1. It's hard to say how fully I've recovered from getting overheated recently. Nonetheless, I decided to venture out today. I kept my trip to Coeur d'Alene very simple. I went to Supercuts for a haircut and then to Costco to stock up on a few things. I was concerned about walking from the car into the store with no clouds covering the sun, but I felt fine as I entered the store. I took my time, purchased a cart full of items, and when I went back outside, it was partly cloudy. Clouds obscured the sun. I nearly fell on my knees in gratitude. I had no problems strolling back to the car nor when I loaded the trunk.
Once I returned home and then delivered the things I bought for Paul and Carol, I didn't need a nap. I've been feeling fatigued, but not today. Debbie had prepared a cold and delicious cabbage salad that really hit the spot and it just felt good to have completed the tasks I set out to do and to feel, not 100%, but pretty good.
2. Christy's pal Tracy is in town and Debbie and I met them at The Beanery for wood-fired pizza and some live music. Our pizzas were superb. I drank a cola drink and water with mine and it occurred to me that I really do like pizza and cola more than I like pizza and beer. We also enjoyed garlic knots and some fun conversation. Tracy raised some questions about teaching and education, things I hadn't really discussed in a long time and it felt good to speak highly of being a part of the community college mission, of having a college teaching job where relationships with students and emphasis on academics were inseparable.
3. Back home, Debbie hit the hay early and I sat in the living room and listened to tonight's Deadish program on kepw.org. Last time I was in Eugene, Jeff had recorded a brief clip of me introducing his show (I don't do a very good job) and, to my surprise, he played that clip tonight.
For the next hour, Jeff played some of the best music I've ever heard on his show, one acoustic performer after another, many in the realm of bluegrass, playing covers of Grateful Dead songs.
I loved hearing these tunes played soulfully and lovingly, loved hearing the different vocal stylings that helped me hear these familiar tunes as if for the first time. In particular, Norma Waterson's cover of "Black Muddy River" at once enchanted and moved me as she and Martin Carthy, Danny Thompson, Richard Thompson and others transformed "Black Muddy River" into a British folk tune.
This show will be archived at kepw.org for two weeks.
I look forward to listening to this first hour as many times as I can, write down the names of the different artists Jeff played, and seek out more of their music,
I'll just add that my impression was that quite a few of these artists were young, too young to have heard the Grateful Dead ever perform live.
Their youth and their love of these songs further cemented for me that far from just being a "hippie band from the 60s", the music and the lyrics of the Grateful Dead's songs have staying power and continue to endure, not only thanks to radio shows like Jeff's, but because young musicians are making the Dead's music into their own music, being faithful to the Dead by transmuting the songs into bluegrass, interpretations on the harp, on the piano, and playing with them in other innovative and invigorating ways.
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