Grateful Dead

Ha.. Jai Ali Fronton doesn't even mean Happy New Year. It's more or less Spanish racquetball or Spanish basketball..

Too funny.. Every time I spend time on bolo clues, my IQ drops a point or two.

Just to lead with a dead-related reference-- I don't recall anyone mentioning that after years of obscure, hard-to-figure out clues, Bolo recently gave us the easiest clue yet. The day before they announced the Jai Alai Fronton 1974 show, he posted New Years greetings in different languages with Jai Alai Fronton as one of the 'greetings.'

Beer and Bell's. As a Madison/Milwaukee transplant to southwest Michigan, I am very happy to have Bell's and to a lesser extent Founder's in the area. I can't drink IPA or other hoppy beers because they bug my sinuses. After one year of drinking IPA at Mishawaka Brewing Co. and waking up with a completely stuffed up nasal passage, I finally figured out it was the hops. So, I try to stick to good lagers.

Unfortunately in the micro-brewing industry, that generally means 'light' style beers. Bell's Lager of the Lakes was too hoppy the first year it was offered, but I have found that Founder's Solid Gold is a fine summer session beer. I suggest all brewers should visit the great state of Wisconsin to find out how to brew a good lager. Most of the microbreweries in Wisconsin offer solid lagers in addition to IPAs-- amber lagers, Dunkel lagers, Pilsner style lagers, etc.... I am particularly fond of Lakefront and Sprecher's offerings (Black Bavarian is a winter nectar).

Bell's has been my go-to for 20 years. For many years, the Pale Ale (with the monk label as described) was my summer and the Porter was my winter. I miss that Pale Ale-- good character and not too hoppy. Oberon is good, but overrated anymore. I like it better on tap. I really like the Best Brown fall seasonal-- good, malty biscuit flavor. I see they have a new Belgian White Ale-- has anyone tried that? It looks intriguing. Bell's Porter is in the fridge and some will be consumed tonight.

When I saw Ratdog or any other show at the Kzoo State Theater, I would hit Bell's for dinner and beers before the show and invariably would get lost on the way to the venue. The river and railroad tracks make for a weird street grid that I always struggled with on those nights.

Nice Blazing Saddles reference, Mr. Ones.

Cutting back on many things fun myself. That time of the year.

Heading down the 1/17th rabbit hole. Nice recording, just starting to get good. Thanks Otis.

Yeah, the Doctor told me not to drink anymore, but he didn’t say anything about drinking any less! Sorry, old joke...
Kinda like I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy...hey-ooooo! (Cue rim shot)
Doc did say I need to watch the tryglycerides so I have cut waayy back.

True story in thinking about small venues.... A good friend of mine from high school attended the University of Notre Dame. In the fall of 97, I went to visit him there. It was our junior year of college. He was living in a small house with some other dudes at the time, right outside of campus in South Bend. After the football game that Saturday a couple of his roommates played a live concert for their own house party of maybe 30-40 people tops. These dudes rocked it out...still remember standing right in front of my buddy’s roommate and guitarist Brendan Bayliss as he led the group through a flawless rendition of Cocaine. Right about that same time or shortly after they named themselves Umphrees McGee. Killer Band with one of the best improvisational guitar players in the world in Jake Cinninger. He is freakin unbelievable.

Edit: A Rush tribute would be very cool. RDG is correct. These guys have a lot of their own material however their covers are flat out amazing. Saw them do some really good Smashing Pumpkins here in KC at another small venue called Crossroads. They are also coming here on April 2nd. Hope to score some back stage passes.

...just to be clear, I am not offended when talk turns to other topics, just amused. And Holy Crap, some of you dudes REALLY like beer. I had to give it up (only because I didn't want to die), but the breadth of the discussion is quite superb. I am jonesing for the Cream Box, which was just delayed a month, until March 6th. Dave's 33 can't come soon enough for me. Us music addicts are constantly in need of a fix......

I know there are some Billy Strings fans out in these parts. Tonight and tomorrow there are free webcasts on the Relix Youtube channel. Free --- thats even cheaper than the Best of K Tel 8 track box set.

Also Saturday is another free webcast from Ghost Light. TBH I haven't listened to them but they feature Ms Holly Bowling, who is the most jamalicious keyboard player this side of Page McConnell. Again on the Relix Youtube channel.

And then on Sunday there's yet another free webcast on the Relix Youtube channel. Umphrey's McGee. I would bet some money on a Neil Peart / Rush tribute. I've seen them play YYZ and they crushed it. Their three percussionists together can almost pull off what Neil Peart could do by himself.

So in summary, sign up for the Relix email updates. They put out a lot of awesome free stuff.

Guilty as charged.

Just to follow up....sorry Mr Ones et el.....(though Sammy Smith’s is definetly the sheete).
Kid, thanks for the Fridge Link, beeerrryyy interesting! That Oberon seems to show up a lot, have to hunt that down. Lagunitas; have had the IPA, liked it.
GLBC; ? Sounds familiar, but not sure if I’ve had, perhaps when visiting back on NY States West Coast 😉, where I have had some 12 Gates, really loved their Coffee Porter, enjoyed a bunch of that and Southern Teir IPA when I was home for 2 months moving pops into assisted living etc..
GENESSEE; speaking of the Tundra, my cousin was at the Genesse Brewpub in Rochester last year and said they had some mighty fine beers. This is funny because back in the day Genesse was THE locals cheap swill of choice that we wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole, now it’s micro beer, too funny!
YINGLING; America’s oldest brewery. Seems like it’s swill now? Back in the day we used to enjoy a pitcher of Porter down on Elmwood, but seems like it went downhill like many do when they get “popular”, kinda like..
SEIRRA NEVADA; is it just me or have their beers seemed to change since they became so big? I still like many of their fine products; Bigfoot BaerleyWine, Narwhal, Celebration, Torpedo, Stout, Porter etc, but something seems different?
HAZE, Crazed and dazed (see, I snuck in a music reference), got turned on to Oscar Blues Can O Bliss series, especially the Hazy IPA last year. Love their Dales (as Carlo mentioned), Old Chub Scoth Ale, Ten Fiddy, but the white whale that haunts me is the Velvet Elvis! Very limited in house offering that I unfortunately have never caught, Doooo!
ANCHOR; the Steamers are actually just one of their many flavors, probably their most well known, but so many other better to choose from if you can still find em; the Dry Hopped Steamers, Liberty Ales, (my favorite middle of summer beer), Go West IPA, Brewers IPA, Hummer, Bock, and of course the mighty Porter....was my all time favorite until we discovered the annual Christmas Beer. The Fog Breaker and the Coffee Porter look good, but chances of getting em here are slim to none. Our distributer is a douche and won’t get even if I pay up front for largish orders! Dick!
Going to the promised land for a wedding up in Sonoma next summer so hopefully we’ll finally make it to the Brewery in San Fran. Previous trips haven’t allowed so hoping to fulfill a 30 something year wish. Hope to visit Terrapin and Sweatwater too!
Yes, I do like beer...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AOiyksNlrY0

Ok, sorry, now back to our regular...
https://archive.org/details/gd85-04-07.sbd.sacks.3346.sbeok.shnf#
Best Easter Sunday Ever! Red Sweethearts for candy!

Hope y’all have a beery Weekend!

PS; my sources confirm KCJs rumor of D&C opening tour in Boulder....if only it wasn’t the middle of 🥶

Had the time of my life at the 85 show I was at, a couple of days before Halloween and it was a huge party. Speaking of beer, there was so much beer being spilled at that show, it was actually flowing down the steps like a waterfall. Jerry was in fine form and quite wasted, and he delivered a breathtaking "Comes a Time" that nite. Hard to believe it was 35 years ago.
I did not listen but I heard thru the grapevine that Dead and Co. picked up the pace some at playing in the sand. Now that was what we all wanted, too bad it took them 5 years to do it.