Owning New England

This last Sunday, in a rematch of the 2003 SuperBowl, the Carolina Panthers pretty much owned the New England Patriots, and I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER!!! That SuperBowl loss (32-29), which came in the final 7 seconds via a field goal, was one of the hardest thing I've ever had to watch in sports. I love my Panthers, and to see them lose when they were that close, after the amazing season they had, and the incredible playoff run to get to the SB, was just plain hard. So Sunday was a particularly good day for me, made even more so by the fact that hat after dropping our opener to New Orleans in week 1, no one was really giving us a chance in hell to win. But, in typical underdog fashion, we came out and played a tough, physical football game and the Pats just weren't ready for it.

I don't have anything particularly profound to say about the game or anything. I just wanted to post something about how happy I was...because I feel like I've been really serious and somber in my last like four or five posts, and that's not what this blog is about. At least not ALL the time. So there you have it! The Panthers freakin' RULE and I loved watching them run Tom "Pretty Boy" Brady all over the freakin' field. What I will say about watching a game like this, is that it's about 200% better to watch it w/ OTHER real fans, then it is to watch it by ones self, or w/ people who don't REALLY care. I have about seven or eight really good friends that I watch Panther's games w/ on Sunday, and I wouldn't trade those 3+ hours for anything....except maybe tickets to the real thing! :-) Sure we jump around, and shout, yell, high five, bitch at the reffs, arm chair QB, drink our beer and generally act like idiots, but it's the MOST fun you can have on a Sunday! (legally!) Very much looking forward to this Sunday when we play Miami! GO CATS!!!!

Serendipity

Ser-en-dip-i-ty: (n) The act or phenomenon of finding a valuable or positive thing not being sought for. A fortunate coincidence.

A friend of mine recently asked me if I thought our lives were fated to be, or if the things that happen to us are just a series of random coincidences. After some careful consideration I replied that I thought our lives were probably a little bit of each. You see, the romantic/sentamentalist in me wants very much to believe that everything that happens does so for a particular reason, and yet the rational/logical side of me says that people choose what affects them, and they also choose how they react. I think that we as people, are fated to meet certain other people, be placed in certain situations, and be presented with certain opportunities. Once that happens, it's our own choices that matter. Basically, there is fate, but it only takes you so far, because once you're there it's up to you to make it happen. Fair enough?

So then how do you know when it's fate and not just coincidence? I think that one of the best ways to tell is simply this: things fated to happen, happen when we least expect them and when are least prepared for them. Fate is what puts us in the position to make choices that will affect the rest of our lives. So what happens if we make the wrong choice? Or if our lives don't allow us to pursue the opportunities we're fated to have? Is that it? Is something that's fated a 'one shot deal' I seriously doubt it. Fate is, if nothing else, persistent...and even if something doesn't work out quite the way you expected it to, that doesn't mean that it wont ever work out at all. In "Serendipity" which is a great movie about fate and how it works, there's a line:

"Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. But rather it's a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan."

I think that's exactly right...fate is what pushes us in certain directions, towards certain people and opportunities. Then, if we pay attention, and for the most part, work hard, and make the right decisions, then we all probably do end up pretty much where we were fated to be. It may not be on a schedule we weren't expecting, or with the person or people we were expecting, but there IS a plan, if we choose to follow it. We just have to trust ourselves and each other enough to do that.

Go West Young Man

"Go West young man, and grow up with the country."
~Horace Greeley

Even though that's a quote I have certainly heard before, it really wasn't one that I appreciated or understood, at least not until this weekend. Then I got to see the Rocky Mountains for the first time in person, and it was an experience I can barely describe. The landscape is so breathtaking, so awe-inspiring that if you ever had an question about divine influence helping to shape the world, this certainly answers any questions. Being where I was when I took this picture, about 10,000 feet up, makes you feel so small, and so insignificant, you have to wonder what the first settlers and pioneers must have thought when they reached this place. The Rockies are different from any other mountains I've ever seen, in that the land around them is so flat that it feels like you can see forever, then the ground just erupts into these towering peaks, cliffs and mountains in a way that pictures simply cannot do justice to. Even today the land still feels a little wild and untamed...as if it is merely tolerating our presence, as opposed to giving in to it. I guess that feeling is where the term 'wild west' came from initially. I can only imagine what it must have been like to follow Greeleys advice and be one of the first men or women to go into the west, and then to watch civilization slowly and surely grow up around you. I wonder if those settlers ever had any idea what the country they were founding would ever become? Somehow I think they might have, even then.

But anyway, enough about the scenery! For anyone who didn't already know, I was in Denver to see Dave Matthews play a show @ Red Rocks amphitheater, and all I can say is: AMAZING!!!! To have been able to get tickets in the first place was an incredible bit of luck...seeing as how I put in Warehouse (DMB fanclub/early ticketing) requests for all three nights (Fri., Sat., Sun.) and only got the Sunday seats. Then the general public ticks for all three shows sold out in about 15 minutes when they went on sale a month or so later...that's how crazy real Dave fans are! :-) The concert was absolutely one of the best experiences of my life! If you're reading this and aren't a hardcore Dave fan yourself, you're probably wondering why this show was so different from any other show - the answer is simple, the venue and the people. Red Rocks is a naturally occurring rock formation with almost perfect acoustics, that the city of Denver has turned into an amphitheater. Not only does it LOOK amazing, but the sound is incredible. Anywhere you sit, it sounds like you're in the front row...it's that good. I only have one picture, and I had to take that with my phone, but trust me when I say you have to see and hear it believe it. (speaking of which, they'll be putting out a cd and dvd package from the weekend sometime soon)

Red Rocks Amp., Western Face 9/11/05

Beyond the venue though, there are simply the fans who made the effort to come all the way to Denver from across the country because we understand how incredibility special these shows are. I could see why someone who wasn't a huge DMB fan, and didn't know all the songs and all the words, and couldn't appreciate hearing them in a setting like Red Rocks would probably be like "WTF is going on?" but for the rest of us it was something we'll be able to tell our kids and grandkids about. You see, to sit in the middle of a group of people who love something as much as you do, and sing and cheer and scream with them isn't something that happens very often, especially in today's world of huge stadiums and venues. At those places you get people who come out because they have nothing else to do, or because the tickets were cheap, or because their friends were going. Then they stand around and talk to each other, and pretty much ignore the show until one of the songs that they've heard on the radio comes on. Red Rocks on the other hand has seating for maybe 1,500 people, and I knew that 99% of those people who had gone to the effort to get tickets loved Dave as much as I did, and that was a pretty amazing feeling.

SET-LIST, Sun. Sept. 11th, Red Rocks CO.

Don’t Burn The Pig
You Never Know
Stand Up
Grey Street
When The World Ends *
Dream Girl
Lie In Our Graves
Lover Lay Down
What You Are *
Out Of My Hands
#41 *
Granny
Halloween *
Butterfly
Crush *
Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel *
__________________

I Did It [tease]
Louisiana Bayou *
The Star Spangled Banner [Intro]
All Along the Watchtowers

Last, I would like to thank whatever divine influence prompted Dave to rock
HALLOWEEN at this particular show! To hear a song that hasn't been played
for any concert anywhere in about eight years was absolutely beyond belief!
Also, I can now say that I've officially heard live, each and ever song that
Dave has ever released! I know to most people that sounds kinda crazy,
but to me that's what being a fan is all about! Loving something so much,
that everyone else thinks you're probably a little nuts!

Requem For an American Dream (2/2)

What happened to New Orleans is a disaster unlike anything our country has ever endured. Worse then the San Fran earthquakes, worse then Camille in 1969, worse then any blizzard or tornado, and yes worse even then September 11th. My question then, is WHY has the response of our country not been the greatest relief effort the United States has ever seen? Why are the people in New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast area, who are now homeless, jobless and in some case completely alone, 'refugees' as the media insists on calling them? As if they came here from some other country asking for our help, or fleeing some civil war, rather then being heroic survivors of one of the greatest natural disasters in human history. Why has our government's response been so slow and woefully ineffective? Beyond the fact that no one could have REALLY anticipated the incredible damage that this storm did, I believe that the plight of these people has a great deal to do with the fact that they are part of the unrepresented and uncounted portion of the American population. They are the the lower class, the poor, the homeless, the elderly and all the rest who are somehow abandoned by society. Every major city has this portion in it's population; it's a simple fact. The unfortunate truth is, in our country of social and economical Darwinism, it has become an almost natural law that a certain percentage of the population be left behind as the rest move ahead, almost as if we were making some sort of crude sacrifice to the great gods of capitalism.

The sacrifice never comes all at once though - at least not until now. Typically these sacrificial lambs fall behind a little at a time, starting for lots of them in school, where budgets are often woefully small and poorly distributed. For example, inner city schools in New York, which have concentrations of minority students approaching 70% generally operate on a budget as much as 1/4 less then their primarily white, suburban counterparts. From here, most face an uphill battle to equality which is often just to steep a climb. That is of course, assuming they can also avoid the vicious traps of crime, drugs and other violence that are also associated with this portion of society. Most of them just give up, resign themselves to their fate, and muddle on as best they can. Other may lose their job, or become sick or disabled. Without the insurance that so much of America takes for granted, any of these things can ruin a life. And our country as a whole has been content to merely watch, and make excuses like, these people didn't work hard enough, that they somehow deserved to live as less then third rate citizens in this, the country of universal equality. And finally, when Katrina came these were the people in New Orleans who paid the price. The people that America as a county had abandoned.

Given any sort of real option, I think that most of the people who were left in New Orleans would have gladly fled from Katrina. But for many, there was no option. The people who did not leave were the people who could not leave; the poor, the homeless, the sick and elderly, and when the call came to evacuate, they stayed and clung desperately to whatever they could. Then most of them watched, as what little they had was literally washed away before their eyes. And when the rain and wind finally stopped, these desperate people looked around for the help. They looked for the help they KNEW was coming...the help that should have been coming...and instead America failed to respond in the manner in which it's capable. I'll stop short of saying that it was racism, because deep down I still have more faith in the American spirit then that, but 30,000 white, middle and upper class Americans would NEVER have been stuck in a city because they had no means to leave, with a lethal storm bearing down on them. Take that however you like, but if the American Dream is essentially equality, ask yourself how this could have ever happened. Now consider that the income-gap between lower class and middle class, and middle class and upper class is larger then it's ever been. Finally, consider who our President has given the most tax cuts to since he has been in office. Here's a hint: it's not the middle or lower class.

Despite all this though, the American spirit is alive and well. Now that the country understands the extent of the destruction, donations and relief are pouring in. Average citizens are doing extraordinary things every single day in an effort to help, however they can. And they will continue to help, and to give of themselves, because we are all still Americans, and when times are at their worst, our country has an unrivaled capacity to pull together towards a common goal. New Orleans will rebuild and life will go on, as it always does...but how many more natural disasters, and catastrophes will it take before we as country realize that the greatest disaster is in fact our fading equality - our fading American Dream.