Grateful Dead

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Jim, those 2 Other Ones aren't duds, and 8/25 I hate to say my problem is being really distracted by the extra bass. The Other One is the absolute best part of that show, and it's great to have the whole thing as the one on Archive is cut at 16 min, so it misses 12 min of fiery jamming. And I was including the 1/22 one in the part of the show I really dug, but that I get about 70 min of highlights out of what was supposedly a legendary show was more my point, coupled with getting what we ask for isn't always best. Like 11/6/77. Maybe if it hadn't been so widely requested, we could have gotten a more obscure choice that was a better overall show. Though conversely, DaP 29 2/26/77 is every bit of its reputation, and a bona fide great Pick made possible by the returned Bettys. Of course, it's all pretty subjective. :)

.... reminds of a certain villain named Mysterio in a certain new Spider-Man movie. psst....it was pretty damn good.

1.2 discs into 10/17/72

loves me some GD72

the space between us all
and the people
who hide themselves
behind a wall
of illusion...

yessir, that dosed Viagra tab did wonders

First.. "Scarlet definitely a Bobbie dazzler!" Well, that cracked me up. Lots of good stuff in lots of recent posts here.. but I do find myself liking several of the duds mentioned.. The Other One from 1/22/78 and 8/25/72 I thought were both excellent, but I did like the comments and viewpoints and there were some lessor shows I guess.

Bullfrogs.. they built this river takeout, hiking trail parking lot behind my house a few years ago.. and it's in a flood plain.. so they somehow thought they had to engineer the hell out of it and tried to build a slow drain system such to not add to the runoff during a flash flood inducing rain.. so they built these silly trenches near the edge of the lot complete with cattails, water that won't drain, bullfrogs and essentially a mosquito factory where once there were none. If it worked.. that'd be great but it honestly serves no purpose, when it rains hard it floods there too. So I go to bed with bullfrog mating calls each night and for no reason.. fun for about three minutes. ..and just to squelch any rumors, these bullfrogs do not make you trip when you lick the slime from behind their ears. More on that later....

I especially like the non-decade, keyboardist neutral banter. Sure, we all have our favorites.. but lightning did strike in the later years, perhaps not every night.. but.... A very kind and wise soul here that no longer seems to visit these threads but saw shows throughout their history once sent me a PM stating he never understood the decade bashing, that was never how it was. When the band was on, they were on.. and there were plenty of great shows after Pigpen and Keith left the band. He went on to add all this started after the band had packed and gone. I guess tapes become their own source of history, but being there was different. After all, there were stinkers in the early years too.. you just have to poke around and there were some smokers where you would never expect to find them. Anyway.. if Betty recorded the 1980's she certainly would have turned water into wine along the way.

What were we talking about again? 1974 Eyes of the World? Exactly.. Listened to the Eyes from the Swing today.. amazing and clearly the best. Anyway, it was simply wonderful and carried me through the hardest and scariest part of my river day.. no flips, no upside adventures, so it clearly must be the best. Great show. ok.. back to your previously scheduled bouts with chemically (or toad licking) induced dementia. :D What were we talking about again?

....stoltzfus finally got his avatar up and running. Be still my beating heart.

That is a picture of me doing what I do best...Not my Dog! Ahem....
But thanks for the kind words. And though we are blessed with some awesome regulars, it’s the rest of all y’all that keep coming back for more and throwing those spices into the proverbial stew that keeps it all fresh and alive! So thank you brother Dreading et el!

Dead Days indeed....
Wednesday: @7/3/88 finally got to this one. Can still see that dipstick flying towards the stage during Birdsong....
Thursday: cobbeled together enough gear to watch @7/4/89 30th anniversary....such a night!
Friday: @7/5/19 Folsom lake, er a, I mean stadium! Cold Rain and Snow Indeed!
Saturday: @7/6/19 Folsom, ahhh more like it! Good show, could nit pick that the last-show of tour set list might of had some more meat & potatoes, but I won’t...
Sunday: watched 7/7/89: yaaasss, Kiethfan, nice cherry popper, Scarlet definetly a Bobbie dazzler! Though like the @3/22/90 too....so many, how to choose?
Monday; finally ripped the 50th albums etc and Warfield 10/9&10/80. Listened to 7/3/66, the Aoxomoxoa bonus stuff, the Warfield sets, 7/8/81 #1 and 7/781 #2.....ok, I’m all deaded out...phew, pant, pant.....
Hopefully RT 3.3 will be in the box mananna....might need a rest first!

Cheese and Rice...so woke up this morning in my own bed...no idea how I got there? With flashes of random visions of running, no more like gliding through the mountain forest with these huge but graceful beasts, all of us beyond high, like communicating on a whole other level?.....and wild ritualistic ceremonially dancing and drum like instruments, but totally made from giant like natural red woods, not man made, all the most beatific vibes......so wake up quite confused to say the least.....eventually everything seems to be normal.....except that damn smell??? Ewwww? And I swear I heard bats as I became cognizant?? Or was it Bullfrogs?
Did you ever wake up with Bullfrogs on your mind?

Sigh, back to the grind tomorrow....always tough going back especially after a 5 day Dead fest!

Dave's 11 11/17/72 was a third Pick, so it may hold a lot of times, but not always. The first 2 are definitely to sell the subscriptions, but there can be duds in there, too. DaP 25 11/6/77 and DaP 22 12/6-7/71 are a couple of examples. I find the ones I like least are the last Pick of the year. DaP 4 9/24/76, DaP 12 11/4/77, DaP 20 12/9/81, DaP 24 8/25/72 and DaP 28 6/18/76 range from ones I almost never listen back to (12, 24, 28) to ones I won't listen back to after giving them multiple chances already (4, 20).

The ironic thing in hendrixfreak's take (which is perfectly reasonable) is that DaP 23 1/22/78 was so heavily requested, and a legendary show. Legendary mainly for a few seconds of a Close Encounters tease (kinda like the other worst Pick, IMO, DaP 7, which I grant was a third Pick, which was infamous for a few seconds of Staying Alive!?!), but the show barely gets any play from me. And when I do, I choose Minglewood, Jack Straw, Peggy O, Tennessee Jed, Row Jimmy, Music Never Stopped then the second half of set 2, or disc 3, up to Around & Around. I probably made a highlights disc of almost all of that at the time. I'm not huge on 12 11/4/77 and 25 11/6/77, as they, too, have great moments, but don't carry my attention the whole way through, where some Picks I don't want to miss anything. I was surprised on that relisten to all of DaP 9 5/14/74 how exceptionally well they played just about everything up to that Dark Star that I had steadfastly avoided so long. Even the Playing in the Band, which they essentially butcher the re-entry to, they take the ending and ramp the energy up to 11 to make up for the botched part. But like 11/6/77, which people had clamored for since DiP 35, it has a great opening 1-2 punch in Mississippi Half Step-> Jack Straw, but then what? Music Never Stopped is typical '77-'78 excellent version, Samson is good with a fun intro, then the Truckin'. And I'm a lover of Wharf Rats, and that one doesn't really get me going, either.

What does all this gibberish mean? Perhaps not much, other than sometimes the shows that a seeming consensus of fans have wanted released aren't quite as good as the lesser known shows that Dave is able to surprise us with. 11/17/71 and 11/17/72 are prime examples, not just because they're among my personal favorites, but because they are just fantastic shows. Some of the very best shows released have been part of box sets, or Dick and Dave already put them out in the DiP Series, and a couple of gems in Road Trips (6/9/76, 5/15/70, 11/21/73, 11/15/71 spring to mind). You hope everything in the DaP Series will be awesome, but hey not every Dead concert that you paid money and traveled to see was Cornell or even MSG 9/16/87 (45 min 1st set still baffles me, for a show with such a reputation). Count me in on wanting 7/13/84 to be a DaP, but I don't think it's an oustanding overall show, I really like the Scarlet> Touch> Fire> Man Smart and Dark Star (plinky keys and all). I think it just is what it is at this point with the Picks, with them having to put out 4 per year and entice into getting a big box every year, too. I'm okay with that deal, and will let it go down next year, too. Even the shows I don't particularly like are nice to hear at least once or twice. Except DaP 20 12/9/81. I can't find anything positive to say about that one other than the Albert Hoffman bicycle cover. (And that isn't anti-80s bias, it's anti-bad show bias.) :)

I think any 2 wheeled transportation that has a combustion fired engine is considered a motorcycle, but die hard bikers will always say no because they do not want to be in the same class with the moped or scooter.