Grateful Dead

Hey Bluecrow, you were at this show, that is cool. Are you a Minnesota guy?

From: The Simpsons
Situation: Barney Gumbel referring to Stephen Hawking.

RIP Larry Flynt.
Not that I’m a Hustler aficionado, and I’ve never given Larry even a penny.
But one man’s porn is another man’s 1st amendment right.
Thanks for fighting for free speech Larry.

Disclaimer:
Most of what I think I know about Larry is due to Woody Harrelson.

Hmmmm.....
Larry Flynt.
Woody......

Never occurred to me until I just wrote that sentence.....

....I peaked at the setlist. Get it. Peaked??

Guy walks into a bar and yells, “All scalpers are assholes.”
The man at the end of the bar says” I object to that remark”.
The guy responds: “Why, are you a scalper?”
“No, I’m an asshole”, says the man.

Love all the capitalist trying to make $10 on eBay by scalping DP 37. Classy.

My friends, my colleagues, my fellow Dead travellors.................

Back when I started with the crazy collecting of the Dead music, circa 1979-1980, my appetite for said crazy music was insatiable. First bootleg LPs (still have a few, but no turntable LOL), then tapes. Now, there were less "eras" back then, but for me it was any and all years, audience, sound board, FM, didn't matter...........

When I started with tapes, I was fortunate to have two mentors (Gil Matthews, John Farrar) who steered me into high quality early Dead, always the emphasis on the highest quality available, but not necessarily an exclusive focus on 1971. MAYBE 25% of 1971 shows circulated then, most of the April and Fall tour shows didn't commonly circulate yet.

My busiest trading years were 1982-spring of 86. Was doing tons of my trades and huge numbers of B& Ps, as well as mentoring a very active taping cooperative centered out of Hartford. Jeffrey Greenberg, Rich Petlock (RIP), Bob Messina, and John Starks. Weather permitting, on Friday nights I'd go down there on the motorcycle, saddlebags filled with primo SBDs and FMs. At that time, floods of new things were were leaking out. And, my friends went to every East coast show and recorded everything. Those were heady days.......

And then there were the Bettys, which opened our eyes (and ears!) a lot, especially about Port Chester.....

Of course, life intervenes, and listening time decreases due to "real life issues", so for me the focus gradually grew narrower and narrower. With greater exposure, I found something very appealing about 1971. I think it was the Bakersfield, rock and roll aspect. As many have pointed out, the big drawback for many is the lack of "big jams". This is a very legitimate criticism. Clearly, it wasn't the raucous, spacy jams of 1969-1970, and it wasn't the creamy smoothness of 1972-1974. Like being caught between a rock and a hard place. There are some good and even great jams in 1971, but you have to dig around for them.............

For those who posted such things, it's been very interesting to hear what people would listen to "in my honor". "In my honor", omg that sounds so weird, does that make me an elder statesman, or just elder? Ah......ummm.......what was I talking about????

I'll probably continue in a similar vein at some point in the future. Maybe restarting on February 18?????

Rock on!

Doc
The past is never where you think you left it.........

They seemed to get more into jamming again when Keith joined from October onwards. In fact, from October onwards, I tend to think of shows as being closer to 1972 in terms of sound and approach than they are to ones from earlier in 1971. Certainly October-December 1971 shows sound more like Europe 72 than they do to February or April 1971. To my ears, anyway.

proud foot and wadeocu - 5/31 was my 3rd show - didn't realize at time how crazy it was to have (!!!!!!!) > (!!!!!!!) predrumz (oops already said too much). Pretty enthusiastic crowd that night leading to a somewhat unusual double encore. After US Blues, house lights went up and all signs pointed to that being all she wrote. But a whole bunch of people still didn't leave, just yelling and cheering. A buddy and I decided to see if we could sneak backstage. Roadies were breaking things down. We had made our way above the tunnel that led to the stage wondering if there was a way to get down into it. Suddenly here comes the band walking out of the tunnel again (maybe someone out in front of them to clue in the crew.) My buddy and I are like holy crap they're coming back out! And they played Brokedown. I think they remembered that MN enthusiasm the next year because if you want some more interesting song sequence go no further then Minneapolis the next summer. check out the s**dw**h coming out of Space (no fair peeking!)

https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1981/07/10 (Miller audience, no SBD seems to circulate.)

BTW - Dave L. likes 5/31- its shown up in both Tapers Section and Jam of the Week I think.

And Happy Birthday Doc!! Think I'll go Yale Bowl later today.

I took your advice and that WAS fun! I checked out 5/31/80 being careful not to look at the setlist. It is astounding that after 35 years of studious (one may even say obsessive) listening, this band still has pleasant surprises to offer. This is one I have overlooked listening to or even taking note of the interesting set structure.

SPOILER ALERT: If you want to play along at home like I did (you should, it was fun) read no further and get down to the real business at hand!

The first surprise was the second song because I didn't realize that the Miller recording was not complete. After the next pairing, I knew what was going on there. Then the most delightful tidbit came next. Seems like a real improvisational moment. Then the next two were real surprises in both order of appearance and the delightful execution. Coming out of space I found myself wondering what Jerry would do - something sweet like UJB or Comes A Time or even Black Peter, but no. Bobby why must you always F with my mood and expectations! It still bugs me that you picked BIODTL after the all-timer Dark Star>Dew on 9/21/72 and I wasn't even born yet when you made that call! Anyway back to 1980, after the number out of space I thought I knew what the next two would be as that had become a bit too predictable in that era, but Bobby does pull a nice audible there at the end. Then the encore seemed a little pedestrian but even it has a bit of gusto to go along with it notwithstanding Bobby puking all over it with his slide guitarist impersonation again. The second turn up to bat after that was yet another pleasant surprise. Apparently even Healey was caught off guard given that we only have the AUD for that portion.

Anyhow, thanks for the recommendation Stoltzie; I loved it! You have exquisite taste and I heed your advice on these matters when they come up. I am reminded of some of the discussions about Dick's Picks on The Well in the later 90s. It was said from time to time that "Dick can't pick a pumpkin"! Well sir, you know how to pick a fine pumpkin indeed - thank you for that!

Clearly it is going to be a 67 box set. The interview hint is tricky because one might be inclined to think 76 but of course we got a 76 box recently. The odd postings from Olob that I think I remember seeing here and there suggest that our insider friend may be dyslexic which points to 67 not 76. Or maybe it is me that is dyslexic and Olob is a figment of my own imagination??