John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, Penn's Peak, Sept. 14, 2018 setlist

So this is incomplete, but what I remember... Really great, underrated band. Opener was the Scott Weis Band, who played some great blues rock (and even used a cigar-box guitar for a bit -- wonderful stuff).

• Tough All Over
• On the Dark Side (yep, 2nd song -- they got this out of the way early)
• Boardwalk Angel
• Victory Dance
• Wild Summer Nights

I started a setlist.fm list, in case anyone else has a fuller setlist.

Yes setlist - July 6, 2018, Penn's Peak, Jim Thorpe PA

• Close To The Edge (Close To The Edge)
• Nine Voices (The Ladder)
• Parallels (Going For The One)
• Mood For A Day (Fragile)
• Leaves Of Green (excerpt from The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun) from Tales From Topographic Oceans)
• Fly From Here Pt. I - We Can Fly (Fly From Here)
• Sweet Dreams (Time And A Word)
• Heart Of The Sunrise (Fragile)
• Perpetual Change (The Yes Album)
• Does It Really Happen? (Drama)
• Soon (Relayer)
• Awaken (Going For The One)

Encore:

• Yours Is No Disgrace (The Yes Album)
• Roundabout (Fragile)
• Starship Trooper (The Yes Album)

Overall a great show, with surprise guests Alan White and Tony Kaye for a few songs near the end.

Thanks to Forgotten Yesterdays for setlist info.

The Machine setlist - June 1, 2018, Penn's Peak

I remembered a few songs, which I posted over at setlist.fm with the hope that others will add to the list... not yet.

• Your Possible Pasts
• Learning to Fly
• Young Lust
• Another Brick in the Wall Part 2

Encore:

• Wish You Were Here
• Comfortably Numb

Todd Rungdren's Utopia setlist - April 18, 2018, Penn's Peak, Jim Thorpe, PA

Wonderful show from the third row. Did not realize Utopia was such a great band and evidently has a lot of die-hard fans. 

• Utopia Theme
• Ikon
• Another Life
• Freedom Fighters
• Do Ya (ELO song)
• The Wheel
• Back on the Street
• Something’s Coming
• Monument
• Communion With the Sun
• Last of the New Wave Riders
• Road to Utopia
• Play This Game
• Swing to the Right
• Trapped
• Set Me Free
• Love in Action
• Hammer in My Heart
• Princess of the Universe
• I Will Wait
• Rock Love
• Love is the Answer
• One World
• Just One Victory

Selist courtesy of Ultimate Classic Rock.

Alice Cooper setlist - March 10, 2018, Kirby, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Great show all around.  Highlights were the new songs and, of course, Serious from the classic From the Inside. Nice to see Alice mix it up, if only a little.

• Brutal Planet 

• No More Mr. Nice Guy 

• Under My Wheels 

• Billion Dollar Babies 

• Be My Lover 

• Lost in America 

• Serious 

• Fallen in Love 

• Woman of Mass Distraction 

• Guitar Solo (Nita Strauss) 

• Poison 

• Halo of Flies 

• Feed My Frankenstein 

• Cold Ethyl 

• Only Women Bleed 

• Paranoiac Personality 

• Ballad of Dwight Fry 
Killer (excerpt) 

• I Love the Dead 

• I'm Eighteen 


Encore:

• School's Out 

Courtesy setlist.fm.

The Lion Roars, a last scream of Winter...

So March came in like a lion, with a snowstorm across the northeast (but only two inches here). But the lion is dying, one last stalking perimeter circle to show his strength, baring his teeth but gasping for breath. I feel Spring out there on the edges, looking furtively to see if it's safe to emerge. "Fuck the groundhog," it mutters, "I want Out." 

Soon, dear Spring, soon... we wait patiently, and hold candles against the dark.

Cheap Trick setlist - Penn's Peak, November 12, 2017

• Hello There
• Big Eyes
• California Man
• Southern Girls
• The House Is Rockin' (With Domestic Problems)
• On Top of the World
• Baby Loves to Rock
• Heaven Tonight
• Ain't That a Shame
• Long Time Coming
• No Direction Home
• I Know What I Want
• I'm Waiting for the Man / Heroin (Tom Petersson on lead vocals)
• The Flame
• I Want You to Want Me
• Dream Police

Encore:

• Surrender
• Auf Wiedersehen
• Goodnight Now

Yes, the Velvet Underground cover was a highlight, and unexpected!
Setlist courtesy setlist.fm.

Blue Oyser Cult setlist - Penn's Peak, November 4, 2017

• Transmaniacon MC
• Golden Age of Leather
• Burnin' for You
• Harvest Moon
• The Vigil
• ME 262
• Buck's Boogie
• Then Came the Last Days of May
• Screams
• She's as Beautiful as a Foot
• True Confessions
• Tattoo Vampire
• Godzilla
• (Don't Fear) The Reaper

Encores:

• Joan Crawford
• Dancin' in the Ruins
• Hot Rails to Hell
• Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll 

Great show.Wonderful guitar work by Buck on "Then Came the Last Days of May."

Setlist courtesy of setlist.fm.

Roger Hodgson setlist - Sands Bethlehem, Oct. 6, 2017

• Take the Long Way Home
• School
• Breakfast in America
• Lovers in the Wind
• Hide in Your Shell
• Along Came Mary
• The Logical Song
• Lord Is It Mine
• Death and a Zoo
• If Everyone Was Listening
• The Awakening
• Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy)
• Child of Vision
• Dreamer
• Fool's Overture
  
  Encore:
• Two of Us
• Give a Little Bit

Courtesy setlist.fm

Lou Gramm setlist - June 16, 2017, Penns Peak, Jim Thorpe PA

• Long, Long Way From Home
• Feels Like the First Time
• Blue Morning, Blue Day
• Cold as Ice
• That Was Yesterday
• I Want to Know What Love Is
• Head Games
• Drum Solo
• Dirty White Boy
• Midnight Blue
• Double Vision
• Urgent
• Juke Box Hero

Encore:

• Hot Blooded

Setlist courtesy Setlist.fm

Kansas setlist - May 27, 2017, Bethleham PA

• Belexes / Lightning's Hand
• Point of Know Return
• Paradox
• What's on My Mind
• Keyboard Solo / The Wall
• Hold On
• Reason to Be
• Dust in the Wind
• Miracles Out of Nowhere
• Icarus II
• Icarus - Borne on Wings of Steel
• Rhythm in the Spirit
• Opus Insert
• Down the Road
• Portrait (He Knew)

Encore:

• Statesboro Blues (tribute to Gregg Allman)
• Carry On Wayward Son

Setlist courtesy of Setlist.fm

Loudon Wainwright setlist - Jan. 14, 2017, Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe PA

This is only a partial... I  didn't write em down (sigh...).

• Double Lifetime
• I'd Rather Be Lonely
• The Shit Song
• Be Careful, There's a Baby in the House
• Brand New Dance
• Bein' a Dad
• Daughter
• In C
• Man & Dog
• White Winos
• A Father and a Son

Elvis Costello Setlist - Oct. 23, 2016, Bethlehem PA

• The Town Where Time Stood Still 
• The Loved Ones 
• Accidents Will Happen 
• You Little Fool 
• You Tripped at Every Step 
• You'll Never Be a Man 
• Tears Before Bedtime 
• Moods for Moderns 
• Shabby Doll 
• Human Hands 
• Watching the Detectives 
• Kid About It 
• Pidgin English 
• Alison 
• Shot With His Own Gun 
• This House Is Empty Now 
• The Long Honeymoon 
• ...And in Every Home 
• Seconds of Pleasure 
• Beyond Belief 
• Man Out of Time 
• Town Cryer 
• Everyday I Write the Book

Encore:

• Pump It Up 
• (What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Courtesy SetList.fm

Alice Cooper Setlist - Sept. 29, 2016, Reading PA

• The Black Widow
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Under My Wheels
• Public Animal #9
• Billion Dollar Babies
• Long Way to Go
• Is It My Body
• The World Needs Guts
• Woman of Mass Distraction
• Guitar Solo
• Poison
• Halo of Flies
• Feed My Frankenstein
• Cold Ethyl
• Only Women Bleed
• Guilty
• Ballad of Dwight Fry
• Killer (partial)
• I Love the Dead (partial)
• Under the Bed (Raise the Dead intro)
• Pinball Wizard
• Suffragette City
• Ace of Spades
• I'm Eighteen
• School's Out

Encore:

• Elected

Courtesy SetList.fm 

Election results

Remember when Americans would gripe about election results, but then we'd stand behind our President anyway? Remember being Americans, and not liberals versus the right?

Sigh... maybe I need some 'member berries...

Rocket Racoon and Groot are on a NASA Patch

The future is weird and wonderful.

Alice Cooper setlist - May 13, 2016, FM Kirby Center, Wilkes-Barre PA

• Vincent Price intro
• The Black Widow
• Public Animal #9
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Under My Wheels
• Is It My Body
• Billion Dollar Babies
• Long Way to Go
• Woman of Mass Distraction
• Poison
• Halo of Flies
• Feed My Frankenstein
• Cold Ethyl
• Only Women Bleed
• Guilty
• Ballad of Dwight Fry
• Killer (partial)
• I Love the Dead
• Under the Bed
• Pinball Wizard (The Who cover)
• Fire (Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
• Suffragette City (David Bowie cover)
• I'm Eighteen
• School's Out/Another Brick in the Wall

Encore:

• Elected

Alice Cooper's Lost Years

Watching an interview with Alice Cooper from 1981. This was hist "lost" period, in which he claims to have little memory due to the oblivion of alcohol. Despite his apparent haziness during this interview, there's a certain lucidity, a recognition of how the world works, and some interesting insights.

I always enjoyed the albums from that period: Special Forces , Zipper Catches Skin , Dada . They were zany and weird and punk-ish, with great songwriting. He never performs that stuff live anymore, though I think more than a few fans would love to hear some of those songs...

RIP David Bowie

I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man
Just a mortal with potential of a superman
I'm living on...

from Quicksand (from the album Hunky Dory, 1971)

Happy New Year (2016 edition)

Do something amazing this year.

Visit Paris. Or Scotland (in a kilt in Edinboro, doing a modern dance...).

Write that novel. Publish that book of poems.

Learn a new language. Learn to type properly.

Get healthier.

Don't just dream. Do.

Eric Burdon and the Animals setlist - Sept. 29, 2015, Penn's Peak

• Don't Bring Me Down
• When I Was Young
• Inside Looking Out
• Water
• Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
• I Believe to My Soul
• Spill the Wine
• Black Dog
• Bo Diddley Special
• We've Gotta Get Out of This Place
• River Is Rising
• The House of the Rising Sun

Encore:

• It's My Life

Blue Oyster Cult and Vanilla Fudge at Penn's Peak - Oct. 9, 2015 setlists

Vanilla Fudge: (partial)

• Break On Through (to the Other Side)
• People Get Ready
• Gimme Some Lovin'
• Let's Pray for Peace
• Do the Jerk
• You Keep Me Hangin' On

BOC:

• The Red & the Black
• Golden Age of Leather
• Burnin' for You
• Dancin' in the Ruins
• Harvest Moon
• The Vigil
• ME 262
• Buck's Boogie
• Then Came the Last Days of May
• Godzilla
• Guitar Solo (Buck Dharma)
• (Don't Fear) The Reaper

Encore:

• Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll

Another summer passes...

When I was younger, summer lasted forever. What happened to that? Are we spinning round the sun that much faster? Or if I ask the young now, will they say it lasts forever?

Is it the trivial ways we spend our days, futzing about on Facebook and Twitter and similar, not forming any real memories, just a sea of digital droppings, random thoughts and pictures of food? Why do we fritter about so, anyway? What is this fear of missing out on something, while missing out on everything?

Why is the summer quiet? Where are all the children nowadays? Not chasing each other in the grass, but absorbed into the same digital distractions? Will they ever learn to live, and love the summer for what it is? Or were we the last?

Are you allowed to fix your own tractor?

Can you fix your tractor when it breaks, or must you pay the exorbitant prices the "official" dealers charge (guess which one John Deere prefers)?

So is Marvel really blowing up their universe?

When DC blew up everything 30 years ago with Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was a mistake. They've tried to retrofit so much since then to recover from that mistake that they've made the problem much worse than the one they were trying to solve (i.e., convoluted continuity).

I guess Marvel wants to align with the movies' continuity and relieve themselves of all the baggage of decades of book continuity. I wish they wouldn't. We invested a lot of time following these stories, time that will be, well, lessened if it's all thrown away.

But hey, Disney, anything to make a buck, right? It's not really about, y'know, sharing joy and all those moral lessons that the movies preach. It's all a facade, a charade. It's all about the money, right? Ideals? Ethics? What kind of world do you live in, kid?

Sigh. Time will tell, I guess.

Elton John setlist - Feb 28, 2015 - Reading PA

• Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
• Bennie and the Jets
• Candle in the Wind
• All the Girls Love Alice
• Levon
• Tiny Dancer
• Believe
• Daniel
• Philadelphia Freedom
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
• Rocket Man
• Hey Ahab
• I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
• Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
• Your Song
• Burn Down the Mission
• Holiday Inn
• Sad Songs (Say So Much)
• Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
• Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
• The Bitch Is Back
• I'm Still Standing
• Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n Roll)
• Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Encore:

• Circle of Life / Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
• Crocodile Rock

As usual, thanks to setlist.fm for saving me from typing and/or needing to remember the more obscure songs.

Dennis DeYoung Setlist, Feb 13, 2015 - Penns Peak

• The Grand Illusion
• Lady
• Lorelei
• Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)
• Desert Moon
• Mr. Roboto
• Show Me the Way
• Don't Let It End
• Too Much Time on My Hands
• Rockin' the Paradise
• Babe
• Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
• Prelude 12
• Suite Madame Blue
• The Best of Times
• A.D. 1958
• Renegade
• Come Sail Away

Great show. Thanks to setlist.fm for the list.

Purring is copyrighted

That's right, America: corporations own the sound of cats purring. Send your checks to your corporate masters each time your cat purrs.

(oh, like we're not heading there...)

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

So, 2015, and the world is weirder than ever. I’m not sure who was a better predictor of the weirdness: William Gibson or the Monty Python troupe. Though maybe Monty Python was a catalyst, as they weren’t in the business of futurism.

According to the FBI, Sony was hacked by the government of North Korea, and the U.S. now has sanctions against North Korea because of it, which just has Gibson written all over it.

This post's title, btw, is by Hunter S. Thompson, who knew a little something about weirdness. Happy new year.

Roger Hodgson setlist, Sands Bethlehem, PA - Nov. 9, 2014

• Take the Long Way Home
• School
• Breakfast in America
• Lady
• The More I Look
• Easy Does It / Sister Moonshine
• Hide in Your Shell
• Lord Is It Mine
• The Logical Song

[intermission]

• Had a Dream
• Quietest Moments
• The Meaning
• Death & a Zoo
• If Everyone Was Listening
• Child of Vision
• Babaji
• Dreamer
• Fool's Overture

Encore:

• Two of Us
• Give a Little Bit
• It's Raining Again

Setlist courtesy setlist.fm

Highway robbery, indeed

So police in the United States have been pulling over drivers for minor traffic violations, discovering cash in the vehicle, and keeping it. It's then up to the victim to prove that the money is theirs, a process that could take a year and cost thousands in legal fees. The police state continues to become a reality, and a criminal reality at that.

All the world's a stage, after all...

abstract threats (too noble to neglect)

Steve Wozniak to the FCC: Keep the Internet Free. Indeed.

Blue Oyster Cult setlist - Penn's Peak, Jim Thorpe PA - May 2, 2014

• The Red and the Black
• Golden Age of Leather
• Burnin for You
• Dancing in the Ruins
• Harvest Moon
• The Vigil
• Buck’s Boogie
• This Ain’t the Summer of Love
• Then Came the Last Days of May
• Godzilla
• Don’t Fear the Reaper

Encore:

• Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll

I may have missed one or two. Post comments with any corrections.

Elvis Costello setlist, Caesars, Atlantic City, NJ - March 8, 2014

• Brilliant Mistake
• Blue Chair
• Watch Your Step
• American Gangster Time
• Man Out of Time
• Girls Talk
• Either Side of the Same Town
• Secondary Modern
• Everyday I Write the Book
• Come The Meantimes
• Deep Dark Truthful Mirror (!!!)
• Strict Time
• Alison
• Monkey to Man
• Watching the Detectives
• Walk Us Uptown
• Clubland
• Beyond Belief
• Sugar Won't Work
• Pump It Up
• (What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Encore:

• (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
• Cinco Minutos Con Vos 

Setlist courtesy setlist.fm

Spring 2014

A hard wind blows outside, this dark March evening on the first day of Spring... the longest winter in recent memory won't give up, and we struggle against the darkness, a long January that lasts three months, bitter and frigid. The house creeks like something ancient ... weird sounds bubble up in the night, and wind chimes ring like distant church bells. Daylight is coming, and we wait.

but February made me shiver...

Really, it did. A long, frigid night that lasted weeks -- darkness and cold, blamed on the groundhog, a winter of our discontent, while corporate America and Washington fought over who could be more incompetent. Sigh...

But Spring approaches, as it always does, with the promise of Easter, of life, of love -- a new baby, a blossom white and gold breaking through fresh earth, a sky of wonder...

Cold

I am so sick of winter.

Elvis Costello setlist, Kirby Center, Wilkes Barre PA, Nov. 25, 2013

• Possession
• Accidents Will Happen
• No Dancing
• He’s Got You (Hank Cochran "She's Got You" cover)
• Green Shirt
• You Little Fool
• Pony Street
• Five Small Words
• Domino (Donovan cover) / Living In Paradise
• Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve 
• Blame it on Cain
• Mistress and Maid
• (Not sure what this song was, sorry ... lyrics included "You can't beg")
• Everyday I Write the Book
• Walking My Baby Back Home (Roy Turk cover)
• Stella Hurt
• Watching the Detectives
• One Way Love
• Allison

Encore 1:

• Big Boys Cry (Bobby Charles cover)
• Almost Blue
• Shipbuilding
• Let's Put Out The Lights (And Go To Sleep) (Bing Crosby cover)
• Radio Soul (early version of Radio Radio)
• I Want You

Encore 2:

• Radio Radio/(Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
• A Slow Drag With Josephine
• Veronica
• Jimmie Standing in the Rain
• Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? (partial)
• What's so Funny bout Peace, Love, and Understanding

For all my web designer friends...

Seriously, what the **** else do you want?

Lou Reed, American Poet, Magic and Loss...

Lou Reed wrote the soundtrack for my life. I remember the passage of time by what Lou Reed album I was listening to at the time … Mistrial, New Sensations, New York, Songs for Drella, Magic and Loss, Set the Twilight Reeling, Perfect Night Live in London, Ecstasy… (not to mention all the earlier stuff that was interspersed among these…). I last saw him a few years back in Philadelphia, front row. What a show.

“There’s a little bit of Magic in everything, then some Loss to even things out.”

Lou Reed, 1942-2013

Insight at the heart of "TED talks are lying to you" (Salon article)

There's a really fascinating insight at the center of this article, TED talks are lying to you - that the privileged elite, who control the whims of our economy, justify their very existence by imagining they are the creative class by exploiting the output of the true creatives. And authors of management tomes espousing creativity are really catering to this bizarre supposition by retelling the same tired examples (Dylan, 3M, Beatles, Apple).

IPhone fingerprint lock already hacked

That didn't take long. Instead, use passcodes with auto-erase after 10 failed attempts (you do backup your phone, right?).

Time to dump the iPhone?

Apple patents tech that lets government disable iPhone video, camera and wi-fi. Because letting the government shutdown your phone's camera can only be to protect you, right? Because, you know, we wouldn't want people to take pictures of the terrorists, right? Or... huh?

Seriously, what could be a legitimate reason for this, other than letting militant thugs patriots beat up protesters terrorists without fear of repercussions I don't know flowers?

Alice Cooper setlist, Reading PA, June 18, 2013

Good (if short) show. I caught "diamonds" during Dirty Diamonds.

• Hello Hooray
• House of Fire
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Billion Dollar Babies
• I'll Bite Your Face Off
• Is It My Body
• Under My Wheels
• Hey Stoopid
• Poison
• Dirty Diamonds
• Welcome to My Nightmare
• Go to Hell
• Feed My Frankenstein
• Ballad of Dwight Fry
• Killer (excerpt)
• I Love the Dead (excerpt, refrain only)
• School's Out

Encore:

• I'm Eighteen

Doobie Brothers setlist - Penns Peak (Jim Thorpe), July 7, 2013

• Jesus Is Just Alright
• Rockin' Down the Highway
• Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me)
• Depending on You
• Clear as the Driven Snow
• A Brighter Day
• World Gone Crazy
• Neal's Fandango
• Slack Key Soquel Rag
• South City Midnight Lady
• Eyes of Silver
• Takin' It to the Streets
• Don't Start Me Talkin'
• Black Water
• Long Train Runnin'

Encore:

• China Grove
• Road Angel
• Listen to the Music

Setlist courtesy of setlist.fm.

A couple cool Jack Kirby links

• Jack Kirby’s Lone Ranger - Artwork for a board game put out by Mattel in the 1970s.
• A Flickr set of Jack Kirby's double-page spreads, which were one of the coolest things in comics ever.  After you look at this, you should really head over to your favorite bookstore and buy some Kirby comics!

Tumblr brightens my day

• Screenshots of Despair 
• Batman Sits (yes, this is a Tumblr about Batman sitting)

Twitter does not respect time's arrow

Cool sci-fi story in the form of a Twitter bug report.

Adobe Creative Cloud's terms of service

Here's an interesting look at Adobe Creative Cloud's terms of service. I've been a big fan of Adobe software for many years, but these terms are a little chilling...

Escape of the killer dolphins

Seriously, this is the world we live in now, a dystopian sci-fi adventure where even dolphins are now dangerous. From BoingBoing:

Using old Soviet Union techniques, Ukrainian scientists trained dolphins to attack and kill swimmers using knives and guns strapped to the heads of said dolphins ... Today, the dolphins escaped. No word on whether they are armed.

Peter Gabriel wants to talk with animals over the Internet

Because the world keeps getting stranger, Peter Gabriel is teaming up with Internet pioneer Vint Serf and others to talk to animals online. Including a touchscreen device for dolphins (hmmm... bottlenosePad? No. porpoisePad? No. iSqueal?...).

Great Employees Are Not Replaceable

In an age when Wall Street and short-sighted CEOs push the myth that employees are replaceable cogs, a good counterargument: Great Employees Are Not Replaceable.

Restoring my faith in humanity

Spanish locksmiths won't help banks evict people from their homes.

(via Boing Boing).

Trippy Logan's Run music video

UFO over Denver

In the Waiting Room

In the Waiting Room is an insightful poem by American poet Elizabeth Bishop about the awakening of existentialism. Fascinating.

What comics were on the newsstand...?

Mike's Amazing World of Comics lets you enter a month and year and will then display all the comic books that were on the newsstand that month.

This has got to be the coolest use of the Internet ever.

Bob Dylan, Hershey PA - Sept. 9, 2012 - setlist and review

Bob Dylan is of course a legend, so anyone would be foolish not to catch him in concert. The Hershey show featured a great setlist (see below; 3 songs from Highway 61 Revisited, plus other classics).

What almost ruined the concert was the ridiculous security staff at the Hersheypark Star Pavilion. They took a "no photos" mandate to the extreme, barring people from even talking on their phones under threat of ejection from the show. The woman behind me was told to put away her phone even after she explained she was talking to her babysitter. I tried to write down a setlist and was vehemently ordered to put away the phone (luckily I was able to find a setlist online). This ridiculous behavior -- preventing people from tweeting, posting to Facebook, or even making a phone call -- was egregious, disheartening, and absolutely uncalled for (and the stifling of speech/expression in the United States by corporations is just sad). At a show opened by the great Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead (who let fans record audio of their shows for decades), this behavior was especially appalling (I'm sure Bob Weir did not mandate this). I will not be attending any other shows at Hersheypark Star Pavilion unless they address this behavior by their staff, and I strongly urge everyone considering attending a show there to reconsider.

By the way, Bob Weir was fantastic too. It's a shame the Hershey staff put such a damper on the evening. You pay a lot of money for tickets, travel a great distance, pay an exorbitant parking fee, and then get threatened with ejection for writing down the songs? Wow.

Setlist:

• I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
• Man in the Long Black Coat
• Things Have Changed
• Tangled Up in Blue
• Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
• This Dream of You
• Honest With Me
• Tryin' to Get to Heaven
• High Water (For Charley Patton)
• Visions of Johanna
• Highway 61 Revisited
• Simple Twist of Fate
• Thunder on the Mountain
• Ballad of a Thin Man
• Like a Rolling Stone
• All Along the Watchtower

Encore:

• Blowin' in the Wind

Selist courtesy setlist.fm.

Stan Lee explains "F**k You"

I've seen it all now:

Jack Kirby's granddaughter has a message for his fans

The Hero Initiative supports comic creators in need. It's a wonderful cause (yes, I'm a member, and you should become one too!).

Yes setlist, Sands Event Center, Bethlehem, PA - July 18, 2012

• Tempus Fugit
• All Good People
• America
• In the Course of the Day/Clap (Steve Howe solo acoustic)
• Fly from Here (suite)
• Wondrous Stories
• Heart of the Sunrise
• Awaken

encore:

• Roundabout

Alice Cooper setlist, Sands Event Center, Bethlehem PA - July 1, 2012

• The Black Widow 
• Brutal Planet 
• Eighteen 
• Under my Wheels 
• Billion Dollar Babies 
• No More Mr. Nice Guy 
• Hey Stoopid
• Is It My Body 
• Halo of Flies 
• I'll Bite Your Face Off 
• Muscle of Love
• Only Women Bleed 
• Cold Ethyl
• Feed My Frankenstein 
• Caffeine 
• Poison 
• Wicked Young Man
• I Love the Dead 
• School's Out

Encore:

• Elected

And the wonderful Blue Coupe opened for Alice. These guys rock (buy their album)! Their setlist:

• More Cowbell (?)
• Burnin' for You 
• You (Like Vampires)
• Cities on Flame (with Rock and Roll)
• Angels Well
• Waiting for my Ship
• Astronomy
• Godzilla
• Don't Fear the Reaper

Apollo 17 at Shorty Crater (and other cool pics)

If you're not checking the Astronomy Picture of the Day each day, you're missing out on some cool wallpapers (like today's). Just sayin'.

The Machine, Penn's Peak - June 16, 2012 setlist

• Learning to Fly
• Shine on you Crazy Diamond
• Happiest Days of our Lives
• Another Brick in the Wall, part 2
• Fat Old Sun
• Breathe
• Time
• Hey You
• (intermission)
• Pigs
• The Final Cut
• The Albatross
• Wish you were here
• Keep Talking
• Empty Spaces/ What Shall We Do Now
• Young Lust
• Brain Damage

Encore:

• Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
• Comfortably Numb

Molly Hatchet, Penn's Peak - June 9, 2012 setlist

• Whiskey Man 
• Bounty Hunter 
• Gator Country 
• American Pride 
• Regrinding the Axes 
• Drum Solo 
• Beatin' the Odds 
• The Creeper 
• Dreams I'll Never See 
• Free Bird (with Jimmie Van Zant)
• Juke City 
• Flirtin' with Disaster

And opening act Jimmy Van Zant Band:

• That's How I Like It 
• Traveling Man 
• Double Trouble 
• Simple Man 
• That Smell 
• Ray Ray's Juke Joint 
• Ain't Quite MaryJane 
• Feels Like Freedom 
• Sweet Home Alabama

Unfortunately, no setlist for opening, opening act (yes, you read that right) Blackfoot. They did play CSNY's Ohio, I remember. Feel free to add more in the comments.

(setlists courtesy setlist.fm)

The Battle of Athens: Restoring the Rule of Law

How the Greatest Generation dealt with corruption in government:

Spending less time online = more happiness

Here's a great little essay exploring the result of a recent Stanford study, that "spending considerable amounts of time on multimedia/technology can make us unhappy." I've said this before: turn off the computer and go outside; spend some time living out in the world. We are becoming a society addicted to social media, reality television, and infotainment. Much of the content we consume is vapid and uninteresting. Go read a book, fly a kite, ride a bike, or build a snowman. Live, man, live.

Brave response - Occupy Oakland

• Dear Oakland Mayor Quan, you do not need to call me, here is MY response to YOUR demands

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolution­ary act." - George Orwell

Verizon Releases Anti-Union Propaganda, CWA Strikes Back With Parody Video

Verizon Releases Anti-Union Propaganda, CWA Strikes Back With Parody Video (via Crooks and Liars)

The music of Occupy Wall Street

Wired does a nice roll-up on the music of Occupy Wall Street. The hacker radio show Off the Hook has also featured songs from the Occupy movement.

Ray guns rock

Here's an interesting article from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum regarding early ray guns (toys, unfortunately; you didn't think I meant real ray guns, did you? Those are top secret).

Why occupy?

This is why: writer of FamilyGuy describes his arrest in Occupy LA.

"Pine trees know when it's Easter"

Yes, it's the Christmas season, but I've been meaning to post this for a while: Pine trees know when it's Easter.

Social Security Administration comic books from the 1950s

Scroll down on this page to the heading The Comic Book Series.

Quote: You were not made to strive for the accumulation of wealth.

Great essay: A Life Worth Living.

Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman setlist, Sherman Theater, Stroudsburg PA - Nov. 5, 2011

• Intro 
• Starship Trooper 
• Sweet Dreams 
• Forever 
• And You and I 
• The Living Tree (Pt. 1) 
• Long Distance Runaround 
• America 
• Garden 
• The Living Tree (Pt. 2) 
• Time and a Word 
• South Side of the Sky 
• Wondrous Stories 
• Just One Man 
• Nous Sommes Du Soleil 
• Leaves of Green 
• 23/24/11 
• Your Move 
• All Good People 
• House of Freedom 
• Awaken 

Encore:

• Roundabout 
• Soon 
• The Meeting

Stand Up - Occupy Wall Street

Paris under water (future vision?)

5:46 am from ArtefactoryLab on Vimeo.

What does Occupy Wall Street collectively want?

Apt insight via the New York Times: "The problem is that no one in Washington has been listening."

About describes it in a nutshell, doesn't it? It's not just the bailouts for the rich, or the unpunished, illegal corporate greed that brought the economy to the brink of ruin - it's Washington's ignorance of the problem, its refusal to obey the will of the people, and its blatant submission to its corporate masters.

We've had enough.

What we learned from 5 million books

What we learned from 5 million books (video on TED.com)

George Thorogood setlist, FM Kirby Center, Wilkes Barre PA - Oct. 4, 2011

• Sweet Little Rock And Roller
• Who Do You Love?
• Hi-Heel Sneakers
• I Drink Alone
• House Rent Boogie (One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer)
• Cocaine Blues
• Seventh Son
• Get a Haircut
• Bad to the Bone
• Move It on Over

Encore:

• Tail Dragger
• You Talk Too Much

Encore 2:

• Madison Blues

Compare to the last time I saw him.

Logan's Run remake gains momentum

Finally, word that the Logan's Run remake is going into production next year. Of course, I've been hearing rumors for years now.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street has begun. Will the mainstream press ignore?

Steve Miller setlist - Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA), August 8, 2011

• Jet Airliner
• Take the Money and Run
• Abracadabra
• Living in the U.S.A.
• Swingtown
• Further Up the Road
• Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Jesse Hill)
• All Your Love (I Miss Loving), (Otis Rush)
• I Just Got Back from Texas
• Fly Like an Eagle
• Serenade
• Wild Mountain Honey
• Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma
• Dance Dance Dance
• Rock’n Me

Encore:

• Perfect World
• Gangster of Love
• Space Cowboy
• Jungle Love
• The Joker

Pieced together from the review at the Lehigh Valley Music Blog.

Ted Nugent setlist - Penn's Peak (Jim Thorpe, PA), August 14, 2011

• Free For All
• Stormtroopin'
• Wango Tango
• Just What the Doctor Ordered
• Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
• Need You Bad
• Turn It Up
• Rawdogs & Warhogs
• Dog Eat Dog
• Hey Baby
• Fred Bear
• I Still Believe
• Motor City Madhouse
• Cat Scratch Fever
• Stranglehold
  

Encore:

• Great White Buffalo

Courtesy setlist.fm.

Ted Nugent setlist - Penn's Peak (Jim Thorpe PA), August 14, 2011

Free For All
Stormtroopin'
Wango Tango
Just What the Doctor Ordered
Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
Need You Bad
Turn It Up
Rawdogs & Warhogs
Dog Eat Dog
Hey Baby
Fred Bear
I Still Believe
Motor City Madhouse
Cat Scratch Fever
Stranglehold

Encore:

Great WhiteBuffalo

Steely Dan setlist - Musikfest (Bethlehem PA), August 10, 2011

• Intro: Dizzy's Bidness
• Your Gold Teeth
• Aja
• Black Friday
• Hey Nineteen
• Black Cow
• Time Out of Mind
• Show Biz Kids
• Boddhisitva
• FM
• Godwhacker
• Dirty Work
• Papa Don't Take No Mess (James Brown cover)
• Home at Last
• Josie
• Peg
• My Old School
• Reelin' in the Years

Encore:

• Kid Charlemagne
• Outro: Last Tango in Paris

Courtesy setlist.fm.

Stone Temple Pilots setlist - Musikfest (Bethlehem PA), August 5, 2011

Yes, I'm way behind in posting setlists for the shows I've been to recently (August was a busy month). Anyway, here's the STP setlist (courtesy of setlist.fm):

• Crackerman
• Wicked Garden
• Vasoline
• Heaven and Hot Rods
• Between the Lines
• Hickory Dichotomy
• Still Remains
• Big Empty
• Silvergun Superman
• Plush
• Interstate Love Song
• Big Bang Baby
• Down
• Sex Type Thing 

Encore:

• Dead & Bloated
• Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart

Alice Cooper, Scranton Cultural Center - August 23, 2011 setlist

• The Black Widow
• Brutal Planet
• I'm Eighteen
• Under My Wheels
• Billion Dollar Babies
• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Hey Stoopid
• Is It My Body
• Halo of Flies
• I'll Bite Your Face Off
• Muscle of Love
• Only Women Bleed
• Cold Ethyl
• Feed My Frankenstein
• Clones (We're All)
• Poison
• Wicked Young Man
• Killer (excerpt)
• I Love the Dead (excerpt)
• School's Out (and excerpt from Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall)
  
  Encore:
• Elected

Setlist courtesy of Setlist.FM.

Logan's Run remake

Interesting article on IO9 about the "never seems to get anywhere" Logan's Run remake.

We're All Crazy

Slashdot has a great discussion on the over-prescription of anti-psychotic drugs in the U.S. (big pharma influencing doctors, maybe? whatever happened to professional ethics, anyway? or personal ethics, for that matter...).

And yes, this post's title refers to the great Alice Cooper song (off From the Inside).

U2 setlist - Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, July 14, 2011

I was in the nosebleed section, so the sound quality wasn't great. Still a good show by Bono and the gang, though unfortunately no Running to Stand Still (sigh). Also, they did not play In God's County, despite what the guy on WMMR said. Here's the setlist, mostly courtesy of U2gigs.com:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
I Will Follow
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World / Where Have All The Flowers Gone? (snippet)
Get On Your Boots
Magnificent
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / The Promised Land (snippet)
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day / Space Oddity (snippet)
Elevation
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) (snippet)
Miss You (snippet) / I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet) / Life During Wartime (snippet) / Psycho Killer (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On

Encore(s):
One
Hallelujah (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
Happy Birthday (for Nelson Mandela)

You can't read it all (I'm still going to try)

NPR article which I find overwhelmingly relevant to my mindset many days - I'm an infojunkie.

Brave New World Revisited

 In Brave New World Revisited (1958), Aldous Huxley was eerily precognizant of today's media and our reaction to it:

In their propaganda today’s dictators rely for the most part on repetition, suppression and rationaliza­tion — the repetition of catchwords which they wish to be accepted as true, the suppression of facts which they wish to be ignored, the arousal and rationaliza­tion of passions which may be used in the interests of the Party or the State. As the art and science of manip­ulation come to be better understood, the dictators of the future will doubtless learn to combine these tech­niques with the non-stop distractions which, in the West, are now threatening to drown in a sea of irrele­vance the rational propaganda essential to the mainten­ance of individual liberty and the survival of demo­cratic institutions.

The quandaries of modern web development

As the browser wars begin anew, Slashdot has an interesting post on the issue. The answer is, of course, develop to standards and let the browser do what they will.

Monty Python Star Trek mashup

Found on Space 1970:

Stop time?

My stove has a button that stops time! Tremble, puny humans!

Classic essay: The Right to Read

The Right to Read by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation chronicles the inevitable result of DRM technologies. Timely, with the recent "forced obsolescence" espoused by publisher HarperCollins.

Bravery

Live Rocket Propelled Grenade removed from soldier.