John in Condition Yellow: Johny Winter On Tour

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Johny Winter On Tour

We got a chance to see legendary rock and blues guitarist Johnny Winter in a little bar called the Belly Up in Aspen, Colorado the other night. It makes such a nice change to sit and have a beer twenty feet from the stage instead of sitting in a huge, impersonal auditoreum surrounded by thousands of people. Johnny and his three-piece band (rythm guitar, bass, and drums) played for a solid ninety minutes with only one slight pause while he changed guitars. He kicked of the session with a rockin' rendition of Freddie King's "Hideaway" and just blew the audience away through the rest of the set with 50s rock 'n roll numbers like "Bony Moronie" and blues standards like Freddie King's "Tore Down."

And what would a Winter gig be without his version of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61"--which Johnny and the band played at double time, without missing a beat! Not bad for an old guy who has to sit on a chair for the entire gig; but his fingers are still lightning fast and his playing looks so effortless. Not surprising though, from an artist who regularly makes it into Rolling Stones Top 100 Guitarists list.

Keep on rockin', Johnny!

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What is Condition Yellow and why should we care?

What is Condition Yellow?

Jeff Cooper formulated the four parts of the code of awareness: White, Yellow, Orange, and Red.

In Condition White, you are completely oblivious of your surroundings as you would be, for example, if you are asleep.

Condition Yellow is the level of awareness that you should be in the entire time that you are awake and going about your business. Like an airplane or a ship, your radar is running 360 degrees, looking for a blip that may possibly be a threat to you. When your radar picks up a blip, you go into Condition Orange.

In Condition Orange you focus on the possible threat and analyze it to see if it may become a real threat. Once you’ve analyzed it, you either dismiss it as not a threat and return to Condition Yellow, or you take a course of action--Condition Red--to survive the threat.

In Condition Red you fight or run. Doing nothing is rarely an option.

I believe that to live one’s life in Condition Yellow is the best way to avoid or deal with threats whether they be physical, political, or whatever. The person who gets mugged and then says, “He came out of nowhere; There was nothing I could do”, is walking around in Condition White when he should be in Condition Yellow. On This blogsite I intend to examine those things that may threaten the promise that America holds for us all: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.