 77's/Strawmen - Eugene, Or. July 24th 2004  |
Marti
Radioactive Crow
Registration Date: 06-01-2004
Posts: 10,098
Favorite 77s album: Drowning with Land in Sight
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Originally posted by Marti
There's a question for you down in the prayin' for Eugene thread. |
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“This Jesus that the Christians speak of, he sounds like a good man. Why don’t they follow his teachings?” - Crazy Horse
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07-27-2004 13:51 |
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Eddie 
Unbalanced
Registration Date: 06-02-2004
Posts: 1,140
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07-27-2004 18:55 |
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lam77s
Moderator
Registration Date: 05-29-2004
Posts: 586
Location: Eugene, OR
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Intermission...
I am running around making sure everything’s going smoothly. Mike’s changing his clothes, the rest of the guys are hanging outside the back door trying to cool off while Bruce screws the new drum head on. They’ll go on as soon as Bruce is ready.
After a 20-minute break The 77s take the stage. They blast open with Perfect Blues and it only gets better from here. As someone else describes it, they "melted my watch!"
The fans are ultra responsive and I smile until my face aches. There’s an energy in the room that propels the 77s to new heights. They play as good as they ever have, maybe better.
Switching it up, David enters, adding his amazing jangly guitar, and exiting until it’s time for him again. The show would not have been the same without him. He adds a whole other dimension to the sound. There is some joking that David takes it easy and has breaks because that is how he "negotiated the deal."
I love bass and watching Mark is so much fun. He looks like he loves to play, and that passion channels through him. Words cannot describe...
Bruce pounds like nobody else. No wonder he eats more than everybody else!! His timing is perfection. Unbalanced blows me away, as usual.
Mike’s guitar playing continues to take us beyond euphoria. When you think he’s gone as far as he can go, he steps it up one more notch. He leaves everyone wanting more.
The fans would not let the show stop. The first notes of the first encore....could it be??? YES!! Pray Naked!!! Talk about audience participation. I’d never heard this live before and it certainly did not disappoint. AHHHHHH!!!!!! There’s no way to keep it down.
The second encore they plunge into Dave’s Blues. What a perfect ending to a perfect night.
The fans are still screaming, whooping and hollering, demanding more when, after two encores, I take the stage and reluctantly put a lid on it. I only wish I had my camera on stage to take a photo of the fans. You guys are beautiful and so dang supportive. Thank YOU so much for making this a memorable night.
Individually, the band members tell me they are very happy with the way the show went, but both Mike and Mark complain that they have torn their fingers to shreds in the process. What a way to sacrifice your bodies, guys, so we can get our fix!! We can’t thank you enough.
It takes awhile to tear everything down, sign autographs, etc, but about 45 minutes later we’re finally on our way to get Mike his favorite pizza.
At 2:30 a.m. I check the guys into their hotel. What a day.
To be continued.....
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07-28-2004 13:27 |
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.evangeline.
Radioactive Hatchling
Registration Date: 06-05-2004
Posts: 8,128
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Thank you again LM!
That is just how i remember it.
But had i known Dr. Love had bloody fingers, i would not have let him scavenge our pizza.
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"...the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."
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07-28-2004 13:41 |
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j100xtraII
unregistered
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07-28-2004 13:55 |
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Eddie
Unbalanced
Registration Date: 06-02-2004
Posts: 1,140
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Yes, a truly memorable night... 
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07-28-2004 14:12 |
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j100xtraII
unregistered
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Are you referring to your time spent with El, or the 77s show? 
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07-28-2004 14:15 |
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BigDork
Happy Roy
Registration Date: 05-28-2004
Posts: 6,116
Location: lI was lonely and hungry, but not so lonely I wouldn't eat
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__________________
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” - G. K. Chesterton
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07-28-2004 14:16 |
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Nailtatt
Rocks in your Head
Registration Date: 05-28-2004
Posts: 24,078
Favorite 77s album: Sticks and Stones
Location: The NFP
Thread Starter 
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| quote: |
Originally posted by Eddie
Yes, a truly memorable night...
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Has to be both!
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07-28-2004 14:17 |
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Marti
Radioactive Crow
Registration Date: 06-01-2004
Posts: 10,098
Favorite 77s album: Drowning with Land in Sight
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| 77's/Strawmen - Eugene, Or. July 24th 2004 |
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What was the turnout like for this show? I hope it was better than some we've discussed lately.
__________________
“This Jesus that the Christians speak of, he sounds like a good man. Why don’t they follow his teachings?” - Crazy Horse
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07-28-2004 14:18 |
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BigDork
Happy Roy
Registration Date: 05-28-2004
Posts: 6,116
Location: lI was lonely and hungry, but not so lonely I wouldn't eat
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| RE: 77's/Strawmen - Eugene, Or. July 24th 2004 |
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| quote: |
Originally posted by Marti
What was the turnout like for this show? I hope it was better than some we've discussed lately. |
It was kind of hard to tell since people were standing all over the place.
Maybe Linda has a count.
__________________
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” - G. K. Chesterton
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07-28-2004 14:19 |
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lam77s
Moderator
Registration Date: 05-29-2004
Posts: 586
Location: Eugene, OR
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| RE: 77's/Strawmen - Eugene, Or. July 24th 2004 |
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I didn't count. There's no official total. We started with a "clicker" at the door, but the guys lost track after 34. 
From what others told me (including one of the door people) they estimated about 150, which I thought was a nice crowd. It seemed like more showed up after the intermission.
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07-28-2004 15:48 |
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lam77s
Moderator
Registration Date: 05-29-2004
Posts: 586
Location: Eugene, OR
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Ready?
The day starts early for me. I go to bed around 3 am and wake up at 6:30 am. I am stressed trying to figure out what to do about transportation once I drop Mike, David and Bruce off at the Portland airport and turn in the rental car. Should I stay in Portland, spend the night at Brett's, and miss work the next day, hoping my car is/can be fixed and drive my own car home? Should I take the train/bus home? After about an hour of tossing and turning, I finally figure it out.
Glenn is leaving on a business trip from the Eugene airport to B.C. Canada later this morning. I'm supposed to drive him to the airport around 10:45 am. That means I'll have his car for the week. Since Nadia (Brett's wife) came down with Brett in their car, she can drive their car back and we can load the gear that doesn't fit in the rental into Glenn's car and Brett can drive Glenn's car up to PDX. Okay. I think that will work. That way, I can return the rental car and Brett can pick me up and I'll drive him home. Sounds like a plan. Of course, Brett and Nadia don't know anything about this plan....yet.
We have house guests this weekend, too. Mike Rohlinger and Randy Peters and their wives, and Doctor Love are staying with us. I call Brett and leave a message on his cell phone about the plan for driving an extra car up to Portland.
Glenn and I leave for the Eugene airport at around 10:55 a.m. We're running a little behind, but the airport is podunk and it's no big deal at all getting through security. No worries. We say goodbye. He'll be gone until Thursday night.
As I drive back into my driveway, Randy Peters comes out of the house with the cordless phone in his hand. "Glenn's on the phone." Uh, oh.
Glenn says, "I don't have my credit card with me. I either left it at the pizza place, or Ryan [our oldest] has it from when he ran the card last night." [He works at the pizza joint.]
I call the pizza place and it's not there.
I call Ryan's place and nobody answers the phone. Brett and Nadia are staying there and they don't answer their phones either. I'll have to drive over. [Ryan's apartment is about 10 minutes from our house and is directly next door to the hotel where everybody else is staying, in the opposite direction of the airport.]
I high-tail it over there and bang on the front door. Bleery-eyed, Nadia answers the door. "I think Ryan has dad's credit card." Ryan comes stumbling out of his bedroom. "Oh, yeah," he says. "Sorry," fishing it out of his pants pocket.
Okay. At least I've got it. As I leave I ask Brett to please check is voicemail messages. I don't have time to explain anything to him right now.
I'm back on the road to the airport. I get there at about 11:40 a.m. Glenn's waiting for me out front. I joke with him that he really just wanted to see me again.
Goodbye, a second time.
Now, back on the road, I call Mike and ask him if he wants me to go directly to the hotel to pick up David. I ask, "Can David be ready in 15 minutes?" [Bruce last night said he probably didn't want to go out to breakfast.] Mike says, "I think so. I'll call him and he'll be ready."
I get to the hotel and it's about noon. The Harmon crowd is standing by their van, packing up. David's out there, too. I walk over and Bill says, "Oh, are we all going for pancakes?" I'm thinking...OMG, all these people and it's Sunday and this is a popular eatery. How are we all going to get seated, eat and get out of there before 2 p.m. But, I smile and say, "Sure!"
I ask David if he's ready and he says he is but that Bruce has decided to go, but has not showered yet, and won't be ready for about another 15 minutes. So I'm supposed to go back to my house and pick up Mike and then come back for David and Bruce. "Okay," I say with another smile. Let's just stay calm. I call Brett and Ryan again, but neither of them pick up.
I get back to the house and as Mike puts on his finishing touches and zips up his suitcase, our other house guests ask if it's okay to have a bagel. Sure. They can have whatever they can find. At least I had it together enough to make coffee for them. I am the worst hostess this weekend. They, on the other hand have been great!! I don't know what I would've done without their help. "We'll lock up when we leave," was the last thing I heard them say.
Mike and I finally dash out the door with all his stuff and put some of it in the rental car and some of it in the trunk of Glenn's car. I call Brett and Ryan AGAIN, but nobody answers. We're now on our way back to the hotel.
Everybody's out front now. Bruce and David are ready and the Harmons are all packed up. Bill says he'll follow me to the restaurant, but I can't go yet because I have to go next door to Ryan's apartment and make sure they know what's going on.
I give Bill directions to the restaurant. They're simple. He'll have no problem. Mark puts my cell number into his phone in case they get lost.
Then I drive over to the apartment with Mike, David and Bruce. They wait in the car while I scramble to the front door and knock loudly. Nadia answers right away. They are all dressed, looking at me as if to say, "What? Why are you here again?" I ask Brett if he listened to his messages. He says "yes" and that he'll be over at the house to get Glenn's car by 1:30 p.m. Well, swell.
We're off to go get breakfast. I'm praying the whole time that it's not crowded and, you know what? It's not. Bill's on the ball and told a waitress that we need to be seated and get our food as soon as possible so we can make it to the airport in time.
It works. We're seated almost immediately. Thanks, Bill! It must be that rock star charisma. 
We order and get our food fairly quickly.
Brett calls around 1:30 p.m. and they're at the house, ready to take off with their car and Glenn's car. Nadia's going to drive Glenn's car because it has air conditioning. Okay. See you at the airport.
We eat up and pose for parting photos. It's time to say goodbye to the Harmons and get on the road.
As we leave the parking lot, we scrape the bottom of the car BIG TIME! Bruce and David are in the backseat. I say, "You guys ate way too many pancakes!" Then it starts...Bruce makes up this entire song to the tune of Bottom Line with the alternate lyric, "We Bottomed Out." It is soooo funny that we're all laughing way too hard. My stomach hurts. I'll never be able to listen to that song again without thinking about that.
We stop off at a 7-11 so they can get whatever it is they need to drink/munch on for the 2-hr trip to PDX. Everybody gets really normal stuff except David comes out with a slurpy. LOL! And keeps scraping the straw up and down the entire time. [EEEEeeee EEEEEeeee EEEEEEeeee]
to be continued....
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07-28-2004 18:29 |
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lam77s
Moderator
Registration Date: 05-29-2004
Posts: 586
Location: Eugene, OR
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Finally we're on the freeway heading north. Very uneventful trip until we pull off about 27 miles from Portland to fill up the tank before returning the rental car. And guess who's at the gas station... Brett and Nadia, lounging in the parking lot, doing nothing. Just hanging there.
Mike looks at me and says, "You planned this." "No, I didn't. They just happen to be here." I'm sure he doesn't believe me, but Woodburn is where everybody stops on the way up to Portland, though it is weird to see them in the same gas station parking lot.
We get gas and Brett says, "We don't want to go to the airport." WHAT?!?!?! Nadia says, "I want to go to COSTCO. I need a new bath mat." Um...but you guys are supposed to help with the transportation. I'm wondering how I can drive 2 cars at the same time. How do I deliver everybody at the airport, return the rental car and somehow get Glenn's car to drive home??? I don't want to think anymore.
It was obvious to me that it would do no good to try to make them conform to my wishes. Nadia has made up her mind.
Now, we need to figure out who is going to drive Glenn's car.
Mike says, "I'll drive the rental and you can drive your own car."
"No, that won't work because you're not on the rental agreement."
I ask him if David or Bruce might want to drive Glenn's car, but he says they won't want to. Well, guess what? That means Mike gets to drive Glenn's car the rest of the way.
I get in the rental car and he heads for Glenn's car. I'm thinking he's going to be right behind me. I turn left out of the gas station parking lot, and look in the rear view mirror for Mike. He's nowhere. I pull off onto the shoulder of the on-ramp and call him.
"Where are you?"
"Where are YOU?"
"I'm on the shoulder of the on-ramp waiting for you."
"This thing drives like a truck. I'm spinning out! I can't turn left."
"Then, turn right and turn around." I'm thinking there's still time to get my "no whining" button out.
"Wait for me."
"I will."
David's in the front seat and he just looks at me. Does he know something I don't?
We sit there for another minute or so and then Mike miraculously appears.
Okay. Good to go. I do my own fair share of spinning out, trying to get out of the gravel onto the roadway.
We somehow miraculously get to the airport, after Mike's cut off at least 2 vehicles to try to stay behind me. I've gotta hand it to him, though. He's an excellent follower. There is no way I am going to lose him, not if he can help it.
The original plan of dropping off the rental car first is no longer an option. They have just a little over an hour before their flight leaves and Bruce is really starting to stress. I call Mike and tell him to just follow me to "departures." We arrive and start throwing stuff onto the sidewalk. They hand their ID's to the guys behind the counter at curbside check-in and those guys take off inside with all their ID's. Mike comes over and says, "This is going to take awhile."
I decide to try to check the car in while they're waiting. I tell Mike if he gets done right away to follow me and I try to tell him how to get there. It's very close by. Then I drive off. Thank heavens there is no line. I am all done within 2 minutes and then I'm charging around trying to figure out how to get out onto the sidewalk that I can see on the other side of the glass, that I can't seem to get to. I finally figure it out and as I walk out I'm on the "arrival" deck. I go across the street and inside and head up the escalator, calling Mike (since there was no cell service inside the car rental garage).
"Where are you?" He was right where I left him. Then he says, "I can't find my wallet!!" I know I saw it when he went into 7-11. Then he said, "Oh, here it is." Whew.
I ask him to stay put, that I am on my way.
"Are you walking?" he asks.
"Yes."
As I head out onto street level, I am at the opposite end from where he is and where I need to be. Everybody's unloading all their luggage in front of me and I'm having to negotiate my way through...."excuse me.....excuse me....excuse me...." and I'm walking as fast as I can. It's about 4:45 p.m. by now and Mike's just standing there waiting for me. I hustle up and he digs the key out of his pocket, hands it to me, says, "We're done. See you later," and he's gone.
[sigh of relief]
I get in the car, start it, and he's got Echoes of Faith going full blast. I smile and look inside after him. I'm sure he didn't look back.
EPILOGUE:
I got home after an uneventful (thankfully) trip down I-5. The Rohlingers and Peters had totally cleaned up the house and loaded the dishwasher. I started it and was standing at the counter when I heard an unfamiliar swhooshing sound. All of a sudden water poured out from under the sink. I yanked the dishwasher open so it would STOP! Well, found out last night that the place on the garbage disposal where the hose from the dishwasher hooks on has disintegrated and we need to buy a new garbage disposal. Glenn doesn't know yet. 
The good news is that the problem with my car was only a broken hose. It's all fixed and didn't cost a fortune. Now we just have to get it back from Portland.
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07-28-2004 18:30 |
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j100xtraII
unregistered
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Linda, thanks for that 5 part story about your weekend. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks again for a great show.
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07-28-2004 20:31 |
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BigDork
Happy Roy
Registration Date: 05-28-2004
Posts: 6,116
Location: lI was lonely and hungry, but not so lonely I wouldn't eat
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yeah!
thanks Linda!!!!
)
__________________
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” - G. K. Chesterton
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07-28-2004 21:43 |
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sirjakeyjake
Praying Naked
Registration Date: 07-29-2004
Posts: 554
Favorite 77s album: S&S
Location: WEST COAST, BABY!
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That was a GREAT story, Linda!
I echo thanks and gratitude for all you and Glenn did. I will never forget last weekend.
I'd always imagined the band members as hilariously-funny yet down-to-earth guys. I got a true taste of that at dinner, inbetween tastes of a meat-trio pizza. More to never forget.
And for the rest of you...it was great to see John Crawford (long time no see/speak/email) and Joey ("do I know you?") and finally meeting BD (finger crossed that everything turns out wonderfully). Sorry I didn't know who anyone was at Papa's...maybe next time I will, and I'll me more social.
After 21 years of following a band that I've never seen live, last weekend was a real treat, bypassing the first (and only) time I've seen U2 live. What a wonderful show, made wonderful by wonderful people. I can die a happy man now.
=jb=
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=jb=
"We are the music makers,
and we are the dreamers of dreams."
----------Willy Wonka----------
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07-29-2004 01:30 |
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DaLe
Mr. Magoo
Registration Date: 06-01-2004
Posts: 1,060
Location: MiNNeSoTa - HeRe we put salt on the Roads... Lord, Help me be Salt of the Earth - NoT Salt in the Wound. so, take most everything I SaY HeRe with a grain of Salt !
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| quote: |
Originally posted by DaLe
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Originally posted by lam77s
I had to go to the store and get Mike some gatorade and batteries..... |
aahh, this confirms my suspicions... 
lam77s,
this is great reading, great writing also. thanks
looking forward to part 3... is this a trilogy or a saga ?
DaLe |
SaGa... a much better ending then Rocky V
thanks...
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07-29-2004 06:42 |
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bf7
Someone New
Registration Date: 06-01-2004
Posts: 48
Location: loserville
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Kudos Linda for a great weekend and a great story, this 7's fan is *very* grateful ...
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07-29-2004 08:06 |
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Marti
Radioactive Crow
Registration Date: 06-01-2004
Posts: 10,098
Favorite 77s album: Drowning with Land in Sight
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| quote: |
Originally posted by Marti
| quote: |
Originally posted by Marti
There's a question for you down in the prayin' for Eugene thread. |
) |
)
__________________
“This Jesus that the Christians speak of, he sounds like a good man. Why don’t they follow his teachings?” - Crazy Horse
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07-29-2004 10:08 |
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