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    marye
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    Bolo24 says: An Idea, Perhaps? Since we're all going to have a fair amount of spare time on our hands for the foreseeable future, what about starting another thread where we all listen to the same show/release on a given day and then share impressions afterward? Folks can submit suggestions and one person (not me) picks what we'll all listen to - call it Deadnet Picks or something. Anyway, if this idea is deemed to have merit, I'd suggest one of the loyal regular posters take the lead and do the picking - y'all can decide who. Might be fun. If it does go forward, I nominate Dick's Picks 18 for the first listen. Been talked about here lately, and, had it been a single show rather than a compilation, we'd probably be talking about it in the same conversation as Cornell, Veneta, etc. Or perhaps even Gainesville?? Stay safe and healthy, friends - this planet needs as many Deadheads as possible.

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  • 1stshow70878
    Joined:
    JM

    on Jerry's style.
    A cerebral description.
    Whatever he's doing I'm OK
    as long as I focus on all those notes.
    I won't get lost.

    Cheers

  • 1stshow70878
    Joined:
    Aug. 1, 1982

    I think Big Brownie had talked about this one a while back.
    I'm finding so much early 80's I didn't know I liked.
    It's all about the energy not so much the era.
    Cheers
    Thanks BC!
    And Dennis thanks as well. JM is well spoken.

  • bluecrow
    Joined:
    Thank you Dennis

    Thanks for sharing that piece from Mayer. Really good.

    Going with 2/21/71 from Workingman's 50th. Love the Rick Turner Peanut sound.

    1st Show - glad to hear the Kitty Kat is still trucking on

  • Dennis
    Joined:
    Came across the desk

    Out there in the internet world

    A quote from John Mayer on Jerry's playing from a guitar players perspective ...
    Part of the genius of Jerry Garcia, was all guitar players have little segments we work with, little riffs, and licks. We work in these building blocks: at the bottom are scales, then working up to riffs, then licks, then inverted licks if you are the best around.
    Jerry's building blocks were molecules of playing. Not licks. The smallest pieces that could be put together. Everything you are hearing is original, off the top of his head, and represents his spiritual place he was in on that day. John Mayer on Jerry Garcia
    This is the forward John wrote for Jay Blakesberg's book "Secret Space of Dreams"
    "I’m a good enough guitar player to know a great guitarist when I hear one, but I had to become an even better one to begin to understand the depth and complexity of Jerry Garcia’s playing.
    I’ve always said that musicians play like they are, and in the case of Garcia, his performances serve as a detailed map of a man, his intentions, his desires, and his impressions of the world around him. And going by that map, Garcia was a lovely, mighty soul. I never met him, and will never understand the loss of those who did, but the vast archive of his music amounts to the makings of a starry night sky that turns listeners into explorers.
    Several years ago I set out not just to learn Garcia’s approach to the guitar and the songs he played, but to learn what about it has allowed millions of people who don’t play the guitar to key into it for hours on end. Soloing has been known since its inception as a kind of self-indulgent expression. Why, then, could so many listeners, myself included, listen to him do it endlessly without fatigue?
    To best understand what makes Garcia’s guitar playing so unique, it helps to start with what it sidesteps: though it drew from blues and R&B, his guitar approach left a few traditional elements out of the equation, he didn’t play from that well-worn feral, sexual place that traditional blues music traded in, nor did he really touch the sinister aspects that were born into the idiom. Garcia didn’t sing about wanting to rock a young woman all night long, and any of his deals with the devil existed metaphorically as mere setbacks. (What’s 20 bucks, anyway?) These changes affect the fundamental color palette of the storytelling. I’m not sure the sun ever rises in Chicago blues music, but in the musical storytelling of Garcia and the Grateful Dead, it shines so bright it hurts.
    On a more technical note, he played most often in a major blues scale, which added to this mix of innocence, and even joy. Minor blues notes lend themselves to the exquisiteness of pain, while major blues scales kind of explore the relief from it. Garcia played to relieve people of pain. That melodic innocence must have something to do with bringing so many people to their “happy place.” He wasn’t pulling notes from an anguished place within, he was catching them with a butterfly net as they went flitting by overhead. On a tactile level, he held the guitar with grace. It wasn’t a weapon, it was a vehicle. He took it easy. He may have played fast, but he was thinking slow. And that makes us listen with a smile.
    I put Jerry Garcia on the same level as Miles Davis and Bill Evans because of the intention in his performing; once you’ve learned all the notes, and the chords, and the bends and the runs, you come to the final frontier of playing which is the why of it all, and that’s where the power was and still is in his playing. He played from a real place, a place that faced out to the world, not for his own reception or gratification. He played for the joy of interacting with the band and with the music he loved. If you listen close enough to a musician, you can tell what they’re looking to get out of each and every note they make. Garcia, to me, was looking to bring music to life out of the tacit, sacred duty to use his gift. Even after learning these things, they offer very little help in sounding anything like the man. That’s because he didn’t play anything stock or repetitive. There are no “signature Jerry Garcia solo riffs” as exist with so many revered guitarists. To “sound like Jerry,” you have to make people feel like he did, and well—good luck with that.
    The real magic—the kind that will make the Grateful Dead music live forever—that’s in the way we carry it on in our hearts and minds. I don’t listen to Garcia and the band play—I watch it. I believe we all do, and that what we see is a blend of the music, the year in which it was played, the season and location of the show so as to understand the state of mind the band was in that night, that week, that presidency. We see it differently from one another the way we do our own dreams, but we all agree that our dreams contain these songs, and this band, those places and names. And that’s how the Grateful Dead managed to freeze time. We discuss our favorite years in present tense; we say we just heard the best version of something last night as if that was the moment it first took place. Your favorite year of their music "wasn’t", it "is." And in that way, inside that beautiful dreamscape the band created, the Grateful Dead is still up there, still playing. And Jerry is right there in front of them, and time is held in place by those who refuse to let it fade, and even as we sleep, as long as one of us is listening, the band is still playing.
    We lose the ones we love, we pine for those who have left, and we lament the changes of modern times. But the makers of this music dug a tunnel, and it runs beneath time and space, and we, the ones who love it like family, crawl through to visit 1974, and 1969, and 1987 and 1990. If we were alive at the time the show took place, we see ourselves as the people we were in the lives we had, and if we weren’t born yet, we get to wistfully dream what it must have been like.
    We only get a few minutes on earth, and Jerry Garcia gave all his minutes so that we could forever visit his life and times through his playing, and let it unravel into a new kind of now." --- John Mayer on Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead

  • JimInMD
    Joined:
    The Zoo

    A nice little show. I explored this one a little before this thread started, probably late 2019. It makes a good companion to the night before in Austin. Apparently hot that day and Jerry was up most of the night celebrating his birthday. Hot jams in China > Rider.

  • DeadVikes
    Joined:
    8/1/82

    Looking at the 8/1/82 show from Oklahoma City for today. The hot summer 82 run.

  • 1stshow70878
    Joined:
    Yes Jim

    One of the joys of old age.
    Stuff (or hair) growing out of places it shouldn't.
    Or where it hadn't before at least.
    Cheers

  • JimInMD
    Joined:
    Re:

    Wow.

    Tell Phoebe to stay away from the Special K. Catnip and a little cannabis are fine but stay away from Keratin and all the other hard stuff. Some cats never learn....

  • 1stshow70878
    Joined:
    Thanks BC & DV & Jim & Oro

    Phoebe the 17 y.o. cat has made a comeback as she has done many times.
    Just when I think she's used all of her 9 lives she does the energizer bunny.
    The vet says her lameness is a growth of keratin and not anything worse.
    As long as she is not in pain and loving a hobbled walk in the sunshine we will keep on truckin'.
    We've had a series of one dog and six female cats with as many as three at a time.
    And when she goes the wife wants two male kittens next time.
    That should be fun! We can never wait more than a month between loss and adoption. There are so many out there who need us.
    Cheers all!

  • bluecrow
    Joined:
    thank you friends

    Spirit was such a sweet strong beautiful doggle woggle.

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Bolo24 says: An Idea, Perhaps? Since we're all going to have a fair amount of spare time on our hands for the foreseeable future, what about starting another thread where we all listen to the same show/release on a given day and then share impressions afterward? Folks can submit suggestions and one person (not me) picks what we'll all listen to - call it Deadnet Picks or something. Anyway, if this idea is deemed to have merit, I'd suggest one of the loyal regular posters take the lead and do the picking - y'all can decide who. Might be fun. If it does go forward, I nominate Dick's Picks 18 for the first listen. Been talked about here lately, and, had it been a single show rather than a compilation, we'd probably be talking about it in the same conversation as Cornell, Veneta, etc. Or perhaps even Gainesville?? Stay safe and healthy, friends - this planet needs as many Deadheads as possible.

If we are going to do 11/8/69, I am going to have to carve out the requisite amount of time like we did Saturday.. no distractions, no cell phones, no texts, no questions, no one tapping me on my shoulder.. and not the dreaded words, "one more thing" .. and of course get in the proper frame of mind beforehand.

Honestly.. these two shows, add in 2/14/68, 2/13&14/70, sprinkle in FW 69 for good measure and I have taken a liking to 1/2/70 + Bonus disc and an honorable mention for what I think of when I want to get in the transportation business.

Boy does listening to these shows take a lot out of you.. perhaps that's why they wrote AB & WMD.. to slow things down just before we careened off that cliff and into mental oblivion.

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GMLSG sounds as smooth as butter,,,

re, Well... I just hit play but, I paused it. Jim, when is a good time for you I'll wait??

The planets seem perfectly aligned this Thursday. That seems enough time to plan.

That will give us some time to switch things up too.. play around the calendar, pick shows from different periods too.

Does that give us enough time to plan?

That's a pretty nifty number ya got there!

I am all for Dick's 16, but if we need to pause on it to soak up Jai-Alai, I get that too. Let's keep this thing going! I am all for GD from any era!

Today was a good day for 74 Dead around here. Shortly after my early morning Dave's 34 was delivered (at 6:30 am!) I got another package from Real Gone containing Dick's 31, which I looked into after all of the discussion around these parts.

I hope I don't over do the 74 stuff - wait, I don't think that will ever happen.

Peace

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In reply to by Thats_Otis

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....and the sound is already impeccable. And to quote Bobby "Its the real thing".
Just like Billy Sunday in a shotgun ragtime band. This pick came at the right time.

We can pause while the WOS gently peels the plaster from our ceilings.

Whatever works.

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Okay on the pause for the Picks. I will keep my own going tomorrow as my #34 is still in CA.. Okay, no whining here, that gets old.

Oh yah I might have chased a couple women around..., the waiting is the hardest part.

Week eight of this crap, be well people.

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No problem all good. Those who have received the 34 happy listening!

"New ones coming as the old ones go"

Alright, sounds like the Pick of The Day is in hold pattern as we wait for & listen to the Pick of The Dave.

#34 to be exact - 6/23/74 & 6/22/74 Bonus Disc

Roger that.

I'll proceed accordingly...

Sherman set the Wayback machine to June 1974, we're going to listen to the Wall of Sound.

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I love the overlap of old ( psychedelic ) & new ( country/workingmans ) . It’s the palindrome 69 major phase shifting. The sound of small venues compared to larger halls or outdoor concerts all have different ambience . Same goes for instruments ( Jerry’s guitars) . Gibson SG in 1969-70. A whole slew of different axes in 1971. Wall of Sound 1974, with Doug Irwin Wolf Guitar.
Suggesting different eras of GD has been educational, even heard / seen fresh, and in 2020. Who would have known fifty years ago.

RE: STRIDER 88

Interesting observation and I believe you've tapped into something.

Hypothesis:
Does inspiration then lead to a love of learning?

I would venture to guess.. Yes!

Prediction:
Being inspired by Grateful Dead music, if I listen to the Grateful Dead from many eras over and over and over, through the course of many days and years, I'll want to learn more and will be loving it!

Test Prediction:
Continue listening to lots and lots of Grateful Dead from many different eras and discuss with friends.. ad infinitum

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Perfect timing. I got an amp and speakers on the way. Had to take advantage of the 30% offer. I got the speak's for half price and ac line filter for free. I'll be putting off listening to 34 till I get set up.

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In reply to by fourwindsblow

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Carson, CA 5.5.90. 30th anniversary.My final Brent shows.
https://archive.org/details/gd1990-05-05.141262.sbd.miller.flac2496/05S…
Rumors were rampant these shows that Timothy Leary was backstage dosing everyone. The band does sound "fat and juicy", so I can see where it could be true. Phil was turned WAY up.
I remember hanging out with some hare krishnas after the show eating free rice.

Strider...I think Jerry started playing a strat at some gigs in 1969, and on through 1970, as well as the mighty SG. This always seemed to me to be a signifier of the bands gradual shift to a more country based sound. As you indicate, they could still turn on the psychedelic power in 1969 and 1970 - but the times they were a changing .

Whew.. saved from an 11/8/69 induced nervous breakdown.

Edit: Saved for now. It's always the bats that start these things. Well, a melty PITB, then the bats. Look out for Dark Star>The Other One>Dark Star's too. A sure sign that society is in collapse.

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Bats have got themselves a bad reputation lately. Hunter knew it long ago.

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DaveRock , I can only go on photographs before 1970. I believe you’re correct, Jerry would use a strat for some late 69-70 songs. Of the ten times I saw them in 1970 I only remember the Gibson SG. 1971 was all over the map. Starting with seeing the SG my last time same night as Mickeys last show 2/18/71. The next few nights was the peanut Alembic experimental . By April Jerry was playing a Les Paul and then the peanut some nights. First time I saw Jerry play a Fender Stratocaster was at the Felt Forum 12/4/71. Then 2-3 strats through 72/ 73. The Wolf was a real game changer.
This is a fresh way of listening the good ole Grateful Dead.

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In reply to by Strider 808808

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Strider...I am only going off photographs of course-I have nothing like the first hand experiences you are talking about. It must have been amazing to see them in 1970-1971-truly a mythical time. The photos I remember of him with a strat in 1969-70 are mainly in the Taping Compendium. Jerry is holding a sunburst strat in the picture accompanying the Feb 70 shows.
Its always interested me which guitars he played at shows-and Bob too, to a lesser extent. I watched the Festival Express dvd a few weeks ago, and Jerry is jamming with...a band who's name escapes me...but he is playing a tele. I don't think he played one of those very often.

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In reply to by daverock

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Good call Daverock, I need to watch that this weekend

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In reply to by Strider 808808

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Thanks for joining in on this one Vguy and Jim. Loved the cover last night Vguy. Recording is Multi Track excellence as all these shows are. Have not listened to this show in maybe three years. Of the three Omni shows, I usually pull 4/3/1990, maybe because of that glorious Shakedown opener.
Anyway, Vguy, agree with you on this show. Great first set, with a great Althea, to Lay me Down, Music Never Stopped. Even the Victim is good. China Rider, what did that guy say last night about Ship of Fools??
Great Truckin, Stella, Sugar Magnolia and one of favorite encores, It's All Over Now Baby Blue. Great show.

Check it out if you have not listened in a while.

Be well all!

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In reply to by DeadVikes

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....Victim -> Lay Me Down -> MNS is solid. Raucous Sugar Mags. And who doesn't like a Baby Blue? I know this guy does!

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*

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I'm half way through 4/1/90. Althea was playing on our boombox at a motel room at an airport at the giants show in '89 with my friends. Like anyone would care.

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He called us fools talking about potholders and other normal things. Strange.

I didn't make it through the whole show.. but made it beyond the Victim/Lay Me Down. Let it be known I LOVE To Lay Me Down, but the Victim was so much better ( a song I don't normally adhere to).

Anyway.. just had to comment. Not coherent enough to add much more than that.

Who's fucking idea was it to watch Festival Express anyway.. a great yet terrible idea all at the same time. Thank god nobody drives cars anymore. My liver and my lungs both suddenly hurt both at once.

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Man, it was HOT down there!

Anyway, just catching up. I did dabble with disc 2 of Dick's 16 the other night... that is some mind-altering stuff. It looks like yesterday was 4/1/90 - just started "Touch" now.

Today is Three from the Vault? Sounds good to me :)

Peace

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In reply to by Thats_Otis

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Sounds grate, and it’s not even Plangentized.

Smokestack Lightning! Grease it up.

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I’m there. And was there.

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I loved that Omni show! I didn't get either of the Spring 90 boxes, so this show was new to me (at least for a good, quality sit-down and listen.) I LOVED it! The band is so hot, Brent in particular was on fire, the Bobby tunes rocked, and there were so many high-quality Jerry ballads. I mean, a show that has a "Candyman" "To Lay Me Down" "Ship of Fools" "Stella Blue" AND "Baby Blue" - c'mon... all played very well too!

Just started on 2/19/71 - the first Billy-solo show. Was this chosen to celebrate Billy's b-day? Good choice! I haven't listened to this one in a while!

Peace

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I remember from 2/19/71 was, “where’s Mickey?”. Was disappointed at the beginning of the show. The level of musicianship had greatly evolved since 1967 or last time as five piece. They blew the roof off the Capitol Theater that night. Jerry played his Alembec experimental “peanut” guitar for the first time on 2/19 and continued to play it the next several nights.I went Thursday through Sunday nights. I vaguely remember Weir commenting on Sunday as it being slow. As I remember it was sold out all nights. Unlike November 1970 shows in Port Chester when I could buy tickets night of the shows at the box office. Fillmore East was harder to get Dead tickets and February 71 shows sold out in hours . I bought tickets by getting in line at 5 am on a December (1970) Saturday morning. “What’s become of the baby that cold December morn”. Blair Jackson was in that same ticket line. 70/71 was quite the phase shift. Keep em guessing.

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Strider...do you remember much about the ESP experiments at these shows?

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In reply to by daverock

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Nice pick Conekid!.
Always thought it was odd this came out in 2007 and with no real explanation why it took so long to get it out.

Great recording with A+ sound quality. Really good Truckin, Dark Hollow, China Rider. Really liked the Greatest Story, early Bird Song. Did somebody say, Easy Wind? This was great and I wish this got more play as well as New Speedway Boogie.
Great finish!

Strider, you were there, really cool.

Good to see you here Oroborous, I thought a Spring 1990 pick might peek your interest.

Otis, as a huge Brent fan, you should consider the Spring 1990 box sets. Highly recommend.

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I think this is the thread where Jim mention Victim -> Lay Me Down (1990-04-01). I'm a huge fan of Victim, this is a great one. I think this is the depths that, Just a Little LIght, Blow Away, Foolish Heart (if Jerry could remember words when he came out of jam :-) ) could have reached. Picasso Moon probably didn't have much too go! :-) But I really like a good Corinna.

Great Victim though, thanks for pointing it out.

Is there a better "Just a Little Light", than Dozin' at the Knick? Come on? Is there? Just took it off , best.

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Only that it was a random image , not all the time. I do remember Bob and Betty being set up on a side balcony booth. Saturday night was the major rave up night. NRPS finishing their set w Honkey Tonk Woman and the crowd going bonkers, balcony shaking. Weir, Pigpen and Pigs girl friend Veronica watched the end of the NRPS set from back stage right, Bobby shaking his head as if to say”tonight’s the night”. Highlights from 2/19 for me are Smokestack Lightning. Jerry’s use of the Alembec experimental peanut guitar looked amazing after he used his Gibson SG the night before. The peanut guitar was very small in its size but belted out a sweet big sound that was especially evident during Johnny B Goode, that had most of the audience up dancing. A few people at my high school would go one night only , but I was completely consumed.
Too bad there are not many (any)more 1970 tapes. Anything from either 1970 or 1971 is no less than spectacular .