Grateful Dead

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Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin' to be so quiet? We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin’ you to defy it Lights flicker from the opposite loft In this room the heat pipes just cough The country music station plays soft But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off Just Louise and her lover so entwined And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman’s bluff with the key chain And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the “D” train We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight Ask himself if it’s him or them that’s really insane Louise, she’s all right, she’s just near She’s delicate and seems like the mirror But she just makes it all too concise and too clear That Johanna’s not here The ghost of ’lectricity howls in the bones of her face Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously And when bringing her name up He speaks of a farewell kiss to me He’s sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all Muttering small talk at the wall while I’m in the hall How can I explain? Oh, it’s so hard to get on And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues You can tell by the way she smiles See the primitive wallflower freeze When the jelly-faced women all sneeze Hear the one with the mustache say, “Jeeze I can’t find my knees” Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel The peddler now speaks to the countess who’s pretending to care for him Sayin’, “Name me someone that’s not a parasite and I’ll go out and say a prayer for him” But like Louise always says “Ya can’t look at much, can ya man?” As she, herself, prepares for him And Madonna, she still has not showed We see this empty cage now corrode Where her cape of the stage once had flowed The fiddler, he now steps to the road He writes ev’rything’s been returned which was owed On the back of the fish truck that loads While my conscience explodes The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

Up on the white verandaShe wears a necktie and a Panama hat Her passport shows a face From another time and place She looks nothing like that And all the remnants of her recent past Are scattered in the wild wind She walks across the marble floor Where a voice from the gambling room is callin' her to come on in She smiles, walks the other way As the last ship sails and the moon fades away From Black Diamond Bay As the morning light breaks open, the Greek comes down And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write Pardon, monsieur, the desk clerk says Carefully removes his fez Am I hearing you right And as the yellow fog is lifting The Greek is quickly heading for the second floor She passes him on the spiral staircase Thinking he's the Soviet Ambassador She starts to speak, but he walks away As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway On Black Diamond Bay A soldier sits beneath the fan Doing business with a tiny man who sells him a ring Lightning strikes, the lights blow out The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout Can you see anything Then the Greek appears on the second floor In his bare feet with a rope around his neck While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle Says, open up another deck But the dealer says, attendez-vous, s'il vous plait As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away From Black Diamond Bay The desk clerk heard the woman laugh As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough He tried to grab the woman's hand Said, here's a ring, it cost a grand She said, that ain't enough Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb She passed the door that the Greek had locked Where a handwritten sign read, do not disturb She knocked upon it anyway As the sun went down and the music did play On Black Diamond Bay I've got to talk to someone quick But the Greek said, go away, and he kicked the chair to the floor He hung there from the chandelier She cried, help, there's danger near Please open up the door Then the volcano erupted And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner Thinking of forbidden love But the desk clerk said, it happens every day As the stars fell down and the fields burned away On Black Diamond Bay As the island slowly sank The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room The dealer said, it's too late now You can take your money, but I don't know how You'll spend it in the tomb The tiny man bit the soldier's ear As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew While she's out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her My darling, je vous aime beaucoup She sheds a tear and then begins to pray As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away From Black Diamond Bay I was sitting home alone one night in L.A. Watching old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news It seems there was an earthquake that Left nothing but a Panama hat And a pair of old Greek shoes Didn't seem like much was happening So I turned it off and went to grab another beer Seems like every time you turn around There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear And there's really nothing anyone can say And I never did plan to go anyway To Black Diamond Bay

this note's for you... May God bless and keep you always May your wishes all come true May you always do for others And let others do for you May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. May you grow up to be righteous May you grow up to be true May you always know the truth And see the lights surrounding you May you always be courageous Stand upright and be strong May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. May your hands always be busy May your feet always be swift May you have a strong foundation When the winds of changes shift May your heart always be joyful And may your song always be sung May you stay forever young Forever young, forever young May you stay forever young. love from da buff....

I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actressWhen you knelt by my mattress, and asked for my hand But I was sad you asked it, as I laid in a black dress With my father in a casket, I had no plans, yeah And I left the footprints, the mud stained on the carpet And it hardened like my heart did when you left town But I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant Damn your wife, I'd be your mistress just to have you around But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I'll be on time While the church discouraged, any lust that burned within me Yes my flesh, it was my currency, but I held true So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I'll be on time And the only gifts from my Lord were a birth and a divorce But I've read this script and the costume fits, so I'll play my part I was Cleopatra, I was taller than the rafters But that's all in the past now, gone with the wind Now a nurse in white shoes leads me back to my guestroom It's a bed and a bathroom And a place for the end I won't be late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I'll be on time

For the longest time, I had trouble understanding how my father—a stern, quick-to-anger disciplinarian—could also be a Deadhead. So when the Dead announced Fare Thee Well last year, I made sure to buy tickets and fly home to Chicago to attend shows with my dad. I wanted to witness a side of him I knew existed, but never quite understood. And I write about that experience here: https://features.wearemel.com/my-disciplinarian-father-the-deadhead-cc7…

So this is Christmas and what have you done,Another year over, a new one just begun. And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun, The near and the dear ones, the old and the young. A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one without any fears. And so this is Christmas for weak and for strong, The rich and the poor ones, the road is so long. And so happy Christmas for black and for white For the yellow and red ones let's stop all the fights. A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one without any fear. And so this is Christmas and what have we done Another year over, a new one just begun. And so happy Christmas we hope you have fun The near and the dear ones, the old and the young. A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one without any fear. War is over if you want it, war is over now.

You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurantYou can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant Walk right in, it's around the back Just a half a mile from the railroad track You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant... This song is called "Alice's Restaurant." It's about Alice, and the restaurant, but "Alice's Restaurant" is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the name of the song. That's why I call the song "Alice's Restaurant." Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago... two years ago, on Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the restaurant. But Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the church nearby the restaurant, in the bell tower with her husband Ray and Facha, the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs where the pews used to be, and havin' all that room (seein' as how they took out all the pews), they decided that they didn't have to take out their garbage for a long time. We got up here and found all the garbage in there and we decided that it'd be a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So we took the half-a-ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, and headed on toward the city dump. Well, we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across the dump sayin', "This dump is closed on Thanksgiving," and we'd never heard of a dump closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes, we drove off into the sunset lookin' for another place to put the garbage. We didn't find one till we came to a side road, and off the side of the side road was another fifteen-foot cliff, and at the bottom of the cliff was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile was better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up, we decided to throw ours down. That's what we did. Drove back to the church, had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep, and didn't get up until the next morning, when we got a phone call from Officer Obie. He said, "Kid, we found your name on a envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage and I just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And I said, "Yes sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie. I put that envelope under that garbage." After speakin' to Obie for about forty-five minutes on the telephone, we finally arrived at the truth of the matter and he said that we had to go down and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the Police Officer Station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the Police Officer Station. Now, friends, there was only one of two things that Obie could've done at the Police Officer Station, and the first was that he could've given us a medal for bein' so brave and honest on the telephone (which wasn't very likely, and we didn't expect it), and the other thing was that he could've bawled us out and told us never to be seen drivin' garbage around in the vicinity again, which is what we expected. But when we got to the Police Officer Station, there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was both immediately arrested, handcuffed, and I said, "Obie, I can't pick up the garbage with these here handcuffs on." He said: "Shut up kid, and get in the back of the patrol car." And that's what we did . . . sat in the back of the patrol car, and drove to the quote scene of the crime unquote. I wanna tell you 'bout the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where this is happenin'. They got three stop signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the scene of the crime, there was five police officers and three police cars, bein' the biggest crime of the last fifty years and everybody wanted to get in the newspaper story about it. And they was usin' up all kinds of cop equipment that they had hangin' around the Police Officer Station. They was takin' plaster tire tracks, footprints, dog-smellin' prints and they took twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explainin' what each one was, to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach, the getaway, the northwest corner, the southwest corner . . . and that's not to mention the aerial photography! After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was gonna put us in a cell. He said: "Kid, I'm gonna put you in a cell. I want your wallet and your belt." I said, "Obie, I can understand your wantin' my wallet, so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you want my belt for?" and he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangin's." I said, "Obie, did you think I was gonna hang myself for litterin'?" Obie said he was makin' sure, and, friends, Obie was, 'cause he took out the toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars, roll the toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie was makin' sure. It was about four or five hours later that Alice--(remember Alice? There's a song about Alice.)--Alice came by and, with a few nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back to the church, had another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court. We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, sat down. Man came in, said, "All rise!" We all stood up, and Obie stood up with the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures, and the judge walked in, sat down, with a seein' eye dog and he sat down. We sat down. Obie looked at the seein' eye dog . . . then at the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one . . . and looked at the seein' eye dog . . . and then at the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each on and began to cry. Because Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American blind justice, and there wasn't nothin' he could do about it, and the judge wasn't gonna look at the twenty-seven 8 by 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explainin' what each one was, to be used as evidence against us. And we was fined fifty dollars and had to pick up the garbage... in the snow. But that's not what I'm here to tell you about. I'm here to talk about the draft. They got a buildin' down in New York City called Whitehall Street, where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected! I went down and got my physical examination one day, and I walked in, sat down (got good and drunk the night before, so I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning, 'cause I wanted to look like the All-American Kid from New York City. I wanted to feel like . . . I wanted to be the All-American Kid from New York), and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up and all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things. And I walked in, I sat down, they gave me a piece of paper that said: "Kid, see the psychiatrist in room 604." I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I wanna kill. I wanna kill! I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth! Eat dead, burnt bodies! I mean: Kill. Kill!" And I started jumpin' up and down, yellin' "KILL! KILL!" and he started jumpin' up and down with me, and we was both jumpin' up and down, yellin', "KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!" and the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said "You're our boy". Didn't feel too good about it. Proceeded down the hall, gettin' more injections, inspections, detections, neglections, and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me at the thing there, and I was there for two hours... three hours... four hours... I was there for a long time goin' through all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things, and I was just havin' a tough time there, and they was inspectin', injectin', every single part of me, and they was leavin' no part untouched! Proceeded through, and I finally came to see the very last man. I walked in, sat down, after a whole big thing there. I walked up, and I said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got one question: Have you ever been arrested?" And I proceeded to tell him the story of Alice's Restaurant Massacree with full orchestration and five-part harmony and stuff like that, and other phenomenon. He stopped me right there and said, "Kid, have you ever been to court?" And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one . . . He stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want you to go over and sit down on that bench that says 'Group W'." And I walked over to the bench there, and there's... Group W is where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committin' your special crime. There was all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly-lookin' people on the bench there . . . there was mother-rapers . . . father-stabbers . . . father-rapers! FATHER-RAPERS sittin' right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible and crime fightin' guys were sittin' there on the bench, and the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one . . . the meanest father-raper of them all . . . was comin' over to me, and he was mean and ugly and nasty and horrible and all kinds of things, and he sat down next to me. He said, "Kid, what'd you get?" I said, "I didn't get nothin'. I had to pay fifty dollars and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" and I said, "Litterin'"' . . . . And they all moved away from me on the bench there, with the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean, nasty things, till I said, "And creatin' a nuisance . . . " And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench talkin' about crime, mother-stabbin', father-rapin', . . . all kinds of groovy things that we was talkin' about on the bench, and everything was fine. We was smokin' cigarettes and all kinds of things, until the sergeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it up and said: "KIDSTHISPIECEOFPAPERSGOTFOURTYSVENPAGESTHIRTYSEVENSENTENCESFIFTYEIGHTWORDSWEWANTTOKNOWTHEDETAILSOFTHECRIMETHETIMEOFTHECRIMEANDANYOTHERKINDOFTHINGYOUGOTTOSAYPERTAININGTOANDABOUTTHECRIMEWEWANTTOKNOWTHEARRESTINGOFFICERSNAMEANDANYOTHERTHINGYOUGOTTOSAY . . ." And he talked for forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said. But we had fun fillin' out the forms and playin' with the pencils on the bench there. I filled out the Massacree with the four-part harmony. Wrote it down there just like it was and everything was fine. And I put down my pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there . . . on the other side . . . in the middle of the other side . . . away from everything else on the other side . . . in parentheses . . . capital letters . . . quotated . . . read the following words: "Kid, have you rehabilitated yourself?" I went over to the sergeant. Said, "Sergeant, you got a lot of god-damned gall to ask me if I've rehabilitated myself! I mean . . . I mean . . . I mean that you send . . . I'm sittin' here on the bench . . . I mean I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench, 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind! We're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington"! And, friends, somewhere in Washington, enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm singin' you the song now is 'cause you may know somebody in a similar situation. Or you may be in a similar situation, and if you're in a situation like that, there's only one thing you can do: Walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in, say, "Shrink, . . . you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant", and walk out. You know, if one person, just one person, does it, they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And if three people do it! Can you imagine three people walkin' in, singin' a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out? They may think it's an organization! And can you imagine fifty people a day? I said FIFTY people a day . . . walkin' in, singin' a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out? Friends, they may think it's a MOVEMENT, and that's what it is: THE ALICE'S RESTAURANT ANTI-MASSACREE MOVEMENT! . . . and all you gotta do to join is to sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar. With feelin'... You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant Walk right in, it's around the back Just a half a mile from the railroad track You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant...

Hey Cat Lady, great to hear from you. Have a spooktakular Halloween and Dio de las Muertos

Love you too ms katniss.....happy halloween

I scare myself just thinking about youI scare myself when I'm without you I scare myself the moment that you're going I scare myself when I let my thoughts run And when they're running I keep thinking of you And when they're running What can I do? I scare myself, and I don't mean lightly I scare myself, it can get frightening I scare myself, to think what I could do I scare myself it's some kind of voodoo And with that voodoo I keep thinking of you And with that voodoo What can I do? But it's so so very different when we're together And I'm so so much calmer; I feel better Cause the stars already crossed our paths forever And the sooner that you realize it the better And then I'll be with you and I won't scare myself And I'll know what to do and I won't scare myself And my thoughts will run and I won't scare myself And I'll think of you and I won't scare myself