Grateful Dead

Pretty damn funny that Dave had a slice of Deer Creek '89 up this morning. I haven't had a chance yet for that show but couldn't help but notice that set list from Crazy Fingers onward which is def my kind of sequence.

I was only suggesting the Jam of the Week for 7/16/72 because of the lack of a recent circulating copy and knowing the vault source would be cleaner. I actually had the one circulating source as a POTD over a year ago. I know it starts with that somewhat weird unbalanced audience, had to have been recorded near/in front of a stack, which I could dig but others not so much, before it off and on transitions to the sbd. A crazy thing about the audience source is that all instruments and vocals are pretty well represented. The show isn't quite 7/18 but its solid '72 and which means some really really good music.

Edit - And now going back to it, yeah I seem to remember that Playing absolutely rips, only 5 songs into the show. God I love it! Like I said way back when, there is something about this audience source that puts me right there! Wowza!! Maybe my favorite straight-into-the-heart-of-the-sun '72 Playings.

And I love love love the Cold Rain and Snow that is song 2 of that audience ; ) And the Black Throated Wind that follows.

Edit 2 - awesome closing jam of Not Fade Away >Going down the Road>Hey Bo Diddley with Dickey, Berry, and Jaimoe.

It’s like that bumper sticker: who are the Grateful Dead and why do they keep following me?

7/15/89: decent one/two opener, though it appears Bobs having tech issues. Blues, nice PEGGY O, but Jer?, something seems not…quite in snap..? Micro synapses not syncing? Not bad, but…Hard to describe, just Queen J for instance he’s just…not..quite…usually owns these songs? Maybe I’m reading into too much? Whatevs?
That’s how part of this show seemed: good show, but perhaps not quite summer 89 good?
BIRD SONG they do a great job of nice unhurried swelling as a band in sync, smooth, not forcing it.
Subtle but very nice.
JG comes out second with Foolish Heart but again, ok, but…maybe trying too hard, holding the stick too tight?
Same with Victim, ok but….
Then Crazy Fingers it’s like Jer steps it up and they start to really, then…ooopps, then yeah…but by Truckin it’s like they know they have to catch up and from Smokestack onward the show rocks! Cool Drumz/space with Close Encounters tease, sweet China Doll, definitely felt like Jer was trying to make up for things, and to prove it he throws in a sweet Stella after a smoking Watchtower in the middle! Big R&R mags closer, and JG throws down again with a Brokedown, though not flawless, it’s a nice finish. Interesting show. Not quite sure overall how I feel about it? I can see why it has maybe been passed over? Good but again, perhaps a step back from some of its lofty neighbors?
Of course still have Alpines and that cool Foxboro show, not to mention the Cali shows, and several fall tour nuggets, all just sitting there in multitrack glory…?

Ok BC, trying this 7/16/72 but so far the tape is so so aud…
Holy crap Weirs killing it on this Playing jam!

So, funny. While grooving on tunes today I per chance was perusing that After All Is Said And Done book, and don’t cha know there on page 173 in the minutes from band meeting on 7/11/84 are several very interesting things. Among other things, First, was how ole Betty was suing both GDP for $25,800, and Brent specifically for $45,000, not insignificant for the times.
Says GDP does not owe her, but does not mention about Brent. Guessing having to do with Brent’s solo album that they had been working on. Hell I probably knew what and have forgotten : (
Also, item 12 discusses approval for additional lighting/projector for “Friday 13 July—Dark Star, second set”
Berry interesting…
I need to check this book out more. It’s been sitting here in my Xmass book pile and ive picked at it but it appears there’s more here than I first thought? Same with that Dylan Modern Song. Just been occasional picking at it, but great book non the less. Little bit on Truckin’ too.
Onward!

Sure thing. And BTW, now Dave's reading your mind - final songs of 7/15/89 1st Set are on Tapers Section this week. Funny synchronicity how first Deer Creek show immediately before the last Alpine run. Passing of the beloved midwest summer venue torch.

JamoftheWeek is Dillon Stadium 7/16/72 starting with Trucking (no more spoilers). Mistakenly listed as Roosevelt Stadium, which is 7/18. Appears to be only one "circulating" copy/upload (sbd/aud composite from the comparative dark ages) of this great, relatively obscure, total big time show. First post E72 show on the East Coast, with members of the Allmans joining them for closing Set II jam (not on JOTW unfortunately.) Don't miss this one!

Good ideas OB, I don't think I have ever listened to this show.

Rob Eaton, there probably should be more written about him and all the work he has put in preserving hundreds of shows and his big role in helping get the Betty Boards back to the band or Grateful Dead Productions/Rhino. Well done Rob.

So while you fine boys and girls were (hopefully) getting yer 78 and 72 on, I was cheating on y’all.
On Friday, I hit 7/14/85, the other fine show from Ventura that year. Needed the Friday energy and had not heard that one though have ment to for a while. Interesting show. Not quite the rocket sled 85 can be. Just a nice solid evening of GOGD! Then I revisited the video from the Giants box on 6/17/91. Forgot how much I like this show! And that audio, oye!

Today I’m going to pick 7/15/89. The show between. The one show I’ve not heard from this tour, and never heard anyone mention it?

Yeah, it’s quite the tale about the tapes journey back home where they belong!
Here’s to Betty!!
🥂

The story confused me a bit as I knew only part of the Betty tapes story. So this million dollar guy must have gotten one of the lots from that auction. I can just see Rob and Dick up all night listening to crusty, moldy reel to reels in Petaluma. Rob was genius to DAT them even though the guy forbade it.
Found my Rockin' The Rhein bonus disc (burner) and It's possible I've only listened to it once. What was I thinkin'?!? Rolling now starting with a Playin', Sunshine Daydream, and is that Caution starting? Cool.
Thanks again DV and Doc and cheers!

Firstshow, I believe she left the band in the early eighties after a relationship with Brent that went bad. She fell on rough times and had some of her recordings and Rex's recordings in a storage locker. She could no longer afford the rent and the locker was sold off to three different parties. I thought it was actually in 1986 before Jerry's coma. Anyway, she informed the band about her situation and the music in the locker. They did not act. At the time, I don't think they saw the value.

I believe Dave has written about the returned reels in the Summer 78 Box and a couple of Dave's Picks.
Also, there are a couple of good articles out there on the Betty Boards and ABCD LLC and their quest to return the reels to the band.
I believe Dave's #21 was the first release from the returned reels and the 78 Box was the first box set from the returned reels.

Oh, and wasn't that your first show?

Edit. The write up from Dave on the reels was included in the GSTL Box, not the July 78 Box.

about how these tapes came back. ( Dead Essays 3-26-72 from deadessays dot blogspot) Very interesting and a tidbit of copyright law that allowed him to get them back where they belonged. The guy who had them wanted a million dollars and the office basically told him to eff himself. He owned the physical tapes but not the music on them. So Dick's 30 and Dave's 14 + bonus disc it is. (and bonus disc for Rockin' The Rhein if I have it) Thanks Doc.
Cheers

Edit: so now I want to find out how/why the Bettys came to auction in 1986 in various lots. Was she gone by then? Why wouldn't she have gotten these back to the band? And interesting to hear a good portion of this lot was JGB and Saunders and some Jerry and Howard Wales too.

Mornin’, rockers!!!

Pick Of The Day: Academy Of Music March 26 1972

Yes, I know this was briefly discussed recently, but I compose these things well in advance, so here we are……

Back in the day, in the crazy daze of tape trading, there were no commonly circulating soundboards of this run yet. It was rumored that they weren’t recorded, there was a flood in the vault, perhaps the building had been struck by lightning. Our audience recordings---much like the Port Chester 71 run----varied from borderline listenable to truly wretched. We dreamed of better quality………

Well, apparently, maybe they had been there after all, well guarded, well protected, top secret material. The official releases started in 2003----can you believe it’s been nearly twenty years already?---and were a revelation. While perhaps not up to the creamy scorching brilliance of the E72 tour, the entire AOM run is excellent in it’s own way, looser perhaps, but all worthy!

I always wondered what exactly was the AOM run? Open, paid rehearsals? A tune-up for the European tour? A week long musical party to pay for their fun across the pond?

The March 26 show was released in 2015, and while appearing “standard on paper” does have a good mix of grease, jamming, and rock and roll. What more could one expect of the Dead at that time? Absolutely worthy of a revisit!!

The past is the beginning of the beginning and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn……

Rock on!

Doc
Nothing leads so straight to futility as literary ambitions without systematic knowledge……

Thoughts Part I - Not sure if i ever listened to Set I, but Set II caught my attention many years ago. In part because of the obvious set list weirdness (thumbing through Deadbase) and as part of that set list weirdness the first Jack-a-Roe after the initial handful in Spring '77 (previous 6/7/77) (Jack-a-Roe can be my Cumberland) - its the only one in '78, before being brought back in rotation final month and a half of Godchaux era from 1/7 to 2/17/79. So, as Oro mentions, the word from Healy to a head was that Bob was "sick as a dog" (see IA), so not on stage beginning Set II but, trooper that he is, does make it back. Sounds like Jerry was going to open set with Shakedown but given circumstances slowly leans into what could easily be a jam out of Playing. Pretty freaking cool.

[Edit] - Thoughts Part 2 - What a unique and amazing Set II. Total "Wow". As Inspector Clue notes, despite an eyewitness account, Bobby is back on stage for Jack-a-Roe and rest of set. The intro and outro to World to Give are otherworldly haunting and gorgeous. In that way they remind me of the atmosphere of Days Between. I think Jerry struggles on some high end vocals, maybe that's why the song didn't last. On the outro Bob's not so much playing slide but making whale calls and it sounds fantastic and beautiful. Tough to have the board cut during the Playing reprise because that Reprise is a beauty but being in the audience from there on out its clear that its a big old party and the Around and Around is a full on swinging-from-the chandeliers closer. Maybe, just maybe, the end of Set II was in fact recorded at the board, we can only hope. Would love to have Set II released.