Startup Fiance

Butterfinger and Mounds just returned this morning from seeing Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd fame) at the scorchingly hot desert music festival known as Coachella just outside Palm Springs in Indio, California. I should have gone. I am sure I would have been complaining incessantly about the heat, frustrated by the number of people and lack of adequate bathroom facilites, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see one of the greatest artists perform my absolute favorite album – Dark Side of the Moon. To say I am kicking myself for being lazy and making excuses that I needed to stay behind for the dogs would be an understatement, applying forceful, traumatic blows to my temple would be more accurate.

Butterfinger showed me some YouTube videos to try to give me a better idea of the magnitude of last evening’s show. There was a prism (similar to the cover of the Dark Side of the Moon album) above the center of the stage that rotated throughout the crowd, spreading the colors of ROY G. BIV amongst the spectators. The sounds were crisp, clean and absolutely perfect; Butterfinger said he did not miss one note during the entire 2 + hour set. The stage was filled with vocalists and instrumentalists, each pouring their heart and soul into creating the richly electrifying sounds that pierced the crowd.

The Dark Side of the Moon 3d prism from the album cover comes to life: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lJbeN5Fsu64

In true Roger Waters fashion he made sure to mention the farce that is George W. Bush, while adding in his personal preference for a particular male Democratic candidate. As Butterfinger realized at the performance, the fight against the man and the preservation of liberty is somewhat of an age old tale, each generation taking the time to discover the untruths, but surrendering to the thought that one person can not make a difference. I am hopeful, that finally, this tradition will stop with us. The time has really come for people to stand up and protect their rights, the liberties that our nation’s founders fought so hard for us to have.It has become impossible to ignore the changes which our government has unwittingly placed upon us. The middle class is suffering, and will be completely decimated unless we get a grip on this situation and start changing the way we live. The time of consumerism is over. Be thoughtful in your choices and not wasteful with consumption.

Things are going to get much worse before they start getting better. Instead of chuckling to ourselves about the rationing of rice at warehouse markets, maybe we should start examining why people are feeling compelled to take such action.It may be true that not one person can change our current disposition, but a movement from the masses is going to be felt worldwide. It is unfair to pass this burden onto our children and our children’s babies, the time to solve this crisis is now.

I suppose that it is almost an oxymoron, of sorts, to say that one person could not make a difference. It would be more accurate to say that one person cannot extrapolate the results of their actions when put into play within the global landscape of life (think butterfly effect). For most people, spending the weekend in a sub-Saharan desert climate for music and a some beers is never going to be worth the mental and physical anguish one must endure. For those same people, they may never have an experience that traditional words fail to describe; the experience may be the one that enlightens them allowing them to understanding that one person really can make a difference when they act on their thoughts.

In closing here are a few quotes from the two resident festival goers.

Mounds

“I feel honored to have witnessed such a an epic masterpiece, the old man still has it!”

Butterfinger:

“If the virgin Mary, with legions of angels singing, were to give birth to Jesus Christ on stage, the performance by Roger Waters would still be the most inspiring thing I have ever witnessed.”