Grateful Dead

Don't forget about our favorite mexican on those days (Oct 31st-Nov 2nd). Light a candle, pour a cup of hot chocolate and leave a fatty behind in memory of our beloved Jerry on this most appropriate named holiday!! Muchos GARCIAS

Jim Blackfeather passed Saturday, September 29, 2007. His grandchild was born on the full moon September 2007. His life changed the world! Memorial: October 6, 2007 P.M., central daylight time, Melbourne, Arkansas U.S.A.Kit

We can only dream of such radio in the Bay Area. But, a moment of respect for the late great Tom Donahue of KSAN, who was great while he lasted.

that was such a wonderful sentiment. i'm sure jake is smiling down, knowing that he DID make a difference. ROCK ON BRO!! peace nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile

I just read, in our local newspaper, that another of my childhood heroes has died. Jake Einstein started a radio station in my home area, known as WHFS, which was immediately coined "Progressive Radio" because he allowed his DJ's to play the music they were familiar with regardless of the pressures of record labels and promoters. Many times, DJ's at the station would play the "B" sides of the popular songs by artists whose more complex work and art lie buried in the tracks of albums, never heard by larges segments of American audiences, on their way to and from school and work. When the station first opened, they resided in Rockville, MD. at 103.1 FM and as a high schooler, working for my cousin's stone contracting business on the 100K (wow that was a ton of $$$ in those days) homes in Potomac, MD., I mixed mortar and hauled stone for the masons installing the house fronts, fireplaces and retaining walls to the sounds of all my favorite music and that which I had never heard, as the weak, homegrown signal came in loud and clear. It made my life bearable, in those days. As an adult, I came to live and work across town and my trips to the Rockville area became scant and I missed the station very much. Miraculously, the station pulled up stakes and moved to Lanham, MD. where I was close enough to listen practically every day, at work. Ultimately Mr. Einstein sold the station to a conglomerate, back in the mid 80's and it's demise was realized. Before it passed into the new owners' hands, Jake treated us, his fans, to 24 hrs. of commercial free radio that to this day, was a great experience for me. Along that same period of time, I moved my family to a little community on the Chesapeake bay between Washington and Annapolis, MD. and while scanning the air waves for something different, one evening, I heard the sound of a familiar voice, Damien Einstein, the son of owner Jake Einstein. They had started a new station in Annapolis, called WRNR!!! I've been listening ever since. A few years ago, Jake retired and the station was run much as it had been with small changes occasionally made to keep up with the commercialized society we all know is here to stay. Recently and quietly, the station again changed hands and Damien also retired. It's still a great radio station with awesome folks trying to do what appears to be impossible in today's world which is keep themselves original and not sway to the massive markets that are moving formats away from Rock-N-Roll (RNR) as demographics swallow the memories of my childhood in the social upheaval of immigration and financial take overs. My time is coming as well. I can feel it with each headline that tolls the end of our Golden Age that was made possible by folks like Jake Einstein. Thanks Jake, I'll never forget what you did for my life and Rock-N-Roll. The Dude Abides!

our loving friend & brother dave graham a.k.a. blind dave, passed on early yesterday morning, atleast now he is no longer in pain, & he is hanging with pappa, & many other old friends lost !!!! there is a memorial being held tomorrow sunday 9/16/07 at the home of joel & liz klein. joel & liz klein 3757 n. wayne st. chicago, il 60613 please call (773) 477-3946 or (773) 793-1010 for more info.... if you knew dave personally, & would like more info about his passing, please leave me a personal message, & i will contact you a.s.a.p... or post a reply with your info, & i will contact you a.s.a.p.... please post any stories you may have, & they will be read aloud at the memorial thank you kindly: jcap

A moment of appreciative silence for Phil Frank, cartoonist extraordinaire and, according to all who knew him, one of the nicest people who ever lived, who passed on on Wednesday. In Bolinas, bless his heart. A moment of commiseration for all of us who must go the remainder of our days without Farley, Irene, Bruce, Alphonse, Bruin Hilda, Orwell T. Katt, et al.

I used to really love Weather Report back in the day (Miles, I learned about later). A truly legendary band. Gotta dig out some of that stuff.

This from his website Joe Zawinul was born in Earth time on 07 July 1932 and was born in Eternity time on 11 September, 2007. He, and his music, will continue to inspire! Great musician, great man. Time to pull out 'In a Silent Way' or 'Bitches Brew' and some Weather Report too. If you don't know him here is one obit Eclectic Keyboardist Joe Zawinul Dies at 75 Joe Zawinul helped bring the volume, distortion and electronics of rock into jazz through his work with Miles Davis and the group Weather Report. Zawinul died of cancer early Tuesday morning. He was 75. What came to be called jazz-rock fusion drew howls of protest from purists. But it also drew praise from others for broadening the audience for jazz. In the 1960s, playing in Cannonball Adderley's band, Zawinul penned his first hit: "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy." Pianist Herbie Hancock became friends with Zawinul right around the time Adderley's quintet recorded that tune. He says the composition surprised him. "For a white Viennese boy to write a tune that's that black is pretty remarkable," Hancock says. "He just captured the essence of the African-American heritage, just the statement of melody and feeling of that song. Clearly, in some past life, Joe must've been black." Zawinul may have had the instincts of a jazz musician, but he also worked at it. He came from a poor Viennese family. His twin brother died when he was 4. He learned to play the accordion when he was 6, was accepted in the Vienna Conservatory and wound up at Boston's Berklee College of Music in 1958. He didn't stay long: He was hired away by Maynard Ferguson, landed a job with singer Dinah Washington, and then joined Adderley's group. Eventually, Zawinul wanted to find his own sound. The electric keyboard he used on "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" pointed toward his future. He went on to compose "In A Silent Way," the title track for one of Miles Davis' earliest experiments in electronics. In 1970, Zawinul, with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, founded Weather Report, a group that had a dramatic impact on jazz. The band stormed concert halls at a time when rock had driven mainstream jazz to the margins. Alex Acuna played percussion with the band. He says Shorter and Zawinul had a specific vision about where they wanted to go with their music. "The vision was to make a band that makes music with all the sounds that the world generates," Acuna says. Acuna stayed close to Joe Zawinul over the years, and also played with Zawinul in his later group, the Joe Zawinul Syndicate. Acuna says Zawinul was a big fan of sports, especially boxing. He had a reputation for being gruff, but Acuna says he was just honest and direct. And musically, he didn't like to repeat himself

Why do they happen in bunches? In related news, a person familiar with Carter Albrecht, of The New Bohemians, has shed some interesting light on that tragedy and may well be of interest to folks here and in general. Apparently, Carter was taking an oral medication for smoking cessation called Chantix (Varenicline) made by Pfizer. This medication has been reported to cause several disturbing psychotic side effects, in some people. Also, combined with alcohol, this drug can have "synergistic" amplification effects. For anyone unfamiliar with what synergistic reactions involve, only one word need to be uttered, UNPREDICTABLE. It would be the equivalent of a mathematical formula such as this: 2 + 8 = 27. In other words, no one can predict or claim to understand the effect of combining such substances. As my 5th grade science teacher once told me, "a word to the wise is sufficient!" "All energy flows according to the whims of the Great Magnet. What a fool I was to defy him."