Sunday, July 05, 2015

Grateful Dead 7/5/15


Set 1
China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider
Estimated Prophet 
Built to Last 
Samson and Delilah
Mountains of the Moon 
Throwing Stones 

Set 2
Truckin'
>Cassidy
Althea
Terrapin Station 
>Drums>Beam>Space
>Unbroken Chain 
Days Between 
>Not Fade Away
(everyone but the drummers leave. Crowd chants)
(Crowd continues chant)

Donor Rap
Encore
Touch of Grey

Encore 2
Attics of My Life (a capella, except Bob acoustic, some drums, piano, organ)

Saturday, July 04, 2015

Grateful Dead 7/4/15

Set 1 (5:35)
Shakedown Street 
Liberty 
Standing on the Moon
Me and My Uncle 
Tennessee Jed
Cumberland Blues 
Little Red Rooster 
Friend of the Devil 
>Deal
6:58
Set 2 8:00
Bird Song
Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion 
Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance
West LA Fadeaway 
Foolish Heart
>Drums>Space
>Stella Blue
One More Saturday Night 
9:44
Donor Rap
Encore: 
U.S. Blues
(fireworks)

Friday, July 03, 2015

Grateful Dead 7/3/15

Set 1
Box of Rain
Jack Straw
Bertha
Passenger
The Wheel>
Crazy Fingers 
The Music Never Stopped  

Set 2
Mason's Children
Scarlet Begonias 
>Fire on the Mountain
>Drums>Space 
>New Potato Caboose 
Playing in the Band 
>Weather Report Suite Pt 2
>Help on the Way>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower

Donor Rap
Encore:
Ripple (Bob on acoustic)

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Grateful Dead 6.28.15

Set 1 6:23
Feel Like a Stranger 
New New Minglewood Blues
Brown Eyed Women 
Loose Lucy
Loser
Row Jimmy
Alabama Getaway
Black Peter
Hell in a Bucket (ends 7:52)

Set 2 (starts 8:53)
Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo
>jam>Wharf Rat
>jam>short beam space >Eyes of the World
>He's Gone 
Drumz (guest percussionist)
>I Need a Miracle 
>Death Don't Have No Mercy 
Sugar Magnolia>Sunshine Daydream 
(Ends 10:35)
Donor rap
Moment of silence
Encore:
Brokedown Palace

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Grateful Dead 6.27.15

Set 1
7:33 start
Jam>Truckin'
Uncle John's Band 
Alligator>Cumberland Blues 
Born Cross-Eyed
Cream Puff War 
Viola Lee Blues>Lovelight tease>end of set 8:39
Set 2 9:40
Cryptically Envelopment>Dark Star tease/fireworks>Dark Star
>St Stephen>The Eleven (William Tell)
>Turn On Your Love Light 
>Drumz>space>What's Become of the Baby?
>The Other One 
>Morning Dew

Organ donor rap

Encore 11:54
Casey Jones

Photo by David Fung

Saturday, May 09, 2015

Canary in a Coal Mine

Police enforcing Baltimore curfew
Explanations, not Excuses

I started writing this almost two weeks ago, and things have moved swiftly since then.  What was first on my mind was trying to talk about the looting and violence that followed the funeral of Freddie Gray, the young man who died after having his spinal chord 80% severed, and enduring what was euphemistically called the "rough ride" inside a police van.

What followed was classic looting and burning.  The local CVS was looted and heavily damaged, which seemed to be the most common example we saw on TV.  For sure there were lots of young black men seen involved in the mayhem.  Immediately, both President Obama and the mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (a black woman) characterized the looters as "thugs."  I think at that moment, it was obvious they were trying to make a point, trying to separate the law breakers from all the other citizens of Baltimore.

Predictably, the situation deteriorated into a back and forth about the word "thug."  Before you could say 'Tupac,' one group was accusing anyone of using the word "thug" of racism.  Of course there were lots of examples of white college kids burning things down, white soccer 'hooligans' burning and rioting, and so on.  All true of course, but that doesn't excuse the behavior, of the kids in Baltimore, from the colleges, or the soccer games.

On one side of the discussion is a plea for 'personal responsibility.'  On the other side stands the stark reality of a hollowed out inner city full of lost promises, where nobody should be blamed for their behavior.

Nothing happens in a vacuum.  To keep it simple, what I think the looters are, since I can't call them thugs, is weak.  None of us are perfectly strong under any amount of stress; I know I'm not.  When we see rioting like that, we aren't seeing good citizens, but we are seeing signs of social/environmental stress.  No, you shouldn't trash a store.  But these things are not happening because the kids are inherently bad either.  The seeds of trouble in Baltimore have been growing and taking root for a long time.  Just like a canary in a coal mine, these troubles are a sign of something bigger, more serious.

You can't solve a problem if you won't see the cause.