DAP’s, Portable Rig And Driveline Specs Updated For Reviews, Going Forward

DAP’s, Portable Rig And Driveline Specs Updated For Reviews, Going Forward…

The Updated Specs are in Bold below.

AK120 Portable Digital Audio Player and Amplifier Stack ©Christmachine 2017

 

VinylTransfer(Needledrop) / Reel To Reel Transfer/ HD TRAcks/ CD to FLAC/ALAC/ WAV/.mp3(320kbps) -> AK120 (No Mods) 24/192 Capable Portable Audio Reference Server (2 X Stock Wolfson WM8740 DAC’s [One For Each Channel]) w/ 3-ohm output impedance (64GB Onboard FLASH + 2 x 200GB San Disk Micro SDXC-10 Cards) -> ALO Audio SXC 22 mini to mini 3 Wire Silver Plated Copper -> ALO Audio International Headphone Amp w/ 24bit96kHz DAC w/ Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC Chip -> ALO Audio Green Line (balanced universal mini XLR) w/classic copper sends and silver-plated copper returns -> ALO Audio Green Line RSA 4 pin Balanced XLR -> Audeze LCD2 Bamboo rev. 2G w/mini XLR Metal Reinforced Male Input Connects.

Additional DAP Source Players: Fiio X5 & The Pono Player (For Cross Reference Listening).

Additional Headphones Used: Sennheiser HD700, Audio Technica ATH M50 (OLD Model w/ Coil Chord), Sony MDRV6 (Studio Monitor w/ Coil Chord).

Note #1…I do not use IEM’s (In Ear Monitors) so one has to know whether or not their particular IEM’s match with the 3 Ohm Output Impedance of the AK120.

Note #2…You will notice that the AK120 was not modified (for lower output impedance) as I did with the AK100.  The reason I chose not to modify is because I wanted to use a stock AK120 player…so others could hear what I was hearing if they so choose.

 

Here Is a link to the Spec Sheet for the AK120 (PDF Opens New Tab).

http://www.soundfidelity.co.uk/media/downloads/products/AstellKern_AK120_Manual_English.pdf

 

Disclaimer:  As you know this site is not here to sell anyone anything, so I must disclose that the Pono Player was given to me, as I was an early stage beta tester.  I did not know I was going to be asked to be a beta tester nor did I know that we would be able to keep the player after testing was completed.  More on that another time…I will say that whatever you have read, the people behind Pono are well intentioned.  They created a damn good DAP…all criticisms aside, they really were and are (in the end) just trying to move Hirez forward.  This is a win for all.  The Pono Player will not be a main feature in reviews…I just wanted to let people know my source DAP’s for info.

 

As Far as the other DAP’s:

Some quick thoughts that might be helpful.  I never use the bundled software with the DAP units.  You want headaches…then use the software.  I simply use the DAP’s as default external drives, when plugged into the computer, just drag and drop my music files / folders into the onboard flash or memory cards.  I fill the memory cards by using the adaptor that comes with the cards and do the heavy transferring of music files via the memory card slot on the computer.

Another helpful hint, with the exception of the Pono Player which automatically scans my it’s memory at startup, I never ever ever scan my AK120 DAP…there is no need for me to do so.  I turn automatic scanning off on the AK120 and just remember where I put the files.  I just organize the folders in a way that makes it pretty simple to navigate.  On occasion it will take a minute or two to find something but it’s not a burden.

I don’t listen the way most people do…I do not use playlists, I tag my own files with mp3 Tag freeware, I listen to full albums (except for maybe electronic).  Every time I listen to an album I try to listen for something I never heard before, and every time…no matter how many listens, it presents itself.  I’m not trying to tell anyone how to listen to their music but I see people giving excellent DAP’s a bad review because the software was buggy, or they fill their memory cards with hundreds of GB of music while in the DAPs’ expansion slots.  Sometimes the GUI in the player itself is a little glitchy, but never miserable unless you’re expecting iPhone fast.

I Have had the AK120 for 2 years now and I use it daily with no battery issues…recharge is  slow, just plug in at night and it’s ready to go the next morning.  I do not use the DAP’s continuously all day, I switch between the phone to DAP’s throughout the day and they just work.  A little clunky but sounds damn good enough to make up for any shortfalls.

Next Up Reviews…

 

 

If there’s anything I forgot I will add to the update section below this sentence.

Update: 

As of today 02/23/17 No Updates At This Time.
Thanks For Reading & All Your Endless Support!

Love You Lots! Stay Well, Be Kind & Bless.

Tak Tak, Bless!

Grazie, Ciao!

Obrigadx, Tchau! Adeus!

Gracias, Adios!

Danke, Tchuss!

Merci, Au revoir!

Dank je…Bedankt, Alstublieft!

Merci Vilmal, Adeau!

Gracies, Adieu!

Gracies, Adeu!

 

CM ☕

Please do not reproduce this article either all or in part without the expressed written permission of the (nutty) author who can be reached via the “Contact” section in the header menu. You may link to the article if you wish, all that we ask is that you give credit to the respective author…”Christmachine” wherever you post a link. Thank you.

Copyright © 2017 Christmachine. All Rights Reserved.

©2014 – 2020 Christmachine ☕

Christmachine Audio Reference Music Server – Social Media Icons Explained

Christmachine Audio Reference Music Server – Social Media Icons Explained ~

Photo Courtesy Of Doc Keyaza!

 

Christmachine social media Icons Simplified…It is necessary to do two posts in quick succession before I start unloading all of the Christmachine Audio Reference Server Quality Standards Catalog recommended as best sources to seek out for your listening pleasure.

I will start with an explanation of the second post which will follow soon after (above) this one, just so you know why, as well as my reasoning for this approach.  The following post will be a rundown of the gear / rig(s) that I have been using for the last two years.  It is somewhat similar to an earlier post a few years back (which I will link to below) except for the different Digital Audio Players (DAP’s – More than one) and there updated specs, that have improved the sound quality without my taking a major hit in price to upgrade.  It’s not super cheap to be fair, but I would say within the price range for anyone who already spends money on gear and music already.

You could do with what gear you already have on hand, even go a whole different route and purchase gear within your price range as well as what sounds good to your ears.  You just have to know that your gear supports the formats you get (Easy: see your device specs), and that if you are going to listen to high bitrates that the doc / dacs (Digital To Analog Converter(s)) have to also be able to support and output the quality (# Bit Depth / kHz Sample Rate) of the audio files.

If the file formats are not supported then a little research is needed to convert and preserve the integrity of the files.  If the internal dac / dacs downsample the audio, it will still sound Very Good at say (16/44) but you will not be making use of the full range of sound afforded by the recordings.

If 16/44 is enough for you then you will have the highest quality 16/44 around, he heh!  Make it fun anyway and compare to your CD versions as well as any digital files such as .mp3’s or .mp4’s, notice any differences. Remember that listening tastes change over time,  according to your current perspective (mood/biases), and is greatly affected by ambient noise in your surroundings.  It does not have to be maniacal, whatever floats the boat, right–yeah!

So the next post will show you my reference / listening gear, so that you can get a general idea as to how I listen and made the decisions for this standardized “Christmachine: Audio Reference Server Catalog“.  The three key words to remember are “Reference”, “Standard”, and “catalog”.  These reviews are from “my” personal “reference catalog”.  Therefore it is my subjective opinion as to the “standard”.  It’s not rocket science.

The fun again, is comparing and contrasting different audio sources and training your ears and brain through a critical listening process that will mature over time.  You can learn this on your own, i.e. by say focusing on the individual instruments and differeing sound signatures, etc. inside and between various recordings of the same piece of music mastered for each specific medium and format.

Keep in mind that the recordings must be of the same sessions or you will then be getting into a whole other realm, known as artist interpretations.  These are quite common in Classical Music, for example, for different musicians, conductors, or composers interpreting a standard legacy piece (Say Mozart’s “Requiem” or Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” or Beethoven’s 9th Symphony) differently or according to how they believe it should be represented or played.  That’s another realm of exploration, but I digress.

You already own…right now, “your own” personal reference catalog and may not think of it that way.  These are just meant to be my personal recommendations, if you want to attempt to take the music to another level.  If you listen to one or two or three and disagree, happy where your at, then great.  You can always use this site (or not 😉  ) as a reference, and be solid in your opinion….”knowing” where you think I am wrong.

Here is the link I referred to above for reference to my previous rig…

http://www.christmachine.com/christmachine/show-off-the-portable-rig-and-driveline-specs/

 

Photo Courtesy Of Doc Keyaza!

 

Next I just want to take a moment to explain the social media icons, located in the upper right hand corner wedge on all the pages of this website.  There is a reason the icons visual logos do not correspond to the correct link and take you to another of my social media graveyards…heh.  For example the first icon that represents “Linked In” will take you to my twitter page…the reason being that I do not put those icons there to redirect you somewhere else to mess with you.  I do it because, having the right icon for each link just means more traffic and I am not doing this for clicks.  This is a archive website, no frills, not trying to break the net.

So below this paragraph I will post all the links in the order that they are represented in the corresponding icons.  If you want to click on these links to check them out, then you can just ignore the social media icons.  Most of the links are graveyards (save for a few), as I said earlier, but they will be used heavily once I get this website really full of fresh content and reviews.

Another thing there are some other links that readers have been going to via search engines thinking that they are mine. A few are not, and that is why I am explaining and posting all the links here.  For example…there is more than one Christmachine Youtube account…so now you will be able to see the right one, same for FB, and a few others.

Also there are a few links that I use daily, so I added them to the icons and are not my pages, but use them for reference for say Discogs and Wiki Languages and Omniglot.  Some of them like Discogs are there because I reference then a lot in regards to this website, and obviously you can use them too, for cross reference and search.  The Dynamic Range Database is in there as well…again, pertinent to this website.  So here they are for our reference.  All the links below are hot but open in a new tab, so be aware of that if you are on mobile. Stay well!

 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/christ_machine

 

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealChristMachine

 

Scoop.IT:

http://www.scoop.it/u/christmachineandicelandicgurlagenda

 

Omniglot:

http://www.omniglot.com

 

DR – Dynamic Range Database:

http://dr.loudness-war.info

 

Tumblr:

http://christmachine.tumblr.com

 

Christmachine Google Image Search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=christmachine&hl=en&biw=1221&bih=680&site=webhp&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiU3-KV–PRAhWTdSYKHW-uCFwQsAQIIA#imgrc=_

 

Mixcloud:

https://www.mixcloud.com/ChristMachine/favorites/

 

Christmachine WordPress.com:

https://christmachine.wordpress.com

 

Christmachine RSS Feed:

(You must have a RSS Reader Installed / Or Shared Links On Mac)

feed://www.christmachine.com/feed/

 

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/public/Lincoln-Dottir-Christmachine

 

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/christ_machine/

 

Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com

 

Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/christmachine/following

 

Wikipedia Languages:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias

 

Google+:

https://plus.google.com/116278604902632351342

 

Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/christmachine/

 

There you have it…Current Rig post up next! And then…  😉 🙂 😉

 

Photo Courtesy Of Doc Keyaza!

 

 

Thanks For Reading & All Your Endless Support!

Love You Lots! Stay Well, Be Kind & Bless.

 

Tak Tak, Bless!

Grazie, Ciao!

Obrigadx, Tchau! Adeus!

Gracias, Adios!

Danke, Tchuss!

Merci, Au revoir!

Dank je…Bedankt, Alstublieft!

Merci Vilmal, Adeau!

Gracies, Adieu!

Gracies, Adeu!

 

CM ☕

Please do not reproduce this article either all or in part without the expressed written permission of the (nutty) author who can be reached via the “Contact” section in the header menu. You may link to the article if you wish, all that we ask is that you give credit to the respective author…”Christmachine” wherever you post a link. Thank you.

Copyright © 2017 Christmachine. All Rights Reserved.

 

©2014 – 2020 Christmachine ☕

Now With That Out Of The Way, Back To Christmachine – Audio Reference Server

Now With That Out Of The Way, Back To Christmachine – Audio Reference Server

Ahhh… Where Do You Keep The Vinyl Rips and Hi Resolution Digital Files ? ——————————–>Photo Courtesy Of Doc KEYAZA!!!

 

So there has been enough (So much!) time passed, it’s blatantly obvious to me that no one else will create an Audio Reference Quality Standards Catalogue for individual album releases.  The powers that be have showed us time and time again that they feel that we should be left in the dark about the music we have purchased and continue to purchase.  It’s loud and clear, they do not have to, there is no other option.

All we asked for was lineage and provenance of recordings that we spend gobs of cash for, as well as the textual and numerical details as to how they mastered, remastered, and transferred the new releases. Once again we are left clueless as to what we are purchasing. We know it can be done, some releases have done just that, usually projects overseen by reputable audio engineers.

I do understand that in some cases they do not know some of these details as they have been lost to time, poor record keeping, lack of proper labeling, and a sad state of storage of the original master tapes.  In some cases they don’t even know whether they are the “original studio masters” or well travelled copies.  We saw that in the report on the sad state of historical music archiving, much has been lost or destroyed….as we know back just a few decades ago music industry analysts and label bosses went with the prevailing wisdom, why would we want to preserve all this music–who is going to want it?  What is the use?

This:

https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub148/pub148.pdf

And ESPECIALLY This (Re-Post):

http://www.billholland.net/words/Labels%20Strive%20to%20Rectify%20Past%20Archival%20Problems.pdf

 

Now that they realize the marketing and money making potential, oh the irony there, eh?  All we have asked for is crumbs; forget about the old arguments (for a moment) on the loudness wars, whether high rez audio can be heard by the human ear (The Nyquist Theorem), Wheather vinyl has more warmth and soul, whether expensive cables give a +/- better listening experience, The law of diminishing returns, “Sources? / Laws of Science?, Do CD’s suck, the failure of SACD, .mp3’s are garbage, etc.  Noel Gallagher saying there will be no more vinyl niche as an industry in a few short years as a result of streaming (He thinks? I agree, he is probably right).

With that said, our niche is just that–our niche, and it will continue as long as the electric grids are up.  Even then some of us crazies will be powering phonographs with a stationary bike, using a carefully sharpened fishbone as a rudimentary needle, a significant other propping up a makeshift jimmy-rigged cardboard cone to telescope and carry those wondrous melodies to the flash mobs in our living rooms.  Vinyl wear and tear bad, but for a time the ears are very good.

Remember what is normal any way, and relative to what?  With those previous dire predictions of the future, keeping in mind that some of us have never had or witnessed an argument on the early Yahoo and Alta Vista message boards about the wonders of Hi Resolution Audio (It will always be Hi-rez to me, soz!), I will try to parse mixed nuts.  Threading the needle like a steaming locomotive on crazy good meds, diplomacy will avail for all, no matter what our differences.  Joy!

 

Why don’t we focus on the things that which we do agree.

  1. We pay a lot of money re-purchasing music over and over.
  2. Music listening is a different subjective experience for each person.
  3. It “can” take a wee bit of trained ear (Not a B.S Degree), to hear improvements.
  4. The music is only as good as it’s source.
  5. ABX’ing can, not always, but “can” manifest as human listening fallibility & weakness.
  6. Placebo affect and bias are real “things”[sic].
  7. Provenance and Lineage of our recordings is Interesting and “nice” to have.
  8. There is such a thing as “brick walling”, “anti aliasing”, and de-noising”.
  9. There is more than one type of compression in music.
  10. Type A removes many of the tiny spaces to make music file formats smaller.
  11. Type B holds the fidelity of the performance together, Very Good!
  12. Good source players are available at many price ranges.
  13. There are good headphones and bad headphones at all price ranges.
  14. When in noisy public settings, audio nuances tend to decline.
  15. You Do NOT need to be an audiophile, to source good quality audio (If Available).
  16. Audiophiles can be nuts, same with Hi-Rez deniers. (In a good way 😉 )
  17. That said, Head-fi has it’s place, and deniers seem to hang around bigly.
  18. There are, subjectively to each of us, good mastering engineers and poor ones.
  19. We all have to listen to our source material and make our own judgements.
  20. I can have (IMO); my own vast archive of “self-proclaimed” Reference Quality Vinyl Rips, Hi-Rez digital lossless [FLAC 24/48, 24/96, 24/172, 24/192, 32 bit float, .WAV, even ALAC and DSD], quality sourced and mastered CD’s [16/44] etc., portable DAP’s/amps/DAC’s, and use .mp3’s and Youtube to preview and stream when need be.  It’s fine that you might consider this fodder, trendy, and hipsterish.  I often use apple ear buds while on the go with the mobile. I’m not a gobsmacked music snob…I listen to AC/DC cranked on the local radio in the car, beautifully overbearingly loud in all its overly-compressed glory.  I’d dance randomly in the street to an 80’s boombox with cassettes daily if these types of gatherings where more frequent.
  21. You can have 50,000 lossy .mp3’s on the go, with an excellent ear, sourcing quality CD’s and audio on your own volition (all without my schtick). You might even listen to vinyl for nostalgia purposes possibly.  Further you own low cost but excellent sounding source players as well as an expensive pair of headphones and/ or IEM’s. Even bluetooth love…it’s almost 5.0 (I too am sick of those frickin tangly chords). There’s nothing wrong with any of that.  What I’m getting at is it doesn’t matter.
  22. We can all site the Nyquist Theorem till we are blue in the face, and never get anywhere…agree to disagree perhaps.  If you’re happy, I am happy.
  23. Electronic music and Hip Hop does not and should not have to follow any of these rules.  Electronic music tends to sound great, almost always produced very well, unless it’s a very low bit rate or has been up sampled, but that is usually by design.  Hip Hop needs to be vicious or passive aggressive and Bassy…clean tight bassy…Superb dope! The only reservation I have is when either genre is too bright and shreds my ears. It’s rare, again unless by design.
  24. Classical music is on the other end of the spectrum…the rules DO very very very much apply. Soundstage and instrument separation are paramount.  Loud and soft, loud and soft just like The Pixies or Nirvana. A muddy midrange is a killer.  Attack, sustain, decay should be transparently punchy, grainy, and accurate.  The music has to breathe and pulse…ripping the heart right out your chest even with headphones on. Emotions, knocked about, tugged like a puppet to strings. It should convey an air of atmospheric space with perceivable parameters…and in a perfect world, pseudo-holophonic sound, as if you the listener can imagine you’re there live sitting center stage with the orchestra wrapped 180 degrees from ear to ear.  You’ll know something is wrong right off, a piano from each and every-little-single-ebony-to-ivory key is muddled together as one, or squashed in a constant spew of notes like an accordion. We should be able to perceive and hear milliseconds of spaciation[sic] and be acute to a differentiation between every single tapped key, no matter how fast the piece. I’ve said before piano is the hardest instrument to reproduce in recording with accuracy.  If that’s muddy then it’s all over.  I won’t get started on the pneumatic breath of the solo cello…you get my drift.
  25. Pop music…It depends on if it’s good! 😉 😉

So with all that said we arrive at the conclusion that we may not agree subjectively.  Please forgive me, as I was being purposefully presumptuous in some of the things I said above… but that is not the point.  I’m just generalizing for the sake of getting at the crux.  Most of the people reading this will not care one way or the other.  Some will be bored to tears as to, “what is the going on and on about”.  In the end we all just love music and are devilishly passionate about it–Pretty simple, no? 🙂

So, in the past I did some reviews….Beck, The Beatles Catalogue, Led Zeppelin Catalog, etc., they each get hundreds of hits daily as reference, awesome.  I also posted full album playlists (with some lineage)…it was quite subtle, again on purpose as to what I have deemed a Reference Quality Audio Recording.  I don’t know if I said it outright, I may have…If not my tongue in cheek went over people’s heads. A failed attempt by me.  Yes, you are left to taking me at my word, have to search for it yourself, and availability is spotty.  I know it’s somewhat authoritarian but let your ears be the judge.  There were many times I have searched for a single particular recording over weeks and months before finally getting a hold of it.  Time well spent!

If you search hard enough you will be able to get a hold of same source as I did, some searches will be easy, others will require patience and time.  Moderately I will recommend the High-Rez digital transfer available for everyone to purchase with a quick download and some cash.  I have no stake in this…no adverts, self funded hosting and servers.  I’m just passionate about music and everything else, and I know you are as well, or you would not be reading this.

Just a note **** again, the night site is under maintenance (The links from here the day page are static as of writing this)…It will be up again soon enough.  I’m going to do all those recordings here on the main page individually anyhow.  So there will probably be some updates as well.  When live, it will give you an idea of some of what I will cover, and it is only a small part of projected works.

From now on instead of taking a few months to do mega reviews, although I will someday do the Complete Pink Floyd Archives Posts (Damn there I go again, that’s one exception), from now on there will be single album releases (From past and present) which a single post can be done in one day.  I will do whatever I am listening to and I have in my wheelhouse as the best recordings and rips / digital to date.  The posts will vary widely in style, genre, and medium.  One day or two could be Thrash, the next Classical, Jazz, Electronic, Pop, wherever the music takes me.

In between I will continue to do my sordid stories, post mixes, photos, memorabilia, any type of art really.  I intend on making this site better by making it a reference site for individual albums.  In that vein It would make it possible for those who do not want to read my silly erotica, still be able to come here intentionally via direct link or search engine in order to just browse my reviews and recommendations on specific albums…quick and easy.

In conclusion, each album will have an easy to read, specific format that I have worked out, and tweak things as I go along.  If there is anything extra about a specific release that you would like to see, send me an email or message.  If I can get the info – I will post it or write you back.  Understand that I cannot council and/or recommend file sharing or piracy, so do not ask…messages from readers as to these types of questions will go unanswered.   No disrespect…just being clear.

 

Thanks For Reading & All Your Endless Support. My Readers Are Awesome!

Love You Lots! Stay Well, Be Kind & Bless.

 

Tak Tak, Bless!

Grazie, Ciao!

Obrigadx, Tchau! Adeus!

Gracias, Adios!

Danke, Tchuss!

Merci, Au revoir!

Dank je…Bedankt, Alstublieft!

Merci Vilmal, Adeau!

Gracies, Adieu!

Gracies, Adeu!

 

CM ☕

Please do not reproduce this article either all or in part without the expressed written permission of the author who can be reached via the “Contact” section in the header menu. You may link to the article if you wish, all that we ask is that you give credit to the respective author…”Christmachine” wherever you post a link. Thank you.

Copyright © 2017 Christmachine. All Rights Reserved.

 

©2014 – 2020 Christmachine ☕

Grateful Dead – Fare The Well – GD50 – Summer Tour 2015 – One last time in Santa Clara and Chicago! tott, travel, nomads, I will keep adding to this post! Peace and Love, Buuuurp!

 

84 Songs Total played & only two songs played twice (“Cumberland Blues”, & “Truckin'”) as of finish, night #5 of 5.

 

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Click On Small Photos To Enlarge!

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Grateful Dead Setlist at Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Jul 9,1995

***LAST SHOW W/ 8> JERRY GARCIA <3 (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995)***

Jul 9,1995 ~ Last Show Summer Tour 1995

Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Set 1:

Touch of Grey
Little Red Rooster (Willie Dixon cover)
Lazy River Road
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Dylan cover)
Childhood’s End
Cumberland Blues
The Promised Land (Chuck Berry cover)

Set 2:
Shakedown Street
Samson and Delilah ([traditional] cover)
So Many Roads
Samba in the Rain
Corrina
Drums
Space
Unbroken Chain
Sugar Magnolia

Encore:

Black Muddy River
Box of Rain

Note: The Band (Support). Grateful Dead’s last show with Jerry Garcia.

 

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a5e85d6b

 

Grateful Dead Setlist at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA, USA

Jun 27, 2015

Fare Thee Well Summer Tour / Show 1 of 5

Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA, USA

Set 1:

Truckin’ (Bob Weir lead vocals)
Uncle John’s Band (Phil, Weir, Trey, and Bruce sang together)
Alligator (Phil Lesh lead vocals)
Cumberland Blues (Bob Weir lead vocals)
Born Cross-Eyed (Bob Weir lead vocals)
Cream Puff War (Trey Anastasio lead vocals)
Viola Lee Blues (Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover) (Phil, Bob, Trey, and Bruce shared vocals)

Set 2:

Cryptical Envelopment (Phil Lesh lead vocals)
Dark Star (Phil, Trey, and Bob traded vocals)
St. Stephen (Bob Weir lead vocals) (with William Tell bridge)
The Eleven (Bob and Trey lead vocals)
Turn On Your Love Light (Bobby “Blue” Bland cover) (Bob Weir lead vocals)
Drums (with Mickey Hart on mbira)
What’s Become of the Baby? (Phil Lesh lead vocals)
Space
The Other One (Bob Weir lead vocals)
Morning Dew (Bonnie Dobson cover) (Bob Weir lead vocals)

Encore:

Casey Jones (Bruce Hornsby lead vocals)

Note: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby, and Jeff Chimenti. Soundcheck reportedly included “Althea”, “Brown Eyed Women”, “Truckin’”, “Uncle John’s Band”, “Alligator”, “Cumberland Blues”, “Born Cross-Eyed”, “Cream Puff War”, “St. Stephen”, “The Eleven”, and “Turn On Your Love Light.”

 

 

Grateful Dead Setlist at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA, USA

Jun 28, 2015

Fare Thee Well Summer Tour / Show 2 of 5

Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA, USA

Set 1:

Feel Like a Stranger (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Minglewood Blues (Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover) (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Brown-Eyed Women (Bruce Hornsby lead vocal)
Loose Lucy (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Loser (Jerry Garcia song) (Bruce Hornsby lead vocal)
Row Jimmy (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Alabama Getaway (Trey Anastasio lead vocal)
Black Peter (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Hell in a Bucket (Bob Weir lead vocal)

Set 2:

Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo (Phil Lesh lead vocal)
Wharf Rat (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Eyes of the World (Phil Lesh lead vocal)
He’s Gone (Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby traded vocals)
Drums (with Sikiru Adepoju on talking drum)
Space
I Need a Miracle (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Death Don’t Have No Mercy (Reverend Gary Davis cover) (Bob Weir lead vocal)
Sugar Magnolia (Bob Weir lead vocal)

Encore:

Brokedown Palace (Bob Weir lead vocal)

Note: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby, and Jeff Chimenti.

 

===========================

 

Poster-Grateful-Dead-Fare-Thee-Well-2015

 

Grateful Dead Setlist at Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Jul 3, 2015

Fare Thee Well Summer Tour / Show 3 of 5

Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Set 1:

Box of Rain (lead vocals: Phil Lesh)
Jack Straw (lead vocals: Bob Weir and Phil Lesh)
Bertha (lead vocals: Trey Anastasio)
Passenger (lead vocals: Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby)
The Wheel (Jerry Garcia song) (Phil, Bob, Trey, and Bruce shared vocals)
Crazy Fingers (lead vocals: Trey Anastasio)
The Music Never Stopped (lead vocals: Bob Weir)

Set 2:

Mason’s Children
Scarlet Begonias (lead vocals: Trey Anastasio)
Fire on the Mountain (lead vocals: Bruce Hornsby)
Drums
Space
New Potato Caboose (lead vocals: Phil Lesh)
Playing in the Band (Bob Weir song) (lead vocals: Bob Weir)
Let It Grow (lead vocals: Bob Weir)
Help on the Way (lead vocals: Trey Anastasio)
Slipknot
Franklin’s Tower (lead vocals: Phil Lesh)

Encore:

Ripple (lead vocals: Bob Weir [Acoustic Guitar])

Note: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby, and Jeff Chimenti.

 

 

Grateful Dead Setlist at Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Jul 4, 2015

Fare Thee Well Summer Tour / Show 4 of 5

Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Set 1:

Shakedown Street (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Liberty (Robert Hunter song) (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Standing on the Moon (Trey Anastasio on lead vocals)
Me and My Uncle (John Phillips cover) (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Tennessee Jed (Bob Weir, Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio)
Cumberland Blues (Trey Anastasio, Phil Lesh)
Little Red Rooster (Willie Dixon cover) (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Friend of the Devil (Phil Lesh on lead vocals)
Deal (Jerry Garcia song) (Trey Anastasio & Bruce Hornsby)

(July Fourth Holiday [U.S.] fireworks show @ Navy Pier visible behind stage during intermission)

Set 2:

Bird Song (Jerry Garcia song) (Phil Lesh on lead vocals)
The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) (Trey Anastasio & Bruce Hornsby)
Lost Sailor (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Saint of Circumstance (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
West L.A. Fadeaway (Bruce Hornsby on lead vocals)
Foolish Heart (Trey Anastasio on lead vocals)
Drums
Space
Stella Blue (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
One More Saturday Night (Bob Weir song) (Bob Weir on lead vocals)

Encore:

U.S. Blues (Bob Weir on lead vocals)

 

 

Grateful Dead Setlist at Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Jul 5, 2015

Fare Thee Well Summer Tour / ***FINAL SHOW EVER 5 of 5***

Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA

Set 1:

China Cat Sunflower (Trey Anastasio & Bruce Hornsby )
I Know You Rider (Tossi Aaron cover) (Trey Anastasio, Phil Lesh)
Estimated Prophet (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Built to Last (Bruce Hornsby on lead vocals)
Samson and Delilah ([traditional] cover) (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Mountains of the Moon (Phil Lesh on lead vocals)
Throwing Stones (Bob Weir on lead vocals)

[Massive Soldier Field Fireworks @ end of intermission]

Set 2:

Truckin’ (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Cassidy (Bob Weir song) (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Althea (Trey Anastasio on lead vocals)
Terrapin Station (Phil Lesh, Bob Weir share lead vocals)
Drums
Space
Unbroken Chain (Phil Lesh on lead vocals)
Days Between (Bob Weir on lead vocals)
Not Fade Away (The Crickets cover) (Trey Anastasio, Phil Lesh)

Encore1: (Audience Chant “Not Fade Away” coda until band returned for 1st encore)

Touch of Grey (Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby)

Encore 2:

Attics of My Life (Trey Anastasio, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jeff Chimenti)

Note: Band Finishes With Emotional Hugfest and Mickey Hart tells audience to ‘take what we got from the show and go home to family and do something good with it…Just Be Kind To Each Other. Namaste, Amen.

Final Show?…!!! 8]

 

Predictions???…. “Unbroken Chain”, “Masterpiece“, “China Doll“, “Cassidy”,  “Peggy O“, “China > Rider”.

 

===========================
Click On Small Photos to Enlarge!
===========================

 

[UPDATE #1] July 4, 2015

For Those Who Think This Is A Money Grab…Well It Partly Is…After Giving Us All Their Live Sets & Music & Likeness & Art In A Sense, Copyright Free, Like Forever, Like No One Else In The Industry?!?!

I Implore All Heads…Yup I’m Oldskool… Read this Excerpt from the Recently Released David Browne Book @ Salon Magazine / It should put things in perspective, Cheers~

So Many Roads: The Life And Times Of The Grateful Dead – [Fascinating Excerpt];

SATURDAY, JUL 4, 2015 09:29 AM EDT
“I won’t see the end of the year”: Backstage at Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead’s final shows.
The Grateful Dead were exhausted in spring ’95, Garcia most of all. Here’s the band’s story of those last days…

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/04/i_wont_see_the_end_of_the_year_backstage_at_jerry_garcia_and_the_grateful_deads_final_shows/

As Ringo Starr always says… “Peace and Love…Peace and Love.”

More To Come In This Post…Photos…Art…etc.

Respect.

 

===========================

 

[UPDATE #2] July 7, 2015

I will be adding a bunch of comemorative photos this week as well as other memorabilia I dig up.  Stay tuned, but here is a great group of photos from the last final shows.  Thanks to @CrowdAlbum!!!

Night 1 July 03, 2015 Soldier Field, Chicago Illinois:

https://www.crowdalbum.com/album/559641296170704f8b000014/The-Grateful-Dead–Fare-Thee-Well-with-Trey-Anastasio–Jeff-Chimenti-and-Bruce-Hornsby–Night-1_20150703

Night 2 July 04, 2015 Soldier Field, Chicago Illinois:

https://www.crowdalbum.com/album/5599527b6170700d8200066a/The-Grateful-Dead–Fare-The-Well-with-Trey-Anastasio–Jeff-Chimenti-and-Bruce-Hornsby–Night-2_20150704

 

Respect! 

 

===========================

 

[UPDATE #3] July 8, 2015

All 5 Final Grateful Dead Shows Available In Glorious Sounding FLAC from Ace Tapers…Massive Quality Sound.

 

Show 1 of 5:

Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of The Grateful Dead
Levi’s Stadium
Santa Clara, CA
June 27, 2015

Source: Schoeps MK4’s>Schoeps CMR’s>Naiant PFA>Edirol UA-5 (BM2p+)>Edirol R-09HR
Transfer: SDHC>Adobe Audition>Cakewalk pyro>.WAV>FLAC (5)
Location: OTS ~ 10′

https://archive.org/details/GD2015-06-27.FareTheeWell

 

 

 

Show 2 of 5:

Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of The Grateful Dead
Levi’s Stadium
Santa Clara, CA
June 28, 2015

Source: Schoeps MK4’s>Schoeps CMR’s>Naiant PFA>Edirol UA-5 (BM2p+)>Edirol R-09HR
Transfer: SDHC>Adobe Audition>Cakewalk pyro>.WAV>FLAC (5)
Location: OTS ~ 10′

https://archive.org/details/GD2015-06-28.FareTheeWell

 

 

 

Show 3 of 5:

Grateful Dead
2015-07-03
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Tascam DR-680 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Please support this legendary band:
http://www.dead.net

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

http://www.nyctaper.com/2015/07/grateful-dead-july-3-2015-chicago-flacmp3streaming/

 

 

 

Grateful Dead
2015-07-04
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Busman BSC2 + AKG 480/CK61 + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Tascam DR-680 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

http://www.nyctaper.com/2015/07/grateful-dead-july-4-2015-chicago-flacmp3streaming/

 

 

 

Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of The Grateful Dead
Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
7/5/2015

Source: Schoeps CCM4V’S(din)>Lunatec V2>Benchmark AD2K>
Sound Devices 722 (24/48)
FOB/DFC/KFC/ZFC/AARP Approximately 70′ From Stage, 6 1/2′ High
DSP: Sound Devices 722>Sound Forge 10.0>CD Wave>flac(16)
ID3 Tagged In Foobar 2000
Recorded By: Z-Man
Seeded By: Z-Man

https://archive.org/details/grateful2015-07-05.flac16

 

Huge Thank You To The Tapers  Who Made These Shows Available To All Of Us…Memories For Life!

Cheers & Respect!

 

===========================

 

[UPDATE #4] July 15, 2015

Great Article & Vidz: (Note: The Vidz belong to their respective copyright holders. None Of Them Belong To Me.)

 

Great Article Just Published:

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/844-fake-rainbows-hologram-jerrys-and-the-sloppy-legacy-of-the-grateful-deads-final-shows/

Vidz: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUKAWOVyreRegbpbwVGRluw/videos

 

===========================

 

[UPDATE #5] July 22, 2015

Several New Photos Added – More To Come As I Dig Them Up!

 

===========================

 

[UPDATE #6] August 01, 2015

Just a heads up about the sound quality of all the live videos on Youtube.  I’ve watched hundreds of crowd captured videos on the tube and as might be expected the sound quality is crap in every one of them as the live mix in the stadiums are extremely poor, disjointed, and over echoed (Both Stadiums Poor Acoustics, Get In The Way Of Enjoyment IMHO).  Sometimes you cannot hear the vocals, guitars, bass is overpowering (Muddy and Congested) …and you can hear every mistake the band makes…so bad in fact that fan videos are almost not worth watching unless that’s all you have access to (No Matter How High The Resolution).

Since then I’ve listened to the Torr’s of all five live shows from the Live and On Demand Webstreams…the sound and mixes of the video captures at 256kbps(Audio) and 720p(HD Video) are absolutely STELLAR and balanced as also would be expected.  So until we can get hold of the box set (Which is reportedly only going to have the 3 Chicago Shows in 1080p) available now in limited edition pre-order/ To be released in November…these Torr’s will have to hold us over till then.

I cannot post a link but just search in the Goog…” Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well Kick Ass ” without the quotes and you can access the Shows. The top 2 results are those.  In Total all five shows come to about 30 GB’s (Each contains 4-5 Hours as they were broadcast on the web and P4y P3r Vew)…The first two shows in SC Come Together as one file, and the three Chi-Town Shows come as single separate files (One Per Night).  They are amazing quality…no drop outs that I’ve found so far and worth your time if you should choose to access.  Heads, Keep On Truckin’ On!!!

Peace and enjoy!

 

===========================

 

[UPDATE #7] August 02, 2015

Several New Photos Added – More To Come As I Dig Them Up!

 

===========================

 

[UPDATE #8] TBA

 

===========================

 

 

 

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Photo Courtesy Of Doc Keyaza ! “The Fat Man Rocks”

 

 

 

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More Interesting Articles and Reviews to come.

Cheers and Bless!

 

CM

 

 

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[REWRITE] Schitzo – Manifestation Of A Nomad…Jack Kerouac, Lowell Sun And Bastard Saint (Excerpts Part 2)…[Second Pass Edit]…

Today Up On Christmachine Audio Reference Music Server :

Schitzo – Manifestation Of A Nomad…Jack Kerouac, Lowell’s Son And Bastard Saint (Excerpts Part 2)…[Second Pass Edit]… Just so people know Part 1 has not been published yet, so we’ll start here. These are excerpts from an early version of a non-fiction memoir.  Again this is a true story…the caveat being that what readers take from this may have dissenting opinions of it’s possibility to be true.  For example, some might not agree or believe in the possibility of descriptions of phenomena described herein, and see them as delusional experiences (this is key and left for the reader to decide).  Again that is the point, each reader will see these descriptions as they relate to their own personal beliefs.  It is written with the highest regard to accuracy, and is in relation to the entire story, only a small piece of what the complete story has to offer readers.  This is just a taste, and the final name of this memoir has not been completed as of the date of this being published.  Finally, the text is subject to change with subsequent rewrites.  Enjoy!

 

================================

 

Excerpt #1: Pre-Amble – 

r5768986bbSo I want to be an author, but all I could think of is what right did I have to try and be anywhere near the caliber of a wordsmith as many of the world greats that had come before me.  My writing is shit to be honest, but again it comes back to my belief that this is a long term learning process, always reaching for the sky to attain higher levels of this disciplined art.  What I do have going for me is the many experiences that have been laid out before me to explore, going deeper when there was no shovel to dig.  My fingernails are stained from the soil, my hands chaffed and cracked, dry to the bone from the rare earth and loam.

Each piece that I write is part of a specific set of exercises that I look to explore and hopefully master at some point in the future.  The most exciting part of this experiment, that will unfold right before your eyes, is that each piece is published in relation to how I feel they belong in the overall story since the start of this process.  Each piece calls to me when it is meant to be posted.  What that fully means I do not know, but something prompts my conscious mind, and lets me know that this (whatever that means at that specific moment) is what is to be published next.  Some might see it as just the human mind doing what it’s supposed to do, others may see it as a higher calling.  Maybe it is a little of both, regardless to me at least, it is an interesting look into the creative process.

 

Excerpt #2:

I had been brainstorming for weeks, months maybe, thinking so hard that my brain began to hurt.  I was in transition from being a dreamer to a thinker and it was very very hard.  I had always been a fierce dreamer, the problem being that it was taking all the brain power afforded to me.  After many years, a lifetime really, the dreaming had literally taken over all of my mind.  Even worse, is that through the years I did not even notice it.  Then at some point dreaming became so dominant that I sometimes could not tell the difference between fantasy and reality.  It was as if I lived in a cartoon or was in the throes of full fledged dissociative episode where I was often living vicariously through an outer body experience.  It was not as some have described as looking down on their body’s in a situation where they were close to death, it was for me as if my body was going through the actions pertinant to the life situation and my detached soul taking the ghostly human form, sitting right next to me as my unconscious mind had completely taken over.  My detached self was prompting my earthly self to react as if I was a character in a video game.

I was a sleeper and I loved to lucid dream where I would drift half my life away, just as I had in a previous life as an opium addict, frequenting opium dens where I would indulge and float around, never seeming to reach a complete state of sleep.  There I would explore the universe without having to get off the hard bamboo mat, where my body would lie with my mind shelved on a small pillow.  Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with an overactive imagination, obviously it is in part, absolutely vital to reaching our full potential.  At the time, more of it the better I thought.  It would help me to experience more of life with an open mind…and for the most part it did.   Having an overactive imagination opened my mind to experience all that I could, and helped me to understand and accept many things that others seem to have a hard time reconciling about the human race and the breadth of differences in people.  There was plenty of logic in there as well, which I now know I had confused to be a full fledged thought process, but logic is only a small part of a robust thinking mind.

I had come to the realization that I now had to rewire my neuronal pathways in my brain to be more of a thinker, and put the data stores in my mind to good use as there was no use for them in an overwhelmed dreaming mind.  Too many thoughts and experiences coming into brain storage and not much of that coming back out with intelligent efficiency.  Think of it like having hard disks or sets of file cabinets in your mind, and they are all overflowing with billions of separate thoughts coming and going into and out of consciousness.  There is only so much space before they begin to overflow, losing and misfiling pieces of paper or data.  At some point when these pieces of information are called forth by the conscious mind, the problem faced is that the data or files are now incomplete, corrupt, and damaged.  You can imagine the problems this would begin to cause…wait, what were we talking about, I completely lost my train of thought.

Now all that might sound foreign to some as each person’s mind learns and is wired differently, but we’ve all heard the old addage as well as the song “Don’t fall in love with a dreamer”…as well as the part about the fool.  It also happens that many people have a more healthy balance and division in their use of brainpower.  For those who do not, like me, I’m apt to say that everything happens for a reason.  If I had not developed the way I had just described, I definitely would not be writing all the things I am now.  So what might be seen as weakness, I am now flipping on it’s head (No pun intended), and turning it into a form of strength.  In the extremes, It is how many people with seemingly devastating and debilitating disabilities, forge on with heroic stamina and poise.  With all that said, we cannot forget that societal stigma tends to deny that hidden wounds and internal mental scars can be just as devastating, if not worse.

In being a dominant dreamer, I can now see how so many are held back by it’s comforting yet deceptive charm.  Also as in many cases we are not taught the difference between dreaming and thinking, that there is a huge psychological and cognitive difference.  The phenomenon is often described that the affected person cannot see the forest for the trees.  As I realize all of this, it’s like a light switch has turned on in my brain.  Spending days, months, and recently years forcing myself to brainstorm, think, and write…I can actually now, as I put pen to page, feel the physical transition and transformation taking place in my head.  The dendrites and neurons in my brain are rewiring as I speak.  I now regularly go in and out of what are commonly referred to as peak experiences, and reaching the tipping point the words come to the page like an avalanche.  I can feel the blood pumping through my veins with excitement, my body a neuro-chemical suit.  As you can imagine it is not easy mentally making that transition, I can assure you that.  There is so much to tell…I cannot get the words out fast enough…It’s going to take me a lifetime (which I do not have) to complete, but I will do my best.

 

Excerpt #3:

The people began to feel lost in the coldest and darkest period in history.  Freewill was their ball and chain and again they were frightened.  The sage began to speak, “Flung into the darkness”, the man continued…”I was given the knowledge that is available to all men and women, all you have to do is stop and listen.  My Father’s Father was a great man.  My Father’s Father’s Brother was also a great man.  They recognized and chose to focus on the hope and the possibility for good in all humanity and became proprietors for the people.”  They knew that they could bring the people great joy and that it was good.  The world had just emerged from one of the greatest threats to all humanity, the greatest war against evil, men and women had ever known.  This was not about religion, or dogma, or God…far from it as a matter of fact.  What is known is that in exchange for winning the most tumultuous war of all time, in defeating evil this time, that it had not under any circumstances been destroyed.  There were many like my family, who had great faith in mankind as well as in the trees, sun, oceans, stones, and soil.  In order for the great war to have been one, it was well known that with all good there had to great evil…thus the world was slung into the universe, and bones ground to dust.

The evil that all humans knew continued to roam the land, taking the weak to their knees as they worshipped instant gratification into a blinding obsession.  The shortsighted were once again unaware and blinded by love, roaming the earth for souls to influence and nurture…but there was a catch.  The catch being that the earth was now slightly more than fifty percent evil, and slightly less than fifty percent good, so evil forces would always have a stronger attraction than good.  The difference seems slight but but paradoxically immense and infinite.  Legend has it that Mother Nature was to watch over this split and further the wisest mind of all time.  Whatever it was that was greater than the Mother was androgynous and absent of human form, and the life and energy and the future and the past and the intersection of all things, held the universe together in a balance (ebb and flow) beyond the conception of anyone on earth.  The equation of this meticulous and benevolent balance (never quite reaching perfect equilibrium), proved order through chaos, encouraging expansive outward movement in the formation of the evolutionary space-time continuum.   The constant tension of opposing forces is key to the development of both the universe and the species.

All that the people knew was that they were naked and flawed.  They felt the urge to compete, and there were no laws.  So the people had to create laws, and although unavoidably flawed, they had to be born out of protection for people who ought not be taken advantage of.  There were many who wanted to be “Gods”, even though there was no proof that there was such a thing.  Some of these self-proclaimed “Gods” were fare and charitable.  On the other hand there were many self-proclaimed “Gods” who were miserable and yearned for more and more power.  They did not care about the people, drunk on the blood and tears on those they held influence and sought to destroy.  This was the cost of freewill.  This was not beset upon the people, the people beset it upon themselves.

The earthly gravitational microcosm was the family, and the intention was good, although flawed. There was tension, but the intention was good, although flawed.  There was learning, and the intention was good, although again flawed.  Until one day when the son of the Father’s Father felt inferior for one reason or another, and that son took the burdens of all of his family that had come before him as personal.  This son saw an opportunity to exploit a weakness, a metaphorical cancer, which he also had the choice to extinguish.  Instead of stomping it out, he let it flourish because he felt slighted and inferior.  At the time he did not distinguish it for a cancer that would grow and swell uncontrollably to magnanimous proportions, fed by the bitterness of his brothers scorn.  There were many incidents along the way which inadvertently spurned and encouraged the disease.  At some point it grew out of the control of the weaker son’s hands, the point at which he had the opportunity to stop the spread had come and gone, and he was blinded by hate.  Some of it was rational but more of it was not. This brother sadly believed that if he waited for just the right time, when no one was looking he could destroy his brother, the people however would be the real victims.  Because he was blind, he could not see beyond his brother.  If he had to spend his entire life (till his dying day) trying to destroy his sibling, he would, even if it also meant the destruction of himself as well all he held dear.

 

Excerpt #4:

One night as the scorned brother was sleeping, in his dreams he came upon a powerful force in the form of a spirit.  It was very hard to see but he knew that it was there.  He felt power and awe and riches, beyond the dreams of any man who had come before him.  He felt compelled to kneel before the force to get a better look, as it was very very dark.  Without a moments notice, as he tried to focus on the spiritual force, he realised he could see the massive enticing power before him if he kept his eyes closed.  It was then then that the dark force seemed to reach out to the scorned brother, and the powerful said to him…

I’m pleased to make your acquaintance,

We have not met before, but you always knew I was there for you.

It was before my stay in the womb that you were conceived.

Taking the position of the blind, with one exception, the ability to feel.

Is it not so quiet with so many around.

People weakened from participating in humanity.

May I touch your face as I cannot see to well?  As my fingers cross the breeze and I feel your scars…

They are smooth and rough as the result of many fine years.

With your eyes closed, is it not true that I let you see?

Does the grass not grow, as we watch, right beneath our feet?

Does the sun not feed, insatiable…Does the water not quench, parched?

It offers me a gentle and pure time, with the dearly beloved.

Wait not, come into me and I into you, let me show you the world!

And you me, know that your secrets are safe with me.

Let me do the walking as you rest, forgotten son.

As we join together in spirit, you keep what you have, and I give you the rest.

The future is yours for all eternity.

It is all about you now and forever will be.  With all of us…

 

Excerpt #5:

I found myself plastered to my bed with fear and agitation.  My musculature was tightly shaking, anchored as if taught rubber bands were wound tight around my bones.  I was in the throes of an uncontrollable full body spasm with no end in sight, grinding my teeth so tight and unable to swallow.  Burying my face into my pillow, I tried to meditate to calm my nerves which were exploding with sharp pains as if I was lying on a plywood bed of nails.  Parts of my extremities were falling asleep and waking with no warning, just as one feels when they get pins and needles in a foot or arm from pinched nerves.  Sweat leaked from my pores, although there was no sign of fever, it was in a word brutal.  I did not know how long i could keep this up as my mind was anxiously suggesting that I was going completely insane.

I was lying in a bed next to the nurses station and there was only one incandescent light in that area with a single nurse doing paperwork.  The room was otherwise completely dark and as my eyes were adjusted to the darkness, I could see thirty other beds in the same room all full with patients, many writhing in different states of insanity.  Some were vomiting and others were screaming out loud in all kinds of noisy agony, the nurse just sat there as if this was normal. The large room was only separated by the warm humid outside air by large screens and there was no breeze.  I was hoping upon deception that a cool breeze would pass over my body, but it was not to be.  Out in the yard, in plain sight, there was an extremely large industrial size bug zapper where hundreds of mosquitoes and moths were electrocuted with every passing moment.  With the constant biological genocide before me,  I found myself wishing to be in their place…just kill me and put me out of my misery.  I thought to myself that if there was a hell, this would surely be it.

My mind began to wander aimlessly, I was not being kept there against my will…mulling over the idea that I could just walk out the main screen door not far from where I was interned at any time.  Then the reality of the situation would hit…where would I go?  It was quite feasable and a bit calming to think that I would probably feel better just getting this out of my system, running off into the black night screaming my head off until I fell to the ground in complete exhaustion.  The problem was that I did not have the energy to make this happen, exhausted from my hopeless quivering corpse. There was a clock on the far wall that would unervingly tick tick tick, every deafening second heard through the cries of despair and agony…every single moment felt like hours.

It was then that I realized, with nothing left in the tank, that before I had come to this godawful place that my father had given me a set of brand new rosary beads in a small leather pouch.  They were in a drawer right near were my head was situated, but I was convinced at what help would they give…none, I’m sure.  As I began to choke on the frothing saliva from my mouth and nose, I suddenly felt compelled to go for the beads.  I removed the beads from the pouch and grasped them tight enough to rip them apart. After wrapping them a few times around each hand, the crucifix fell into the palm of my hands surreptitiously, as if that was the place it was supposed to be.  Also inside the pouch was a small piece of folded glossy paper with prayers and a step by step method on how to use the beads. The instructions indicated what sections of the beads corresponded to each of the individual stations of the cross.  I was not the praying type and did not even know if I believed in any God.  Having no place to go and seeing no harm in attempting to just say the words and go through the motions, even if it only meant helping me to pass the time, anything to ride out this physically emotional and psychological trauma.

The one light in the background of the nurses station helped me to just make out the words on the paper now unfolded and laid out before me.  I first said an opening prayer as instructed, and then began to go through the stations of the cross one by one…it was unintelligible, choppy, and manic, but I soldiered on.  I would forget where I was and lose my spot as I mechanically moved the beads through my wiry shaking fingers.  I found myself tentatively re-reading passages and sentences over and over as I made my way through the process.  Sweat dripping from my hands and forehead, acidic fluid that upon contact with the print on the glossy instructions, rendered the words illegible. As I was doing all of this, I simultaneously was pleading with the universe to please let this pass, please-please-please let this pass.

At some point a few minutes later the shaking began to wane somewhat.  I was ecstatic that just faking it and going through the motions was working.  Suddenly stunned into a kind of stasis, In the air above the other patients right before my eyes, appeared what looked to be a hologram but it was more real than that.  There in an almost indescribable full range of color and motion, appeared a perfectly symmetrical apparition several feet wide.  At first there were several wrapped layers of green interwoven prickled thorn strands, wrapped around a beating heart that had flames shooting out the aortic canal at the crest.  About two feet on each side of the wreath of rotating thorns, the ether seemed to produce a moving universe where time and space were flowing towards but not fully reaching me.  My eyes no longer welded closed, then witnessed a woman appear above the heart in full color, while all the imagery that I just described was in constant motion all around her.  I had to be hallucinating this I thought, but I’ve never hallucinated without drugs before.  Anyway I continued to experience this phenomena as it was quite amazing and in turn began to calm my wretched frame. The woman looked only to what I could recognize as Mary the Mother of Jesus, seated and draped in a blue and white separated headdress and full body shawl, while the flames from the aortic valve flashed in her lap. She had a slight ethereal white halo rotating around her head.

All around her were what I recognized too be visions of men and women saints (if you believe in that sort of thing) and androgynous angels coming and going, propping her up in the air as I just lay there plussed. At some point her lips began to move but there was no auditory projection, nonetheless I somehow knew what she was indicating…that ‘I had to make a choice’.  As soon as I realized this, I could see what I can only describe as the ‘forces of light’ situated to her right side.  For some reason I equated this ‘welcoming force’ with the presence of ‘Jesus’ although there was no sight of what I could impossibly perceive to be ‘his’ likeness.  I actually felt a calm bliss with the ‘forces of light and ‘peace’.  Simultaneously on her left side was also only what I can describe as the ‘forces of darkness’. Similarly there was no ‘demon or satan’ but the  ‘impression was put upon me’ that they were there in the same way that ‘The Son Of God’ was there on the opposite side.  From the ‘dark forces’, I felt ‘power and strength greater than I had ever known’, and it sent shivers up my spine and riddled goosebumps all over my skin.  There were no more words, but the side with the ‘dark forces’ was the only side trying to ‘make its case to coax, convey, and convince me to come to their side’.  It was ‘implied’ that the ‘world would be mine…power and riches beyond my dreams, no more room for pain, and eternal glory’.  Focussing back on the side with the ‘good forces’, there was no hard sell and no promises, but ‘calm, peace, and eternal life’.

As I gripped the rosary tight, I thought to myself I have to make a leap, I had to make a choice (well really I did not have to, but I did anyway), even if it was going through the motions as I said before.  I checked to make sure I was not dreaming…but I was wide awake.  I always could tell when I was in a dreaming state and I was surely WIDE AWAKE!  So I made my decision and ‘click’ everything went black and all the pain and shaking stopped.  As I lay there for a moment, I felt a rush of adrenaline and power.  I wanted to yell out what had just happened or tell the nurse but I was rendered small, minute, and humbled.

Next thing I know I was suddenly stunned and shocked awake in a pool of sweaty white sheets.  The clock on the far wall revealed it was early afternoon the next day.  Exactly twelve hours later from 2 a.m. when the visions occured…I was covered in itchy hives and the clock read 2 p.m.

 

 

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