The rock impresario Bill Graham famously said of the Grateful Dead They’re not the best at what they do, they’re the only ones that do what they do. And There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. True that, on both counts, and the many shows I went to, in particular between 1968 and 1973, …
After the flowering of Sixties rock and before the blunt commercial thunder of 80s arena rock, fans took a breezy ride up the escalator of power chords, catchy hooks, and growing audiences—listening, bobbing and maybe dancing to the major acts of the mid-Seventies: Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Who, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, The Eagles, Cheap Trick, …
Continue Reading . . . and Check it out here! Mantz & Mitchell offer great conversation, and I was so pleased to be their guest. They really dug into the book and dig together we did. Alternative talk radio, I did my best, friends! Your pal, Shepherd Siegel
You know, I never get asked, “Shepherd Siegel, the world knows you as an intergalactically recognized artist…but what are you REALLY like?” Nope, never been asked that. Well, I just live life by three simple rules. Yours may look a little different, but I think you’ll get the idea. In fact, I’d love to hear …
Sometimes there is something special about Grateful Dead music. Of course, they’re special even when the singing is out of tune, when they fall off the horse and you experience them getting back on. Their flaws only add to the fun and joy of being among their millions of fans. So . . . there …
Part 3: Let It All Hang Out We could be building a society where all people are free to seek balance in their lives, an omnarchy that celebrates and incorporates a holistic vision of humanity that quite simply includes everyone. And the basic, obvious, it’s-about-time-ness of equal pay and equal opportunity are foregone conclusions. Instead we …
Part 2: Lawyers, Guns and Money We could be getting to the root causes of homelessness by offering a more meaningful public high school education. Such an education, among other things, offers and promotes programs that teach the skills that earn access into all legitimate forms of well-paid employment. Blue collar and all other non-baccalaureate …
Part 1: Can I get a witness? Recent shifts in American politics have brought some benefits. Average Jane’s, Joe’s, They’s and Those are more politically aware, concerned, maybe even involved and active. Advances in technology may deliver new modes of participatory democracy that have more traction than a mouse-click but less risk than fighting in …
One of the very greatest exponents of tricksterism in music. Wikipedia sez: Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (French: [eʁik sati];[1] 17 May 1866 – 1 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. Satie was an influential artist in the late 19th- and early 20th-century Parisian avant-garde. His work was …
In 1895, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine captured the popular imagination and set the tone for our infinite fascination with time travel. Its attendant gadgetry kept the nerdier fans busy, while others were distracted by the possible and impossible science of it. But the idea of time travelers is more significant. The time traveler, like a …