10 YEARS

like the morning sun you come,
and like the wind you go





On a hot August day in 1995, I woke up to hear my mother crying. Music was blasting from the kitchen, and I could tell almost immediately that it was the Grateful Dead. I had accompanied my mother and older brother to more than a dozen Dead shows, dating back to when I was 8. I had the long hair and everything, and I could play at least a hundred different songs of theirs on piano and guitar.

An hour later the two of us, on a hunch and in tears, found our way to the Polo Fields in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. A spontaneous gathering of hundreds of Deadheads was in progress, the majority of them in a tight circle in the middle of the field, playing and singing songs.

"You know your love will not fade away . . . you know our love will not fade away . . . you know our love will not fade away . . . you know our love will not fade away . . . "

-- -- -- --

(The Facts Machine is in a persistent vegetative state for the time being, and will continue to be in such a state for a little while. I am working on some music-related projects which are taking up more of my time than I thought they would.)