A recent convert to MMJ

[jesterthedog]

Can someone explain the bear?  Or is it just sort of a mascot?  Has anyone seen the Bear episode on Weeds?  Also, anyone up for co-hosting a MMJ "Best-Of" Listening Party.

One more thing.  If anyone wants to carpool up To the Greek for their Show in Sept., please let me know.  Louise's Trattoria in Los Feliz has a thing where if you buy dinner, they give you a free shuttle up to the show.  I can't stand the parking up there!

Lloyd :)

[BH]

Just noticed this.  Hi Lloyd!  

I think the bear thing started with the bear from the cover of ISM that they had up in the barn that they recorded in for the photo shoot.  Not positive.  I think Jim just really likes bears.

That's a brilliant idea on the shuttle.  Talk about dinner and a show!  

I like your idea of keeping the listening party thing going.  I think I'll just pretend that every day is a listening party from here on out. ;)  

[Angry Ewok]

1999 Tennessee Fire has a track called The Bear.
2002 The Bear issued in a promo single for the UK
2003 It Still Moves! cover has a grizzly bear.
2004 One Big Holiday single cover has a bear.
2004 Acoustic Citsuoca cover has two circus bears.
2005 Patrick's drum set has two panda bears.
2005 Z paraphernalia features a panda bear.
2006 OKONOKOS skit ends with a black bear attack.
2007 Bear suit worn during the New Year's Eve performance.
2008 Evil Urges Tour features a teddy bear on stage.

And throughout the years there have been countless concert posters featuring bears, and even a few bear suits on stage.

[dasmondhaschen]

Pooch been around since at least Boston Pops, man.  Pooch ain't no super recent addition!


Here he is buying Evil Urges and everything.

[Angry Ewok]

Yeah, I know he's not new... but I needed something for 2008 and this tour saw his homecoming on stage.

[dasmondhaschen]

Homecoming?  Also, I think he would be mildly offended at being called a teddy bear.

[whothrewthecake]

pooch is quite a dashing man to my eyes. and he's got great fashion sense. match made in heavs!

[dasmondhaschen]

You like dudes in ponchos?!!!   :-?

[Kory]

Pooch was on stage way back at the prom too!

[whothrewthecake]

You like dudes in ponchos?!!!   :-?

i have been known to go for this. but i think i've seen pooch in a tux before. he cleans up well.

[dasmondhaschen]

You're absolutely right, m'lady.

[whothrewthecake]

You're absolutely right, m'lady.

so dapper! pooch has the key to my heart.

[YouAre_GivenToFly]

I believe Jim danced with him during one of the shows they opened for PJ... a show in NJ if I recall correctly.

[YouAre_GivenToFly]

[freeport]

For me, it's one of the numerous things that add to the mystique of the band. "The Bear" never mentions a literal bear, so to me, the mystery begins there. I love the song, top 5 of their catalogue for me, but it really gets the analytical side of the brain churning.

[ycartrob]

Bear Medicine
Bear Medicine—that is, power specifically associated with the spirit of the bear, particularly the ability to heal—is known in virtually all cultures within the bear's range. In 1926, anthropologist A. Irving Hallowell studied bear ceremonialism throughout Europe, Asia and North America and noted that widely divergent cultures shared linguistic taboos in referring to bears, hunted them with spears or axes even when guns were available, honored their carcasses with decorations and speeches, observed similar restrictions on the eating of bear meat, and kept bear bones from other animals. Hallowell concluded that these ceremonial hunting practices shared a single, paleolithic origin that was then widely distributed around the boreal zone in Eurasia and North America. Even with much new data available about Siberian, Lapland Saami, and Japanese Ainu bear ceremonialism, scholars continue to agree with Hallowell's thesis.

Certainly the bear's liminal ability to navigate above and below ground gives it shamanic status in many cultures. In western Siberia, the bear is thought to mediate between the living and the dead. In Jewish tradition, the bear is sometimes associated with one of the six directions—that of the earth.

The bear is also known in many cultures as a great healer, since it seeks out plants for its own healing. North American brown bears and Kodiak bears are known to dig up Ligusticum porteri (also known, not surprisingly, as "bear root") and chew on it and then rub it on their fur; the plant is known to have antibiotic properties, be good for stomachaches, and repel insects. Alaskan brown bears are known to chew on sedge to rid themselves of tapeworm and parasites before hibernating. And the common names of many other plants reflect bears' usage: bearberry, bear's paw, bear tongue, bear clover.

As an animal that disappears in winter to reappear only in spring, the bear is also the symbol of renewal, rebirth, and the regaining of health. The ancient Greeks associated Artemis, goddess of plants and regeneration, with the bear; indeed, before marriage young Greek girls were secluded and called arktoi, or "she-bears" (interestingly, a menstruating Ojibwa woman was called Mako-wii, "bear woman").

Bear is also a species known for its strong maternal ties. The she-bear was worshipped by the Celts as the bear goddess Artio. And of course, Zeus changed Callisto into Ursa Major, the "Great She-Bear" of the sky.

Bear medicine is powerful medicine, bringing healing, renewal, and rebirth. This is the gift that Grandmother Bear brings those who live in bear country.

[laylow82]

I think there incorporation of the bear means that they have a secret affiliation with the old  soviet union.  I knew they were a bunch of commies :D

[jrat]

loving that peice Tracy. Im a huge fan of bears haha
Rock on Pooch!

[dasmondhaschen]

Hey, I took that picture!  Anyway, I did some asking around and Pooch has been part of the fam since fall of '05 if anyone wuz wonderin'.

[runthru8]

is Pooch the official name bestowed upon said bear ? i love the pics. i feel like a flat stanley-type of world tour with Pooch might be in order ?