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Had a splendid rehearsal last night with the Honky Tonk Hippies, getting ready for our debut next Saturday, August 5 at the Larkspur Cafe Theatre (500 Magnolia, Larkspur CA, 415-924-6107). Little Wheels Band opens.

The band consists of me on guitar and vocals; David Phillips, pedal steel and vocals; Josh Kaye, keyboards; Joshua Zucker, bass and vocals; and Mike Shaw, drums.

The Larkspur Cafe folks came up with a nice poster for the gig:

Last night as I was going to sleep, contemplating a song I’m working on and awash in the media coverage of religious warfare in the Middle East and at home, I leapt up to find a note pad and wrote down these words:

The disease of alienation
The balm of empathy

This morning I heard my wife singing to our cat Hugo – we both sing to both of our cats all the time – and the song she was singing reminded me of “Douglas Traherne Harding,” from the album The Big Huge by the Incredible String Band. (This is the only ISB album with which I have any familiarity, and it goes back a long way: one of the first songs I ever sang with my first partner, in 1970, was “Cousin Caterpillar” – which I still perform from time to time.)

The chorus, such as it is, of “Harding” is:

One light, the light that is one though the lamps be many

I was raised in a family that was not only not religious, but not particularly spiritual. I came to my spirituality, such as it is, through my own experience, reading, thinking, and observation. I never went on any vision quest; I have not read most of the important religious texts. I was a plain suburban kid, the child of liberals, who made my own way in the world and in the universe, making it up as I went along and eventually developing a firm belief that we are not separate from nature nor from each other.

One light, the light that is one though the lamps be many

Maybe it’s just that I have never been wealthy enough to become greedy, nor frightened enough to become alienated. Growing up in a Democratic household (not that the principles were ever explained, but my parents fought for justice and against racism, and never pretended that government was per se a bad thing), I acquired the habit of compassion long before I was in any position to practice it. And nowadays I do my best to model a compassionate life in a society that appears to have banished the very concept from the public discourse. George W. Bush raped and tortured the word in the 2000 election (“compassionate conservatism” my ass), and the corpse rots in the sun somewhere out near that fake “ranch” in Crawford, Texas.

We listened to “Douglas Traherne Harding” in the car on the way to the Farmers’ market this morning, and as it so often does, the words of that chorus brought tears to my eyes:

One light, the light that is one though the lamps be many

I thought about the Daily Show interview I watched last night, in which a Middle East expert explained how the Sunnis and Shi’ites are battling each other even as they battle the West. And a day or two earlier, another Daily Show bit highlighted the murderous absurdity of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all claiming the exclusive affections of the same God – and killing each other in His name.

One light, light that is one though the lamps be many

I walked around the Farmers’ Market, taking pictures of the ugly-beautiful heirloom tomatoes and watching my healthy, happy neighbors and their kids, buying blueberries and basil from the people who grew them and marmalade and granola from the people who made them. I looked up at the Grand Lake Theatre marquee, thankful that Allen Michaan is willing to put his mouth where his money is. And that song kept playing in my mind:

But if you’re walking down the street
Why don’t you look down to the basement
And sitting very quietly there is a man who has no head
His eye is single and his whole body also is filled with light
And the streets are his and all the people
And even the temples and the whole world
And many’s the time he walks to the river
And seeing the ferryman and seeing the tollman
The light within him leaps to greet them
For he sees that their faces are none but his own

One light, light that is one though the lamps be many

There is more to say on this subject, but I’ve got to get moving. One more quote from the same Incredible String Band album, from the opening song:

Maya, Maya
All this world is but a play
Be thou the joyful player

From Rhino’s web site:

GRATEFUL DEAD PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCE GROUNDBREAKING DEAL WITH RHINO ENTERTAINMENT
Under Continuing Creative Direction From Grateful Dead Productions, Rhino To Exclusively Manage Grateful Dead’s Intellectual Property

July 07 2006
LOS ANGELES —

In an arrangement that redefines the relationship between artist and label, Grateful Dead Productions (GDP) has appointed Rhino Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group, the exclusive manager of its entire repertoire of intellectual property.

Under the landmark license agreement, Rhino assumes the primary responsibility for the full range of Grateful Dead assets, recorded and otherwise, including the vast archive of unreleased live concert recordings, the band’s official website (dead.net), all related direct-to-consumer and merchandise businesses, the growing variety of digital initiatives, and select band-related name and likeness licensing. The agreement does not include Grateful Dead music publishing, which will continue to be managed exclusively by Ice Nine.

The arrangement also ensures that Grateful Dead Productions, the band’s renowned production company, will continue to be principally involved in all creative decision making.

GDP released this official statement: “Rhino, our current and most recent partner in recorded music, offered to us an inventive new arrangement that is very accommodating and sensitive to the way we like to conduct business. The Rhino license maintains our role in the creative decision making process, ensures that Rhino will continue the high quality of our releases and products, and respects the years of relationships we’ve developed with our audience, our fellow artists and our licensees. We’ve worked with Rhino for years, and with Warner, their parent company, for decades, and they care about Grateful Dead. It feels good that they will now administer these important day-to-day matters for us and work to bring us new opportunities to expand the Grateful Dead universe.”

“Grateful Dead has always shown tremendous vision,” says Scott Pascucci, President of Rhino Entertainment. “With this deal they have once again placed themselves ahead of the curve.”

“Under continuing creative direction from Grateful Dead Productions, we look forward to working together under this new arrangement to protect and extend the artist’s dynamic legacy,” says Gregg Goldman, Executive Vice President at Rhino. “With this expanded relationship, we’ll be able to look at the bigger picture and proceed in ways that make the most sense for the long-term success of Grateful Dead.”

“With Grateful Dead it all begins with the music and the fans,” says Jimmy Edwards, Senior Vice President at Rhino. “They truly have one of the most knowledgeable and devoted followings in popular music. We are very excited about this opportunity to preserve and nurture this special relationship through releases and initiatives of the highest integrity.”