On this day, 25 years ago, the Grateful Dead played their final concert at Soldier Field, Chicago. A month later, Jerry Garcia would be gone from the stage forever, as the other members struggled to keep the music flowing thru the Space & Drums portion of the band’s long history.
Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead played their final show 25 years ago today, 7/9/95, but The Music Never Stopped.
The Music Never Stopped, as Bobby, Phil, Billy, Mickey, and all of their amazingly improvisational friends, have kept moving the Dead’s music moving Further on, Truckin’ through the Lilly Fields on the Bus to never-ever land.
I still miss Jerry’s soulful plucks and crackly croons, and watching the last show can be hard. Still. 25 years later. But if you’re so inclined, YouTube of the show is below.
OK…I know Summer technically started a couple days ago on the Solstice, but late is better than never. You know…Except when it isn’t. In this case, does it really matter?!?
Seriously though…Have yourself a great Summer, because Summer only lasts a few weeks…and This One means something because the CoronaGrinch stole Christmas AND Summer last year.
Apparently, Iguanas have more rights than unarmed black teenagers in Florida.
Stand your ground…against an iguana? ? While that seems entirety implausible as a defense, it worked for the asshole who shot unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin.
Every day I wake up someplace else, I’m thankful I don’t live in Florida.
Quarantine has been tough. I basically haven’t left the house for a year and a half. I’ve had a lot of time to think. That’s not usually a good thing for me. But I’ve also had a chance for reflection. Introspection is an art, and looking inward isn’t always easy to do. It’s necessary. Sure. But enough is e-fucking-nough.
COVID-19 Vaccines – Countdown to Immunity
I got my 2nd shot last week, and I am completely looking forward to freedom.
But it’s got me wondering… What happens after you’re immune, and you get exposed to the Coronavirus? Say you breath in a big batch of spikey deathblobs. Do they stay inside you? Lurking. Waiting for your body to let your defenses down? Or does your body attack. Send out the hungry phagocytes and macrophages to gobble up all those yummy virus nuggets… or whatever. I think it might be the last one. But don’t believe me. I’m a musician, not a damn Doctor.
If you’re only getting your news from one source, or from a handful of sources that publish opinion stories that you agree with, you aren’t getting the Truth. The Truth can only be confirmed by multiple, objective, independent sources. The Truth can only be confirmed with facts.
Rumors you read on Reddit or Facebook, or theory-based reporting from partisan ‘news’ outlets like MSNBC, FOX, OAN, NewsMax and others should be taken as such: they are THEORIES. That means you still need FACTS to confirm or disprove.
Being objective means you base your world view on EVIDENCE.
Because a bunch of comments on Tiktok posts say the same thing, doesn’t mean it’s true. ‘A lot of people say’ doesn’t make it true. It just means a lot of people THINK it’s true. If they’ve been lied to, and didn’t fact-check their information, how would you know?
I’m an independent. To stay objective, I read news from all around the world. I take each story in context of ‘Who Published It’ and ‘Who else can confirm it’. If I read an article in Russia Today, I take it as probable Russian spin, possible propaganda. Yet some of the stories are perfectly factual, confirmed by multiple other news outlets.
Musician & Independent Thinker, Jamie Gray
MSNBC will put a left wing spin. Fox will spin it to the right. If you watch BOTH of them and CNN, the facts will be the one’s they all agree on. Sometimes you may have to ignore one side or the other because they are ignoring the facts. Some of the ‘News agencies’ do that more than others, but that’s a rant for another time.
The bottom line is pretty fucking simple: Confirm EVERYTHING by other sources. MULTIPLE sources. Multiple OBJECTIVE sources. That’s the key. What facts are confirmable? Which ones are guesses? Spin?
The truth will set you free. It’s out there…you just have to take the time to look FOR the facts. So you can look AT the FACTS, not the spin they WANT you to believe. If they have to TRY to convince you, it’s probably bullshit. ~jg
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
