Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

identify every time the GD did "Beer Barrel Polka"

Man, that was quick, good catch. It is a great song, just sets a tone.

I used to like drinking, to various degrees of excess over different times, then I began to get migraines when I drank any champagne at all, and that sucked because I liked champagne. Later it progressed to a migraine if I consumed even a little of any kind of alcohol, not even enough to catch a buzz. Sucked the fun out of it when even a glass of wine or a cocktail led to a day of feeling like someone was trying to kick their way out of my head through an eye.

Spaten Optimator yum...just remembered the first and only time I had this...In the early 90's I had a quick job driving around the Robert Gordon/Chris Spedding in Cali...after a gig in Pacific Palisades we went back to the hotel we were staying at...at the Bar I asked for a dark beer, surprise me...Bartender did just that giving me a Spaten Optimator...he poured it into a glass for me and watched me take my first drink, asking what I thought...I told him it tasted like Breakfast....

my 3 second check of my shows showed 14 times it was "officially" marked down. It was too much trouble to list shows,,,, couldn't figure out a way to save the output of the Microsoft search.

....congrats on your Chiefs. First SB appearance since 69. Nice.

....the guy in charge of commercial outro music has been known to throw in some Grateful Dead and Phish.
.

....told ya!

Love KC and love my Chiefs! Was a season ticket holder for years...watched a lot of playoff games live at Arrowhead only to get the ball pulled ala Lucy at the end. I wasn’t there tonight, watched happily and warmly with some good friends and family on the big screen, but this one feels good!!! Thanks for the shout Vguy, I appreciate that...Onward to the Super Bowl which is coincidentally in Miami, home to The Jai Alai!

Rock on Dead People!!!

KCJ

Congrats KCJ.

Estimated > Commercial. The first time this combo was ever played.. and at Arrowhead Stadium no less.

KCJ, is that an official NFL Jersey for your pup? I didn't even know they made those. Maybe Dead.net can learn a thing or two about schwag people will buy if they just put it in their store. You can't even get a good Tervis tumbler or insulated stainless steel coffee mug here.. Hell, I don't even think they have pint glasses anymore (but you can get then at Jerrys store).

Just had the pleasure of listening to 2-26-77 in its entirety uninterrupted at a volume level where Phil was gently vibrating the windows.
Excellent.
Bring on DaP 33.

....didnt see that coming. Or did I?
Go Dololphins!!
Bolo is losing his/her touch. Lmao.

Who said anything about breaking up? We remain Friends with Benefits.

Is Bailey the Beagle. An early Xmas gift to my daughter and about 4 months old now. She has very quickly grown out of that Jersey, and has now decided that she would like to chew up any of my nice shit she can find....ugh! That said, I love dogs and she is a sweetie. I also have a 9 year old golden that has been the subject of my avatars and of the puppy’s abuse lately, God love him...they are learning to be friends but he’s an old fart.

Jim...we now have avatars in common...have no idea if the jersey is “official” but I bought it from the pet store, so one would assume. I do think TPTB would be served well by starting a pet line. My golden has worn a Stealie collar for the last couple of years and he loves it!!!

....good thing one can't post pics here, or I would overdose you all with mine.

I wonder why the dead held back on the st.stephen on tour? Anyone have any idea.

They make a special beer for dogs..

https://bowserbeer.com/

What will they think of next.

When is the #33 reveal and seaside distraction?

I found this ipa beer in a 12 pack in the package store next door and wondered if its any good. You guys have been talking about it alot.

Jerry called st stephen "our musical cop"

Challenging to perform

....St. Stephen is a quenisential psychedelic experience. This is well known.

Great though it is, to me it never sounded right taken out of its original context/timespan. Which was surely 1968-1970.
Other songs which fall into the category of being initially great and then diminished when they are revived at a later date are post 74 Dark Stars (except 12/31/78), post 74 Eyes of the World and post Pigpen Lovelights. Purely subjective, of course.

I agree St. Stephen was most at home during the Live Dead era. It could be that they never fully worked out the new arrangements, perhaps it never sounded right when Jerry put down his '69 Gibson SG.. or perhaps it simply worked best played by the powerhouse septet that made it famous.

To me, Eyes is a different beast and none of he Pigpen songs really sounded right after his passing. I remember when I first started seeing shows, my most listened to tapes were from '74 so I thought Eyes sounded speedy and weak I walked away disappointed the first few times I saw it. But there are a few really good versions out there that I came to enjoy quite a lot. Englishtown being perhaps the most prolific but I really like the versions on the July 78 box too. By the mid 80's I began to very much look forward to hearing it played.

There is one uniquely Grateful Dead factor in all this, however, and that is seeing some of these songs live.. the mind blown factor. I danced around the last era of live St. Stephens, I was seeing shows in 83 when they played it and just missed it more than once.. If I would have seen it performed, I am sure my opinions would be different. Part of the seeing shows was catching that break out or rarity.. 'That' Morning Dew, the electric Ripple at the Cap Centre, a St. Stephen, a Dark Star.. I happened to catch an Attics, a DS break out and perhaps most importantly a Death Don't Have No Mercy in the same show and although none of these performances go down as best ever (or even close) part of what made the GD so great was that they were able to reach deep into their quiver and pull something off that left people scratching their heads in awe walking back to their cars wondering what the hell just happened.

In other words I am still pissed I never got to see a St. Stephen and will never forgive them for it! :D

...the fantastic Richie Havens from Woodstock 1969 performance 🙏❤️😎have a grateful day everyone! Rock on!
Also playing Daves Pick #12
Daves pick #23 & lastly daves Picks #25 💀🌹💀🌹👍🏼Love it all!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PIu9-CJ9FlI

Terrapin >
Morning Dew

Sooooooo good

Listened in the car yesterday on drive home from Tacoma, full volume

Heaven on Earth

One of my favorite songs by the band. Different of course throughout the years, as was everything these guys did. There is just something about the opening that always gets to me, "Right outside this lazy summer home". Looking back I love to hear all the different versions through all these releases. I watched a good chunk of the 91 Giants Stadium show on Blu Ray again this weekend and I still am blown away by that version of Eyes. Different of course, but so good.
St. Stephen, from what Dave L. has said regarding this song was they stopped playing it because it was so complicated. Same reason they never got out unbroken chain until 1994.

Seaside chat soon and then release date of January 31! Can't wait.

How about starting to ship to subscribers tomorrow?
A little extra bonus for those who subscribed.

Jai Alai is very good beer from Florida's (only) good brewery--Cigar City. (maybe there are other good Florida breweries, but I've not found one on my journeys there . . . ) I was already planning to pick up some Jai Alai IPA for the initial late-night, candlelit, serious listen-to of DaP 34. A bit hoppy for my tastes, but one tastes pretty good, and then Mrs. Brewer, who IS a hop-head, will quickly polish off the other five.

https://www.dead.net/show/june-25-1995

It may have returned in the fall.......

The shipping lottery for Dave's Picks 33 will start shortly. Who will get their copy within a reasonable and acceptable timeframe and how many copies will disappear into the black hole created by the move to the new warehouse? Only time will tell.

I know I am in the minority but i do like the September 73 shows with Martin Fiero and Joe Ellis. Take a listen a stand alone China Doll!! Not my favorite tour of an awesome year, but just something to listen to!!! bob t

I just so happen to have
1973-09-24 9574.sbd.tobin
on deck for today.

I’ve been working my way through my torrent collection over the past 2 months and have listened to several of the fall 73 horns shows. Interesting and fun to listen to sometimes, but glad it wasn’t always like that.

Favorite St. Stephen 10/13/68. Saw the Dead do St. Stephen twice, 7/13/76 and 10/31/83.

Indeed, my damn music server is having software/windows issues, at least I hope it’s not a hardware problem as I’ve added a ton of music but haven’t backed up in like a year, idiot!
The flip side is I finally got the table running so made the best of it with some seldom heard vinyl and some spring 90 shows I still had on the masterlink 9600...listened to 1&2 of Live Dead, Terrapin and Blues for Allah among other things. Funny, but I had to get reacquainted with the whole handling the records etc....
So going to be awhile before I get the Mighty Ref 3 back, but that’ll give me some quality time with the old record collection!

Envy

Especially 7 13 76

Long time love for that show

One "special" night, hearing that on tape...

Jiminmd….100% agree. It is totally different experiencing the songs live to listening to a live recording. You wouldn't have heard me complaining if they had played St. Stephen at Wembley in 1990. How well it would have stood the test of time is another matter. But maybe that's beside the point...the magic was to be in the moment, not consider how it would be perceived 30( (!) years later on a cd.

First I will say that of course nothing compares to those early psychedelic years, especially the 69 versions, but like anything else, when played well, I felt like they stood the test of time at least. But like Jim touched on, made a big difference if you were fortunate to see any of the big dogs live. Saw the 10/15/83 Stephen, probably a half dozen Dark Stars (some were only the jam/partials). Saw many one offs, 1st or Second versions, or first or second reintroductions etc; Attics, Death Don’t, Box o Rain....but unfortunately, close but no cigar for Casey Jones, Ripple, or the perhaps the biggest regret, no Here Comes Sunshine, Dooooo! Cant complain though, had uncanny luck over the years as far as that goes, from my first show, 1/20/79 (Dark Star)....hey, that’s today! Today’s my 41st anniversary....I was fortunate to rack up some good stats as far as seeing obscurities.
EYES; I agree that generally I don’t like the faster ones, but that they did play some awesome mid eighties versions. Imho nothing is like those 73/74 monsters with the awesome jazz jam in the middle. To me, those Eyes are in my top handful of elite songs/versions...
TOO; similar feelings about The Other one....early big ones, especially the Cryptical's, were awesome, then they just seemed to drone on, then say mid eighties they got a little psychedelic again...I usually liked the Healy weirdness effects on the vocals, though sometimes it was a bit much. I know many folks didn’t dig that, and I believe I read somewhere not all the band was into it? But that’s another that seemed to go through phases...
POST PIG; also not a big fan of the Pig stuff after he passed, except years later I thought Warren did a great job on all that old stuff. Still think they should of had multiple guitars for Fare Thee Well, even if they cycled through and took turns. Always loved Wareen doing the old blues stuff, and some of the Brent tunes too!
But like all the songs, on the right night, or even sometimes today listening, if they stars align and their ripping it up, any song is awesome! Surely saw some great Good Lovin’s and Lovelights, and if nothing else, many a night we felt like at least it wasn’t yet another Stones/NFA, but generally speaking, perhaps they should have let sleeping dogs lie...

PRACTICE; I think the biggest reason/factor with them not keeping up on the St Steves etc was practice, or lack there of. I know they all commented that in the good old days they still rehearsed enough that they could keep their chops up on the more challenging material....you can’t fake your way through Steve’s, The 11, Help, Cosmic Charlie etc.
So another unfortunate side effect of Jerry’s addiction problems was they basically didn’t rehearse much. They all have mentioned that over the years, and it’s clearly evident by all the great tunes that came back in more recent years of Phil, Furthur, and D&C shows, which to me is the highlight of these later incarnations; getting to see the great old psychedelic stuff we didn’t get in the later years of the Dead.

EDIT; well said Daverock!

You nailed it on the NOD cd. I see you are a movie buff. Have you tried the criterion movie collection? It's a collection of the best domestic and foreign movies on a high def and remastered quality disks. Most come with booklets and quality dvd/blu-ray holders. They also have some concerts like Monterey pop fest. and the stones gimme shelter at altamont speedway with the best remastered version found anywhere. Check out criterion.com. they are more pricey than other dvd/blu-ray movies but well worth it. They have 1/2 price criterion a few times a year on the site and at barnes and noble too.

[Thanks, CaseyJanes for the link to the brewery site. I am not an expert on beer, so I always wonder whether I use the correct translations of the German types into English - that helps a lot.]

I can perfectly understand that post about "Eyes": The opening line of a song sometimes gets you right into the perfect mood for what's to follow. And Hunter gave us so many of those. "Well, the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry any more." Love that, too.

Last 5:
Stephen Stills - "First Album"
Stephen Still's Manassas - "Manassas"
McGuinn, Clark and Hillman - "Three Byrds Land In London"
Jerry Garcia & Merle Saunders - "GarciaLive Vol. 12: Boarding House 1975"
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: "CSNY 1974" (box set)

Bought a copy of Uncut's "The Ultimate Music Guide: CSN&Y" - how I love these compendiums. A bit pricey as imports but always worth the money. Always make me want to revisit tons of albums.

Music, books, movies....what else is there? Ok, you need some “green” and beer, but that’s it!......well, maybe this chair, but that’s it.....and this paddle ball, but that’s it....
I don’t buy so many movies anymore, but you are correct, the Criterion collection is good shit. If my memory is correct they are the ones who go the extra mile on refurbishing/scans etc

I've been listening to CSNY since 1978 and still love them. Seen CSN a few times and once with the dead in buffalo (I think it was buffalo.) Its to bad this kind of music went extinct. They were like the dinosaurs. Big and badass.

1972 JGB DEBUT ALBUM ANNIVERSARY TODAY.

Oroborous...I can remember reading somewhere that that was why The Eleven got dropped. They apparently practised for hours at a time playing in that time signature. To such an extent that they became so familiar with it that they could improvise within it on an almost nightly basis-a stunning high wire achievement that ultimately proved unsustainable. So by 1970 it was goodbye "The Eleven", hello "Not Fade Away".

Carlo13, CSN opened for the Dead on 7/16/90 in Buffalo. I had a good time at that show, recall being stoked for Loose Lucy as I hadn't seen it at a show before that one and it just seemed like they were having a good time playing it. Good times.

All I remember was that it was very,very hot out.

Well, I was sick most of the Holiday weekend, so of course I started listening to the Get Shown The Light box, and now y'all are on to greener pastures. But, I did want to comment since I hadn't played the box in quite a while (same as Jim in MD).
New Haven first, and good God, just a spectacularly good show. I dare say almost flawless until the St. Stephen (see discussion prior). It's kind of hard to quantify, but every song is played so damn well, and with such joy and abandon. Stephen started off as a downer, definitely got better (after about 2:30 in). Sugar Magnolia & Johnny B. Goode were also energetic, but flawed. Overall though, just superb.
Boston next, and starts off with not quite as much oomph. Also, there are a few patches in set 1. But ohhh, the Half-Step>Big River is sublime. After that, all engines are firing as one. Terrapin, FOTD, Drums>Wheel>Wharf Rat big 2nd set highlights por moi.
It seems almost sacrilegious (and foolish) to review 5/8/77. So I won't. If I can finish the box by tomorrow, I will feel compelled to type a short rejoinder.
Tried to keep this brief, but what occurred to me is that like a lot of things, sometimes it's just hearing the right thing at the right time (also pointed out earlier in thread).
Hope everybody enjoyed their weekend.

Some guy in the aud yells several times for

"SAINT STEPHEN!!!"

I posted a few weeks back about rarities that I caught and those that I missed. Topping the list was the Philly Visions of Johanna. In a year almost entirely devoid of any worthwhile music, it still stands out as one of my best memories.

Sure, I missed some cool stuff. Most notable the Hampton show Jim referenced. I caught a few Casey Jones and even HCS. Honestly, you didn’t miss much. Sure, they were great to hear, but not played like the old days. You eluded to that when you mention seeing fragments of Dark Stars over the years.

As time passes, I just become more thankful for having caught some excellent shows over the years. It’s been 25 years since our boy moved on. Most of the newer generation, never even got to see him play.

And yeah. I never really need to hear Throwing Stones/NFA again.

I hear you...

And that Visions, now that's a score. I might listen to it now.
..and if that wasn't good enough, YouTube put on the Garcia Band '75 Keystone version of Positively 4th Street from Garcia Plays Dylan next. I think I have to just close out that window and go to bed.. nothing's gonna one-up that mini playlist.

Night folks.

....7/16/90, Buffalo - my first show. What an intro it was.

Cool to have CSN open as well....

Sixtus

The Eleven...

Totally agree. Positively 4th Street from Garcia Plays Dylan is an all time great. I can never get enough of that one.

The Eleven. Had to chuckle a bit. Most of the songs I originally missed have been revived by the various iterations on the band. I've seen Dark Star, St. Stephen, Ripple, etc. Pretty much everything. While very cool, it just isn't the same.

The lone exception was The Eleven. Furthur broke it out one night. Now that was some awesome stuff.