Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

Day 200 - Dec 9 - Copenhagen Show

Home of the amazing and magical Christiania a magical paradise being consumed by the greedy and afraid.

**** Super Ponder 2000 ****

When I was young my mom told me that if I ever did drugs I would immediately go crazy and die. I was deathly afraid of drugs. So afraid that when my best friend and I discovered his older sisters smoking pot, I headed up a mission to rescue them from insane deaths by finding their stash and flushing it down the toilet. I discovered that this was not the best plan as I had no idea that they were so skilled at torturing young boys. I also discovered that though they were adept at our misery, they also seemed far from crazy and rather than dying they seemed to be getting attractively healthier than ever. I was faced with a quandary. My mom who loves me and cares about me had adamantly provided information that seemed to be clearly amiss. This was not the first time as I distinctly remember being nine years old at sleep-away camp and when the subject of sex came up, I naively defended, much to everyone's amusement, that my parents did not have sex and some babies just "come," as my mom had precisely explained to me. The unanimous mockery indicated that perhaps some more investigation was needed to gain facts to prove their wrongness. Depressingly though, the more information I gathered, the more I began to realize that it was highly improbable that I was correct and I had been supplied inaccurate information. I clearly realized beyond a doubt that my mom had supplied me false information and I was resentful she had put me in a position of ridicule. This whole smoking pot and instant death thing seemed to fall in the small category.

So when that same best friend handed me some pot to smoke that he had taken from his sisters stash and the quandary rolled through my mind, the doubt created by dishonesty was strong enough for me to discard my mon's credibility. I did not die and though I am a bit crazy I am convinced it was inherited rather than induced. I am neither pro nor anti drugs. I personally have chosen not partake in consuming mind altering substances other than alcohol on occasion and coffee whenever possible. I avoid even aspirin. Had I been informed that drugs, like many things in life, have pit falls and ramifications mixed in with whatever pleasure may be derived, I would have had better set of tools to navigate my choices. Like a skier's knees or a sound engineer's ears, a smoker's lungs, a drinker's liver or sky diver's landing, each life choice has potential ramifications with varying degrees of certainty attached. There were now holes in the fabric layer of the things I had believed to be real and that was the catalyst that started my mission to unravel my mind. I used drugs to try understand the world around me and the most important thing I learned was that I never needed drugs to understand. While I have no regrets and savor my memories and the perspectives realized, I had chosen a precarious path, one of many, but only one I saw at the time. Like reformatting a computer hard-drive, though they did not exist back then, I wanted and start fresh and to be free from the tainted viral concepts that others had injected into my understanding. I eventually adopted the mind strategy that "for any concept to be a component into the structure that forms my beliefs, it must be completely harmonious with the world around me as I personally see and experience, everything else will be relegated to the various levels of doubts and likelihoods that sit off to the side."

**** End Super Ponder 2000 ****

And this morning I share my first smile of the day

Wandering about this beautiful city and who would have guessed I would find a California Highway patrol car

Today was the smallest non promo gig of the tour and here is a good shot of the FOH pirate ship in the open venue sea

It was refreshing to have a small power filled room full of amazing fans and happiness abounds and here is a picture with Chad, Truck driver roadie Neil and I

Tomorrow I have a special adventure planned!

The forever pondering

Dave Rat