Happy 71st Birthday to Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead

Lesh is More.

That simple saying, popular among Grateful Dead fans who idolize bassist Phil Lesh, is true on multiple levels.

Phil was never content to be "just" a rhythm-keeping bassist, preferring instead, like the rest of the band, to engage in sonic explorations that had much to do with the wondrous and little to do with the obvious.

Phillip Chapman Lesh was born March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, California.

Happy 71st birthday, Phil!

Lord Byron's Birthday: So We'll Go No More a-Roving

George Gordon, Lord Byron, born on January 22, 1788, led a dissipated life. In his day, Romantic Poets such as himself lived like rock stars -- cutting a wide swath through polite society and robbing many women and men of their innocence along the way (but giving them some good memories in the process).

He was as famous in his lifetime for his personality cult as for his poetry. He created the concept of the "Byronic hero" -- a defiant, brooding young man, tortured by some darkly mysterious, unforgivable event in his past.

"So We'll Go No More a-Roving" hangs heavy with the poignancy of parties past, memories still glowing with the recollection of youth but slowly fading away.

Only a libertine like Byron could have struck a note this elegaic and final when he was still in his thirties. He knew, even as he lived it, that his intense accelerated lifestyle would lead to an early demise.

He died at the age of 36 and left a legend -- and poetry -- that will live forever.

Happy birthday, Lord Byron!

So We'll Go No More a-Roving

So we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart still be as loving,
And the moon still be as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul outwears the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

.......

When We Two Parted

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow—
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me—
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met—
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.

Happy 66th Birthday To Joni Mitchell

Happy 66th birthday to the beautiful and wonderful Joni Mitchell, born November 7, 1943!



"Back then, I didn't have a big organization around me. I was just a kid with a guitar, traveling around. My responsibility basically was to the art, and I had extra time on my hands. There is no extra time now. There isn't enough time." ~ Joni Mitchell



"Sorrow is so easy to express and yet so hard to tell. " ~ Joni Mitchell



With David Crosby about 1968


With Graham Nash, Big Sur Folk Festival, 1969



"There are things to confess that enrich the world, and things that need not be said." ~ Joni Mitchell



"This is a nation that has lost the ability to be self-critical, and that makes a lie out of the freedoms." ~ Joni Mitchell



"You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it's just complaining." ~ Joni Mitchell



"“All I really, really want our love to do is to bring out the best in me and in you too.” ~ Joni Mitchell



“I want to have fun. I want to shine like the sun. I want to be the one that you want to see. I want to knit you a sweater. I want to write you a love letter. I want to make you feel better. I want to make you feel free.”
~ Joni Mitchell



“I love you when I forget about me.” ~ Joni Mitchell



“Do you see how you hurt me, baby? So I hurt you too. Then we both get so blue. I am on a lonely road and I am traveling, looking for the key to set me free.”
~ Joni Mitchell



“But you're bound to lose
If you let the blues
get you scared to feel” ~ Joni Mitchell



“When I think of your kisses my mind see-saws.” ~ Joni Mitchell



“Oh, the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling. It's the unraveling and it undoes all the joy that could be.” ~ Joni Mitchell



“You know that it never has been easy/ Whether you do or do not resign/ Whether you travel the breadth of the extremities/ Or stick to some straighter line.” ~ Joni Mitchell



“Tears and fears and feeling proud to say 'I love you' right out loud.” ~ Joni Mitchell


With Neil Young



“I've looked at life from both sides now/ From win and lose and still somehow/ It's life's illusions I recall/ I really don't know life at all.” ~ Joni Mitchell



“I remember that time you told me, you said
"Love is touching souls."
Surely you touched mine
'Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time.
You're in my blood like holy wine,
You taste so bitter and so sweet.”
~ Joni Mitchell



“You're in my blood like holy wine,
You taste so bitter and so sweet.
I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet.
I would still be on my feet.”
~ Joni Mitchell





“They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot,
With a pink hotel,
A boutique, and a swinging hot spot.” ~ Joni Mitchell



"We are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden." ~ Joni Mitchell



"And maybe it's the time of year. Yes, and maybe it's the time of man. And I don't know who I am, but life is for learning." ~ Joni Mitchell



"Got to get back to the land and set my soul free ." ~ Joni Mitchell



“And the seasons, they go round and round,/ And the painted ponies go up and down./ We're captive on the carousel of time.”
~ Joni Mitchell



"I learned a woman is never an old woman. " ~ Joni Mitchell

R.I.P., Captain Trips: Jerry Garcia Would Have Been 67 Today

Captain Trips was a majestic conduit of pure Being when he played the guitar. He wove soaring, wailing sonic explorations of space and time, heartache and joy which took ecstatic Deadheads along for the ride.

Jerry could take the ineffable, the wordless and express it with breathtaking eloquence and sensitivity and nuance. When Uncle Jerry plugged in, he didn't just plug into an amp. He plugged into Godhead itself.

Happy Birthday and Thank You, Jerry!


“The whole thing is remembering, this is who we are. Remember who we are? We are in reality a group of misfits, crazy people, who have voluntarily come together to work this stuff out and do the best we can and try to be as fair as we possibly can with each other, and just struggle through life.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Death comes at you no matter what you do in this life, and to equate drugs with death is a facile comparison.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“I think it's too bad that everybody's decided to turn on drugs, I don't think drugs are the problem. Crime is the problem. Cops are the problem. Money's the problem. But drugs are just drugs.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“What we do is as American as lynch mobs. America has always been a complex place.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“You need music, I dont know why.It's probably one of those Joseph Campbell questions, why we need ritual. We need magic and bliss, and power and myth, and celebration and religion in our lives and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“It's pretty clear now that what looked like it might have been some kind of counterculture is, in reality, just the plain old chaos of undifferentiated weirdness.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Nobody stopped thinking about those psychedelic experiences. Once you've been to some of those places, you think, "How can I get back there again but make it a little easier on myself?” ~ Jerry Garcia



“What's been great about the human race gives you a sense of how great you might get, how far you can reach.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Somebody has to do something, and it’s just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.” ~ Jerry Garcia







“What we're thinking about is a peaceful planet.
We're not thinking about anything else. We're not
thinking about any kind of power. We're not
thinking about any kind of struggles. We're not
thinking about revolution or war or any of that.
That's not what we want. Nobody wants to get hurt.
Nobody wants to hurt anybody. We would
all like to be able to live an uncluttered life.
A simple life, a good life.
And like think about moving the whole human race
ahead a step, or a few steps.”

~ Jerry Garcia