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The Carolina Chocolate Drops are Reuniting!

Holy crap, this would be awesome!

Mary and I discovered the Drops in 2011, or thereabouts, and got tickets to see them at The Queen in early 2012. Hoots & Hellmouth was added to the lineup and it was an unforgettable night. Between sets, mama Mary almost got me into a fight when we observed a young child without ear protection who clearly didn’t want to be there. We had to sacrifice a sweet spot in the pit to diffuse the situation, but still shook our backsides off to CCD (the little bit ‘o ass that Hoots left us to shake).

We saw the Carolina Chocolate Drops as a family in June of that year at the Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival. Westen was taken with their energy and we saw Rhiannon being a sweet mom at one of the kids activity tents.

Mary and I saw them at the Grand on one of our rare dates in 2013. The audience was the worst of the public radio crowd and wouldn’t get off their butts. Mary and I had amazing seats, but scooted into the wings to dance and not block anyone’s view. Unbeknownst to us, WHYY was filming the show and we saw ourselves months later on TV.

After Mary passed away, it was a special honor to take the boys to see Rhiannon Giddens in 2018 at Delfest. It was the first time they got to stay up for a proper headliner and Giddens served up a captivating performance. It wouldn’t be the last time I cried that weekend.

In 2022, Kristen and I took our kids to the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Local heroes, The Honey Badgers, were our big draw that year, but we also got to see Dom Flemons…twice. Few artists have the depth of talent and knowledge and personability that he does. He is an American treasure.

CCD hits deep in this family.

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What do you call a man who stands by while a handcuffed child is beaten?

“Security video from Walters’ home shows the 15-year-old boy kicking the trooper’s door about 8:30 p.m., then running away. According to the Delaware Department of Justice, after reviewing the security video, the trooper’s girlfriend called Walters at work and told him what had happened.”

“Deputy Attorney General Dan McBride said audio of that call makes it clear Walters knew his home had been pranked and that there was nobody trying to enter his home, that kids had kicked his door and there was no emergency.”

“Walters called in his girlfriends’ report as an “attempted home invasion,” which saw a swarm of police bearing dogs and long rifles, as well as a helicopter, descend on the area.”

Walters then pulls an uninvolved 17-year-old from his home and attacks him.

“…Walters also lied to investigators about using a police database to pull the teenager’s address. The boy had nothing to do with the prank, was held in custody for several hours…”

The manhunt, wasting tens of thousands of dollars of public assets, finds the 15-year-old culprit and Walters goes to the location where police have the child “under control.”

“He turned off his bodycam, but the camera stays on for 30 seconds after being turned off. Footage shows Walters going to the police cruiser, shouldering another officer aside and striking the kid.

The 15-year-old, who had a concussion and fractured eye socket that required 11 screws and a mesh to repair, remained unattended in the police SUV for nearly an hour, according to the teen’s attorney.”

Walters and his fellow officers go on to cover up their abuses.

It seems that only Walters has faced consequences.

This question is for the men who read this far: What do you call a man who stands by while a handcuffed child is beaten?

The officers who assisted in this assault are losers and pussies who don’t deserve the title of “man.” They are tools of a violent system. Their job has turned them into mindless enforcers with no intent “to protect and serve.”

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The Room is Not the Room

This is old school Jordan Peterson with Bret Weinstein.

“The room is not the room” becomes a representation of an intuition I have had for a long time. Although it appears that we live in a physical space, the real game, the larger playing field, is spiritual.

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Where is the US Media?

At least 126 journalists have died in IDF attacks on Gaza.

Recently, Jeffrey Loffredo of The Grayzone was beaten and arrested at an Israeli checkpoint.

“The soldiers… illegally requested that the journalists hand in their phones, and when they refused, the soldiers pointed a gun at one of the journalists, hit him with their hands and the barrel of a gun, then dragged him out of the car and slammed him onto the concrete. When lying on the ground, they pointed 2 guns at his head. The rest of the journalists exited the car and the military raided it, confiscating phones, cameras, and personal items,” said @the_andrey_x.

This story is no where to be found in major US media outlets. The US State Department has also been silent.

The abuse that Israel is committing against journalists must be brought to light.

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Government is Evil

Government is never too small to be evil.

Stop voting for these people. Stop voting for your own oppression. Stop validating the Little Caesars who would ruin your life to keep their jobs.

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Isaiah 48: Jacob or Israel?

Genesis 32:28 RSV — Then he said, “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

Matthew 5:11-12 RSV — “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This chapter addresses the difference between Jacob and Israel. Although referring to the same man and his descendents, Jacob wasn’t renamed Israel until he wrestled with an angel of God in, perhaps, the most vulnerable moment of his life. Jacob was alone, having sent all his posessessions with his entire family to give them to his brother Esau for forgiveness. After having his birthright stolen by Jacob, Esau grew strong enough to kill his brother. As Jacob waited to learn whether his gifts would spare him his life, an angel appeared to wrestle him through the night.

After surviving the match and suffering a dislocated thigh, Jacob is given the name Israel. It is unclear what “Israel” means exactly, one source provides this guess: “He Has Become A Receptacle In Which God Can Be Received And Retained.”

This rings more true to me than the frequently used, “He Who Strives/Struggles/Wrestles With God.”

Israel became a new man in his striving.

We become new in our faith when we struggle with the Word.

But God reminds us that the old self, the Jacob, is a pattern that still exists as the fallback position when we cease to strive in our faith.

This chapter chides the descendents of Israel as they have fallen into the patterns of Jacob.