Grateful Dead

Jon Evison, that’s the one, cool guy and perhaps my favorite “modern” author.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all his work, but West of Here is amazing, I love historic fiction!
Really funny, and knowledgeable, and super nice. We had the pleasure to meet and tip a few with him on a couple occasions. He even sent us schwag!

The Knack, lol, Wow, there’s a blast from the past!
No offense intended, (just going for a laugh) but first thing pops into my demented mind was the spoof “my scrotum” by I believe Cheech Marin?

I don’t mind any topics, I’m just not too talkative during topics I don’t relate to as well as others.
Like most, music is my favorite topic here, especially when I get turned on to something new!! More on that later.
I have loved reading since I was 5 years old. I had a sister 4 years older who taught me to read before I started school. What a gift that was. Oddly, I love sci-fi TV & Movies, but never enjoyed reading it. I strongly favor non-fiction, biographies, history and the like. I read a lot of bios of musicians. Currently about 150 pages in to the new Bill Frisell bio. Doesn’t get much better than that for me. I occasionally read fiction, usually when it’s written by Nick Hornby, my favorite current writer by a mile.
My sports fanatic dad pretty much insured that I would become one too. One of my fave stories to tell, to describe how when an evening has a conflict between a sporting event and a concert…let’s just say one September evening in 1979, I gave up World Series tickets to see The Knack in DC.
(The game was postponed and I got to see it the next night).
DAVEROCK, I finally got a copy of the afore mentioned 5-disc set. It is even better than you described. Only 3 discs in, but excited to continue on-Thanks for the great tip!!

Last 5:

Think I’m Going Weird-Disc 3
“”””””""””””””””””””””””””””””-Disc 2
“””””””"””””””””””””””””””””””-Disc 1
Pieces of Jade-Scott LaFaro
At Your Birthday Party-Steppenwolf

Music is the Best!!!!!!

Billy - I forgot about hiking. About ten years ago, I took my daughters on a trip down the Pacific Coast highway starting in San Francisco and ending in San Diego. Riding in a Ford Mustang convertible of course. To this day, the highlight of the entire trip for them was hiking Hawk Hill. No lie. They still talk about it.

Dave - great authors are a rarity. You are correct. Best to enjoy them slowly. I just finished a Steinbeck kick. That dude can write. Looking forward to Dickens.

Oro - it did get chippy out there. Especially Draisaitl. With all that talent there is no need for it. You'll become the next Marchand. Not cool at all.

Also, are you referring to Jon Evison who wrote "West of Here"? If so, I am half way through his new book, Small World. That is pretty ironic. I never heard of him until a few weeks ago.

Boblopes - that is the very copy of PKD's short stories that I am reading. I got the single volume "Selected Stories" which is a beautiful book and a great selection. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw that Complete Short Stories edition advertised last year. I made the big mistake of discussing it with a friend first, and showing it to her online. She was very disapproving - I stalled - and the next thing I knew, it had sold out. Now it is advertised on ebay for twice it's original price. Still - it was really expensive.
The next two on my list are "Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury and the two in one "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "A Scanner Darkly" by PKD.
I discovered the Folio Society about 15 years ago - beautiful books, and because people who buy them tend to look after them, you can sometimes find second hand copies which are in mint condition.
But never the ones by science fiction authors, unfortunately. Second hand copies of those are usually advertised at two or three time their original price.
Never though I'd see reference to The Folio Society on here!

Just read a great debut novel: Raft of Stars by Andrew Graff.
Nice little sorta old fashion (in a good way) one day read.
The biggest thing I find that influences my read opinions nowadays is the ending. I’ve read many books the last few years that are great, until the end. Some of these authors are really good, but as my buddy Jon Evison would say they just can’t get outta the way of their own coffee breath.
Now admittedly I do like a nice clean ending with loose ends tied up etc, but it’s not necessary if the book is really good otherwise. But I hate when your left gaping, wondering what the hell just happened. Like your watching a really intense movie, and right at the big crescendo, the cable or internet goes out! Dooaahh!
This one has a good ending, but perhaps goes a little over the top? I guess that’s for the reader to decide?
Probably my only slight criticism.
Great characters, some who get a interesting treatment of self analyzation, plot moves along nicely as the tension builds, all without going on too long.

HOCKEY: sorry to the folks who get riled, it’ll all be over soon and it’s not like this place has been a hot bed of GD lately.

PROUDFOOT: as AJ states, like the Dead, hockey can be an acquired taste. The regular season can sometimes get tedious and you can tell the players sometimes dial it in, but not as bad as baseball.
But the Stanley Cup playoffs are often the best sports there is (imho), at least in North America.
Most of the games this year have been incredibly exciting. Think Super bowl energy sustained over the course of several weeks. Perhaps like the final four or NBA finals? So watch the playoffs to get an idea of what hockey can be like at its best. If you don’t like it, ce la vie, hey, there’s always the GOGD if nothing else!

VGUY: curious if you’ve been enjoying this years action even though your beloved K-nits are not playing?

AJ: that’s why they call them the Avalanche: one minute it’s all calm and sunny, next a fast wall of terror rains down and moneys missing from yer dresser, your daughters knocked up, and your GD HD won’t work!
Yep, zero zero, then Whooosshh seconds later 3 zip!
And hey, who has a hotter Ice Crew!
The Oilers we’re doing a fine job of controlling the AVs in the first, though perhaps getting a little goonish? Thought there were some questionable non calls? Unfortunately, late in the game Kane and company definitely were going too far. I get the whole need to maintain respect etc, but it’s the conference finals FFS. Hope things don’t start going too far and someone gets hurt.
And what about Frankie? Thought he did a good job in the first series, but I was a little unsettled by his last outing. Last night he did a great job and it’s fun to see how the fans love him. Really curious what’s up with Kuemper? He didn’t seem distressed and actually kept playing for a bit before he left so wondering what’s up?
Tonight should be really interesting to see if the Rangers are for real, or if game one was a fluke?

BOBLOPES: good to see ya back in the rotation here. Never been a huge sci-fi fan, but did read (at least?) the first Dune book like 40 years ago. Not sure about the others. Same with Hitch Hikers Guide. Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human that influenced how the GD became what they are has always been my favorite. Always been a big believer in Gestalt theory. The Stand was another good one I read back then, should reread since Covid.
Rut roh, the B’s, LOL as THATMIKE says “your off the Xmass card list”

Speaking of, what happened to Mike? Curious about his current hockey thoughts, and always his musical thoughts too. Hopefully he’s not having severe depression, like after the funeral is over and everyone goes home and now yer all alone to cope

FYI, JIMS currently outta the office, er a, the loop here as he needs to maximize every once of big water he can while the gettin’s good. He’ll be back before ya know it and with a new relaxed perspective that comes from the satiated fulfilled contentment that comes from exhausting yourself doing things you love! Kinda like after dancing yer ares off after THAT dead show! Better than therapy and at a fraction of the cost!

It’s Friday good people, summers here (sorta) and the time is right for dancing in the streets! Hopefully Oroboros and others have been having a gas at Jrad!
GAME ON!

Dear captcha, thanks for wasting yet another half hour of my life with yer ridiculous (because of your flaws) nonsense that only seems to stymie DHs just trying to connect and communicate in spite of the lousy format that is the internet.

This is the hottest band in the land and has been for 10 years. By all means, go with an open mind. They'll rock your socks off.

That is all.

Discovered Folio Society last fall and been rediscovering my favorite Science Fiction books I have not read in 30 years, along with reading the Ian Fleming books for the first time. Sort of like the yearly releases here, very nice editions but pricey. I get to experience your shipping woes in reverse (minus the VAT).

Folio Society just came out with a nice edition of PKD's short stories. I think they had a Limited Edition set of all of PKD's short stories, but that sold out long before I discovered them and was too pricey for my budget...

Halfway through The Handmaids Tale (1st read). Next up will be Moonraker, then deciding between Dune or Foundation Trilogy (both re-reads).

Still have some of the 4 disc E72 Germany shows to go thru, but finished strong with all four Lyceum shows on their anniversary date. Did a little blast thru the three cd's of Kate Bush due to Stranger Things the last couple of days.

Rooting for the Celtics in The Finals and hoping The Oilers bounce back. Sad to see the B's get bounced. Suspect it's Bergeron's last season wearing the Spoked B. Would like to see a Canadian Team win some year (as long as it's not the HABs or the Canucks). My preference would be The Leafs if the B's are out.

Played Disc Golf for the first time in 30 years. Bought 2 beginner sets for my daughter and I and we went for the toss and walk last Sunday. Last time I played was in 1990 when my college concert crew and I road-tripped to see another buddy who lived in DC. It was a whirlwind trip. Did the monument tour, visited the Whitehouse, a session of both the House of Rep and Senate. We walked around Georgetown and saw BobW walking around there and headed off to play Disc Golf. The next day got to see my first Dark Star hitting the monsoon that was RFK on 7/12/90. Pretty sure Jimbo was at that show.

Just got mail about the Jerry Garcia Before the Dead. They've release in limited vinyl. They're 150,,,, amazon had some seem as high as 450?? Not sure why.

They seem like they are limited, but the amazon ads seem old,,,, the jerry site says back in stock?!?

I ordered,,,, I have the cd set and have always like it, so what the hell.

It's the best way. I'm wading through PK Dick's short stories, and I'm in no hurry to finish. Both Dick and Dickens are worlds to get lost in.

Beer, bbq, blues music, sports, and hiking in the hills around the Bay Area .