Grateful Dead... My Story... American History... and Original Deadhead ART... deadheads: stories from fellow artists

My Sugar Cube Painting...

like the cover of 

"The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" 
by Tom Wolfe.

~~~~~~~~~~my  Gr8ful  story~~~~~~~~~

 I first noticed the Grateful Dead in 1968 in English class at junior high school. Our teacher had put up posters on the wall of the classroom and we wrote essays about them. He was attempting to stimulate creative WRITING but more importantly, creative THINKING.

One was an American flag made out of swastikas and another was a solarized/negative photo of 5 hairy men standing in front of "LITTLE BOXES" type suburban tract homes.

Our English teacher stopped working for the school system that year and has never been heard of since. That has happened often to people that go to see the Dead... They change their lifestyle and start associating with a different set of people...

The first time I went to a concert was 1972. It was a double date with friends. There were three bands playing that night. The Sons of Champlin, The New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Grateful Dead. We all smoked marijuana during the first act and the other couple fell asleep in each others arms on

the floor of the Winterland Arena (San Francisco).

We let them sleep until the last song of the night. Casey Jones.

All that I really remember about that show was that the last song kept on getting louder and more intense and I felt that it was impossible for it to get any more powerful, and then it did...

The next year I went to Chico State College. At That Time...my opinion was that the people who were fans of the Dead were too obsessive. I tried to keep out of that scene because the people were just fanatic... I was more into Johnny Winter...

However,

In 1974 a group of us kids got into a Van and went to see the Dead at the University of Reno. I was in the back playing harmonica with my friend Jimmy on guitar. We spent the night at a cabin at Lake Tahoe. We all bought some 4-way windowpane acid. This turned out to be a mistake. The quality was

frighteningly bad. The next morning we went to the football stadium at 10 AM. We took the LSD and it made us feel anxious and upset all day. Lucky for me, I gave away 3/4 of the gelatin square to some ladies. I apologize to them for their own nightmare experiences... Hey, I just didn't know... sorry...

The Dead were using a sound system called "The Albatross" or "The Wall Of Sound". They NEVER got it to work right. It was a huge sound system that was so complex that it turned out to be impractical to use on the road. They would play half a song and then something would go wrong and they would stop. At 8 that night they finally gave up and we left. By then, the fear caused by the acid had gone away and I had a good time looking at the flashing lights in downtown RENO. There were some sculptures of Showgirls that were 40 feet tall. They were very impressive. I took some photographs at that show. I also had borrowed a Halloween mask from my roommate.  I lost the mask when some kid borrowed it to wear and then ran away thru the crowd...

During my trip I realized that it was way too much stuff to have to keep track of. From then on I carried very little with me on trips... Intentionally dressing for an adventure, with carefully selected supplies...

Eventually, I went to 39 Dead Concerts. What a blessing...

The Wall of Sound did function wonderfully at San Francisco's Winterland... The shows documented in "The Grateful Dead Movie" were spectacular... During the song "Truckin" I realized that "if the roof blew off the building and I could see the stars, I would not really be amazed because what was happening on stage was already the most unbelievable event possible... another unbelievable event would just be trivial"

I was amused by one peculiar action... often, the cameramen would film a lightbulb on a stand... this seemed like odd behavior. 10 Years Later, I was told what they were doing... they were filming a flipboard with a NUMBER written on it lit up by the lightbulb to be used to index the reels of film... for editing... 

They had live fire on stage and

ladies with silk ribbons dancing in front of the band...

and the LSD that night was of excellent quality... THANKS!

It became apparent that there was something ELSE going on in addition to "rock and roll/show business". Some times I would not bother to buy a ticket to the concert at all but was happy to play music in the parking lot. Many people DID NOT attend the concerts. They went to experience the scene that surrounded the DEAD. There was a philosophy that the band was not the center of attention.

Dancing at the Rainbow Gathering in California... Dun Dun Village...

The Rainbow Gathering is the logical outgrowth of this feeling. The people from the audience (and other like minded individuals) meet in a National Forest and have a wonderful camping trip. At this level, the band does not even attend at all.

REBUS PICTURE PUZZLE:

What do the webdings spell?

answer to the rebus picture puzzle:

You can call this song "The United States Blues"

During the late 1970s the band had become unpopular with the general public and I got to see them in smaller places... like the boys gym at the University of Maryland. The baby boomer generation seemed to be embarrassed by their hippie behavior during their youth and those were lean years for the band. Bad for them, but good for me because it was easy to get a ticket...

Then tastes changed and they started playing

huge football stadiums.

One fine show was at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium... 80,000 seats... The Dead played with Crosby, Stills and Nash. They played "Wooden Ships" and "Teach Your Children" which featured a pedal steel guitar solo by Jerry Garcia... such a sweet introduction to that song on the CSN record... The people came from Canada, NY city and Washington DC... an interesting group of people to meet... there was a great violin based gypsy jazz band playing by a bus after the show... then the police made everyone leave the parking lot and drive on down the road. I ended up stopping at a McDonald's restaurant with a playland that was just PACKED with other deadheads... Big fun playing on the toys.

I never went "on tour" with the Dead but it took very little effort to drive one day to see a show... So, when I lived in Maryland, I went to many shows in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Columbia MD, DC, Norfolk

VA and NY City... Like, why NOT?

Madison Square Garden is built directly above Pennsylvania Station... it's quite convenient to ride the train to and from the show...

The 6 shows I saw at Columbia Maryland's Merriweather Post Pavilion were a high point for all... The venue is in an ideal location. It is located in "Symphony Woods", a forested park in downtown Columbia. Across the street is a giant shopping mall. Convenient access to supplies (groceries,

batteries, liquor etc.).

The shows were outdoors in the summer and one night there was a thunderstorm. Lucky US! Many people left and that relieved the overcrowding on the lawn area... Thanks for going away!

The band kept on playing and the lightning flashes seemed to be timed to the music... During the drum/space part of the show, Mickey Hart timed drum rolls to have the thunder play the last note... on a tom-tom fill it would go... from high to low... da da da, du du du, de de de, kaboom!

Sadly, the town of Columbia requested that the Dead play somewhere ELSE... The rumor is that there were too many fireworks in the parking lot and the fans were a danger to the forest... I believe this to be true because there WERE a lot of explosives flying into the air... flying explosives are legal "south of the border" in the Carolina states... a VERY short drive on highway 95... so the DC area always has had a lot of fireworks... and M80 firecrackers.

The next year the Dead moved to a basketball arena... and then eventually ended up at RFK Stadium in Washington DC.

A concert at RFK had Another fantastic thunderstorm... the football field turned to mud with people sliding... In the summer, the weather often gets to 99.99999% humidity and 100 degrees Fahrenheit... It's just miserable... they, when the rain comes at nightfall, it is a relief... a blessing... the people started to cheer when the thunderstorm started...

MORE GRATEFUL DEAD INSPIRED ART...

Poetry inspired by Dead Concerts at JFK Stadium and the Spectrum Arena in Philadelphia.

ceremony and ritual: a story...

OUR MINDS HAVE BEEN FUSED INTO ONE SHIMMERING

COLONIAL ANIMAL...

FLOWING IN THE

CURRENTS OF THE MUSIC...

adrenaline, serotonin,synapses on fire !

IN THE SHADOWS,TORCHES FLICKER IN THE BREEZE.

THE ORACLE BEGINS TO SPEAK,

FEEL THE HEAT...

adrenaline,serotonin,synapses on fire!

WE DANCE OUTSIDE OF THE TRADITIONAL

REALM OF TIME AND SPACE.

THE CROWD ERUPTS IN OUTBURSTS OF FREE-FORM MOTION

AS THE INTENSITY OF THE JAM PEAKS

adrenaline,serotonin,synapses on fire!

MY BODY IS TRANSFORMED INTO A PINBALL AND

I RICOCHET AROUND THE SPECTRUM

ARENA BOUNCING OFF THE FLASHING LIGHTS.

A CROWD OF DEADHEADS

SURROUND ME INTENT ON TELLING ME STUPID JOKES...

THEY JUST...know... THAT I WILL LAUGH...

adrenaline,serotonin,synapses on fire!

THANK YOU DR. ALBERT HOFFMAN

***************************************

Self Hypnosis story. written to entrance the reader.

Imagine that you are floating in a tub of warm water...

every muscle in your body is completely relaxed...

your mind drifts and contentment blooms like

a time lapse film of a rose...

you leave your body and rise up to the ceiling...

you look back and see your body...

it is resting with a cup of tea in it's hand...ahh...mint...

as you watch your body,

your mind seeps thru the ceiling and you see the world.

there is a forest...it is for...rest...

on the shore of a lake a spiral of deadheads dance around a fire.

the flickering light seems to be perfectly synchronized to the rhythm of the drums... alas...the reversal

of entropy is merely an illusion.

one of the deadheads reaches into the shadows and lifts

a five gallon can of gasoline.

it is tightly sealed.he places it on the fire...

they all move back...

it will take time for the gas to expand enough to burst the can...

a slender woman with strawberry blond hair raises a conch shell

to her lips and draws a deep breath.

she blows a long note signaling

the beginning of a new era of mankind.

everything is dripping with meaning.

significance saturates every leaf of every tree ...

then a tiny hole appears in the gas can and

a cone of fire reaches for the sky...

you contemplate metallurgy,welding and strength of materials...

then the gas can resigns itself to fate

and a ball of fire searches for oxygen and of course finds it.

the spiral of deadheads emit a massive yeah! and you drift on...

One fine thing about the Grateful Dead:

They often played three nights in a row at the same location,

without repeating any songs. It is truly amazing that they

were able to remember that much material.

Most performers practice one show and then when they have

learned it, they go on the road...

It makes me wonder if there is a song memorization

enhancing property to the chemical LSD.

How ELSE can we explain what happened?

Each night had a different texture to it.

The first night had more extreme improvisation and more

dissonant chord structure.

The second night was mellow and the third night

was straight ahead rock and roll.

I believe that this was intentional.

Many of us would buy tickets to all three nights and spend

the daytime as tourists exploring whatever town we were in.

On the first night, we would take LSD

and enjoy the spaciness of the jams.

The second night we would be tired out from the previous

night's adventure and were in the mood for those sad old ballads...

By the time the third night rolled

around, we just wanted to party with our new found friends.

 The ART below is based on the fine graphic design

of  Bob Thomas... and a superb redwood sculpture by an

unknown Humboldt County artist...

It is easy to see far when you stand on the shoulders of giants!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Thomas

Bob also did the Lightning Bolt Skull with

artist, sound engineer and

LSD manufacturer Owsley Stanley...

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_Stanley

nicknamed "Bear"

 The back cover of History of the Grateful Dead, vol 1 (Bear's Choice) showed multi-colored marching bears. Bob's inspiration for the bear came from a 36 point lead slug of a generic bear that was a standardized figure from a printer's font box.

The desire to document the LSD experience is strong...

witness this man trying to photograph an Hallucination...

MLULTRA... WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Both Ken Kesey and Robert Hunter were paid research subjects...

The ultimate winners of this voyage...

Kid dancing with dad as a Grateful Dead Cover band plays...

Let it Grow...

in beautiful Arcata, California... we can have fun forever... Tribute Bands may be playing Dead songs for thousands of years... after all, people still perform Mozart, Beethoven, Mussorgsky...

 "The Miracle Show" concert. A Dead Tribute band that

re-incarnates themselves as "The Fickle Hillbillies"

to play original tunes.

Playing for free in Arcata. No cover charge, we are all just friends that love to play and dance...

SAMBA! at the all species parade...

FYI... Arcata, California is an entire TOWN

of people that GRASP the concept...

Like the students pictured above...

Come and VISIT anytime... Take Highway 101 North from San Francisco or 101 South from Oregon... Highway 299 leads to us from Redding and the central valley...

Plenty of Guitar pickers and artists here...

READ MORE: 
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2017/06/grateful-deadhead-tribute-webpage.html

Grateful Deadhead Tribute Webpage. Pictures and Tall Tales. Many thanks to all that made the Grateful Dead an American Miracle... Just remember, if our lives together were written as a fiction story, everyone would dismiss it as being unbelieveable... Yet it all really happened! ART, Poetry and MyStory... I'm Gr8ful

The Path Forward: Personal Growth and The Pursuit of Happiness. Neuro-Chemical Bliss CAUSED by My Own Actions... Fun, Safe, Helps Me Live Longer with More Pleasure.

Instead of Reading Books in Order to Find God... WRITE ONE! It's a Much More Meaningful Experience! Take a Blank Piece of Paper and a Pencil... AND THINK FOR YOURSELF!

I Remember Being at a Carlos Santana Concert When I Had the Realization: "Oh, I Get It. I Ought to Dance Myself into A Trance!" We Were Outdoors near Yuba City, CA on a Beautiful Summer Night... The Other Band Was THE WHO... and As I Looked at the Audience I Could See Hispanic People and White People All Having a Wonderful Time Together... 

Remember: The Fundamental Message of THE TOWER OF POWER Band is... We Can All Join Together and Have FUN!

I'm Going to Take a Break from Typing and Dance to The Jeff Pershing Band... Chico, California's Finest... Totally Positive Worldbeat Music Designed to CAUSE Happiness...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f6EotzN45s

I Read a Newspaper Article About Finding Happiness by DOING THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY... Serotonin, Oxytocin, Endorphins... The Human Body Rewards Good Behavior... Evolution... Survival of The Fittest... It ALL MAKES SENSE!  

One Suggestion Is to Find a Hobby that is Endlessly Rewarding... I Do Art and Sell My Designs online. My Zazzle Webstore is a Place Where I Can Spend Hours Creating Art and Then Get That Endorphin HIT When Someone Actually Buys Something... 

Rainbow Spiral Cube Ornament. 

for sale on my zazzle/gregvan Webstore

https://www.zazzle.com/rainbow_spiral_cube_ceramic_ornament-175867520363622887 

Set Daily Goals That I Can Achieve and The Bask in the Glow of Success... For Example: Take a Walk in Nature... I Do This Every Day. About Five Years Ago I Was in Bad Health and Had to Use a Walker to Get Around... Thru Endless Daily Exercise (just a little bit each day) I am Now Able to Walk a Half a Mile... That's Not Very Much BUT... It's Success... and It's Interesting! Photographing Flowers and Birds and Trees and Clouds... 

Here is a Photo of a Praying Mantis on a Rose... I Got the Reward of Seeing this Interesting Insect Because I Was Outdoors Experiencing Nature... BIG FUN!

Another Secret Trick to Life is to NOTICE REALITY: You Can do this Anywhere, Anytime... First, Unplug the TV and the Internet... That's Not Reality... That's Just Swirling Colors on a Screen... and The People That Design Those Programs are DOING IT TO FURTHER THEIR OWN GOALS. Not Yours... Ever Notice That TV News is a Hate for Profit Machine? They Keep on Screaming "Danger-Danger" in order to Keep People Watching... Because a Million Years of Evolution Proved that People Who Paid Attention When a Scout Alerted the Tribe to Danger Survived... and Those that Did Not Pay Attention Died... 

Five Simple Steps to Increase Awareness:

Look Around You, 

Find Five Things You Can See.

Four Things You Can Hear.

Three Things You Can Touch.

Two Things You Can Smell.

and One Thing You Can Taste.

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Another Secret Trick To Life is EAT GOOD FOOD. I Have Started Eating Fruits and Vegetables In Every Meal. I Saw President Bill Clinton on TV Recently and He Looks Great! Very Healthy. He Said That He Had a Heart Attack and then Changed His Diet to Become a Vegan... Well, I've Decided to Learn From Him and NOT Have a Heart Attack Myself... Just Listen to HIS WISDOM and Change My Own Life... I Have No Become a Vegan or a Vegetarian but... I'm Moving Forward in a Positive Direction... While Retaining My Right to BACON and Hamburgers!

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Recently I've Been Participation is Positive Zoom Meetings. Happy, Healthy People Sharing Wisdom Online. For Example:

The World Tapping Circle Hosted by Sonya Sophia. 

https://www.worldtappingcircle.com/ She Leads a Self Help Healing Seminar using Saying Positive Statements Out Loud and Accupressure... I Always Feel Better After a One Hour Session... and... I Write Down Ideas That I Think Up While in an Altered State of Consciousness! For Example: This Blog Post!

Here is a Video of a Healing Ceremony She Lead at a Rainbow Gathering... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2r0I8VoxJY

Sonya Sophia at the Goddess Temple Chico California

I Also Like The Show - Saturday Night Alive for the Global Peace Tribe. https://harmonyconnects.com/Events/14144 

Music • Wisdom • Prayer • Meditation • Comedy • Community Connection... and They Introduced me to The Singer: Larisa Stow - "We Shall Be The PeaceMakers"

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kf8sM83n2c

The Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco: They Broadcast a Worthy Sermon Every Sunday. It makes Me Think and Be Grateful... 

https://www.uusf.org/livestream

and Remember FARMVILLE - a Positive Video Game on Facebook... I Used it as a Stress Reliever After Work instead of Having a Drink... It's a Way to Visit an Ideal World... This Game Reminds Me of the "Perky Pat Layouts" Game in the Science Fiction Novel "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" - In That Book, Ore Miners on Mars Escape their Horrible Life by Eating Psychedelics and Playing a Video Game that Simulates Life in Los Angeles for Teenagers in the 1960's - It Uses "Barbie and Ken" Dolls, Cars and Houses to Complete the Illusion...

I also Participated in The Harmonic Convergence 2020. A Global Meditation Designed to Invite Extra Terrestrials to Visit us On Planet Earth...  "ET COME HOME." 

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Headline: 

The Neurochemicals of Happiness.

Seven Brain Molecules That Make You Feel Great.

"Life in the human body is designed to be a blissful experience. Our evolutionary biology ensures that everything necessary for our survival makes us feel good. All animals seek pleasure and avoid pain. Therefore, our brain has a wellspring of self-produced neurochemicals that turn the pursuits and struggles of life into pleasure and make us feel happy when we achieve them." https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201211/the-neurochemicals-happiness

"Make America Groovy Again" 

Embroidered Baseball Cap for sale. 

You May Color This White Hat With a Rainbow of Permanent Markers... Draw a Paisley Design, Peace Signs or a Landscape - Mountains, Trees, Rivers, Puffy White Clouds... WhatEVER makes You BEATIFIC.

https://www.zazzle.com/make_america_groovy_again_embroidered_baseball_cap-233127261589788104

Top Ten ART Gifts on My Zazzle Webstore - The People Have Spoken! With Their Wallets - All Royalties Donated to Charity - Psychedelic Art - Slogans - Jokes - Hats - Buttons - Stickers

 LINK TO MY STORE:

 https://www.zazzle.com/store/gregvan/products?pg=1&st=Orders

Remember: All My Royalties Donated to Charity. Scroll Down to Find Out More... 

Color Wheel Spiral Button
by gregvan

SO WHAT if Facebook, Google and Amazon Store My Personal Data? I have never posted anything that I am ashamed of. NEVER... I never Searched for anything that I didn't want anyone to know about...

The only thing I want to remain secret is my Bank Account Number and they have successfully kept that secret. BofA sends me a statement of all debits and I have challenged a few... and then the merchants gave me back my money... 

I use my real name, never share my phone number, rarely share Where I live... Amazon Ships stuff to me so they have to know where I live. I have never posted Photographs of MY HOUSE... I don't want Strangers coming over to visit... I worked at the Welfare Office and Some of my Clients were Dangerous...  I wear Clothes in all Photos of me. 

I put Duct Tape over the built in camera and microphone on my computer... Why would I want strangers Looking and listening to me? Especially Wankers from the NSA! 

I Oppose Regulation of the Internet. I Oppose Breaking Up Of Tech Giants. I LOVE THE TENTACLE! Just like Phillip J. Fry on Futurama does. My Favorite Show. Let Alex Jones Post Hate Speech... Let Bright Bart Publish TrumpNik Propaganda... 

At a Campaign Rally, When Trump Speaks - Set Off a 130Db Personal Alarm... Sonic Payback! Pull the Pin Out so it's Impossible to Silence the Alarm... Disrupt His TV SHOW by Creating a Disturbance in the Force!

Remember: 
To Avoid Overcrowding at The Polls: 
Democrats Vote on November 3rd. 
Republicans Vote on November 4th. 
Set Your Calendar!

Disrupt His Campaign Speech by Creating
an Insanely Loud Noise.
DANGER DANGER!

 Totally Wanking his Television Show.
Let's SEE What he does with an
Alarm Sounding that CANNOT
BE SILENCED! 

Political Theater of the Absurd.

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Julián Castro buys Fox News ad to tell Trump, “Americans were killed because you 

stoked the fires of Racists”...

The ad speaks to President Donald Trump directly — linking his rhetoric toward immigrants and people of color to that of the shooter in El Paso who killed 22 and left more than two dozen wounded.

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/08/13/julian-castro-fox-news-texas/ 

Stop the #MAGAKillers

~~~~~~ QAnon Sucks! ~~~~~~

Rafael Cruz aka Ted Talks

Obviously Senator Rafael Cruz (you may know him by his Gang Name - Ted) is a Puppet of The Super Rich... The LAST thing America Needs is Another Tax Cut for the Rich! and LOOK who his Partner in crime is... Mister Bizzaro Dude Senator Mike (have more Babies to fix Climate Change) Lee... and Senator John (I have the same name as a GREAT President but I'm a POS) Kennedy... The REASON we have a Debt Ceiling Crisis is the Tax Cut for the Rich Law FAILED to collect enough Taxes to Pay for Federal Government Spending... DUH! https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/07/republicans-capital-gains-tax-cut

A sitting U.S. president who can’t stop attacking black and brown people. A never-ending trade war that has necessitated more than one multibillion-dollar farm bailout. A humanitarian crisis on the border of his own state. These are just a handful of the many issues that Senator Ted Cruz could be focused on. Instead, he’s currently devoting his efforts to a much more important cause: demanding another tax cut for the rich, this time without Congress’s approval.

In a letter sent to Steve Mnuchin on Monday, the senator from Texas urged the Treasury Secretary to use his “authority” to index capital gains to inflation, a move that would almost exclusively benefit the mega-rich. Claiming, falsely, that the United States economy “has experienced historic levels of growth as a result of Congress and the current administration’s policies such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Cruz insists that it is now crucial for the Treasury Department to adjust capital gains for inflation “so that everyday Americans can continue to enjoy better lives and livelihoods.” And by “everyday Americans,” he of course means (but doesn’t say) the spectacularly wealthy.

Missing from Cruz’s call for Mnuchin to use “executive authority” to end this “unfair” treatment of taxpayers, which was signed by 20 of his Republican colleagues, is the fact that, according to the Penn Wharton Budget model, a whopping 86% of the benefit of indexing capital gains to inflation would go to the 1 percent (and reduce annual tax revenue by an estimated $102 billion over a decade). Perhaps seeking to address this criticism, Cruz claimed that changing how capital gains are taxed “would…unlock capital for investment, increase wages, create new jobs, and grow the economy, benefiting Americans across all income levels.” In other words, he’s arguing that the executive branch should give the super-rich another tax cut and it’ll benefit everyone because of trickle-down economics which—checks notes—has never actually worked. Including in the case of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Promises Made, Promises Broken Two-Tone Coffee Mug FOR SALE!

Upside Down Flag Signalling Distress 

Created by PATRIOTS AGAINST TRUMP.

Promises Made, Promises Broken Two-Tone Coffee Mug
by gregvan

Link to All my Promises Made, Promises Broken Products!
https://www.zazzle.com/store/gregvan?qs=Promises

At a Trump Campaign Rally - Set Off a 130Db Personal Alarm - Sonic Protest! Let's See How He Deals with Absurdist Political Theater... Insane Loud Noise during a TV Appearance!

BULLETPROOF BACKPACKS FOR CHILDREN. Walmart Continues to sell GUNS but removes Video Game Displays. Instead of taking action that would save lives, Walmart finds a way to made More Money and Kiss the NRA's Tuchas!

Why is Trump EVIL? Is it Demonic Possession? Do We Need an Exorcism? Enquiring Minds Want To Know... QAnon Asks: Did Trump Order the Murder of Jeffrey Epstein? He has Motive... and Opportunity... Is it just an Extreme Example of Trump's Witness Tampering?

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

and Now, on a Different Subject...

Memories of my Childhood... 

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

I remember Vasona before it became a Park in Los Gatos, California. There was a lot of Bamboo and Cattail swamps. We went swimming off the Dam... We Fed the Ducks... Later, when it was a Park I went sailing with Barry Hill in a Homemade "El Toro" Boat that his Dad, Robert, Made out of a Kit... The Last time I was driving around with My Dad, they tried to get $5.00 admission to the Park and I refused... We drove to Apollo Heights behind Saratoga instead... That is a Epic View. Looking down on the Paul Masson Mountaintop Winery... and Los Gatos, Moffett Field, San Francisco...  Our house on Bruce Ave. was able to get San Francisco TV Stations if you pointed the Antenna in the Exact Right Direction. We owned a Radio Shack Antenna with a Rotator Box... and we did NOT climb up on the roof ourselves to install it. MOM insisted that we stop climbing up on the roof and Hire People to do stuff like that... and that worked! We never fell off the roof! That house has vanished... the new owners had it torn down so they could build a McMansion and Reap a Profit... I wonder what happened to the Redwood Deck that Mom, Dad and Grandpa built themselves? That wood is still valuable 60 years later. 

Did you know that More Money was made Logging Redwood Trees than was made Mining Gold? The Gold Rush lasted for a few decades but Redwood Logging Continues today... About half of the Sawmills near Eureka have closed because there are not that many trees left in places where they can be removed profitably. When you hire a helicopter to fly the log out... it's difficult to find trees that are worth that expense.  I lived in Eureka for 16 years and actually wrote a Newspaper Article about an Earth First! Ecology Protest - Tree Sit - Mass Arrest for the Humboldt State University Lumberjack Newspaper. Took Photographs, Interviewed People... but I did not interview any Policemen or MAXXAM Employees... I practiced BIASED Journalism. Years later I went back to that same location in Freshwater Valley and took more photographs and the Pampas Grass is growing fantastic now that there is plenty of sunlight... Those Redwood Trees Caused a Lot of Shade... That Tree Sit lasted for 364 Days. a few people built treehouses way up at the top of the Trees... One tree was named Jerry... But in the end, the Evil Charles Hurwitz Logged all the really Profitable trees, stole as much money as he could from the pension fund, Declared Bankruptcy and went back to Texas... and the New Owners (Humboldt Redwood Company - The Gap Clothes Store) are making boards out of Douglas Fir Trees... and some Planted Redwoods... and the entire Timber Wars experience gave us a New State Park - The Headwaters Forest - and It's fun to go hiking in... There is a paved road about six feet wide and many people ride bikes, push strollers, skateboard and ride wheelchairs to the Old Growth Trees. NO CARS! NO MOTORCYCLES! EARTH FIRST!

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

and Now, on a Different Subject...

Today's News... 

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

HEADLINE: Trump administration further weakens the Endangered Species Act... "Kill! Kill! Kill! I Hate Butterflies! I Hate Bees!" Says Mad King Donald... Nixon Signed the Endangered Species Act... and it saved lives of Animals! 
https://newfoodeconomy.org/trump-administration-weakens-endangered-species-act-bees-climate-change/

HEADLINE: New Trump Rule tries to Kill Bald Eagles... He Says: Animals don't Pay Bribes so what value are they? They Don't Rent Rooms at My Hotel so... We don't need Bears, Dolphins or Whales..." Headline: Trump rewrite of endangered species rule could threaten monarch butterflies, environmental group warns... https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/457317-trump-rewrite-of-endangered-species-rule-could-threaten-monarch


HEADLINE: Immigration official Ken Cuccinelli: Statue of Liberty poem refers to immigrants from Europe ONLY... Obvious Racist Pig... OINK! OINK! Just like His Boss... Mad King Donald the Loser... "Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge." 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/13/ken-cuccinelli-statue-liberty-poem-refers-migrants-europe/2004455001/

Beto O'Rourke, a 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful from the Texas border city of El Paso tweeted, "This administration finally admitted what we've known all along: They think the Statue of Liberty only applies to white people."

HEADLINE: Trump's top immigration official reworks the words on the Statue of Liberty... The Trump administration's top immigration official reworked the famous words on the Statue of Liberty in an interview Tuesday, saying America will only embrace immigrants who can "stand on their own two feet" and "not become a public charge." In a subsequent interview, Ken Cuccinelli went a step farther, saying the poem referred to "people coming from Europe." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/statue-of-liberty-poem-emma-lazarus-quote-changed-trump-immigration-official-ken-cuccinelli-after-public-charge-law/


Why don't WE have thousands of protesters in the Street in Washington DC like they Have in Moscow, Paris and Hong Kong? HEADLINE: Street Protests Might Bring Down Putin—Or Make Him Even More Dangerous to U.S.
Putin has only begun to use the enormous coercive power he has at his disposal, and as he blames the Americans his motive for interference in the U.S. grows. https://www.thedailybeast.com/street-protests-might-bring-down-putinor-make-him-even-more-dangerous-to-us

HEADLINE: Why are Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum hanging out in Russia? They Are Getting their Marching Orders from Putin in Person... I Guess... For thousands of dollars, you can join these former GOP stalwarts (TV Talking Heads) on a Baltic tour. The two are helping lead a for-profit cruise through the Baltic Sea — one that costs guests anywhere between $5,000 and $12,000 to attend. On Facebook, Huckabee pitched the cruise as an “unforgettable trip to the Baltics,” noting that it would also be stopping in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. CASHING IN ON THEIR GOVERNMENT JOB FAME... Ca-Ching! https://thinkprogress.org/why-are-mike-huckabee-and-rick-santorum-hanging-out-in-russia-1a4250120011/

HEADLINE: The Past and Future of The Internet: A Symposium for John Perry Barlow... The Duke Law and Technology Review has released a special edition dedicated to examining the legal and philosophical legacy of John Perry Barlow: co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation; junior lyricist for the Grateful Dead; biofuel entrepreneur; philosopher; poet; hacker Zelig; and driven, delightful weirdo. https://boingboing.net/2019/08/13/optimism-vs-hope.html

Link to a Google Image Search

for all my artwork!

https://tinyurl.com/gvan42art

Use this Link to Contact your US Senators...

https://www.senate.gov/senators/How_to_correspond_senators.htm

and use This one for Representatives in the House...

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

YOU MAY READ MORE BLOG POSTS ON SIMILAR 

SUBJECTS BY USING THE HANDY LABELS BELOW... 

Click and Enjoy the Bliss! Like and Share Worldwide!