Mailbag 11.17.96

THE MAILBAG 11.17.96

Date: Sun, Nov 3, 1996 10:33 PM EDT
From: EYESNGART
Subj: How to plan for the future.

Howdy Hunter,
Of course, you can't. Plan for the future that is - as you pointed out in the last journal. Often, the very things that were essential ingredients to promoting initial success become the anchor holding you back from the future. When the rules of the game change, even subtly, failing to adjust and rethink approaches that created successful formulae, can bring doom. Think IBM, who had the formula nailed when only the big boys played with computers but barely staved off disaster when suddenly everyone could have a computer at home. Or the company I work for, Kaiser Permanente. After 50 years of success, KP is having a difficult time getting the new realities in health care delivery systems. Or as you put it, "Obvious solutions are obvious because they're old solutions." More importantly, "New solutions to new problems are not obvious but require a steady flexible awareness." Well said. Feels like I've been here before. The question that occurs at this point is how to get others to see the need for, and the way to, create "flexible awareness?" I know I've run into something of a brick wall at Kaiser trying to make this point. I hope the folks at ole GD headquarters are a bit further along the curve than Kaiser in their appreciation of this phenomenon. Is not your own zest and prodigious productivity enough to convince even the toughest skeptic? And besides, isn't the creation of something new and going furthur than you've gone before where you find all the golden yummies? Good luck in your endeavors because it wasn't just the music (although it was a true creative force) or the people (although they fed the flames of the beast of love) or the quality and class brought to the show (although those of us who went often appreciated the efforts) or the need to demonstrate alternative approaches (although that need remains always) or a place to fly free and be a part myth and something much larger than oneself (although for many of us it was the birth of an awareness of a larger more complex and interesting universe) it was all of that and it was fun and it was important. If you all stay dedicated to creating something interesting in some way, shape or space, many of us will be here waiting to pay our way on to that magic carpet ride. Thanks for the efforts.
Peace
Phil

Phil,
it wasn't this, it wasn't that, it wasn't even all of it and everything else besides. It was also where it was going and who we would be when we got there and what it would look like from here. And that's only a part of it too. And where it will be 150 years from now if we don't let go of the continuity. Strange places we cannot yet dream of, because dreams are in terms of the past. Not looking for a continuity of the past - but a continuity of the present - which is the only place in which we're privileged to act.

rh

Subj: Checkin' in
Date: Mon, Nov 4, 1996 12:28 PM EDT
From: ggovus@email.unc.edu (George Govus)

Hey, Hunter! I wanted to tell you what a thrill it was to get your
response to my email to you. I wrote you in early June, and your prompt
response got sidetracked so I didn't get it till August! Yeah, one of
those. Getting the response was a gas, up til then I was feeling
invisible. Now I walk tall! But I still don't have much to say! Oh, well.
I sucked up and, with the onset of a more positive cash flow, ordered all
the Dick's Picks I've been missing. Empty pockets set in after I got #2.
How difficult it was to see them on sale at the Further Festival and not
to buy them. Now I know I have done my duty to keep some good people in
work. How sweet to get the new Almanac later in the day, which,
not coincidentally, was
Halloween! A real and true Dead Day. Next to find glorious new releases
available. The fabled '90's Arista release Phil's whipped up. A natural
thing, *Without a Net* was curious in its lack of the Brent songs and no
drums 'n' space (the latter remedied by *Infrared Roses*). *Dozin'* lacks
the
*Built to Last* Jerry/Robert stuff, so it's curious, too. Go Philgure.
Dick Latvala can fix that, I'm sure. I still look forward to release of the
last material. "Days Between" always catches me, tears well and I sing.
Second Sight is a treat! I'll swim in that ocean any day. Nice to find
these in the record stores. I'm going hunting for Shady Grove later
today. *Musician*, it seemed to me, did a nice job of covering what was up
with you, Bob, Mickey and Phil, in its recent issue. As a non-musician I
enjoyed the included appreciation of Jerry's music.* Relix*'s feature on
Vince's Missing Man Formation did me much good.
I *loved* Vinnie's contributions to the band, "Way to Go Home" is right up
there, IMO. An evident great spirit. So very moving to read his
description of his feelings after Jerry died. And, though I haven't heard
the group, I'm massively intrigued and encouraged that MMF is happening
and may go on. Mickey's Box is cool, bring it on, RatDog is ok, I'll
always love Bruce, but give me some rockin' guitars with my new Hunter
lyrics, please! Oh, yes, and a side order of "Saint Stephen." Thank you.
So I hope, in the future, that Dead.Net (if there is a Dead.Net) can point
me toward what Vince is up to (last time I looked, I clicked on Vince's
pic on the "Band" page and all I got was another picture of Vince! Nice,
though.).

Buddhist monks passed through the area, raising money for the Sera Je
Monastary in southern India. At Raleigh's NC Museum of Art (right next to
the prision) they drew the healing
mandala with sand made of precious jewels. Doubtless an apt choice of
mandalas to draw, given Hurricane Fran's recent passage here and the
seeming liklihood that Helms will remain in office. Spirit groupies like
me stood
and watched, heard the sound of emptiness as they rasped out from funnels
the brightly colored sand. They want to hear emptiness, tell them to
listen for Jerry's guitar. Later the design was done and the monks sat and
(I guess) watched people stare at the mandala. Nearby a video tape played
an animation in which a raytraced temple arose and swirled into the mind
of a meditating monk, to the accompaniment a piece from Mickey's
*Freedom Chants* CD. Before they left the area the monks ceremoniously
dumped the mandala into a pond. Haw. I took a pitcher.

Regards,
George Govus

George -
your letter was COMPREHENSIVE. Except you forgot "Zero." Want to hear my lyrics with the best rockin' guitar currently available on the planet, that's where you go these days.

When you put all the offerings being made these days, like you did, you realize that there's more being put out than there's ever been. I agree with you, though, the last GD songs need an airing in a comprehensive context. My feeling is that if the guys were to get that one together, we wouldn't need to worry about how to support ourselves until 1998.

Subj: Ayn Rand, charity, and links
Date: Mon, Nov 4, 1996 10:35 PM EDT
From: gcallah@erols.com (Gene Callahan)

Dear Robert,

My personal belief is that your statement of Ayn Rand's view is a little
bit off the mark. None of her idealized characters practiced any
appropriation; in fact, it was the weak who banded together to
appropriate from the rich. In her Utopia (in Atlas Shrugged), the
strong live by mutually acceptable exchange. I can find things to
disagree with Ayn Rand about, but I don't think your statement quite
does her justice.

I feel the answer to your riddle lies somewhere in the nexus of what
will sell, and what you want to produce. (Said another way, what you
feel good about producing.) What you want to produce guides you by your
own spiritual lights toward your own fulfillment. What will sell guides
you toward what people want (need). This disciplines the more
solipsistic tendency of the other impulse. (The effect of markets that
Adam Smith saw 200 years ago.) What could be more truly charitable than
to fuse these divergent impulses through a constant struggle to yoke
them together?

Your mailbag page could easily incorporate a "mailto" link:
<a href="mailto:K9Luna@aol.com">Send mail</a>. Of course, you
may know this already.

To close off, if you're surfing the Web and feel like stopping by, I'd
be right honored if you'd care to visit my home page:

http://www.barefoot.net/staff/gcallah/gcallah.html
"I wonder would you lend me five minutes?"

Our server is on a slow connection right now, so please excuse the load
times.

Take care,
Gene Callahan

Gene,
you're right. It's been so long since I read Ayn rand (35 years) I oversimplified and gave a wrong twist to it. I stand corrected.
Reason I don't give a "mailto:" is that it would land me with more mail than I already have. Encourages people to go offline and think about a reply, rather than sending lots of "Howdys" on the impulse of the moment.

Will put your url in my handy list and check out your page when I go surfing.

Date: Tue, Nov 5, 1996 1:55 AM EDT
From: jbragg@igc.apc.org (Jeffrey Bragg)

Just a short note. I've been lurking awhile, loving the journal notes
and wondering how to help and assuage my own loss here. I've been
wanting to find a way of offering a treasure of mine to help Rex, and
maybe you can help. I've have the three singles that you folks sent
out in the early 70's (that's right, with the song your cat wrote)
and I've been wondering if they have more than sentimental (to me at least)
value? If so, I would like to offer them up for..well...whatever.
Oh IMHO, I think Ms. Rand would rather say that one is entitled to
retain possession of only what one had earned or created rather than what one only had the strength and force to retain.

Jeffrey,
but aren't they the same thing? I mean, if you aren't strong enough to maintain possession, your stuff gets taken. It would be good if the law took a stronger position on all of this. Lots of people sell the rights to their creations out of need; or are swindled out of them by lawyers. Rock & Roll was famous for that before the Dead refused to give up any rights in return for being recorded and sold. Now it's the accepted practice. I'm able to live off my royalties rather than some stockholder of Time-Warner.
Thanks for the offer of the records. They're probably of value, but you keep them. I'm not a member of the board & wouldn't know what to do with them or who to give them to. Nice thought though.

Subj: something is writing me...
Date: Tue, Nov 5, 1996 4:53 AM EDT
From: shava@netprophets.net (Shava Nerad)

I hope this isn't the sort of email you dread...;)

I'm writing the great american novel (isn't everyone?). I've been waiting
30 years to find it, and now it's found me, and has me in its jaws.

It reads like magical realism, but is a pretty good reflection of my
personal reality. Is this a secret of folks who write magical realism? ;)
At root, I'm a mystic, a shaman, and I don't know if I can bridge that
consciousness into a novel, but if I can, it will be literature.

I'm just starting to work on the structure and some vignettes -- without
the writing itself, this is going to be a hard book to write, since I'm
running a consulting company, writing a non-fiction book, and trying to be
a good mommy and lover -- so it's not anything presold, or perhaps *ever*
sold. But I notice that your lyrics want to weave in and out of the
themes.

You've talked with Tyler online, not so much with me. Tyler's been a
deadhead since he was 16 -- eleven years. I got repeatedly pegged as a
deadhead from the time I was about 16 (21 years ago) and totally rejected
the whole deal because I hate being pigeonholed -- never investigated the
scene, liked the music well enough. So I've only really been
hearing/reading your stuff for meaning since, oh, late '94, when Tyler and
I found each other. To me, your work, and a lot of the music, is a piece
of my own history I didn't know.

I pour through days that are wrapped in sound. No kind of a musician
myself, (tho I sing for my own heart's sake,) I grew up surrounded by
eclectic music, and spread out from there. The growth of the past few
years has been reflected and catalyzed by the music surrounding me. It's
these years that are being squeezed out of me into some sort of
distillation in print.

How do you *feel* about this kind of thing? Someday I hope to be able to
ask how does your lawyer feel? ;) I can avoid clipping lyrics in, but
certain parts would be much harder to write without quoting your work
(never without credit/permission, and whatever I could pitch your way if I
ever sold it).

Other folks I can think of that I won't be able to avoid quoting somewhat
include Ken Wilber and Robert Anton Wilson, if only for chapter header
quotes. Odd bedfellows...

Thanks for the time! By the way, the non-fiction I'm writing is a "geek's
guide to web design" for Ventana (they're deciding soon if they'll pay
me...;), possibly titled "HTML-ements of Style" though I'm not sure I dare
use that...

Shava Nerad http://www.efn.org/~shava/
shava@netprophets.net 541 541-9600 (toll free 888 597-5354)
President, Net Prophets, Inc. http://www.netprophets.net/
Internet, intranet, and web design services

Shava,
I checked out your home page a few months ago. Your range of interests is broad but nicely community based. A model of its kind.

I'll make you a deal. If you'll read "The Giant's Harp" you can, in return, quote me to your heart's content." It reads like magical realism, but is a pretty good reflection of my personal reality."
The sense of "being written by something" was strong throughout the project, so I know what you're speaking of.

Subj: Take 2(they're small)
Date: Tue, Nov 5, 1996 4:43 AM EDT
From: Pete.Cepuch@IAC.honeywell.com (Cepuch, Pete (AZ15))

rh,

It's after midnight, here, in the factory. Perhaps a good time, as you have previously mentioned, to let some thoughts fly.

I just finished reading the epilogue to Giant's Harp and the tears welling in my eyes probably say it best. Why is that!? The characters capture the great human dilemma of life. Generational interplay to find and maintain meaning, the great ruminations of the heart, emoting to find completion in others. The dialogues, between characters were stunningly real. I really felt for Elmo, all through the tale, as he just wasn't cuttin' it well enough for everyone, it seemed, but he truly came through, in the clutch and seems to be on his way a more refined and wise Elmo than the rather unpromising lad in the beginning of the tale. BRAVO!
There's much more to say, of course, but I'm tryin' to keep this as brief as possible.
Been concentrating on Night Cadre, lately. I've printed it out and have it at home to read at my leisure. It's worth about a billion reads as everytime I read one of the poems, different phrases jump out and really knock me out. After I pick myself off the floor, I read more. Man! this stuff could be dangerous!!! Full Moon Cafe. Exploding Diamond Blues etc. --it's just too much...but I keep
reading...
Anyway, time to sign-off---greetings from the churning factory...hope all is well with you and yours.....

still reading(as fast as I can),

Pete Cepuch

Pete,
AH! You wrote the letter I keep opening up my email hoping to find! Folks discuss my lyrics, read my journal & the mailbag -sometimes Orfeo- and comment on the various current events and directions recorded there, but rarely delve deeper into the Archive to read the work that best expresses where I invest myself as an artist. I suspect people would rather read "about" vision, or dwell in those earlier made commanding by being presented through music, than participate in the ongoing verbal project. It's the same sensibility it's always been and the development is ongoing.
Glad you realized that "Night Cadre" is dangerous. On the dust jacket of the book it said "We have need of dangerous dreams" - a line that eventually found its place in "Sentinel" - which may be the most dangerous dream of all. But no more dangerous than a reader's capacity to assimilate it. It isn't spring loaded or anything.
Poetry doesn't march down the highway with all flags flying; it lurks in caverns waiting to be discovered.

Thanks for taking the time.

Subj: MS explorer
Date: Tue, Nov 5, 1996 6:49 PM EDT
From: mitchgo@microsoft.com (Mitch Goldman)

Yo Hunter...

here am I tooling around in your journal when I see the following:

. I read something about DeadNet - someone couldn't log on and wasn't
happy. If you're trying to get on with Microsoft Explorer, change your
browser. The planet buttons on the main page are Java programmed and
since ME doesn't own Java, it's not supported. We'll do a workaround,
though. Soon as we figure what it is.

Well...despite the fact that as an MS employee and stockholder I hate to
see anyone telling folks *not* to use IE 3.0, you should know that the
planet buttons *do* work on IE. Or at least, they work fine on *my*
Explorer browser. They are not animated, but they are all correctly
hotlinked. So browser problems may not be at the root of the problems
this one guy had with Dead.net.

Mitch

Mitch,
we've been working round the clock to develop a CGI that will accomodate MSEx, since we became aware of the problem. It's only a Mac problem. The new AOL 3 for Mac wouldn't do it, so we threw up Bill's Gate as a band-aid solution to let people in. The joke will get stale quick.

Hope everything's going smoothly over at the evil empire.

Subj: 10-22 entry
Date: Tue, Nov 5, 1996 10:04 PM EDT
From: jrb@zeus.jersey.net (jrb)

Hey RH,

November Greetings;

The frost is on the pumpkin here in NJ, but the stars are out in their glory
and I was just out looking at Saturn through my scope and it always is so
comforting and relaxing ..as well as mentally stimulating to see just how
minescule we really are.. not even a drop in the bucket.

I print out every journal ( easier to read with 41 year old eyes ) and I
wanted you to know that the format you use prints out great .

In the most recent journals 10-22 entry you stated you visited the "
pressing plant in Columbia NJ "

It was actually the Columbia Records plant in Pitman NJ...It is now a giant
SONY CD factory , which is laying off 158 workers on 11-15-96, including my
friend who has 4 kids in grade school. Sucks

BTW... I used to deliver Patti Smiths mail when she lived in Deptford NJ. And
I caught her last year with Bob Dylan and I fully recommend her show.

If you're ever in the area again stop in as I'm about 15 minutes from the plant.

I've been doing tape trading for a long time and a guy who I trade with in
London ( Doctor ) is in the states and will be stopping by next week for our
first face to face meeting . It always astonnished me all the friends I have
made through trading in many countries, Maybe a book could be written on
all the unique relationships developed through tape trading and on the
honesty and high ethicial standard amoung traders.. I try to give people
extra tapes when they do something for blanks and they usually tape the
extra and send it back to me. Tim Bueller is a fine trader from Kansas who
thrarted my attepmts tp reward his kindness.

I always felt that it would be great if someone was able to create a tape
zero ( have some type of identification on it ) and put it out for a year
or so and after that time be able to track and identify how many tapes it
has turned into.

We would be amazed.

I started to read the Phish bbs and it is so cool to watch their scene
develop, it is slowly maturing into a similar but distinctly different scene
from ours.

The band has learned from the Deads accomplishments and mistakes, but their
fans seem to be reliving our trek through time. It is both englightning and
sad to watch...the enlightning part is from their optimism and untarnished
outlook, the saddness stems from the part of me that wishes it was me ,
enjoying the ride. another reminder that the gold is turning to gray.

Bob , I though for sure that I was going to win the Harley , my heart
bleeds with disappointment. Did you happen to catch the GB Packers head
coach Mike Holmgrens bike on the sunday pre-game show. It was in packer
colors and had a nice SYF on the tank..another example that we are everywhere.

and on that note.....

I wish you well my friend , and until next time

Enjoy

John B

John,
didn't catch Mike's bike - but I used to babysit him when he was a kid, in Palo Alto. I'm sure he has no idea - he was only three at the time. It was a 49er block - Leo Nomellini lived around the corner - and Mike's father was head coach at Stanford.

Sorry everybody couldn't win that damned bike. 1 winner and 1,999 losers.
Didn't I say Columbia *in* NJ? My mistake. Must admit I didn't remember it was Pitman.

Saturn IS a pretty sight. I've got a 10 inch reflector - but I don't stargaze much anymore. 55 year old eyes. That's why I print the site up in nice big type. Not even a drop in the bucket? Come on - size isn't everything!

Thanks for a great letter.

Take Care and enjoy yourself

John B

John,
didn't catch Mike's bike - but I used to babysit him when he was a kid, in Palo Alto. I'm sure he has no idea - he was only three at the time. It was a 49er block - Leo Nomellini lived around the corner - and Mike's father was head coach at Stanford.

Sorry everybody couldn't win that damned bike. 1 winner and 1,999 losers.
Didn't I say Columbia *in* NJ? My mistake. Must admit I didn't remember it was Pitman.

Saturn IS a pretty sight. I've got a 10 inch reflector - but I don't stargaze much anymore. 55 year old eyes. That's why I print the site up in nice big type. Not even a drop in the bucket? Come on - size isn't everything!

Thanks for a great letter.

Subj: HDT
Date: Wed, Nov 6, 1996 3:19 PM EDT
From: stu000082176@stumail.western.edu (Gregory Manier)

rh,
reading though some Thoreau this morning, thought you might enjoy.

January 26, 1853

There are from time to time mornings, both in summer and in winter, when especially the world seems to begin anew, beyond which memory need not go, for not behind them is yesterday and our past life; when, as in the
morning of a hoar frost, there are visable the effects as of a certain creative energy.
....The world has visably been recreated in the night. Mornings of creation, I call them. In the midst of these marks of a creative energy recently active, while the sun is rising with more than usual splendor, I look back...for the era of this creation, not in the night, but to a dawn for which no man ever rose early enough. A morning which carries us back beyond the Mosaic creation, where crystallizations are fresh and unmelted. It is the poet's hour. Mornings when men are new-born, men who have the seeds of life in them.

HDT

Subj: Giant's Harp
Date: Wed, Nov 6, 1996 6:13 PM EDT
From: monalee@well.com (Mona Pingree)

Hey!

Hmmm. Well I've been meaning to write to you for a couple of days. I
finished Giant's Harp last week. In fact I read Chs 3 through the epilog,
all in 2 days. I don't know how I was lucky enough to find big blocks of
time like that, but it was a chance for me to take a trip like I haven't in
a long while. Like Easter Vacation in 10th grade reading the Lord Of The
Rings, day and night. Only better.

Unfortunately for my family, while my body's been going through the motions
here, my mind's been wandering through Terrapin, in the afterglow of a
blazing read. What a place it is!

Thank you, thank you.

Mona

Mona,
sitting here with my day being eaten by computer crashes preventing me from getting the work done I need to do - when I get your letter telling me you liked the Harp, dragging me right up out of a growing fit of anger and virulent hostility toward the devils who design these infernal boxes and reminding me why I get snarled in all this in the first place: to communicate! So thanks for your thanks at the right time. You're entirely welcome.

Date: Thu, Nov 7, 1996 3:56 AM EDT
From: PLANET 241
Subj: maybe age old writing advice

Dear Robert,

I'm sure that this is a question that's been asked of you for years and years, but it is one that I need to ask you. Actually it is a broad question that can be answered on any level.
How do you write? How do you write songs, or more importantly how do you connect words with what you feel and want to lay out on a page in front of you? It seems the more I learn, the more divided I am becoming, and the more difficult It is to convey my wordless thoughts and feelings. You have somehow done it almost magically it seems. Grasping the nature in the words without being too wordy. I on the other hand can be inspired, but then the words won't connect, or I can hear or read something so beautiful that I can't even dream of beginning to write something cause it could only fall short. Sometimes I feel that everything that I could ever say, sing, write, or cry has already been let out. I could continue on, but whoo, I'd end up ten pages down the line talking about my spiritual dilemnas, etc.
But....that is my question: ). Answer if you choose as you will. Thanks.

Very Sincerely,

Aaron

Aaron,
economy. Don't try to say it all. Say what little you can and expect that readers fill in the gaps from their own experience. What seems to be "magically" conveyed happens by virtue of leaving appropriate gaps and trusting the reader/listener has had the experience to recognize the area you're surrounding. If not, communication can't occur anyway. The best the writer can do is to juxtapose those areas in new and interesting ways.

Subj: pumpin' gas
Date: Wed, Nov 6, 1996 2:16 PM EDT
From: barbara@compumentor.org (Barbara Saunders)

Your comments about being glad you don't have to pump gas to support your writer's life intrigued me. I'm a writer, and get some odd responses when I tell people that the reason I don't "use my Stanford degree", i.e., take a "good job", is that writing (not to mention 'equanimity') requires a certain state of mind that I can't maintain while doing the corporate shuffle. So I felt validated by the fact that your visualization of what you'd do for money was "pumping gas" rather than "trading stock" or something!

Barbara

Barbara,

well, of course I don't have a Stanford degree, but if I DID, I don't think I'd want to make a living teaching people how to write. I tried it once at Naropa and felt like a true fraud at the podium. People ask questions to which I can only reply that it's the wrong question. Other than repeatinging "read a lot, don't try to say what can't be said, don't use too many adjectives and write about what you know" what is there to say? Premium or regular?

Subj: web writing
Date: Thu, Nov 7, 1996 1:25 PM EDT
From: llawton@email.njin.net (Leora Lawton)

Dear Hunter -

I finished reading your journals and am now looking forward to the next
installment and reading all of the other writings you have on the site.
so much I'd like to respond to! But I'll only say a few things...

One, you mentioned that you were inspired by Robert Burns...I have also
received inspiration from him. I was tripping through the golden gate
park in about 1976, having wandered through the Rose Garden (I learned to
appreciate roses because of the Dead). I was traipsing through the bushes
and came upon a statue of Robert Burns. On the pedestal were these words:
"Wee modest crimson-tipped flow'r,
Thou's met me in an evil hour;
For I maun crush amang the stoure
Thy slender stem:
To spare thee now is past my pow'r,
Thou bonnie gem."
I read it to myself. Then I read it aloud and marvelled how different it
felt. I read it aloud again. When I got back to Berkeley that afternoon
I went to Moe's and bought a book of his poems and found it: "To a
mountain daisy."

That marked the beginning of my appreciation of poetry and the power of
words. [note: I later learned that one mayor of SF put up several statues
of artists and such. A subsequent mayor disliked them, and had them
hidden with bushes.]

Two. On your journal...I'm a sociologist who is now studying the social
behavior of the Internet and your journal has made me aware of another
dimension of interactivity. Instead of just producing a literary work,
you are producing a literary conversation. It is taking publishing to a
new art form. Your poem on glass, and the glass blower's response was
cosmic. This kind of conversation can exist in other subject matters as
well. There is a on-line source for swimming pools in the country
<a href = "http://lornet.com/~SGOL">Swimmer's Guide On-Line</a>
where two people started off with the guide, and now swimmers around the
country are filling it in, sending in new or more complete information.

Three. I wish I had something to offer you besides my thanks and
encouragement. If you ever need a sociologist or maybe someone who can
interpret and explain Torah text using Hebrew and ancient commentaries,
drop me a line :-) I certainly use your lyrics in explaining Torah from
time to time :-) ... Here's an example:
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~leora/AA/adam.html

-leora

Leora,
I like to think what I'm doing is something new under the sun, in form if not in content, Ecclesiastes to the contrary. At the time Solomon made his estimation, he may have been right - and he IS right in most respects. Digitalized information is only information about homeocentric things which have always been and always will be, in roughly the same manner, as long as there are humans. Passion, barter, politics and family. For which reason it is good to enjoy and to make joyous noise.
What is new, as you rightly point out, is the manner of publishing work in a manner that invites actual participation in the creative process. A diary that talks back to the extent mine does is probably unparalleled. The key to this is endless (literally) hours of keeping the communication going. Endless because one communication invites another. The more punctilious I am with my replies, the more replies I garner. A growing snowball that threatens to obliterate its own possibilities? That's what many predicted to begin with, and it would be if I didn't communicate that fact ... and find that people consequently adjust the communication flow to allow respite. The actual mechanics of the adjustment is well nigh uncanny. It tends to be just about as much as I can handle and no more, despite the fact that more and more people are accessing the page. Some sort of quantum metaphor probably applies.
Will check your url. Thanks for writing.

Date: Nov 9 1996 12:22 AM EDT
From: HelenBuckt
Subj: I found this CD, and...

Well, I know the commercial CD debate is raging on rec.music.gdead. I won't mention how I feel about that issue, but I know copyright violations when I see them.

Today I walked into my local CD re-sale store and found a Grateful Dead CD on the "New Releases" rack. I picked it up and found that, like most bootleg CDs, the song titles were wrong and the "live" CD had no concert date. Looking at the cover art, I figured it MUST be an official GD release because underneath the artwork appeared the words "Copyright GDM". However, the disc itself had been released by "Parrot Records".

Obviously, these folks have taken copyrighted Grateful Dead artwork and used it for the cover of their CD. Did I forget to mention the black and white photo of Jerry on the inside cover? I'm a professional photographer, and I think that photo must be copyrighted to someone. If it isn't, than none of my artwork is my own (and apparently, your own work doesn't belong to you either). Several of my friends have had their work used without their permission, and without compensation, so when I see this sort of thing, it really chaps my delicate hide.

I don't know just how important the CD itself is to the Grateful Dead organization, but I do feel that the stealing of the artwork is worth mentioning.

Is this even worth pursuing any further? If so, I could get some more information for you.

your snitch
helen

Helen,
bootlegging is so epidemic there's nothing can be done about it. A lot of it is from Italy. Also China & Japan. God knows where all. I make what royalties I can from legitimate sources and it's sufficient. Haven't lost one wink of sleep over bootlegs yet. I'm not condoning them. I don't condone earthquakes either.

Date: Nov 8 1996 8:48 PM EDT
From: JerzGone
Subj: Reality

RH -

Whatever we are, we are
Whatever we become, we will be
And we will become what we are ...

reply:
Whatever we were, we were somewhere else when what was what went down, and were we glad we were.

Subj: The best way to lean a language. good luck
Date: Nov 9 1996 2:57 PM EDT
From: lute@correo.interlink.es

I think you are great and I desire you a good luck with you Englih. Some advice from my own
experiece :1) copy english texts and correct at the same time it¥s a good way to learn to write.2)
listen to the radio to understand english 3) exchange your own language with somebody who like to
learn it ( conversation exchange) and you will speak perfect even if you are not very young.

Good luck from
Sol

Sol
I think at same time it is good to have a speller checking and a friend who not laugh when you mistaken order brains in Morrocco and have to eat them to save face. You are welcome. Also good luck for you. Thanks for tip on the radio because that is good but don't listen at the same time to the ideas they say on right winged station or you end up sending yourself back to you own country.

Subj: Wizard of Oz
Date: Thu, Nov 7, 1996 5:13 PM EDT
From: 0002020180@mcimail.com (Dick Katz)

I was relieved to hear that there was a physical cause of the moving apple trees
as opposed to perhaps some metaphysical cause. Apple trees with a mind of their
own could cause widespread panic.

I did find it interesting that Katy went as Dorothy for Halloween. If you could
have somehow convinced the apple tree to accompany her on her rounds and toss
apples at people, think how convincing she could have been.

I am listening to Stella Blue off of Dozin' as I write this. Thank you so very
much for the beauty you bring to the world. The DeadNet idea is the right idea.
We are out here and behind it 100%. Keep up the good fight.

Peace and Love,
DA

Dick,
thanks for the good words. Slowly but surely we're pulling DeadNet together. Still the dark ages here, but within the month it ought to be shining. Oyez.
Wish I'd thought of the fighting tree! Kate would have gotten a lot more candy if she had a heavy with her!

Subj: Message to R. Hunter
Date: 11/09/96
To: Sweeney99

Dear Geoff,

I don't how to reach R.H.. I trust you do. Could you forward this letter to him?

Gratefully yours,

Jeanette Doney

Dear Robert Hunter,

Ayn Rand asked, "Who is John Gault?" I ask, "Where is John Gault?" Can you take the coincidence of the innitials, J.G., and make analogies? Has the Atlas Shrugged on the Golden Road? Perhaps Atlantis is not the solution to propagation. Perhaps Leviathan woke to realize it was the eyes of the world.

The Suns of the Dead would like to record, "Liberty", "So Many Roads", "Lazy River Road", and "Days Between". There is a very talented young man who has put music to , "Drunkard's Carol", that we would like to record. Alan Simon, our "Jerry", has original songs we would like to include on a tribute CD of Grateful Dead music to gain tour support. Our merchandising sells well.

We have made a promotional tape from the profits off our shows in L.A., where most bands pay to play. While you experience pains of entropy, we're experiencing growing pains. We are able to deliver the music of you and Jerry Garcia. We have been shut down for crowd control twice. I see GD merchandise in the audience and know we are supporting you. I see the GFD on our tickets above the SOTD and I know we are supporting you through ASCAP. We are proud to support you.

Are we really, "on our own?", I wonder. Are we the bastard sons of the Grateful Dead? We have learned from the mistakes of your past. And we learn from mistakes of our own. Is building a bridge possible?

We have adopted a trail in the Los Padres National Forest in honor of Jerry Garcia contributing 750 community service hours equal to $20,000.00, planting nearly 4,000 willows. We have created the Jerry Garcia Memorial Curtain, made of eight tapestries, totaling 18' x 36', from Little Bear Designs, and covered with names of deadheads in glitter and sequins who made contributions.

If the "many" are the people in the offices of Grateful Dead Inc., then we are failing, for we are not serving them, despite our unconditional support. If the "many" are the deadheads who love and live the words and music of the Grateful Dead, then we are proceeding correctly.

We, "got it". We are the present. What do we need to do to show you our bones? You ask, "How", to serve? We ask for your understanding, blessing, and encouragement to go forward with your transcendental words. To share them with our sisters and brothers, who we love, and continue to grow younger and older.

We are a continuation of the warp. Would you like a promotional package? Would you care to hear our tribute to you and the Grateful Dead? We are strong and have nothing to lose. We respect you and want to continue to support you and be a valid link to the future of sisters and brothers unborn.

By providing me with a snailmailing address, I will eagerly send a package. It will make you smile, if you could use a smile (your journal sounds like you could use a smile). If not now, then later. The stage keeps getting bigger and I know you're there, somewhere. It was your words that brought me here.

Respectfully yours,

Jeanette Doney

Suns of the Dead
215 El Porto Street
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-3126

Sunsdead1@ AOL
Deadnette @ AOL

P.S., A day later.

Thanks to Geoff, I was able to obtain your email address and P.O.Box (snailmail add.) Therefore, just say, "Hell ya, I'd love to hear the Suns' !" and I'll send you the promo right away.

Jeanette,

THAT'S THE SPIRIT!

Hell yeah, I'd love to hear the Suns' !

Subj: Great Future!
Date: Nov 12 1996 8:45 PM EDT
From: ssol@well.com (Steven C. Solomon)

RH,

>The only goals worth going through all these deep knee bends for are
>charitable ones. Charity requires a firm foundation from which to give. It
>seems possible that charity is, in itself, that foundation.

The Board likes your thinking, Hunter- open, expansive, innovative,
clear! Yez, yez- you might have a great future in this organization if
you keep it up!

Hhrrmmphph- let us know how that proposal works out.

Yez, yez- keep us in the loop. Let us know- yez.

Steve S ;-)

"The Universe is a self-extracting multidimensional interphasic message,
wavelet compressed and fractally encoded on permanent holomedia, using
unlimited time and intrinsic code distribution channels. You are
downloading it now." -- Attributed to Prof. Gerard Coleman, c2014

SOL:
Glad the organization approves of my humble efforts. Of course, as you know, the proposition is the substance and the material end-results are quite secondary. Hard to get these 3rd planet epiforms to confabulate this, as predicted, but I maintain it's not impossible. Which is, of course, why I got this rat ear assignment. Ten more years of this and I'll be happy to take that weekend off specified in my contract.

It's not all bad here, of course. They have the best damned ice cream in the galaxy and, as you know, the music is second only to the form shifters of the Ice Caves of Belarius for variety and execution. And speaking of execution, how is Sador doing on the Ekleptic run? I understand she's dealing with some of the same problems.

Thanks for checking in - I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about me.

rh

Subj: How can you do all this stuff?
From: bakerrb@bc.edu

Hi...
I picked up your address from central. Would like to thank you for all you've done to keep me from going nuts for all these years. It's been great to hear the words and I will keep listening. Nice job with Mystery Box, too. I loved the album.

Hi...
how can I do all this stuff? Beats the f#@k out of me! I ask myself the same question sometimes and the answer is always: think about that later, there's too much to be done.

Subj: orange mini-bus
Date: Tue, Nov 5, 1996 4:48 PM EDT
From: sue@anderson.edu (Sue Spaulding)

I got this address off of Netscape, in exploring the Grateful Dead Home
page. I am not one of your regular readers, so please forgive me if my
question is way off base. I have a 1972 orange VW minibus, a great DEAD
momento, which I am trying to sell. The price is negotiable; it is in very
good condition, and runs quite well. I do not know the mileage. I can be
reached through the above e-mail address. Forgive intrusion if this is not appropriate.
Thanks! sue

Sue,
it's pretty far off in the forest, but I'll put it in the mailbag 2 weeks from now and see if any of the readers need a microbus.

Date: Nov 14 1996 3:01 AM EDT
From: EYESNGART
Subj: A rest stop on the time line

Hi Hunter,
Sitting here at close to 2 am, fresh back from playin in the band and thinking about the GD; how it all got started, how it grew to be what it was and what it will now become. Still now, after all this time, there remains for many an aching emptiness. Many folks who seem to be getting along will suddenly feel this missing need. A sigh and a layer of drabness across the soul. Your work on the web represents a hub of newness that lots of us have latched onto. Yet many are still left behind, and even those involved in the web or other activities to recall the joyous mythmaking find only smaller more isolated outlets. But the critical mass that somehow seems to be an important element is still missing. On line events potentially could provide enough people energy, but attempts thus far have been puny and marrred by a bit too much chaos along with the inherent limitation in availability to all. So the thing must be to not get hung up on form; envision nothing specific so as to allow full newness to the vision born in the moment of creation. So, will we know the next step when it comes?
Forgive my ramblings, I'm a bit high, its late and we made good music tonight.
Peace
Phil

Phil,
let's just say that what I'm doing on the net is fulfilling for me. Perhaps I can communicate some of that sense of fulfillment to the few - not much I can do for the many. I'm not a "critical mass" junky. The "Big Time" was always problematic. I do what's in me to do, sometimes in the full light of a big rock and roll band, sometimes in the video screen light of the net. I don't ache for the same thing the fans ache for, so my viewpoint is very different. I don't even ache for the promise I watched going down the drain for a dozen years. Big time success meant less than shit to me. It was like a forced death march. I was in the trip to write good songs. Nothing more, nothing less. My engagement was exactly equal to the opportunity to do that. I would like to move on now, and those who are interested in my idea of a direction to go are welcome to participate. If not, that's okay too. Same as it ever was.

Date: Nov 15 1996 10:43 AM EDT
From: dod4@aber.ac.uk (DOMINIC DROZ)

dear robert,
thanx for writing back. glad you enjoyed seeing that "dream drive" piece
again> That early, uh? Hope you liked the MAAT CD as well. I was gonna rant
on again about the need to release "the new songs" in some way, but hey,
here's webx & a better place to discuss this than just laying it on
you.So, to the important stuff : giant thanx for The Giant's Harp! The last
3 chapters make me wanna kick my legs up in the air just thinking about them
now--brilliant, magic, all those other words,whew... what to say! The epilog
then proceeded to completely do me in and renders me speechless even now
(you may be relieved to hear this) So...major achievement, beautifully
brought forth, unforgettable characters, true mythic feel, the right amount
of silliness & a lot of songs. Not to mention cliffhangers galore, panoramic
vistas over an entire world.... Many many thanx indeed for this gift. A
sequel would be astounding... in due time.
Starting on Sentinel now, like Toad In Love, Sentinel itself is quite a
thing. I'll have to read that aagain. On the subject, I find it hard to
believe that people just grab the GD related parts of the site and dont
venture into the other stuff. This said, I have to admit to not having yet
read Stange Music simply cos I cant spend the print cartridge money to print
it all (I read the stuff in bed too), and the same goes for Peter O's Alaska
book.Sorry, cant do it. Tell Hewlett-Packard the news, the bastards!!!! But
I read everything else and really appreciate it. I will admit as well parts
of the Orfeo stuff is totally beyond me.Sod me, two fucking degrees and I
still lose you guys when you get heavily philosophical.But thats cool, I dont
mind, it IS mind-expanding enough as it is (or has been, since it seems to
be on hold for now). The same goes for the Rilke, well... you say it's worth
looking into --obviously since you took the trouble to translate it-- I'll
certainly look into it. But I dont know.I find it hard to get into. Prefer
your stuff really. Love Maureen's blocks for it tho' as I believe I have
said already... So it goes. BTW, on the subject of your poetry, I bought
Night Cadre & Idiots Delight at Compendium Bookstore London a year or two
back (same place I met Mickey 11/90 when he signed copies of his book. Neat
shop), but could never find "Infinity Minus 11" anywhere. Any chance of
laying that on us? What does it consist of exactly???? Call me greedy, I
dont care.LOVED An Am.Adventure to bits too... Making copies to send non-Net
connected people (nice and small see, can afford to print it several times).
I'm trying to use wraparound here as requested but dont know if this'll
result in a great huge ugly wedge of text. guess it doesnt matter.very
Kerouac, tho'-- just keep on typin' boy, never mind them line breaks... Ok,
nothing left to say but how the Archive has become an integral part of my
life, and now edging into December it will definitely have been one of the
main --ongoing-- events of the year for me, one of those you can remember
1996 by when we're old and grey(er)...as in before and after, you know?
hey, I'll leave you with one of mine, wrote it years ago, still kinda like
it (with line breaks, sorry) :

happiness, it comes and goes
things and people move
but what is, remains

lots of love from across the world. it IS a new beginning isnt it?

dominic

Dominic,
I loved MAAT. Truly. I'm going to go right ahead and say I like it better than anything new I've heard this year. The rhythms, voicings, vocals & production are first rate. Although your words don't transfer to paper, that's not necessary. Most good lyrics don't. I try to have it both ways, but that's just a quirk and not essential to an effective song. Jagger's "Satisfaction" is the best case in point. Reading your lyrics after listening to the whole album, I was surprised at how simple they were, because listening to you sing them they seem full of significance and complexity, dripping with innuendo. You are a very good singer. Very. If MAAT doesn't get some attention, there's no justice.

Maureen was working in her studio listening to Clapton's "Layla" album, when I brought MAAT down for her to listen to. Tough act to follow, that. She finished playing the album, then put on yours and loved it too. OK? OK!
rh

ps: You may quote me.

Subj: Comic Books
Date: Nov 15 1996 10:25 PM EDT
From: extdl@hpsmit16.rose.hp.com (Dana Leighton)

Hi,

First, I'll express my appreciation for the Journals, and all of the words and fun over the years.

Second, I'd like to know if there's any more 'stuff' in the pipeline akin to the work you did with Timothy Truman on Dog Moon? I really like Tim Truman's artwork, and with your words... Purely sweet and fulfilling.

Third, I hope it's okay that I used your quote (with attribution) in my
email signature. If not, let me know and I'll pull it. I thought the words
"steady flexible awareness" were pure magic together.

Thanks again for all the gifts.

"Obvious solutions are obvious because they're old solutions. New
solutions ... are not obvious but require a steady flexible awareness."
[Robert Hunter]

Dana

Dana
1> you're very wecome.
2> Tim has two of my scripts - any year now I expect he'll get to 'em.
3> I said that? Better watch it or I'll start getting quoted!

Date: Nov 15 1996 9:49 PM EDT
From: Sweeney99
Subj: Re: 11/15 #2
To: K9Luna

In a message dated 11/15/96 4:27:17 PM, you wrote:

>ps: Ol' overworked Tom better get us a DNC button on the main page PDQ, or you'll have us on AOL first! Ah, motivation. . .

You didn't expect me to not pickup my cue did you? Well, you pushed me into it! There's a link in the orb under your folder, and for the next 24 hours, DNC is on the main screen! Expect some visitors. Get some chips and dips.

I'm sitting here taking a little glee in the pain you're going to go through. I've already heard one grumbling rumor that [gasp!] you might be deleting some posts! Just wait 'till you get called a nazi, when all you were trying to do was keep the place tidy! I do hope the webx people give you the tools to move the individual topics, or you'll drown in topic-creep so fast!

So don't work too hard; write some poems; don't let this thing eat you alive.

Peace,
Geoff

Geoff,
there's no ointment without a fly or two. Surprisingly little of that in the Archive mail, but with such a mix of personalities as a conference attracts, there's bound to be some difference of opinion over the Draconion imposition of (shudder) order! Anyway, as you well know, some semblance of order is necessary, even if it's only moving the extended pile of discussions off the front page and into folders - the file is already starting to take a long time to load due to so many items on the startup page. Yes, I zipped a few flames relating to that - which only goes to prove I'm a regular little Mussolini. Wait until the inevitable time to prune outdated messages comes! Beauty of these things is they run themselves once the topic folders are properly in place.

So you got your button to the conference up first! Hah - if formatting around bugs in AOL's proxy servers didn't take so much time, we'd probably have 3D movies & stereo sound by now! Received a phone call from AOL tonight - I thought someone was going to bust me for swear words on the conference - but they were only trying to sell me the new Yellow Pages! Sail on, mighty ship of the internet - behind us not the ghost of shores - before us only shoreless seas . . .

rh

Date: Nov 16 1996 7:11 PM EDT

From: Montana386

Robert

You've done it. Heartfelt congratulations. DeadNet Central is gonna be bigger than live! Everything a deadhead needs. Except for the music. Thank God for the tapes. I have been following your journal. I just hope at GDP, Merchandising, Rex and all the other parts of the skeleton everybody finally realizes how many of us are out here. Just waiting for you guyz to join in the good times again. We don't want to buy our music at Walmart. So get on line and let Rex have 10%. Everybody wins.

Robert, with all the mail you get you probably don't remember you last e-mail response to me. Let me just tell you that it set me free. Thanks a bunch.

Angelika

<. . . be music when Phil gets online, or he'll know why not!>

Subj: Re: 11/12
Date: Nov 15 1996 2:38 AM EDT
From: ssol@well.com (Steven C. Solomon)
To: K9Luna (Robert Hunter)

rh,

So glad to hear back from you!

>glad the organization approves of my humble efforts. Of course, as you know,
>the proposition is the substance and the material end-results are quite
>secondary.

Intentions count for a lot, especially in a potentially doomed
proposition potentially doomed to success and thence demanding delivery
of "the goods".

>Hard to get these 3rd planet epiforms to confabulate this, as
>predicted, but I maintain it's not impossible. Which is, of course, why I got
>this rat ear assignment. Ten more years of this and I'll be happy to take
>that weekend off specified in my contract.

Hmmmm- maybe you should read the fine print about that weekend off ;-)

>It's not all bad here, of course. They have the best damned ice cream in the
>galaxy and, as you know, the music is second only to the form shifters of the
>Ice Caves of Belarius for variety and execution. And speaking of execution,
>how is Sador doing on the Ekleptic run? I understand she's dealing with some
>of the same problems.

Oh, dear... didn't you hear? Sador might'a got ett on that last run.
Rumors run rampant and unconfirmed, but would have it that the
transgalactic gal in question found herself masticated in the maw of an
Anduvian Cephalopod. The Rescue Unit was dispatched, but by the time that
bi-alimentary bastard was done with his snack, all the Form Shifters and
all of their tricks couldn't put Sador back in shape again.

>Thanks for checking in - I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about
me.

Forget about you? How could I forget about you when your words and tunes fill the main rooms, basement dungeons and attics of my life?

I turn off the stereo, and even then, still, there you are either in your
own voice or Jerry's... flappin' your gums about cowboys and enigmas,
hard choices and bad choices, ladies fair and too clever... they perhaps
bein' forces implicit in Nature and never taught in school. Whatever the
song is about, it's usually somethin' that somehow brings a smile or a
sweet tear.. sometimes it turns that wheel a bit furthur... sometimes
it just greases that wheel.

Well, anyhow, I haven't been gone, really; just restraining my typical
vociferation. Hate to hog the bandwidth, as much as I love to go on about
things. Been hanging back and taking in the journals and the letters
from our friends; thinking about things rather than always trying to be
the first in the class to raise my hand. So...

I remain yours in obstreperous confabulation,

Steve

"If there's no dancing, count me out!"
American Anarchist Emma Goldman,
on the Russian Revolution of '17

And with that, station K9Luna leaves the air. Take up the discussion across the road at the conference group and make a joyous noise to crackle across the internet! I've given all I have to give here, and more that this I cannot give. I need some downtime bad. It's been nigh on to nine months now and the child of DeadNet is delivered kicking and squalling. Do well by it. Raise it right. Wrap the babe in scarlet covers, call it your own.

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