OOPS!

 

The way I have to walk every day is a perfect path of ice.

Despite my years of expert experience walking on icy New England sidewalks, I somehow managed to put my foot down in just the wrong way and before I knew what was happening I was on the ground. At first I tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, even though my right knee hurt. As the morning went on it started to swell and wasn't showing any sign of receding. Finally I went to see the nurse at work and she said, "You need to have that x-rayed." So off I went to the emergency room. 

The nurse at the desk told me that the hospital had been seeing slip and fall injuries all week. She brought me to this room filled with medical contraptions.

When they did the x-ray of my knee the news was good - no fractures. However I had strained a knee-ligament and would have to stay off my feet for the rest of the week. Thank God for sick days! Here is a picture of the big bandage on my knee.

So what's a good thing to do while primarily sitting? Well, reading is cool, and I've been enjoying a big biography of Massachusetts writer Nathanial Hawthorne. But even that gets dull, so I've also been spending some time sitting in restaurants, such as the Evolution Cafe in Florence. Joining me one day was my friend Emily, who was once involved with the same hippie drug cult that I was, but at a later time and without the drugs. As we chatted in the cafe she worked on making an origami crane.

Traveling further afield I went to The Ugly Duckling in Sturbridge, which is well worth the extra drive for their outstanding hamburgers. 

All of Northampton is abuzz about the new restaurant called The Roost, located where Pop's Liquors used to be. 

Inside I discovered two celebrities dining - multi-media figures Jaz Tupelo and Bill Dwight. They tried to block being photographed, but were no match for my paparazzi skills.

Jaz and Bill have just launched a new show on Valley Free Radio. Bill asked me if I would come on the show sometime and gave me his card. It had a cool radio graphic on it.

I almost went on Valley Free Radio a few years ago when Mary Serreze and Paolo Mastrangelo had a show. However, just before I was to appear the program got canceled. Warning to Bill and Jaz, inviting me on your show could be dangerous to your career!

Speaking of hotboy Paolo, he's been riding a wave of notoriety lately on his blog reports about the worsening rat problem in New York City. However those bold and nasty NYC rats are nothing like our sweet Northampton rodents, which never appear on Main Street unless accompanied by balloons.

Did you know that Ronald Reagan is now on a postage stamp?

This looks like an interesting show. I wonder what a band called "Mail Myself to Thoreau" sounds like. It should either be a beautiful country band or an ultra-extreme punk band. Ideally, it should be both. 

The Jerry Garcia Fire and Snow Ritual in Turners Falls, Massachusetts.


May the grit from the road of life
never tarnish the snowbanks of your love.

Holyoke photo and concept by Greg Saulmon  

Tapley Remembered

A Valentine Story

 



 

Beloved Valley cartoonist Renrut has a Valentine's Day cartoon that takes place at the former Springfield Tapley Elementary School (above). Like a number of Springfield schools, Tapley was closed in the 1980's, allegedly because it was unfit for students and staff to occupy less than eight hours per day. Then, at a pittance of what it cost to build the new school to replace it, Tapley was rehabbed and re-opened as a building fit to be occupied by tenants 24 hours per day! The closing of Tapley and other historic schools in Springfield was all a big scam to create an artificial shortage of classroom space in order to ensure that there would be a steady stream of new school construction contracts to feed to the politically connected contractors with ties to the local Democrat Party Machine.

To read Renrut's Tapley School Valentine comic in it's entirety go here 

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Valentine's for Journalists

 

Meanwhile, Valentine's Day is not even here yet, but the UMass store is already looking ahead to the next commercial holiday.

Kathy's Diner

Have you ever been to Kathy's in downtown Northampton? Here's the famous Kathy herself. 

Lot's of students go there.

Kathy's in downtown Hamp - where the 1950's never ended. 

Three Pics

Who stuck this on a Hamp paper box and why?

A carriage belonging to Stop & Shop (or Stop & Shit as we used to call them when I worked at The Big Y; they in turn called us "The Big Lie") has been thrown into this ravine along the woodland way into downtown Northampton.

 



In Amherst this house was once part of the Cowles family farm. Built in 1821, it is one of the oldest structures still standing in town.

Today's Music Video

 

FRANKLIN'S TOWER

Musical composition by Jerry Garcia
from a poem by Robert Hunter.

In another time's forgotten space
your eyes looked from your mother's face,
wildflower seed on sand and stone
may the four winds blow you safely home.

Roll away the dew.

I'll tell you where the four winds dwell,
In Franklin's tower there hangs a bell,
It can ring -- turn night to day
It can ring like fire when you lose your way.

Roll away the dew.

God save the child that rings that bell,
It may have one good ring, baby you can't tell,
One watch by night, one watch by day
If you get confused listen to the music play.

Roll away the dew.

Some come to laugh their past away
Some come to make it just one more day;
Whichever way your pleasure tends
If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind.

Roll away the dew.

I'll tell you where the four winds sleep,
Like four lean hounds the lighthouse keep,
Wildflower seeds in the sand and wind
May the four winds blow you home again

Won't you roll away the dew?

graphic by devin gallaher

Nostalgia Trip

Forgotten Items

Going through the vaults I came upon these never before printed images.

This is a ticket stub from a Worcester Dead concert in 1987.

I took this picture of a flag draped fan outside a Grateful Dead concert in Springfield on March 25, 1985.

A ticket stub from a 1984 New England Patriots game. 

Paul Walker leaving Nora's Variety Store in Pine Point in 1984. 

Me and Jay Libardi in 1983.

 



Springfield historian Greg Metzadakis at the WAIC studios in 2004.

The Twig Painter Richard Doyle celebrating the completion of his painting "Hot Winter" in 1988.

A Doyle prank publicity photo. 

Me in Doyle's gallery in 2003.

Here is decorated combat veteran Mark Ecker of East Longmeadow introducing the Jefferson Starship in Northampton in 2007. After surviving horrific injuries in Iraq, Ecker was tragically killed in a car crash last summer.

The San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day performing at the same concert. It was indeed a beautiful day. 

This picture was taken at the dedication of a section of Forest Park in Springfield as The Devine Way in honor of my mother, the ecologist Joyce B. Devine. Here my Uncle John is reading his poem about my mother called "The Lodge at Porter Lake" which was also printed in the newspaper article about the dedication in the Springfield Republican.

Here is my father with two of his grandkids Emily and Brett taken on his last Christmas.

Another Kind of Trip

UMass cartooning legend Steve Lafler was recently asked by a relative if Steve could guide him to the land of the magic mushrooms:

My visiting father in law expressed interest in visiting Huautla de Jiminez, the remote mountain town in the northeast corner of Oaxaca famed for it's magic mushrooms. I've been living in Oaxaca for 2.5 years, and of course I'm well aware of Huautla and it's sacred mushroom rituals. I have been in no rush to get there and gobble down magic fungus, as I approach them with respect and a wee bit of caution these days. Past experience with them has generally been wonderful. I consider that the 'shrooms themselves have a sense of humor and important information for human beings.

To read about Steve's adventures click here:

Political Trip

Jack Villamaino of East Longmeadow has formally announced his candidacy for State Representative. Here he is on the right at his official kick-off this week with Northampton's Dr. Jay Fleitman. 

Holyoke State Rep. Michael Kane and WGBY's Jim Madigan.

 



Today's Music Video

Here's Evan Dando at Northampton's Iron Horse a few days ago.

A new one from Hamp's School for the Dead.

Tony Pierce photo.

Big Brother

This Just About Covers It

 


To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored.

-Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

The only Big Brother I'm interested in is the TV show Big Brother, a version of which appears in all of these countries shaded blue:

Actually I have no interest in the stupid TV show, only in the contestants!

Northampton musician Brian T. Marchese and Captain Trips  

Out Now

War Not Worth It

 



Right-leaning columnist George Will released a bombshell column Tuesday calling for the removal of almost all ground troops in Afghanistan. His reason? That Godforsaken country just isn't worth the amount of blood and treasure necessary to control it militarily. In other words, it's a lost cause.

The U.S. strategy is "clear, hold and build." Clear? Taliban forces can evaporate and then return, confident that U.S. forces will forever be too few to hold gains. Hence nation-building would be impossible even if we knew how, and even if Afghanistan were not the second-worst place to try: The Brookings Institution ranks Somalia as the only nation with a weaker state.

Military historian Max Hastings says Kabul controls only about a third of the country -- "control" is an elastic concept -- and " 'our' Afghans may prove no more viable than were 'our' Vietnamese, the Saigon regime." Just 4,000 Marines are contesting control of Helmand province, which is the size of West Virginia. The New York Times reports a Helmand official saying he has only "police officers who steal and a small group of Afghan soldiers who say they are here for 'vacation.' " Afghanistan's $23 billion gross domestic product is the size of Boise's. Counterinsurgency doctrine teaches, not very helpfully, that development depends on security, and that security depends on development. Three-quarters of Afghanistan's poppy production for opium comes from Helmand. In what should be called Operation Sisyphus, U.S. officials are urging farmers to grow other crops. Endive, perhaps?

Some things, in politics and policy just like everywhere else, just aren't worth the price. 

Close Call



Those of you Deadheads who can remember the era before the whole Grateful Dead scene became mainstreamed will recall how precious The Grateful Dead Hour with host David Gans was. It was really the only place where you could legally hear material that had not been officially released. It may as well have been called "The Grateful Dead Bootleg Hour." Many times we would actually turn off our stereo on Saturday nights at midnight when it came on, even if we were in the middle of a party. And that was an era when every Saturday night meant a party.

The Grateful Dead Hour still exists, although the specialness it had in the pre-internet era has been reduced by the fact that most everything the Dead ever recorded is now in some way available online. Frankly, I haven't heard the show in years. But I'm saddened to hear that host David Gans has suffered a heart attack, which he describes in detail on his blog:

Something wasn’t right. Ordinarily I would have made another cup of coffee before hitting the road, and I would have had more to eat in anticipation of a long drive with few dining options. I can’t say I had an upset stomach, but I found myself uninterested in food or coffee. Last night’s dinner wasn’t all that bad, but I allowed myself to believe I might have a touch of indigestion or food poisoning.

It was a sort of hot pressure in my chest. One of the reasons I didn’t immediately go for help was that I had felt the same thing four days earlier, after a vigorous bike ride across San Francisco for a lunch date at the Beach Chaletwith a group of friends. On that occasion, the burning subsided in ten or fifteen minutes and I didn’t think much more about it. I had no further discomfort on my ride back that day, nor on subsequent days’ rides.

When I woke up Thursday morning, I had a much more intense version of that pressure in my chest. And this time, the hot pressure didn’t subside.

 



Gans is also a talented musician and that's his latest record above. To read about the whole heart attack ordeal click here. Let's hope he recovers really quick.

 

Yuck!

Kelsey Flynn saw a hawk eating a squirrel near her house and took this picture:

Um, I don't think think I would have photographed such a thing.

Today in Hamp

Traversing the woodland way into downtown Northampton this morning I spotted this anti-police graffiti.

Hey cops aren't pigs, they're bears, like this one stuck on a post at Smith College.

Some beautiful flowers on State Street.

Also on State Street, I ran into Valley Advocate editor-in-chief and popular outdoors writer Tom Vannah riding his mountain bike.

A human fly in the window of Faces.

At the beloved Miss Flo's Diner they are having a special on Irish cuisine.

 



Northampton mayoral candidate Mike Bardsley has opened a campaign headquarters just a few doors down. .

I wouldn't wish the job of Mayor of Northampton on anyone. On the one hand you have a thriving downtown that requires pro-business policies, while at the same time you have an electorate that leans so far to the left it's practically socialist. How to balance the two constituencies successfully is a real political high wire act that former Mayor M. Clare Higgins managed to pull off, but will her successor?