Grateful Dead

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Lenny Bruce was kind of the father, as far as I know, of real edgy comedy. Truth in vulgar storytelling. I haven't been around as long as some of you and I'm not trying to come across as some kind of expert. But it's my belief that he pretty much gave his life for his art. Not uncommon among, say, jazz musicians. Noble? Christ, who knows. To be so talented and so damaged with such bad substance abuse issues, it's like asking, did the chicken or the egg come first? The genius is tortured, leading to the substance abuse, leading to more genius while the drugs are still working for you not against you, like a dog chasing (and catching) it's tail. Great art then death are inevitable.

No matter. My take on it all is, being born in 1968 with very young parents, Mom and Dad 18 and 19, respectively, I grew up on not only their music but their comedy. I started watching the original Saturday Night Live as, what, an eight year old - and quickly grabbing cassettes and albums of George Carlin and Richard Pryor from the public library. Cheech and Chong. Times were different, to be sure, but I feel they were not only looser, but better. More real.

Kids and young adults are going to be exposed, eventually, to everything. To this day I find only edgy comedians like Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle funny, having been weaned on the masters. I like an angry rant - even Denis Leary deserves an honorable mention. Early Eddie Murphy. Both Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinison were hysterical - right up until they weren't. It's a fine line, walking that razor edge of pushing the envelope without coming across a racist, misogynist pig. Some times you win, some times you lose.

Anyway, God Bless all of you. Feels like the sky is getting brighter.

....my birth year as well ledded. And after 52 years, the racism never changed. Just festered. Like a boil. Ever had a boil? I did. It hurts. I had one at the top of my ass crack. It hurt, and stung.
The times they are a' changin'.
I hope so.

I too know what it is like to have big medical bills. Are you cured of your ailments now? Have fun with your box set.

A little (but not too far) off topic.. Looks like there's a new Freak Brothers spoof perhaps coming our way one day.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10627334/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3

Excellent posts , thanks for sharing brothers!
Lenny Bruce was a true Artist & teacher! Amen!

...thank you for your kind words. I hope you are well now and living a grateful life! Your in my thoughts & Prayers , positive energy & vibes from me to you ! 🙏❤️
I suffer from more than one terminal illness. I never spoke about this here on the forum. I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to make fun or use my illness as a joke.
The doctors gave me six months to live and that was last August, 3 days after my birthday.
I had my two week check up with my three doctors this last Friday. Good news, the. Lesion I have in my brain hasn’t grow within these past three months!( size of a golf ball ; over 3cm, which is very large. I’ve lost over 85% of my vision due to the damaged part of my brain that operates and processes the visual information from your brain to your eyes and vs. the area of the brain that operates all this is in the backside of your brain on the right. Side. That part of my brain is basically Dead Tissue. It’s grey matter Due to the. Lesion. The lesion on my brain is basically a giant scar . No operation is needed unless it starts to grow larger.( this is only pertaining to me and not everyone who has a leash. everyone/case) is Different.
What really “burns my ass“ is the pharmaceuticals companies and their outrageous prices for medicine/ prescriptions.
The medical insurance policy in America is crazy and out of control.
I’m prescribed a medicine that cost a little over $10000 a month and the insurance company won’t pay for it. I have to pay out of pocket , basically I’m forced to or you won’t get your meds. That’s just crazy! I also have chronic asthma -and even with my medical insurance, it cost me over two hundred a month for my asthma meds. If I don’t take my meds, I will stop breathing and die.
Im grateful to say I’m still “trucking”, one day at a time. No two days are ever the same. It’s quite nerve racking But it’s also full of enlightenment!
I’m only alive because of my medication ,my doctors, family, friends, and the Grateful Dead!
The grateful dead is my most effective favorite medicine of all second to laughter, love & hope!
What a long strange trip it’s been!”
Have a grateful day everyone, peace be with you all! Be safe, be kind & rock on my brothers and sisters! God bless!
🙏❤️💀🌹

Listening to ...
* dicks picks #11
*9/27/72
*‘Stanley’theater’ Jersey City, NJ
This is a PRImO concert! It’s truly a amazing performance and recording,mix & mastered & so on! I love this pick and it gets a lot playing time in my home. My system loves the Analog tapes! Beautiful Audio all around! Good Ol Grateful Dead! 1972
💀🌹✌️

Not to sound trite, but something I've been trying to live by is something that came to me when I recently heard the old quote, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" It dawned on me that there is always something in our lives that is hurting us, haunting us, or holding something over our heads, so the "trick" is to always enjoy the play, no matter the severity of the horrible thing that we could be focusing on. As the not-so-nice things increase in intensity it becomes more difficult, but in the end, if we don't enjoy the play every time something in our lives is wrong, then we have wasted that time.

Sounds like you're getting through with a positive attitude, and for that, I applaud you. It ain't easy, I'm certain.

KeithFan, please check your PM.

What a cool looking show! If I could go back in time and see 100 Grateful Dead shows, this would be one of them. Hopefully, a tape will surface one day and we can all dig it.

Not to be confused with HDB, which is hot dog + bun, a crucial unit of measure for the Nathan's 4th of July hot dog eating contest, which is coming up. Or is it?

Anyway, HBD!

.. thank you my brother for your moving post!
Abraham Lincoln was a very smart,interesting man & more! in my honest opinion. Peace be with you!
...I have an excellent book filled with Abraham Lincoln quotes! Excellent great book if your interested in stuff like that.

HDB, hot dog & bun, a crucial unit of measure. You are really funny, you have a great sense of humor.

Was watching this video below, watching the guy on standup bass. His top two (the low notes) seemed to have a cartoonish amount of play in them. Unlike say, Don Was, who seems to apply a lot of pressure to get string to move.

Are there two different strings for bass, nylon or metal? (don't what else to call them)

Would you open tune a string with lots of play for reverb/substain?

Am I just nuts and his bass has normal play?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4XpvWUT2yg

I've gone no holds barred on this show. I think I mentioned here that I rarely listen to any of it so that my first first impressions would occur on the Full Norman. The soundboard is so good I said screw it, and it is so freakin good. I guess the next step is to get into 6/9.

I'll bet Dave already has the Full Norman on his hard drive and burned to CD. If were him I would have rung up Jeffrey Norman and called in a favor on that one. How long can it possibly take Norman? I wonder what else he does besides send the tapes to Plangent. I imagine that's how the process works. If Norman owned a Plangent contraption, then every release would get the Full Plangent. I visited the Plangent web site a few years ago but I forget what I read...

Sixtus, missed your Birthday, happy belated bro.

The wave of simply outstanding shows from this time period across the years continues with what many already know is among my all time favorites; we've been sooo lucky to have thoroughly enjoyed this one via the recent box - I just had to chime in again today to give a loving shout out to 6/11/76:

https://archive.org/details/gd1976-06-11.141702.sbd.miller.flac1644

Continuing the trend, I offer applause to KeithFan who finally bit the bullet on 6/10/73. I personally found myself entranced by this Dark Star yesterday....it's a complete Monster among other heart-pounding ghouls from that day.

Thanks also to the many kind folks here who both chimed in or simply offered a momentary thought my way; birthdays are always the best when you feel the love and vibes. A sincere Thank You.

Finally, LMG - your plight is difficult and seemingly unimaginable but the positivity you exhibit despite this each and every day is indeed inspiring.
May The Four Winds Blow You Safely Home.

Be Well, people.
Sixtus

Way off topic, but I‘ve just been listening to Hatfield and the North. Part of the celebrated Canterbury sound and sounding very like early Soft Machine and Caravan (which is not surprising since some came from Caravan). Absolutely love it. Jazzy, offbeat and humorous. Can’t think why I’ve never listened to them before as I was a massive fan of the Canterbury bands. Talking of which, I went to see a modern Canterbury band, Syd Arthur, a few years back and they are fab. Their jamming is quite short but sounds longer if that makes sense. They toured the States a while back with Yes so some might have seen them. Well worth a listen for some modern psychedelic music!

If you are enjoying Hatfield and the North I suggest listening to National Health another Canterbury Band formed by members of The Hatfields and Gilgamesh. When I saw them at Eric’s club in Liverpool in 78 or 79 they had John Greaves of Henry Cow with them and were fantastic. Their albums are very good having a similar humour in their lyrics as the Hatfields.

Royal Mail delivered the album yesterday as promised once the VAT had been paid. The bonus disc PITB is very good. The main album is also very enjoyable. The third disc is practically perfectly played although I think the Casey Jones encore sounds a little throwaway. The Dark Star/Spanish Jam/US Blues is particularly fine. The recording quality is very good throughout. Hope the people still waiting are soon united with their discs.

As I got in the first set of 6/10/76 on my bike ride this morning. It sounded soooo goood… and that Mission in the Rain, got me all sentimental and stuff, like it was written about me and my life right now.. All the things I planned to do, etc. But I have been on a productive role all day, perhaps by dusk I will have done them 3/4 of the way through.

6/23/74 seems beautifully played to me, with the second set easily building the promise of the first. Superb final jam from Dark Star to the end of U.S. Blues. The Spanish jam reminded me of the Quicksilver of Happy Trails a bit. I thought all the final three songs seemed a bit perfunctory, in a way. All the songs and jams up to that point seem to flow organically - the last three just feel stuck on the end-they could almost be from a different show.

I have only played the Playin' from the bonus disc, but that seems really free. The jam doesn't have that sense of infinite space located within finite boundaries that I get listening to the Europe 72 versions, and I didn't notice either Bob or Keith as much as on the versions from that earlier year. The guiding lights seem to be very much Jerry, Phil and Bill. It seems to me that the jam loses connection to the song. Which isn't a negative observation necessarily. I like it, - one to get lost in.

I think I saw Hatfield and the North ( or was it Global Village Trucking Company ?) support Gong in 1974. Never heard a record by them though.

Thanks Colin - I’ll give them a listen.

If you’re only going to listen to one album by Hatfield and the North make it ‘The Rotters Club’ great from start to finish. I also love The Art Bears, another offshoot of Henry Cow. Dagmar Krause has a fascinating voice.

I wonder if Owsley taped this show, and if Bear's Sonic Journals might release it one day? He taped the Dead a few days before at the Fillmore West, so maybe he taped 6/11/69. That show from 6/7/69 sounds great, so hopefully Dave & Co. will put that out soon.
E

It's a grey area with the GD. He supposedly left all the masters in the vault, albeit some of the early tapes were labeled with double vision; a side effect. ..so who knows. I bet he at least tried to record it.

Always holding hope.

For what it's worth, I tried to check out the copy on the Archive and it appears none of the songs listed match what plays when you select the song and hit play.

Only adds to the mystery. Fell free to borrow the John Deere, it'll get you there but it's out of fuel, runs only on mushroom powder.

Just tossin this one out there; you know where I'll be this evening:

https://www.jambase.com/article/bruce-hornsby-grateful-dead-shakedown-s…

Mammoth interview today...this darkness got to give

Be Well People
Sixtus

Y'all be cool

The talk about the Canterbury sound reminded me - last year I got the latest studio album by Soft Machine, "Hidden Details" twice by mistake. If anyone wants it, just drop me a pm and I'll send it over next time I go out. Its pretty good - up to the standards of their late 70s albums, I would say.

Apologies for duplicate post (can’t delete)

I love this band in all its variations. Lucky enough to see them twice recently near me - once at a venue in Derby called the Flowerpot which, while absolutely minute, was a great experience and the band on top form, and lastly at my local jazz venue in Nottingham called Jazz Steps where I managed to snag a copy of the album Dave is kindly offering.

....or was it yesterday? The gang eating breakfast on the Haight. I’m taking the picture so not in it....

....dead.net has your back.
My son got a job right out of high school. Night stocking at Lowes. Did it all on his own. Cool first gig if you ask me. Cooler than mine (dishwasher at a seafood restaurant. Parents made me change clothes in the garage. Smelled like fish).

For some reason, I have no NRPS, nor do I really know much of anything about them, nor have I really heard more than a snippet or two of their music. Those of you who are well-versed in all things Purple, which one release should I purchase, please? Sound quality is pretty high on my list, but if there is a low-fidelity recording that shines musically, well, then . . . I'll deal with the sound. Thanks in advance!

p.s. I'm guessing that it's a live release I'm after?

I recognize a few of them.. A young Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos with hair and a very young Pharma Bro. :D

Best of luck, Sixtus. If you don't get the job, send me a PM. A horse head in the bed sheets aught to do the trick.

Be good all. The weekend is upon us.

NRPS..
Well, you have to start with the first (New Riders of the Purple Sage).. it's a classic. Get the re-issue and you get a couple bonus songs.
The next, Powerglide, is the first with Buddy Cage and has Lochinvar, I Don't Need No Doctor, and Willie and the Hand Jive.

There's tons of live stuff too. Check out Archive.org and see what era's you like, etc.

After John Dawson died they put out a new studio album where Hunter wrote many of the tunes that I think is good called Where I Come From. He wrote a lot of the tunes on their next one too, 17 Pine Avenue. Then Buddy Cage started to get sick.

Gypsy Cowboy, Panama Red are both good.

This is how AllMusic rates their albums:
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/new-riders-of-the-purple-sage-mn0000398…

Up to the bitter end NRPS were touring hard, playing small venues in secondary cities and letting it rip. Ticket prices were quite reasonable and the band was more than approachable during set breaks, etc. If you get a chance, it's really worth seeing The David Nelson Band. Really good, and they won't be around forever.

Edit: dhbrewer, I would start with the studio albums (plus the Owlsy intro) for NRPS. Think about Friend of the Devil, which was written for the New Riders. Garcia came in, wrote the bridge and called it his. ..but this is the kind of stuff where, at least in the early years, the studio efforts are really well done. My opinion, others will vary.

Home, Home on the Road stands head & shoulders above all live NRPS releases. Nothing else comes close. Terrific sound. And Buddy Cage was THE man!

McDonald's on weekends 1980-81

I smelled like Quarter-Pounders burgers aaaaaallll weeeeeeeeek looooooong

better than smelling like fish, I guess

I would get the NRPS box set from the Owsley Stanley foundation, that's were it all begins. You have Garcia playing all the pedal steel, how can you go wrong.

Man, nothing gets me out of lurking mode like Jim's mention of mushroom powder -- very difficult to figure dosage, and I tend to overshoot a bit -- and a question on NRPS.

Jim's got it nailed: I'd say first three studio albums. Home, Home on the Road is good. The latest Owsley release is fantastic and as BillytheKid mentioned, Jer is all over it on pedal steel. Then there's the very new Thanksgiving in NYC (11-23-72), just after I saw them for the first time.

Sept 19, 1972, I'm a freshly minted 15 yr old at my first GD show, with NRPS opening. Tripped my ass off in 3rd row Capitol Theater in, maybe May 1973 (still 15!), when NRPS went out on their own. Just great shit-kicking music, upbeat, fun -- just what the doctor ordered for a pandemic. Same month for my first Allman Bros show, MSQ with Marshall Tucker opening. Funny, then it was NRPS and Tucker (I think) opening for the GD at Englishtown in late summer '77.

Was on another forum, which shall remain nameless, with folks commenting on the return of concerts. Frankly, I may be retired from shows. Hard to say. Started when I made my mom (RIP) drive me to The Chambers Brothers at a local ice rink in 1971. Then the Byrds in a field near Woodstock in spring '72, then the GD that fall and it was all over. Only caught the GD perhaps 75 times, but definitely including some key shows (RFK '73, Watkins, Englishtown, every Rocks show they played). And a zillion other shows. Literally, a zillion. Translation: say, 10-20 big shows a year for 50 years, so that's like a zillion, right? And so many artists in jazz, blues, rock, folk. And, truth be told, even if you get lucky with artist and the crowd they draw, the cost and the talking people have in the past 10-15 years made going to shows a gradually inferior benefit-cost ratio. Plus, a shit-ton of my go-to artists are gone. It's Tedeschi-Trucks, Hot Tuna and Los Lobos at this point for must-see. My last show was Feb 29 Hot Tuna electric in Boulder. Jorma going on 80!! And they killed it. Was ticketed to see Los Lobos in Boulder two weeks later when the poop hit the fan. So, although I missed Hendrix and Pigpen and Duane, I saw just about everyone else I'd ever want to see. I could retire with a pretty good resume.

Okay, had to pop off on NRPS, then just started rambling. When one lives alone, one tends to get chatty.

I bought a budget box set of the first 5 NRPS albums last year, which is pretty good. Five albums for the price of one .Three bonus tracks for the first and four for Gypsy Cowboy. Prior to that, the only one I had from back in my youth was the first one-and that still seems the best. Its a very basic box - no information or booklet of any kind. But it must count as a good introduction.

Soft Machine are great live to this day. Amazingly they played in Lowestoft last September as part of a jazz weekend, about 200 yards away for where I live. The time I saw them before that was at the celebrated Ronnie Scotts in London. I don't think the good people of Lowestoft knew how lucky they were ! Live album to follow next month, too.

I bought 6 or 7 shows years back from this site:
https://stores.portmerch.com/newridersofthepurplesage/music.html
You can't go wrong with any of them
I do agree their first album is a classic and a must have.
Drp

The best is yet to come. I feel ya on th PITB. It's got a strap yourself in for the ride feel to it. I highly recommend you listen to the remainder in one undistracted session. You won't be sorry.

The hardest thing to do is read posts here when you have some Dead playing. I always follow the urge to skip what I have on and put on whatever show someone praises. 6-10-73, no 6-10-76, no 6-7-69, and so it goes.

check pms

Definitely-beautiful Eyes, and a great sequence of music. This might just be my favourite Dave's so far. Amazing to have such a high quality and unique show come out at this stage of the game. Must be over 100 released by now.

I wondered that, too. I have tickets for several gigs this year-Live Dead 69, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, Faust, North Mississippi Allstars, Blue Oyster Cult/Deep Purple and Patti Smith. All in London. I can't imagine seeing any of them this year- Live Dead was postponed to July, and there's no way I'm travelling to London then. You can't exactly practice social distancing at a gig...well, you can in Lowestoft, but not in London. Apart from health, there's all those other things you mention. I like gigs best now when I have a ticket for a specified seat. Not very anarchic, but it suits me better now.

My first gigs were a couple in 1972, then I picked up speed in 1973 on up to January this year. If I don't see Hawkwind this year it will be the first time since 1973, I think. Hope I don't turn normal.

My 1stcousin is the bass player! He’s a grateful fan of the Dead and beautiful human being in every sense! Lots of love Ronnie! Cuz🙏❤️😎
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fPpkiHFIMbU

Ha...

I should have known better than to pose the question of "Which ONE NRPS disc do I need" to this lot! :) The rabbit hole is opening . . .

Thanks, Dennis! Working on it now . . .

If I can help in any way I’ll do my best to make you smile smile smile! ;)
💀🌹

MLB you can relate to to this show I have tickets for (probably Vguy too): Ace Fehley. I had tickets for June; that show was rescheduled for October. Hopefully Mr. Bigglesworth will get upset with corona. And when Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset, coronas DIE!

And Then There were Three Genesis is touring Europe at the end of the year (Phil Collins son on drums). No doubt they'll end up in the States if things return to normal. Saw them on last two tours, early 90's and 2008. As much as I prefer the Gabriel era, I do enjoy a lot of Phil era songs. Problem is they usually play most of the shitty ones (I don't need to hear anything off of We Can't Dance, and Domino is the only worth a live rendition off of Invisibke Touch, but I'll tolerate the title track as a 3 minute encore. But they always play half crappy songs off their last two LPs (I don't consider Calling All Stations Genesis - more like Tony and Mike and the Mechanics). Pissin' shame they won't tour with Gabriel and Hackett. I'd locate $1000 to see that lineup from the 7th row center, playing 2.5 hours of only Gabriel era songs, in a venue no bigger than an arena. Only problem is Phil can't play drums. Wishful thinking.

El Paso on this 6/23/74 Dave's Picks has some great piano slickery from El Godchaux. Worth a close listen.

I have tickets to several gigs, I am not holding much hope for any of them.. and if they happened, I am not sure I would go either.

The lost year. I guess what's important is that we keep everything in perspective and try our best to stay healthy and happy.

..dicks Picks & members of NRPS join in the *playing of music on Dicks Picks #8
One of my Favorite Dicks Picks in the whole complete series #1-#36
💀🌹

https://stores.portmerch.com/newridersofthepurplesage/field-trip-cd.html
Recorded Live to 16-Track at Temple Meadow in Veneta, Oregon.

With Billboard magazine hailing the New Riders Of The Purple Sage as “the definitive band of the country-rock genre,” 1972 was a year of major growth for the band. By the time Summer rolled around, Buddy Cage was now firmly entrenched as Jerry Garcia’s replacement on pedal steel guitar and their second studio album, Powerglide, was getting rave reviews. On the live front, they were beginning to fill concert halls across the U.S. while continuing to emerge from the shadows of the Grateful Dead with an intoxicating mix of classic and original American songwriting from the worlds of country, rock, bluegrass, and soul.

August 27, 1972 found the New Riders once again on the bill with the Grateful Dead for what turned out to be one of the more legendary events in this subculture’s history. On the grounds of what is now the Oregon Country Faire, Chuck Kesey (brother of author and Merry Prankster icon Ken Kesey) put together this benefit concert, which quickly became known as the “Field Trip,” for the local Springfield Creamery. As fellow Prankster Ken Babbs recalls, “no one ever suspected it would become a historic event with an attendance of 20,000 on the hottest day ever—they ran out of water, the guitars warped in the heat and now everyone you talk to, hundreds of thousands, were there on that all time greatest most spectacular day.”
Taken off the original 16-track master tapes, Field Trip is a crystallized moment in time-capturing all the elements of the day along with the thumping and driving energy of a smokin’ set delivered by the New Riders. Early versions of “Groupie,” “Whiskey” and “Linda” are offered, along with a blazing “Whatcha Gonna Do.” Once again, the band kicks out the jams with bassist Dave Torbert leading the way on the Ray Charles classic “I Don’t Need No Doctor” and “Willie And The Hand Jive.”