Intransigent Demagogues

When I was 14, my teacher Mr. Braun required us to read Us and Them: A History of Intolerance in America. This book and its title made me acutely aware of the dangers of an us vs. them mentality. It made me pay attention to those pronouns and how people use them in conversation.

I once saw Thomas Friedman speak at SMU and chatted with him. I think I irritated him with questions, but I was young, naïve, and fascinated with him, his writing, activism, travels and view of the world.

“Where did the ‘we’ go?” is the title of his op-ed piece in today’s New York Times. He compares our divided political times to the “ugly mood in Israel” in 1995, when he was there to interview Minister Yitzhak Rabin, shortly before he was assassinated.

I like that Friedman pays attention to these pronouns as well. The disappearance of ‘we’ in our politics is deeply scary.

Friedman talks about “our poisonous political environment” where “something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into deliegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assignation.”

In the Us and Them book mentioned above, walks the reader through American history where environments of unchecked hate made unspeakable atrocities possible.

Today I also came across this video from yesterday when Bette Midler speaks of Glenn Beck.

"I've never had a laugh from Glenn Beck," she says. "I find him terrifying... he's like an old school demagogue and it's really frightening. If you look around the world and what this kind of behavior has done, like in Rwanda, where the demagogues got on the radio and fermented all that hate...."

demagogy: "a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public- typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes."

Now I have actually been to Rwanda and around the time Friedman was in Israel, Midler is right, the hate spued on the Rwandan radio was relentless. It was an environment of accepted hate and 'jokes' about killing, like the American comments in the links lised below, were common. That environment exploded. A political assassination spurned people to atrocities against neighbors, families, children. Slaughters occurred in Christian Churches, Schools, homes. Because people were SO blinded by hate.

In the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center, they played radio exerts of these demagogues. When intransigent people have microphones. It makes their position seem legitimate.

intransigent: (uncompromising) characterized by a refusal to compromise or to abandon an extreme position or attitude

Friedman concludes his article by wondering if "we can seriously discuss serious issues any longer and make decisions on the basis of the national interest."

"We can't change this overnight," he writes, "but what we can change, and must change, is people crossing the line between criticizing the president and tacitly encouraging the unthinkable and the unforgivable."

To leave you with:

a Daily Beast article and video from April '09 that talks about the militia movement against Obama in America.

(added)

Rolling Stone article from October issue- The Lie Machine, by Tim Dickinson.

-- very good and well researched article. also the graphic which I will scan later if i can; mentions 'Missouri high school bans marching band t-shirt for promoting evolution (the graphic of the shirt shows an ape to a human evolution chart with each monkey/caveman playing an instrument.

--- also mentions that "the GOP candidate for governor of Idaho (Rex Rammell) jokes about a hunting permit to shoot Obama" and even worse is his apology which I found when checking the veracity of that threat

neW yOrK

“iT wOuLdn’t Be nEw yOrk WiThOut UpTowN,

where CHIC ways and cool

sOphIsTicAtIon

rEside wIth the uRbaNitY &
ThoRoUghBred VaNiTy,
the cOUtUre
aNd tHe deMUre
aNd THe
delighTfully cOlOrful
inSaniTy
that RuNs
in The fAmiLy TrEes.

We’Re ToO RicH
and
TOo tHin,
aNd
wE liKe OuR GiN.
We’Re Old SchOOl, BLue BlOOd,
cluBBy
anD CRuSty
anD HoiTy-ToiTy
Too.

iT wOuLdN’t Be nEW YoRK wIThOuT DoWnToWn,

WhErE all the FreAks And GeeKs and MaDcaPs sWaRM,
where BoHeMians buZZ
and
BeaTs flee The fuZZ
and PunKIes and DrunKIes
StILl
Rub ElbOwS WiTh JunKieS,
all for
the sake of ART.

wE’rE thE nEw SchoOl, And We PlaY the fOOl
anD we’lL gO To
tHe OPenInG Of a dOoR.

wE’rE AvAnT aNd pROuD,
maYBe a LiTtle biT LoUd,
buT It WouLdN’t Be OuR pArTy unlEsS iT waS
CHIchi & aRtY,

a GaThErIng oF aLl thE TriBEs in tHis TowN.

SoCiaLiteS & TrOgloDyTes,
MohAwKs & drEAdLocKs,
sTone FoX & bOtOx.

wE gO UpToWn jUsT 2 GeT dOwn…..

& TodAy Its HarD To TelL whOs frOm wHeRe, ANd, rEalLy,
wHo cAres?

ThE tRuTh Is tHat
NeW YoRK Is An ALl-ArOund toWn.”

Lucy Madison March interview

Spin Junkies (Jay-Z + Greatful Dead = true LOVE)

(CLICK TO LISTEN TO WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT) It seems like Jay- Z has been everywhere with his new album release.... I hear people blasting it out of cars on the street (BLASTING) I overhear it in people's ipods and all over the streets. Last night I was walking to go chat with Katie and MK and listening to some old school JZ on Anna's Ipod. I realised that although Jay-Z has just surpassed ELVIS, the KING, with number one albums that my favorite work of his is actually his stuff that is remixed by the SPIN JUNKIES.

The spin junkies are (i guess) girltalk style if I am trying to associate it with anything.. but SOOOO much better. Their Jay- Z mashup (linked below) is a combo of his Dark Album and Greatful dead tunes. How AWESOME is that. I really enjoy it better than Jay-Z. They call it "The White Album."

Its these Colorado crazies who did the mash up, and Ive heard that when JAy-Z heard the music he loved it and thought it was so great (hey- yall will too when you listen to it... you can't deny greatness and these songs are fantastic), but despite the fact that jay-z liked it the lawyers got involved... but we can still listen to it.

I would like to recommend 99 Problems and Change clothes on the playlist on the link. its soooo good.

African Manuscripts and Music Festivals (with a dash of Jimmy Buffet)

image from

So I am reading that Time article about these old Manuscripts in Africa and getting so excited because manuscripts are so historically important to have (especially since we colonists basically rewrote the history and these manuscripts are located in a place called Timbuktu... and that is pretty cool.

Well they mention this Music Festival that is near there called Festival of the Desert. And I realise I TOTALLY know this spot... it jogged my memory of one of my fav Vanity Fair articles I read years back. About Jimmy Buffet, dude who founded Island Records (Bob Marley's label) and the guy who used to run MTV and then runs every thing (read= Viacom) and then I think he got fired.

This article is WORTH READING i talks about Mali and Music and tells about Jimmy Buffet (love) and a music festival in the desert that uses generators for amps and a fire pit for light at night.

Note that this is on my FESTIVALS to ATTEND list
others are
Sun Jam: this is technoey, but Liz's cousin (by marriage) is a DJ and he and his friend started this a few years back on this deserted island off of Honduras. Now its the real deal and awesome and (although we had to postpone this summer because Liz got preggers--- HAVING BABY TOMORROW!!!! I'm totally going next year)
Zozobra: DG discovered this festival... and attended last year....they build "old man gloom" who symbolizes all the hardships and despair of the past year. and then you burn him. and all your hardships and despair Its very cool. Very Pagan see documentary in two parts 1 / 2

Nod to The 90s:Lisa Loeb

Sooo I am just thinking that I am getting over the fact that everyone is getting married when everyone starts having kids (shout out LIZ & MANDY & SONS!!!). And I read today that dear Lisa Loeb is also due this winter.... Lisa Loeb who I listened to all through 8th grade spring break when I had gotten my cornea scratched and had to wear gauze taped to my face in Miami and the Bahamas and I got a sunburn that included the tape going down my cheek and my face was kind of off color all summer). So Ive been listening to her all day....

The one that was popular
My Dreamer Song
THE BEST ONE
Only listen to after you get dumped- ONLY not appropriate or enjoyed at any other time.
The one that talks about a moron talking.

my coworker walked by and I told her I was bringing back Lisa Loeb today. She hates lisa loeb. I love her in my girl rock lady jam section.

A different Conversation about Religion & Jeremy Hilary Boob

I found Lisa Miller's Newsweek article, "Out, Out Damn Atheists" that reviews Karen Armstrong's new book "The Case for God."

Karen, a former Roman Catholic Nun who rejected her faith talks in her book about what it all really is by talking about the part of religion that I like, recognising that there is an unknown. (And acknowledging that. And circling and circling closer and closer to a truth that you WILL never get no matter what you do because you can't. Because we are human.)

Summary of Karen Armstrong's Argument by Lisa Miller: To oversimplify: "faith" and "reason" are not like political parties. You don't join one after having been convinced via argument of its validity. What the Greeks called logos and what they called mythos define two different aspects of the world and our experience in it: the knowable and the unknowable. You can believe in both. The bridge between them, Armstrong submits, is not the snarky badinage or righteous browbeating that has so defined faith-versus-reason debates of late, but practice.

She writes, "Jews, Christians, and Muslims all knew that revealed truth was symbolic, that scripture could not be interpreted literally, and that sacred texts had multiple meanings, and could lead to entirely fresh insights. Revelation was not an event that happened once in the distant past, but an ongoing, creative process. (from "The Case for God" Karen Armstrong)

"This critique has not been articulated often or clearly enough: the new atheists are, in effect, buying into one particular modern, Western fundamentalist notion of God in order to make God look ridiculous and knock it down... She has a special affinity for the mystics...all these, she argues, access transcendence through disciplined work, through failure, anxiety, and the redoubling of effort. By submitting to the unknown, mystics are supposed to become more wise and more loving. At its best then, mythos has a positive, pragmatic effect on logos." (from Lisa Miller)

(Jeremy Hilary Boob from the Yellow Submarine)

I love that this conversation has been started. It takes me back to the most Ive learned about the unknown, a graduate class my professor Jeremy deQ. Adams allowed me to take at SMU. (let me note that professor Adams is a New Orleans born medievalist who used to teach at Oxford in London and party with the Beatles. FACT: he is the inspiration for the Professor in the Yellow Submarine- the Beatles actually called him Jeremy Hilary Boob, yeah, you know the song "the Nowhere Man" YEP. Professor Adams is the NOWHERE man.... and the song totally makes sense when you listen to him string together millions of ideas and listen/ watch his brain dance over centuries in class (and over tea at his awesome house that looks like a museum)

The class was on St. Augustine of Hippo (a partyboy who wasn't religous and then was so moved while volunterring in Northern Africa by the women who were victems of rape-as-a-tool-of-war and became religous... but not before he first figured out the unknown for himself and kind of REASONED the explinations that he found in religous texts- today he is known as one of the 4 Drs of the church, the intellectual Dr) and the City of God and the transition from Rome (and the state as the governor of ideas to the Christian Church and its subsequent organization of people after the sack of the Vandals) I was going to babble on about all this but link to the sparknotes is good- I might return to this topic later.

The last thing to mention is Hudson Smiths Book, The World Religions, which is a book that I carry around all the time, for years, and it explains very well, the world's religions. Not the fanatical or political or misconstrued elements of the religions. But the mystical, truth seeking and ways this way of seeing has tried to unravel that that is unknown. (Although I don't like the picture on the cover I linked too... mine is pretty and white and looks like a real book).






.... calls attention to the differences in reason and faith.

These days are so fanatical and I feel like I am confronted with straight up morons. I do not think Karen Armstrong is a moron and I am

Photographs of Women

I love this image of Anna Wintour. Since the release of The September Issue people seem to have come around to like the editor of Vogue. I have always thought that people who enjoy shouting opinions of a businesswoman in the gossipy character are ridiculous, and seem soooo small when juxtaposed with her hard earned power and accomplishments.

I just can't help but respect a woman who is at the head of her business who gets shit done. And I enjoy it when I find a businesswoman that I can check in on every now and then to inspire me with encouragement, confidence in my own decisions, and a reminder that you should not fear extending your own power or trying to be the best at what you do.

I love this picture, emailed to me on the Guest of a Guest newsletter, because this is the editor I respect. Photographed working.

I love this picture for the aesthetics, the symbolism in the shadow she casts. I love this picture for the combination of the vertical woman towering over the horizontal rows of fashion week. I love that she is there, in the lights, before all the goodies and bottles of water have been touched by anyone else. I love how she crosses her legs (mostly because I do that too).

Diane Birch

This morning I was sitting at my desk journaling (the hand written kind). My office mate loves teenyboppers and MTV and this morning our office TV was turned to music videos. (WHAT A GREAT DAY! because Imagine my pleasure and rip roaring feeling of CONGRATS and happiness of success to a deserving talented girl when I saw that Diane Birch, Nothing but a Miracle has made it to #18 on MTV video countdown.

It was a while back, either a few months or several weeks ago, that I came across the music of Diane Birch. I sent the information to Lisel and Caroline (part of the millions of emails I sent them that have resulted in this space for my pearls).

I was so impressed with both her voice and raw woman sound (in my category of girl rock badass calm music). I did research and saw that she was just a talented girl with something to sing at a piano. She had lots of travel (see AFriCa) under her belt, and rebelled against her Christian parents. All inspiring things.

I ran into her at Norwood two weeks ago and told her how much I loved her music. I am so excited (both for her and for the fact that tiny boppers have embraced such real raw talent)


GO DIANE!!!!!


This is a Picture from that night of my Friend Lucy Inman and Diane Birch.

The Red Book

Sunday New York Times Magazine... always has good stuff.... secret red book coming to light after laying dusty for years, but a know genius exploring between reality and not... with drawings... notes... and thoughts about the unconscious and conscious. I love it.

Devin and the Dude

I saw Caroline this weekend- she is such a good hostess and took great care of me. (Thanks) Most important to the two or three people I share this blog with is Devin and the Dude, a Houston Rapper- good ole slow jams that make me happy.
Devin and the Dude: What a Job (feat. Snoop Dogg and Andre 3000)
(this one is my favorite and I had to keep playing it on replay)

She also recommends of Devin and the Dude
almighty dollar
broccoli and cheese
what a job
she want that money
No longer needed here

Roald Dahl- the sexist man alive

I love Rhald Dahl. I always have loved his imagination and honour. As a child I appreciated his ability to expose his readers and characters to truly scary things. The reality of deceit (The Witches). The fact that people who are supposed to love you do not always love you (Matilda).

I have been reading his adult novels in the last few years. Dahl's Tales of Uncle Oswald are rip roaring and give me a masculine character of Wimsey that is usually regulated (in literature) to characters lie Aunt Mame or Aunt Augusta (from Graham Greene's Travels with My Aunt). It is the most surprisingly sexiest thing I've ever read.

I was at a Steeplechase in the beautiful country of Tennessee. It was my kind of Steeplechase as these people were in the book world and gave all of the guests books. I found Roald Dahl's book of short stories- Skin and other stories and in reading these I really realised the complicated yet simple, funny and truthful (revealing?) tales that Dahl told. I read Skin aloud to my family in the car. The plot is here- read it. I was struck by the truthful moral in the story about knowing your audience and recognising how valuable information in and that you are to be aware and responsible and use discretion with how much information (about yourself) you give away- and to whom. Not everyone cares for you.



All these wonderful things made me really appreciate what I found yesterday in the Houston airport. Jennet Conant has written a book that adds to the Myth of Roald Dahl, a myth that I like and will carry with me. The book is The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the Brittish Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. I only just started it yesterday (and tried to not be too zealous so I can work on finishing my other book for book club; and finish a fantastic book Ive been working on, T.J. Stiles, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The curator of the CIA's historical Intelligence Collection, Hayden B. Peake, reviewed the book and found it to have little intelligence value. But the point, the fantastic point, is that "For those interested in WW II Washington society and politics, however, The Irregulars has much of significance and Dahl is the centerpiece of attention." It all sounds delightful to me!

A little bit of a big pie

I used to be way more involved in international affairs than I am today. I still, however, love to understand larger more complex conflicts through very real issues. It makes it personal and it makes me understand what the people who make up a conflict are going though (which is what makes up the conflict itself.)

Case in point: the Middle East issues with territories and states and political lines appears in Facebook as people write their nationalities in their profiles. Interesting article.

Taro Gomi/ Coloring Books

I am a big fan of coloring. When I lived in Dallas I would throw soup parties. Cook soup all day and send a giant text for all my friends to stop by anytime all night for some soup. People would end up popping in, some staying all night, some coming by after dinner, some before. We would usually sit around the table coloring for hours.

While hosting a house party I found the coolest coloring book in the world I set up the bathroom like an art studio and all night everyone colored to their little hearts content. This coloring book was the most adult friendly and funny book ever, not surprising since it is written by Taro Gomi, the Japanese artist responsible for the most popular bathroom book in the world, Everybody poops.

Check out these drawings (photographed in b&w- a little against the fabulous bright colors that this book encourages) by my friends from Summer 2009

I drafted this post long ago- back when I was a bit scared about posting and before I realised that this is my own little journal spot..... I am posting it now because of my second great coloring book find. I also found this in the Houston Airport (between this and The Irregulars and these golf balls that look like 8 balls- I had quite a successful layover).

Nellie Ryan, an artist from over the pond (in the UK) does adorable girly work and her coloring book Fabulous Doodles, is super cute (it is highly evocative of Taro Gomi's book). I would recommend Nelly Ryan's Fabulous Doodles for a girl (of any age but for sure a girl) and Taro Gomi's book for your future dinner parties.

I think that Taro Gomi's doodle book is better than Nellie Ryan's. Each book has little instructions at the top and gives creative encouragement, but I think that Gomi's prompts stretch the mind and set up the possibilities of a more unique and random drawing.

See below some copyrighted images from Amazon's preview of Taro Gomi's Book

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Sunday I went to check out Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

My favorite from SXSW this past March, they are somewhat of a musical Charles Manson family. Minus the whole sadistic killing part. Buzz on them has sky rocketed, and I have been listening to "Home" all summer. (NPR is the best way to hear this song online for free) The concert sold out and word on the street (literally my roommate talking to people while she was on the street smoking) is that they might be in the next issue of Rolling Stone Magazine!

The first time I saw them, they overloaded the stage with something like 11 members. This time around they only had about 8. The leader a.k.a. the Happy Hippie Charles Manson is Alex Ebert- apparently an L.A. big deal. Before the show I was at Brooklyn Surf Bar (this bad ass surfer bar with sand covered floors -indoors and on the back patio- surf boards everywhere surfing pics and memorabilia covering everything). I spoke with an L.A. dude who used to play with his old band, Ima Robot. He told me that Alex Eberts family used to be (maybe still is) a big deal at Virgin Records, interesting info, although he had never heard of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

I am huge in to audience participation and the feeling of a crowd and this band always delivers. Between Alex Ebert's magnetism (his bouncing reminds me of trey- or maybe it is the fact that his bouncing makes the ENTIRE audience bounce in motion with him) and the blond chick with the behive playing the accordion or the xylophones to the bongo dude who LOVES his job to my fav- the girl who always looks like she is tripped out and danced around in long vintage dresses playing an ancient drum strapped to her stomach or a tambourine. They are beaming as they rock out and dancing with each other.

I was super impressed with the amount of work theyd put in in the last 6 months. Although I read that Heath Ledger funded the groups first recording sessions, post-sxsw show, two of the members told me SXSW was the first time theyd played together in front of an audience. BUT Sunday, they were totally together, songs were polished and I was loving it.

Pictures above from This website
FYI- the videos you can see of them online do not look good and do not do them justice.

SHARKWATER

I found about about Rob Stewart's Shark Documentary, SharkWater from my old friend and the first bad ass girl I ever met Daniella Vesco. She is a musician and a photographer and a surfer- and now her brother has turned her into an activist. Rob Stewart is her "personal hero" and he has spent 5 years traveling and working on this. YEA SHARKS!

PHISH or 40 Years after Woodstock you can still hitchhike

yes I am back from phish and my feet are clean. Hippie dirt does come

off. I do, however, make these embarrassing squeaking sounds when I

walk around the office- casual attire on non filming days usually

doesn't make enough noise to have to cause me to take alternate

routes..... it does today with my hippie squeak.

It was a great show- and one I enjoyed sober. I made it back in time

enough to get 4 hours of sleep. There was lots of drama. Our ride that

was supposed to get me back for work fell though and DG and I had

to do some last minute running around to get to the city. We found

some poeple who were headed to Manhattan- these two really dorky and

really nice guys. So 40 years after woodstock you can still hickhike

home from a concert.

I needed some hippy action. I like my panic crowd better. but I just

like being reminded (especially sitting here at a desk in an office)

of real life (or even one extreme fraction of real life). Everyone is

so dirty and there for the music.

We drive up from a friends beach house in New Roselle, a caravan of 3

cars. I found a book in the car on the way up called Sugar Queen. It

was so good. It takes place in North Carolina mountains. And every

book Ive read about that region always has a little bit of magic a few

ghosts and some root or herbal remedies- its just how mountain people

are. And I love things that are only the tiniest bit of magic.

There was one character who had books just appear- everywhere- and the

type of book depended on where she was in her life or important

decisions she needed to make- like when the relationship goes wrong

she gets followed around (literally they appear next to her on the

counter, on the floor in the bathroom etc- and if she doesnt pick them

up they appear to her again) anyway- she gets followed by "finding

forgiveness" and then old love new life (or something like that) and

then when she buys a new house- the complete homeowners guide follows

her around (I LOVE THIS IDEA) anyway.

I finished the book just as we are pulling into the Saratoga

Performing Arts Center. We are driving (bumper to

bumper) through these tall trees- so self standing with a pine canopy

above. the trees are big- and I can feel that it is a north eastern

forest. (I was surprised by how rocky the soil seemed to be on our

drive up there). This place is beautiful... it is kind of a family

recreation summer center, with a maze of brick and columned buildings

that has a conference hall, a pool and brick walkways that go through

a maze of arches and benches etc. Everywhere is covered with

phishpans- music lovers, true phish phans, diehards who are over 60,

lots of family's and their kids many in the 8 and under age...

although walking back from shakedown street I saw a 12 year old hippie

boy walking in front of me on the path checking out/ doing a complete

turnaround doubletake of a hippie girl walking with her mom carrying

cookies for sale.

There are a few things that I love about concerts. One is the economy.

Some venues are better than others but the sheer basics of economics

rock in the microcosm that is The Lot. People can get around the

country and into shows selling nothing but grilled cheese before and

after the shows (I know- at jones beach I shredded lots of cheese for

Mikie D- a guy from colorado who quit his job for this phish summer

tour because hed felt empty while phish had been on their 7 year

hiatus from touring) You walk down shakedown street and can find

EVERYTHING for sale- tampons, ponchos, any kind of drug that you ever

could imagine, (also fake drugs and fake tickets) earrings, tshirts,

games you can play (like washers, this beanbag toss game) cups,

coozies, cigarettes, jewelry, beer, water, every baked good (funky and

nonfunky) and CLOTHES--- clothes hand made and sewn by hippies--

Yesterday, standing in the portapoty line on the pine needless, in the

shade of trees, I watched a these little kids play in the dirt while

their parents ran into some friends from their touring days almost a

decade ago. I chatted in the line with this girl who was selling her

skirts. They were super funky. Shed sewn all these crazy fabrics

together and the main focus was a printed piece of cloth featuring

trey playing guitar.

The economics of it all is a fine line. S- one of DGs friends

from long island who went to UVM and then Colorado and is the most

serious Adreliene junkie I have ever met-- seriously anything

dangerous he does- skydiving, serious rock climbing, base jumping, he

even has this float that was discontinued after 3 weeks because it

killed too many kids -when you pull this float behind the boat, it

flies. Yes flies. like 10-20 feet in the air. S is a master

lotsman.

First of all, any concert that I have been to- he knows the lot rats.

Not just hey man blah blah blah--- but like have been skydiving or to

school or road tripped or something real together. I guess it comes

with the territory when those are your schools.... after SMU- you

throw me in to any country club in America and I bet I either know

someone there or can figure out some connection- but after runs in

Bolder and Vermont- you get thrown in to any major shakedown street in

the world and thats where you know the people. (S by the way is

super interesting- he trades with his family company to finance a

crazy lifestyle- traveling all over the world for these super extreme

adventures--- he hates the city but loves his life plan--- currently

raising money for his next roadtrip skydive etc project with some of

his sponsors where he spends 6 months on the road and they do internet

tv etc of his stuff). Real mover and shaker on the lot.

Phish people are different than Panic people. Panic people are my

tribe. Festivals are always the most interesting because of the

smorgasboard of music lovers and unpredictability of people melding to

music. The phish crowd hasn't changed.

My first introduction to the phish people was in boarding school. They

were mostly the FOCUS leaders (collage kids who spent their summers in

Martha's vineyard at focus camps, or were from the north and came down

south for college). Focus is the christian group for boarding schools

that ironically arranged for overnight events with boys schools in the

woods.

I was struck by the female phish phans intensity. In this fan base it

is expected for all women to be just as informed about EVERYTHING as

the men. The ladies (and this is across the board- age of the fan and

the time period when followed phish) are more often than not Bigger

Fans than the guys they are with. While Panic is mostly a gathering of

familys and coed crowds. It is common for girls to go on tour with

thier own pack of girls.

Now this is a generalization--- of female phish fans outside of phish

shows- they are usually pale and freckled, outdorsey but not lesbians-

lots of fleece wearing on the weekends- a quieter breed than panics

taned drunk southerners.

Now people at shows (especially hard to reach worknight shows like

last nights) there are only the diehards and the hippies. There is a

punkier, rocker harder culture to northern boys that is just not

culturally pervasive in the South.

But what there is at all the shows is the music. For me. I like to

dance. I mean really dance with the music. I pride myself on knowing

when they are going to change tempo and being able to carry the sound

through my body. seriously. This is actually what I am thinking about

when I am at these concerts. That by dancing I am doing my part to

participate.

It can be very odd. The behavior of the crowd. It gets funky. You look

over the crowd and see THOUSANDS of moving, slithering, shaking,

beating bodies and arms. The closest thing I can say to describe it is

when you are scuba diving and looking closely at all that coal that is

constantly moving. Moving both with the ebb and flow of the water, as

a group, and also in that same movement, moving by it self.

The light shows are also a work of art. Phish plays less like panic

where they lead you in with a jam and then you rock out, and more like

a symphony that you go see live. You sit there sometimes just

watching. You dance and are super happy. You listen to them make all

these weird scary noises and take you to somewhere super dark. The

same way that I think I am dancing with the tempo, the lighting man

really is dancing with them- visually- with the lights.

While sober, you are transported to this eerie dream aquarium (one

could say). As the music changes to channel or tell you something else

the lights make it even more real. They use sights and sounds to

transform a place into an illusion of something that it is not.

My real favorite thing is DG. And I will be still just watching the

music and know he is still beside me and then Ill get int to the music

and totally start dancing and then look over and he is right there

with me dancing... it is so nice. It is really hard to find some one who dances on beat with me.

SO there is so much more to tell.... you prolly all know this

yourselves. but I am at work in Manhattan now after hitchiking after a

serious hippie show (oh yeah i forgot to tell you the specifics. While

I did have a ride home, we showed up with no tickets, and it started

raining right when we walked into the venue. I mean getting really

rained on with thousands of other people in a forest. I lost my ride

home... found my ride home and made it there. DG skipped the post

phish festival that is going on up there... it started after the

concert with some crazy field festival that went till dawn and then

starts again this afternoon and ends tonight. I am happily typing away

at work though because, Like they say, you cant do it all.

And I have my flipflops squeeks to remind me that just a few hours ago

I was somewhere very different.

CONCLUSION- I think that if one is not suited to office life and works

in the 9 to 5- it makes me like to juxtapose office life to everything

else.