Play On
Nice article, DNA (“So Many Roads,” Jan. 17). I thought the roof of the Garden was going to literally fly into space. The Grateful Dead are a very special and unique cultural and musical phenomenon, a movement in mass consciousness. Art, history, music, dance, literature, psychedelics, travel, lifelong friendships, magic, taping, rumors, vending, stickers, dyes, busses, partying . . . “the original dark web.” So blessed to be a part of a band beyond description. Gratitude and love!
Via Bohemian.com
In a Ditch
I read an online article in Vanity Fair written by William D. Cohan that starts with the description of the rape, assault and kidnapping of a black stripper at a party for lacrosse players at Duke University in 2006 and how Stephen Miller, then columnist for The Chronicle, the Duke student newspaper, wrote an article defending the lacrosse players. The article garnered him national attention and put him on CNN and the O’Reilly Factor. Cohan’s article goes on to describe the beginnings of Miller’s chilling extremist nationalistic views all the way from childhood to his friendship with Steve Bannon to his job today as a top White House adviser to President Trump.
I think it’s time to take our eyes off of the shiny distracting figure that is Trump and hold those advising him such as Stephen Miller accountable for mightily contributing to the government shutdown and pushing racist/nationalistic agendas that are running our democracy into the ditch.
Santa Rosa
Pipe Down
I think I must have missed the memo about how it’s now OK to talk during movies. This was considered the height of rudeness when I was younger, but now it’s the norm. I don’t think I’ve been to one single movie in the last several years where people haven’t been chatting continually through the whole thing. Any dramatic moment of on-screen silence is always, invariably interrupted by off-screen whispering. It’s very distracting and very annoying. A few months back, I relentlessly pestered the Rialto management to put up a “please don’t add your voice to the soundtrack” card along with the “please silence your cell phone” clip, and they’ve done it now, and I’m grateful to them for that, but it hasn’t done a bit of good.
Please, people. You’re not in your living room; you’re in a shared space with other human beings who are there to enjoy the movie, not to hear you talk. If you need to discuss the finer plot points or comment on how great the acting is or say “Hey, isn’t that the guy from Black Mirror?” or discuss where you’re going to dinner later, save it until after the movie, or at the very least until the closing credits start to roll. It’s just basic courtesy. Everybody seems to be on board with the concept that we don’t use cell phones during movies now, and that’s great, but could we maybe extend the same concept to talking?
Sebastopol
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