This summer, on July 3,4 & 5, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead and many of their followers and friends will be converging on Chicago. This is being billed as the last time they will be playing together and it is the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the band. The last concert they did was also at Soldier Field, that was twenty years ago. The capacity of this venue is something over 63,000 and I am sure that all three shows will sell out.
It is just a bit ironic that these same dates are when the Rainbow Family of Love and Light have their national gathering which presents the dedicated Dead Head with a bit of a conundrum. If there is one thing that could possibly lure a Rainbow back to Babylon, especially when their largest annual family reunion takes place, (typically drawing over 60K people to the woods) it would be a Dead show. Likewise, the only thing that could possibly lure most Dead Heads away from a concert of this magnitude would be the National Gathering of the Rainbow Family of Light and Love. About the same time the Grateful Dead got their start, the Rainbows were having their first gatherings. Both events are a continuing testament to the ethos of the Sixties. "Tune in, turn on, drop out." I have written about this motto before and this is a good place to decipher those three simple admonitions.
Tune-in: The sixties were the beginning of the FM revolution, there was a relationship between clean sound (hi-fidelity) and the concept of truth. Cutting through the static was more than a watchword for the time, it was a physical reality for audiophiles as well as the general public. In the digital age, when we are happy to lose fidelity for quantity of data, it may seem odd, but technology often acts as a stimulus for changes in our thought process, decision making skills and our concept of the world around us. Tune-in had far more to do with getting a clear picture (including being sensitive to their vibes) of what others were saying, not just what the monied interests wanted you to think or know.
Turn on: For the ruling elites, it was easy enough to relegate this admonition to the waste bin of "drug use" and therefore paint all who advocated it as criminals (even though LSD, the mind expanding drug of choice, was still legal). What later became known as "Follow your bliss" was the true message. The theory is, and it has been proven millions of times over, that getting straight about your true spirit and following your heart rather than your head creates not only more happy people overall, but fires up their neurons, heals all sorts of illness and invigorates mindless automatons who only exist to serve the status quo. The revolution that is not being televised is the one that flows from the billions of subtle acts taking place by people inspired by peace love and understanding, not the acts of war mongers and people who devote their lives to fear and hate. (That revolution is being perpetrated upon our society by the major news networks 24/7) The uninformed continue to grasp at the straw given to them by the oligarchs. "It was about the drugs." they say, as if that could make it real. I am as turned on today as I was in the sixties and have not had LSD in over thirty years, nor do I want, or need it to remain turned on.
Drop out: Funny how this seems to be the most salient of all three. We are existing in a world (at least here in the good old U. S. of A.) where half the workforce has given up...just left the job market. Now we have cute, trite and easily disparaged code words for dropping out. Going "off the grid" for instance, connotes wacko apocalyptic survivalists, conspiracy theorists and libertarian, anti-government types. "Homeless" camps around our nation have gobbled up hundreds of thousands of our young people who find family and living arrangements "outside" traditional definitions and who live by their wits rather than by selling themselves as wage slaves. There are tens of millions of people who are living in the cash only society (sub-culture) and they have truly dropped out, no longer contributing to the coffers of government with payroll deductions and social security payments. Dropping out is taking place all around us, but the ruling elites have a host of code words to accuse, blame, and disparage those who have the courage and strength to take the road less traveled.
I live about 3 1/2 hours away from soldier field by car and have some space available for people who want to come in from faraway locations to see the shows. I prefer to use mass transit when possible, but to get to Soldier Field from here, it would take about an extra hour to get there by mass-transit and would entail a 2 hour drive to Milwaukee to catch the closest train. Not driving to Chicago may actually be worth the extra effort, but that would be up to those coming in for the event.
I am also offering, for the "coasties" who may be coming in, to host ECO-tours, shamanic journeys and educational seminars during the three weeks prior to the concerts. Please let me know
ASAP if you are planning to attend. All are welcome.
It is just a bit ironic that these same dates are when the Rainbow Family of Love and Light have their national gathering which presents the dedicated Dead Head with a bit of a conundrum. If there is one thing that could possibly lure a Rainbow back to Babylon, especially when their largest annual family reunion takes place, (typically drawing over 60K people to the woods) it would be a Dead show. Likewise, the only thing that could possibly lure most Dead Heads away from a concert of this magnitude would be the National Gathering of the Rainbow Family of Light and Love. About the same time the Grateful Dead got their start, the Rainbows were having their first gatherings. Both events are a continuing testament to the ethos of the Sixties. "Tune in, turn on, drop out." I have written about this motto before and this is a good place to decipher those three simple admonitions.
Tune-in: The sixties were the beginning of the FM revolution, there was a relationship between clean sound (hi-fidelity) and the concept of truth. Cutting through the static was more than a watchword for the time, it was a physical reality for audiophiles as well as the general public. In the digital age, when we are happy to lose fidelity for quantity of data, it may seem odd, but technology often acts as a stimulus for changes in our thought process, decision making skills and our concept of the world around us. Tune-in had far more to do with getting a clear picture (including being sensitive to their vibes) of what others were saying, not just what the monied interests wanted you to think or know.
Turn on: For the ruling elites, it was easy enough to relegate this admonition to the waste bin of "drug use" and therefore paint all who advocated it as criminals (even though LSD, the mind expanding drug of choice, was still legal). What later became known as "Follow your bliss" was the true message. The theory is, and it has been proven millions of times over, that getting straight about your true spirit and following your heart rather than your head creates not only more happy people overall, but fires up their neurons, heals all sorts of illness and invigorates mindless automatons who only exist to serve the status quo. The revolution that is not being televised is the one that flows from the billions of subtle acts taking place by people inspired by peace love and understanding, not the acts of war mongers and people who devote their lives to fear and hate. (That revolution is being perpetrated upon our society by the major news networks 24/7) The uninformed continue to grasp at the straw given to them by the oligarchs. "It was about the drugs." they say, as if that could make it real. I am as turned on today as I was in the sixties and have not had LSD in over thirty years, nor do I want, or need it to remain turned on.
Drop out: Funny how this seems to be the most salient of all three. We are existing in a world (at least here in the good old U. S. of A.) where half the workforce has given up...just left the job market. Now we have cute, trite and easily disparaged code words for dropping out. Going "off the grid" for instance, connotes wacko apocalyptic survivalists, conspiracy theorists and libertarian, anti-government types. "Homeless" camps around our nation have gobbled up hundreds of thousands of our young people who find family and living arrangements "outside" traditional definitions and who live by their wits rather than by selling themselves as wage slaves. There are tens of millions of people who are living in the cash only society (sub-culture) and they have truly dropped out, no longer contributing to the coffers of government with payroll deductions and social security payments. Dropping out is taking place all around us, but the ruling elites have a host of code words to accuse, blame, and disparage those who have the courage and strength to take the road less traveled.
I live about 3 1/2 hours away from soldier field by car and have some space available for people who want to come in from faraway locations to see the shows. I prefer to use mass transit when possible, but to get to Soldier Field from here, it would take about an extra hour to get there by mass-transit and would entail a 2 hour drive to Milwaukee to catch the closest train. Not driving to Chicago may actually be worth the extra effort, but that would be up to those coming in for the event.
I am also offering, for the "coasties" who may be coming in, to host ECO-tours, shamanic journeys and educational seminars during the three weeks prior to the concerts. Please let me know
ASAP if you are planning to attend. All are welcome.
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