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    A sealed, unlabeled box sat undisturbed for decades on a shelf in the Grateful Dead’s San Rafael tape vault on Front Street, its contents an enduring mystery, even to those few with access to the vault. All David Lemieux knew about that box when he became the Dead’s archivist was that it contained tapes belonging to Bear—Owsley Stanley, the Dead’s first soundman and architect of the Wall of Sound. Even in the Dead Heads’ Holy of Holies, the taped-up box was tantalizing. But this was Bear’s personal property, and so he didn’t touch the box out of an abiding respect for the elder luminary of sound. Bear’s archive of Sonic Journal recordings had been kept safe for him for years within the Grateful Dead’s vault—over 1,300 reels of tape stored in heavy-duty cartons like old banana boxes. At any time, David could have popped the tops and explored them to his archivist heart's content. But they were off-limits without the nod from Bear. - Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell, Owsley Stanley Foundation

     

    With a wink and a nod from Bear, we've peeled back those banana boxes to find some of the oldest and rarest of all recordings of the Dead including the double dose of shows that make up DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43. The two virtually complete performances from San Francisco 11/2/69, Live At Family Dog At The Great Highway, and from Dallas 12/26/69, McFarlin Auditorium, are complementary in their clarity and consistency thanks to Bear himself, and in their ability to foreshadow where the Dead were headed in the years to come. If the two killer 20-minute+ "Dark Stars" don't get ya, how about the Pigpen-centric sets featuring "Midnight Hour," "Next Time You See Me," "Big Boss Man," "Good Lovin'," and the once-lost-now-found complete rendition of "Dancing In The Streets," or the first full acoustic set ever performed? And we're certain you'll be fascinated to uncover the "Mystery Of Bear's Banana Boxes" as told by Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell in the liners.

     

    Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43 was recorded by Owlsey "Bear" Stanley and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

     

    *2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

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  • Oroborous
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    Simple must do audio rules

    There are many things that can be done to get your system set up correctly that often can facilitate noticeable performance improvements equal too or greater than any electronics! Best part, they cost little or nothing!

    SPEAKER PHASING: one of the most notorious mistakes that makes a huge noticeable difference and is super easy.
    Make sure your positive amp/receiver terminal is connected to the positive of the speaker, ON BOTH speakers!!
    So positive to positive, negative to negative etc. on both speakers.
    If one is wired opposite of the other, your speakers are out of phase which means their working against each other instead of with each other. Speakers move back and forth, or in and out. If one is wired out of phase that means one speaker is pushing air out while the other speaker is pulling back in, thus effecting bass coupling dramatically! So what you say? You will likely laugh or gasp at how much better your speakers sound (bass enhancement) when you hear them in phase after getting used to them being out!

    SPEAKER HEIGHT: the tweeter should always be placed at ear height. So if using stand speakers, measure so stand places the speakers tweeter exactly at listening position ear height. In conekids case he’s a little higher, which might effect his main position, but since he’s trying to cover 2 zones IR areas it’s a trade off. This is an example of how the situation may dictate slight tweaks, but you should at least start following these rules then tweek.

    SPEAKER PLACEMENT: optimally should form an equilateral triangle: same distance from listening position to each speaker, and same distance between speakers. This can be tweaked depending on several variables.
    Spread them out too far and you lose acoustic coupling and stereo imaging etc., too close together and your sound field collapses and you lose stereo effect etc. This is something you can play with and doesn’t cost anything.
    Obviously you should try to avoid placing objects in front of speakers…
    They should be placed along a wall, but out from the wall. Too close to the wall causes boundary issues that make bass bloated and unnaturally loud etc. Too far out from the wall and they can sound too thin (not enough bass).
    Again, depending on your speakers and other factors you can play with this until you get it right.
    Same with listening position: if you sit too close to any wall, but especially the back wall you’ll again suffer from boundary issues that unnaturally bloat/muddy bass.
    Really you should never put speakers or listening position next to a wall!

    RULE OF THIRDS: look it up. Though using the third dimension is usually not practical, the rule of fifths is and works perhaps better. What’s that you say? Divide your room into fifths. Place the speakers one fifth of the way in from the side walls, leaving three fifths between them. So a 20’ room would have the center of each speaker 4’ from the side walls with 12’ between speaker center points. Then, to form the equilateral triangle, measure 12’ from the center of each speaker to your ear position at your listening sweet spot! Depending on your speakers you may want to toe them in slightly versus having them point directly forward. Again, play around and tweek. Tweeting should be done vary slightly, sometimes an inch or two can make a big difference! Be slow and methodological.

    SUB WOOFERS: I’m not a fan of subs for 2 channel stereo, but they can be a necessity for small bookshelf speakers etc.
    Subs suffer even more from boundary issues described above! Corners are usually the worst place to put a sub woofer!
    Here’s a trick. Place your sub in your listening position and put on some bass active music you know well. Now crawl around on the floor and listen. When you find the place the bass sounds best, put your sub there. This is a cheap down and dirty way to deal with room modes, one of the biggest negative factors in music enjoyment. (Look them up).
    I have a fairly large above average system in a dedicated room, but my room is too narrow for my system so I often have horrible bass bloat issues because of these room modes etc. (funny but it’s mostly only a problem with old Dead when Phil was still playing Alembic lol). Usually I can just roll off a little of my 30 hertz eq nob on my C 40 pre amp. I have a DSP room unit that uses excellent Dirac SW, but haven’t gotten around to it (slacker).
    There are many solutions and sometimes DSP can help (but that won’t do pure analog folks much good) but often the best way to deal with many of these issues is to follow these fairly simple rules and play around with things.

    Oh, lastly. You can help smooth out your room by dampening first reflection points. There’s diffusion and absorption and more. But to keep it simple. We’ll just look at some basics.
    Have someone with a mirror move along the side wall with the mirror. The place where you can see the speaker in the mirror while being seated in the listening position is the first reflection point. Put something (all kinds of things both diy and professional) in that spot along the wall (and ceiling if you want to go the extra distance) that will absorb the sound, so that your hearing the direct sound from the speaker without the phase issues and coloration of the reflected sound off the wall. This is another simple but big improvement.
    You can experiment with placing adsorption in other obvious places like directly back from the speakers on the opposite wall. If you have a big room, perhaps look at second reflection points.

    NOTE: this is not sound proofing! That is a whole other field above and behind this tutorial. Save your money! Putting egg crates, foam, or most of the items for sale on line DO NOT WORK! They will not stop bass from passing through walls and structure! Some of these products may help the sound in the room, but will do nothing for stopping it’s transmission out of the room!

    SPEAKER ISOLATORS: another thing you just have to try. Using the pointy spikes or not for speaker feet. Sometimes they help other times you may want to isolate your speakers from the floor to eliminate too much bass and our help with transference to another room or dwelling.
    Oh, use a heavy carpet on the floor at least between the speakers and listening position if not bigger. Put this is yet another situational thing that you may have to play with.

    Remember folks: the situation is the boss!
    Hope this helps!

    HDCD: if everything is set up and functioning properly you can hear a difference. How noticeable or if noticeable will depend on your equipment, set up and ears. If you have a nice system and actually play discs, you might find some improvements but for many you might not really hear a difference, certainly not a huge difference so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Following the above mentioned rules as much as possible will!

    Oh, ps, the above assumes best case practices. As no room is perfect, and some are just plain awful, and many of us need to live with our significant others, ahem, obviously not everyone will be able to follow all of these.

  • daverock
    Joined:
    Replacement

    Cnkd - It never occurred to me at the time that I could have asked for a brand new replacement. The replacement from the shop floor is better - the first one used to skip tracks out - with this one it's just the delay in registering which track is playing by about a second that's a bit odd. It plays to perfection apart from that. And really sounds good.

  • Dennis
    Joined:
    Sound systems

    Good talk.

    More important to system?

    Listening!!!

    When I bought my system the guy told me, you will not hear what this system does, while doing the dishes, while cleaning, while doing anything else. You have to sit and listen.

    It's true.

    Sound systems and people are a funny thing. I think MOST people listen to the radio and only own a handful of cd's/albums, usually the stuff they listen to in high school or college,,,, after that they stop buying. Kids today seem to live off spot-e-fied and own nothing. I have found the largest genre in people's collection is christmas albums (go figure!)

    I think this group of people are the exception to that.

    What'd ya think?

  • KeithFan2112
    Joined:
    Since there's a CD player discussion going on...

    For people who are listening on HDCD players, what sort of improvement can you hear in the audio? I would think there is some discernable improvement.

    I think I've listened to these shows 10x each. Moved on to others in the time period. Doing Dick's Picks 4 at the moment. I was not hardcore into the Dead when it was released. I imagine people were reacting even more positively into it than even this Dave's Picks, due to the Fillmore legend of the Feb 13 & 14 shows when it came out. Was there a discussion board up at the time to spread the enthusiasm?

    Vguy - good to see the red dice and green felt has returned - it's positively you.

    Nitecat - also digging TC's contributions on these shows. When he was "on" and audible, he really filled out their sound nicely.

  • icecrmcnkd
    Joined:
    More audio talk

    Wow, Daverock that’s a pricey player to be malfunctioning, and then be replaced by a floor model (which apparently has the same defect). They should have given you a new one from the factory.

    I thought that my new Cambridge Audio CD player was defective but then realized that my Vizio TV remote interferes with it. I had the TV on and was going through the menu adjusting settings but every time I hit a button on the TV remote the CD player would jump tracks or stop playing. Was relieved to find that the CD player was fine.

    Nick, go with what sounds best to you.

    Last night spun the Anthem of the Sun CD that I bought in 1989 (it’s the 1971 remix) and it sounded pretty dull.
    Then put in Steppin’ Out CD3 and started at Truckin’. Sounded better, but not that great.
    DaP43 sounds far superior to those older CD’s.

  • daverock
    Joined:
    Magic Ingredient

    To me, the best sounding recordings I ever heard were the first ones I got, between 1971 and about 1978. They were records, and what made them great was the magic ingredient. It had nothing to do with what I played them on. If your system captures that-you've got it. For me you can no more improve on that than you can The Grand Canyon

    Nick1234 - having said that, I got a Rega Saturn-R cd player about 3 years ago. And it sounds great - but the first one I bought had to go back to the shop after about 9 months, as some cds wouldn't play-and others jumped to the 3rd or 4th track when I wanted to hear the 1st one. They eventually replaced it with a display model from the shop floor. That is great - although I have noticed that half way through a cd...when the music for track 4 starts, the display unit still shows track 3 for a few seconds - it is slightly behind the music. But the sound quality is top notch. As for the magic ingredient....

  • Charlie3
    Joined:
    My Wife

    I joke, but my wife has put up with my idiosyncrasies and such for 30 years, 36 if you count the time we were together before getting married. She deserves a medal, 'cause I am aware that I can be a difficult person to live with sometimes.

    The speakers have a clear pretty clear path to spread the sound around the space and the actual speakers are at the upper two thirds of about a 43 inch high tower, so a bit above the ground, and built to tilt ever so slightly to direct the sound slightly upward and fill the space nicely, so I exaggerate about the impediments, or more accurate to say I just get a little obsessive about the impediments to the sound.

    For tonight's classic '70s movie I went with the Godfather, the first one. I've watched it several times before but it never disappoints, I love that movie every time. A near perfect movie, weirdly gratifying.

  • Nick1234
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    System advice

    While we're on the subject can I ask for a bit of advice? I'm in the market for a new system and at the moment I'm thinking of a Naim Supernait 3 amp and B&W 702 S2 speakers. I can audition these at my local hifi dealer. What CD player to accompany these? I'm not going for a turntable at the moment. I have 5 weeks to audition anything at my local shop before I move to the Shetland Islands and there's no hifi dealer there that I'm aware of so it's now or never. I'd sort of like to support Rega as their factory is about a mile from my current house but at these prices I'll go for the best fit for my ears.

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    Also point out....

    ....that at concerts, they raise the stacks on cables for maximum efficiency.

  • icecrmcnkd
    Joined:
    Charlie, etc

    Point out to your wife that at concerts they don’t put the speakers on the floor, that would block the sound.

    My kitchen and living room are connected end-to-end, about 12 feet wide, so not a huge area to fill with sound. The speakers in the air project the sound into the kitchen perfectly, with the sweet spot from the front of the couch back to the island in the kitchen. Can also see the TV on the wall from the kitchen.
    It’s just me and my dog, so I can turn the volume up as loud as I want.

    I’ve had this new CD player for 2 weeks and have also been playing non-GD CD’s to see how they sound. The Cambridge Audio dealer that I got it from said that it needed about 100 hours of use to get broken in so I’ve been spinning CD’s instead of using my iBasso music player.
    Once the CD player is broken in I might then run it into the DAC via stereo RCA cables which I did at first, and it boosts the signal by about 20 dB according to having to turn down the volume, but I wanted to break it in sending the signal to the receiver.

    Spinning Rush - Exit Stage Left currently.
    This morning was Floyd - More and then Piper.
    I’m thinking next the Anthem of the Sun CD I bought in 1989, want to see if that sounds good or if it’s a victim of crappy 80’s mastering.

    The iBasso music players come with a burn-in adapter which simulates the electrical resistance of being plugged into a stereo system. You plug that in and put a show on loop and just let it run for about 50 hours, and then it’s supposed to be broken in.

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A sealed, unlabeled box sat undisturbed for decades on a shelf in the Grateful Dead’s San Rafael tape vault on Front Street, its contents an enduring mystery, even to those few with access to the vault. All David Lemieux knew about that box when he became the Dead’s archivist was that it contained tapes belonging to Bear—Owsley Stanley, the Dead’s first soundman and architect of the Wall of Sound. Even in the Dead Heads’ Holy of Holies, the taped-up box was tantalizing. But this was Bear’s personal property, and so he didn’t touch the box out of an abiding respect for the elder luminary of sound. Bear’s archive of Sonic Journal recordings had been kept safe for him for years within the Grateful Dead’s vault—over 1,300 reels of tape stored in heavy-duty cartons like old banana boxes. At any time, David could have popped the tops and explored them to his archivist heart's content. But they were off-limits without the nod from Bear. - Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell, Owsley Stanley Foundation

 

With a wink and a nod from Bear, we've peeled back those banana boxes to find some of the oldest and rarest of all recordings of the Dead including the double dose of shows that make up DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43. The two virtually complete performances from San Francisco 11/2/69, Live At Family Dog At The Great Highway, and from Dallas 12/26/69, McFarlin Auditorium, are complementary in their clarity and consistency thanks to Bear himself, and in their ability to foreshadow where the Dead were headed in the years to come. If the two killer 20-minute+ "Dark Stars" don't get ya, how about the Pigpen-centric sets featuring "Midnight Hour," "Next Time You See Me," "Big Boss Man," "Good Lovin'," and the once-lost-now-found complete rendition of "Dancing In The Streets," or the first full acoustic set ever performed? And we're certain you'll be fascinated to uncover the "Mystery Of Bear's Banana Boxes" as told by Starfinder Stanley, Hawk, and Pete Bell in the liners.

 

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 43 was recorded by Owlsey "Bear" Stanley and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

 

*2 per order. Very limited quantity available.

....how was that Phish show at Blossom? Looks like it was a rager. Getting awesome reviews. Free is one of my favorite songs and phans are saying it was one of the best ever. Missed it last night on the free youtoob offering. Will check it out tonight.

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this one hit my mailbox totally unexpectedly, as it did with others. Very psyched.
I am realizing now that indeed I know the Dark Star from 11/2, I had sought his one out about 5 years ago on a random reference and I recall being totally blown away not only with the exploration but also the quality of the sound. Bear was a true Master.
I've not heard the other offerings; they are ripe.

Off to BDA tomorrow for a looong weekend to celebrate my younger bro's 15th wedding anniversary.
It'll be hot, but I'll take a kid-free mini-vaca with all of our friends any day.

Be Well People!
Sixtus

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I'll wait to listen after a spliff.

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In the very worst case scenario, I have an extra copy. So you're covered either way.

My personal interest, apart from wanting everyone to get their release, is that you'll get to fire up that bomber of Indica I passed to ya at TTB and explore the "new" music.

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In reply to by hendrixfreak

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....btw. scam alert. Just got a text from USPS about "unable to deliver package due to incorrect address." Thought that was weird, especially getting a text from the post office. So I clicked the linq. Was asked to fill in all my contact information, which I did, then was told there was a $3 redelivery fee and was asked for my credit card info. I may be dumb sometimes, but I ain't stupid. I looked up the tracking # and it was bogus.
Beware out there!!

Did I make you mad? My numbers keep getting greater and greater. Almost have a number so high, it is almost beyond 25,000. Oh well glad i got a few low numbers.

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In reply to by Gary Farseer

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Just wanted to clean up a few recent discussions with you guys.

OB: you had said 42 bonus disk would be a tub thumper and you were correct. Sounds Great!

BTK and Dave Rock. In discussing "funky joints", BTK you wrote about them finding a body when renovationg Oakland Auditorium. I did include that article when I wrote a PhD dissertation on OA. Had many articles and lots of pictures of the now shuddered wonderful facility. (I had a bunch of lynx, but when it was time to post, no more lynx.) You also mentioned Lake Merritt. I really loved the lake and the entrance. It made me feel as close to what a Winterland show was like. Maybe 200-300 campers. Very nice, fun, but small shakedown. Made everything feel like home and so relaxed. We had 2 of the 4 tickets for our run. We got a travel package that included round trip airlines, supposed to be 4 tickets instead of 2, and two nights hotel at the Hotel San Francisco or San Franciscan Hotel. All for $800. Was a GD travel group out of Philly. The first night we had two walk away about a mile to a pay phone at Oak St. and 14th St. where we would call a holiday inn a few miles east where Kurland tours was staying. They answered and said, yeah I have 2 tickets for tonight if you can come get them. We hauled ass back to OA got in the car and took off to the holiday inn. Grabbed the tix and got back to drop and get in just as the Neville Brothers were playing. Glad you saw them and liked their playing as well. That was New Orleans in Oakland.

Dave Rock, speaking of funky joints, the very first funky joint I was ever in was the Marquee at 90 Wardour St. Was there twice, March 1982 and March 1983. 1982 was just going inside during the day. The club was preparing for the night, it was around 1 or 2 that afternoon. Just amazed at the long hall with all the pictures of artists on the wall. Reminds me of the Whisky a go go in Los Angeles. In 1983, my friend and I went to see a band called "The The." Never had any USA success but I understand that were relatively successful in Europe. Of course, you can be relatively successful and still make a very good living. Great presence, as a funky joint, although not sure you could ever smoke or get real funky in there. Let me know if I am confused.

Any way, not sure y'all will remember this from about a month back.

Can't wait to crank 43, will begin Friday afternoon. Sure it will get a couple of listens this weekend.

Again, want to say Thanks to Owsley Foundation, Dave, Jeffrey, and all the others that help keep this bus moving forward and with with great new music (to me)!

Also, thanks to the regulars. I wish I had as much to write about. Bet TTB and Los Lobos was killer. Hard to believe no smoke at Red Rocks, bet that is a non executable regulation.

G

Edited

Edit2 - BTK found where they found the body early this year but it seems when I wrote the piece there had been a body found on much earlier renovation. I am going to search and find that write-up and see if I am correct. Hope all well ur way!

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I can't find the words to accurately describe # 43. But listening to it last night I smiled, laughed, stared at my stereo in awe and even got a little teary a couple of times. A lot of different emotions over four hours. Personally, I feel its Dave's best pick yet (and that's saying a lot).

Thanks Dave, Jeffery, Bear and everyone else involved in this release.

I received the same text. When I tried to reload it so I could track the package off of the real USPS site, the language changed to French, then Arabic. I wonder if dead.net was unknowingly hacked. Seems highly unlikely that both you and I would get the same text message otherwise.

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Yeah, Soulful Strut, if that's what it's called, is the jam in those Dark Stars that I was referencing in my comments a few days ago. I did think I recognized it from the 1970 30 Trips Dancin in the Streets too, as it always caught my attention there as well. Sort of reminds me of the majestic interlude jam between Alligator and Going down the Road on the 1971 Ladies and Gentlemen...not the melody or tune itself, but the way it has that joyful, otherworldly quality.

Those jams both put me in the best of moods and get my endorphins peaking, especially when I'm spinning them on a road trip somewhere along a mountain road in the California Sierra. Which I was again during my first listen to 43.

This 43 disc got me fired up to go back and start checking out some more 1969s and 1970s that I hadn't heard on youtube yet. Some really good new ones since I last checked.

I also stumbled onto the full Woodstock set which I realized I had never heard, though I always heard that the Dead didn't like it and wouldn't approve release. It's not really so bad, I actually enjoyed it mostly. Though with the technical glitches and some guy (concert promoter approved?) sharing the stage and blabbing nonsense into the mike at the first part of Lovelight, I could see why they'd not want it released. There was a different and interesting jam by Jerry about 2/3 of the way through the very long Lovelight that I don't recall ever hearing before, must have been one of his improvs, and a very nice one too.

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I've had those too. When I laugh out loud at something a musician does, it usually means I'm so stunned by the magnificence of the moment that I can't figure out what else to do.

Now that the existence of the banana boxes has been revealed a reinvigorated effort to infiltrate the vault has begun.

Vguy and AJS,
This site was hacked last week according to (I think) Wilfred who witnessed it being another site. Then other people pointed out how stuff that was gone from the store reappeared, although not available to order.
At the Rhino store the Waiting For Columbus Box is no longer available to order (it just came out).
This may also explain why no tracking number emails, and then multiple emails after DaP43 has arrived.

Something’s afoot in the hackerverse……

But yes, DaP43 is awesome!
All hail to Bear and his banana boxes.

(Ha, a Phil Bomb on 11/2 Dark Star just woke up my dog)

If you don’t have it already, hope you get it soon.

....still out for delivery. Is the mailman playing Pokemon Go or what? And Hendrixfreak's indica joint is just begging to be lit.

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In reply to by proudfoot

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will get virgin listen Monday during road trip.

Been listening to 6 24 85 here and there

Summer 85 deserves a box set

6 24 (30 Trips)
6 25
6 27
6 28
6 30
7 1

Also heard some of DixPix August 74

Hot stuff

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....I know it may considered heresy amongst some here, but I never found Seinfeld very funny....(runs away with fingers in ears).
.
.
Ok. I'm back. Going with Dave's 40 Deer Creek disc 4 on the big boy with the TV on the CMA Fest muted while I bide my time. Cool stage and lights actually.
HEY! Deer Creek '90 sounds pretty good too!
We are some spoiled MF'ers and we're here for it. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy because music is indeed, the best!

He had a wooden leg, an eye patch and a hook for a hand. The bartender was curious. "How did you get that wooden leg?" he asked.

The pirate took a swig of ale. "'Twas a terrible sea battle. I stood bravely, directly facing 12 cannons.All they managed to hit was my leg."

The bartender said "What about your hook?"

The pirate took another long swig. "Arrrr, twas the day the British navy caught me. They tied me to the mast, I escaped by gnawing my own hand off."

The bartender was growing sceptical. "And how did you get that eyepatch?"

The pirate took another swig. "Twas a mutiny. Me own crew left me marrooned on a desert island. But I had no fear. I lay down on the sand to wait to be rescued. As i looked up, a seagull flew over and pooped in me eye."

The bartender said "That's ridiculous, no one loses an eye from bird muck."

The pirate finished his ale in one gulp, and grimaced. "Twas the first day with the hook."

Lol

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That's blasphemy. Seinfeld is very funny.....or is it.

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I, too, remember the notion of a hack being raised. But, alas, twas not I.

Hey now SF/PF, give a shot to 6-22-85 Alpine. Another satisfying Summer '85...

P.S. Seinfeld is indeed funny. Getting dated now, but still elicits the chuckles.

P.S.S. Starfinder's assertion that Dave is inclined to fill out discs when they are sparse with tracks makes me guffaw some too...

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I keep rotating these two concerts over and over. I am so happy for these shows from this period. It's exactly what I was hoping for and felt might be possible, given the amount of time it had been since a Dave's Pick came out for 1969 (although DaP 30 was close, it's a different experience). When I first really got into the Dead hardcore, my buddy had two releases, and one of them was Dick's Picks 16 from 11/8/69. The "Bear" sound was ingrained early on.

Billy the Kid - those shows on your 1969 box set are probably going to be short - better add the Boston Tea Party run from NYE.

Frosted - there is a great essay on archive that lists every song that has that Soulful Strut jam (aka "Tighten Up"). archive.org/post/1055387/guide-to-the-tighten-up-jam

Aliced - I know how you feel man. I think there's a lot to be said for the audience interaction they had in those days. And you can feel how much fun they're having. Good times, always positive vibes. Just don't flash cameras in their eyes or shoot off fireworks. And for f***'s sakes don't climb on the fence idiot!

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In reply to by Gary Farseer

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Gary - I'm not sure I'm best placed to comment on the confusion of others, but what you say sounds spot on to me! I never went to The Marquee - looking online it's hey day was between 1964 and 1988, when it was on Wardour Street. Apparently it relocated after that - but it must have lost something in the travelling. It sounds like my sort of club, though. Maybe a bit like the 100 Club on Oxford Street in London. They have great photographs on the wall of people who have played there too - a great range of artists-I can remember ones of Son House and Keith Richards - many jazz artists from the early 60s too. I saw some great bands there - off the top of my head James Burton and band, The Pretty Things, Pink Fairies, Jefferson Starship, The Fuzztones - never a dull moment! I remember the name The The...but nothing more.

Charlie3 great post on the Dark Stars in Daves 43-looking forward to getting this one I must say.

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In reply to by Vguy72

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Seinfeld?

I am disappointed in you. Please don’t tell me you like “Friends.”

Seinfeld sits atop the following classics:

All in the Family
M*A*S*H - the first three seasons only, with Henry and Trapper
Scrubs
The Office - before Michael left

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17 years 2 months
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Was great for all 11 seasons. Sure it got preachy and somewhat corny, but show me better writing and better television now.

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11 years 7 months

In reply to by daverock

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Not to mention the April run at The Ark. Or did I already. The only NYE show outside the bay area... further candidates for a '69 (68-70) box, nominations? My guess: a 12K edition could easily sell out more quickly than the current MSG box. Even considering the 6 MSG shows represent roughly 120K seats (less repeats). FW69 CD box fetches $500+ on the secondary and as yet, incomplete on vinyl. So when does the final night of FW69 run appear on vinyl ? Eight months to RSD2023... As of this morning, archive is showing the TTB Red Rocks 7/30 show.

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14 years 11 months
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10-25-69 Dark Star
8-23-69 more Dark Star from a Farm in Oregon
8-30-69 More Dark Star from the Dog
That's just a sampling of some of the great Dark Stars from 69 there are more just got to poke around
That would be so cool, a box full of Dark Stars, they could call it tattered tales or round about the reason or (insert cool dark star name)

Vguy (and now Dennis):

"No soup for you!"

Shows others love that don't quite appeal to me: I will confess I never liked Big Bang Theory. And I found the Simpsons tiresome after a couple seasons. Friends worked at the time, but not since.

True fact...my wife and I were part of a test audience for Big Bang Theory in Las Vegas back...whenever. We were "meh". But the show became a hit.

And then they made Young Sheldon...oy.

Vguy and Dennis...if the situation ever arises, I won't have a square to spare for either of you. Hmph.

Y'all be cool anyway :)))

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12 years
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If you missed,,,, vol 2 of weir and wolf is being released,,,, third man records,,,, limited color vinyl,,, regular vinyl and cd.

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4 years 3 months

In reply to by Dennis

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The acoustic song selection is choice.

69 box baby. FULL of Dark Stars.

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10 years 8 months
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I only dipped into the acoustic set across the first two discs, then the electric on disc one.

Sometimes, with relatively uinspired shows, I push my listening ears into the music to catch what I can. On this performance, one only needs to lay back and let the music fill your ears -- the groove is that good. Even some of the loosey-goosey acoustic, like the intro to Black Peter, becomes like an unstoppable wave.

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10 years 2 months
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I think I'll go for a round of frolf today.
Just because.

Currently doing Northern Exposure.
Not so much funny as quirky.
Doing the Doc Martin series after that.

Cheers

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9 years 1 month
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Northern Exposure, used to really dig that show, made my wife and I think, hey, let's move somewhere like that, somewhere rural and a little remote, but with a normal light cycle throughout the year as weeks of straight darkness or weeks of unending light would push me right over the edge. Wound up here in MT from NY, probably one of my better choices, certainly can't think of anywhere I'd rather be over the last few years. Other factors involved as well, but that show was a bit of a catalyst.

Seinfeld is funny to me, dug that show, but when I checked out Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm I kind of got the idea that Larry is way funnier than Jerry, and an understanding that George Costanza was Larry's alter ego. Larry David was a head writer and co-producer on Seinfeld, and I suspect he was responsible for some of the best parts of that show. Curb Your Enthusiasm is funnier than Seinfeld in my book, especially the seasons with J.B. Smoove as Leon Black. J.B. Smoove and Larry David are hilarious together. Even if you don't really dig Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm is well worth checking out.

Soulful Strut is one of my favorite instrumental soul tunes, so if it's there I hear it. The only tune that I know by Young-Holt Unlimited, but what a great tune.

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12 years
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Found this,,,, musician will understand better than me

Why the ‘Tighten Up Jam’ Should Henceforth be Known as the ‘Soulful Strut Jam’
(Special thanks to member Paperback Writer at the Steve Hoffman forums).

The jam commonly referred to as the Tighten Up jam is so referred to based on the chords to (and its overall resemblance to) the 1968 track of the same name from Archie Bell & the Drells.
The problem herein lies in the chord structure of the jam. The original composition of Tighten Up is based on a simple chord change of F#Maj7 – BMaj7 (or, if you prefer to make your life more difficult, GbMaj7 – CbMaj7). In any case, these two sets of chord changes represent I IV in a Major key. But the GoGD jam in question is not I IV in a Major key; rather, it is I ii in a Major key. See 5/2/70, DP 8, Dancin’ in the Street from 6:52-10:15 (all times taken from the official releases noted herein) and 10/31/71, DP 2, Dark Star from 13:29-17:52; for officially-released and well-known versions. But often, things are not so cut and dried with the GoGD. The 1/2/70, DaP 30, Dark Star complicates things by including an unnamed jam starting at 19:41–> Feelin’ Groovy (starting at 21:42 and then meandering away)–> Soulful Strut (transposed; starting at 23:40).
Keep in mind that any transposition our boys might have done is irrelevant here. Transcribing a set of chord changes to another key does not affect their harmonic function.
However, the Grateful Dead play the Soulful Strut jam in A Major, using A and Bmin as the two chords. This represents both a transposition from F#/Gb Major and a reharmonization of I IV in a Major key to I ii in a Major key. But if we look at Soulful Strut, a 1968 composition by Young-Holt Unlimited, the main set of changes is BbMa7 – Cmin7: I ii in the Major key of Bb Major.
Don’t get hung up on the key/tonal center; focus on the functionality of the chords. If we transpose the two chords from Soulful Strut down a half step, we get A Bmin. Thus, what has long been known as the Tighten Up jam is, by its very harmonic construction, much more close to Soulful Strut than it is to Tighten Up.

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17 years 4 months

In reply to by Charlie3

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....no offense to Seinfeld fans. And no, I'm not a Friends fan either. Agree on M*A*S*H front to back and All In The Family. Love South Park. Love That 70's Show. Have always had a sweet spot for Three's Company and Spongebob Squarepants (the first 4 seasons) and Parks & Recreation.
Checking out that TTB 7/30 show on the Archive now. I absolutely adore Susan's voice. Powerful stuff girl!!

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9 years 1 month
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Dude, thanks, I knew that someone with more musical knowledge than me must be able to explain the musical structure to confirm what my ears were telling me, that the jams were based on Soulful Strut. I took piano lessons for a few years around 5th to 8th grade, and learned a little bit how to read music, but that is all hazy memory at this point, and explaining chord structure progression is way beyond me. I dig Tighten Up by Archie Bell and the Drells as well, another cool tune, I just could never quite make it fit some of those Dark Star and Dancing in the Street interludes. I'll have to check out the Oh Girl instrumental now.

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3 years
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43 years ago today, I was up at the Oakland Auditorium ( along with a lot of other great people who post on this forum) for another great evening with the Good Ole Grateful Dead. It was a great first show at the Oakland Auditorium, this building to take the place of Winterland. The Dead would play here up until 1989. I would see a lot of great shows here in Oakland and have alot of fun times.

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10 years 2 months
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In the picture in the liner notes. First guess was a mid-60s Mercedes which had little fins like that but there's some badging on the side of the fin a Mercedes didn't have. Guessing something like a Peugeot or Citroen? I think remember seeing Jerry pictured driving a Volvo later. Just curious.
And hey the music ain't bad either. First listen.
Cheers

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15 years 10 months
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Here's more from thread that KF posted:

11/2/69
Dark Star
17:30-22:20 (Feelin' Groovy)
22:20-25:00 (Tighten Up)
Another one of the times the Tighten Up and Feelin' Groovy were played back to back. This is a beautiful example of each of these themes. See 1/2/70 for this Dark Star's big brother. Thekind78 said about this Dark Star, "I gotta say of all the available Feelin' Groovy and Tighten Up jams the one from 11/02/69 at the Family Dog has Jerry playing ever so sweet. Just so soulful. I don't know if any other date has that kind of depth to the playing." I couldn't agree more.

12/26/69
Dark Star
16:30-17:30 (Feelin' Groovy)
17:30-20:00 (Tighten Up)
As I am listening to these Dark Stars again I am being reminded how often Feelin' Groovy and Tighten Up were juxtaposed. The jams really seem to develop simultaneously. In my other post about the Feelin' Groovy I describe this whole Dark Star jam as such. However, it is pretty clear that the second half is a Tighten Up.

second set is smokin' hot, at least on cassette and CD

I bet the OA became the mothership during Playin'

I envy your attendance

show envy?

:)))

8/4/79

Looks tasty

Have never heard but will soon.

Saturday in Oakland, right on.

What grabs me is the Shakedown being in the 2nd set, 4 spot, before playing. Bet that is going to be a lot of fun to hear! I love 2nd set shakedowns...

Havent read just yet, but makes we wonder if he was micro-doses. Guessing he was going thru counseling of a licensed therapist, or maybe a Shaman. My first introduction to micro-dosing came from John Fishman of Phish. He says that during his senior year of high school, he would wake up every morning at 5:00 and drop 50 mics, go back to sleep and wake up another couple of hours later and be ready for school. Been wanting to post that forever, now I have the reason. Of course, with the depth of this group/board I am sure it has been discussed before. I have pondered trying this. Maybe my Warlock powers would be Limitless. Can u feel me now?

G

edit: wow, ayahuasca (dmt)probably a shaman or even a licensed shaman. Dang where do I go again? haha j/k.

The fellas did some dmt early on...

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15 years 2 months
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Was there, balcony slightly to the left. Great show indeed, they premiered Althea and Lost Sailor; next night was even better in my opinion, with Hamza El Din showing up mid-second set, and a great Scarlet/Fire.
I like Seinfeld, can't stand Friends and love Sanford & Son. I think I'll pour myself a glass of Champipple now.

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