But here's an example of what I'm addressing;

Several years ago in 1993 I believe, the Moody Blues came to Southern Oregon. They performed in a baseball field. They only drew a crowd of about 4,000, because there was no more room and they sold out.

It was the only chance I would have ever had of seeing them, and it only cost me $20 a ticket. I will never forget that concert, it was the only one in about 30 years of playing music, that allowed me to be an audience, and not get stuck in the 'critical musician' mode.

But what I admired the most was the Moody Blues 'getting down' to our little rural unheard of neck of the woods, sacrificing big dollar to bring the music to the people. I bet every small, concert they did (more than the CSNY tour) was filled. They could have gone the mega-concert route, and probably gotten enough money to set up their grandkids grandkids from that one tour, but they didn't. I know of thousands of people who are also glad they did.

It's not something they needed to do, and I can imagine their management team throwing a big fit over it, but in my eternal internal radio station they will always have a place to be heard and play.

This is an example of what I am talking about - putting the music where all the people -not just the middle-class "success" stories- can get the benefit of it.

Screw Vegas and the glitz, worshippers of Babylon, Vegas; the place where all one-hit wonders, or washed up has-beens can go to pretend to be somebody, and where sin is OK, and taxed.

August 14, 2006

Bethel - There is a simple human behavior, celebrated worldwide but practiced at near mystical levels here: Hang out with lots of people, listen to music, and set yourself up with a real good buzz.

"Here" is the hallowed ground of 1969, and here the reverberations of Woodstock are still felt and heard and, most importantly, sought out.

So it was a big deal that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young played here last night, their first time back at the original site, on what they call their "Freedom of Speech '06" tour.

The irony of the First Amendment reference wasn't lost on folks who camped out all weekend in fields around a nearby bar called Hector's Inn, where the question was: What about the right to assemble?

The Woodstock reunion they had planned on, at Yasgur's Farm, got shut down this year by town ordinances and court injunctions that the hosts, Roy Howard and Jerryl Abramson, swear they will fight.

But assemble they did. They had the tents and tarps, bottles and bags of ice, guitars and blankets and bonfires, all of it on its last leg yesterday.

Their tanned skin said it was a sunny weekend. They spoke of community and music, of everyone taking care of each other.

"It's like your regular family reunion," said Elmer Earls, who's been coming up from Tennessee for the anniversaries since 1994.

There was talk in the afternoon of moving to the parking lot of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the new multimillion dollar performing arts center built by a millionaire named Allen Gerry. Many said they were going, but few had tickets to CSNY.

And there, too, less than a mile down Route 17B, the spirit caught fire again. There, cars lined up for miles, flagged in by a small army of bright-vested parking attendants who filled every spot with stunning efficiency.

Out came the lawn chairs, just like the ones the campers had. And the food: the sandwiches, the mozzarella and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, the shrimp, the sushi. There was a cheese board and white wine in wine glasses. There were the people, the music, the buzz.

Barbara Spagnuolo, 54, of Harriman, saw CSNY at the first Woodstock and hasn't been back here since. She wore khaki pants and a black shirt and sat with friends in the grass before the show, eating melon balls and corn chips.

"This is what a hippie looks like now," her friend said.

Copyright: 2006 Orange County Publications

I know museman feels the same. He is a musician, poet, songwriter, and entertainer, and a good one at that. I’ve downloaded some of his tunes. They get played pretty often around here.

Jefferson Airplane performed at the Berkeley Folk Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, and Altamont. They had hit singles White Rabbit and Somebody to Love, from the album "Surrealistic Pillow".

and…

Jefferson Airplane:

********

One pill makes you larger

And one pill makes you small

And the ones that mother gives you

Don't do anything at all

Go ask Alice

When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits

And you know you're going to fall

Tell'em a hookah smoking caterpillar

Has given you the call

Call Alice

When she was just small

When men on the chessboard

get up and tell you where to go

And you've just had some kind of mushroom

And your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice

I think she'll know

When logic and proportion

Have fallen softly dead

And the White Knight is talking backwards

And the Red Queen's off her head

Remember what the Dormouse said.

Feed your Head, feed your Head!

I am torn, between my love of the spirit and music that those guys represent, and embody, and my hatred for the corporate conditions that are put on their concerts- the price of admission, and the tendancy to focus exclusively on mega-type concerts in major metropolitan areas.

As an impoverished songwriter who never, no not even once, compromised the integrity of my spiritual mandate, in order to 'get a gig' or make money at it, I find it hard to not have a bit of an attitude. The fact that some of us can struggle, slave at ridiculously low wages, work at health-destroying jobs, and spend lots of time at it - without even a bit of a chance to PLAY FOR FREE - because of the capitalistic religion that everyone seems to have to belong to in order to succeed, tends to support such an attitude.

Yes it is true, the music of CSNY -for example- or at least the sentiment, and concepts/ideas prevalent in their music, need to be heard and thought about. They are not the problem that bothers me.

What bothers me, is that people will support the mega-money machine by going to these concerts, while a multitude of talents, songs, musicians, and just as valid ideas are being ignored because they have no endorsement of capitalistic acceptabilty - in other words they are being shut out by the "top-forty" of the industry, both now and then.

People have become so lazy they allow the media and it's hollywood-prefect images to dictate the intrinsic vlaues of this country, and a lot of the world. Without the money being involved, nothing has any credibility, and if you're image is even the slightest bit off the standards, you're talent may never even get to be known or shared.

As you all have stated in this thread, music is a powerful tool for enlightenment, healing, and for creating an enjoyable atmosphere. It should be everywhere; in public parks, back yards, down by the river, and wherever people go to gather. When an entire nation believes that the price of a thing, and the 'product endorsement' is the only criteria for acceptability, we have a shitload of waste, a large percentage of talented people whose talents are basicly thrown over for what is handed to them through the media and the music industry as 'professional' or within acceptable parameters of mediocrity.

Look on Neils page for folks to post their music, there is over 300 acts represented there, and those are just anti-war songs. Did any of them get to go to woodstock and play? Sure a lot of them might not be as widely popular (for reasons that I stated above) but they are popular to somebody! Somebody likes them. I have a few fans myself, but because of money, and money alone, I cannot put my stuff in an acceptable 'professional' format. Even though I have labored to learn technique beyond my artistry in the form of recording and sound engineering, spent nearly ten years at it, it is still not comparable to those who've had the benefit of multi-million dollar studio productions. However, from witnessing the failure of many modern artists to reproduce the quality of the studio recording in their live performances, I feel quite good when folks tell me that my 'live performance' is 'so much better' than the recording.

Thanks but:

Where I can go

When I feel low

When I feel blue

And it's my mind

And there's no time

When I'm alone

-John Lennon

It is not a thing about believing or not, it is about being there. I've found people of all color, size and creed in that place, there are no boundries, except the ones you creat for yourself. You either get there or you don’t. There is nothing that can be done for those that will never get there. However we can help others that are looking for it.

That place is a reflection of your spirit. And that comes from the “Great Spirit”.

Nobody can harm you in that place, forces of our universe from the “Great Spirit” allows us to provide protection in there.

****

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,

With tangerine trees and marmalade skies

Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,

A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,

Towering over your head.

Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,

And she's gone.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds.

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain

Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies,

Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,

That grow so incredibly high.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,

Waiting to take you away.

Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,

And you're gone.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds,

Picture yourself on a train in a station,

With plasticine porters with looking glass ties,

Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle,

The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.

http://www.csny.com/setlists/07102006

The tunes have been cranking here too. I give everybody fair warning, and tell them if it bothers them let me know. A few days ago the girl next door came over and wanted to know what I was playing, she had company over and they were swimming in her pool, and they liked what they heard. It was Living With War. She has it now. Cool.

I have to drive this rather large and heavy pick up truck for the daily grind, I put a 200 watt Mp3 CD Player in it with 4 Pioneer speakers, they weren’t cheap, but they kick ass, and will ring your ears. I have to turn it down when I arrive at my destinations.

Glad you got a grin over it. Disco Duck was bad for America and the rest of the world for that matter.

The very first time I heard LWW, I heard that sound and I knew it had to be comeing from that particular combination of Guitars and Amps. I love that sound.

Back in the day, that sound got drown out by that DISCO DUCK. He was running around flapping his wings, shoving a Coke Spoon under everyone’s nose saying, Rock n Roll is dead, Disco is here to stay. Well now look who is still here and look who is gone. Take that you refried duck, have another one for your nose.