more grape

I got into such an enthusiasm for Moby Grape a year or two ago, not having attended back in the day. they were hyped to the max and the rebound killed the group. but they had energy. their best song, written by Skip Spence, is Omaha. the speed of punk but hippie happy in a perfectly goofy true way. Spence wrote neat songs, each one different. a further appeal is a time machine thing. I lived thru the 60s and find that the hectic expansion and dispute that went on hasn't been resolved. still fighting Vietnam, in a really broad sense. peace and love and crass Woodstock. I'm listening to radio news, Rumsfeld sounds like Nixon era blindness. well, we will just have to send more troops in, clean up this mess, etc. 60s had plenty of hokum, the spirtual paths and peace love for a while, idealism before the fall. a couple of days ago the local high school was locked down because grafitti in the bathroom gave Columbine fears. a social sundering that seems more extreme now, but I don't pretend to know the score. I'm not focussing here. nowadays the whole market of selling yourself to MTV and Rolling Stone. MG were just goofing, but the machine was serious. god help us, Bono talking to the Pope.