(when you're lost and alone, that's when the rainbow comes)

yes, i do feel this entry will be laden with ultra positive lyrics...all from michael franti and spearhead.

i did end up getting a ticket to the show last night. i asked mel if i could contract out his Force, and while i was a bit dubious about the success rate, it appears that said Force likes me. i'm happy about that.

i'm also very happy to annouce that seattle does move! once again, my jadedness in this arena is proven wrong, and i couldn't be happier about it. the show last night was full of flat-out-all-crowd bouncing, arms in the air, and it felt damned good.

(a war on terror is a war on peace)

i did go by myself, and it was quite nice. it started with some friends at that bar i go to often enough that i'm beginning to feel attachments to the staff. then they left, and i found myself sitting by one of the windows people watching, only to be approached by several men. after tastefully and successfully getting the point out that i wanted to be left alone, i let the last one win. we had some good conversation about, of course, politics, the state of seattle, astrology, and his convictions that i am an "old soul" and that i have a "very nice way about me." haha.

and then, on my walk to the venue(this is in fact my favorite part of living where i do), i called bill to try and convince him to move here. because, you see, there is truth to the whole "family needs to live close together" thing, and i really want my family here. and i am not moving there. and they...well, they are not moving here. but whatever.

and then, upon entering the paramount, and realizing there was no ATM inside, i got into the line for the bar, assuming i'd just have to buy enough drinks to meet any minimum they might impose. luckily, this is when i befriended john and sydney. they not only bought my drinks, but introduced me to other lovelies with whom i discussed not only agriculture, weather and life in central washington, but found out that john was at that one warped tour show at the gorge where john popper and dmb did "imagine" together - aka The Only Thing Mel Can Still Hold Over My Head When Comparing Show Experiences.

(if i could walk a mile in your shoes, and you could walk a mile in my bare feet...)

and the show itself. it seems i had 10000 things floating through my head that it was direly important i pump out in writing. but i might let most of it go. i will say, though, that i just plunged myself into the middle of that crowd of movement, and had a blast. but besides the fact that the music sounded great and was FUN, i am just so in love with michael franti's integrity. well, and his big huge slender frame and flying dreads, but whatever. this is a man who has been so effected by world events that he has used his position to actually go out (over to Iraq) and experience it for himself so that he might promote understanding both to himself and in other places. and while i do sometimes find his lyrics almost painfully cliche, they are not trite, and they are extremely relevant.

in case you weren't aware - the world is a mess. the world is blowin up, the world is caving in, the world has lost her way again. and i know we're all so heavily sedated with our own dramas, with technology, with a feeling of powerlessness...whatever the particular mechanism is that allows us each individually to just shrug it all off. in fact, the one that i'm noticing more and more is a generalized sentiment of "the government is stupid...and so are people who stand up or speak out against it." and i can't really dictate or impress spiritual philosophy on anyone. but mine says that not only are we wrapped up in an eternal system of rebounding actions, but that the energy contained in my body right now will continue to express, expand and experience after this casing has stopped movement. and that propells me to want to make change. and it also saddens me so much when i hear anyone speaking out in hate towards the music that i experienced last night.

but i'll stop there.

why?

because it's dark and dreary outside - and by god! this is what i've been waiting for!



and the show...well, i had all kinds of things floating through my head that i wanted to write about while it was going on.