm hopeful.

These are just my opinions, sorry if it causes people to get all excited here. Just a lot of heavy stuff on my mind the last few tumultuous weeks, so venting helps a bit. Anyway, the recording of DP 28 is truly amazing. Betty rules!

Hope you enjoy King Crimson tomorrow night, Frank. This was the first time I have seen them, and I really hope to see them again in the not too distant future. I won't say any more about Saturday's show-but it started very promptly at 7.30pm, and there was no support act. They played for about an hour, then, after an intermission, for another hour and a half approximately. There's also a great 3cd/blu ray box set of a recent show in Mexico called "Meltdown" that's just come out. Highly recommended. I bought it on Saturday at the show-for £30.00-£7.00 less than on Amazon last time I looked. Great sound quality, great playing...wish I lived in Nottingham!

I haven't heard any Hawkwind fans speaking up for Thatcher-but everyone was very well behaved at The Palladium. In fact, everyone remained seated until the dual encore of "Spirit of the Age" and "Silver Machine". I did detect a familiar whiff of weed at one point. You can't take some people anywhere. But yes, Hawkwind were the spiritual fathers of Spacemen 3 and Loop.

That's the problem.. give it five minutes and the discussion turns into personal attacks and low blows.. at least around here. ..and it stays ugly for days. I usually disappear. It's a slippery slope and it gets way uglier than it ever should.

I contributed by voting.

Now that I have two solid listens of #28 (still enjoying it).. I am looking forward to The Swing.

Remember him running. Remember him sitting in a bathtub scrubbing an engine?

Really find it kind of interesting to see what people think. If you can't even talk about different political views without fear of being attacked for expressing different views, how do things improve? It should not be impossible to share radically different views without labeling one side wrong, bad or evil just because they don't share your philosophy.

Personally, I don't trust anyone to make decisions for me, and I have no desire to make decisions for anyone else, so I want a government of limited power and authority, not an all powerful nanny to guide me through every choice in life by dictating which are acceptable.

Morality requires choice. If you voluntarily decide to help your neighbor, you are making a moral choice. If you are forced to help your neighbor, it is no longer a moral choice, merely a reaction to an external compulsion. The more that the government directs people how to behave in their day to day lives, the less people exercise their independent moral compass, and as with anything unused, it atrophies, perhaps to ill effect for everyone.

On a lighter note, I've been down the Red Dead 2 rabbit hole the last few days and it occurs to me that more than the train robbing, what I want to do is find a watchman by a fence to jump, maybe take his ring and four bucks in change...

Daverock - going to see King Crimson tomorrow in Nottingham. Can’t wait - thanks for your write up. I also saw Blackberry Smoke here in Nottingham last Sunday who were really good - did a version of Lovelight which was quite different and pretty impressive. I too am waiting for DaP28. I have two subs, one for me and one for a friend. One copy of DaP27 came really quick but the other nearly three weeks after. Go figure!

I remember those years.. quite a long time ago. Seems almost like another lifetime ago.