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    Srinivasan.Mut…
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    What's Inside:
    7 Previously Unreleased Complete Shows On 20 Discs
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/09/71
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/71
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/17/72
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/18/72
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/19/72
    Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/29/73
    Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/30/73
    Sourced from tapes recorded by Rex Jackson, Owsley "Bear" Stanley, and Kidd Candelario
    Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman
    Restoration and Speed Correction by Plangent Processes
     
    Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 13,000

    Steamboats and BBQ, ice cream cones and Mardi Gras - are you ready to laissez les bons temps rouler with the "gateway" to the Grateful Dead? Meet us, won't you, in St. Louis for seven complete and previously unreleased Dead concerts that capture the heart of the band's affinity for the River City.
     
    LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73 is a 20CD set featuring five shows from the Fox Theatre - December 9 and 10, 1971; October 17-19, 1972; and two from the Kiel Auditorium - October 29 and 30, 1973. 
     
    The seven shows in the collection span slightly less than two years, but they represent some of the best shows the Grateful Dead played during some of its peak tours. The music tells the story of a band evolving, changing from one sound to another seamlessly, precipitated – in large part – by significant personnel changes in the Dead’s lineup.
     
    The two 1971 shows feature the original Grateful Dead lineup plus newcomer Keith Godchaux on piano. This version of the band would hold together for the next six months as the Dead embarked upon its Europe ’72 tour. By the time the Dead returned to the Fox Theatre less than a year later, they were without Pigpen, who’d played his final show with the Dead at the Hollywood Bowl on June 17, 1972. A year after the exceptional Fox 1972 shows, the Dead came back to St. Louis, but played the much larger Kiel Auditorium, touring behind the release of WAKE OF THE FLOOD, which came out just two weeks before.
     
    All told, the band played 60 different songs during these shows highlighted by blazing romps through “Beat It On Down The Line” and “One More Saturday Night” and wistful takes on “Row Jimmy” and “Brokedown Palace” (whose lyrics give the collection its name). Meanwhile, the copious jamming ebbed and flowed like the mighty Mississippi River on multiple voyages through “The Other One” and “Dark Star.” Naturally, the band paid tribute to one of its favorite rock and rollers and one of St. Louis’ biggest stars by playing Chuck Berry songs at every show in the collection, including Pigpen galloping through “Run Rudolph Run.”  
     
    Each show has been restored and speed corrected using Plangent Processes with mastering by Jeffrey Norman. The collection comes in a slipcase with artwork by Liane Plant and features an 84-page hardbound book as well as other Dead surprises. To set the stage for the music, the liner notes provide several essays about the shows, including one by Sam Cutler, the band’s tour manager during that era, and another by Grateful Dead scholar Nicholas G. Meriwether, among others. 
     
    Due October 1st, LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73, is limited to 13,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively from Dead.net.

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  • #31
    daverock
    Joined:
    More art

    One of the most stunning experiences I had going to an art gallery was when I went to see "Sunflowers" by Van Gogh a few years ago. I eventually found the room it was in, and noticed a huddle of people in front of a painting on the far side of the room. One of them moved..and there it was. It had a spotlight on it so that the yellow of the flowers shone out into the room. Amazing...but as I got closer, I realised that it didn't have a light on it at all - the light was actually coming out from within the painting. Truly extraordinary.
    It's also quite an experience going to see his work in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I just wandered in there by chance about 30 years ago. Wow.

  • #32
    Oroborous
    Joined:
    Conekid in the know

    per usual!
    Thanks, lol, never knew that request page existed. Goes to show, just gotta poke around!
    Those will get utilized more now for sure…Smithers, release the hounds!

    Yeah that RFK was probably too many units for what it was? Good example of doing say one of these a year at lower unit count along with a more traditional box release at perhaps less units?
    But I liked RFK, (hell I think they’ve done a great job with most) because that stretch from summer through the next summer is prime time for moi, and it sounds great, but they certainly weren’t the best available, once again the ole he went to a great city and street, but picked the wrong house? ? Wasn’t it relatively pricey too?
    But as we’ve all been saying, there’s a whole lot of causal heads out there who might not buy anything UNLESS it was something they were at. Perhaps explains the Giants phenomenon some what?
    That was sorta my M.O. back around turn of the century: “I have more than I need so I’m only going to get shows I was at. That worked out sorta ok at first by sheer dumb luck, but I eventually realized
    A) I’m not going to get many of those any time soon, if at all, and
    B) I’m missing out on some killer shit!
    The E72 Dark Stars are what really brought me back. Didn’t get the trunk but picked up several of the Dark Star shows Ala cart.
    So started dabbling again, but mostly just wanted the music and not more stuff. Luckily or not, my cousin used to get a lot of the releases free through their business connections with GDP etc, but when that all changed with Rhino etc, they lost those relationships. So I was able for a while to get copies of stuff he had that I wanted.
    But then I started getting back into it, hanging with you junkies etc lol, and next thing you know I’m a “collector”, just the thing I was trying to avoid lol.
    So of course the down side of only getting copies is all the great collection stuff I missed out on!
    The biggest regrets were the FW box and Winterland 73. The FW I just wasn’t very in dead land at the time and because of the repetitive set lists figured “oh hell, I have live dead already” idiot!
    Luckily I have the mini version and you know who here tightened me up with copies of the box, so at least I have the music!
    The Winterland 73, being fall 73, which even then was one of the tours I had huge interest in, I contemplated getting it, and man, wasn’t it really cheap considering, but I cheap skated out and have been regretting it ever since!
    Some of the others I regret only as a “collector” now, though I should have grabbed that summer 78, wasn’t that another bargain box?

    So yeah Daverock, the scene was relatively small until later. When I started going in late seventies there were tour heads, but not anything like what would come. I think the whole multi show run factor contributed to this. It was now much easier to just plan on a three show run or two, especially day on weekends, then to catch 5 or 6 shows, one stop at a time up and down I 90 etc.
    Now I know old timers talk of how it changed throughout the seventies, especially that huge influx of kids like me in the mid and late seventies, but I don’t think it was near as dramatic as what we saw from late seventies up too 87 when it exploded, perhaps leveled off a bit, but continued at a steady pace that unfortunately just got too big to support it properly. Fame, the kiss of death…

    ART: not a active art participant, but sometimes you get shown the light!
    We had a great Albright Knox gallery back in the tundra, and on family vaca to Europe in late seventies, went to tge Louvre etc. Don’t recall a lot of specifics, Mono Lisa etc? But it definitely impacted my thick adolescent Beavis and Butthead dumb American skull. That whole trip would of been much more awesome if I’d only been older.
    That Hopper work is cool. I’ve seen that corner diner one but wouldn’t say I was familiar. Will have to burn a fat one and check him out. Yasss great light etc. And yes, I can only imagine how much more sharp and vivid his work would be live!
    Good sheet Mon,
    Party on Wayne!

  • #33
    That Mike
    Joined:
    E-mail Survey

    DaveRock - Awesome idea with the email to all the folks on the mailing list. Something that perhaps itemizes what is in the vaults (no use clamouring for reels that don’t exist), and survey to see what is in high demand. I know on the Neil Young site, as an example, he has a “Letters” column where he states he answers ALL the letters himself (I’ve sent a few, and always get a reply), and the bulk of requests are folks asking him to release this show, or this tour, etc, and he tells you if the request is even doable. I don’t expect the Core Four to answer Dead Head mail, but a quick email survey is interesting. Maybe it is as easy as Ice Cream Kid says, and we just hit up the request thread, but it doesn’t tell us what tapes are in the vault, and what condition, etc.

    PS - Dave, you are right about seeing the art “in person”, but of course, work of say a DaVinci is so limited, so rare, and will not ever tour, that it would be so hard to see in person, save visiting Paris or Venice. But, should a major show make the rounds, like Picasso, or Diego Rivera/Frida Khalo, I’ve made a point to see it, and you are right - seeing a picture of these works does not do them justice! There is something about seeing The One And Only of something, knowing the artist worked on this piece. I’ll paraphrase Mr Ones al a “Music is the best”: “Art - and sports - are a close second!”

  • #34
    daverock
    Joined:
    A new approach

    Crmcnkd - I hadn't noticed that section asking us to make recommendations, so thanks for pointing that out. Maybe, though, the only people likely to fill that out are the people who come on here-all the old faces-and we know what they (we, me) will say in advance. I like the idea of reaching people who may not come on here - maybe an email like we get telling us what is coming out- but asking us what we would like to see coming out instead. The key is, it has to be "them" wanting a survey - as much, if not more, than "us" wanting to fill one in.

    Oro - thinking of casual fans of different eras, it reminds me of the fact that Deadheads didn't actually exist in the 1960s. I can't imagine early fans travelling around the country to see them. I guess it started with the invite to "Deadfreaks" on "Skull and Roses", but I would think it took several years before the travelling circus developed.

    It's interesting watching a documentary on late 60's San Francisco bands called "Go Ride The Music-West Pole". The main bands on this are Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service - but at one point an interviewer asks people queuing up outside a concert hall, who their favourite bands are. I was expecting them to say "The Dead" automatically-but they don't. They are mentioned but they were clearly perceived at that time as just being another band, along with the two mentioned, Steve Miller, Janis etc.

    Mike - one of the great things about going to art galleries is how much more alive the originals are compared to the prints and posters you can see anywhere. I would say that going to an art gallery to look at paintings is a bit like going out to hear live music. If you go to any gallery, look at the originals, and then go in the gift shop and look at a book reproducing the originals you have just seen, the difference between the two is shocking.

  • #35
    icecrmcnkd
    Joined:
    Rehashing past speculation

    Don’t forget that several people, including myself, have previously told stories about talking to other deadheads who are completely clueless or disinterested in the official releases.

    The RFK Box is 15,000 copies and not sold out, although the banner says “less than 750 left”.
    My Boxes are packed away so I can’t check what the production numbers are, but 15,000 seems to be the limit except for a few releases that need an AME.
    I think that the last few Boxes were in the 10,000-12,000 range.

    Dave’s Picks can sell 25,000 due to people buying more than one subscription and resellers.
    And if you subscribe early bird you get 13 or 14 CD’s for $100, which is a pretty good deal.

    For those wanting to take a survey, there is a page on this site called ‘Requests - Box Sets’.
    I posted on it this morning, so use the ‘recent posts’ button to get to it, or use the search box.

  • #36
    That Mike
    Joined:
    Boxes & Paintings

    I am enjoying the discussion, because I’m hoping the marketing folks, or even the interns working at Rhino, see that this is a very passionate group of dedicated fans. Oro, I really think you have made some great points, and it is hard to please everyone (personally I have never been a hardcore 60s Dead fan, because that was before they came along with jewels like Wake of The Flood, Mars Hotel, etc, and all the outstanding concert material those albums brought forth), but so much work goes into the sourcing and mixing of the music in these boxes, and the art work, and the history to the scene happening at the time, that most, if not all, are home runs.
    Oro, you definitely hit the mark on many points, as did others, but collectively, as a group of fans, our mantra is “Keep ‘Em Coming!”

    DR - I love a wide range of art, and even doodle a bit myself, but Hopper is definitely an artist I have held in the highest esteem, for his amazing use of light and open space to paradoxically create figures of loneliness and solitude. If I can ever get my butt to NYC, the Whitney Museum of American Art is where I plan to sleep; the guy was an American master, and really nice to hear you too see his immense talent.

    Last listen - McLaughlin/Corea - Five Peace Band Live
    On Deck - Ry Cooder - The UFO Has Landed

  • #37
    1stshow70878
    Joined:
    Great Discussion

    I think I fall into the category y'all are citing here. Not quite into it as much as the die-hards but wanting it all anyway. The LTTR box was more money than I was willing to put out at the time so I chose the LIA vinyl instead. A trade off decided by my having already pre-ordered Dave's #1 vinyl and simply wanting to get more vinyl. Interestingly, all the fantastic comments have me alternately regretting my choice and being satisfied with a taste of '72. DR said recently the chunk I have on Light Into Ashes is the crux of the biscuit of the box so today I feel satisfied. My collecting took a hiatus around the time the big Europe '72 trunk came out but kindly folks here are helping me fill that void. Thanks to all for keeping the fire alive. It's so nice to have reliable information from everyone here in our disinformation shrouded world.
    Cheers all!

  • #38
    Oroborous
    Joined:
    Great comments

    Mike, the 60s vibe, that’s a good example of what I’m saying. To “US”, the hardcore lunatics at deadnet, there appears to be an overwhelming unified consensus demanding a 60s box, but perhaps if you did a survey like DR suggests, our sample might be quite small comparatively? Just talking out me arse, but worth a thought?
    You’d think they’d be doing marketing , but maybe not? Maybe they have been so fortunate to have enough of a loyal, reliable, bankable demand that they could just go with whatever they felt was good?

    Personally, I think it’s good when things don’t sell out immediately. Gives some folks like P.T. etc a chance to decide or what not if they want to buy it. Or maybe you didn’t hear about it right a way, and as the bastard Murphy would have it, your busted after getting yet another of your kids braces, while the other kid smashed the car, and your washing machine broke. Like “Whaaaa???, you want $300 tomorrow morning, Dooaahh”
    But these are singular micro type scenarios and we’re talking macro level.
    Maybe DR is right and the nostalgia factor is bigger then I think, in that logistically, because of age, there are more casual fans from the later years than the early ones. Hell statistically, comparatively there weren’t that many causal fans in the early years. Let’s face it, for good or for ill, as time advanced there were way more causal “lets just go party and check it out folks” going to shows.
    So maybe that’s part of it, when/if something that this larger population feels more akin to comes round, their more likely to buy it, then yet another older moldy from a time they don’t know or care about because they’ve never been in that deep?
    I guess it’s probably a perfect storm of all the things we’ve been discussing? All these factors add up and the amount of units we’re talking about isn’t really that large, so…
    But!….that’s all the more reason to deliver more, but smaller batches of certain eras!

    Though I understand why a Giants type box would sell so fast, I still, do not understand fully how this box, by now, has not? Shifting market demographics and saturation is my guess though?
    Just goes to show…

  • #39
    daverock
    Joined:
    Tip of the hat

    ThatMike - my eyes lit up when you mentioned Edward Hopper. I really like his work too. About 20 years ago there was great exhibition on in London, and it was a real treat to be able to go from room to room and get drawn into his world. You can see his influence sometimes in films -"Deep Red" by Dario Argento features a scene that is clearly modelled on "The Nighthawks". And although I can't think of specific examples at the moment, Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch feature scenes in some of their films that look to me to have been influenced by Hopper's way of seeing things.

  • #40
    PT Barnum
    Joined:
    format? sound quality? putting great shows with good shows?

    IMO there seems to be lots of reasons why this has not sold out. I did not buy it and I buy them all. After the so so patch jobs on the PNW box which I did not care for, I passed on this box. These are all good shows, with great shows mixed in. Call me a snob but I want all great shows with no cuts or patches. If that's not possible then I will just keep what I got from the archive or from etree, why spend that kind of scratch for shows I already have that only sound a bit better?
    The format could be the reason, some only want from the era they were a part of, mostly 80's from what I gather here. I like the progression of the band from psychedelic juggernaut to what they became, but not everyone's cup of tea.
    Perhaps it's the ploy of putting out most requested shows with shows that are not up to the great show that they are centered around? The original great box was a tough act to follow, seeings how the E72 tour was their best tour and it was the first one released with a massive 73 discs. With that great price. How to follow that? It's been what tptb have been asking themselves since.
    The spring 90 boxes are a good example of that also, a great tour with consistently great shows released at a great price, which sold out quickly.
    But what do I know? just the ramblings of an old deadhead on the first day of Spring.

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Submitted by Srinivasan.Mut… on
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Dead Store Products

What's Inside:
7 Previously Unreleased Complete Shows On 20 Discs
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/09/71
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/71
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/17/72
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/18/72
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/19/72
Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/29/73
Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/30/73
Sourced from tapes recorded by Rex Jackson, Owsley "Bear" Stanley, and Kidd Candelario
Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman
Restoration and Speed Correction by Plangent Processes
 
Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 13,000

Steamboats and BBQ, ice cream cones and Mardi Gras - are you ready to laissez les bons temps rouler with the "gateway" to the Grateful Dead? Meet us, won't you, in St. Louis for seven complete and previously unreleased Dead concerts that capture the heart of the band's affinity for the River City.
 
LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73 is a 20CD set featuring five shows from the Fox Theatre - December 9 and 10, 1971; October 17-19, 1972; and two from the Kiel Auditorium - October 29 and 30, 1973. 
 
The seven shows in the collection span slightly less than two years, but they represent some of the best shows the Grateful Dead played during some of its peak tours. The music tells the story of a band evolving, changing from one sound to another seamlessly, precipitated – in large part – by significant personnel changes in the Dead’s lineup.
 
The two 1971 shows feature the original Grateful Dead lineup plus newcomer Keith Godchaux on piano. This version of the band would hold together for the next six months as the Dead embarked upon its Europe ’72 tour. By the time the Dead returned to the Fox Theatre less than a year later, they were without Pigpen, who’d played his final show with the Dead at the Hollywood Bowl on June 17, 1972. A year after the exceptional Fox 1972 shows, the Dead came back to St. Louis, but played the much larger Kiel Auditorium, touring behind the release of WAKE OF THE FLOOD, which came out just two weeks before.
 
All told, the band played 60 different songs during these shows highlighted by blazing romps through “Beat It On Down The Line” and “One More Saturday Night” and wistful takes on “Row Jimmy” and “Brokedown Palace” (whose lyrics give the collection its name). Meanwhile, the copious jamming ebbed and flowed like the mighty Mississippi River on multiple voyages through “The Other One” and “Dark Star.” Naturally, the band paid tribute to one of its favorite rock and rollers and one of St. Louis’ biggest stars by playing Chuck Berry songs at every show in the collection, including Pigpen galloping through “Run Rudolph Run.”  
 
Each show has been restored and speed corrected using Plangent Processes with mastering by Jeffrey Norman. The collection comes in a slipcase with artwork by Liane Plant and features an 84-page hardbound book as well as other Dead surprises. To set the stage for the music, the liner notes provide several essays about the shows, including one by Sam Cutler, the band’s tour manager during that era, and another by Grateful Dead scholar Nicholas G. Meriwether, among others. 
 
Due October 1st, LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73, is limited to 13,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively from Dead.net.

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Submitted by PT Barnum on Sat, 01/01/2022 - 06:54

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all you cats and kittens out there in deadland, love and peace to you all.

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16 years 6 months

Submitted by Forensicdoceleven on Sun, 01/02/2022 - 02:04

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50 years ago today......

January 2, 1972
Winterland, San Francisco, California

Set 1: Truckin'-Sugaree-Mr. Charlie-Beat it on Down the Line-Loser-Jack Straw-Chinatown Shuffle-Tennessee Jed-El Paso-You Win Again-Big Railroad Blues-Mexicali Blues-Playing in the Band-Next Time You See Me-Brown Eyed Women-Casey Jones

Set 2: Good Lovin'>China Cat Sunflower>Good Lovin'-Ramble On Rose-Sugar Magnolia-Not Fade Away>Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad>Not Fade Away

Encore: One More Saturday Night

Deadicated to Charlie Knutson, because was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a night when choice was any more than the sum of all the choices gone before?

OK, calenderically speaking 1972, but very much “of a kind” with the December 1971 shows.

Let’s clear up a couple of things. First, in the first set, there’s no “Leave Your Love At Home” between Chinatown Shuffle and Tennessee Jed. Second, in the second set, there’s no Know You Rider following China Cat, the band definitely goes back into Good Lovin.

Though not quite as intense as December, it does have a decent dose of Pigpen, and the rare, possibly unique Good Lovin’/China Cat Sunflower/Good Lovin’ sequence. Another rarity----in the first set, two consecutive Garcia songs followed by two consecutive Weir songs. The show is generally well played, but opinions of it seem divided. Many absolutely love it, while others find it lacking because there’s no “big jams”. Decide for yourself, there is a Miller remaster and it definitely worth having…..

Questioning the origin of music is like asking why the breeze is soothing, why you shiver in exhilaration when the spray from the waterfall hits you….

Rock on!!

Doc
Music is my therapy and my straitjacket......

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Sun, 01/02/2022 - 10:12

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There couldn't be anyone on this forum who hasn't benefited from the good Doc's yeoman efforts to elucidate the nuances of 1971 and, therefore, a major transition period in the band's history. Thanks Doc!

Now to pile on a specific point: the business of whether a show is a success based on the presence or absence of "big jams." Let's be clear: no first set, no jammy second set. The first sets up the second, both in terms of warming up the players to begin to expand their sensibilities, and in clearly, concisely articulating melodic songs that provide the textures for weaving later in the evening. That's when there is a "big jam." But, I think, folks miss the point that this band isn't your favorite orgasma-tron, there for launching everytime you buy a ticket or plug it in. These guys are/were human and rooted in structured music, which enabled them to stretch out when the mood hits them. Yes, they are rightly renowned for the "big jam," and went for it frequently. But a show without a big jam is still a triumph of well-played rock 'n roll and I caught a few. One in which we counted more than 30 songs played. All played balls to the walls with plenty of soloing, etc.

I could change my name from Hendrixfreak to Mr. Big Jam and it would ring true. But my (overwrought) point is that it's ridiculous to judge a show based on whether the orgasma-tron got plugged in or not. For criminy's sake, enjoy what the band plays. (Unless it's Pigpen doing 'Hey Jude'.....)

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Submitted by daverock on Sun, 01/02/2022 - 10:38

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What surprised me about The Dead when I first started listening to them is that they are only occasionally psychedelic. As I have written before, they came to my attention through the English music press saying bands like Hawkwind and Gong were British or, in Gong's case "Franglaise" versions of The Dead. Both Gong and Hawkwind-certainly at that time, the early - mid 70's, seemed to live in "the zone". From the moment they appeared on stage to the moment they shambled off it they tripped the light fantastic. So it was quite a surprise to hear a band they were being compared to trot out versions of Chuck Berry, Hank Williams etc, songs. That isn't a put down of The Dead - they have endured for me - but they weren't quite the band I thought they'd be when I eventually heard them.

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Submitted by Forensicdoceleven on Mon, 01/03/2022 - 01:57

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Yo!! Rockers!!!

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer…..

Dear friends, my work here is done. Mission accomplished. I have carried the torch of 1971 live Dead for a long time, and will continue to do so. But now it will be in the background, lurking, watching, and continuing to listen. In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion. It is normal to give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all. Perhaps a return to normalcy. Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal…..

I made it through the 50th anniversary year relatively unscathed. This really isn’t the best forum for detailed analyses of every show, but every show did get its due. To all, enjoy the wonderful music that the Dead left us that year………….

I’ve tried to acknowledge everybody I encountered during my long strange trip here. If I left you out, sincere apologies and no offense intended….

I will continue to be a resource for all those interested in the music of the Grateful Dead in 1971. Or any other year. Or any other band, because, after all, no one can live on Grateful Dead alone. Believe me, I’ve tried! No limits, no restrictions, no questions asked. I’m just a pm away. Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them.

There is a life and there is a death, and there are beauty and melancholy between. Thinking is learning all over again how to see, directing one's consciousness, making of every image a privileged place.

I look forward to lurker mode. For anybody who needs or wants some light reading material about 1971 Dead shows, you know where to find me…….

Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying…..

Rock on!!!

Doc
This man is freed from servile bands,
Of hope to rise, or fear to fall,
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And leaving nothing, yet hath all.

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Submitted by JeffSmith on Mon, 01/03/2022 - 07:05

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Bravissimo on you. Gonna miss your '71 insights, and the way you shared them. Enjoy your sabbatical. Onward.

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Submitted by mbarilla on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 04:49

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Shall we go

You and I

while we can

4.22.69

Restarted the show on SiriusXM and Went outside when it was dark with everything still frozen in ice. Spinning Dark Star right now and it's getting light outside

Dave L.SD send out a few shows with Mountains of the Moon

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 07:55

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What a box set this year might look like. Is it time for another compact '60s box ala FW69? If so, '69 would be the year. Otherwise, the curveball might be an '80s box. The cray-cray choice would be locational, such as a Red Rocks set of the best shows that followed July '78 (NOT August '78), such as Aug 12, '79 and then early '80s.

I'm flailing, no idea what DL has in mind and he loves it knowing his ideas never leak.

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Submitted by JimInMD on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 08:24

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We aren't even a week into the year and HF is clamoring for a 69 Box.

Gotta love it.. I couldn't agree more. Release some 60's Dead Lemieux or we are going to storm the vault. Our pitchforks are sharp and our torches soaked with pitch. Don't get between an angry mob and 1960's Grateful Dead. It's a tinderbox down here Dave, ark us. ark ark.

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Submitted by Crow Told Me on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 10:35

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I have it on good authority that the next box set will be the Wall of Sound. Not "from" the Wall of Sound. Not "about" the Wall of Sound. It will Be the Wall of Sound.

It will include all shows (three dozen, I think) played from 3.23.74 through 10.20.74 (including those that have already been officially released). It will be three stories tall and 90 feet wide and weigh 75 tons. It will include exact and functional replicas of all 600-some JBL speakers and MC-2300 amps, and will include the hidden baggies of cocaine in actual amounts the crew needed to construct the actual WoS. When properly assembled and cranked to full volume it will be audible from outer space. You will sell your home in order to buy one.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense.

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Submitted by proudfoot on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 10:43

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guessing game

box: Ark 69.

Better yet, Boston 69. April Ark and December Boston Tea Party.

We'll probably get "highlights from Boreal Ridge" (snark)

my old joke: "what does a dosed (yellow) dog say?" "ARK! ARK! ARK!"

OK, back to my livelihood...

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 13:46

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that no one takes me seriously??

But at least my nonsense has drawn the usual suspects back into the discussion from wherever they were lurking. I like the mambo, full-scale WALL OF SOUND concept. So, will it be subdivided so we can rent some living quarters? Cuz my current house will fit neatly inside, say, the vocal cluster over Billy's head. Which puts Billy in jeopardy should I, um, use the bathroom...

Okay, punters, step up and take your shot. Who'll prostrate themselves before the almighty WALL and toss a box idea into the ring? What? Got the Insurrection Blues?? Now THAT I understand.

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Submitted by Forensicdoceleven on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 15:25

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Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.......

IF the missing reels have been located and/or returned, I would vote for a Fillmore West February 1970 box. Or FE September 1970, if THOSE missing reels reappeared..........

I've almost always advocated for a Fall 1972 Texas box, and still do, but Listen To The River makes that unlikely.

Rock on!

Doc
He who doesn't fear death dies only once............

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Submitted by billy the kiddd on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 16:14

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Fillmore West Feb 70 or Fillmore East Sept. 70 box sets , for me it could not get any better then that. Boy, I sure hope that comes to pass.

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Submitted by 1stshow70878 on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 17:09

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But I don't know if we'll get our Red Rocks. Agreed the Aug. '78 RR would be a better 2 show 4 CD DaP than anything else. Not everyone likes those as much as I do being my 3rd and 4th shows. A little too slow and precise after the barn burner July shows. Wild guess for a locational box? Why not Vegas?
Cheers

It seems like they have been oscillating a bit between classic suites of shows where two track reels exist (think St. Lous) and multi-track of later era shows (like the giant box for example). I bet that cycle continues for a bit with a few adds/subtractions.

We do need a sixties release.

We also need a box set.. hopefully sooner rather than later.

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Submitted by daverock on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 03:45

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Maybe they should release more boxes, and drop the Dave's Picks to make way for them. These "special offers" and bonus discs are a bummer-it's like shopping in a supermarket. "Buy one get one free" sort of thing.
If there were 4 boxes a year - and three were made up from 1970 and 1972, as has been suggested below, I'd order without hesitation. And if the other one was from the late 70's, 80's or 90's I could pass it by - but it wouldn't bother me. Whatever the configuration was wouldn't bother me-even if it meant just getting one some years. Maybe 4 would be pushing it a bit - but 3 would be alright.
Maybe some of the merchandising could be sacrificed along the way, too, to make way for the good stuff.

I'd love a box from the first Winterland run of '77; was listening to 3/19 yesterday and was like "WHY is this not released???" That suite of 3 shows are pretty special, containing the first ever Scarlet > Fire along with the only time they did the extended Terrapin suite (at least part of it). I get that a whole lot of 1977 already exists officially and some (including me) might have some exhaustion there, but this is a short little run that delivers big, Plus the shows on the archive all sound utterly fantastic.

Hat in the Ring.
HF isn't cray cray!

Be Well People.
Sixtus

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 08:09

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a) HF is indeed cray-cray...
b) the Aug '78 shows at Red Rocks, IMHO, aren't worthy of release
c) daverock, currently I drop $100 on the annual subscription, $200 on the annual box and ... that's $300. If they abolish the Dave's series and go to three boxes per year, that's $600 or double my current outlay. So, for selfish reasons, I say no. But consider: who the hell is going to cancel a best-selling series with his name on it?

But we're all free to speculate and wish for our favorite pipe dreams.

Do I recall correctly that Dave recently said that 2022 was going to be so busy that they pushed one project back to 2023?

I'll say this about getting older: my perspective changes, unannounced, on previously bedrock issues. Will my seemingly insatiable need for archival rock n roll suddenly dissipate in a year or two? I think that a fixed income retirement might well trigger such a change. So Dave's plan to go on for 15+ more years puts me at age 79. Looking down the road, I can see my interest flagging somewhere along the line. I kinda dread it.

Enjoy the coffee. We have 5 degrees with lots 'o snow in Denver this morning. Sorely needed snow.

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Submitted by PT Barnum on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 08:56

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just heard JM has covid and will not perform, also Billy the K will not perform as his heart is beating to a different drum these days. Also heard they were not going to give refunds until there was an uproar about that, with covid spiking and all, I don't think it's such a good idea to continue with this run of shows.

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Submitted by JimInMD on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 09:00

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I couldn't see them dropping Dave's Picks. They have no problem selling out 25k subscriptions for four shows (plus a few ala carte). The box sets can take a some time to sell out and with the exception of Get Shown the Light, 15k is the most they have sold. 13k Listen to the River Box Sets were printed, is an exceptional selection of music, is still for sale and likely will be for some time come. I think the PNW took years to sell out, July 78, also excellent took a long time to sell out.

I'm not entirely sure why this is true.. but it is. Dave's Picks are more desirable to more people than these monster box sets for some unknown reason, call it buyer psychology or marketing mumbo jumbo or whatever. They sell more of each show and don't have the warehousing headaches of holding on to inventory making these individual shows appear to yield more revenue per dollar spent remastering and packaging than box sets. With a limited number of great shows left in the vault and apparently a higher revenue per show from DaP than other options.. there is a very low chance they are going kill this golden goose anytime soon.

My two cents, I could be wrong.

______________________________________

As for a Winterland Spring '77 mini-box. Man, that really is a good fit. I know it's come up before, but the timing for works, a three set mini-box. If not this year than next.

Lemieux.. don't muck this one up like you did Winterland February '74! We will never forgive you. Spring '77 box or bust, our pitchforks are sharpened, torches tarred.

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Submitted by PT Barnum on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 09:03

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yes, 1970 box would be great, also shows from the spring of 70, that college circuit tour with all that revolution in the air. I'm not getting any younger and sure would like to see some of these classic shows released before I leave this plane.

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Submitted by proudfoot on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 09:06

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8/31/78 is one of the first shows I got on tape back in...83? Always love it.
Boxes only? hmm. might be a stretch, but I don't know what they have in the vault still release-worthy.
The entire Wall of Sound? THE Wall of Sound? I'll take it.
Dave: how did he get the gig he has? The GD never asked me to be their vault master.

I hereby pledge to keep my emotions and comments in check on this dubious anniversary.

It _is_ my wife's birthday, and the pleasant anniversary of 1/6/78. :)))

I enjoyed seeing some guy build his own mini wall of sound, home version in his basement or man cave or whatever. Cost him a small fortune, apparently sounds great. Money well spent, love it. If I won the lottery, my new man cave would have a mini wall of sound.

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Submitted by daverock on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 11:08

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Hendrixfreak - my tastes in The Dead have changed enormously since I first heard them. When I first got access to tapes - about 35 years ago, it felt like an incredible voyage of discovery. I couldn't get enough - any era, partial sets, audience recordings. - whatever. Of course, they were all free. As the years have passed I seem to enjoy certain years more than ever - but other years not so much. I sometimes think it's weird still liking this music - and rock n' roll in general, at my age-64. None of my friends are like this.
I wonder how much a vinyl box set of E72 would cost?

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Submitted by JimInMD on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 11:50

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How much would a vinyl box of Europe 72 cost?

Nothing refinancing your house couldn't cure.

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 11:51

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Daverock, I got exposed to the GD in '69 with Live/Dead and couldn't "get" Dark Star until later. Then my older broth spun WD, AB and Skullfuck around 1971 and I got hooked. First show a year later. Then the taping craze. I first got reel to reels of some of the April '71 FE shows and used a friend's reel-to-reel to make cassette copies. Then GD and Jimi cassette trading via snail mail. Then digitization struck, no more generational concerns and full on frenzy.

Let's see... 1971 to 2022 is 51 freakin' years... (ouch!) So, would it be fair to say that, after that heritage and the modern era of archivial CD releases (~1990 onwards?), including hundreds of GD shows, we've become connisseurs and developed well-informed palates for our favorite eras as well as styles of performance (laid-back, balls to walls, songs vs. jams, various instrument choices by the band, etc.) and thus here we are with HUNDREDS of shows officially released, another jillion on hard drive (thanks Doc!) and even a stray box of aud cassettes in the basement that I can't bring myself to toss.

I may not be typical, and I claim no expertise, only preferences. They say an appetite is a chef's best friend, so perhaps the only downside to my situation is a slightly jaded palette. At least I'm long past having to have it "all."

Just a few thoughts as I work my way slowly, lovingly, through Listen to the River. And naturally I wonder what Dave might toss our way this year. Spring '77 is always welcome if not a revelation. (I did catch shows in 3 states that spring.) Feb '74 is way welcome, as pre-hiatus is my bag. I think a '60s release -- whatever happened to Oct. 20-something '68 (I'm slipping) that went out on vinyl with that silly cartoon book? Can they throw us that on CD this year for a lark?

I always end up wanting more of that dangerously explosive '68 dragon band. So I'm just another old (64) crank needing a bigger dose to get off and wondering if we've passed my train station?? Maybe just the January blues...

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Submitted by billy the kiddd on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 11:56

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I also hope that when it comes time to releasing the March 77 Winterland shows, that they do it as a box set and they don't chop them up ; I was at those shows and they are all good. As far as found and returned reels, that could open up all kinds of possibilities, the whole 1968 tour of the Great Northwest would be great. That whole Sept 1970 Fillmore East run, like Doc mentioned, would be incredible. Again, it all depends on what tapes have been found or returned, but it doesn't hurt to think positive.

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Submitted by Sixtus_ on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 14:28

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He's doing a fundraiser for a 1/2 scale at this point.
Stacks are featured in a new video, that go up into the second story of his living room.
The Wall of Sound Lives.

Sixtus

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Submitted by Cousins Of The… on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 14:37

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Roughly $2800 + very expensive shipping + crazy expensive custom duties for international heads.
Comes with a hand truck and storage shed.

HF - curiously I wasn't too impressed with Dark Star the first time I heard it, either. This was the one played at Wembley 4/8/72. About 24 minutes of it was included as a side of the commemorative "Glastonbury Fayre" album, released to celebrate the festival of 1971. I would have got that around 1973-74. I didn't click with their albums until 1976 - Anthem, Americam Beauty - Live Dead - I much preffered this Dark Star, and I liked the power of the double drum set up. Plus, my horizons were considerabley expanded by 1976 compared to 1973.

I think it's fair to assume that my tapes were a bit further down the evolutionary chain than the ones you would have got! Plus my cassette player was not exactly top of the range. Still.....the message got through.

One of my most cherished memories of listening to The Dead was in the car, being driven by my girlfriend round the West Coast of America in 1990. My favourite tape at that time was 9/28/72, and we were listening to Playin in the Band from that as we drove over Golden Gate Bridge. It felt very different listening to The Dead travelling through America than it did sitting at home in my flat in England. It seemed to directly connect with the landscape somehow.

Cousins....maybe it would be better if they just released half of E72 on vinyl. Actually...maybe just one more show would be more practical.

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Fri, 01/07/2022 - 07:44

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I had just turned 12... Turned instant Hendrix freak that summer... BUT I think with Dark Star, a) looking back, I didn't have the gear to turn it up properly, b) it was too abstract for someone still excited by 3 minute singles on the radio, and c) I just didn't have the mental/musical bandwidth to "get it." Once introduced to blotter, however, it made a helluva lot of sense. One of my favorite scenes in the latest GD movie was Robert Hunter, laying on his back, reciting the lyrics to DS, then sitting up and -- perhaps in response to an interviewer's request to "explain" the lyrics, saying, "What could be clearer?" And here we are, so many years later...

Daverock, cool story on blasting GD as you crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. That is a cool part of the country and, of course, ground zero for GD-related shenanigans. Cold and expensive, but ground zero nontheless...

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Submitted by mbarilla on Fri, 01/07/2022 - 10:26

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October 1978

Winterland March 1977 box set

I would buy both if they put them out

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Submitted by proudfoot on Fri, 01/07/2022 - 11:05

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"A Bunch of Deadheads Are Now ‘Stranded’ in Mexico after Dead & Co. Fest Cancel" - Rolling Stone

"Stranded
cries the south wind
Lost in the regions of lead
Shackled by chains of illusion
Delusions of living and dead"

What's become of the D&C show, this cold January morning....

Dark Star did not immediately congeal for me either, it took some time before I warmed up to it. In fact, in the very beginning on more than one occasion I would FF past it to get to the parts of the show I liked.

I'm sure I've said this here before but my tastes are always evolving and changing.. in food/wine/women/music.. in just about anything I am into my tastes change and evolve over time. Rarely do I FF a DS these days, I might pause it until I am in a better position to appreciate it but other than that I'm all in.

Driving listening to GD.. my favorite memory was driving into Tuscon for the first time. I literally took my favorite tape with a Jack Straw and pre-planned it so the line "Half a mile from Tucson by the morning light" would be playing as we approached the city not coincidentally as the morning light was being reflected off the window. Silly I know, but here I am reflecting on it 37 years later with a grin on my face.

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Fri, 01/07/2022 - 14:01

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I do not put Dark Star on road CD compilations. Not safe. Even a Bird Song is dangerous, for me. I space out and, while it's truly amazing how much one's senses can handle, I like to be "present" when hurtling down the highway at anything over ~50 mph. Even though I've driven home from work without actually paying any attention at all. Suddenly, I'm in my driveway, etc.

For one thing, out here, I spend a lot of time in NW Colorado, NE Utah, SW Wyoming, in the backcountry. But to get there you're at first driving pavement. The area is thick with wildlife. For many years I didn't understand why the ranchers and farmers drove ~50 mph at dusk and thereafter ... until, separately, I almost ran into a herd of elk and a gaggle of wild turkeys.

So, no DS, no PitB, it's gotta be songs under, say, 7-8 minutes. Even a monster Sugaree can be hazardous to my health, at least over 50 mph. Even at home, I make a conscious decision to put on a DS. I do not take it lightly. A testament to the power of those boys to jam both abstractedly and meaningfully, at the same time.

Sorry to keep posting, boys. I'm off my feet now for 18 days and at least 10 more to go until I get this boot off my right leg and begin PT to get back on track. The key is to not put weight on it. But I am listening to a lot of new music and getting lots 'o time with my guitars.

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Submitted by 1stshow70878 on Fri, 01/07/2022 - 15:09

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We love 'em! Sending positive healing vibes. Also a west slope guy and familiar with the nighttime hazards out here. Close calls in high school on the front slope in Turkey Creek canyon visiting hippy friends back when that was the hot spot for let's get the hell out of Denver before it got crowded there too in the mass exodus. Out in the S. Denver prairie the pheasants seemed to aim for me a lot, always glancing blows off the windshield. Do those little plastic deer whistles I have stuck to my front bumper really work? No idea but I haven't (knock on wood) hit one yet after 40 years on this side of the hill. I can space out driving to about any tunes. Doesn't take much to pull my mind from the task at hand. Had to drive to Glenwood this week and coming home in the dark I realized I hadn't driven a highway at night in like 10 years. Way out of practice but we got the sick mamma home in one piece after her helicopter ride from Montrose due to Covid messed up hospitals and no urologist. Get yer shots folks! (preaching to the choir here, we're all smarter than that)
Last five. 12-31-76
JGB NorCal
DiP #3 (still a fav.)
2021 30 DoD on random spin (flash drive)
Fleetwood Mac- Future Games (reissued vinyl)
Cheers all!

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Submitted by JimInMD on Fri, 01/07/2022 - 19:50

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I Dark Star and drive.

I sometimes forget to exit.

Dark Stars carve through time, when I listen to them while driving, on average the commute time is decreased by approx. 30 minutes. No one knows why.

After my father died, in 2009, for about 4 years, I used to drive a 430 round trip every couple of weeks to see if my mother was okay. It was a great drive, and I would sometimes listen to a whole show - some of the longer 1973 shows fit almost exactly for the way there or back. But Dark Star didn't really help me on my way too much. I would have been going at twice the speed of sound, so much rock n'roll and high energy music was what kept me focussed. Nowadays I don't drive at all if I can help it - but I did like it back in the day.

HF - hope you are back on your pins again soon.

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Sat, 01/08/2022 - 12:43

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I'm indeed on the mend, hoping for good outcomes when the next phase of recovery comes. And my load is light, compared to so many. Paz!

....most should come with a warning label.
Come to think of it, I haven't listened to a Dark Star this year. Fixing that now. Going with Portland 6.24.73. -> Eyes -> China Doll -> Indica.
Is the PNW Box sold out yet?
Happy healing Hendrixfreak.
BTW. Bought tix for Melvin Seals and JGB today. Playing here on the 28th. First time for me.
Edit. Seven minutes into this Dark Star and it already took on a different format, led by Phil. Awesome.
The Dave's 40 page is all about Sugaree currently. Don't forget about the 10.17.83 first set opener people!!

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Submitted by Vguy72 on Sat, 01/08/2022 - 17:37

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....so much so, that one of my dogs woke up from her nap with a WTF look on her face. It's ok Lucee. It's just Jerry doing Jerry things. She's OK now.
This Dark Star is a muddled masterpiece that spirals into precise non-control.
No second verse. Onto Eyes.

why Candyman? "If I had me a shotgun, I'd blow you straight to hell"

I thought I had locked my car. (NFBM)

Some cockbiting mofo got into my car last night and ripped me off. (If I had me a shotgun...)

2022 has had some highlights, but overall it has been groundhog day 2020.

Most peoples is good
Some peoples are hit and miss
Some peoples are feces samples with legs

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Submitted by hendrixfreak on Mon, 01/10/2022 - 07:32

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Sorry to hear that, proudfoot... I think you were the one whose catalytic converter (and your son's?) got torn out last year. About two months ago, same thing happened to me, in a public parking lot on a busy street in broad daylight. Desperados or organized crime, we'll never know. But it's reaching epidemic proportions.

Bottom line: stealing is a dirty, low-down act that -- often more than the loss itself -- injures your faith in the innate goodness of humanity. How one acts when everyone's back is turned is what creates karma, in my view.

Best of luck recouping your faith. After my theft, it took weeks to wear off.

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Submitted by proudfoot on Mon, 01/10/2022 - 07:41

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if it's not catalytic converters, it's other things.

the scumbag didn't take my CD of Live Dead, though.

Every morning before work, I play two songs on my phone: Husker Du's "New Day Rising" and Motorhead's "Stand." Time for that ritual, my fellow Deadheads.

Thank you for the kind words, HF; y'all be cool.

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