30 Days of Dead
It's a Dead Head's most wonderful time of the year! Welcome to another 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, one for every day of the month, selected by archivist and producer David Lemieux. The tracks are yours, 100% free gua-ran-teed, but the real fun is taking part in the challenge for the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.
Those of you who know what to do, feel free to skip right on ahead. For those of you who need a refresher, here's the drill:
You know your Ables from your Bakers from your C's, but can your finely tuned ears differentiate the cosmic "comeback" tour from a spacey 70s show? Each day we'll post a song from one of the Dead's coveted shows. Will it be from that magical night at Madison Square Garden in '93 or from way back when they were just starting to warm it up at Winterland? Is that Pigpen's harmonica we hear? Brent on keys? If you think you know, lob your answer in and you just might find yourself taking home our daily prize of a 2025 Grateful Dead wall calendar or the grand prize – a copy of limited, numbered, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL '78 boxed set!
Indeed LeeBob! At the 7/2/71 closing show at the Fillmore West, Jerry introduced the JB Goode encore by saying: “Alright folks, here’s the one it’s all about!”
I understand that 30 DoD is limited to goodies from the vault written by members of the band, but the past 14 Novembers I find myself taking deep dives daily. I appreciate the exercise of trying to find the show, and the comments, as if I was wondering the lot, selling shirts, bracelets, or bagels, and having conversations with heads, from VW microbuses to a wood paneled Country Squire, with various tapes of GOGD being played, or folks sitting around playing guitars, drums, and singing dead songs. Our home away from home., on the road, so many roads. Today's deep dive I found myself reflecting on Chuck Berry. The GOGD played 'Promised Land' 427 times, 'Around and Around' 418 times, and 'Johnny B. Goode' 284 times according to Dead Base XI. Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode and Around and Around were released in 1958 as the A and B sides of a 45. Promised land was released in 1964. Every time they played these songs, it was a celebration of the early rock and roll dance music. Time to boogie. Other Chuck Berry tunes played by GOGD include 'Let It Rock' only played once (6/23/74), 'Run Run Rudolph' (released by Chuck Berry but written by Marvin Brodie and Johnny Marks) played a handful of times in December, 1971. Other Chuck Berry tunes were covered by Jerry/Merle, JGB, Kingfish, and New Riders. Thanks Chuck.
Does anybody know what Jerry and David Gilmour thought about each other?
The hint got me there. After a busy morning with no time to hunt, I thought I might not have the time but that hint got me there on the first show I stopped on. Love it! Now I can just relax and listen.
That piano at the end of Miracle, sounded a bit like Roadhouse Blues!
Highlights are the intro to Wheel and all of SOTM, especially the keys of the outro. Never fails I always seem to get something stuck in my eye everytime I hear SOTM, especially this one. There are many things I could be doing the month of November, but like the song says, "I'd rather be with you" all right here. Thanks to David and Co. for keeping this mother rollin' all these years.