I like the Grateful Dead, too, but damn, you would think there would be some local musicians here in Northern California who would be interested in doing something original musically, instead of playing “Casey Jones” or “Touch of Grey” for the thousandth time in their life.  

C’mon, y’all. You can do better.

And then there’s this: most tribute bands do a disservice to the band they’re attempting to honor because most bands that only play cover songs usually stink.

And this is certainly true in regards to Grateful Dead tribute bands. But don’t be discouraged deadheads, because most bands’ versions of cover songs are awful, including The Grateful Dead, themselves, who were well-known for butchering songs on stage written by other, even older and/or long-dead artists who were sent spinning in their graves.

For instance, ever hear The Grateful Dead’s live version of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”?  It’s the version that only a true deadhead could love.  

For those Buddy Holly fans reading this, you know what I’m saying — The Grateful Dead lived up to their band name by doing everything they could to drain the life out of that song sonically, somehow making an otherwise great tune boring and unlistenable. How dare they! R.I.P. Buddy Holly. (Rush’s version is so much better anyway.)

So don’t do the same here in Northern California with the Grateful Dead’s music, much of which was outstanding.  

Do not dishonor them with your lousy cover versions of their many great original songs.  

We get it already, deadheads, you love Jerry Garcia almost as much as you love LSD, but to put it bluntly, you are boring audiences with seemingly uninspired musicians and bands that are just rehashing old, worn material, which is a paid ticket to musical disappointment for most listeners. Just saying.

Music should be interesting, for the listeners at least, if not for the bored and/or boring musicians themselves. Do yourselves (and us) a favor. Stop wasting your time and ours playing Grateful Dead songs already... and write something new and, if not necessarily original, at least write and perform some music that is derivative of bands other than the Grateful Dead.  

Duke Energy customers urged to vote against ‘unfair’ SB 261

As a Duke Energy customer, I am deeply concerned about the high cost of energy. I have already experienced increases in my Duke Energy bill.

SB 261 saddles ratepayers with all the cost and all the risk of building new power plants. 

The bill lets Duke Energy shareholders off scot-free, all the while the utility builds expensive gas or nuclear plants that won’t be ready for years… all paid for by the ratepayers.  

The more ratepayer’s money Duke spends, the more the shareholders of Duke Energy profit. 

SB 261 is not right, and it is not fair. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter was dated May 9.

•

I note that in your letters to the editor, the editor requests that we keep letters to “preferably less than 150 words in length.”

I also note on Page A-4 of The Daily Planet. dated April 30-May 13, 2025, two (2) letters which far exceed that.  

The letters were written by Mr. TERRY HANSEN & MR. JAKE PICKERING, RESPECTIVELY. 

I would very much like to respond to those letters and it will require about twice as much space to adequately respond. I hope you will favorably consider printing my response.

The first letter written by Clown #1 (AKA TERRY HANSEN see below) tried to convince his readers that he was condemning all supporters of Hamas. However, Southerners are smarter than that. We Southerners may have fallen off a turnip truck, but not at night. They swallowed none of that gibberish. when he tried to, but was unsuccessful in convincing readers that to “condemn all supporters of Hamas,” one condemns all things Republican and praises all things that are Democrat.

First and foremost, I want your readers to know something about me. I am 91 years old. I grew-up in rural S.C. I dropped out of H.S. and enlisted in the U.S. Army at barely 16 years of age in July 1950, just after the North Korean Communist thugs invaded South Korea, a free country.  

Now, no doubt I’m a “WAR HAWK” — and “MAGA” had not yet been coined, I wanted America to always come first and all who attacked us or our allies should — NO, MUST BE — decimated AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Now for the two (2) clowns, CLOWN #1 (HANSEN) & CLOWN #2 (PICKERING): My old grandpappy always reminded us kids that we should “never ever even think, let alone call, others ‘stupid.’” GOD makes us with different talents. He would continue with “PEOPLE THAT STOOP TO DOING SUCH IS REALLY REFERRING TO THEMSELVES.”  

CLOWN #1 says that, as for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Times of Israel published an article that accused him of supporting Hamas. That is pure gibberish and is absolutely mindless blather. He also cites an Israeli historian, Adam Raz, who asserted (emphasis added) “that Netanyahu, since he was first elected prime minister in1996, has been working hard to strengthen Hamas.” How absurd can you be? Israeli citizens wouldn’t abide that for an “ARKANSAS MINUTE.” They would hang him at high noon and let him hang there until the buzzards,  etc., ate him. CLOWN #1’s last statement; “I continue to be amazed by how ideology and selective perception can blind us to truth.” Surely he was projecting an image of “CLOWN #1 (aka TERRY HANSEN) on a large screen, when he made this assinine statement. Please, he (CLOWN #1) resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a state that wanted to convict a man who was only defending himself from left-wing ideologues who were attempting to kill him with AR/AK-type weapons. ENOUGH FOR CLOWN #1

Now for CLOWN #2 (AKA JAKE PICKERING):  He’s the clown that hates everything Republican and adores everything Democrat, including the known mentally impaired “Joe (slow-mo) Biden. He is a worse case that Biden (Brandon). I believe he should be psychoanalyzed and, if found lacking in the head, be institutionalized. It appears that he thinks he is more intelligent than anyone else. It is more likely that it is the reverse of that. CLOWN #2 resides in California, a state that is losing population in huge numbers.

It has been stated recently that the Democrats are cheating BIG TIME. It had not dawned on me until then. The Democrats — and I always wondered why — refuse to allow the question: “ARE YOU AN AMERICAN CITIZEN?” ON EVERY CENSUS TAKEN, WHICH IS EVERY 10 YEARS.

The answer is simple. They are power-hungry. They want to maintain their undue influence in the halls of Congress — and will do anything legal or illegal to maintain the status quo, including pushing their own grandmas over a cliff in their wheelchairs. But somehow these cheating people — whose fathers are probably unknown to them (but who would figure it out, if we let them) — would require the  taxpayers to pay for the wheelchairs.

Congress is reapportioned after every census — again every 10 years. It is based purely on head count. It has been estimated that California would lose at least 20 and as many as 30 congressmen/women seats if they played fair and only included citizens in their census count. Those 20 or 30 seats would go mostly to “red states.” Why would anyone move from one “hell hole” (blue state) to another “hell hole?” (blue state)?  Other “blue states” are bleeding population profusely as well — most of which are fleeing to “red states.”  It is estimated as many as 50 congressmen/women could very well be lost by the “blue states” (Democrat-controlled states). That would be a huge shift of power to “red states” (Republican-controlled states).  The Democrats are very good at one (1) thing... well, at least two things: (2), LYING & CHEATING.

We should not and MUST NOT TOLERATE THIS FRAUDULENT ABUSE  OF POWER until 2030 to correct. Tell your congressman/woman to get this changed, NOW. NON-CITIZENS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. I don’t have a clue as to what the blue-nose elite legal scholars would say about this. However in my humble view, the LIARS & CHEATERS NEED SOME SEVERE COMEUPPANCE. Maybe they would disallow ALL VOTES from states refusing to the counting of citizens-only in the census. If they can’t be fair to all states, then the other states need not be fair to them.

It has been ruled that states cannot secede from the Union — however what does the Constitution say about being KICKED OUT of the Union? If they will not obey our laws, why in Hades do we allow them to enjoy our freedoms, etc.?

This kind of “blue state” shenanigans goes all the way back to the War of Northern Aggression, when all Southern — but not Northern — slaves were freed. It was not the South that demanded that freed slaves must be counted as only two-thirds (2/3rds) of a person. Again, they wanted to control the halls of Congress. And we let the b--tards get by with it. 

I say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. THIS TIME AROUND, LET’S DO IT TO THEM BEFORE THEY DO IT TO US — AGAIN.

LEWIS R. VAUGHN

S.C. Senate, Retired

Greer, S.C.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Retired S.C. Senator Vaughn’s letter to the editor ended with the following postscript quoting Benjamin Franklin:

“The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.”

Also, the Daily Planet vows to step up its enforcement of — or revise — its length standards for letters to the editor