The Mickey Hart Band brought the VIBES to The Wescott Theatre on a warm and humid Wednesday night, May 22^nd.  The band is on a month long tour titled Worlds Within Tour 2013, which is finishing up in a few days at Legend Valley, Thorneville, OH. You can catch them tonight May 23 at The Waterstreet Music Hall, Rochester NY.

Grateful Dead tie-dyes were flying at the top of the mast for Micky Hart Bands. Solidifying the statement of psychedelic expression was the backdrop on stage; two large tapestries which of course were tie-dyes, towered over the crowd, setting the visual theme. The aura emanating from the stage was a blue hue that never seemed to fade away throughout the night.

Starting off with Drone, the energy was culminating around the room.  The sounds of the universe emanating from the speakers, the crowds consciousness hung on a single tone. Like ancient monks meditating on the vibrations of t

Continue Reading...

By Hannah Ridge

Ladies of New York , you are free to walk bare-breasted through the city! New York City’s 34,000 police officers have been instructedthat, should they encounter a woman in public who is shirtless but obeying the law, they should not arrest her. This is a good step towards gender parity in public spaces.

This decision means that breast exposure is not considered public lewdness, indecent exposure, or disorderly conduct. It also notes that, should a crowd form around a topless woman, the officer should instruct the crowd to disperse and then respond appropriately if it does not. Relative coverage is no longer a factor.

Full Article

By Sam Wood

The number of violent crimes fell last year in Philadelphia, as did assaults on police officers.

But the number of people shot by police is up.

Way up.

The number of shootings by police in 2012 resulting in death or injury climbed to the highest level it’s been in 10 years. Philadelphia police shot 52 suspects last year while responding to calls for reported crimes. Of those shot, 15 people died.
Read more at.

Full Article

Entering the Landmark Theater on a Thursday late, rushing to get a drink and find somewhere to sit in the disarray near the stage, I found a cozy spot about thirteen rows back on the right hand side (percussion/guitar side), and two songs into their set, STS9 were already rev’d up and ripping. There had been murmuring about this and that before hand; ‘why can’t I climb up stairs and hang?’, ‘man, at Primus we were flooding the isles, whats with security?’ ‘will this place pack out or what?’, ‘O, well, I heard they squished the Westcott too darn full, they had to have it here’…on and on, until that sweet, techy, heavy sound came searing out of 18+ speaker p.a. system.  A true testament to the yin/yang, old school/new world, analog/digital ideology, the sound Sound Tribe was producing was organic yet bionic, jammy but trancey, soulful yet street-wise. And would you believe it? It was an instrumental act! No small feat holding a crowd and being instrumental.

By set break the volatile crowd had only begun to take in its fill, and concerns about the mus

Continue Reading...

Obscenely wealthy retired hedge fund manager will use strength of money in politics to environmental ends.

BY NATASHA LENNARD

California billionaire Tom Steyer is setting himself up as a sort of anti-Koch. The retired hedge fund manager told the Hill that he will dedicate a fortune to fighting climate change through political donations — “he wants to make climate change a campaign issue for years to come and Democratic support for environmental protections as widespread as support for gay marriage and immigration reform,” noted the Hill.

Of course, activists concerned with campaign finance reform and the undue influence of money in politics will not welcome Steyer’s pledge. Others might be pleased that the Koch support for climate skeptical policy will have a match. In the parlance appropriate to an aggressive financier, the green capitalist told the Hill that he planned to “destroy” climate

Continue Reading...

Eric Zuesse

Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010.

A study released in March by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco reports that nearly half, 44%, of American adults who are in the bottom 20% in income were born to parents who were also in the bottom 20%; nearly half, 45%, of adults in the top 20% had parents who were also in the top 20%. Most Americans who were born in the middle 60% had parents who were also born in the middle 60%.

Read more: Continue Reading...