When the Tripod Falls... the Divinyls Play... and I Run

There's no lottery in Alaska, at least none of the usual daily and/or weekly games of chance where you hand your money over, pick a bunch of numbers or scratch off the little thing-a-mobs and then discover you've just wasted your money and might as well have paid for the air you breathe... but Alaska has the Nenana Ice Classic.

The small village of Nenana, population 402, is located about 55 miles down the Parks Highway on the way to Denali, Talkeetna, and Los Anchorage.

A few years ago, 1917 to be precise, a bunch of railroad workers had time to kill while they waited for ice on the Tanana River to clear so they could begin... (you have to sing this like Elmer Fudd:) workin' on da wailwoad ... of course. What else would they be waiting for?! Eh? The lifeguard to come on duty so they could go for a swim?! (Actually I read they were surveyors for the railroad wanting to build a dock on the river but it did have to do with the railroad and Elmer Fudd doesn't sing: "I've been workin on the dock, all the wiv wong day."

Anyyyyway... the workers all took bets on when the ice would break and the river would begin to freely flow once again. Since that time it's been a tradition for local folks to make the same bet every year. That annual guessing game has turned into Alaska's only form of a lottery. People can buy tickets and guess the date and time when the ice will move 100 feet downstream, triggering a cable attached to a clock on shore to stop that clock right at the magical moment Spring in central Alaska unofficially begins.

Half the proceeds from ticket sales go to local citizens who work selling the tickets as well as to local charities that help better the community... so basically it's kinda similar to other lotteries in the United States except this one happens just once a year and is dependent on four feet of ice breaking.

The moment of truth this year occurred last night at 11:53 p.m. The winning ticket holder, or ticket holders, will receive just over $303,000. If you convert that to Euros I think that'll buy a Vespa.

I didn't win. I don't need a Vespa anyway.

my trail's impossibly muddy for running... so still indoors.

Wednesday After Work Run: 20 minutes 9 sec

+7 sec

XXXXXXXX++++++· 1:19:59 sec ·++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time May: 1 hour 20 minutes April: 3 hours 51 minutes <-failed to pass March March: 3 hours 57 minutes

While Fairbanks was coming alive this morning, I was just getting off work from the overnight shift. Today would be a run day... another run day. The push is really on for my Total Time in May to eclipse March. Of course I could totally blow it but so far so good. If I keep my percentage of days run at a minimum of 50%, I'll be doin' okay. Today -- Run #4 in 7 days. Doin' okay.

I was under way with a pretty good-sized paragraph here about why I exercise. Often I wax a little on that subject but this was headed towards 500 words and beyond if I didn't be careful to keep it brief. Another time, though because what an important subject, I think, for me, and for every able-bodied person to try to stay healthy!!!

So anyway, no horribleness from my increased rate of running lately and today I added a whopping 7 seconds -- I'm on my way up!!

Running tunes came from the album of the day...
	Divinyls self-titled 1991
Make Out Alright I Touch Myself Lay Your Body Down Love School Bless My Soul (It's Rock-n-Roll) If Love Was A Gun Need A Lover Follow Through Café Interlude Bullet I'm On Your Side

"If you gotta have disposable pop music" begins a sentence by the Infinite Fool about this album. Yeah, I do gotta have disposable tunes, I mean sheesh, this blog is proof of that! If I didn't run, I'd probably never listen to half the music that I do. I just wouldn't care that much.

Sometimes I get something into my ears that's really good, that I'll play a good handful of times leading up to the day that I use the album for a run... and I know I'll dig having that album for future listens.

Other times I press play on these suckers sometimes just two or three maybe... they serve their purpose well but in the long run (no pun intended) -- mostly unmemorable and quite disposable.

This album -- kind of in the middle. That one quite naughty song on here, I heard that a lot on KJQ back in Salt Lake when that was the one radio station I listened to for a couple years time. The Divinyls are still a fairly popular band in their homeland of Australia... here not so much. But in 1991 they hit the big time with that tune and the equally (if not more so) provocative video (seen below.)

The rest of the album isn't that bad. I bet some people'd argue that I Touch Myself pales in comparison to other tunes on here. It's a good "alternative" kinda new wavey early 90's sound. There's a reason this album made it to #5 on the Aussie album chart and to 15 in the U.S. -- lead singer Christina Amphlett has got one heckuva sultry and seductive voice and along with guitarist Mark McEntee, they make some good music.

find a dload @ Infinite Foolisness

from Sydney, New South Wales...
Divinyls -- "I Touch Myself"

LT & MM

Cartoon Time!

I love Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies cartoons... I've never done it but I could watch them all day long! They weren't made for kids, you know. It's a shame they're not on Cartoon Network anymore. Yeah, yeah, they're on Boomerang but I've gotta pay extra for some package of channels with that one and I don't... but I've got the DVDs! I don't like to own much in this world but those are cherished items of mine, without a doubt!

Anyway... I'm at work right now and I'm taking a gamble that I can give a few minutes to this without getting a call... when one comes in I've got to jump and go without clicking this and that to save my work and log out, yada yada yada.... anyway, I've got speed this up -- faster, Chris!! .... I kinda wanted to put up a quick post tonight... but what since nothing I do is really that quick?

I'll (hopefully) be putting up another Dead (or GD-related) show on Wednesday afternoon (can't say what, that's between me and my uncle... HA, get it, Me & My Uncle... GD... anyyyyyway...) but for now how about some cartoon entertainment for anyone who's interested?

I don't generally care for Youtubery but eh, I might be embracing it... a little bit. These are the best cartoons in the world, methinks, so I just might make this a regular thing.

On with the show...

from: 1948, directed by: Robert McKimson

starring: Foghorn Leghorn and Henery Hawk...

"The Foghorn Leghorn"

Breakfast with Jerry

Oh boy, 9 pm as I begin to create this post... coffee is made and is this my morning? Or what? Earlier this afternoon on into the evening I slept, close to 8 hours worth of Zzzzzz's. Now I'm awake and I'm ready to go! I tell ya, working my "normal" daytime/evening hours and then changing my schedule for awhile to work the night shift, man, that really messes me up. Okay, maybe not really so much... but seriously, is this my morning? Do I eat breakfast now? Did I mention it's 9 in the p.m.?

Anyway... I wanted to give this show another listen and post it up before I went to sleep... but seeing on the news all that death and destruction in Burma really wiped me out. Stoopid darn freakin' cyclones. In moments like that I reflect upon what Bob Weir said one summer night in 1995 -- "music can be used to ease us through the sad times." Yes... tis very, very true... but sometimes you've gotta put the tunes on hold for a little while. Burma really needs help right now and I hope everyone reading this cares enough about human lives to fork over a couple bucks, at least, to do a tiny part to help out. Two bucks seems like nothing... but believe me, aid organizations welcome every dollar they get... and the government of Burma is NOT going to do everything they can to help all the people who right now have nothing. Not only will they not do everything they can... there's little that they can do. Those people who were slammed by that storm, they're human beings... and they need the help of fellow human beings. Alright? So give, darn it!! (Handy links in the post just before this one.)

Well, now it's time for some music! Yes, yessir indeedy, and I don't announce any old music like all those assorted albums I use for running... nah, that's all well and good in my ears but this is truly what makes my world go 'round... and if it helps make yours go 'round as well... then enjoy!

Jerry Garcia Band - March 2, 1985 The Stone, San Francisco

1st Set (partial)
Let It Rock, Simple Twist Of Fate, Deal

2nd Set
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),
When I Paint My Masterpiece, Run For The Roses,
Gomorrah, Reuben and Cherise, Midnight Moonlight

So now how many years has it been since I've listened to some JGB from 1985? Anyone know? I have no clue... but it's been awhile... how long? Too long, I say! Too darn long!! (The whole problem is these days and weeks and months -- they're all too short!!!! We need more time in this life, more time for all this GREAT music!)

Anyway... in the first 60 days of 1985, the Grateful Dead had only played 3 shows and this would be the first Jerry show of the year. Yeah, it's too bad that the 1st Set is only a partial but that's the way it is. What's missing? Interesting thing -- no one's come forward with that mystery information. No matter.

Let It Rock was likely about smack dab in the middle of the 1st Set and it doesn't take long before hearing that Jerry is really into this show. But wait, there's more! Holy crap, he totally lights it up near the end. Man, oh my... from great to speechlessly freakin' sweet in about a minute flat there around the 7 minute mark. Mmmm!

More mmmm follows with Simple Twist. Just lean back, close your eyes and enjoy. Thank you, Bob Dylan, for writing such an amazing song, one of so many for Jerry to practically make his own... or at least lovingly borrow a time or 250. (Ugh, at about 9 minutes there's a tape flip during John Kahn's long, quiet bass solo but it was about that time the crowd noise really started picking up... soon enough back to more Jerry.)

Deal to end the 1st Set is... just purely rockin'. Ain't gotta say no more. You can tell through your headphones or through your speakers what a great time the band is having. Again, just close your eyes and picture it. Man.... bliss at 412 Broadway in San Francisco... absolutely!

Set 2 gets rollin' along with perhaps everyone's favorite sing-a-long song, How Sweet It Is. Sweet it definitely is. The crowd's a little loud here but can ya blame 'em for havin' fun?!

I always get kind of a kick out of hearing Jerry do Masterpiece. I'm so used to it with Bobby singing it but Jerry actually had in his repertoire for a short time in the early 70's and then again from 80 until 87. It might be the only tune that Jerry did for awhile while at the same time Bobby sang it with the GD (in 1987.)

Nothin' but a smile from me through Run For The Roses and Gomorrah leading up to what seems to always be the crowd favorite of the night when it's been played in later years -- Reuben & Cherise. What is it about this song?!? Talk about nothin' but a smile! I wonder... I wonder wonder wonder if this might be the ultimate spinning song. I never was a spinner but I can imagine it well. And on this night at The Stone I'm sure a few spun to their heart's delight to this beautifully crafted version. Not a complaint in the house, I'm sure!

To finish off this sorta brief hour and almost 20 minutes of music is another speed-of-sound Midnight Moonlight. Jerry's playing is so right on here as it has been in every song.

There are a lotta Jerry soundboards out there that I'll likely never get to... but because there are so many more shows with an Audience-only source available, a few of those are definitely stellar or at least very worthwhile recordings... and this is one of 'em!

While this might be an Audience source, at times each instrument comes through as clear as a bell as if this was a soundboard. Thank God for small clubs with great acoustics and a taper in just the right spot!

Source
Master Audience Cassette (Nak 700's>Sony TC-D5M) > DAT > CD

taped by: John Corley ... hey, thanks, John!

3-2-85 aka 03-02-85 aka 3/2/85 aka 03/02/85 aka 85-03-02

Download It Right Here Part 1 - JGB - The Stone - 3/2/85 JGB - 3/2/85 - The Stone - Part 2

You might need their help someday... right now they need yours

This afternoon I was planning on posting up a Jerry Garcia Band show... but right now a Jerry show is far from what's truly important; right now my mind is thousands of miles away with concern for what's happening in Burma a.k.a. Myanmar.

Right now there might be as many as 10,000 human beings dead from a cyclone (hurricane) that struck over the weekend. Reportedly the military dictatorship in charge of Burma gave their citizens NO warning about this storm... because they have no real concern for their people.

The number of affected is in the millions... and they need help.

Save The Children

International Red Cross

World Food Programme

World Vision

Pro-democracy demonstrations last year caused soldiers to fill the streets, willing to murder in order to put an end to activities that put their government in a bad light.

Now the soldiers are few and far between in helping out in the aftermath of this tragedy. Getting aid into Burma is nearly impossible. The government there is one of the worst in the world, taking away almost every basic human right that people should have.

The government of the United States is the most generous in the world and they will do what they can if the officials in charge of Myanmar allow them to help. Unfortunately, odds are that their government will misspend that money and/or just keep it for themselves without doing the right thing with it.

Non-governmental organizations will best use money in order to help the helpless who are and will be suffering because of this horrible event.

Please consider helping. It doesn't have to be $100, it doesn't have to be $50. No matter who you are, I know you have $2 or 2£ to give. Every little bit matters.

Title This Post Yourself, I'm Too Distracted To

It's like, you know...

Wasn't there a TV show with that name, with Jennifer Grey post-nosejob? I could look it up but it doesn't really matter.

So there's this new movie opening I think this coming Friday, with Ashton Kutcher and Charlie's Angel what's-her-name....... oh, Cameron Diaz, called "What Happens In Vegas..."

Isn't that phrase a little old? At least they didn't include the "stays in Vegas" part. I think I got sick of that about minute 3 of it's existence. Vegas themselves have gotten sick of it 'cause those commercials aren't on TV anymore. Thank God! But why are they keeping the movie title as is? Oy. Is it oy or oi? Does it matter? I'll stop kvetching about it now. It's just that I'm feeling a bit loopy. Worked all night... sort of. An overnight shift when it's not Friday or Saturday can really give an EMT in Fairbanks a chance to catch up on episodes of Baywatch on DVD at the station. Hey, I didn't buy 'em, they're just there... and I wasn't even the one who popped one into the player. When there isn't a call to go out on, usually I just watch cable news and/or ESPN all night. I've tried reading but I hate getting interrupted before a spot within or at the end of a chapter when I'd normally pause my reading. Less annoying is getting interrupted as CJ and Baywatch Hasselhoff are yet again rescuing people in the ocean. Ahh the joy of getting paid to indulge in a little mindless entertainment.

Unfortunately, when it's a slow night for calls, when less people need medical care, the night is longer, longer, lonnnnger than when it's one call after another always staying busy. 12 hours? Really, was that all it was? Felt like 20, thank you.

But when 9 a.m. rolls around and the new team is ready to take over for my partner and I, I always seem to have this burst of energy, a second wind, I become wide awake and I'm good to go... at least for a little while.... at least for a run which is what I did after work about an hour and a half ago. Had my change of clothes with me, my mp3 player with playlist ready, I changed and headed on over to the University.

Good deal, got that done... now.... I can sleep. Well, at some point during the day I will catch some Zzzzzz's and then be awake probably all night. That's the way it is when I'm on the schedule to work a week of overnights. Sleep during the day, awake all night, 36 hours off, sleep during the day, awake and working all night.

Yup. Better than Monday-Friday at the office everyday from 9 to 5. That might be good for some people but I like to mix it up -- couple weeks of night shifts, couple weeks of day shifts. Variety!

my trail's impossibly muddy for running... so still indoors.

Monday After Work Run: 20 minutes 2 sec

+6 sec

XXXXXXXX++++++· 59:50 sec ·++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time April: 3 hours 51 minutes <-failed to pass March March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes

Third run in four days. Nice. My time increases remain steady and small but today I reached a milestone, of sorts -- 20 minutes. I'm so not a runner which makes this measly little amount of time okay, in a way. Could I add on more, like 10 or 12 or 15 seconds each time and do just fine? Maybe. Does it matter that I'm not doing that? Not really. I'm doing fine because, and I can say this until the end of the world, the running that I do is better than no exercise at all!!!

30 minutes here I come!!!!!? Eventually. For now, for the most part, I'm liking where I'm at.

Running tunes came from the album of the day...
	Nickelback The Long Road 2003
Flat On The Floor Do This Anymore Someday Believe It Or Not Feelin' Way Too Damn Good Because Of You Figured You Out Should've Listened Throw Yourself Away Another Hole In The Head See You At The Show Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) Yanking Out My Heart Learn The Hard Way

A few days ago my horizons were expanded yet again when I pressed play for the very first time on Nickelback. I gather that they've been a fairly popular band over the past few years. The number of songs that I've heard by them -- oh, around zero give or take 1 at most. What to expect I wasn't exactly sure. Their music is categorized mainly as post-grunge. Okay. Beforehand I didn't necessarily know that, so I was a little surprised by the heavy guitar sound throughout pretty much every song. This isn't my favorite kind of music, I'd probably completely not enjoy seeing a live show of theirs (just a guess) but every now and then I can go for a loud album like this... especially for running!!

A couple songs are kinda odd here -- a cover of Elton John's Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) and one about... well, about a girl who has a baby in the bathroom at her prom. I'm not a fan of Elton John so hearing one of his songs here I wasn't exactly thrilled about. And here are some of the lyrics for the other tune:

Baby's born on the bathroom floor
The mother prays that it'll never cry
And nothing's wrong you got your prom dress on
When they ask you say it isn't mine

Why the hell don't you throw yourself away

Wow. Apparently this song was written about a real event in New Jersey about a decade ago... I had looked it up but on the news at the moment is the (cyclone) tragedy in Myanmar and that's has definitely taken top priority...

In any case -- far from my favorite music but it's not a bad loud album.

find a dload @ Baixe Música Completas

from some small town called Hanna
east of Calgary, Alberta... Nickelback with "Someday"

Untitled Mutterings for this First Sunday in May

Being awake this early in the morning should not be allowed...

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say... and you think ... ?

1. State :: Indiana... I'm so not sure why Indiana came to mind first... maybe 'cause I have the news on and they're currently talking about the Dems race to be nominated and the Indiana Primary is coming up, I think this week or next. I don't really care anymore. There's something that's just not right about spending half a billion dollars to elect one person to office.

2. Lively :: Up Yourself... song by Bob Marley & The Wailers

3. Valet :: Unneeded expense especially when so many people don't even have food to eat.

4. Traction :: broken bone

5. Official :: forecast ... that makes no sense.

6. Red hot :: Chili Peppers ... Kiedis!

7. Powder :: skiing magazine i used to have a subscription to and read religiously


8. Replies :: to e-mails

9. Flagrant :: foul in basketball

10. Tweet :: "I tawt a taw a putty cat. I did! I did!"

"Lively Up Yourself" -- April 18, 1980
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Rufaro Stadium, Salisbury, Zimbabwe

Saturday Soup

It's imperative that I create a segment here. Absolutely imperative! I don't think I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or nothin'... but if I don't type this bit here then, well... the world will implode... or something. Okay, I know perfectly well that's not the case so maybe if I do have OCD, it's like a very minor form of it? On the 0 to 10 scale -- eh, about a 2.

But what to type? It's funny 'cause there are SOOOOOOOO many issues that I am concerned with, but it's takes so much effort and I know I'll really, really, really get into something and churn out a mini-book's worth of writing. Oi. So many topics... like the fact that Guamanians are seemingly Obamaniacs because they chose him over Hillary today. Actually that doesn't concern me that much.

Communist China concerns me and I've been wanting to type more about Tibet and how Communist China shouldn't have any glory from hosting the Olympics this summer. Some would say -- what place is it for America to criticize China when some things that go on because of our government are just plain despicable?! Those who've said that truly makes me wonder how bright they are. Yes, the United States has problems, a lot of them... but come on, Communist China is only about 4,000 times worse in the way they treat their citizens. If I was in that nation, I wouldn't be allowed to post these comments to Blogger right now because the Communist government forbids that. Not only do they forbid it but if I was posting this to the internet, they could arrest me and put me in a forced labor camp for speaking out against the policies they hold sacred.

And people think it's hypocritical for the American government to criticize China?!!? Give me a break. Last time I checked, we have freedoms the government of China deprives their citizens of. Human rights is nothing to take lightly. Some choose to ignore the suffering of others so they can go on doing what they want guilt-free. Others care and God bless them for caring!

Ugh..... so much to be said on that subject that I could do 5,000 words easy. I just don't have the time to. This afternoon I need to be selfish and run errands, do laundry, and get stuff done on this warm Saturday in Spring. Slept in, I did, then went for a just-before-noon run... showered and ready to go I am.... maybe. Mets are on but not on my TV, on Yahoo's MLB GameChannel dealie. Do I procrastinate or skip the game and get stuff done? I dunno. I know nothing! It's Saturday and when it's Saturday and I'm not working then I don't need to know a thing! Brain-dead having Daim Bramage can be the order of the day and that's ooooo-kay! I got my exercise in so the rest of the day can be full of nothing! UGH... but to spend it all inside?!? How much of the winter is spent cooped up inside? TOO MUCH here in these parts... UGH!

For now I will wrap this up, post these tunes, "watch" my Mets, and then we'll see what happens! G'day!

still muddy trail ...so still indoors

Saturday Noontime Run: 19 minutes 56 sec

+4 sec

XXXXXXXX++++++· 19:52 sec ·++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time April: 3 hours 51 minutes <-failed to pass March March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes

2½ days gone in May -- 2 runs so far. This is the right frequency, not the horrible pace I was on in April. If I keep this up, not only will I easily surpass March, not only will I easily surpass what I should have hit in April, but I could even double that. We'll see. One run at a time.

This morning wasn't bad, especially considering that it was only about 14 hours since my last run last night. Usually, when I go on back-to-back days, I give myself just about 24 hours in between. Not this time. Nope. Wanted to git er done without the procrastination. If I'm not working and I wait until the end of the day, I could very easily get tired, get busy, or what-have-you, and decide not to run thereby wasting a day. NOT TODAY! HA! Good. And doubly good is the fact that I will achieve a new plateau next time out -- 20 minutes! For me that's sweet. Onward, baby!

Jimmy Buffett Barometer Soup 1995

320 kbps
	Jimmy Buffett - Barometer Soup - Part 1 Jimmy Buffett - Barometer Soup - Part 2

Not my favorite Jimmy album from the 1990's but I like it just fine. Not his most popular collection of songs as I'm not sure there's a single one here that he plays live on a regular basis... not even a semi-regular basis... maybe nothing here played for several years? Beats me -- just a guess.

In any case, there are some fun songs, some slow and quiet songs... and it's yet more music that can take one away from wherever he or she may be, and wash them and immerse them in a feeling of serenity, giving them a sense that they are somewhere altogether completely different from where they actually are, perhaps somewhere in a Caribbean paradise, where all your troubles are gone with a beautifully cold and delicious margarita... not to mention the sound of steel drums on the beach. Ahhhhh.....

Here's what Jimmy writes about the making of Barometer Soup...

"This album began with an idea Russell and I had to go back to Key West with several members of the band and write. It was February and in the rest of the world that means cold. There was little resistance by Roger, Pete, Jim and Jay Oliver to 'wintering in Key West'. In the old days before bridges and blenders 'wintering in Key West' had worked for a hell of a lot of writers before we came up with the idea. Besides, it was a great job description. So we loaded all our gear into the Fish Camp and built a little working studio with a waterfront view. Between the studio at the Fish Camp and the Old Monroe County Library, we searched the works of our collective favorite authors for source material. From Mark Twain to Carl Hiaasen we found the stories and titles that inspired us and we set about turning them into songs. When the songs were done, we peddled our bikes and mo-peds across town to Shrimp Boat Sound and in between the dockside departures of the schooner Wolf and the occasional intrusion by spring breakers, we cooked up our Barometer Soup. I have always thought of song writing as a form of Creole cooking. You start with a basic roux and then experiment with spices and flavors until you come up with a dish. So here is a serving of Barometer Soup. Bon Appetit y'all."

Jimmy Buffett
April 7, 1995
Key West, Florida

Barometer Soup

Notes by Jimmy: "In the countries where I feel most comfortable the barometer doesn't dance much. Hot and humid sums up the climate I like the best. In those climates, you are bound to find characters worthy immortalizing in song. This song is about those who bare to be different when it is not the most popular thing. They plow the seas and we are fortunate to follow in their wake. The term Barometer Soup was first mentioned to me by Herman Wouk, a gentleman who has plowed a few seas himself. This is for Herman."

Barefoot Children

"Around my house, clothing in general, and shoes in particular, seem to have a hard time staying on my children. As I sit here in this swanky hotel room in a Bob Marley T-shirt and a pair of jams with my bare feet dangling over an antique desk putting off the time until I have to get up and get dressed to go to dinner, I wonder where my children get this aversion to clothing and footwear?"

Bank Of Bad Habits

"I don't make as many withdrawals from this bank as I used to and I am thankful for that, but every now and then I have to check my balance."

Remittance Man

"One of my favorite stories in Mark Twain's classic book "Following The Equator", the remittance man was an unforgettable fictitious character who had to circle the globe, going from port to port to collect his remittance. It seemed a sad but intriguing voyage. I guess growing up in a water front town and watching the big ships sail up and down Mobile Bay was enough to put my imagination to work. So far so good"

Diamond As Big As The Ritz

"F. Scott Fitzgerald will probably do a back flip in his grave when he hears that he and Pablo Escobar are co-inspirers of this song. As titles go, The Diamond As Big As The Ritz, is powerful enough to get anyone's attention. The Pablo connection came one night when I was channel surfing and came across a PBS documentary on Pablo Escobar, the Colombian tire thief turned drug lord. I couldn't stop watching it. The story of greed and the unattainable dream is as old as time, which is what most people do if they get too greedy."

Blue Heaven Rendezvous

"In the hustle and bustle of modern day Key West, Dan & Richard Hatch, Bud & Corinne Crockett, and Suanne Kitchar have managed to save a bit of our hippie past in their wonderful restaurant Blue Heaven. God bless the war babies for hanging on to what they believe in. Patchouli oil forever."

Jimmy Dreams

"This song is nearly seven years old but has never been recorded until now. It was my first reference to my fascination with the Pleiades which grew even larger in the shape of Desdemona in the Joe Merchant book. It stuns me when I run into people who actually don't dream or can't remember their dreams. Some mornings I can wake up tired from the places my mind has taken me while I was asleep."

Lage Nom Ai

"One of the stories in Jim Harrison's classic novella, Legends of the Fall, was the inspiration for this song. Two of the three stories have been made into movies. The most recent of course starring Brad Pitt which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the sighs and comments exchanged by my oldest daughter and her mother when Brad rode over the hill time after time. Where the Zouk influence comes from, I haven't got a clue."

Don't Chu-Know

"Inspired once again by the wisdom of that aviator, Frank Bama, the more we progress towards the end of the millennium, the more we realize that we are just cave men (excuse me cave persons) in faded blue jeans."

Ballad Of Skip Wiley

"I am pleased to say that this song features the incredible vocal and hand clapping talents of my friend Carl Hiaasen who penned the wonderful book Tourist Season that sent a tremor through every Chamber Commerce building in the state of Florida. Skip Wiley has always been a favorite character of mine along with Skink, the ex-governor of Florida turned road kill connoisseur. It's too bad these kinds of people only exist in books. We could use a few more Skinks and a lot less Newts these days."

The Night I Painted The Sky

"Captain Larry 'Groovy' Gray again gets credit for another inspiration, along with the lovely Caroline. They run a fireworks company in the French Antilles and have the delightful job of, as the French put it, 'painting the sky'. I was lucky enough to be a guest employee one night, digging in the sand on the beach of St. Maarten to bury the mortars and then I got to fire them off. The thunder of the explosions and then the sulfuric sensations afterwards thrilled my pyromaniac heart. At the end of the night, after we had cleaned up our mess and loaded the gear into the truck, Groovy said to me, 'Congratulations, Bubba, you are now a bombardier.' I loved the sound of that job description."

Mexico

"Last summer in Nantucket, I had a brush with death, but was lucky enough to swim out of my sinking seaplane. In the days after that experience, the thing that stuck in my mind was that life is still just a tire swing, but the rope may break at any minute. I decided then to be even more spontaneous to sudden impulses. I was flying back to Key West from Palm Beach in February and James Taylor's Greatest Hits was in my headset. This song came on and I was reminded of how much I like listening to it and had thought about one day recording it, so we did. Chalk one up for sudden impulses."

Rzeznik Run; or First Run in May

Holy weirdness, Batman. Weird mood that is. TGIF, eh? Saturday now for most of the world. But here it's Friday night as I type this. How many people this afternoon were just LOVING that they could go home from work and/or the weekend was just hours away? Not me... I still had a whole bunch of hours to work... until 9 p.m. and then I was going to go for a run before anything else. And next Friday at this time -- I'll just be starting a 12-hour shift at this time, working all Friday night into Saturday morning. Such is the life of the EMT who simply does not work Monday-Friday from 9 to 5. Yup.

Well, we may have had that wicked snowstorm blow in on the last day of April but all that snow -- gone as fast as it came, it seems. Driving around town, there are so few patches of white to be seen... all melting away... finally. Fairbanks is drying out for awhile. The trail at the end of my road, the one I hike and run on, is still way too mushy for running but I'm thinking of taking a short hike as soon as I'm done typing this... maybe. It's been mostly overcast all day long with only a hint of sun here, a hint there... but in this far northern latitude, the edge of nighttime darkness is pushing further and further towards midnight every day. It's just 10 o'clock p.m. now -- I got off work at 9, went to the University for a run, came back to my house, showered, here I am typing and it's still light out. As someone who's not from here, and even though this will be my fourth summer here, this incredibly late sunset is something I just haven't completely gotten used to yet. I mean, if I wrap this up now and drive into town for some beers with friends, I won't need my headlights on. Nope. Cool, huh?

Anyway, speaking of beers with friends, I think I wanna wrap this up so I can make a decision to either go for a hike or head into town because I think pitchers and pool are calling my name. "Chris.... come, indulge, enjoy.... you know you want to. If you drive here, the bartender will pour."

Damn voices!

my trail's impossibly muddy for running... so still indoors.

Friday Nite After Work Run: 19 minutes 52 sec

+7 sec

XXXXXXXX++++++· 19:52 sec ·++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time April: 3 hours 51 minutes <-failed to pass March March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes

First run in May. Twas quite easy but I'm absolutely not gonna be happy with running this month until the hours begin stacking up and I eclipse my March Run Time and get to at least 5 hours.

Man, that's pathetic, isn't it? A measly five hours in an entire month?! If I keep this up, I'll be able to run a marathon in maybe 20 or 30 years. Well, then again, running a marathon isn't my ultimate goal here. Nope, my ultimate goal is just to run like I am, at least a few times a week, for my health. I'm not content with sitting around mostly lazy, getting fat and getting diabetes... or worse. No. Just -- no.

So I run and I should be happy with what I have achieved and I should be happy with small increases because even small increases means I'm getting some exercise in... and this amount of strenuous activity, it's better for a person than nothing!

Running tunes came from the album of the day...
	The Goo Goo Dolls Gutterflower 2002
Big Machine Think About Me Here Is Gone You Never Know What A Scene Up, Up, Up It's Over Sympathy What Do You Need? Smashed Tucked Away Truth Is A Whisper

I've never heard The Goo Goo Dolls until this album, well I've never heard an album of theirs, that is. My grand total exposure to them has been quite limited -- less than a dozen songs over the years, I'm sure. Reading a bit about their history has made me go -- Wow, the first album they released was in 1986/87?! Seriously? Hmmm. Man, they've lasted quite awhile.

Anyway... it's fascinating, at least to me, that the best song here, in my opinion, is the main single from the album -- Here Is Gone. I wonder if I've actually heard it on the radio a time or three when flipping through stations. It's not familiar but maybe my subconscious knows it a little... I don't freakin' know. In any case, that single, which reached #3 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart, is my favorite song here. Is that coincidence or what? Do I have some sort of Superman-ish ability to distinguish what the single is/was without ever knowing it for certain? Again -- I don't freakin' know.

What I do know is I'd probably dig their older stuff more (just a guess) but Gutterflower from 2002 is a decent album all the way through. This made for some good running music and listening again right now, while there are some tunes that don't do much for me, there are a bunch of others -- including Big Machine, Think About Me, It's Over, Tucked Away, Truth Is A Whisper -- that make me want the volume LOUDER. Good stuff. Lookin' forward to giving them more listens in the future.

find a dload @ Walldill

from Buffalo, New York...
The Goo Goo Dolls with "Here Is Gone"
which, according to lead singer Johnny Rzeznik,
cost more to make than the recording of the entire album.

GD 66 -> 2008 & beyond (in reverse)

34 year Grateful Dead staff member, Eileen Law (Cassidy's mom)

Grateful Dead's archives have final resting place at UC-Santa Cruz By Lisa M. Krieger Mercury News Article Launched: 04/25/2008 01:33:31 AM PDT The Grateful Dead's long strange trip through American popular culture is landing in a library at the University of California-Santa Cruz, preserved for future generations of study by scholars and stoners.

Three decades worth of archival materials - from business records to stage backdrops - have been donated by the band to the school's McHenry Library, where a room called Dead Central is being dedicated to a beloved band dubbed "the largest unofficial religion in the world."

UC-Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal joined Dead drummer Mickey Hart and guitarist and singer Bob Weir in a buoyant press conference Thursday at San Francisco's aging Fillmore Auditorium, the site of 51 Dead concerts. In honor of the event, Blumenthal was given a tie-dyed T-shirt.

"All of this stuff doesn't belong to us - it belongs to the culture that spawned us," Weir said. "It seemed like getting it into a campus archive, with access for the people in the community that gave rise to it, was the right thing to do."

The seaside campus was the "most enthusiastic" and "organized," which helped it edge out two heavyweight suitors, Stanford and UC-Berkeley, Weir said.

"Santa Cruz is the seat of the neo-bohemian culture that we're a facet of," Weir said. "So there could not have been a more cozy place for this collection to land."

The gift does not contain any of the band's vast musical recordings; those are stored in a Southern California vault belonging to producer DILLHOLE Entertainment. The university said it will work with DILLHOLE on how to access musical material.

But it does contain valuable artifacts that document the band's ascendance into one of California's most durable and influential musical phenomena. Currently held in a 2,000-square-foot San Rafael warehouse, the collection includes the Dead's first recording contract, life-size skeletons of band members used in the 1987 "Touch of Grey" video, and an estimated 50,000 to 75,000 fan letters from around the world, many decorated with elaborate art.

What you'll see is our conversation with the people who loved us, and vice versa," Hart said.

A blue-chip team including several Silicon Valley-based fans - among them venture capitalist and musician Roger McNamee - will oversee a $2 million fundraising campaign for the archive. Seagate Technology CEO Bill Watkins has volunteered technical support.

Formal academics never meant much to the Dead.

But fans say their image-rich lyrics about such themes as love, trust and rebirth are worthy of scholarship. The song "Box of Rain" is as central to Deadheads as Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" was to Beats and T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" was to Modernists. For musicologists, there is value in studying how the Dead's repertoire updated many of the nation's older musical traditions, from bluegrass to jazz, said Fred Lieberman, a UC-Santa Cruz music professor.

Bob Weir & Mickey Hart at the press conference

"They were the quintessential American band," said Lieberman, who first proposed the archive idea to Hart, with whom he has collaborated on three books. This will boost the university's scholarship on American culture, he said.

However, the gift may do little to help the university shed its image as a mecca of hacky sack and patchouli oil - and, in fact, is likely to attract a tie-dyed pilgrimage. In recent years, the school has worked to refocus attention on its ambitious scientific research efforts. It has even cracked down on its traditional April marijuana smoke-in at Porter Meadow, barring non-students and overnight guests.

Campus librarians said they would welcome Deadheads to the grassy lawn outside the library.

The library already has the vast and eclectic archive of the late Aptos composer Lou Harrison, and was looking to expand.

"This is the first step toward having a library that is a destination for scholars interested in studying an important aspect of America's vernacular music," he said.

The survival of the archives through turbulent decades is due to a devoted staffer named Eileen Law, who was hired in 1972 to take care of the Deadheads and who worked with the band for the next 34 years.

Among other jobs, she tended the mail that flooded into a San Rafael post office box.

"Pretty soon I found myself being the keeper of everything - press clips, posters, all their vinyl. I kept getting more and more stuff," she said. "Everything I could collect, I did."

At the press conference, UC-Santa Cruz librarians assured Law, who is unemployed, that she'll play an important role in the cataloging of the material.

"I had faith that something good would someday happen to it," Law said, grinning.

Fans rejoiced at the news of the gift - and instantly began offering their own contributions to the collection.

"Can we submit material?" one fan asked on the band's Web site. "I have my own stash - much of it from the parking lot scene, '83-'95."

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED

See library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/GD_archive.html or email grateful@ucsc.edu

** "DILLHOLE" edits are mine

Albert Hofmann, father of LSD, dies in Switzerland (4/29/08)

By FRANK JORDANS

GENEVA (AP) — Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired — and arguably corrupted — millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died. He was 102.

Hofmann died Tuesday at his home in Burg im Leimental, said Doris Stuker, a municipal clerk in the village near Basel where Hofmann moved following his retirement in 1971.

For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention.

"I produced the substance as a medicine. ... It's not my fault if people abused it," he once said.

The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm in Basel.

He became the first human guinea pig of the drug when a tiny amount of the substance seeped onto his finger during a laboratory experiment on April 16, 1943.

"I had to leave work for home because I was suddenly hit by a sudden feeling of unease and mild dizziness," he subsequently wrote in a memo to company bosses.

"Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror," he said, describing his bicycle ride home. "I had the impression I was rooted to the spot. But my assistant told me we were actually going very fast."

Upon reaching home, Hofmann began experiencing what he called "wonderful visions."

Three days later, Hofmann experimented with a larger dose. The result was the world's first scientifically documented bad trip.

"The substance which I wanted to experiment with took over me. I was filled with an overwhelming fear that I would go crazy. I was transported to a different world, a different time," Hofmann wrote.

Hofmann and his scientific colleagues hoped that LSD would make an important contribution to psychiatric research. The drug exaggerated inner problems and conflicts and thus it was hoped that it might be used to recognize and treat mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

For a time, Sandoz sold LSD 25 under the name Delysid, encouraging doctors to try it themselves. It was one of the strongest drugs in medicine — with just one gram enough to drug an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people for 12 hours.

LSD was elevated to international fame in the late 1950s and 1960s thanks to Harvard professor Timothy Leary who embraced the drug under the slogan "turn on, tune in, drop out."

But away from the psychedelic trips, horror stories emerged about people going on murder sprees or jumping out of windows while hallucinating. Heavy users suffered permanent psychological damage.

The U.S. government banned LSD in 1966 and other countries followed suit.

Click here to Read the rest if you wish.

Well, kids, it's been way too long since I've posted any Grateful Dead. I uploaded an Old & In The Way show one week ago but it's been like 11 days now since GD? And even longer since I did what's commonly known as a regular length show? Sorry. I'll see what I can do about crankin' up the frequency. Believe me, I'd like to. I dig listening to this stuff more than anything else and I dig puttin' music up here in order to share it with others... but life happens, ya know. Plus I try to live in front of the computer as little as possible... but like I said, I'll try to step it up and git somethin' up here more often!

Today it's time for another installment of:

Chronological Trip

through the History of the Grateful Dead...

...Volume 3

(This is going quickly, isn't it?! Hang around until you're about Yoda's age I might finally get into the 1970's!)

In early 1966, Ken Kesey's Acid Test "parties" were in full swing and the Merry Pranksters had taken their circus down to LaLaLand. Unfortunately, all info from this time is not exactly perfectly accurate. There are a dozen or two recordings that truly are "Date Unknown" and only a best guess can be made as to when they took place.

The first track we've got is known as the...

• Pigpen Rap (AKA - Nobody Cares Rap)

Labeled as: 2/11/66
Youth Opportunities Center
Compton, California ... "Watts Acid Test"

Here's the info:

David Gans edited 'Pigpen's Rap' and 'Schoolgirl> You Don't Love Me> Schoolgirl' together on GDH #388 (thus no splice) for the purposes of his broadcast. It should be noted that the date and location of the 'Pigpen Rap' is pure speculation. Dick Latvala informs us that the box and 7" reel from which this was taken is completely unlabelled.

The 'rap' starts with chattering and screaming in the background and Jerry (?) saying into the mike "Nobody Cares". You can hear Bobby and then Pigpen tells his 'story'. When Pig is done Bobby says "Someday Ron will take acid.

Owsley "Bear" Stanley: The "Pigpen rap" that Gans took from an unlabeled box, with an intro from Jer "Nobody Cares" would have been an excerpt of a tape from the Watts Acid Test, or a show immediately after that gig. It is most likely, especially if there is a bunch of static on one channel (left I think), that it came from that Test. The Test, the third in LA, was in early March 1966.

I met the Dead formally at the Fillmore show on 11 Feb '66. The Northridge Acid Test was 19 Feb, the Sunset Blvd. test was 25 Feb. I was not at the Northridge Test. Watts was in March.

from 'The Taping Compendium': According to Vault archivist Dick Latvala, the material here comes from two different seven-inch reel boxes, the Pigpen rap in an unlabeled one, the other marked "Longshoreman's #1," with no other information. The intriguing thing is that both tapes have identical ambiences, and Bobby's comment has the same ambience and feel as the segment with Pigpen's rap.

So, for whatever reason, 2/11/66 stands firm... even though it would appear that the Watts Acid Test happened on an unknown day in March. Whatever the true date for that is, this can truly be said about it -- whoa. It's kind of out there and well worth listening to.

What comes next I almost wanna call the Main Course
(while the Pigpen Rap was the dessert eaten first.)

Grateful Dead - March 12, 1966
Danish Center, Los Angeles, California
"Pico Acid Test"

On The Road Again
Next Time You See Me
I Know You Rider
Hey Little One
Cold Rain & Snow
King Bee->
Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks)
Stealin' [cuts]

It was only in January of 2007 when, thanks to the keeper of the Dead's vault of music at the time, the setlist for 3/12/66 became known to the public. Until then, a whole 'nother set of tunes was attributed to this date while these songs were... I'm not sure, possibly just listed as Date Unknown. I also think some of them were thought to be from the Ivar Theater on 2-25-66. It's now known that there was no such show... or maybe there was but the tunes thought to be from it are actually from this night. Oi, I know. Now we know... or we think we know. We also know that nine other songs were played at the Danish Center on this night... or were there? Those exact same nine songs, in their exact order, are also attributed to 5/19/66.

See? This year is screwy. Still, the music is interesting and quite different in many ways to so much that would come later. One thing that is for certain: this date -- 3/12/66, the Pico Acid Test -- is the second recording that we can truly call a Dead show.

One of the most noticeable differences in the music on this night compared to the Fillmore Acid Test about 2 months before, they really romp through the first three numbers. These are good, quick versions played straight ahead almost as if they were laying them down in a studio. Pigpen really stands out on harmonica on the first two songs... and then this I Know You Rider is just at lightning speed, similar to the Warlocks demo version from November '65, but a much fuller band sound here, with Jerry goin' at it much more. It's really nothing like the gorgeous classic Riders of the future, just this amazingly cool little version with it's own unique 1966 identity.

Hey Little One slows things down. What a great mellow song this is that absolutely should have had life after 1966 but nope. Jerry gives some great emotion here, much like in beautifully stellar Stella Blues, Standing On The Moons, and So Many Roadssss. Unfortunately this first version we have is one of the only there is.

Another quick little zipper in Cold Rain & Snow follows before the band gets into some of that good ol' blues sound, heavy with Pig on harmonica and some nice soloing from Jerry. Back at the Fillmore in early January, King Bee was played a LOT wilder. One of my biggest impressions of that one was Billy on drums was just seemingly drivin' that train, goin' non-stop. Here in March in L.A. the band is tighter. Phil more than Billy is the backbone here and there's less Jerry in favor of more Pigpen. A very good version but a bit different in some minor ways.

Same thing with Caution. The intro on January 8th was a lot longer than here giving the band more room to just play music. And once again, more Phil, less Bill, and less Jerry that's replaced by more of Jerry and Pig playin' off each other. The tightness here really makes me appreciate the total primitive rawness that is 1/8. That's not sayin' that King Bee and Caution on that night are better than this... just a little different. Plus the sound quality is really nice here throughout, no splicing in sound from the Merry Pranksters (another quality that helps make 1/8 so unique.)

Stealin' is a great tune for '66 Dead but unfortunately here it cuts off so abruptly which is a shame.

One question I have about this show: where was Bobby? A) he was stuck at home grounded by his parents? B) hadn't really learned to play guitar yet? C) off-stage romancing them Los Angeles fillies? D) tripping so hard he wouldn't even know what a guitar is?

Whatever the answer, this really sounds like a 4-man band rather than one with rhythm guitar. No matter, this is still such a cool recording and an immensely important piece of the early history of the boys playing live.

Source: Soundboard Master Reel> DAT x? > CD

·

Pigpen's Rap @ Archive.org - for listening only
•
Also for listening only - 3/12/66 @ Archive

-or-

3-12-66 aka 03-12-66 aka 3/12/66 aka 03/12/66 aka 66-03-12 not Ivar Theater

Download Both Right Here "2/11/66" Pigpen Rap & GD 3/12/66 Danish Center