Grateful Dead

Apparently said Royal wedding cost a mere $45,000,000. Royal family paid for the wedding itself and the poor taxpayers only had to pay for the security (which was about $40,000,000 of that $45,000,000).

re: Royal Wedding... My wife is a Brit - didn't set foot in the U.S. until she was an adult, and even she only watched the wedding for about 5 minutes, then went to the gym! The royal family is basically the british version of the Kardashians: Clueless rich people who do nothing but bask in public adulation and curiosity over their every move. Pembroke 1977 - Agreed, Sixtus, this show is amazing. Songlist bingo! Certainly the meatiest listening experience given they passed over the B-list songs (except Sunrise) to fit it on 2 CD's. The only blemish its the barely perceptible patch in the Help On the Way solo. And yes that Garcia noodle into Wharf Rat is enjoyable - this was the peak of the sharp-cheddar "your band's Guitar God's gotta step forward and wank for a bit" era. I don't think Jerry was very comfortable with it given that it happened very infrequently, but (for guitar geeks like me) it's interesting to hear his full-voiced guitar tone by itself. Without the band wailing away behind him you can hear every nuance of his playing, including the harmonics and gradual decay of each heavily-reverbed note. Cool stuff....

Royalty is right. What a show..

Yeah, enough all ready. It’s kind of disgusting....my wife’s like “look at the hat” or look at her dress etcetcetc, meanwhile all I see is a whole bunch of money getting pissed away that could feed thousands of people or provide clean water.....the irony is much of the royal wealth came from the disenfranchised in the first place....but I shall stop because I don’t mean to be offensive and there is that sound of “ism” in the air.... My idea of English royalty is the cosmic Dark Star et. el., from 4-8-72!! although a good stoltzfus rant can be regal too ; )

I put on Big Rock Pow-Wow for May 23 day. How funny is it when the guy who announces the band calls them the best group in the universe, and the Dead Boos him??? I'm still rolling on the floor laughing. The good old Grateful Dead.

In addition to wishing best to all regarding health issues, etc, I point out to any who may be interested the Tapers Section for this week, particularly the first part, 5/3/69 Sierra College Pop Festival. Reason I point it out is for non-musical reasons. It seems Phil has broken a string and Jerry and Bob fill the time with some banter. I like tapes like that because it's so unusual to hear any speech. I can tell you that in the GD and Jerryband shows I went to (about 45 in all) I never heard Jerry say anything...except on 10/31/92 at Oakland Coliseum for a JGB show when he said "How y'all doin'?" or words to that effect just after the first song. So it's cool to hear Jerry talking about "hassling", and Bob gets to tell a story. Oroborous - wow, Brand X! I'm going to dig some of that out now. Thanks for the reminder. Does anyone remember that song "That's Your Secret" by Sea Level? That's what I sing to myself every time the car in front of me turns without using a turn signal - "That's your secret....keep it, keep it". Rock on.

Yes, that will do. Bickershaw was far more culturally important than the Royal Wedding.

Yes, it arrived yesterday-and is as superb as you say. The whole band is great-Buddy Guys guitar playing is beautiful-but Junior Wells harp playing is spot on too. Nice slide guitar in the background as well. As I said, my copy came with a dvd. It features Buddy Guy/Junior Wells tracks form the cd-then has 4 songs by Muddy Waters, backed by the same band. The songs are "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Manish Boy", "The Same Thing" and "Got My Mojo Working". Muddy is at his magisterial best, but Buddy is very definitely in a supporting role. The only song in which he solos is "Same Thing". I definitely enjoyed the cd more than the dvd. No, believe it or not I have never heard "Texas Cannonball"! The Freddie King I have is a cheap compilation of his early sides, featuring the well known instrumentals, and a box set form Bear Records, called "Texas Flyer". This is a beautiful set- all Bear Records box sets are-featuring a hard backed book with excellent photographs and information on the recordings. The recordings are all from 1974-1976, and are spread across 5 cds. The first one and a half feature the studio recordings and the remainder are all live tracks. The first studio album featured is called "Burglar". So-it seems I have inadvertently missed out on a key album when it comes to Freddie King! The next blues album I was going to get is that one recommended on here called "Jammed Together"-Albert King, Steve Cropper and Pop Staples. The only tracks I have heard on here are "Water" and the incredible Pop Staples led "Tupelo".

Hopefully "Drinkin' TNT..." has now made it safely into your hands, and you are already listening to this Blues nirvana for the second time around... Just a word of advice though...put it somewhere where you know you will always be able to find it again, because it has a tendency to hide from you just when you want it the most, especially after you tell your special guests that you have a special Blues album you want them to hear... Always remember, Daverock, "Drinkin' TNT" wants to get back to its masters... And, speaking of masters, I know you are probably familiar with this one, but I was listening tonight and really digging it all over again, but in a most profound way, like I was a Sleestak with a bag of crystals in The Land Of The Lost, LOL!... One of the candidates for best Blues albums ever, Freddie King's "Texas Cannonball." Damn, what a great album, flows like Hot Sauce at a Honky Tonk... (OK, I'm drunk and just made that saying up, pretty good though, maybe it will catch on, LOL!)... Seriously though, this is a great album! Here: Only the first track is an A-, every other track after is an A++ Listen to the whole thing (not you, Daverock, I know you've heard it already), if you dare...