Grateful Dead

To break topic, I ran three miles, showered and got into my Led Zeppelin T-shirt.Just poured a whisky... an excellent afternoon. We're seeing Robert Plant, tonight after dinner. At a very fine theatre downtown. Saw Page and Plant twice, once at Red Rocks... I emerged from ingesting illicit substances in one of the stage-side bathrooms, and miraculously security didn't bat an eye as I edged over and stood about 20' from Jimmy Page, cigarette dangling as he was bathed in smoke and blue light playing, "No Quarter." I remained there right in front of the stage, right in front of Jimmy Page, unmolested for the entire song. No shit. That was my penultimate Led Zeppelin moment right there. I went back to my seat after the song knowing I could die now, I've seen Valhalla. Other than the O2 reunion, Plant has effectively halted any further excursions by the band. He alone declined the $14 million offer to play Desert Trip; Page, Jones and Jason Bonham were in. A bummer but it is what it is. Every Robert Plant solo record is worthy. He has crafted an admirable career post-Zep. In his own words, he's playing more "age appropriate" music, but it's still rooted in the blues and his band is always fantastic live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-sFRVlVA5Y \m/

....nugs.net Dead & Co HD streams are thirty bucks? I'm good.

....Phil poses the question, "Does a bear drop in the woods?" Made me smile. Nice steel guitar by Garcia in ensuing Slewfoot btw.

https://youtu.be/imFd1XAMLWI

....1.20.68. Eureka Municipal Auditorium, Eureka, CAJam -> Clementine -> New Potato Caboose -> Born Cross-Eyed -> Spanish Jam -> Caution Jam -> Dark Star. Jam / Jelly, Potato / Potato. Release this show and get ready for the fallout....hard to imagine that the Anthem shows aren't back in the dark corner of the Vault, collecting dust bunnies, just waiting to be woken up and finding out they are the eyes of the world....

I agree with your comments on the 1971 shows released-and the oddness of choice for both Daves Picks, 22 and 24 both of which seem to be weaker than other shows played at the same time. It surprises me a bit that the Capitol run of February 1971 is held in such high regard, too. They seem very pedestrian compared to the shows from the previous two years and the following three. It seems incongruous that they should have focussed on shorter, country/blues based songs considering the shows were being linked up with the ESP experiments. Maybe the experiments just happened to be conducted at an inappropriate time in the bands development. If they had been done in February 1969 there might have been a seismic shift.

These are the shows which were used for the live parts of Anthem of the Sun: Municipal Auditorium, Eureka - 20 Jan 1968 Eagles Auditorium, Seattle - 26-27 Jan 1968 Crystal Ballroom, Portland - 2-3 Feb 1968 Carousel Ballroom, SF - 14 Feb 1968 Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe - 22-24 Feb 1968 Carousel Ballroom, SF - 15-17 Mar 1968 Carousel Ballroom, SF - 29-31 Mar 1968 Some of these or parts thereof have been released on Road Trips #2.2, Dick's Picks #22 and Download Series #6. Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to pick one bonus disc's worth of music for the Anthem 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. This post will self-destruct in five minutes.

Freak Out!Absolutely Free We're Only in it for the Money Uncle Meat Weasels Ripped My Flesh Burnt Weeny Sandwich Ahead of Their Time when you are in that FZ/Mothers of Invention mood all are HIGHLY recommended. Genius compositions. Zappa is Zappa, just as the GD are the GD. Unique. in other news: I found my DaP 10 Bonus Disc!!! and listen to Big RR Blues from 10/21/83.

Check your PM. I think the link I sent you is the equivalent of archive.

Have been watching the Olympics off and on from our current perch up in (finally getting some snow) Tahoe the past few weeks. I got mesmerized by the womens' figure skating, just watching the grace and power from such young 'uns. So this year's finals was the much vaunted showdown between the 18 year old and 15 year old Russians. As you probably saw, it was razor close to the finish. The announcers and experts were comparing the styles of these two. They said the 18 year old maybe had better overall skills, and skated more emotionally (whatever that means), fully wrapping herself up in the story of the music and performance. While the 15 year old had better jumps and power, and structured her program to get the bonus points from jumping later in the freestyle performance. But I found the movement and grace of the 15 year old to be more moving to watch, just thoroughly capturing my attention, while the 18 year old's routine seemed less graceful and more herky/jerky somehow to me. I could tell that the 18 year old was doing some perhaps more complex movements and combinations as a whole, but it didn't fire my imagination or move me the same way. My vote was for the 15 year old all the way. That reminded me somewhat of the 68-71 primal vs. 72-74 cleaner, jazzier, and sometimes longer jammy interludes comparisons. I normally come down on the side of the primal. For whatever reason, a St. Stephen/Eleven/LL sequence and jams will light me up more that a post-72 PITB jam every time. Also, the primal Dark Stars take me to places that the 72 Dark Stars and after don't, even if there's more on the spot improvisation and jazzy permutations after 72. I know that a lot of deadheads feel differently, but no matter how many times I try to hear the other side of it (and I do), I always seem to come back to the primal. For me anyway, that's still the primary heart and soul of the band. Didn't hurt to have the Pig in his prime either. So it's just part of the natural progression of things I guess that every variation will have its fan favorites. But like you, I'll take all the variations, and play and enjoy the different eras based on my mood at the time.