Steve Siller Tunnel to towers run

if anyone is interested, here is the Prayer of St Francis that was recited prior to the tunnel to towers run yesterday, it was Steve Sillers favorite prayer.


Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seekto be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

box of rain...more thoughts

heres what Phil had to say:

Lesh: And at that time, my dad was dying of cancer, and I would drive out to visit with him, in the hospital, and also at the nursing home he spent his final days in, and after Bob gave me the lyrics, on the way out there I would practice singing the song. I sort of identified that song with my dad and his approaching death. The lyrics that he produced were so apt, so perfect. It was very moving, very moving for me to experience that during the period of my dad's passing. I felt like singing it in other situations similar to that since then.

here is what Mr Hunter had to say:

Hunter: He'd just written these lovely changes and put 'em on a tape on a tape for me, and he sang along (scat singing of melody)—so the phrasing was all there, I think I went through it two or three times, writing as fast as I could, and that song was written. I guess it was written for a young man whose father was dying.

here is a letter to Hunter and his reply:

Dear Robert,
After reading through a number of Mailbags posted at your web site, I finally decided that it was time to contribute a thought and a question.
My wife (who is not a deadhead) especially likes that song. Maybe it is because we live in San Francisco and there is a reference to the Mission. When I play it she always starts dancing.

Robert, if you would, please tell me what you were thinking when you penned the phrase "box of rain." What, for you, does a box of rain represent. I am not asking for the meaning of the song, or for you to explain the song to me -- I spent plenty of time on my own doing that. I am just terribly curious how you came to choose that image.
Well, I won't take any more bandwith. There is much I would like to say, but I've said it in my mind for so long now, it feels funny and self-conscious trying to put onto "paper."
Regards,Charlie Bass


Charlie,

well, I don't like to do this, since it encourages others to ask about what I had in mind when I wrote a song, and mostly you'd need to have my mind to understand even approximately what I had in it.
By "box of rain," I meant the world we live on, but "ball" of rain didn't have the right ring to my ear, so box it became, ..........and I don't know who put it there.
[rh]

thoughts on box of rain

one of the more beautiful songs in the dead repertoire, happy, sad, thought provoking, all at the same time depending on the listener. I do know that Phil used to sing the lyrics to his dying father in the hospital. the last line is the one that has always stopped me in my tracks......"such a long, long time to be gone and a short time to be there" .....stop and think about it.....when we are gone, we are going to "be gone" for a long long time........and our time spent here on earth in comparison is soooo short.......we all have someone close to us who has "been gone" for a long, long time.....and when you try to remember that person........it seems like they were here for such a short time............. we are mere specs on the portrait on the universe, and yet we tend to obsess about every second, hour, day , week, month of our lives...........it's such a short time to be here............but such a long, long time to be gone.......I think we should probably spend more time obsessing about finding a nice place to spend that eternity, that long long time that is to come, and less time obsessing about short days spent here on earth......just a thought.

back to zero

back to meltdown......as Mick Jagger would spout. and so i find myself back at the desk acoss the street from death, next to the toxic Deutsche bank building, just biding time until the next shoe drops.......not a lot of fun in the sun in lower manhattan these days......a lot of "ancient vacant streets too dead for dreaming".....somedays ...especially in September...the wind howls down these streets and gives new meaning to the phrase Ghost Town......I swear sometimes when I am in Suspenders I can still hear people partying from the night of 9/10/01........even though the bar is usually empty.......not scary, just weird........I hope I am paying some sort of pennance by being forced to work here again........it's a vicous cycle......you try so hard throughout the year to go about your business without obsessing over the pit across the street or constantly thinking about the events of that day.......and on those rare occasions when you can block it out of your head, you find yourself consumed with guilt for not thinking about them....every good lunch , every cold beer break, every 10 minutes of peace watching a ballgame in o'haras is followed by a walk past the pit and feeling guilty for moving on.........i sure hope whatever hasn't killed me will somehow make me stronger....but I don't see how.......

noggin bloggin for band names

I put on my old noodle cap and came up with the following:

The Noodle Cappers
Brother Esau's fables
Cassidy's Wheel
Kites on Ice
Flight of the Seabirds
Pretty Young on Tuesday
Bound to Cover
Stone Jack Ballers
Masons Handicapped adult children
Uncle jerry's band of imposters
Calamity's waiting
Mother American Night
the NEWs Sweater Night Ramblers of Oyster County and Beyond

Murphy's of Rumson

hello my faithful readers....sorry for the sojourn from posting , but rest assured I am Back.......had a delightful 5 day respite from the daily grind......had many visitors over the extended weekend.......local residents still scratching their heads that 3 sons of Brooklyn......Woods, Mcevoy and Kane made their debut at Murphy's of Rumson before Donny Hoff (Monmouth County class of 2000) could step in the door and have his inaugural libation.....Dano and Chico ran the shuffleboard table too....Bayrdige Ringers no doubt.......big roto draft tonight.........and Saturday Brings the 74street Block Party...........need a new name for Fr Fatness......I'll get cracking on that ......dano , put on yer tinking cap too....