Grateful Dead

I stumbled on this recent Clapton interview where he talks about Mayer cutting three tracks with him for a JJ Cale tribute album - don't think I've shared it yet. The tremendous respect that Clapton has for Mayer as a guitarist is clearly visible: "I don't think he even knows how good he is..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzfrXiD1_Rg

47 years ago today. Give it a listen. March 14, 1971 http://gratefuldeadoftheday.com/03-14-1971 Camp Randall Field House Madison, Wisconsin

extra sensory perceptionplayen in tha band if tha bobby dont brent ya then jerry phil

Money get backI'm alright Jack Keep your hands off my stack

On a day-to-day basis, I think the Dead used to decide ahead of time what not to play more than what to play. For example most of May 77, you rarely if at all so Scarlet fire played two nights in a row. Obviously not an accident. They seem to rotate big jams like that, including estimated prophet / eyes of the world and to some extent help slip Franklin. Same thing with the set openers. On Europe 72 they pretty much alternated Darkstar and the other one , with a couple of minor exceptions . And I think other than that it was pretty wide open. You can hear them talking about what to play next a lot of times, like Dick's Picks 29 and Dave's Picks 12. I don't know how much improvising in the setlist they did by 1995. I imagine with the issues Jerry had that knowing what songs were going to be played ahead of time would have helped his ability to stay as much in the game as possible. Nowadays I don't know, with the stage lighting and that sort of thing if there's a need to know what's coming next for the lighting people. Also I wonder about the general synergy of this new band. I happen to think that making it up as they went along was a huge synergistic Talent of the Grateful Dead's, that's got to be difficult to reproduce. I think of the Dead in their heyday as one unit that was able to do very special things musically, particularly in the way of improvisation on stage.. dead and Company is essentially a cover band. Wait that didn't sound right. What I'm trying to say is they did not forum out of 5 musicians who integrated improvisation into there development as musicians and as a group. I don't think Jerry would care, maybe they just can't remember anymore and need to write it down. I can't remember Jack schitt anymore myself. I apologize about all of the grammar mistakes in here, I am driving and using the voice translator to type this. I guess my last thought on possibilities Ama is that dead and Company know that their fan base comes out to see multiple shows, and they want to make sure they are mixing it up every night.

...headed back to the Europe ’72 tour – not a bad place to be – for the show at Newcastle City Hall. The Dead are absolutely on throughout the night – minus a false start in Beat It on Down the Line – and put together a monstrous 18-song first set. There is so much good stuff in that long first half. Take the Big Boss Man, which, on this night, is phenomenal and a microcosm of what was going on with the band the whole evening. Pig delivers some deeply felt vocals, Jerry tears it up through a few jams, Keith is like a god on keys, Billy is dishing out some serious beats, and Phil drops some absolute bombs. Other first set highlights include the incredible China> Rider and a stout Big Railroad Blues. But the Looks Like Rain might take the cake in the first half with Jerry on pedal steel and just a sick performance by everyone. If the first 18 songs did not impress, do not worry; the second half is even more mind-blowing. A fat and funky Good Lovin’ opens things with both Pig’s relentless vocals and the rest of the band’s groovy, loaded jams. But just wait for that 20-minute Truckin’, which devolves (evolves?) into some epic psychedelic insanity before segueing into Drums. Out of Drums they come out with an even more monumental effort on a 26-minute Other One with an out of sight, Lewis and Clark type exploratory jam that plays around with the Feeling Groovy jam for a few minutes in the middle. The Brokedown closer is just about the best way to send off such an intrepid, colossal show. Fare you well indeed.Newcastle City Hall is a formidable place to play, but also an incredibly famous one. It was a major stop on European tours, and everyone who was anyone had played there at one point or another. The building was opened in 1927 and was in a rather poor state when the Dead came there in 1972. But the real problem with the venue is that it is, as Rosie McGee describes in the liner notes for the official release, "a dour concrete building in the midst of a grim industrial town," with "the warmth of a witch's teat.” Or, as Rock Scully noted in Living With the Dead, the Newcastle City Hall was “an all-around shit gig. A municipal concrete dump, with a balcony all the way round and big, fucking, concrete pillars that interfere with the sight lines.” But the Dead quickly electrified the venue and transformed the place. Again in the words of Rosie McGee, “the concrete walls somehow turned into green pastures.” ... imho- Primo! If you haven’t experienced this show audio wise , I would recommend it to anyone, both new & old fans of the Grateful Dead!..... ;)

Irony alert - I guess not everyone has taken their self-awareness pill today.... Spacebro, I had totally forgotten about the Sting/Dead '93 shows - I went to Giants and Jerry came out for Walking on the Moon - not a musical highlight, but fun. An odd pairing indeed. I went though a Sting-solo-career phase - "Ten Summoner's Tales" was one of those CD's I put on when I wanted to hear something a little more "uptown", like Steely Dan. Saw Sting on a late-night talk show recently and he could not have acted any more haughty or pretentious - such a turn-off when you realize some of your musical heroes are.... how to say nicely? ... is "douchebags" too harsh? I met Leslie West of Mountain at a NYC club once - I've almost never met more of an abrasive personality. Chuck Berry, Don Henley and so many others have similar reputations. (How'd I suddenly get so negative? Maybe I need to take my self-awareness pill too.) And I had also almost forgotten about 10/31/91 - one of the Italian bootlegs I reluctantly bought in like '93? - had to have it - haven't listened to that in at least a decade. A pretty good show with the emotional Billy Graham tribute during space: "How do you like your blue-eyed boy now, Mr Death?!!" I have to dust that one off.....

I always heard that the Grateful Dead only planned the first one or two songs of each set and the rest were improvised. So I was at the Dead and Co. concert here in Orlando and was texting with an old friend back home playing a "guess the second set opener" to which I said China Cat. My friend replied that I was right because he had seen the setlist online somewhere (before the concert was played). An entirely planned setlist seems a little like "cheating" to me. What are your thoughts? Would Jerry roll over in his grave over a pre-planned setlist?

I was thinking the same thing.. no good comes from gazing at shadows in the rear view mirror. Been a bit busy and am enjoying switching up Portchester 71 and FW69.. Explored a nice diversion by Gaelic Park 71 tossed in for good measure. Looking at the calendar today, 3/14 marks the beginning of perhaps the last great tour, Spring 1990. 3/14/90 has become one of my favorite shows of the tour.. not sure why, but the first listen when I got Spring 1990 TOO was late at night, working, listening to headphones. Needless to say I did not get much work done after I started spinning that one.. a great show. We keep getting hit with good, fresh powder by the day here in the mountains East, and having a bit of a drop off in my schedule.. I am taking a half day, gearing up a device and getting ready to do some listening and skiing today.. with a bit of 3/2/69 left that will drift right into the bonus disc material it should be a grand day.. 4/8 is right around the corner too, which marks another epic anniversary. So much music, so little time.. good problems to have.

Does this mean that your next post will have something good in it?