Grateful Dead

Rescheduled to June 20

Anybody notice the strange mixdown of Playing in the Band on the listening party download?

Weird vocal/instrument levels throughout the entire song, incomparable to the other tracks that dropped with it.

Is this an issue with how that song was captured?

Who doesn't love a good hurling story? I've got a few, but please people - one at a time.

We were driving back to Boulder from the Great American Beer Fest some time in the early to mid 1990's. I was sandwiched in the backseat of a two door, red Chevy Beretta. Against all better judgement a bowl was passed around, and yours truly inhaled.

Now, I didn't have the tolerance I have now, and when the spins and cold sweats came on, being in that middle seat with no back window, a hard choice had to be made.

I leaned slightly forward, and threw up all down myself inside my winter parka. I was so stealth about this, neither wastoid on either side of me even noticed! I zipped up my jacket, relieved but disgusted, and it must've been another ten minutes before someone up front asked, "hey, did somebody puke?"

I got dropped off at my apartment, went inside and straight into the shower. Hosed off the jacket and threw the clothes into the washer, ate some greasy food and sobered up with no one the wiser. To this day, none of those guys know I ralphed into my jacket.

Sometimes, you have to take one for the team.

The Who 7/89 Pontiac Silverdome, floor row 32.

Everyone on the floor is standing on the flimsy plastic chairs. We’re a few songs into the first set and the 3 guys in the row in front of me break out a glass pipe and start smoking crack. The guy right in front of me takes a huge hit (I think Jim recently referred to those as a ‘hero hit’), holds it in, then exhales, and passes out while still standing on the chair, and tumbles to the floor unconscious. Security saw him fall, came over, could see that he wasn’t in good shape, grabbed him and took him away.
He never returned and missed an awesome show.

Too funny! But hey, even as a rookie you followed The Scranton boys rule of hurling; “no shootin’ without a cooler” which translates to it’s ok if you have to as long as it’s out the window, or in a garbage or whatever, as long as it’s not all over: the car, fellow travelers, or yourself! Lol Old Lumpy from Scranton NY would be proud of ya!
FYI, that was a pretty good show! I was with that 20 year old I’ve mentioned, and we ran into our old pal Lee Estee, possibly the last time we hung with him.

...that was a great throwback oration of an extremely visual nature - too funny. Your steadfastness at that rail is A Thing of Legend.

In the vein of oversharing biological output shenanigans - I have my own vomit story....just not nearly as epic. My first dead show, July 16 1990 - we road tripped with a caravan of 8 cars from Cazenovia NY to Buffalo. I was pretty much still a kid freshly turned 18, we all piled into the open slots in the rides with tons of beer, and off we went (we didn't have access to weed yet, sadly). So it's a good several hour trek across NY State, and of course we're boozing the whole way, eating snacks, I specifically recall eating a bunch of brownies (just regular old brownies, nothing special). Well, we get about an hour from Buffalo and I am feeling I need to blow chunks. I happen to be in the 3rd row/seat of a minivan, not riding bitch but near a window...yet we all recall, the windows in mini vans in the way way back don't really open; they only pop open a few inches (or at least back then they did). I really had no choice - so when the hurling hit, I leaned over to that teeny tiny crack and blew chunks out the back sliver of a window, going at like 70 miles an hour down the NY Thruway. Needless to say, when we got out in the lot and I went and looked, there was an immense triangle of brownie vomit caked on the side of the minivan from that window crack all the way to the back of the van, covering most of the back quarter panel. Incidentally, I did feel better after that, and I recall it even rained at one point so most of it got washed off before we parted the lot. In the end I had a great time at the show - and was probably better off getting that outta me as opposed to....errr, the outcome of our friend Oroborous!

Ahhh, first show memories. With vomit.

Sixtus

thank you thank you thank you

I had the good fortune of seeing MD twice, once at the Hollywood Bowl as a teen in the early 80s, and in Seattle at Bumbershoot (an arts and music festival) in...sometime.

When an "anything-but-Grateful-Dead" event happens...listen to this!

I love a good vomit story. A friend got so drunk prior to a Stones show that he vomited and passed out thus missing the entire show!

Yes, if feasible, ship 'em out early!

Wow, hard to believe 39 years ago this evening....
Funny story about this one. First because I took the greyhound as I didn’t have a car yet and was just starting to break out of only going to somewhat local shows. Short of hitching, that was the only way I was going to get there.
In those days, shows were often GA and being young and fanatical as we were, that meant we usually tried to get up front on the rail. We aspired to be that front row dude in the dead movie, lol.
Utica was no different, but man what a shitty New York “spring” day; cold, damp, and wet...so being young and naive, I had the bright idea that I’d bring a bottle for folks in line to help pass the hours waiting until doors, and brace the chill etc...So after being talked into going for a big dinner, which cost me much of my little cash reserve, I snagged a big bottle of Seagrams 7 and Seven up, which was the nectar of choice with the hard rock band and crew I worked for...
I say naive because most heads weren’t that into drinking like that, at least not before a show. So there I am with this huge bottle and pretty much no one to share it with. Now in those days I could do some serious damage with 7/7 because I had a pretty good tolerance etc. But that big ol bottle was probably too much, or at least it would be later..
So they finally let us in and everyone starts the mad dash for the stage, and of course as I’m jumping over the boards to get on the floor Baracho falls over the edge lol. But being young and numb I bounce right back up and make it up front right in front of Jerry’s gear.
So all might of been good except Dave Homal starts firing up joint after joint, which if anyone remembers what Fabulous Furry Freak Brother Fat Freddie would say “getting drunk, then getting stoned is like pissing in the wind”.
So eventually the aud starts spinning and things are going south, but being the young, dumb, fanatic there was no way I was giving up that spot (idiot! I’m sure I could of gone off to the Lou and they would of saved my spot)
So no surprise I barf over the rail into that little space that there usually was between the stage and the wall, (so much for that expensive dinner!) then proceed to basically pass out sleeping slumped over the wall. Now the security was not pleased, and the young dudes next to me weren’t pleased, and I believe people were making noise about removing me which I was not going to do. Ironically, these guys got too high on acid and eventually one of them ended up having to get handed over the wall to security and removed, while I stuck it out.
I don’t remember much, but I do remember waking up because I could tell the lights went down, and of course there is nothing like that DH roar! So a minute or so later as I start to rejoin the living, just as I’m opening my eyes, Jerry comes around the corner and we make eye contact. He didn’t look much better than I did and I swear we had a moment there. I remember he had a blue or black long sleeve work shirt on and it looked like he’d burned a hole in the pocket. After, Fortunately I ran into Milton Wilkelberry Steamer from back home and he was going to stay with some folks he knew, so I was able to tag along and immediately crashed out. There was no way I was making it back home on the bus that night! Ah the tales of misguided youth!
Anyway, I used to think it was a so so show, but never heard it until a couple years ago when I discovered it was actually decent. In fact I think Dave has played it on Sirius or This day in GD history?
So, maybe not on par with Hendrixfreak stories, but I still get a chuckle!

As strange as this sounds, I was pleased the two shows on my calendar next week (wolf bros and Melvin's JGB) were postponed. It looks like Phil isn't turning 80 just yet either.. The spring that never was??

Kids are home from school... life is beginning to stop. Stay safe my friends.. play dead.