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    clayv
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    "Cause it's always like that with the Dead, you know - it's always the whole thing." - News Journal

    As we close out the 2019 Dave Pick's series, we deliver on our promise to give you the "whole thing" with the complete performance from The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA 3/24/73 and what a show it was! An upstanding "musical eulogy" to the recently departed Pigpen, the Grateful Dead conducted a potent study in contrasts on this bittersweet night. They found easy balance between tidy jams like "They Love Each Other," "Wave That Flag," "Playing In The Band," and introspective moments on "Stella Blue," "Sing Me Back Home," and a poignant "He's Gone." It was all laid down with a discipline and a polish unheard of in any of the truly exceptional shows that had come before it. Yes, you might say, they cleaned up nice to carry on the legacy as Pig would have wanted.

    Limited to 20,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 32: THE SPECTRUM, PHILADELPHIA, PA 3/24/73 has been mastered to HDCD specs from the 7" and 10" reels by Jeffrey Norman.

    GET IT WHILE YOU CAN

    *Limited to 2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

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  • Mind-Left-Body
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    LMG

    This is not eBay. If you have something you want to give away or sell at cost I think that is reasonable. You have been known to sell things at higher than cost to people on this web site.

    You said something in defense of yourself and your business practices on the public forum when you were selling Stanley Mouse stuff a couple of months ago. It sounded like you had somebody complain prior to the Stanley Mouse artwork you were peddling, and you were trying to discredit that person before they spoke out.

    It wasn't that long ago that you told me you needed CDs burned of the Fillmore West 1969 box set. I offered to help because you said you were going blind. You also said how grateful you are and that you would give me exclusive information on the shows that would be included in the 2019 box set that was released this year. I spent hours trying to convert the FLAC files that I have of Fillmore West 1969 into something that you could play, not because you offered me information that you really didn't have, but because I would do that for anyone indeed, especially someone who allegedly went blind. But then it got weird. You kept stringing me along on the PM, saying that you would tell me in a couple days and then a couple days would come by and you would just say something generic like "oh it's going to be so good you're not going to believe how good it is. It will be Primo". Or "soon very soon my friend". I think what happened was you realized that it was going to take me a lot longer to figure out how to convert Flac files into something I could burn onto CD, and you ran out of excuses to sell me because you didn't really know what the box that was going to be.

    Anyway this ain't eBay pal. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in the bylaws it says you can't sell stuff here.

  • Grayteful
    Joined:
    Sixtus - Thinking About You (Been There Myself)

    Sixtus:

    I'm very sorry to hear about your father's condition, and hope you will accept the sympathy of all of us.

    Having your parent go through an impending death situation is never nice or easy. My own father was going through a situation with congestive heart failure, and we lost him about 3 days prior to Christmas about 4 years ago. While I'm single, my brother is married, has 2 sons, and it was an awkward time for him to separate those observances for the purpose of remembering them so they aren't inextricably associated in his family's minds. I can't help but think of the similarity of that to what you're going through.

    I'm 2000 miles away from where Dad lived (and where I grew up), was planning on visiting him in mid-January, but alas, had to rapidly change travel arrangements to be there for the memorial. That certainly sounds kind of selfish, I know, but it's done, and I had to balance competing responsibilities (and while he understood that, I still regret it). The one thing the memory of that tells me, is not to try to defer any unfinished business I have with someone I care about - serious matters of health don't wait for or respect human traditions (the "end-game" occurred very rapidly for him- when his health began to slide it was done in a span of about 2 days). Details of the arrangements he took great care to talk to me about when we lost my mother about 13 years prior, so what my brother didn't know, I did and could fill in whatever gaps there were, so we knew his wishes were carried out.

    Thinking about you.

  • daverock
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    Jerry and Van Gogh

    Great comparison, and one that has never occurred to me before. Van Gogh' paintings are absolutely stunning if you ever get the chance to see the originals. The first time I came across them was in 1991, when I was in Amsterdam. I went into the Rijksmuseum just because I happened to stumble across it-I had no real knowledge or interest in Van Gogh. But I was transfixed...so many extraordinary paintings, and the more I gazed at them the more moved I was by what I was seeing. Definitely the unexpected highlight of the trip.

    The famous painting The Sunflowers is hung up in a London gallery, and I saw that again a few months ago. I walked into the room, and it was hanging at the end of the large room. And it was shining...I could see it even from a distance. You get closer, and it looks as though it is lit from within. Its...well, I say all sorts of things are amazing...but this really is.

    Back to Jerry, he did develop his tone, as opposed to John Cipollina, who as far as I can tell, found his sound and kept to it. Would it be fair to say that Jerry was initially inspired by drugs, and then confined by them? Maybe a bit presumptuous. But certainly in the first 10 years of the Dead's life, at least, he seemed able to stretch the imagination in way no other guitarist I have ever heard quite can or could. And believe me, I have heard a few.

  • JimInMD
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    Jerry and Van Gough

    I love the tones Jerry was able to get from his guitars throughout his career.. even in the acoustic days, his picking was clean and he seemed to always have a recognizable tone. Playing in the Band and Estimated Prophet are great examples but there are many. As his career progressed, so did his experimentation with tones (and guitars). Listen to Stella Blue or Loser over the years for example.. there was a progression.

    I took a bunch of art classes in college for fun and I remember reading about Van Gough at some point. There was talk about his use of colors, specifically Oranges and Yellows. There were lots of theories that his epilepsy and the drugs taken to control it combined with perhaps the absinthe he loved to drink (contains a toxin called Thujone, which when taken in high doses also makes ones vision skewed towards oranges and yellows) might explain why his paintings often reflected those qualities. That is how he might have actually seen things.

    I always equated Jerry's tone to similar qualities but instead of absinthe his drink of choice, at least in the early years, was Prankster Juice.

    Anyway.. silly and unprovable observation, but I do consider Jerry a tonal genius much as I consider Van Gough a genius of color. Since the topic came up I thought I would put pen to paper, I don't think I have ever discussed this thought before with anyone. I still think there is perhaps more than a thread of truth in this.

    Finally.. a friend shot me something on Meyer Sound this morning and it got me poking around in a few places. There was a pretty decent article on Jerry and his guitars which sort of circles this whole discussion that I found quite interesting. A pretty big topic for a Friday afternoon. TGIF!!

    https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/how-jerry-garcia-revolutionized-th…

  • Butch
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    LMG how much for WL 1977

    And what kind of condition is it in?

  • daverock
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    Great tones

    Both the Alligator and the Wolf sounded superb with whatever amps they were powered through...but for me the supreme tone was sourced with the mighty Gibson SG during 1969 and 1970. Sometime during 1969, Jerry started playing a sunburst strat at some of the shows, but the SG continued to make regular appearances, and can still be heard, I believe, to devastating effect, at Binghampton 5/2/70.
    But those Fillmore West shows from February-March 1969 may be the best recorded example of just how perfect that guitar sound was. I have never heard anybody get a better sound out of a Gibson SG. Apart from John Cipollina.

  • hartwerger
    Joined:
    Thanks Jim and Marye

    Thanks for letting me know about the PM problem. I thought I was going nuts every time I saw the message I wrote come back as sent to me. I do talk to myself sometimes, but rarely do I write to myself.

  • marye
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    PMs
    Yeah, I know, and I've reported it to the tech folks so they're working on it. So sorry for the extra layer of aggravation.
  • JimInMD
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    PM's

    New PM's are not going through. Unless you reply to an existing, good PM thread whatever you send to someone else is only sent to you.

  • Deadheadbrewer
    Joined:
    GDM is just fine?

    Now the calendar has shipped, so I don't have any complaints about my order from six weeks ago. (other than the lag time between order and shipment . . . )

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"Cause it's always like that with the Dead, you know - it's always the whole thing." - News Journal

As we close out the 2019 Dave Pick's series, we deliver on our promise to give you the "whole thing" with the complete performance from The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA 3/24/73 and what a show it was! An upstanding "musical eulogy" to the recently departed Pigpen, the Grateful Dead conducted a potent study in contrasts on this bittersweet night. They found easy balance between tidy jams like "They Love Each Other," "Wave That Flag," "Playing In The Band," and introspective moments on "Stella Blue," "Sing Me Back Home," and a poignant "He's Gone." It was all laid down with a discipline and a polish unheard of in any of the truly exceptional shows that had come before it. Yes, you might say, they cleaned up nice to carry on the legacy as Pig would have wanted.

Limited to 20,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 32: THE SPECTRUM, PHILADELPHIA, PA 3/24/73 has been mastered to HDCD specs from the 7" and 10" reels by Jeffrey Norman.

GET IT WHILE YOU CAN

*Limited to 2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

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In reply to by DeadVikes

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Tres bien

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Uhhhh......

You want your team to win
And you watch them suck
And you wonder how Aaron Rodgers can be so good
Year after year after year

And then your team gets called for pass interference

And offside

Icky

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Jim, funny you mention only giving the GSTL box a single listen. I had only given it a couple of cursory listens when I first got it, probably a few more listens to the 5/9/77 Buffalo show for the Help-Slip-Franklins over time. Recently I couldn't decide what to listen to and figured I'd run through the GSTL box again from start to finish. This time through it really hit the spot, clicked for me on a whole different level than my prior listens. Anything May '77 hits the spot, but this time through GSTL it was just about perfect. All depends on your mood at the time I guess. I'd be curious what you think on a second listen now that the hype has worn off.

On the same page as Deadvikes with anticipation for the upcoming DaP33 and DaP 34, particularly the '74 show on 34. Have to agree that DaP 13 is possibly the best '74 release so far, everything about that release from sound quality to show quality was spot on. DaP 9 is also a good '74 release, but it just doesn't quite hit the same level as DaP 13. Maybe I just prefer that cool, jazzy Dark Star on DaP 13 to the more chaotic Dark Star on DaP 9.

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In reply to by Charlie3

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Signals
Presto
Hemispheres
Permanent Waves
Roll The Bones
Focused on Peart on all five. He was really, really good. Duh.
Come to think of it, I haven't listened to the GOGD since new years eve. That's a record I think.

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In reply to by Charlie3

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I decided to go through Daves Picks from the first one, in order, today. (not playing them all today, I hasten to add).Which naturally means that 5/25/77 gets a rare outing. I am impressed, I have to say. 1977 isn't a favourite year for me these days. There seemed to be a massive change in feel to me from the pre to the post retirement years...all the elements remained, except the most elusive - the magic.

But I digress-this 5/25/77 starts off beautifully with Mississippi and flows as smoothly as silk from thereon in. I'm still only in the first set, but everything is in place and locked together straight away. A nice aperitif for 10/29/77, too. Like my memory of other 1977 shows, it skims along very nicely on the surface, but I would be very surprised if it drops down into the subterranean depths visited in the years up to 1974.

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I'm curious to see what Lemieux et all have selected to fill out the third disc for Dave's 33.
Both of the shows already released from this tour had a full disc's worth of filler material (Dick's 34: Rochester and Dave's 12: Hamilton)
The night following DeKalb, 10/30/77 has a very nice second set that features no repeats. I gave the whole show a listen over the weekend and that second set would make a very fine addition to the DeKalb show.

Ha..

..agree, I older I get the more willing I am to be dragged down into strange subterranean depths.

As for Dave's 33 filler.. it seems they have been less willing to add filler in some of the newer releases. It's been a while since Colgate was released. Good question, time will tell but I am not sure this is a given.

Forgot to mention..

Was watching Larry David on The Late Show last week and clear as day the late night band was playing Althea as the welcome music to introduce the guest.

Pretty cool.. sort of an obscure studio reference coming from the mainstream. I'm not a GD studio aficionado, but Althea worked pretty well in the studio (and later live).

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...for something completely different. I decided to spin 4/27/71, in honor of Doc and his unadulterated support of '71 shows. This show is known for the Beach Boys coming on during the second set, but even if you want to skip that silliness, there are highlights aplenty. Set1-Loser, a GREAT Hard To Handle, China/Rider, & Casey Jones all back to back.
also, a nice early Bird Song, followed by Playing & Dire Wolf. Second set ends with Sing Me Back Home, Uncle John's Band, and a VERY nice Lovelight (although the end is clipped). Well worth a listen, if you want to mix things up!!

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There's a lot of embedded wisdom within Dead songs. Perhaps none tops this:

I told Althea
I'm a roving sign
That I was born to be a bachelor
Althea told me
Okay, thats fine
So now I'm trying to catch her

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...thank you for the feedback on Daves Picks #2. I have this pick along with a copy of a copy of the Bonus Disc from a grateful friend on the message board, it is a greatful Bonus Disc to say the least, I’m it’s great all around. The audio is as primo one can hope for from the magigical fingertips of Of Norman and the whole team & the song selection that comes along with it!💀🌹💀🌹 I posted this show before the 2020 Release announcement of their future pick from 74’.... I’m pretty sure I have second copy in primo shape but minus the Bonus Disc. Pm me if anyone is interested in a copy., drop me a pm. Peace be with you! 🙏❤️😎💀🌹💀🌹
*** it took me a few listens completely straight thru for myself get all the primo grateful love contained in this Daves Pick #2 ,pretty early The the series. Oh I can’t wsit for this next 74 ‘ Pick 🙏❤️

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What a great show that is! I wish they would release that whole Fillmore East run as a box set. I know that some of that material has been released, but I think most folks would love a box set of that whole run. Or maybe a Fillmore East/Fillmore West box could be put together.

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... hello old friend, I smiled when I read you are on the journey of listen to the Daves seisris in order. I myself am doing the same , lol too funny! 🙏❤️😎💀🌹💀🌹

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In reply to by Lovemygirl

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I always hear Althea as

I told Althea I'm a roving sire
I was born to be a bachelor
Althea told me ok that's fine
so now I'm tryin' to catch ya

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In reply to by stoltzfus

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8/5/71

heard disc one this morning
got through Truckin' on the way to work and part of Loser

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I would take ANY Fillmore box, and just in case Dave is looking in here, I would pre-order that box in about 1/1000 of a second!! C'mon Dave, you know you want to!!

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"Roving sire" makes a lot more sense, actually. I got "roving sign" from some lyrics website. I'm never sure what that word is when listening.

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In reply to by Lovemygirl

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LMG...my PLAN is to listen to the Daves Picks in sequence, but I am as hopeless following a pre determined plan listening to the Dead as I am following plans with more serious matters in life. If there are any.
The temptation now is to listen to another May 1977 show rather than Daves Picks 2...and if I get as far as number 2, the chances of getting to number 3 before exploring more 1974 are virtually nil. Its a win win situation.

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Daves Picks 2020 Series ...
...anyone else in the mood for another 80’s ‘Matrix’ Release/mix for a 2020 Daves Picks Performance?! 🙏❤️💀🌹💀🌹

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Stumbling around still on the archive/ the brass lantern shows and found a show from a group called "codename", might not be around anymore. This recording is incredible. Worth a few minutes at least.

On the funny, but should have been expected side. When ever they released the picture disc/limited edition/50th anniversary grateful dead album. I saw talk about it and couldn't remember if I bought or not. Looked high and straight, no go. Ordered another where it not sits. For reasons too numerous to say, I needed to enter "THE CLOSET", you know the one. Emptied out a ton of crap and re-aligned. Low and while high, there was the first copy still in the original cardboard sleeve. A quick chuckle and then the flash, maybe it's gone up a ton in value! Type, type, type,,, no seems to be selling for less than I paid!

Only question left,,, is it better to stumble, shamble or meander around the archive?

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In reply to by Lovemygirl

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Really cool you were at the April Fool's shows Jim. Would love to hear more about that. Great shows!

I was at Alpine as well that year, maybe we crossed paths? The drought summer, that was a crazy June.
We went to the show at the old Met Center in Bloomington MN on June 17 and then headed down to East Troy WI. My third year at Alpine. We rented a RV, with a toilet, which was really nice for Alpine. Don't ask how, because we were just 17. I remember tons of people coming to us looking for water. So hot. I don't know how we made it. We would drive into Lake Geneva during the day. And of course the music, to my memory was unreal. Always love these shows and I look forward them coming out someday.

Well.. I somehow confused or conflated the 4/1/88, Meadowlands Road Trips show (which I did not attend) with 3/27/88 Hampton Download Series #5 (which I did attend). Hampton was a little closer and certainly cheaper and less a hassle for me to get to back then. With few exceptions, until GPS came to be I used to avoid or evade driving in and out of NYC. These days it doesn't seem to be such a big deal.

In my twisted mind I had the jester/clown artwork attached to the show where they did So What, a great Dylan inspired first set and that mighty fine second set opener of Sugar Mag>Scarlet>Fire>Estimated>Eyes.

I do like the Road Trips they released.. but I admit it has been some time since I listened to it.

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Wow!!!! Always love the Frost shows from 10/9 and 10/10/82 especially the Throwing Stones>Touch of Grey. This is Althea>Let it Grow end of first set and Touch of Grey>Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance from start of second... the sound quality seems very good... Not my bailiwick year either, just caught my attention!!! Thanks Dave... bob t

Also I was at the 9/13/87 Capital Center show the third show of the week on Tapers Section, which people tend to favor the shows we attended, and New Haven blows it away!! giggity...

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on the bus

summer 90 box set

my best friends sisters boyfriends brothers girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid whos going with the girl who etc

We got 2-27-77 as filler because that was all that existed in the vault, and it fit on CD3.

I had 10-30-77 on cassette and played it a lot. Would prefer that it not be chopped up to be used as filler.
Since it fits on 2 CD-R’s, it should be combined with another 2 CD show for a 4-disc DaP. Or be included in a forthcoming Box.
Or, better yet, be the bonus show you get when you pre-order the Winterland December 77 Box (hint, hint Dave).

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Never could read shit, just slips away when I try...

Re: DaP filler 10-28-77 has some nice moments including an inspired reading of Candyman (right near the holiday of Halloween). From what I can remember, the end of that show is cut on the master tapes, too.

..but I'm not worried. I am using Friday's paycheck to get the subscription. Always a safe bet.

Where did that link go for the subscription anyway? Did they announce it already??

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How About ...
...how about a performance from 83’
So, I've I just realized the fall east coast tour of 83 10/8/83-10/22/83 doesn't have a single show I don't just love!!Love 83-85 but a whole tour that keeps me happy is unheard of for me! Funny how they don't release much of 83-85 compared to other years. Oh, also love a LOT of 1984. 🙏❤️😎🌹💀🌹💀🌹

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In reply to by Lovemygirl

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....i went and got a new tattoo. Showed the wife.

Her: Oh, cool! It's.. uh?

Me: (proudly) It's my thermos! From work!

Her: (reaching towards me) Well, uh, the line work is certainly..

Me: (slaps hand away) Don't touch the thermos tat.
.
.
Simply beautiful.

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*

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I'm picking out a thermos for you. No ordinary thermos for you.

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One of my all time fave misheard lines...

" I had a hard on, running from your window"

Vguy, you had the bad guy from the Marvel movies tattoo on you. Full size back tat?

P Hill; home may be on the bus, but here comes the ice pick in the forehead.

Is it time to order Dave's already,,,, I thought that was in November,,, early this year!

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Good morning. Haven't been around much lately, just due to time constraints.

Sixtus I read the post about your dad and I'm real sorry. And in all that, I appreciate your thoughtfulness in your thinking of me when Neil Peart died. I haven't really caught up on any of the posts lately, but I did see that one.

Yeah, Neil was the man. Last night I went Tour by tour... Wow I just said by-tor... that was a little freaky. Anyway I counted how many times I saw them, and it was 26. I first saw them on the power windows tour, and never missed a tour after that. In the days when they used to play Philly twice, used to go both nights. I peeked out on the test for Echo tour: saw them in Philly, Camden, East Rutherford, and Jones Beach. This was a pretty significant or because it was the first that day started playing two sets adding up to roughly two and a half hours, probably a little bit more. It was also the first time they played 2112 in its entirety. Watching Alex lifeson play Discovery into Presentation was worth the price of admission. I will never forget the 14 or 15 year old kid sitting next to me, got up to go to the bathroom during that part. I said where are you going. He said he was going to take a piss. I asked him if he knew what they were playing. He said no. I told him to sit back down and either piss in a cup or wait 5 minutes, because the best part of the show is coming up. He took my advice and used his cup. Hey I guess everyone has a first Rush concert. In any case that was really the first deep cut that got me into Rush. It took 10 years and 6 tours to finally hear them play it live, but it was worth it. God bless Neil, agnostic though he was.

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Was pawing through my Dead cds last night and came across 3/24/70, Pirate's World, Dania Florida. Seemingly a one set show. I must admit that 1970 is probably the year I know least about. We DO have a small handful of GREAT shows from 1970 (1/2 & 3, 1/23, 2/2, 4/15, 5/2, 10/4, & 12/31-partial from UK '70 box, and more you all will remind me of).
However, this March 24th show is very unique (to me) in that it's almost as if they tried to squeeze a 2 1/2 hour show into 83 minutes. Yes, the beginning of Dew is cut, but you get a relatively short Good Lovin', a 12 minute Dark Star into a 5 minute Other One, into St. Stephen, followed by a short Drums into Not Fade Away, into a really nice 13 minute Lovelight, with a Me & My Uncle closer. Also in the mix, you have Mama Tried, Don't Ease Me In, High Time, & Cold Rain.
The Dark Star is maybe the most unique that I've heard, mellow and almost poppy (??). I feel like to get from '69 to '71 had to be a complicated transition, and this disc proves it to me. I got the cd from Amazon UK about a year ago. If only we had a Forensic Doc for the year 1970. Anybody??

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Maybe we will get the rest of 11/2/77 Field House

Set 2:
Samson And Delilah 6:44.11
Ship Of Fools 6:27.74
Good Lovin' 6:09.59
Sunrise 3:49.04

Dave said he would get the rest of this show out some day.

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In reply to by fourwindsblow

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I get on and off anniversary kicks, I somehow seem to even miss the ones of the good shows I attended.. but there is one I seem to never miss, it has become one of my go to 69 shows and that's Big Rock Pow Wow. So in honor of it's birthday I am spinning it now.

What? yes.. I know, 5/23 and 5/24 but being as bad at remember birthdays and anniversaries myself, you cannot suddenly be accurate when it comes to dead shows and completely miss the mark when it comes to important dates of the people you love.. besides, it has that psychedelic springtime groove to it, and aren't we all in need of a little psychedelic springtime groove right now? In honor of Neil and Buck, He Was A Friend of Mine.

As for Thermos, interesting tat idea.. I was unfamiliar with this concept so I had to google some images and now it makes perfect sense.

https://www.thermos.com/kids/kids-food-jars.html

Speculating the Mr. Incredible thermos? :D

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In reply to by Mr. Ones

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+1 on 1970. I always find myself listening to 1970 a lot early in the year. For whatever reason, there are more good releases from Jan 70 than from any other Jan. The two Dave's, 1/18/70 DL series, then you've got the Busted on Bourbon Street shows, Daves 6 (2/2/70), DL series 2/4/70, peaking with 2/14 at Fillmore East. Such a great run to keep the winter blahs away.

Ima have to check out the spring 70 run a little more. Dicks 8 is great of course. We should get the special 50th editions of American Beauty and Workingman's this year also. Interested in what the live bonus discs are gonna look like.

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In reply to by Roguedeadguy

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Too bad they didn't record all of it.

I have been pondering something for years.. and think I might have figured it out. To my ears, the acoustic stuff on 5/15/70 sounds better, by far, than any of the other 1970 acoustic stuff with the exception of Bears Choice. So my question or hypothesis is.. did they plug in the acoustic guitars or were they playing to the mics and the mics were wired to the reel to reel mix?

For Warfield/Radio City they must have had pickups on the acoustic guitars, they sound so clean and were recorded on multi-tracks. ..but most of the 1970 acoustic sets sound muddy to me.

Does anyone know the answer to this? My hypothesis is they were playing to the mics in 1970 but it's not a well informed hypothesis. For a point of reference, on the 1987 Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band run at Lute Fontaine, David Nelson's guitar was picked up by the mics, it was not wired directly to the tape mixing board.

1970 is Magical (at least the good shows :D )

..as for 80's Matrix releases, I agree Dave's Picks 8 Matrix (11/30/80 Fox Theatre) sound great and is an improvement from both the soundboard and the audience (at least to my ears). It's a win/win. I can imagine redo's of this are more problematic than one might guess. First, we need absolutely killer audience tapes (Thanks Dr. Bob.. that Wagner source is sublime) and second, there must be a willingness from all parties to do this, likely meaning the audience masters need to be donated for the cause. Then there is the remastering process. I bet it's tricky.
Fingers crossed though, #8 is great!

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The Dead just played to the mics in 1970 and in 1980 they were plugged in. I read an interview with Garcia and Weir saying how they got sounds that were not really musical while playing to the mics, maybe they were referring to feedback. I personally liked the 1970 sounding acoustic guitars more than 1980.

That's what I thought. I have to admit.. I like the clarity of the 1980 acoustic sets but I often wonder how the older stuff might have sounded if it were better recorded.

..but that's just me. Still glad they did it. 15 years before MTV Unplugged you have the Grateful Dead.

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In reply to by JimInMD

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Back in the day they only had mics, pickups were not usually used on acoustic instruments. In 1980 they were and more importantly the technology had improved greatly. Even better is the use of both mics and the direct line pickups. That’s what they utilized in 1980. Also, the mics they used back then probably weren’t as high quality like they used later on....
The signal path back then was probably a passive splitter with one leg to the main mix/PA board and another to the tape system, or possibly only 1 feed to the main board with some kind of Aux mix out to tape. This is hard to do because your trying to mix 2 completely different things with just one board so the EQ is usually not good on at least one of the mixes...unless your aux is before the EQ stage. But I’m not sure they had that kind of functionality back then?
In 1980, it overall would have been the same, but most likely using an active splitter and much more processing etc.
The old stuff sounds so bad mostly because they were trying to get acoustic instruments as loud as drums and electric stuff I.e., the bass, and there is no good way to accomplish this, especially with the tech back then. Thus the mixer would often roll off certain frequencies to try and get more gain without feedback, but that’s why they often sound bad; sacrifice tone for hall volume etc..Today there are feedback suppression devices which help too.

....thats the one I went to!
Getting back in some Dead after a self imposed sabbatical apparently. Been binging on South Park big time so forgive me.
Postcards Of The Hanging got my attention, so I answered. The only Dylan that is better than Dylan is the GOGD doing Dylan.
And if case some didn't get my dad joke the other day....Thermos Tat. As in thermostat! Don't touch the thermostat! I'm guilty of saying that quite often, but I'm a dad.
And yes. Neil Peart was Rush's primary lyricist. A lot of people don't realize that.

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