Pick of the Day, with Discussion

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April 6, 2020 - 9:47am

8,086 replies

marye

Joined:
May 26, 2007

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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February 23, 2023 - 1:20am

#1281

Forensicdoceleven

Joined:
June 17, 2008

Music is the best means we have of digesting time......

ROCKTHING.............

Check your PMs...........

Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend........

Rock on,

Doc
I frequently hear music in the very heart of noise.......
February 23, 2023 - 1:10am

#1282

Forensicdoceleven

Joined:
June 17, 2008

I have just got a new theory of eternity…...

Hey rockers!!!

Pick Of The Day: Austin, Texas February 23, 1970

I reluctantly discussed this at the end of last year. Here I am again. It appears that I’m stuck in a time warp. The galactic rock and roll union. I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious…..

It appears that the currently circulated recording of this show is the only surviving audio document from the Dead’s four show excursion through Texas in February 1970. It’s tough coming right after the wonderful, brilliant Fillmore West/Fillmore East shows earlier that month, and perhaps it’s not unexpected that the intensity level might come down a bit. That being said, this is still interesting, enjoyable, and worthy…..

The band is in 1970 electric/acoustic/electric mode. The circulating recording appears to be missing part of the first electric set, coming in during Know You Rider. For fans of acoustic Dead, this set is nice---Monkey And The Engineer-Little Sadie-Me And My Uncle-Black Peter-Seasons Of My Heart-Uncle John's Band. The festivities are completed with a jammy NFA and Mason’s Children.

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind. I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity……

Did Bear travel to Texas, and did he record? Banana boxes, reveal thy mysteries…..

Rock on,

Doc
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods……
February 22, 2023 - 7:47pm

#1283

rockthing

Joined:
August 2, 2020

5/19/74 > 2/22/69

>daverock>

The vocal dropouts are not evident in the audience tape, so that must have happened on the way to the board tape.

That said, the recording is slightly overpowered by Jerry and Bob's guitars from the taper's vantage point, but a little time with a simple Equalizer was enough to bring more Phil and better presence to the vocals. I do recall a few lyric flubs with the new material, but in the overall mix it didn't really jump out at me. Probably much more obvious in the official release/soundboard recording.

2/22/69>
Oh, my. I can see this is gonna send me on a primal quest. I have all these fall '69 and fall '68 shows that I've never listened to, but I don't have much from the spring of those years. I love this gentle psychedelia. It's really these delicate type of sounds that really trigger the senses. I'm only up to Dark Star at this point, but what a beautiful way to start a show.... oops, "The transitive diamonds?" Haha. I'd probably have trouble remembering my name if I were there, so whatever.

It's such a shame that we're restricted to streaming this show. Imho, if the official release isn't so significantly better sounding than one of these circulating boards that it isn't a no-brainer to buy it, then what's with the classism, eh? I know the boys need a retirement plan... but... --mini rant off--
February 22, 2023 - 10:30am

#1284

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

5/19/74

Rockthing - good notes on this show - cheers! I'm going through it very slowly, but it's the L.P. I am listening to. Although it has the famous vocal drop outs, the sound and balance of the instruments sounds fine throughout to me. I have just played the side with Loose Lucy and Money Money on. A short side. The lyrics are a bit naff on both of them - but I like the music, and they were both played so rarely that when they do crop up, it's a welcome surprise to me.
I presume the version you have listened to has the earlier vocal dropouts too.
February 22, 2023 - 3:51am

#1285

rockthing

Joined:
August 2, 2020

5/19/74 (Part II)

Wrote these notes on Monday morning while drinking my coffee and getting ready to do some work from home. After a while I was mostly distracted by the show.

I'll get to that Feb. 22 '69 show if I can, but I don't have that one handy. Hafta stream it.

The ETree identifier of this source is 115876, btw. I don't have the box set, so these are my first impressions.

It Must Have Been The Roses: Ok. /Now/ I'm awake. Possible tape change? There is suddenly a big improvement in sound quality for this hauntingly sensitive rendition. Jerry's voice is now clear above the guitars. Everything, save Phil, is suddenly much clearer and the sound field feels wider. Up to this point the tape had sounded like the tape the biker is listening to at the beginning of the Dead Movie. Nice harmony work during the refrain, blended well in the house mix.

Loose Lucy: Gettin' in the funk. Jerry's just perfectly behind the beat to make it nice and nasty. If the syncopation isn't just right, this tune can completely lose all form really quickly. Loose Lucy must be a pretty new song at this point. I have no idea when this tune debuted. They didn't do this in concert much, as far as I know. I was lucky enough to see'em do it once, but the performance I saw was almost unrecognizable. Something was wrong with the timing, so it sounded all backwards. I was embarrassed to not even recognize it until Jerry started singing. This is a nice treat.

I Know You Rider? Something seems to be wrong here. The info text says Money Money should be next followed by China/Rider, but we're just dropped into IKYR. Looks like some minor surgery might be needed on the meta data.

Money Money: Ok. Someone's just mislabelled these files. Man, this has always been one of my least favourite songs in the Dead's catalogue. I rarely skip songs on albums, but being the album closer on Mars Hotel makes it easy. I don't think I've ever heard a live version of it, so this is kind of a treat, in its own sort of way. Having not heard it in such a long time, I guess it's not such a bad song. The negativity of the lyric just sems to strike such a contrast to most of the other stuff in the repertoire. John Lennon, for example, has a lot of negativity in his lyrics, but when I listen to him, I expect that.

China Rider: Yeah. They're keepin' that funky groove going that was working so well during Loose Lucy. The transition jam seems to go almost immediately to an I Know You Rider feel. The guitar tone is very unusual here. It almost sounds like Bobby's Gibson 335 tone. He's playing lots of double-stops, where he plays two notes at a time even while soloing… wait… maybe that /was/ Bobby!? Some very cool interplay between Bobby and Phil before a guitar sound that is unmistakably Jerry joins in just ahead of the trademark unison bit before I Know You Rider. What is now clearly Jerry's tone keeps it going after the unison part, and now there's a Feelin' Groovy jam. I can almost see the smiling faces and twirling homemade sun dresses with flowers in the hair right now. Big, big ovation from the crowd as they settle into the Rider vamp before going into the first verse. They know what they've just heard. That was sweet, breezy, and smooth as can be. I'm guessing Jerry had some sort of equipment or other issue causing him to stop playing for a bit at the beginning of the transition. Oh, yeah, Jer, dig into that "On a north bound train" line. This and the out-of-place IKYR are going to get merged into one track when I get a chance.

Set II:
Promised Land: Yeah. Everybody's definitely up off their blankets now.

Bertha: Got a little "Yee Haw" from someone nearby for "All night pouring, but not a drop on me." It's quite amazing how inobtrusive the audience is, considering this was recorded with a handheld mic by someone just hanging out in crowd.

Greatest Story: Nice wah wah Jerry licks. Jerry's wah is so bubbly and has a rich swell, like the sound of a wave on the ocean. Using the rocking motion of the foot pedal definitely puts the player physically off balance, so I can understand why he seemed to abandon it later in favor of the Mutron "auto-wah" tone filter. Sounds so good here, though. Jerry's volume sounds cranked, though, totally drowning everything out. I ain't complaining. Oh, yeah. A little jam in GSET? They seem to have gone into something altogether different. I'm not sure if this is a set piece, but it feels unfamiliar to me. I know that I've heard occasional jams in Greatest Story, but they seem rare. This is definitely no longer the Greatest Story chord progression, but I don't know what it is, and then Wamp, Wamp-Wamp, right back into it. Now I'm gonna hafta start checking out Spring 1974 Greatest Stories. That was hot and adventurous, like maybe something went wrong and they fought through it… but maybe there was just a jam in this song back then.

Ship of Fools: Giving the manic dancers their first break of the second set. The taper is stopping the tape between songs, though, so who knows how long they spent tuning in between. Very nice harmony work from Bobby and Donna.

Weather Report: Seems a bit tentative in the earlier segments, but the Let It Grow jam is developing interestingly. The whole band just seems sort of in a gentle mood this night. Everything is soft and malleable, and most of all, creative, when they go off into improvised sections. The straight tunes are tight and, well, straightforward, but I'm hearing all sorts of novel ideas coming through during the instrumental segments. There seems to be a completely different confidence at work during this jazzy work out. You can hear Billy getting back to his swing roots and playing off Keith. This is fantastic. Such subtle interplay. Normally when I hear the full suite performed I wonder why they didn't continue to use the first parts, but in this case I didn't feel that way.

Peggy-O: Jerry's picking is quite aggressive, and his tone is very chimey, even behind his vocal. Relaxed tempo, even by Peggy-O standards. In this recording it sounds almost like Billy and Jerry doing a duet, but Keith adds some accents here and there.

??: What is this? A playful little jam and some quiet noodling where the audience's shouts and requests become more prominent. Bobby announces technical difficulties.

Truckin': Nice buildup, but not the major bomb drop I'm used to, and from there things start to get really weird. It's not spacy weird, just, "Whoa, what the heck is this?" weird. Some of the early 70s Truckin's could get totally abstract, so this is just the way they rolled back then. Great stuff. Gettin' that funky groove goin' from the first set again, even as the changes take on some jazzy influences. Bobby is very clear in the mix, and my oh, my it's gettin' Weir'ed. Jerry busts in with a burst of guitar feedback which seems to shock everyone for a moment, but they're still groovin'. This is the gold I look for in any show. It's funny because Mind Left Body actually sounds a lot like Loose Lucy. Billy and Phil getting' into a little funky-drummer exchange. Finally Phil breaks through in the mix with some space for him to hit that Bootsy one. In the info text "Jam" and "Mind Left Body Jam" had been listed separately, but they're actually all included in the Truckin' track, which is my preference. Cousinit made a real mess of this file set, but I can fix it. Rarely are there such glaring mistakes on the Archive, but this one has definitely been put together somewhat carelessly.

NFA: This interesting because I've been listening to a lot of Alligator era NFA's or Bean era NFA's, and that gives a nice context to compare to this Wolf tone… of course, there is a LOT of recording tech affecting the sound here, but even though there's a nice honk, everything seems so nice and round and gently muted. Hey. What's this breakdown in NFA. Pretty sure I've never heard that before… and GTRFB. THAT, was an interesting transition.

GTRFB: Nothing to worry about here. The old standby. Billy's hi-hat figure during the breakdown is, again, getting really funky with a swinging 16th note feel, or something. Very cool.

US Blues: Mars Hotel weighted setlist. What month did that come out? Good, tight version.

Johnny B. Goode: Full colosseum clap along for a high energy reading that does justice to the Check Berry original. Sometimes this can get a bit too languid. This one is rockin' hard.

On repeated listen, I've messed with the EQ some. First of all I bumped up the EQ preamp level, I dunno, about 10db, I guess. I then added a further 12db of 64Hz, and 125Hz on the 10 band EQ to bring Phil nicely into the mix, but also lowered almost everything else about 6db on frequencies that had been flat to make the bass frequency differential greater. The bass still isn't terribly defined, but it at least brings Phil into play. He was completely inaudible without EQ. Got just a touch more vocal by giving the 1KHz and 2KHz about 1db. The tape has a sort of nostalgic cheap car speaker sound, so I actually wanna preserve a bit of that… not that I could really get rid of it. There's quite a nice venue ambiance, especially when there is more space in the arrangements, like during the Mind Left Body Jam.

The vocal drop-outs others have mentioned were not audible to the audience.
February 22, 2023 - 3:28am

#1286

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

2/22/69

That is a great show. According to the cd notes it was recorded, along with shows in late January and the Feb-March shows, for possible inclusion on Live Dead. It probably won't happen - the song lists are obviously very similar, but it would make a great box set to release all the shows recorded.
The shows from 1967-1971 inclusive are the main ones for me in 30 Trips.
February 22, 2023 - 1:16am

#1287

Forensicdoceleven

Joined:
June 17, 2008

You can't blame gravity for falling in love…..

Mornin’, rockers!!!

Pick Of The Day: Dream Bowl February 22, 1969

Relatively speaking, the yang to the yin of February 21, 1969. True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist…..

I have the space, you have the time, let’s revisit. Officially released in October 2015 as part of Thirty Trips Around The Sun, one almost never hears about this show, possibly because it gets overshadowed by the blazing white hot glare of the Fillmore West Shows of February 27th to March 2nd. This is very much “of a kind” with those shows, featuring the typically sweet Mountains Of The Moon (always loved that song!), a long exploratory Dark Star, a fierce, crunchy Other One, a deathly Death Don’t, a fine Eleven, and a greasy Lovelight that clocks in at a mere 21+ minutes.

Great music, great sound quality, I suggest you find the time…..

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once…..

Rock on,

Doc
There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there…..
February 20, 2023 - 3:08pm

#1288

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

Heads in Mississippi

That's good to read - they opened with Mississippi Half Step - Franklins Tower the first time I saw them 3/24/81. A great start to the show for sure.
February 20, 2023 - 1:11pm

#1289

PT Barnum

Joined:
December 2, 2009

5-19-74

In my experience, any show that starts off with Mississippi half-step uptown toodleloo is usually a great one and 5-19-74 is no exception. That pacific northwest box grows on ya, for sure.
February 20, 2023 - 12:53pm

#1290

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

5/19/74

I haven't played it this year yet, but it has become one of my most played shows from this year - mainly because I bought it on vinyl. But it is really good, too. To me, it's better than its song list suggests - the songs leading up to the Truckin' jam are well played and forward moving, and that final jam is superb. It has been castigated in some quarters for the vocal drop outs. A price worth paying, in my opinion. All three 1974 shows in the box it was culled from are top notch.

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Currently Listening To...

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.

420

West Coast Time, be careful with your smokes

Shakedown Stream preshow 8/27

What if Dave used that to do the first ever live announcement of a new release?
Like a Summer 72 Box, since it’s assumed that the Stream will be 8-27-72.

Visionary

Me likes that concept

Road Trips Volume 1 number 2..... 10/77

I always listen to the first set, listening to CD 2, wow 17 minute Playing to open followed by a good other one.... what a pleasant surprise i have to say !!!! Be good everyone.... bob t.....
P.S. I hope your 72 predictions are right!!!!

Shakedown Stream

Interesting news Strider. Hope you all are right.

The big question is, has Glasser stopped working on Jim's roof?

If so, we might have something.

By the way, we need a pick.

Bells Octoberfest is in the house!

Enjoy the Octoberfest DV

I didn’t see any at the store the other day. Grabbed a case of Oberon, probably the last one from that store this season.

I think that Glasser finished the roof and now Jim has him installing a thumping stereo system in that empty beer truck he still has parked behind the garage.

I’m up earlier than usual for a Saturday, half way through a large cup of super dark roast, think I’ll make the pick.

And the winner is......
Tomorrow’s anniversary
8-23-87, with Carlos on a couple of songs.

Edit:
I didn’t pick 8-22 solely because it wasn’t in the CD holder that is in my living room. I have newer versions of both shows on HD’s, but they currently aren’t on the microSDXC cards in my music player. So I went with the CD-R’s that I burned years ago.

Feel free to do either or both of the shows. We’re flexible here.

8/23/87

Looks like a great show. I am on it. Box of Rain opener.

Thanks for the pick Conekid.

Oberon is done here in MN, which is a bummer. That Octoberfest is a good replacement.

Say thank you Carlos

Carlos Santana with the Dead on a couple songs. “Say thank you Carlos”, Bob Weir. Will have to check out 8/23/87. Also Road Trips , Volume 1 Number 2 is excellent and includes the Dead’s second New Mexico appearance. Jam of the week has filled in some of the gaps. Full soundboard must be in house.

Strange occurrences on the desert. Been reading some Science Fiction lately and started reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury a couple days ago. Mind you have not read it since I was 12 years old back in the mid 60s. So yesterday I google Ray Bradbury and read that today would have been his 100th birthday. Enter Twilight Zone theme. Who are the Grateful Dead and why do they keep following me.
“My God, there’s millions of stars”. Dave Bowman

Hope Love my Girl, Bolo, Ouroboros and others are good. Over the years have seen many come and go from this site. Some have passed on , some have passed through , time keeps marching on.
As Mr Natural said; “just passing through”. Or as Oat Willie said; “Onward through the fog”.

Hey Now!

Carlos has a sweet sound on that Solo during Iko, you can feel the rush just listening, dig it.

Hats off to the Good Ol Grateful Dead Hour! Turned me on to this show BITD, I can still remember sitting in front of my tape deck taping it, still have the tape. Who'd a thunk what the future would bring.

Speaking of the future, looking forward to Thursday and the anniversary of the GRATEFULest Dead Show EVER!
There's been some clever hints, winks and nods about fun stuff.

Top 5 for sure... if you're into ranking stuff, all I know is I can listen to almost any song from that show and go places, far out places, that are fun to explore. Powerful stuff.

Hope all are well and enjoying some good tunes!

PS - Thanks Gollum, good to know it's not just me who's not in real time ;)

here there and everywhere

always been a big fan of Road Trips , Volume 1 Number 2. in near synchronicity mode as I listened to first 2 discs early last week and then the bonus disc yesterday to start the work day. the bonus disc is just exactly perfect, one of my fave discs from the RT series and it was in the cd player while traveling for a long long time. i love that sequence from Albuquerque that begins with Iko > Wheel. I mean they only had played Iko once before back in that AMAZING Fox Theater show in St Louis 5/15! a show IMHO that seems to not get the love it deserves amid so many other stellar spring tour shows. Also the Let It Grow from RT, V 1 No 2 is super super fine.

Been decades probably since I listened to the '87 Angel's Camp shows with Carlos. that little festival had to have been a real hoot with David Lindley and Santana also on the bill. I'll dip into 8/23 today. '87 was a solid good year.

and just realized missed call out to 8/21/93 (and 8/22) in Eugene - super fun show. Standing On The Moon that first day was out of this world gorgeous and emotional. favorite version hands down.

and I should probably pull out Sunshine Daydream while I'm at it since I won't have a chance to participate later this week.

my long shot mini box guess is RFK '73 including the set with the Allmans. but would be very happy with some of the other suggestions floated here.

also been having issues with the most recent posts not being immediately visible even when I first open the page - my workaround is to click the sort by drop down and click "Recent" (which is already my choice) and that updates the posts. seems silly but it works.

stay safe. be well. have fun.

8-22-93

Good call Bluecrow, just started spinning it.

8.22.93....

.... I'm all over it. I was present and somewhat accounted for at that show. There were naked people. Bobby smashed his guitar. Angry Jack Straw indeed. It was the bees knees.

Is there Eugene 93 video in the Vault?

Debut it on Shakedown Stream Dave.

yeah - the angriest of jack straws

we were in the stands straight out from the stage both days - exquisite sound and sight lines. i was watching with a pair of binoculars when bobby walked off and I could see him swinging that guitar like a freaking axe and it was a complete "what in the f*** am i seeing????" Jerry just kept jamming away with his head down - curious if he knew what was going on via earbud or just that Bob had left the stage.

just flashed on a funny 8/22 related memory. excellent tapes of both shows circulated immediately afterwards as they were broadcast on the local public radio station. a few years later i was traveling with my girlfriend in the low desert. I was driving an '87 Isuzu Trooper at the time. We spent a couple days in Cabeza Prieta at the end of the trip before heading back to the NW. We exited the CP at the west end and started heading west on I-10. We were listening to 8/22 Set II. During Drumz she said I can't deal with that can you turn it off, and I did. A few miles down the road a crazy banging noise started coming out of the engine compartment. She says - I thought I asked you to turn that off?! and I'm like it IS off - that's coming out from under the hood!! We were near Yuma and pulled into a rest area. Pop the hood to find that the adjustment bolt on the alternator had snapped and the alternator is flopping wildly on the belt. Dropped some quarters in a pay phone and called a garage in Yuma. They had it tapped out and fixed by supper that evening. Spent a pleasant unplanned night in Yuma and on the road next morning. If that had happened in the CP it would have been a whole different and way more expensive story.

Bobby's best Townsend impersonation....

....we were slightly stage right and approx 60 feet back on the floor. Yahhhh!!

*RE/ strider

Excellent post,Also with you my friend! Grateful to see & read your posts As always, rock on brother! I’m stuck in dicks picks #28 for the past 3 days, my cat lock’d me in! Ha ha lol
Tomorrow I’ll be spinning Buffalo 77! I look forward to listen this release thru my tube system
🙏❤️💀🌹

Check out 3/19/77 Set II in this weeks Tapers Section

Dave throws this set up once a year....Eyes>Dancing>Wharf Rat>Franklin's Tower>Sugar Magnolia....nice little jam between Eyes and Dancing, early on sounds a tad like Comes A Time might be popping up.. very different feel than a few weeks prior at the Swing with the Phil Jam between Eyes and Dancing... Yes 5 song Set II (Two encores) also, but what 5 great songs....be good... bob t

Palindromes, Ray Bradbury

Someone asked me if I love palindromes. Yes, ever since the release of AoxomoxoA, 6/21/69.
Also while reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (he would have turned 100 August 22, 2020) yesterday I came across the passage “way up in the middle of the air”. From the Bible apparently.
Another palindrome;
⚡️ A man a plan a canal Panama ⚡️

Today's Pick

How does 9/3/1980 sound to you all? Download series #7. Extra credit for partial show on 9/4/1980.

OK With Me

9/30 works.. spending a quality day on my roof until the temperature decides otherwise... Might as well have some upbeat 1980 to keep the spirits high.

9.3.80 you say?....

....I'm all in.

* Re/ Deadvikes & the download series

I wish I had a computer & actually know how to use it. I grew up in a time of typewriters lol I really wish I could get them on CDs, I believe there was only 12 total releases issued by download only, very much like the new studio crecordings of WMD “ angels” release in studio sessions . Made available.
Man, I wish I wasn’t so Technological handicap.
I would love to get all 12 shows to add to my collection. I’ll keep praying for a miracle , who knows , maybe someday soon ;the Grateful Dead will release all 12 downloads into a physical Boxset one fine grateful day! I would buy it in a hart beat ! Lol 💀🌹🙏😉

Re: Massage Spam

I feel dirty.. Hope MaryE does some housecleaning...

1980, 1977, 1969 & 1966

I did some extra credit first and 9/4/80 is a great listen, looking forward to 9/3/80 a little later.

The March '77 shows would be a cool release. Home turf at Winterland sure seems to bring out the best in the boys, that PITB > Samson > PITB at the end of Set 1 of 3/19 is dreamy.

Strider is that a quote from Bradbury? Far out!

I read Kesey's The Further Inquiry the other day, that's some far out stuff too, had to watch the Magic Trip to go along with it, now I'm digging into the Electric Kool Aid Acid Tests... getting ready for Thursday ;)

Recommended Pandemic Reading & Viewing for anybody that enjoys that type of stuff.

Alright, time to go Further!

Shakedown Stream August 27, 2020

Special guests for pre-show, Ken Babbs and Sue Kesey. Please get the word out there.
Veneta, Oregon was an amazing place to see the Grateful Dead, especially August 27, 1972. August 28,1982 was quite different but also magical. These are golden memories. The Springfield Creamery and Health Food and Pool Store was quite the operation back in the 70s. There was a pool table elevated above the food bins below a skylight. We could play pool for free. I remember a couple days after the 72 Veneta Dead show seeing Ken Kesey, his brother Chuck and Ken Babbs shooting pool on the old famed pool table.
I bought a couple quarts of Nancy’s Yogurt in Silver City today to prepare for the Thursday broadcast of Sunshine Daydream. Great way to finish out summer and Shakedown Stream. Hats off to all who helped to pull this together, Adrian Marin, Ken Babbs, Sue Kesey, Sheryl Kesey Thompson, and all the hard working people at the Springfield Creamery along with Gary Lambert, David Lemieux, Doran Tyson, Marty Dolan and all the hard working people at Rhino Records in beautiful downtown Burbank.
The dream lives!

Dubai Spa

Jim, I thought they were supposed to send you a PM, not a post.

Looking forward to Thursday Strider. You were there, that is cool. Can't imagine.

Is that box announcement still coming?

Strider is Pole Guy???!!!!!

That’s awesome

Don’t forget 8-25-72 anniversary today.

9/3/1980

Love the variety you get with 1980. This show hits it for me. Half Step Franklins to start, yes! Really like this Althea and Brokedown Palace. He's Gone, Truckin, Black Peter, oh yeah! Sound quality on this one is A++. Super solid release. More 1980 would be great.

9/3/80

I like Brent's vocals on the outro to Deal on this one. Check out the China>Rider from the day before (Rochester). There's some interesting things going there vocally, too. This time between Jerry and Bob.

1980 / Random Musings

Love this year, the halfway point for the band.

Reflected on releases from this year this morning sipping on my Morning Brew:

Deadset, Dead Ahead, Reckoning, etc. all excellent, multitrack recordings.

Go To Nassau, 10/9/80 & 10/10/80 - Same as above

Road Trips, Volume 3 No 4 - Penn State and Barton Hall. Great songs and performances but the recording to me sounds a little thin and tinny. I put that in the Road Trips cassette master snafu category.

11/28/80 Lakeland FL - Sounds a little warmer than Barton Hall and Penn State, but still lacking a touch in fullness and richness. Still, has nice, clean sound and a good feel to it.

11/29/80 - Board segments have surfaced, the second set soundboard circulates and segments of the first set have been played by Lemieux on jam of the week. Some of the audience tapes that circulate are works of art. To be continued I guess, stay tuned. Would love to see a Matrix type effort and become an official release.

11/30/80 Fox Theatre - the Holy Grail of 2 track 1980 recordings/releases. The perfect marriage of the thinner boards of the year with the full sound of a truly great audience master. Hats off and many thanks to Dr. Bob Wagner for his contribution.

I would love to see more efforts like Dave's Picks 8, 11/30 Fox Theatre. That's the best sounding solution to the lacking cassette masters from the year and currently my personal favorite 1980 release or as I started spinning this while writing up this post.. more accurately stated as the last 1980 show I have listened to. As Tony the Tiger would say, It's Great!!!

One last nod goes to the unsung hero, Jim Wise for his audience contributions to I think the Lakeland show which was released and no credit given for his aud patch. Another great 1980 audience tape. I think I have this right.. I think it was Jim Wise and I think it was the Lakeland show, but I could be wrong about the exact show this happened on.

Ok.. coming off a bit of a health scare, thankfully not covid and something modern medicine is quite capable of treating.. I am trying to venture on a little bicycle, music adventure before it gets too hot with my new music toy. I took advantage of my down time by taking up some free advice Cone Kid gave six months or so ago.. I upgraded an old, used IPod Classic I bought of Amazon a couple years ago that unfortunately suffered from a bad heart (battery). I upgraded it myself and replaced both the battery and the hard drive using IFlash Memory instead of the old, standard hard drives they used to contain. Powered by 4, 256 Gig MicroSD Chips that are super small and light. So I now have a 1TB IPod both works like new and has literally every single GD show I have imported / Ripped / downloaded into my digital world. 10,000 songs.. would take more than a year of solid listening 24/7 to get through the whole thing and the sick part.. I still have 450 gigs of free space left.

If you picked the best recording of every show (officially released and the best version that circulates) and stored it as either Flac or ALAC (lossless but compressed) I believe you could fit every single Dead Show that circulates on this device that fits in the palm of my hand. I am calling it Podzilla. Many thanks to Cone Kid for the dead.net tip of the day six months ago. So 30 years of live GD music on the go, and off I go..

Have a great day, stay cool and best of luck to our friends in the Southern Gulf States (and Western Mexico) that are about to get hit with a couple (few) hurricanes any day now. A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. Did someone say 1972?

This Morning's Listen (for me)

Going with 11/28/80, Lakeland.

If we have already done this show, guessing we did at some point I was absent that day so consider this a makeup test day. Like the sirens sweetly singing, this one called to me this morning.

Hope you all have a great day... I'm off like a prom dress.

Pole dude & 1980

I believe that was Gary Jenson. Been passed on a few years. I was real wild as a teenager but not quite that wild. I had my clothes on at both 1972 Veneta and 1982 Veneta. Maybe it was my puritanical New England upbringing.
1980, any complete recordings of the acoustic set Dead shows from that year should be considered holy grail material, Radio City, The Warfield and the two New Orleans shows with acoustic sets. Between the two years 1970 and 1980 plus the two or three December 81 acoustic sets with Joan Baez I have counted 70 something shows with acoustic Dead.
Shakedown Stream tomorrow, I’m preparing like a Saturn Rocket on the launch pad. 🚀

1980 and Veneta

Strider, yes, the Warfield and Radio City shows in fall of 1980 are very special in the Dead's history and I am hoping for a miracle. Do you believe in miracles in 1980? Yes!

Jim, yes we hit up the Lakeland show earlier, but another listen is always welcome.

Veneta tomorrow!

Be well folks.

Jim

Glad you are ok!! Bob t

Podzilla

It’s a good thing to have.

Mine also has 4 x 256 GB microSDXC cards. Says 953 GB available, so it must be saving quite a few GB’s for storage info.
I also have an iBasso DX80 (worked great for about 2 years then died) and an iBasso DX120 (bought it before the DX80 died). Both have dual microSDXC slots that can each take 1 TB cards, but the iBasso user interface is pretty crappy, glitchy, and often slow to respond.
The iPod software is still superior even though it’s close to 15 years old. Glad I converted it to Podzilla.

Safari So Good

Just got word, test zoom for tomorrow’s Shakedown Stream went well. Pass the word, “Have you heard the Dead brother!!” Or maybe it was more like a satanical puritanical New England upbringing.

Pick of the day?

8/27/72 , be it old bootleg cassette, Sunshine Daydream old bootleg VHS, Unofficial DVD, Official Rhino 2013 release CD/DVD or CD/blue ray. Or stream?

Years ago it was a prized and favorite bootleg cassette tape.
Pick of the day was a brilliant idea from Bolo. Keep it rolling.

Veneta

I'm in. The funny thing with GD music, and I doubt I am alone.. some songs congeal and some pass right through me at any point in time. The Dark Star was never my favorite, but I love the China>Rider and PITB from this show.

...but all it takes is one receptive moment and the right music playing at the right time and I suddenly 'get' something that used to pass right through me. ..and there are the old songs that used to be key that I have moved on from.

Still, Veneta was always a favorite, I just got sucked into the PITB and the transition in the China Rider more than the Dark Star. I think because Jerry teased Morning Dew and Bob telegraphed El Paso and I always wondered what could have been.

A great show and both well recorded and documented.

So if Strider was wearing his clothes, it should be easy to pick him out. I only recall one person fully clothed in the whole movie, I'll be sure to be looking out for ya tonight, Strider..

Thanks so much for posting and giving us some context.

Third set, Veneta

I talked my way backstage. My brother had been on the planks next to cameraman John Norris during the second set and let me take his place. Playin’ reprise in the film is the music only, film footage is from the third set. I’m on the planks turning around and waving at friends. It’s the shot from that log tree house.
I love Bird Song big time, also China Cat into I know you rider may be one of the most uplifting moments in the history of music.
As for Dark Star performances I saw live that I love, 9/19/70 and 2/18/71 were perhaps tops. Winter/Spring 1969 Dark Star may be some of the most classic of all time. I didn’t start seeing the Dead until January 1970. The evolution of Dark Star is phenomenal. But I was directly in front of Jerry for the third set. August 27, 1972 stands out as one of the most amazing days of my life.
As far as being naked in 1972, swimming (skinny dipping) in the really warm water of Lookout Point Reservoir that summer was no big deal. High School graduation (class of 72) , moving to Oregon, the old days of Eugene, Grateful Dead and being 18 were the most liberating rights of passage I could have ever hoped for. I thank my lucky Dark Stars for those experiences.

8/27/72

My favorite Sing Me Back Home, hands down.

Veneta, Veneta, Veneta!

When I first moved to Portland in mid-late 90s, I met a group of heads that got together every Wednesday night to trade tapes. They were always talking about Veneta.

Veneta, Veneta, Veneta!

Finally I was like, so what’s Veneta?

Gasp!! They were shocked with my lack of knowledge. Legendary Oregon Dead show? Springfield Creamery Benefit? Kesey & The Merry Pranksters? Oregon Country Fair? They quickly flipped me a tape, winked, nodded and smiled.

First I was amazed at the sound quality. This tape sounded better than any of the tapes I had. These Oregon heads! Not only did they have great weed, great beer, but my God, the Tapes! (I’m pretty sure this was 1996ish, so before internet trading for me). Hearing Babbs and the commentary the experience started to form in my mind, and then the music. Oh man, this was it. Too much! I was deep in the pudding.

It quickly became my goto and my all time fave show. Veneta, Veneta, Veneta! I’d say.

Definitely one of the tapes that made me want to get them all.
Hearing this show, I had to know, how many more shows did they play like this?
Well, there are quite a few close to it, but there’s nothing else quite like it.

Happy Anniversary Veneta, a special place and a special show!

PS - Let Me Tell You It Was Hot! How Hot Was It?!?!
Strider, tell us more Veneta Stories.
Love when Wavy Gravy tells that Sewage story… started laughing just thinking about it.

Veneta, Veneta, Veneta!

8/27/72

That China Cat-Rider is fantastic - great dancing by that girl with long black hair.

Excited for Veneta tonight

I wonder what ever happened to the kid that runs a circle around the band during Dark Star!!! Also played 5/3/72 Paris last night, and listening to Tivoli 4/17/72 right now... Don't know what put me in the Europe 72 mood.... Also last thought, if we do get a second box this year, maybe its a 2 or 3 show box like the RFK box was a few years ago.. bob t

T minus 30 minutes

To blast off 🚀⚡️🚀⚡️🚀⚡️🚀

The faster we go, the rounder we get

Boyee don’t stop now

10 to Go

Looking forward to this!

Oregon

Three Sisters, Crater Lake, Cape Perpetua, Cascade Head, Strawberry Mountains, Steens Mountains, Wallowa Mountains, Painted Hills, Pendleton Roundup, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Grateful Dead, Paramount Theater , Portland, Veneta, University of Oregon, Lowell,(this ain’t no commune) expired beer, brown rice, seaweed and a dirty hot dog, Klamath Falls, Robert M. Petersen, Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, Mountain Girl, liberation, freedom ain’t free, no free lunch, Florence, sand dunes on the shore, heal the sore wound from the Rainbow Trail, is there more over the next horizon, or is the world flat, was the moon landing just a sham from Craters of the moon, Idaho ? I don’t know, but something does ring true the time has come, comin around- in a circle.