TODAY'S RAMBLINGS I love to read almost as much as I like to write and also talk. So yes, I like to read.
I occasionally highlight books here, and I'm kind of doing that, but not really. I can't really recommend the book, because the author spends most his time citing statistics. It gets dull at times. I am talking about the recent book "San Fransicko", which dissects my grossly dysfunctional, yet still beloved, SF.
But. At the end, the author, Michael Shellenberger, captures the problem plaguing SF and other similar places. Following is an extensive quote from his book. Having lived amongst the worst homeless problem in the US for 30 years now, I find it exactly correct.
"Cities are sacred and thus there must be rules for behavior in them. It is simply not okay to allow people to sleep on sidewalks, in parks, and on the sides of highways. Nor is it okay for people to sit on sidewalks and shout threats and profanity at people who walk by, nor for people to defecate in front of offices and retail stores. If restaurants and other businesses want to serve their customers (on sidewalks), they must apply for special permits. Individuals must not be exempted from this because we feel sorry for them and label them as Victims.
When we allow for the chronic violation of laws and social norms, we erode the foundation of our cities and civilization. The city is sacred because it is, or can be, the place of highest human possibility, flourish, and freedom. The public's horror at open-air drug use and defecation stems from a justified disgust at the violation and contamination of shared, public and common spaces. Homeless encampments damage the social fabric that makes cities possible."
I agree completely with the author that not enforcing existing laws because those breaking them are victims is completely upside down. There is simply no way to justify what I've seen with my own two eyes on the streets of what is otherwise the world's best city. Naked people soiling themselves in public need to be cared for, in well-managed and safe facilities. With or without their consent - we must strengthen both our state mental health facilities, and our willingness to insist that those ill (mentally and/or from substance abuse) - truly ill - receive care.
In all honesty, could we be doing worse as a society in terms of helping people in an accountable way? There's no way this problem is this intractable.
Maybe we'd benefit from Detective Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller being back on . . . The Streets of San Fransicko. Here they are, right outside The Hall of Justice - then, and now, our main police station. Sadly, it is typically filthy and nasty everywhere around it, and has been since at least 1992.
FROM THE UNWASHED MASSES I would like to sincerely thank everyone who expressed support, here and elsewhere, for the work I'm doing with my cousin Charles Clough. It is a real treat to work with an artist of his caliber.
I am sharing the best documentary I have seen to date on Charlie, and I just saw it for the first time late Monday - who knew???
It covers his history, some of his most famous works, and also shows what he's doing now. I don't think you have to care about my cousin, me or our project together to enjoy this - anyone that has interest in art and what an artist does will find it fascinating. I definitely did, in fact, I was impressed its Diamond Certified quality - no joke:
Some of you have asked how you can lend a hand to the effort. Apart from bidding on his art, we'd sincerely appreciate you post either the link to his video, or to his NFT gallery, on your social feed. Here are the raw links:
Anyone that helps us do any business will be rewarded with a copy of one of Charlie's fantastic books, signed by the artist. This is called "guerilla marketing" for a reason . . . Thank you to any one that is reading this newsletter. And JFC thanks for indulging me as I get rolling on my art endeavor with Charlie. KLUF Gotta be SF and it's gotta be The Grateful Dead. And this is even from a show at Kaiser Auditorium in Oakland, which is close enough. And you don't have to like The Dead at all to like the first song of the second set, which features The Neville Brothers on an insane version of "Iko-Iko". In fact, pretty much the whole show is Diamond Certified, and has always been one of my favorites.
And yeah, it is soundboard, and I ripped it direct to high-res FLAC from archive.org. So it's a recording of a stream, but it still sounds great to my ears.
(Fun fact: it's certainly better than the MP3 version I ripped from a cassette bootleg, using Arthur's trick-for-the-time Nakamichi deck.)
As a full-service blog, I provide a bit of art, as well as the complete track listing from this classic show.
