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Radiohead!

Posted by Kirstie on August 23, 2008 at 4:09am
Well, I wrote about Radiohead quite a bit on this photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/2744361514/Taking photos of Radiohead at Lollapalooza was a big deal for me, basically because I've loved them since I was 16. It was like a dream come true. Even I could not believe it was really happening.
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When I’m at the pearly gates, this’ll be on my videotape.

Posted by bridget on August 22, 2008 at 3:41am
Radiohead with Grizzly Bear - 8/12/08Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJSound Check - 4:30 PM:I arrived in Camden 2 + hours before the gates of the venue were scheduled to open. While there were lots of friendly-looking folks tailgating in the parking lot, I decided to head over to the Susquehanna Bank Center, figuring that I’d find a bathroom and a drink of water after my 2 hour drive. As I approached the gates, I could hear Thom’s perfect, pure voice singing “Pull me out of the air crash, pull me out of the lake, for I’m your superhero, we are standing on the edge…” I probably don’t have to tell you what a thrill it was at the moment to hear them playing, seemingly, just for me. I couldn’t see anything, but if I put my face through the bars of the gate and closed my eyes, it really didn’t matter. The SOUND was perfect. It was a rare moment of really truly just listening to a group of amazing musicians-there was no crowd, no cheers, no one talking or singing along in the background-it was just them and me (well ok, 2 or 3 other people were there listening too). There were 2 teenage boys who couldn’t stop smiling—they were in complete awe—and eventually more of a crowd formed and the spell was broken. But for those several minutes of listening quietly to the sound check, it was much harder to think of them as gods- no matter how I would feel later- we were just human beings a few hundred feet away from each other that were momentarily connected.[Besides ‘Lucky,’ they also played ‘I Might Be Wrong,’ ‘The Gloaming,’ and ‘Go Slowly.’]The gates opened at 6:30 on the dot. The line stretched down the street. There were groups of teenagers, college kids, parents with children, loners (like me), thirty and forty somethings, even a few white hairs. I only had 2 people in line in front of me, so was one of the first people to enter the venue. Despite being slightly dehydrated and still needing to find a bathroom, I skipped all of the concession stands and walked passed the restrooms. Lawn seating is of course first come first serve, and I was not going to take a chance of getting a bad spot, especially since every spot is a bad spot if you’re as short as me. Luckily, I got a perfect spot, and the closest spot on the lawn. The only thing separating me from Thom were those yuppies in the expensive seats. I plopped my blanket down right against the railing at the bottom of the lawn, slightly right of center, which ensured an unobstructed view. Even if the entire seated crowd stood, or stood on their seats (which they did), I’d be able to see. And thank god – once the show started, the entire lawn stood, so even if I was on the incline, there’s no way I would’ve seen anything. It looked really unbelievable though, a complete sea of people, with no sign of grass anywhere, and 25,000 devoted fans. A nice couple seated to my right offered to watch my blanket while I went for a walk, and after I did the same for them, we talked for much of the night. They weren’t nearly as surprised as I was to learn that we were all from Baltimore (!), and they filled me in on some local bands (Fools and Horses—has anyone heard of them?).It’s probably a good time to take issue with the recent comments from Liam Gallagher, of the highly overrated British band Oasis, who called Radiohead fans “boring and ugly.” I’d also like to dispute the stereotype that Radiohead fans are predominantly white, middle class, and morose. It was an amazing, beautiful, diverse crowd. My Baltimorean friends were originally from Philly—he looked kind of like Flea—but the audience covered the spectrum. To my left were two Russian supermodel types, and behind me were 2 young Asian students, a brother and sister. It was their first Radiohead show. There were young hipsters wearing brightly colored ties smoking thin cigars and wearing sunglasses after the sun went down, same-sex couples holding hands, the tattooed and pierced, the dreadlocked, and lots of intense looking young men. There were people talking, laughing, reading, dancing, smokin’ up. One of the security guards confiscated a joint from someone next to me, but suspiciously pocketed it. I don’t think he was going to turn it in to his supervisor. Definitely not a boring, ugly, or easy to pigeonhole crowd.The opening band, the Brooklyn-based Grizzly Bear, played a pleasing set, but like most of the crowd, I was anxious for Radiohead. Prior to their last song, the lead singer thanked Radiohead and thanked the audience for listening to them “while waiting to be blown away.” I think that was the general consensus, Grizzly Bear were a good band, but we were all waiting to have our minds blown. And we did.Shortly before 9 PM, Radiohead took the stage. Hearing and seeing Radiohead last night I felt what it must have been like to see Pink Floyd before Roger Waters left. While Thom is definitely the epicenter, the confluence of these 5 talented men is what’s made Radiohead work. While they’ve done some great things apart (Thom’s “Eraser,” Jonny’s composing), as a band they are preternatural. They opened with ’15 Step,’ the “In Rainbows” opener, to an awesome LED “light show”— energy efficient ‘lighting’ (think Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, but really cool)—and Thom’s wacky dancing, a cross between running in place and religious possession. I’m sorry, but this man is the definition of sexy—all wiry, lazy-eyed 5’5 of him, the author of ‘Fake Plastic Trees,’ with a falsetto that rivals Beth Gibbons’ of Portishead. For the majority of the night, he was playing guitar or playing piano (which was covered with the Tibetan flag), so had less opportunity to flail, although he was conducting the audience like a deranged maestro during ‘Idioteque.’ Jonny arrived wearing a dark hoodie covering his head which made him look strangely elf-like (I kept picturing Liv Tyler in Lord of the Rings), especially with his lanky body, head down, and hair covering his face. He plays like he’s possessed. He eventually took the hoodie off, looking more human, albeit pretty intense. At first I thought Ed was wearing a suit, looking all dapper and poised and tall. His backing vocals were stellar, especially on Weird Fishes. Colin looked like Colin—happy and wearing a white tee, while it was pretty hard to see Phil, except for the top of his bald head. They were all pretty quiet between songs, with Thom’s occasional “thank yous” and “cheers.” More than that was unnecessary.They played an amazing set, including 2 encores, lasting over 2 hours. They played every song from “In Rainbows” as well as ’Go Slowly’ from disc 2, which Thom dedicated to “everybody up in the lawn.” But while “In Rainbows” dominated the setlist, they played songs from all of their albums (if you count ‘Morning Bell’ for “Amnesiac”). ‘The National Anthem’ was a killer, followed by ‘Videotape’ which made my eyes well up. They even did ‘Street Spirit’ to end the first encore--the songs from “The Bends” were pleasantly unexpected (they also did ‘Just,’ ‘The Bends,’ & ‘Planet Telex’). During ‘No Surprises’ it was pretty chill inducing to hear 25,000 people sing “bring down the government, they don’t speak for us” and then cheer wildly. There were many other highlights of the night: Thom and Jonny playing ‘Faust Arp’ alone, hearing ‘Lucky’ at sound check and then again during the show—‘Lucky!’, thinking the show was over and then starting the second encore with a brilliant ‘Reckoner.’ The show ended just as it began—with pure theatrics. They played “Everything in Its Right Place”—there’s something right with the world when thousands of people are singing “yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon”—and ended with each band member leaving the stage while the others continued the song. Thom left first, then Jonny, and so on, with the LED lights finally converging to spell “Everything in Its Right Place.”It’s difficult for me to describe the experience, just as it’s difficult for me to separate them as a band and individual musicians, from their politics and activism, their totally ‘green tour’ (the LED lights, no plastic, having their equipment shipped, etc), their giving away their album for free on the internet, their other musical accomplishments. When you enter the venue and are immediately handed information about human trafficking, you expect to have a different kind of evening. When Radiohead hired consultants to determine how to reduce their carbon footprint on this tour, they got some flack for being high-brow do-gooders, but were also called hypocrites (Damon Albarn from Blur and Gorillaz criticized them for touring at all). So what does this have to do with music? Well, a lot, I think. Their persona as a band is partly why they have such a devoted following. Let’s face it, if you’re an arch conservative, you probably don’t love Radiohead, despite the fact that they are probably the most talented and groundbreaking band in my lifetime. By definition they do attract a different kind of fan. How else would a band who hasn’t had a “hit” song played on the radio since the early 1990s thrive as one of the world’s most successful and beloved bands? They’ve accomplished this with virtually no mainstream radio play since ‘Creep’ in the early 1990s. Personally I think that’s what’s given them the creative freedom to do an album like ‘Kid A’ – they’ve never been part of the mainstream, so they’ve been able to continue pushing the boundaries musically without any negative repercussions. On the contrary, they are loved because they are fucking amazing musically, and therefore haven’t been accountable to your typical radio listening top 40 audience. Sure, they’re multimillionaires now, but releasing ‘In Rainbows’ on the internet under a “pay what you want” model was a risk, just like everything else they do.A band like Radiohead is also very freeing for a fan. Sure, everyone has their favorite songs, but since they have no “hits” the people who go to hear them live aren’t waiting for ‘Creep’ (which they do not play anymore, hell they don’t even play ‘High and Dry,’ ‘Paranoid Android’ or ‘Karma Police’). Their fans are there because they know their 7 albums and many of the bootlegs and b-sides. Radiohead can draw on their extensive musical catalogue (as they did last night) and put on an awesome show—there are no limitations.Strangely, the whole experience felt pretty intimate. Being there with 25,000 people, standing on a small ledge of concrete against a metal railing, I experienced something I haven’t in a long time. I was completely focused on the present. I didn’t think about work, I didn’t think about anyone else, I didn’t even think about myself. I just listened, saw, felt. Happiest I’ve been. Jigsaw falling into place.xo bridgetSetlist: (thanks to the At Ease website)01. 15 Step02. There There03. Morning Bell04. All I Need05. The National Anthem06. Videotape07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi08. The Gloaming09. Where I End And You Begin10. Faust Arp (before starting, Thom: “Good evening Jonny. How are you?”)11. No Surprises12. Jigsaw (before starting, Thom: “Okay. You ready?” Crowd roars.)13. The Bends14. Idioteque15. Climbing Up The Walls16. Nude17. BodysnatchersEncore 118. House of Cards19. Lucky (Thom: “Okay”)20. Go Slowly (Thom: “This one is for everybody. Everybody up in the lawn … This is a slow song for a good reason.”)21. Just22. Street SpiritEncore 223. Reckoner24. Planet Telex25. Everything In Its Right Place
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How can you get to them?

Posted by William Birtwell on August 20, 2008 at 8:10pm
Hi all! I want to know if there is a way to write Radiohead in hopes of getting a personal response. I understand that fan mail cannot be read by the band all the time but is there an address to write to where there is a chance that I can get a personal response from one of the band members?
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Move From Thinking To Feeling

Posted by Vanessa Vasquez on August 19, 2008 at 12:00pm
Lately I've been reading a lot of Osho books. It all started with "Sex Matters - From Sex to Superconsciousness". So far I've read "Falling Above the Mind", "Intelligence", "Maturity" and "Intuition". Am now busy with "Intimacy" - with a few more lined up.Osho's books are not written; they are extracts from conversations he's had with others. This makes them incredibly easy to read and digest, which has the added benefit you being able to retain much more. Osho has an insight and clarity of thought that is exceptionally rare. His disdain for organised religion shows all over, but rather than trashing them for the sake of it, he points how they suppress and manipulate your being, and what can be done do 'undo' it all, leading to a happier and more fulfilling life, a life that is more YOU and less THEM.From "Intuition" I would like to share with you an excerpt that will not only give you a deeper understanding of yourself but also insight into an amazing man. Osho's books are usually not expensive, making them accessible to pretty much everybody.But you enjoy the read and let me know what you think of his writings, especially the one below.MOVE FROM THINKING TO FEELINGIntellect is a heavy thing, intelligence is more total. Intellect is borrowed, intelligence IS your own. Intellect is logical, rational; intelligence is more than logical. It is superlogical, it is intuitive. The intellectual person lives only through argument. Certainly, arguments can lead you up to a certain point, but beyond that, hunches are needed.Even great scientists who work through reason come to a point where reason does not work, where they wait for a hunch, for some intuitive flash, for some light from the unknown. And it always happens: if you have worked hard with the intellect, and you don't think that intellect is all, and you are available to the beyond, someday a ray penetrates you. It is not yours; and yet it is yours because it is nobody else's. It comes from your innermost center. It looks as if it is coming from the beyond because you don't know where your center of intuition is.The Sanskrit word sadhumati is beautiful. Mati means intelligence, and sadhu means sage: sagely intelligence. Not only intelligence, but sagely intelligence. There are people who may be rational but are not reasonable-to be reasonable is more than to be rational.Sometimes the reasonable person will be ready to accept the irrational too-because he is reasonable. He can understand that the irrational also exists. The rational person can never understand that the irrational also exists. He can only believe in the limited, logical syllogism.But there are things that cannot be proved logically, and yet they are. Everybody knows they are, and nobody has ever been able to prove them. Love is-nobody has ever been able to prove what it is, or whether it is or not. But everybody knows-love is. Even people who deny-they are not ready to accept anything beyond logic-even they fall in love. When they fall in love, then they are in a difficulty, they feel guilty.But love is.And nobody is ever satisfied by intellect alone unless the heart is also fulfilled. These are the two polarities inside you: the head and the heart.INTELLIGENCE IS THE INBORN CAPACITY TO SEE, to perceive. Every child is born intelligent, then made stupid by the society. We educate him in stupidity, and sooner or later he graduates in stupidity.Intelligence is a natural phenomenon-just as breathing is, just as seeing is. Intelligence is the inner seeing; it is intuitive. It has nothing to do with intellect, remember. Never confuse intellect with intelligence, they are polar opposites. Intellect is of the head; it is taught by others, it is imposed on you. You have to cultivate it. It is borrowed, it is something foreign, it is not inborn.But intelligence is inborn. It is your very being, your very nature. All animals are intelligent. They are not intellectuals, true, but they are all intelligent. Trees are intelligent, the whole existence is intelligent, and each child is born intelligent. Have you ever come across a child who is stupid? It is impossible! But to come across a grown-up who is intelligent is rare; something goes wrong in between.A friend has sent this beautiful story. I would like you to listen to it; it may help. The story is called "The Animal School."Intelligence is the inborn capacity to see, to perceive. Every child is born intelligent, then made stupid by the society. We educate him in stupidity, and sooner or later he graduates in stupidity.The animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish, and an eel, and they formed a board of directors. The rabbit insisted that running be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum. The fish insisted that swimming had to be in the curriculum, and the squirrel said that perpendicular tree climbing was absolutely necessary to the curriculum. They put all of these things together and wrote a curriculum guide. Then they insisted that all of the animals take all of the subjects.Although the rabbit was getting an A in running, perpendicular tree climbing was a real problem for him.Intellect is of the head; it is taught by others it is imposed on you. You have to cultivate it. It is borrowed, it is something foreign, it is not inborn. But intelligence is inborn. It is your very being – your very nature.He kept falling over backward. Pretty soon he got to be sort of brain-damaged and could not run anymore. He found that instead of making an A in running he was making a C. and of course he always made an F in perpendicular climbing. The bird was really beautiful at flying, but when it came to burrowing in the ground, he could not do so well. He kept breaking his beak and wings. Pretty soon he was making a C in flying as well as an F in burrowing, and he had a hell of a time with perpendicular tree climbing.Finally, the animal who ended up being valedictorian of the class was a mentally retarded eel who did everything halfway. But the educators were all happy because everybody was taking all of the subjects, and it was called a "broad-based education."We laugh at this, but that's how it is. It is what happened 10 you. We really are trying to make everybody the same as every body else, hence destroying everybody's potential for being himself.Intelligence dies in imitating others. If you want to remain intelligent, you will have to drop imitating. Intelligence commits suicide in copying, in becoming a carbon copy. The moment you start thinking how to be like that other person, you are falling from your intelligence, you are becoming stupid. The moment you compare yourself with somebody else, you are losing your natural potential. Now you will never be happy, and you will never be clean, clear, transparent. You will lose your clarity, you will lose your vision. You will have borrowed eyes; but how can you see through somebody else's eyes? You need your own eyes, you need your own legs to walk, your own heart to beat.People are living a borrowed life, hence their life is paralyzed.This paralysis makes them look stupid.A totally new kind of education is needed in the world. The person who is born to be a poet is proving himself stupid in mathematics, and the person who could have been a great mathematician is just cramming history and feeling lost. Everything is topsy-turvy because education is not according to your nature. It does not pay any respect to the individual, it forces everybody into a certain pattern. Maybe by accident the pattern fits a few people, but the majority are lost and the majority live in misery.The greatest misery in life is to feel oneself stupid, unworthy, unintelligent-and nobody is born unintelligent; nobody can be born unintelligent because we come from existence. Existence is pure intelligence. We bring some flavour, some fragrance from the beyond, when we come into the world. But immediately the society jumps upon you, starts manipulating, teaching, changing, cutting, adding, and soon you have lost all shape, all form. The society wants you to be obedient, conformist, orthodox. This is how your intelligence is destroyed.This is a prison cell in which you are living-you can drop it. It will be difficult to drop because you have become so accustomed to it. It will be difficult to drop because it is not just like clothing; it has become almost your skin, you have lived with it so long. It will be difficult to drop because this is your whole identity-but it has to be dropped if you really want to claim your real being.If you really want to be intelligent, you have to be a rebel.Only the rebellious person is intelligent. What do I mean by rebellion?-I mean dropping all that has been enforced on you against your will. Search again for who you are, start from ABC again. Think that your time, up to now, has been a wastage because you have been following.No person is similar to anybody else, each is unique-that is the nature of intelligence-and each is incomparable. Don't compare yourself to anybody. How can you compare? You are you and the other is other. You are not similar, so comparison is not possible.But we have been taught to compare and we are continuously comparing. Directly, indirectly, consciously, unconsciously, we live in comparison. And if you compare, you will never respect yourself somebody is more beautiful than you, somebody is taller than you, somebody is healthier than you, and somebody is something else; somebody has such a musical voice ... and you will be burdened and burdened if you go on comparing. Millions of people are there; you will be crushed by your comparisons.And you had a beautiful soul, a beautiful being that wanted to bloom, that wanted to become a golden flower, but you never allowed it.Be unburdened. Put all aside. Regain, reclaim your innocence, your childhood. Jesus is right when he says, "Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into my kingdom of God." I say the same to you: unless you are born again…No person is similar to anybody else, each is unique-that is the nature of intelligence and each is incomparable. Don't compare yourself to anybody.Pundits are almost always stupid people. They are parrots, they repeat. They are gramophone records. They can repeat skillfully, but let a new situation arise, something that is not written in their books and they are at a loss.Drop all the garbage that has been put on you. Be fresh, start from the very beginning, and you will be surprised how much intelligence is immediately released.Intelligence is the capacity to see, to understand, to live your own life according to your own nature. That is what intelligence is. And what is stupidity? Following others, imitating others, obeying others. Looking through their eyes, trying to imbibe their knowledge as your knowledge-that is stupidity.That's why pundits are almost always stupid people. They are parrots, they repeat. They are gramophone records. They can repeat skillfully, but let a new situation arise, something that is not written in their books, and they are at a loss. They don't have any intelligence. Intelligence is the capacity to respond moment to moment to life as it happens, not according to a program.Only unintelligent people have a program. They are afraid; they know that they don't have enough intelligence to encounter life as it is. They have to be ready, they rehearse. They prepare the answer before the question has been raised-and that's how they prove themselves stupid, because the question is never the same. The question is always new. Each day brings its own problems, its own challenges, and each moment brings its own questions. And if you have ready-made answers in your head, you will not be able even to listen to the question. You will be so full of your answer, you will be incapable of listening. You will not be available. And whatsoever you will do, you will do according to your ready-made answer-which is irrelevant, which has no relationship with the reality as it is.Intelligence is to relate with reality, unprepared. And the beauty of facing life unprepared is tremendous. Then life has a newness, a youth; then life has a flow and freshness. Then life has so many surprises. And when life has so many surprises, boredom never settles in you.The stupid person is always bored. He is bored because of the answers that he has gathered from others and goes on repeating. He is bored because his eyes are so full of knowledge, he cannot see what is happening. He knows too much without knowing at all. He is not wise, he is only knowledgeable. When he looks at a rose, he does not look at this rose. All the roses that he has read about, all the roses that the poets have' talked about, all the roses that painters have painted and philosophers have discussed, and all the roses that he has heard about, they are standing in his eyes-a great queue of memories, information. This rose in front of him is lost in that queue, in that crowd. He cannot see it. He simply repeats; he says, "This rose is beautiful." Those words are also not his own, not authentic, not sincere, not true. Somebody else's voice ... he is just playing a tape.The beauty of facing life unprepared is tremendous. Then life has a newness, a youth; then life has a flow and freshness. Then life has so many surprises. And when life has so many surprises, boredom never settles within you.Stupidity is repetition, repeating others. It is cheap, cheap because you need not learn. Learning is arduous. One needs guts to learn. Learning means one has to be humble. Learning means one has to be ready to drop the old, one has to be constantly ready to accept the new. Learning means a nonegoistic state.And one never knows where learning will lead you. One cannot predict about the learner; his life will remain unpredictable. He himself cannot predict what is going to happen tomorrow, where he will be tomorrow. He moves in a state of no-knowledge. Only when you live in no-knowledge, a constant state of noknowledge, do you learn.That's why children learn beautifully. As they grow old, they stop learning, because knowledge gathers and it is cheap to repeat it. Why bother? It is cheap, simple, to follow the pattern, to move in a circle. But then boredom settles. Stupidity and boredom go together.The intelligent person is as fresh as dewdrops in the morning sun, as fresh as the stars in the night. You can feel his newness, so new, like a breeze.Intelligence is the capacity to be reborn again and again. To die to the past is intelligence, and to live in the present is intelligence.In fact, the intelligence of the head is not intelligence at all; it is knowledgeability. The intelligence of the heart is the intelligence, the only intelligence there is. The head is simply an accumulator. It is always old, it is never new, it is never original. It is good for certain purposes; for filing it is perfectly good. And in life one needs this-many things have to be remembered. The mind, the head, is a biocomputer. You can go on accumulating knowledge in it, and whenever you need, you can take it out. It is good for mathematics, good for calculation, good for the day-to-day life, the marketplace. But if you think this is your whole life, then you will remain stupid. You will never know the beauty of feeling, and you will never know the blessing of the heart. And you will never know the grace that descends only through the heart, the godliness that enters only through the heart. You will never know prayer, you will never know poetry, you will never know love.The intelligence of the heart creates poetry in your life, gives dance to your steps, makes your life a joy, a celebration, a festivity, a laughter. It gives you a sense of humour. It makes you capable of love, of sharing. That is true life. The life that is lived from the head is a mechanical life. You become a robot-maybe very efficient; robots are efficient, machines are more efficient than man. You can earn much through the head, but you will not live much. You may have a better standard of living, but you won't have any life.Life is of the heart. Life can only grow through the heart. It is in the soil of the heart where love grows, life grows, godliness grows. All that is beautiful, all that is really valuable, all that is meaningful, significant, comes through the heart. The heart is your very center, the head is just your periphery. To live in the head is to live on the circumference without ever becoming aware of the beauties and the treasures of the center. To live on the periphery is stupidity.To live in the head is stupidity, and to live in the heart and use the head whenever needed is intelligence. But the center, the master, is at the very core of your being. The master is the heart and the head is just a servant-this is intelligence. When the head becomes the master and forgets all about the heart, that is stupidity.It is up to you to choose. Remember, the head as a slave is a beautiful slave, of much utility, but as a master it is dangerous and will poison your whole life. Look around! People's lives are absolutely poisoned, poisoned by the head.You owe it to yourself to have a deep, penetrating look at what you are doing with your life. Is there any poetry in your heart? If it is not there, then don't waste time. Help your heart to weave and spin poetry.They cannot feel, they are no longer sensitive, nothing thrills them. The sun rises but nothing rises in them; they look at the sunrise empty-eyed. The sky becomes full of the stars - the marvel, the mystery!-but nothing stirs in their hearts, no song arises. Birds sing, man has forgotten to sing. Clouds come in the sky and the peacocks dance, and man does not know how to dance. He has become a cripple. Trees bloom. Man thinks, never feels, and without feeling there is no flowering possible.Watch, scrutinize, observe, have another look at your life. Nobody else is going to help you. You have depended on others so long; that's why you have become stupid. Now, take care; it is your own responsibility. You owe it to yourself to have a deep, penetrating look at what you are doing with your life. Is there any poetry in your heart? If it is not there, then don't waste time. Help your heart to weave and spin poetry. Is there any romance in your life? If not, then you are dead, then you are already in your grave.Come out of it! Let life have something of the romantic in it, something like adventure. Explore! Millions of beauties and splendours are waiting for you. You go on moving around and around, never entering into the temple of life. The door is the heart.Remember, this shift has to happen: from thinking you have to go to feeling. Feeling is closer, closer to something in you that is called intuition. Thinking is the farthest point from intuition. You have been taught by others-that is tuition. Something that has not been taught to you and blooms in you, that is intuition. Nobody has taught you, no school, no university, no college; nobody has said anything about it to you, it explodes in you-that is intuition. You need not go anywhere, you only need to go inside yourself.I don't expect the impossible, I don't say, "Just be intuitive"- that you cannot do. Just now if you can do one thing - move from thinking to feeling - it will be enough. Then from feeling to intuition is easy.Feeling is closer to intuition. I don't expect the impossible, I don't say, "Just be intuitive"-that you cannot do. Just now if you can do one thing-move from thinking to feeling-it will be enough. Then from feeling to intuition is easy. But to move from thinking to intuition is difficult. They don't meet, they are polarities. Feeling is just in the middle. From feeling, thinking and intuition are at the same distance. If you go this way, you reach thinking; if you go that way, you reach intuition.In feeling both meet and merge. Something of thinking remains in feeling, and something of intuition too.
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TORONTO Rainbows... thank god there is a Greyhound bus afterall....!

Posted by inez on August 18, 2008 at 11:30pm
So it’s over now. The Toronto gig. The East Coast leg. Which is why making it (and the most out of it) has reached a ‘no matter what’ priority level… as I was watching flight cancellations at JFK for 6 nerve-wrecking hrs, I have long departed the land of reason. THANK YOU ALL for numerous ‘keep safe’ messages in response to my Greyhound Bus blog!! It really isn’t (WASN’T) that bad in my particular case. Exhausting – yes. And COLD. I wasn’t exactly dressed for a spontaneous overnight trip. No sleep. Arrived in Toronto around 9AM, I dropped of the bag at my brother’s… He wanted to drive me downtown, but I figured - YOU HEAR THAT, THOM? - I figured, I was conscious enough for a subway/tram combo. And, while we are at it: in theory (hmmm), I did NOT travel long distance JUST for the gig. I have lots of family here and my parents arrived from overseas… blah-blah-blah. True, I may have blown off this reunion because of the crazy work schedule… (should my family be thanking RH for the pleasure of seeing me…?) But I DID have an unrelated perfectly legitimate reason for being here… ARE WE ALRIGHT ON THIS ONE, THOM? ;-)12:45pm – perhaps 30-35 pit people at Molson closed doors. Was ok. A few people were a bit neurotic at line-watching – which really is a pointless endeavor as those first 80 will invariably get reshuffled through the security checks etc, and will ultimately end up at the rail anyway. I understand: sitting there since 8am and all… I’ve been on the road for 22hrs and had no energy for being neurotic (which would otherwise be the baseline). I settled with a nice group and embraced myself for a 5 hr wait. The rumor spread that the doors open at 5:30pm, earlier than expected. So things were fine, until nature started fucking with us. The sky was getting progressively more intimidating and finally exploded with a storm. Within seconds, it was pouring. Not everyone had umbrellas, newspapers were soaked instantly. A little gift shop 20 ft away sold umbrellas and ponchos – so while holding each other’s stuff and places in line we all made trips there – still, we were drenched. Forget rain, it started HAILING (!) - “fucking special”, indeed! I took pix of a rather miserable bunch under pouring rain → on my page. I was amused at how this whole adventure seemed to be someone’s revenge on too easy a time I had getting to All Points West! Besides, a healthy sense of humor kinda helped us through it - fortunately, it stopped raining before the latter drowned completely ;-). I quite appreciate the Canadian crowd immediately around me (coming from the South of the Border ;-) ) – we chatted about all kinds of things to pass the time. The sound check started around 4pm (right??). Morning Bell, Talk Show Host, Like Spinning Plates... - definitely lifted the spirits triggering a round of applause after each song, as if they could hear us ;-)… Finally at 5:30pm, like a clock, Molson people tightened the line (a couple of hundred people by then?) and set up security stands. I have to say, I admired Canadian organization! For at least half hour prior, they were making sure that every person in line was standing for the pit, picking out and relocating those who were seated elsewhere… I hear stories of some US venues, when after standing in line all fucking day, people are suddenly told that they have to RUN (whoever’s fastest?!?) to an altogether different entrance... Then, everything went into a VERY HECTIC motion; security checks: some go right through, others get stuck – which is why WHERE EXACTLY you are within the first 100 is kinda meaningless. THOSE ON THE WEST COAST: No problems with umbrellas or (at least little) cameras – no matter what the venue ticket says. Everything WAS allowed in. Now, just HOW MANY GODDAMN DOORS AND BARRIERS are there in Molson?! We must have been channeled through a dozen! But –that was it!! A bunch of ecstatic people at the rail, a few feet from the stage. Some RH equipment boxes were piled up – I could read weights, dimensions and a fucking small print on the shipping labels! I took a few snapshots just for the hell of it ;-)Grizzly Bear came on at 7:30pm. “We are just a support band”… They were really sweet. Half way through their gig, I noticed Jonny at the far right end of the stage watching them. I pointed it out to a couple of guys around me, and everyone got so psyched and eager to take pix of jonny that they completely forgot about the Bears. I actually felt bad… Between the songs, I looked back at the crowd behind us; it was raining on the lawn again (most of the seated area at Molson is covered) and the sun was peaking out – and THERE IT F*CKING WAS! – a BRIGHT RAINBOW crossing the sky. It soon doubled. In fact, that rainbow again attracted so much attention that the Bears had every reason to be upset. They seem to have taken it well though. Even announced the aforementioned rainbow for those missing it! All in all, they played a rather short act – 45min or so…Ok, now, I shouldn’t really be describing RH gig itself. I mean, you can go to the Toronto page and find a dozen descriptions and I’m sure they are all correct. And everyone experiences these things through their own personal lens… skin? heart? Afterall, this is not a critical review – neither is it a fine piece of literature. This is just me, spilling over feelings and emotions that end up being so profound that it has taken me days to recover… so… In my opinion, the set-list (I posted a picture of the actual physical entity thrown off stage at the end) was incredible. Not just because the non-obligatory (non In Rainbows) part of it varied wildly from that at APW2 I saw a week earlier, and not only because the two songs I craved almost physically (Climbing Up The Walls and The Wolf…) both made it to the main set (YES!!), but the whole feel and the compound energy was a knockout. The sheer intensity of it. You can’t really swallow Jigsaw ---> Idioteque ---> Climbing up the Walls sequence and expect to retain any level of sanity and a normal pulse rate. The Walls alone with thom screaming into his guitar and the green evil lights breaking into bloody red – I mean, this is OUT THERE, who needs drugs?! Same goes for The Gloaming ---> Wolf at the Door or Airbag ---> Talk Show Host ‘combos’. Curiously, the printed set-list left an option of doing Talk Show Host OR I Might Be Wrong – they picked the former ;-) And the mood of the gig was …odd, unexpected. Idioteque 'delivery' was like I've never seen before. Instead of frantic dancing, thom froze in place, completely MOTIONLESS for that entire segment – which was freaky in its own right! Through the gig, he did not speak, almost AT ALL, till the encores… But his singing was outrageous. Several songs featured vocal outbursts different not just from recorded versions, but from his ‘traditional’ live delivery. And god, there was so much fucking raw power in this – it blew my mind. It really seemed as though he embraced the Toronto audience, he must have gotten something out of it (I sure hope so!) and whatever he felt was expressed through music only, no chatting no talking… I think (and I could be totally off base!) that there was this openness in his singing, the “all in” emotional commitment that does not happen every gig. I cried to Street Spirit.Now, standing at the rail directly in front of jonny was a treat. We all know he’s amazing, but my god, he looks ICONIC, I can’t find a better word to describe it! (Sorry, Jonny, but you MUST have heard this enough times by now to just accept it as a fact of life). Seeing him in action is unbelievable. AND HE SPOKE! (Thom: “Jonny speaks!!”) He thanked Grizzly Bear (he also wore a Grizzly Bear T-shirt /as did Coz/ with a 3-eyed cat on it, and it took me some time to grasp what the heck was wrong with it… I’m slow). How many of us heard jonny say ANYTHING at a gig?!I am also thrilled by what this gig turned into ‘cause of the Morning Bell incident early on when the organ thom was playing began to die. ...he repeatedly tried fixing the plug on the keyboard while singing, motioned to jonny for help (who tried and failed as well), then the roadie ran onto the stage, started messing with the cable on the side… they played the song to the end, but thom’s distress was anything but subtle... seeing it ‘close and personal’ was painful and it freaked ME out big time – as if I was right up there (oh shit… oh, no! what will this do?). Of course, these things do happen, and they can sure handle them (and most of the crowd likely didn’t notice a thing!), but I was relieved that it didn’t color the rest of the gig. Hope not. Isn’t it peculiar how we feel so connected with these guys that we go through the motions and feel for them as we would for our close friends?? ;-)OK... On this note, guys, I will stop. Tons of pix and videos on my page… hope you like the pix, 'cause I was torn between photographing and simply absorbing IT with every cell of my body – so I feel like I stole something from myself… Was it worth it? THANKS to you all.
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STUPID!!!!!!! People!!

Posted by Vanessa Vasquez on August 18, 2008 at 4:00pm

I have a t-shirt that can gauge the stupidity of everyone around me. It's accurate within a three percent margin. And it never fails to point out the stupid people in the crowd.I was walking with a friend the other day and wearing the shirt. People were pointing at my shirt and laughing. (I think they were laughing at the shirt and not me) Then they would mutter what they thought it said, "I'm with Stupid."There it is above!. What does it say? Careful now, read it again and say it out loud.Are You Stupid? My friend looked at me with incredulity because of the conversation we just had moments earlier. Here's how it went:(After he walked up to me and stared at my shirt)Him: What does your shirt say?Me (raising an eyebrow): What do you think it says?Him (narrowing his eyes): You tell me.Me (smiling): No, you tell me.This went on for two full minutes before I interjected some Abbott and Costello. Finally, I gave in and told him it said, "I'm with Stuppid." Pronouncing it the way I had intended when I designed it, like in the word UP.What's truly funny about this shirt is how many people don't actually read it. Either that or they just can't spell the word: stupid. (It has one P, not two as in my shirt) It's a social experiment in the greatest way. Sometimes the people can't spell and sometimes they're just plain stupid. Proves my point either way.I told my friend that my little experiment was running a 60-70% stupid person score. Yes, 60-70% of the people who remarked about my shirt pronounced the word: Stupid. Not Stuppid.He didn't believe me until we were walking along and people muttered or pointed out the shirt to their friends, saying "I'm with Stupid" under their breath. Laughing with each other. While silently I laughed inside my own head. Stupid.My experiment is a success and my hypothesis is proven. I've always said this but now I have undeniable proof. Stupid people are at an all-time high.
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Tatau

Posted by Marine on August 18, 2008 at 1:00pm
Tattoos are not necessarily my thing, but these are great :

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tatouages-jeux-video-047.jpgI particularly love this one... Bubble Bobble was indeed one of my favourite games on the Master System, AND I NEVER FINISHED IT !!!!!!! It's too complicated, I never found the necessary items to access the last level of the game. And that's highly frustrating. I am beginning again on an emulator I found, so it's a bit easier, and hopefully, three years from now I might finish it.And my favourite...

tatouages-jeux-video-015.jpg

It's a shame that it's a BSOD and not a GNU* prompt, but it's still fine.
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Update from the road...

Posted by Jordan Khajavipour on August 18, 2008 at 5:02am
I didn't bring a laptop nor a camera so it'll be too difficult to update after each show. A lot of amazing memories from this tour, which I could, but I'm going to write out a tour blog after the tour is over and I'm settle back at my house. There will be a lot of details missing because of the delay but it'll give me time to reflect before another semester begins.jordan.
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Reality is a BITCH

Posted by Vanessa Vasquez on August 18, 2008 at 12:36am
it's funny to me how people don't see you for what you are. or they don't want to see. if people let their guard down and actually looked at me and saw depression, pain, loss, and instability, then they would be forced to realize that they are living in a bubble. i suppose that is the beauty of "the outward self" as i like to call it. the person you allow others to see. but no matter who you are, who you are in a relationship with, or who you are the most comfortable with (even a therapist)...there is a "you" that no one sees. that is secret and caged and that is why no matter what...we are all inherently alone and always will be. i feel pain because of that. there is nothing i can do to really let someone in and i wish i could REALLY take comfort in the mantra i tell myself : "i don't need anyone. i am not needy. i am not dependent."
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August 17, 2008 Seattle Hempfest Day : The Mind Tour Journals.... Low Earth Orbiter.

Posted by Daniel Bennett Kieneker on August 17, 2008 at 8:42pm
Hello Radiohead people.I'm posting here as a move of honest stature.I tried to include Trent Reznor today by posting on his site, and my admission is I am not techie enough to read through the quick and easy barriers... and for that I respect what I read Trent respond to in Rolling Stone Magazine about the different platforms of distribution... although I am not sure he's gonna get any of the "muesings and mind solving lyric shit I spit out on the walks away from " NIN to Dave Mattews" an obvious look in from reddit.I was admonished on Peter Gabriel's site once for using this kind of platform personally... and that's why I tried to spread the wealth of minutia in flagrante' ...observa-ble' almost a lazy nod tothe band Rush in the fish eye lens sort of mode. Thanks Geddy and Neal and Alex.I like the idea of people sharing the stories but let me "scream about it again.... " ....you can take the explosion and shove it back into the free zone instead of fighting over it in my head and then charge the wi-fi mind double for penetrating what once use to be every bodies peace of mind with fees and more fees that " require ARTISTS and Labels and HUGE INSURANCE TRUSTS TO SPONSOR REHAB WITH LIES AND BULLSHIT FOR THE measals of the poor... those who don't have what it takes to inspire the likes of infighting between songwriters and brainwave readers.I had a good groove going on on the walk away from gasworks and mixed it up right thru the zones after my " pick on Dick Cheney and hope the Supreme court doesn't cave in to Coropustulance... you know... steal the congressional seats in favor of rap**** the vote of the voters to ( fill in the blank here ) vote or understand what is needed for what they what by taking what you have and giving to who they whom.I'll give the outline notes to the Stranger again... yet that is no garuntee that any filming of my insurrection will make it to any place affective.... you see someone once explained to me that delusion and fantasy often conspire to leave the effected in a hazy dream state of unre-quiet ed........almost a special olympic standard to lack of Diplomacy.Any way I often act out my operatic training as I work through my walks and the styled block watch programs of the neighborhood... and this time the stroll through the park of the Political signs in waiting for the upcoming election here in Washington for the falling apart of our sytmatic recoveries in space loops and budget freefalls is more SO clear ... PAINFULLY clear without the ENEBRIEATING SUBSTANCES THAT MY INSURANCE USE TO PAY FOR.... I was addicted to Seroquell and IT'S compulsive sideeffects that were unmanagable.... and I fear that the reason my Doctors property tax locality zone in the NORTHWEST REGION OF OUR NATION became so expensive is becaus I didn't join in the modest settlement account of CLASS ACTION lawsuits that of course were all ready in some sort or kind of slidiing scale of receivership.Please excuse this post Colin and Ed... as you both have the same names as my family and friends... name recognition is difficult these days in a culture of rich and poor better and worse.Note to Webmaster.. again I had all large caps on my I as in ME instead of small letter i, and strange weird stuff happens when I scream at the city about their parks and HOMELAND SECURITY. I had to go back and change some letters in this post that had changed to small from caps....I think it is because the seattle Library sytem and the King County Library system and Metro and the Braille Library have something going on with the reverse 9-11 crisi clinic hotlines.I'm gonna have to go now... it's a weird day if this doesn't post sue, (as in LAWSUIT) the FCC and this state and nation for breach of trust in our constitution because Radiohead and Trent Reznor and Peter Gabriel pay alot in fees to work here and I support their work.
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need your help! constructive feedback!!

Posted by beta.beta on August 17, 2008 at 5:26pm
Hello everyone at w.a.s.t.e central i am doing a new band and need your input!you can listen to our ep at my w.a.s.t.e profile.let me know what you guys think!i am trying to hear just more then ...."don't quite your day job", "id rather die"....you get my drift.I'd figure i would post here because you guys have great taste in music =)beta.betahttp://myspace.com/bhedabheda
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The sands on the beach in vancouver

Posted by Prosody on August 17, 2008 at 5:22pm
i love this campy lil hotel with the round bar where the sun feels like a ray gunin the sunset.http://www.bestwesternbc.com/hotels/best-western-sands/we checked into place on a friday and heard outside a hippie on a megaphoneannouncing a normal rally or pot protest, wow i guess we've arrived.We heard it so loud out our window so we had to go check it out, a few stepsaway a park, a dj in the back of a smal. truck and vancouvers' best . it isa vacation highlight and i sure would love to be there for radiohead tonight.I love vancouver b.c. so much and stanley park on a sunday morning is justheavenly.
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Stronghead 2008

Posted by Caroline Jean on August 17, 2008 at 7:30am
- The ultimate musician model you would like to work with [to paint], the journalist asked me.
- Thom Yorke, I answered, without hesitation.

Photobucket

ICI
Édition du 03 au 09 JAN 2008
http://www.icimontreal.com
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Orwell's blog

Posted by in rainbow shoes on August 17, 2008 at 12:30am

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Previously unpublished George Orwell diaries are being released online as a daily blog. He began keeping a series of diaries on 9th August 1938. From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries will be posted in "real-time", exactly 70 years after the entries were written..."What I have most wanted to do… is to make political writing into an art." George Orwell.www.theorwellprize.co.uk
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The Death Of Low Earth Orbiter

Posted by Daniel Bennett Kieneker on August 16, 2008 at 9:03pm
Thom,I have been on record in the past for saying I would kill my band before giving in to Dick Cheney and his Mind Control Politics.Apparently, post 9-11 I did not fufill my duties and responsibly become clean and sober fast enough to stay competative.In the event that history says I all ever acheived was noisy catterwalling for the preamble of an allready diseased system I would consider it an honor if your group would take up arms and gift our songs to audiences in a platform that befits "live performance".I suggest that you consider taliking with your mates about Radiohead doing The Devils Henchmen and Our Flames.Trent Reznor could do Taking on the Titan and The Giant FallsThe ticket...that's the Peter song.....and well as for the rest of the bequethment...i don't think I'll worry about walking into whiteriver as cheney or the mad rocket scientists will just order an SDI attack on heating up the granite so that it won't fity the SLEDGEHAMMER sizing or light the Makah stick on FIRE to turn it into matchsticks for anti fishing and water treaties.ThanksDan
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