Celebrating the Roots of the Bob Marley Family Tree

"Reggae in California" poster from 1985g.c. by Laguna Beach CA/Sawdust Festival artist Brett Keast


The Stream of Conch-Us-ness with Sunny Sun-Downer (the "Un-edited Version" [only the part about the "Cave in Nepal" was cut out this time!] of the article published in the Feb. 11, 2010g.c. issue of the Desert Valley Star... Yes I En-Joy! -=0=-)
You have definitely been living in a “cave” for the past five or so decades if you have not heard of the Jamaican Legend Bob Marley and his band the Wailers’ music- and that would have to be a cave even farther out in the Himalayan Mountains than I was at in Nepal in the 1980’s, because that’s where and when I was surprised to find how far that his music had spread. He and his fellow Jamaican musicians’ spiritually-charged and revolutionary reggae music that calls for true equality, justice and freedom from oppression for all “Jah Children,” gained that kind of universal acceptance from its message of the spiritual one-love and human rights saddled with that infectious reggae rhythm, which Bob once called the “rhythm of the jungle.”
When he left us at the age of 36 in 1981, his fans were devastated to have his physical form taken from them at the height of his career, and there have always been the conspiracy theories in reggae circles that his fast-spreading brain cancer was planted by the CIA when he was hospitalized for a soccer-caused foot injury- “assassinated” as was Martin Luther King, for starting to unite the third world countries, and this from their fear that he would ignite a “revolution against the controlling powers that be.” What is true is that he and his band, the Wailers, were about to embark on a world tour with Stevie Wonder, and his message of revolution would have been heard world-wide.
As it is, his message has spread world-wide, just without the impact of the man physically imparting it for the past 29 years. Three years after his “Journey back to Zion,” a compilation album of his music titled “Legend” (released in 1984) is still reggae music’s best-selling album, going 10 times “Platinum” (or “Diamond”) in the U.S., and selling 20 million copies worldwide.
Also, not to mention, is his musical message being carried on not only by untold musicians performing his music, but by his off-spring as well. Bob’s religious tendency was Rastafari, and the Rastafarians take the Book of Genesis as gospel- as it said to “go forth and multiply,” he took the advice seriously, creating at least ten amazingly-talented children with his wife, Rita (one of his original “I-Threes” back up singers) and his various lovers. They are Cedella (named after Bob’s mother), David “Ziggy,” Stephen, Robert “Robbie,” Rohan, Karen, Julian, Ky-mani, Damian and Makeda. While Ziggy, accompanied by his brothers and sisters as “The Melody Makers,” turned on a whole new generation to the experience of their father’s musical and spiritual experience beginning in the mid 80’s, it was Damian who amazed people later, combining the styles of reggae and hip-hop. He is nick-named “Junior Gong,” after his father’s early nick-name, “Tuff Gong.” Bob’s nick-name became the name of a record label formed by the Wailers in 1970, which was in turn an echo of that nick-name given to the founder of the Rastafarian movement, Leonard “The Gong” Howell. While Stephen has won five Grammies, Ziggy and his Melody Makers four, Damian has won three. (Detailed bios of the Marley family, along with a plethora of info on Bob and his music are available at www.bobmarley.com).
Just about 29 years ago, Bob would ad-lib some lyrics to Curtis Mayfield’s song “Keep On Movin’:” “Tell Ziggy I’m fine, and to keep the dollar in line, ‘Cause we’re soon to move now, We are…” He would then sing the chorus line “Lord, I got to keep on movin, yeah, where I can’t be found…” at a sound check for a Wailers concert, singing that line over and over for about twenty minutes, bringing tears to the eyes of his band, as they knew it was his way of saying goodbye to his musical/spiritual family.
It was at about this same time that a group of reggae-lovers in Los Angeles decided to honor Bob’s Legacy with grass-roots produced reggae concerts they would offer to the people for free, called “Bob Marley Day.” I’ll always hold in my fondest memories, some of my friends from Laguna Beach, in bands aptly titled the “Friends Band,” “Jack Miller & the International Reggae All Stars,” and the “Rebel Rockers” (with dynamic performers that included Barbara Paige and Princess Morton who recorded with some of the Wailers, and Tony Chin and Fully Fullwood of the Soul Syndicate and Peter Tosh’s band, among others) playing at some of these early tributes at the Westwood Federal Building, come rain or shine.
So, it’s been quite a long haul for this dedicated (or, as the Rasta’s call it: “live-a-cated”) group to keep the tribute going over the decades, and the transformation from the old “Bob Marley Day” celebrations to the more recent “Ragga Muffins Festival” has been quite amazing to witness. Now these concerts that still honor (in every way except in name, for the inevitable legal reasons) Robert Nesta Marley in the month of his birth, end up selling out in their huge Long Beach and Oakland venues.
In this year’s Ragga Muffins Festival at the Long Beach Arena on Saturday, February 20th and Sunday the 21st, the musical line up with many LIVING LEGEND Reggae Stars is nothing short of “STELLAR.” Because of space limitations with this article, I must ask the reader to do some “home work” on the internet to find out the impact that these legends have made on World Music- unless of course you know what I mean when I give you names like Don Carlos, Frankie Paul, Yellowman, Big Youth, Barrington Levy, Gregory Isaacs, The Mighty Diamonds, Capleton, Cocoa Tea… Other performers of note are Shaggy, Gramps Morgan, Bajah & the Dry Eye Crew, the Mystic Roots Band, Yellow Wall Dub Squad, Taurus Riley, Alborosie, Konshens, David Kirton, the Lions, and Detour Posse, w/more to be announced! And of course, many of you desert-dwellers may have caught the reggae group “The Aggrolites” (performing on Sunday) “crucially moshing it up inna yard-style” at the Coachella Festival last year (and please know that the term “moshing it up,” that “reefers” to a “hard-driving dance beat” came from Jamaica long before the punkers adopted it into their physically harmful version!).
The concert’s doors open at 12 noon and you are going to want to get there early, as the festival offers “North America’s largest International Food and Crafts Fair!” Also, this “Family-Friendly Event” offers free admission to children 12 and under (when accompanied by a paid adult), and the kids-oriented activity space of the “What About the Children? Foundation” has become a welcome annual tradition, with its storytellers, face painting and other enriching activities. Ticket prices are a reasonable $38- to $60- (plus applicable service charges) and are available by phone at (800) 745-3000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com and for more information you can call the Ragga Muffins Festival hotline at (310) 515-3322 or go to raggamuffinsfestival.com and myspace.com/raggamuffinsfestival
On the local front, don’t miss the combined celebration of Bob Marley’s and all other Aquarius (or “Aquari-I”) birthdays AND the HAALOS Healing Arts Center’s One Year Anniversary in the “Vortex Construction Zone” of Desert Hot Springs, on Bob’s actual birthday, Sat., Feb. 6, 8pm on, with a live “open mic reggae jam,” dancing, refreshments and fun! (12078 Palm Dr., DHS 92240)
-Sunny Sun-Downer can be contacted at conchustimes@yahoo.com and his articles for the Desert Valley Star are archived at www.conchustimes.blogspot.com as well as www.desertvalleystar.com

The Over the Hill Band Film Review

(The unedited version [which adds a couple of quite ah-muse-ing paragraphs at the end] of the article I just wrote for the current Desert Valley Star -=0=-)
The Over the Hill Band (Meisjes)
Film Review by Sunny Sun-Downer
The U.S. Premiere of the hit Belgian film “The Over the Hill Band” debuts as a “World Cinema Now Gala Screening” at the P.S. International Film Festival on Saturday evening, January 16 at 7 pm, with director Geoffrey Enthoven (The Only One) expected to attend, as well as lead actors Marilou Mermans, Jan van Looveren and Lea Couzin.
Also called, “Meisjes” (Dutch for “Girlfriends”) this film is hailed as in the tradition of “sassy social comedies” such as last year’s (Canne’s Critic Week Award Winner) Moscow, Belgium and plays like a combination of the British Calendar Girls and Young at Heart. (It is no coincidence then that one of the screenwriters of this film was Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem of Moscow, Belgium fame).
This charming comic drama is a “coming-of-old-age” story about a classy woman who rediscovers life and love before it’s almost too late. Recently widowed Claire (played magnificently by Marilou Mermans) seeks to resolve the issues between her and her two sons, Michel (Lucas van den Eynde) and Alex (Jan van Looveren)- issues that were not addressed while her husband was alive. While Michael is a successful businessman, Alex- who prefers to be called “Sid,” is a failed and frustrated R & B/Hip Hop musician who blames part of his failure on the lack of parental support, which he accuses all went to Michel. Admitting to herself that Sid was the child she loved most "in her gut", but that she had indeed paid more attention to Michel out of guilt-driven compensation to hide the fact, Claire decides to use the last of her money and her remaining years to support Sid's musical quest to finally grant him his long overdue share of affection. The manner in which she chooses to “heal the wound” leads to the great entertainment that is bestowed on the viewer of this delightful comedy. She flashes back to her teenage years singing in a band with her girlfriends Magda (Lea Couzin) and Lutgard (Lut Tomsin) as the popular trio, "The Sisters of Love" and then decides that as backup singers they can help Sid form a band and convinces her “girlfriends” to come out of retirement. Sid thinks it’s the most ridiculous idea he’s ever heard, but because he needs money so badly he reluctantly agrees to join his mother and her crazy friends. But he does so on one condition ... they will play HIS kind of music!
You get the feeling from the opening scene where Claire’s husband is chiding her for humming to herself, that his demise was going to be a blessing for her- in that it would release her of the repressive nature of his attitude toward life, which might allow her to rediscover hers- especially in creating an opening in the strained relationship with her son Alex (Sid). After all, wasn’t it her husband who found no worth in Sid’s musical ambitions? The film also questions the age-old traditional pattern of wives giving up their lives and dreams for their husbands. It also brings into focus our imminent sunset of old age and death. Watching Claire come to the realization of how she has unfairly treated her son Sid and how she can right it, and then observing how she gradually "loses her marbles" and experiences "butterflies in her head"-are heartfelt jewels within the unfolding whimsy.
By recognizing their mutual love for music, Claire and Sid slowly grow closer. But all is not rosy in her plan of action. As Sid and the re-incarnated “Sisters” form the new group and prepare for a battle of the bands, Claire’s older son, the “buttoned down” Michel attempts to intervene. He believes Sid is using their mother and taking advantage of her, and the two even come to blows over the issue. The band must overcome such nay-sayers as well as their age, doubts and insecurities to put on the show of their lives!
The “Sisters of Love” become reinvented as the “Over the Hill Band” with a play-list that ranges from the hip-hop anthem, “Pump Up the Jam” to a “pimped-out” version of Wallace Collection’s “Daydream.” You can’t help but laugh whole-heartedly as these elderly timeless performers get back in touch with their “inner vixen,” as Claire intones, "When I look in the mirror, I wonder who the old bat is that I can see. Because underneath this old skin, I'm still 17. That's how I feel."
Jan van Looveren transforms from a disheveled, unattractive and un-likeable Sid to the kid you can't help but like. Lut Tomsin also shines as the crotchety youth choir-director who learns to get a buzz off the bass. In one especially hilarious scene she mouths the lyrics to sexually-suggestive hip-hop music, while filling her shopping basket with rap CDs. And the mirthful, fun-spirited Lea Couzin earns a point for defending Jacques Brel as God.
From Director Enthoven’s daily writings of the shoot, comes this revelation- “Lut, Magda and Claire are singing the famous Jaques Brel song ‘Ne me quitte pas,’ accompanied by a church organ. Sid enters the church carrying a ghetto blaster boom box. The loud introduction of “his” music comes with vivid, shameless body movements- totally absorbed by the music. The confrontation between R & B-macho Sid and the three ladies ‘of a certain age,’ is the soul of our comedy. Sid’s song ‘Big Dick Jones’ has been composed by lyricist Pascal Garnier, who was so embarrassed by the juicy lyrics that he wrote the texts while his family was sleeping!” (Pascal Garnier and Stef Caers wrote the swinging R & B versions of the classic pop tunes featured in the film).
Well, if we have the “sex” and the “rock n’ roll,” let’s not forget the “drugs!” Also from Enthoven’s writings, “What a day! We’re shooting a scene with 10 actors. Sid’s lighting a joint, and passes it to Magda and Claire, who take a puff. Neither of them have smoked before, so it’s difficult for them to act this out in a convincing way. It took me a lot of pain to quit smoking nine years ago, and now I’m the one who has to show them how to inhale. Very tricky! But I’m a pro- I’ll do anything for the film!”
The film’s closing sequence is a thought-provoking merging of senile and cinematic fantasies with an unexpected twist. Northernstars’, Maurie Alioff says that while this film is mainstream fare, it’s also "the kind of movie festival-goers embrace for its feel-good vibe." Writing for the Montreal Gazette, John Griffin describes it as "funny, ribald, touching and inspirational comedy" and advises: "Take your pointers where you may, but this genuinely appealing tale does suggest that life is short. Live every day to the max." After receiving a standing ovation at the 28th International Film Festival of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Grand Prix Hydro-Quebec, the jury lauded the film for its "clear style and ability to subtly narrate a serene view on death."
Also, Juniors are warned that at the Palm Springs screenings, the Senior Demographic there might become a bit unruly while watching this film!
The Over the Hill Band screens once on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 7pm and once Sunday, Jan. 17 at 4:30pm.
For more info contact the Palm Springs International Film Festival at www.psfilmfest.org or call 760-778-8979

The Sun Behind the Clouds Controversy at Palm Springs Film Festival

The Sun Behind the Clouds- Tibet's Struggle for Freedom
The Controversy with the China Gov't "Interferring with Palm Springs' Internal Affairs"
by Sunny Sun-Downer (the unedited version of the article published in the current Desert Valley Star newspaper)
"With unusual intimate access, filmmakers Tenzin Sonam and his wife Ritu Sarin find a unique perspective on the Dalai Lama's trials and tribulations and follow him over an eventful year, including the 2008 protests in Tibet, the Long March in India, the Beijing Olympics and the breakdown of talks with China," reads the Palm Springs International Film Festival's description of a film that has unexpectedly created an international controversy between the governments of China and Tibet, "The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom."
Not only has the Chinese Government closed down one of the film industry's biggest marketing tools, IMDb.com (Internet Movie Database- a user-generated movie review website) in the past week, undoubtedly due to the controversy they created by "meddling in Palm Springs' internal affairs," but there is controversy within the controversy regarding the two Chinese films pulled out of the Palm Springs International Film Festival. In "protest" of the festival's inclusion of the Pro-Tibet film "The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom," the two films, "Quick, Quick, Slow" and "City of Life and Death" (also called "Nanjing! Nanjing!) were pulled in the festival's first week. The first film is a comedy about ordinary people taking part in a dance competition n China, while "City of Life and Death" is about the 1937 invasion of China by Japan (which is ironic in that "The Sun Behind the Clouds..." covers the Chinese Government's invasion of Tibet in the 1950's).
IMDb.com now joins Facebook, Youtube and Twitter as banned websites in China.
The "controversy in the controversy" regards the exposing of the Chinese government's withdrawing the films from the festival, and then attempting to spin the decision as having been taken by one of the Chinese film directors.

Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, reported that Lu Chuan, the director of “City of Life and Death," had himself made the decision to withdraw from the film festival. According to Xinhua, “Lu was informed Monday that ‘The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom’ would be screened during the festival and immediately notified his film's distributor in North America of his quitting, Lu's publicity assistant Wang Dan said. The India-produced documentary tells mainly of the Dalai Lama's "secessionist" activities in 2008. Lu Chuan said, ‘All activities overseas of my film should serve China's interests and safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity.’”

The Xinhua report contradicts a report from The Hollywood Reporter saying “Chinese State-run 'China Film Group' had pulled ‘City of Life and Death’” from the Palm Springs International Film Festival to protest the event’s inclusion of a film about the Dalai Lama, director Lu Chuan said Wednesday.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lu said a “government department ... demanded China Film pull the movie.”

The Director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), which runs through January 18, Darryl Macdonald, released a formal statement that said: “After meeting with representatives from the Chinese government regarding their request to cancel our screenings of ‘The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom,’ we have respectfully declined their request. I’m saddened that the Chinese film authorities have chosen to withdraw their films from PSIFF, as the Festival is an international cultural event whose mandate is to present a wide cross section of perspectives and points of view. That said, we cannot allow the concerns of one country or community to dictate what films we should or should not play, based on their own cultural or political perspective. Freedom of expression is a concept that is integral both to the validity of artistic events, and indeed, to the ethos of this country.” Macdonald said he was also told by Chinese government officials that by including the Tibet film “he was going against the position of the U.S. government, which doesn’t recognize Tibet as independent of China, but Macdonald said he responded, ‘Sorry, this is an arts event and we believe in freedom of expression.’”

International Campaign for Tibet then issued a statement: "Government constraints on freedom of expression within China are entrenched. Those who would exercise this inalienable and fundamental freedom by saying things that the Chinese government or Communist Party objects to - whether in film, on the internet or any public platform – can face criminal charges of ‘inciting subversion’ and other serious consequences. In this context, it is especially gratifying that private citizens outside China so clearly understand what is at stake. By refusing to bow to Chinese government intimidation, they stand up for those who risk much to establish a free and more open society in China,” said Mary Beth Markey, ICT Vice President for International Advocacy.

In a written reaction, the directors of "The Sun Behind the Clouds...," Ritu Sarin and (Tibetan exile) Tenzing Sonam said: “It is clear that the directors of these films had no choice in the matter and were as much victims of their government’s authoritarian policies as we, the intended targets, were meant to be. As China now feels emboldened enough to attempt to impose its will on independent cultural events in a country as powerful and as symbolic of the right to free speech and expression as the United States of America, we can begin to understand the extent of repression within its own borders. It is not surprising that even as the Chinese government was putting pressure on PSIFF to remove our film from its line-up, it imposed a six-year sentence on Tibetan filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen, (whose unsettling film, "Leaving Fear Behind" debuted at Urban Yoga in Palm Springs in 2008) for making a film that showed the true feelings of Tibetans in Tibet about their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, and their situation under Chinese rule.” It has been reported that not only was he beaten and tortured for his truthful expose, he has also been infected with hepatitis in Chinese prison, and those interested in protesting his draconian sentence are encouraged to go to the Students for a Free Tibet website http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/dhondupwangchensentenced

Also, for those wanting facts that clearly refute China's claim that Tibet has always been a part of their country, which they use to justify their (far from) "peaceful liberation" of Tibet over 50 years ago, please go to such sites as the following: http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2009/02/25/a-losar-gift-for-rangzen-activists/

And finally, if you can make it, the Palm Springs Int. Film Festival added one more screening of this AH-mazing film, Sat. Jan. 16th, 10 am Annenburg Theater at the PS Art Museum-
http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=21166&FID=40
-= ~!~ =-

The Goddess, ET and the “Angel”

The Stream of ConchUs-ness with Sunny Sun-Downer

Ahhhh…. We desert-dwellers are so fortunate. I realized this again last night sitting in the local public hot mineral water pool after a very long drive back down from Northern California. I’d gone up to Chico for a celebration of my sister Christina’s life on the 3rd anniversary of her transition to the “other side.” She left in 2007 within a couple of days of the anniversary of George Harrison’s transition. The “Cosmic Coincidence” (CC) of this is that back in 1971 she turned me onto George’s first album, ironically titled “All Things Must Pass,” giving me some “sweet refuge” as I would perform some of his songs for her family and friends back at the painful time of her departure. Also, in this “CC,” the album contained one of the first introductions of Eastern Mysticism to the popular cultures of the West- his classic song, “My Sweet Lord.”
This was so special to Chris and I, as we were brought up in a rare Orange County household that practiced Hindu meditation- so we were emboldened with this mass-indoctrination from an Ex-Beatle’s introduction of the cross-cultural “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama” and the plethora of other Hindu names of God musically interwoven with Western religion’s “Hallelujah… My Sweet Lord!”
So, fast-forwarding back to the “gift” of the “present,” I found myself at the famous (at least in Northern California circles) “Chico Goddess Temple” (www.thegoddesstemple.com) that my sister frequented, created by metal sculptor Robert Seales (who we used to call “Bobby” but I believe he grew tired of being confused w/the 60’s Radical of the same name, so now goes by “Robert”). This Ah-mazing solar and wind-powered 700-plus acre retreat was created for weddings, funerals, solstice/equinox celebrations, etc., so it was the perfect place to honor my sister, whose picture I placed under the 4 foot tall metal “Goddess” sculpture inside the hall (centered between two massive metal elephant sculptures) and proceeded to honor her spirit with candle and incense. Outside, the entrance to the temple is graced with a 30’ tall metal sculpture of the Goddess with a Yin-Yang symbol on her belly, whose open legs you walk under as you enter. This created the feeling of being born into this beautiful “Goddess Realm,” with statuesque flora and fauna, its wide range of winged-ones, its big pond with fish and ducks, not to mention dogs, cats and a free-roaming friendly hog named “Pig.” With song and dance, including dancing dogs, we honored my sister’s wonderful life as a mother and Northern California activist of many worthy causes (among so much else), whose spirit was glowing in our mind’s eye. (Her spirit also lives on in the 2007section of my blog mentioned at end).
It was on the next night that I would learn about another death in my family- my “spiritual family,” that is. To introduce this part of the story, I give you lyrics by the 60’s sitar-infused hit song, “Fat Angel”:
“He will bring happiness in a pipe, he'll ride away on his silver bike…
and apart from that, he'll be so kind in consenting to blow your mind…
he will bring orchids for my lady, the perfume will be an excellent kind
and apart from that he'll be so kind, in consenting to blow your mind…
Fly Trans-Love Airways, gets you there on time…
Fly Jefferson Airplane, gets you there on time…”
This song, written by Donovan in 1966, and made even more famous (in the 1st Hippie Era) after it was covered by Jefferson Airplane in ‘71, is about an early “Hipster” and drug broker in New York City’s Greenwich Village. One of the people he “turned on,” by consenting to “blow his mind” was my friend Eldon Taylor (ET). Unbeknownst to ET at the time of his association with the Fat Angel, who did more than “peddling” around the village on his silver bike, he was getting “turned on” to something beyond even the experience that occurred from the physical ingestion of an “allay” (entheogenic substances from ‘”acid” to “ ‘shrooms”): The Teachings of Tantric Tibetan Buddhism with the book that the “Fat Angel” gave him to read, “The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa.” The Tibetan yogi and poet-saint was more recently made famous in the 90’s when the Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch teamed up with Erin Potts, a Peace Corps volunteer who he met when he was trekking in Nepal and together formed “The Milarepa Foundation” to create large “Free Tibet” concerts to help Tibet and the Tibetan people whose culture is facing extinction after the Communist Chinese-forced takeover of their country some 6 decades ago.
In one of my recent Desert Valley Star articles, I mentioned during my “1960’s formative years” in Buena Park, a couple blocks away from the “then-free” Knott’s Berry Farm, I would frequent an all ages night club called “The White Room.” Years later, after meeting ET up in the beautiful mountain community of Idyllwild, where he would eventually end up helping to sponsor the construction of a Tibetan Temple (rinpoche.com), I was informed that he ran a billiard room next door to the White Room, making him my “homeboy,” although we were over a decade apart in age. Later still, I found out that he ran a “head shop” in Long Beach back in that Hippie Era as well.
If I may digress (or “pro-gress,” if you will) back to my No. Calif. story for a moment- On the return back south, I managed to stop to play percussion with some old friends who have a band called the Dharma Bums (www.dharmabums.org), a Reggae-Rock band from Woodstock NY, out here on their San Francisco Tibet Day Tour. Their final concert of the tour was held at a comfy café called “Java Beach” in the “Ocean Beach” segment of “The City,” and one of the final songs of the evening was an extended version of band-leader Phil Void’s Eastern-influenced “Infinite Mind.” In another “CC” coup, at the end of one of the most psychedelic versions of the song I’ve ever heard, I seized the moment to dedicate the song to ET, announcing that he had just entered the Bardo (Tibetan for “after death”) state that previous night and that his Long Beach, California Head Shop back in the 60’s was called “Infinite Mind!” I then beseeched everyone to send him loving thoughts to merge with the “Bright Light” as the “Bardo Terdol,” (“Tibetan Book of the Dead”) instructs, on his journey into “Eternal” Infinite Mind. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one there that knew ET, as singer-songwriter Phil and lead guitarist Joseph Liston both knew him from Idyllwild to New York to Nepal.
I had lamented not having a copy of the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” upon hearing of ET’s “departure,” or as the book calls it, “dissolution of the 5 elements back to their state of emptiness,” and wondered where it might be resting since the last time I used it. But lo’ and behold, in my final “CC” here, upon my return to the Desert Hot Springs “Vortex,” what gift was waiting in my mailbox but a gift from my Sis Chris’s Buena Park home-girl and best friend forever, Kathie Rodgers-Wilson of Oahu: The DVD of the Tibetan Book of the Dead narrated by Leonard Cohen! Insert, push a button… This “Ancient Technology” rocks!
Over the course of his life, ET received the blessings of many Tibetan and other holy teachers, such as HH Gyalwa Karmapa and HH Dalai Lama. Those of us in his spiritual family are very grateful to him, especially for his “Angel-ic Connection” and help in spreading the Buddha-Dharma to the West… Especially when I see him with his teacher, the recently “escaped-from-Communist-China-control” Karmapa, (who along with the Dalai Lama is one of four “Dharma Kings” of Tibet) I consent to their “blowing my mind” with the Jewel-like teachings of Awakened, “Infinite Mind.”
-Sunny Sun-Downer is the facilitator of the Desert Karmapa Meditation Center. Check out his blog at www.conchustimes.blogspot.com. His email is conchustimes@yahoo.com.

"Dalai Lama Renaissance" Films Stir Controversy

(Here is [the un-edited version, i.e. 'rough draft' of] the article for the Nov. 26, '09 gc issue of the Desert Valley Star. For the 'less-rough draft' please go to desertvalleystar.com & enjoy! -= :0: =-)

“Dalai Lama Renaissance” Films Stir Controversy with Chinese Government-
Director/Producer Darvich Comes to Palm Springs for Premier and to Share His Dalai Lama Experience!

By Sunny Sun-Downer
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Foundation awarding their prestigious Peace Prize to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Director/Producer of the multi-award-winning film called “Dalai Lama Renaissance” and its sequel, “Dalai Lama Renaissance Volume 2: A Revolution of Ideas,” succeeded in “incurring the wrath” of the government of Communist China.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has, over time, successfully suppressed the release of films in Asia and even had an effect on a film’s extended release in the West, if it is perceived to threaten “Chinese Policy.” For example, films that starred such big names as Richard Gere and Sharon Stone were boycotted by China after the actors expressed support for a “Free Tibet.” All Disney films were banned for an indefinite period after the studio released “Kundun” (which translates as “Presence,” the name the Tibetan people address their leader with), Martin Scorsese’s 1997 film based on the life and writings of the Dalai Lama.
Now comes the CCP’s latest criticism of another in the series of films in recent history- “Dalai Lama Renaissance,” which has joined such “Pro-Dalai Lama” films as “Kundun”- “Seven Years in Tibet,” “Under the Vajra Sky,” “Ten Questions for the Dalai Lama,” among others, that have irked the communist regime. After it was released in theaters in Taiwan this last summer and received front page positive press in the Chinese language Taiwanese newspapers, the Chinese government, in its “The People’s Daily,” (the newspaper/media outlet of the “Central Committee” of the CCP) quickly and sharply criticized “Dalai Lama Renaissance.” The article, titled “Western Movies Build Grand and Perfect Image of Dalai Lama,” claims that “in recent years, a wave of ‘Dalai Lama fever’ has appeared in the Western movie industry… describing the Chinese government’s peaceful liberation of Tibet as ‘cruel oppression,’ and depicting the Dalai Lama’s life in India as difficult… Some movies even advocate the Dalai Lama’s concept of [Tibetan] ‘independence.’” Well, gosh, yeah, Chinese government, what’s “cruel” and “oppressive” about “peace-fully” imprisoning, torturing, raping, and killing over 1 million Tibetans over the last 5 plus decades for their political and religious beliefs, not to mention destroying countless monasteries while importing millions of Han Chinese into Tibet to complete the Tibetan genocide by out-numbering the Tibetans in their homeland? “Some movies even advocate… Tibetan ‘independence...’ ” Oh, the horror!
The Communist Party’s criticism after the sold-out premier in Taiwan is apparently a defensive reaction to the positive press that occurred there, to counteract any affect that it may have on readers in mainland China, who often have access to news from Taiwan. In a touch of irony, the CCP apparently felt threatened by the idea brought up in the film regarding economic sanctions against China from the West. In a scene from the movie, despite the near unanimous agreement on this by the Westerners who came to the Dalai Lama’s residence-in-exile to try and develop a new “Synergy,” he discouraged the proposal. The Taiwanese newspaper “The Liberty Times” points out that, in the film, “the Dalai Lama thinks that humanity is the most important thing in the world and economic sanctions might affect many Chinese citizens, thus he is hesitant whether such an approach is right.” But the CCP aparently can’t even stand to hear the Dalai Lama talk, or they might notice how far he is going to reconcile the situation with these oppressors who have forcibly taken over his homeland in a strategic move to not only have a greater political advantage over its neighboring countries to the west, but to (so far un-sustainably) exploit the resources of timber, water, uranium, etc. of the “Land of Snows,” as the Tibetans call their homeland. The People’s Daily also tries to discredit the producer-director of the film, Khashyar Darvich. In its article, the newspaper claims that the director is a “follower” of the Dalai Lama, and supports this assertion by referring to an interview where Darvich mentioned that he produced the film partly for the opportunity to spend time with the exiled Tibetan leader. Darvich responds, “It’s interesting that the Chinese Communist Party refers to me as a follower of the Dalai Lama. Although I respect the Dalai Lama as a man of peace, just as the Nobel Peace Prize Committee did by awarding him the Nobel Peace prize, and as do most governments around the world, I am not a Dalai Lama “groupie.” When I began the film, I was not very familiar with the Dalai Lama’s ideas. I think that his actions, and the respect that he garners around the world, speaks for itself.” Despite the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to discredit the film, Darvich states that his production company, Wakan Films, has just signed an agreement to release Dalai Lama Renaissance unofficially into China itself, under the radar of the Chinese Government. I hope that announcing it here doesn’t ruin the “surprise!” “My hope,” says Darvich, “is that the film will open a dialog between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, and that the average Chinese citizen will be able to see that the Dalai Lama is not such a bad guy and is interested in a solution to the Tibet issue that serves the highest good and benefits both the Chinese and Tibetans. I would be happy to attend a screening of the film in China and conduct a Q&A with Chinese audiences as a way to contribute to positive dialog.” In the meantime, valley residents have a chance to experience this amazing film and its sequel, and a rare opportunity to participate n a Q&A with Kashyar, when it premiers at Crystal Fantasy Enlightenment Center in downtown Palm Springs on the actual 20th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, December 10th- also, by the way, the anniversary of the U.N.’s establishing of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights!” The “Enlightening” fun doesn’t stop there, as the sequel, “Dalai Lama Renaissance Vol. 2: A Revolution of Ideas,” premiers the following night, Friday December 11th. Both films will be shown after a short meditation beginning at 7p.m., to “settle the mind in preparation for the heart-opening experience” that I personally call “a combination of the movies ’10 Questions for the Dalai Lama’ and ‘What the Bleep Do We Know?’ ” Coincidently, Dalai Lama Renaissance, which is narrated by Harrison Ford, features many of the same “radical thinkers of our time” as are featured in those two revolutionary movies. The Question and Answer Session with Producer-Director Darvich immediately follows the film showing and promises to make this a most memorable night in the history of Freedom-Loving Desert Dwellers. This is also a benefit for the Himalayan Children’s Fund (www.rinpoche.com) and “The Well in the Desert” (Please bring surplus canned or packaged food in this time of need!) Crystal Fantasy is located at 268 N. Palm Canyon Dr. in downtown Palm Springs, 92262. For More info on Dalai Lama Renaissance, go to www.dalailamafilm.com. Tickets are available at an advance discount price by going to www.crystalfantasy.com or www.conchustimes.org/theconch. Also, more info is available by contacting Crystal Fantasy at 760-322-7799 or ConchUs Times at 760-673-7580. This is a joint production of Crystal Fantasy, Desert Karmapa Center and ConchUs Times Productions.
-Sunny Sun-Downer’s blog is www.conchustimes.blogspot.com and he can be contacted at conchustimes@yahoo.com

Turning “Blocks” into Stepping “Stones”

The Stream of ConchUsness
with Sunny Sun-Downer
This is the article I've written for the Desert Valley Star Nov. 19, 2009 g.c. issue (& the very 1st published WITHOUT any editing, Yeah!) Skip down to the end if you want to read Andrew Harvey's "Radical" Sacred Activism message! Enjoy (& Thank You "Richard" for your buddha-full comment!) -= 0 =-






I think I've had a bout of "writer's blocks" lately- one block on top of another, almost like my personal "Berlin Wall" that needed dismantling to re-unite the split-apart nations of my mind...
I'm trying to connect with my flowing literary goddess/muse, so I can get the "creative juices" flowing again. Stress and/or depression from the lack of commerce with my healing arts business and the state of the world probably has something to do with these "blocks." It feels like I'm coming out of it now, and that makes me happy, as before yesterday I was going through a "Dark Night of the Soul," and being “pissed off at the world” is normally foreign to me- it is not my natural state, or one that I enjoy. It does serve as a reference point though, as in "how low can you go" before getting "free of the negativity." It has caused me to try to use it as motivation to put my energy into the survival factor, to come up with ways to earn the 'green energy' (or what I call “Dead Presidents’ Pictures,” i.e. “money”) to meet the constant flood of bills, at the risk of losing my happiness-based creativity...
And what transpired to aid in this shift? Well, instead of wallowing in my miserable mental state another day- which was accompanied by the physical 3-week-long head-to-throat-to-lungs-back-to-head-cold I've been dealing with... (You remember "The Weather Underground," the violence-inclined 70's radical group? I re-activated my own, called the "Under-the-Weather-Ground!" Oh, and no, it’s not the H1N1- because I’m holding out for the “S”-free version, the “Wine Flu,” heh-heh, with my new slogan, “Who needs a vaccination, when you can just hit the bottle on your stay-cation!” OK, I tend to make light of serious subjects with a little levity, especially when I believe that “Big Pharma,” with its ties to our government, is pulling a major scam on the people!)… I accepted the offer of the publisher of the Desert Valley Star to capture some bill-paying green energy by distributing the paper around the Coachella Valley. Half-way through the ordeal of negotiating the ever-frustrating Friday afternoon traffic and stopping at about 80-some drop-off points, I stopped for some veggie-tacos at one of them. I started to lift my tired body out of the car seat, when something quite unusual happened that caused me to pluck it right back down: the Grateful Dead came on the valley’s "Hot" radio station (I mean, you just don't hear them on the regular rock radio stations very often, if at all!). There they were again, ultimately reminding me, "You're sick of hanging around and you like to travel- (You) get tired of traveling and you want to settle down... Well, I guess I can't revoke your Soul for trying- Get out of the door, light out and have a look around..." I was instantly given a new “lease on life,” to hear one of my main musical heroes musically shining a light of inspiration in the middle of my tribulations, especially when they sang the chorus, "Sometimes the Lights are shining on me, Other times I can barely see... Lately it occurs to me, what a Long, Strange Trip (LST) it's been!" This alone gave me the energy, perhaps through the "Time Machine Factor" combined with the "Pavlovian Re-connection" of past marathon Dead Tours, to "Keep On Truckin' ," like the “Do-Dah Man,” through the rest of the day- especially looking forward to the end of the job, when I could re-iterate the final verse: “Truckin’, Im a-goin’ home, whoah-oh baby, back where I belong… Back home, sit down and patch my bones…” (And in a totally un-related point, let's not forget that the Dead's 'Truckin' rose to "Number 1" on the radio chart in Truckee, Calif., in the early 70's!)
The next day, I found myself equally depressed about the world situation, specifically with one that has been dear to my heart for decades. It’s about the “Big Lie” in the news again that the Chinese government has fostered on its 1.3 billion citizens, as President Obama travels there for the first time: that it “liberated Tibet from ‘serfdom’ just as President Lincoln freed the slaves in the U.S.” to justify its torturing and killing over 1 million Tibetans and nearly destroying their culture and the country’s environment over the last 50 years. This has Chinese university students wanting to know why President Obama would meet with this “separatist Dalai Lama” (who their government calls a “Monster in Sheep’s Clothing”- kettle calling the pot black, anyone?) at his ‘town hall meeting’ with them. And BTW, what the Chinese government calls ‘serfdom,’ was Tibetan people happily giving part of their crops to support the (unified religion/state) monasteries before the violent invasion of Tibet.
Two things happened that helped me with this. First, I received an email of a talk given recently by author Andrew Harvey, who is an advocate for “Buddhist Global Relief” (www.buddhistglobalrelief.org). This is a new organization founded by an American Buddhist monk, Ven. Bikkhu Bodhi, that is an inter-denominational community of Buddhists and friends of Buddhism who seek to give concrete expression to the Buddha’s great compassion as an ongoing project in the contemporary world. Andrew’s message was so moving and heart-opening as it ‘cut to the bone’ regarding how to deal with the anxiety and frustration so many of us are currently feeling towards the world situation with its wars, aggression and rapidly deteriorating environment, etc. His talk is quite radical and ultimately involves developing what he calls “Sacred Activism.” Space limitation doesn’t allow its inclusion here, but you can read it at my blogsite posted at the end.
The other “mental saving grace” that occurred that evening was experiencing the “Musical Love Fest” of Larisa Stow and her “Shakti Tribe” at Urban Yoga in Palm Springs (Larisastow.com). Larisa, near the beginning of their heart-chakra-opening performance, touched directly on these negativities I’ve been referring to, asking how many of us are going through it in our lives? As the ‘dancing-room-only’ crowd agreed that they could relate, she reminded us about Mahatma Gandhi’s tribulations. What activated him back in his era, was buying a 1st Class train ticket, but then being forced to sit in 3rd Class because of his skin color. He then took his anger and channeled it into the positive activism of his “Satya-graha” (the Hindi word for “Truth Army”) which ended up non-violently liberating India from British oppression.
Also, BTW, for a brand new take on Gandhi’s story, I recommend the ‘hip-hop’ music version by one of the stars of the recent Joshua Tree “Bhakti Fest,” the yoga teacher/songwriter “MC Yogi.” Called “Be the Change” after the chorus: “Be the Change that you want to see, in the world Just like Gandhi!” You can view it on Youtube and/or see the lyrics at his website (http://www.mcyogi.com/lyrics/be-the-change) and let the music help you, as it did me, dance all over those blocks!

(Sunny’s blog is www.conchustimes.blogspot.com, where you can also see his past un-edited articles for the Desert Valley Star in their entirety!)

Transcript of a brief talk by Andrew Harvey, mystical scholar, Rumi translator, poet, and architect of 'sacred activism' - at the recent launch of Bhikkhu Bodhi's "Buddhist Global Relief" in New York City.
I would like to share very briefly my vision of sacred activism with you. I’d like to begin by saying that I only believe three things. I believe that we are heading into the eye of a perfect storm of crises, which threatens the human race and a great deal of nature. I think it is extremely important that we all stop denying just how dangerous and insane and savage the terror this perfect storm of crises is and just what it actually means for all of us and the world. I think you know what those crises are. There is a holocaust going on that the doomsayers had predicted. There is a retreat amongst many of the major religions into fundamentalism, which disorders our unity. There is a domination of a kind of corporate mindset of all of the different rounds of activity of corporate magnates that is brutal, that is addicted to power, that is addicted to domination, that is addicted to exploitation, and addicted to greed. There is a mass media, largely owned by corporations, filling our minds with violence, trash and celebrity trivia, at the very moment where you and I need to be inspired, galvanized and given the authentic information.
And there is a lifestyle which you and I both live, which is hectic, driven and multi-tasking, which makes it almost impossible, for even for the most well meaning of us, to have the kind of pleasure and peace in which to hear the voice and soul that could guide us. And when you bring all of these crises together, and add to them a population explosion which will have three billion or more people on the earth in 2050 to feed, and a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of grade A lunatics and psychotics, such as the unfortunate head of North Korea and the completely insane head of Iran, then what you and I are looking at is a perfect storm of interrelated crises that are all the manifestation of a selective force - human self. A human self that has lost the most fundamental connection of all, which is the connection with our own deepest sacred nature, the sacred nature of creation and the sacred nature of life.
That is the first thing I believe, and I think it is very important that we all wake up fast, because all those who are not awake now, are going to be awake very soon. The crisis is not going to relent and it is going to get very much fiercer very soon. If that is all that I believe, I would have asked Bhikkhu Bodhi together, make a vat of Jim Jones Kool-Aid, recite the verses from the Dhammapada together, become One one last time and die together. But that is not happening.
The second thing I believe is this storm of crises is an evolutionary possibility of unprecedented intensity. Because it gives us the opportunity to gaze into the mirror of our destiny, and to see very clearly, that unless you and I evolve to the next level of putting our deepest principals and our holiest compassion and our greatest passion for life into direct clear radical action on every level, we will simply not survive. In other words, this great death that we are living, that we are manifesting out of our addiction, our greed, our extraordinary apathy, our fantastic lack of concern for life, this great death is also potentially the birth canal of an enormous and unprecedented birth. The birth of a chastened and humbled humanity opened at last by tragedy and awakened by the knowledge of the shadow, to really claim all of our innate sacred consciousness and start acting truly and deeply from our heart to turn apocalypse into grace. Turning nightmare into opportunity- a terrible tragic situation into a gathering together on a massive scale to transform the world.
Ever since this vision was given to me - it wasn’t something that I awoke to - it was something that was transmitted to me by my greatest teacher, the man who transformed my life, Father Bede Griffiths, who sat me down at the age of eighty-six, in his quiet hut in South India. On the last occasion we were together, he said, “There are three possibilities, my dear Andrew, for the future of the human race. The first possibility is that the human race will wake up to the horror of what it is creating and ask for immediate transformation and start changing everything. This is totally unlikely. The second possibility is that the human race will prove so stubborn in its addiction and so addicted and so apathetic and so rotten and broken down by the corruption and power that it has chosen that it will continue in its nightmare and suicidal and matricidal power and take the whole world away in its apocalyptic madness. He said I don’t think it is likely either. Because the God that I had in the deepest recesses of my mystical experience is the God of all embracing humanity, all the resourceful intentions, and a God that will go on, going on reaching out to us to give us the strength and the passion and the wisdom to awaken us even in our darkest and especially in our dark humanity. And then he said that there is a third possibility. And this is the possibility that I have experienced in the depths of my life and you will experience in the depths of your life. And this possibility is that this crises is the equivalent on a global scale of a crisis that a mystic goes through at a certain moment on the path when they go through what is called in the Christian mysticism the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’, in Sufism ‘banar’ (?) and in the metaphysical systems of Mahayana Buddhism the shattering of the false self, the shattering of the created self. If humanity can see this immense consciousness as a God sent, God given, God ordained opportunity to unlearn all our dangerous attainments. And if humanity could settle in the deep ground of divine inspiration and learn to how to go through the shattering ordeal with authentic grace, with authentic commitment to transformation then not only will humanity survive, but humanity will be transfigured and transformed and will be born into an authentic divine power, an authentic divine nature through the death of the collective false self that is manifesting this great death that is wrecking everything. Ever since that conversation, I have asked myself, day after day after day after day, one question. One question has burned in me, and that is why I have spent five years writing my latest book when before things came supernaturally, or rather easily. And that question was, if this great death is the birth canal of the great birth, then what is the force, what is the power that can birth this birth? What in us can birth the birth of the divine humanity, transformed by tragedy, illumined by the shattering knowledge, and transfigured by divine grace? What force can give us the power to turn this devastating situation around?
Four years after Bede died, I found a kind of answer. I had a dream in which he showed me two rivers. One river was a river of fire which was going toward the sea and the other which is a river of even more intense fire which was going toward the sea. And at the sea they met and they erupted in a glowing and glorious radiant divine Hiroshima of energy. And then I heard this voice saying, “these two rivers are the two noblest forces of the human psyche. And these two rivers are the river of the fire of the mystic’s passion of the God and the river of the activist’s passion for justice. When these two rivers meet, what happens is a third fire is born and that fire is the fire that is ordained to transform everything and that fire is the fire of divine compassion and love in action.” And it was that dream, that vision that gave me the term “sacred activism” and it is in honor of that vision that I wrote my book and it is in honor of that vision that I honor the work that the Buddhist Global Relief is doing and it is that honor of that vision that I stand before you and ask you to do one thing which has meant anything to you. And if you truly believe as I believe that we are where we are, facing extreme danger but with extreme opportunity. And I ask you in the name of the Buddha to get up at three o’clock in the morning someday soon and to surround yourself with the peace of God in whichever way you understand it and to ask yourself one question, what of all the causes of this beleaguered and damaged world breaks my heart the most? What of all these causes breaks my heart the most? I ask you to dare to ask yourself this question, and I ask you to dare to listen to what your heart says to you. Because you will find that if you do that your heart will reveal to you a sacred mission that belongs to you, just to you, and that will be the most deepest and most radiant voice of your soul and that you will be given, at that moment, an injunction and direction. What you do then, is to join with other people with similar heartbreak, and to work together in your local community, to do something real about what it is that you advocate in yourself.
My last thing that I like to offer to you is what I am doing. I am going everywhere talking about this vision of sacred activism but I am also bringing out a way of grounding it in the world. On Thanksgiving Day, I am releasing a global website called “Networks of Grace” and these networks are going to be cells of between six to twelve people gathered around a heartbreak, or a profession, or a passion dedicating in their local communities to start getting this grassroots radical revolution of the third power, Love in Action, going and it is the only way which we will get a chance of it working. If you are waiting for the corporations to transform your situation, you will wait until the last tree is burnt down. And if you are waiting for the politicians to have major spiritual transformation and suddenly give millions away and start feeding the poor, you will be waiting for the last animal to disappear. This revolution of the soul in action depends upon you and I. You and I getting real about three things: about this tragedy of where we are, about the opportunity of where we can go, and about the heartbreak that you and I all feel. And when we get real about all of those three things, then we are impelled to work together in the networks of grace to do something about them.

Just Another Phish Story

The Stream of Conch-Us-Ness
with Sunny Sun-Downer
(Here is the "Un-Edited Version" of the article published in the November 5, 2009 [g.c.] issue of the Desert Valley Star dot com. To those of you who've read the print version of my articles, I assure you that they will make much more sense here! -=:0:=-)


































Photos by Sun-Downer & Cynthia Santacroce

Phish “Phans” had the “Life of Riley” once they got to the Coachella site of Phish’s Festival 8. (“The Life of Riley” is a popular saying among us older hip-sters, from the radio & TV show of the 40’s and 50’s starring William Bendix, who played the character Riley, blessed with a life of great comfort and ease). This at least compared to the last Phish Festival in Coventry, Vermont, which was like the Woodstock Festival of 1969 in a few ways: Rural farmland, huge crowds and mud… and it coincidently occurred on the same dates in August on the 35th Anniversary of the birth of the Woodstock Nation. Unfortunately, and un-like Woodstock the mud happened at the beginning, when a week of rain had flooded the concert site that became a marsh-land of mud, causing people to be turned away from parking there. Like Woodstock, this caused gridlock on the highway leading to the site, and when Phish bassist Mike Gordon came on “Bunny Radio” (the band’s take-over of a local radio station as they did at Coachella w/Jack FM), like a (Woodstock promoter) “Artie Kornfeld” of his day, he announced that the field and venue were in a state of disaster and that no more vehicles would be allowed in. Instead of turning away, tens of thousands of die-hard Phans parked their cars on highway medians, in breakdown lanes, and on the sides of roads and hiked in to the concert venue, some walking as far as 30 miles, letting neither rain or mud deter them on their “Holy Quest.” Local residents stepped in and began shuttling Phans in and out of the site and to their vehicles. Despite efforts by attendees, trash accumulated from fans stuck along the road. The bill for the subsequent cleanup was sent from the State of Vermont to the Phish organization, who picked up the bill in its entirety, leaving a good impression of these “New Era Hippies” with the residents.
Fast-forward back to the present time, after the heart-breaking news of the break-up of the band and the swing of the ‘Phen-dulum” back the other way with the ecstatic news for Phans that the group was re-uniting this year, these Coachella-ized Phans have had nothing but great praise for the “Flow of Festival 8,” where they luxuriated in 8 wonderful sets of music, Chris Kuroda’s stunningly psychedelic light show, experiential art installations, (including flame-throwing bamboo-art sculptures, a huge un-tethered floating pumpkin that would change directions as many times as it did rainbow colors and a huge balloon like sculpture that would change shapes as many times as it changed colors), delicious vegan and other consumables washed down with favorite libations, and so much more… including the memorable “dazed and confused altered states” from the drug “LOS” (Lack Of Sleep)-induced camping. But these “Spawn of the Dead-Heads” surely take the Grateful Dead lyrics to heart, “When you get confused, Just listen to the music play” and, of course- dance!
So not only did the promoters Golden Voice and Team Phish leave a wonderful impression on the Phans, the Phans left a very good impression on the community. A huge number of business-owners in the Coachella Valley prospered from the influx of some 50,000 Phans, while the concert itself helped employ a great number of valley residents.
And speaking of drugs and our “Dysfunctional Society’s Draconian Drug Laws,” there is at least better news regarding the number of arrests at this festival compared to, for example, last Spring’s Coachella Festival. As of Saturday night there were 16 arrests and 9 more on Sunday, but this is less than half of the arrests for similar offences that totaled almost 60 last spring. Indio police said, “It’s worked out very well. Obviously, the arrests have been narcotics-related, but it’s been pretty good (and) the traffic has been really great.” And it’s been pretty good for Phans of the “Sacred Herb” who were warned in a Desert Sun article last week to keep their (mostly) illegal weed away, as Indio police were ready to wage their drug war w/their devious methods – although the article said nothing about any special enforcement for hard drugs, nitrous oxide distribution (a big problem of yore at Dead and Phish shows) and under-age (or over-age immoderate) drinking. This apparently didn’t stop the majority of Phans who obviously out-smarted the cops and event body-and-bag searchers, as the smell of the skunk-weed was everywhere through-out the crowd. I personally had a problem with the (chemical-saturated and “natural” tobacco) cigarette smoke, which hung like a toxic cloud over and around the crowd, and being able to breathe again was the only reason I was happy when leaving the concert area.
Another “High-Light” for this reporter and his publisher Dean Gray, was meeting and partying with Bambu Rolling Paper heir Sarah Saiger, who left her “Paper Trail” with all she met, while glowing in the recent news of the recently-announced clothing line, Bambu Apparel (bambu.com). Her company was also named one of the “World’s Oldest 1000 Companies,” having started in 1764 (and that is no stoner’s cloudy fantasy, but documented fact)!
Come Sunday night just before the encore of the final set, lead singer and guitarist Trey Anastasio thanked this crowd of “Dead-i-cated Phans” for a “wonderful weekend.” He also gave praises to those behind the scenes by saying, “I just wanted to make a point that it takes a whole mountain of people to make something like this happen.” He then proceeded to name, on a 1st-name basis, a large portion of those involved in making this monumental experience a reality. He closed his announcement with some ear-candy for all the Halloween’d-out “Exiles” from “Shakedown Street,” by adding, “I hope we can do it again.”
Still recovering from the long weekend, I almost forgot to mention that with all the environmental concern shown by the emphasis of making this a hallmark “green festival”- everything that could be was recycled, but even plastic spoons and forks were starch-based and compost-able… I feel encouraged for the world and the follow-up generation of the “Spawn of the Dead” and their Phans, who ultimately proved the old musician’s axiom wrong: You can tune a guitar… And you CAN Tuna Phish!”
-Get past Phish and other Woodstock-related articles from Sun-Downer at his blog: www.conchustimes.blogspot.com