Don’t believe me? Watch this clip, courtesy of the Cleanest Line:

It’s great to see that the leadership of our country is so open minded to solutions that might actually work. Maybe if he got his head out of his ass and took a look around he’d see that bicycles are a viable transportation option in many places. And not only would they help us cut back on energy needs, but they might just help all these fat asses around here to start losing some weight.

But I guess you’d have to make Texas exempt if you want it to pass. We can just make Texas the new sanctuary for lazy, fat folks that just wanted to drive their big SUV’s everywhere. Wait a minute, how would that be different….

The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on Sunday night, the 12th, and is forecasted to be a great show. The moon is new, so the sky should be dark and you can expect to see one to two meteors per minute. The show is expected to begin around 9pm, local time. As an added bonus, Mars will be glowing bright red in the sky as well. Grab a blanket and go watch one of the coolest displays in nature.

Get the full story here.

It was the summer of 1998, a great time to be a Phishhead. The band was ripping it up and almost every show featured a new cover, you never knew what the night would bring. The Merriweather Post show saw the breakout of Sweet Jane and Sabotage, the latter of which was the encore and brought the roof down. With eager anticipation, we headed to VA Beach for the show the following night, not knowing what was in store.

The evening was perfect and a big moon hovered over the amphitheater. The first set raged, one of the finer I’d heard. The second set was even better, and no matter what they played for the encore, the show would speak for itself. As the crowd sat there anticipating what the last song would be to send us out into the night, the opening notes to Terrapin Station rang through the amphitheater. People were freaking out left and right. This was the anniversary of Jerry’s death, and Phish hadn’t covered a Dead song since the 1980’s. It was truly one of those magical moments, and the boys paid tribute to this incredible musician with a tight version of one of Jerry’s trademark tunes.

That night was special, and those of us there knew it was a once in a lifetime event. Even today I get goose bumps when I hear those opening notes floating out into the eager crowd, and the overwhelming roar of applause that follows.

08-09-98 Virginia Beach Amphitheatre, Virginia Beach, VA

1: Punch You in the Eye, Bathtub Gin, Lizards, The Moma Dance, Birds of a Feather, Esther, Roggae, Bouncing Around the Room, David Bowie

2: AC/DC Bag > Sparkle, Run Like an Antelope, Brian and Robert, Waste, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, You Enjoy Myself, Frankenstein, Chalkdust Torture, Hello My Baby

E: Terrapin Station

We watched this movie last night with a bunch of friends, and had some great conversation afterwards. A year ago in April, Michael Franti came to Aspen to show his new documentary I Know I’m Not Alone. After the movie, he was there to answer some questions, and then played a great solo acoustic set. The premise of the film is that he got frustrated by all the reports on the news about the political cost of war, the economic cost of war, but no one was talking about the human cost of war. So he took his guitar, some friends and a video camera, and went to Baghdad, as well as the West Bank and Gaza to talk to the people there and see what the situation is really like. This film is what he saw over there.

You hear first hand what its liked to live in an occupied country, how different factions view each other, and most importantly, how everybody really wants peace. So why are we all still killing each other?

The soundtrack is great, as several poignant songs accompany images that match up perfectly with the lyrics. The scene in the hospital in Iraq of injured children is gut wrenching, these poor kids! The fat little bastards in America whine when the don’t get X-box for Christmas and these kids are losing limbs because of our bombs! So many people in this country have lost all perspective of what it means to be human. So sad.

I think this country would be a better place if everyone sat down and watched this movie with an open mind and an open heart. You might just realize that most people want to live their lives in peace, regardless of where they come from.

Stay human.

I usually listen to live phish radio while working, they have a pretty good selection on there now, and most of my shows on this computer I’ve listened to a lot. Today I heard versions of Bathtub Gin and Birds of a Feather from the New Years run that was their first shows back after hiatus. While many folks complained about the slopiness of the composed parts, the jamming was right on. Listening to these two songs I was reminded of this, they were so good I made a point to see what shows they were from.

Here’s hoping for a reunion tour, as soon as Trey gets his act together again.

For the climbers out there, check out this video of free solo climbing in Stolby, Russia. In the US, very few people free solo, but in this small Russian town, apparently its the local “thing to do!” It looks like a total mad house, and apparently people get hurt there all the time! Wow…

We had lunch in a park yesterday, and as we were leaving we saw an older woman who was going through the trash cans. We figured she was looking for recycling, and saw her take some newspapers out. She then went over to the recycle center and put the newspapers in. She had gone through the trash, not found any cans, but still pulled out the newspaper so it could be recycled!!!! She told us it gave her something to do and when she found cans, she was getting paid for it.

Tracy and I couldn’t believe it. We weren’t sure if she was homeless or not, but regardless, this kind of selflessness is rarely seen today and was awesome to witness. While the rest of the human race plunges head first into self indulgence and decadence, here was one person striving to make a difference in what little way she could.

Damn.

Tracy and I are kicking it in Idaho for June and July, all our fun adventures will be posted over at www.bjandtracy.com.

This should put things into perspective.

So we were sitting in a bar in Florida this weekend, and they had NASCAR on. I got to thinking about how popular it is, and what an incredible waste of resources it. Is there a more striking commentary on the sad state of this country when the most popular “sport” involves watching cars go around a circle for 500 miles, not too mention the incredible waste of resources, from the cars themselves to the fuel, rubber, etc that is burned through in a single race.

You want to save the environment? Outlaw NASCAR. (And maybe rednecks too.)