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clapton winwood

It was a rare privilege and honor to be at the “presence” of these incredible intense and dedicated human beings. Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood in concert, this, first time since they combined to form the group “Blind Faith” in the Sixties. The magic was in the air, the ballads and blues graceful and the memories abounded as their humbleness and love for their music overwhelmed everyone. Steve Winwood, a Hammond B-3 (my god -he even used the stops constantly!) a relic long gone for decades. His exquisite guitar playing and beautiful voice, combined with Clapton totally in the pocket of that ‘zone,” was extraordinary, the height of which I’ve seen but few times in the many times I have seen him in concert. His eyes closed or rolled upwards, no need for him to look at his fretboard; his power, speed, and emotion pulsated through every cell and molecule in your body………..Voodoo Chile……….Eric goes outside himself and reincarnates Hendrix, something that he himself said in an interview that he was “afraid” of approaching………he obviously conquered that fear and went beyond……..he “kept on growing.”
“The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys”-acoustic piano solo with Steve was precious beyond words…….the acoustic guitar sets with both legends………just a jewel of time to be treasured. May it’s effect last as long as those memories can.

Clapton / Winwood Set List – 27 June 2009
MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas, NV

1.  Had To Cry Today
2.  Low Down
3.  After Midnight
4 . Presence of The Lord
5.  Sleeping in the Ground
6 . Glad
7.  Well Alright
8.  Tough Luck Blues
9.  Pearly Queen
10. There’s A River
11. Forever Man
12. Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
Acoustic Set
13. Driftin’
14. How Long Blues
15. Layla – (acoustic version)
16. Can’t Find My Way Home
Back to Ass-Kicking Rock and Roll
17. Split Decision
18. Voodoo Chile

The Encore:
19. Cocaine
20. Dear Mr. Fantasy

Band Lineup:
Eric Clapton – guitar, vocals
Steve Winwood – vocals, Hammond B3, piano, guitar
Chris Stainton – keyboards
Willie Weeks – bass
Abe Laboriel, Jr. – drums

Sharon White – backup vocals
Michelle John – backup vocals

acpopfestival
Photo from E-Rock World
BEFORE WOODSTOCK THERE WAS THE ATLANTIC CITY POP FESTIVAL
Here’s a good link for it:  http://www.e-rockworld.com/AtlanticCity.htm

I attended this incredible concert as a young lad and it changed my life for the better. I still have the original mimeographed line-up sheet. My uncle was the Chief of Police for Galloway Township, the place where the show was held, and I had to hear all kinds of shit about “druggie hippies” and the like. Of course, I never did any of those things…I swear (supreme bullshit) Here’s the super line-up courtesy Wikipedia:
American Dream
Aum
Booker T. & The M.G.s
Tim Buckley
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
The Byrds
Canned Heat
The Chambers Brothers
Chicago **Chicago Transit Authority
Joe Cocker
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
Credence Clearwater Revival
Dr. John
Cass Elliot
Iron Butterfly
Jefferson Airplane
Janis Joplin
Lighthouse
Little Richard
Lothar and the Hand People
Hugh Masekela
Buddy Miles
Joni Mitchell
Mother Earth
Tracy Nelson
Procol Harum
Buddy Rich
Biff Rose
Santana
Sir Douglas Quintet
Three Dog Night
Edgar Winter
Biff Rose
Frank Zappa

Biff Rose was the MC and filled in for Joni Mitchell when she started to cry and ran off stage in the middle of her 3rd song when the crowd was not paying attention to her performance. It seems she was placed in the rotation directly after Mother Earth featuring Tracy Nelson and the crowd wasn’t ready to hear her mild act.

Crosby, Stills & Nash were originally on the lineup but ended up as a no-show, Nash supposedly had polyps on tonsils (but sang at Woodstock two weeks later). The Chambers Brothers were a last-minute substitute.

sunsetsmall

Photo by Nick 2008 Acapulco Sunset

WE REMAIN
Nick Oliva © 2009
For a new old friend celebrating 22 years of marriage today 6/3/09
 
A glance of serendipity
But a fleeting moment
And the heart beats with joy
A finding of lifelong treasure
Against the odds
We are together without conditions
 
The muses foretold
This wonderful want
And sealed with love
Each day
Throughout
Life’s alterations
We remain
 
Thank the stars
The Moon
The Gods
The Sun
The Universe
The Wind
No Retrograde can come between us
We’ve weathered the worst
We remain as we are
 
Each day is an unfolding
Two become one
In body, in mind
We cherish the time
We are of one mind
We remain as we were
In love

 

s-TILLERA-large

(from the Associated Press) WICHITA, Kansas — Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas doctor whose clinic received national attention for performing late-term abortions, was shot to death as he entered his Wichita church on Sunday.

“Members of the congregation who were inside the sanctuary at the time of the shooting were being kept inside the church by police,” the Wichita Eagle reported, “and those arriving were being ushered into the parking lot.”

Tiller has been among the few U.S. physicians performing late-term abortion, making him a favored target of anti-abortion protesters. He testified that he and his family have suffered years of harassment and threats. His clinic was the site of the 1991 “Summer of Mercy” protests marked by mass demonstrations and arrests. His clinic was bombed in 1985, and an abortion opponent shot him in both arms in 1993.

Tiller’s clinic also provided group and individual counseling, as well as chaplain and funeral services for people who were grieving.

The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which runs a “Tiller Watch” feature on its website, released a statement condemning the shooting. “We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.”

President Obama issued the following statement about Dr. George Tiller’s murder:

“I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.”

MY COMMENT IS AS SUCH:

A rational response?

“We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.”

 For god’s sake, that’s what got him killed! The “killing for Christ” insanity is indoctrinated in humans and manipulated and promoted by right wing broadcasters that seek to viciously stir the pot of less intelligent humans to commit the ultimate acts of violence. They advance a complete circular conundrum of inaness. And why do they do it? They do it for their own personal wealth, ego, and for their ratings sake and then to add complete insult to injury, this “holy house of worship” has the utter balls to put out a statement that says that “healing can only be found in Jesus Christ?” – Excerpt from Nick’s new yet unpublished book, “A Gift”

Unlike Judaism  that particular religion is exculsionary in every aspect known to man. It is part and parcel of what it bases its own precepts upon, so I humby disagree. If the tradiition of Judaism was to convert or kill, I’d have the same basis for this argument, but it does not. Two modern religions, Christianity and the worshop of Allah, both are exclusionary and prejudical to all others and always will be. It would be a miracle if the enlightenment of those two faiths to “grow up” and deal with some portion of reality and not use the typical “blame someone else for his mental state.” His mental state was formed by the process of his indoctrination, period.
 
 
It is the tacit “approval” so to speak – of the those moderates that tolerate fanaticism that enables and then begins the cycle that stirs the masses, much like the Spanish Inquisition and the use and backing from the Church that enabled the Passion Plays to foster hate and persecute and kill Jews to convert to Catholism. I myself have ancient ancestral heritage as a Sephardic Jew that traces back to the legendary 12 tribes. My ancestors fled the town they founded- Oliva, Spain over 400 years ago, AFTER they converted because they were considered ‘inferior’ AND STILL socially shunned because they were not born Catholic. It’s time to cast aside these ridiculous prejudices based on myth and totally false facts of the foundations of exclusion. The Golden Rule is a precept to be guided by and has its roots from some 3,000 years ago. Murder is Murder by religious fervor or whatever form it takes.
 
My new book cuts to the heart of religion vs. spirituality and its abuse by those throughout centuries in collusion with the Holy Roman Cathoic Church, the real 1700-year history of the New Testament, the Here and Now, and my own personal abuses as well as those committed everyday in the name of God.      This book details my personal Near Death Experience, with a working title of “A Gift, One Man’s Journey to Death and Back, and the Real History of the Christian Bible.” My eschatological theme is actually non-religious and promotes the energy within as Godly, not looking outward, by seeing with the ‘eyes of the world.’ It contains details of the repeated sexual abuse I received as a child of ten years-old from a Catholic Pastor; and the similarities of the Atheist and Christian positions on a Higher Force. 

      The chapter on the Christian Bible proves beyond a shadow of doubt, in laymen’s words that it is a complete fabrication used to empower the Emperors and Kings throughout the centuries.

The Chapter are as follows: 

In the Beginning
The Here and Now School of Philosophy 101
Fear
The Atheists
The Christians/A Personal Cost of Christian Fanaticism-Sexual Abuse
The Real Story of the Christian Bible, or That Black Book You’re Holding Isn’t What You Think It Is
My Near Death Experience
In Conclusion 

 I can only “pray” it gets published quickly

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