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  • hendrixfreak
    Joined:
    We have a winner!!

    And the trophy goes to Oroborous for "fungal foxtrot" -- my gawd man, you should be a writer. Oh wait...

    Another story: Roy Buchanan. We first caught Roy at Carnegie Hall in spring '74 and probably caught him a dozen times across that year into fall, most often in small theaters and clubs. (See: Roy Buchanan at Town Hall 1974...) At many shows, we had purchased "seats" and we sat in them -- for about the first 15 minutes. Then a half-dozen of us would emerge from our sometimes scattered seat assignments and basically make our way to the lip of the stage. It's not a Dead show and most folks remained seated while we formed a small cluster in front of Roy. He would smile to himself. His drummer later told me that the band referred to us as "Buchanan's rabbits," because we were always "popping up" at the lip of the stage. To this day, I've got more hearing damage from Roy's Tele and Twin Reverb (maybe 75 shows, 1974-1986) than from a roughly equal number of key GD shows (1972-1992). (Key shows: RFK '72, Watkins Glen '73, Capitol Theater/Passaic '76, Englishtown '77, Red Rocks '78 and every single subsequent GD Rocks show.) Not braggin', just happy lookin' back.

    One such event featured a double bill of Roy and Boz Scaggs w/Les Dudek on slide. We were in the first 10 rows and it was so loud, no need to get closer! After both bands played, Boz, Les and Roy jammed at supersonic volumes...

    Not to mention the many times we spent the day on the east stairs at the Rocks, then dashed in to actually cop front row (one behind the actual front row, reserved for handicapped) and at one ABB show realized that we had WAY better seats than the fairly large contingent onstage in the wings.

    Basically, my life has been one dash for the front or a judicious stance near the soundboard when I wasn't working, going to school, chasing tail or poking around the backcountry. I'm semi-retired from the big shows and, looking back, pretty effin' happy with the way I misspent my youth.

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    Up Front when it was cool

    The first six or seven years we’d go up front any chance we could if it was GA and we got there early enough.
    Half the fun was hanging out with the heads all afternoon waiting for the chance for the mad dash to the front.
    We’re talking small Auds we’re up front you were often less than 10’ away from them and the stages were often only 4 or 5’ high, very intimate! And the stage sound was amazing.

    Speaking of the dash: At the 7/1/92 show that we worked production, we were on the stage when they opened the gates and it was wild watching the throng come swarming over the hill and down toward the stage at Buckeye as Healy blasted the Horse race Trumpet Fanfare lol. Like some kind of psychedelic scene from Braveheart!

    It could be physically brutal and grueling though, especially if you weren’t in the very front row on the rail, where you could sorta lean and push back against the throng. Better ventilation too. Basically, it was on the wall or nothing, with the wall being only about 4’ high.
    If you knew what you were doing, and the circumstances were right though, there was nothing like it, but nothing comes for free so it was often a long grueling day, but we were young, prepared and it didn’t really phase us, especially once we got electric!
    So early on it was all about up front. Yes the vocals weren’t as prominent but you got the golden pure unfiltered sound of their amps/speakers, and in 83 when they started using the Meyers stuff full time they’d put small monitors on the stage in a half circle pointing out to help fill in the vocals better.

    But besides the sound it was like going to school to be able to see how they played things and to check out all that marvelous gear out up close! “Oh, Finger Ease, that’s the stuff Bobs always spraying on his axe”, like going to school!

    Perhaps the best part was the eye contact. If you were really paying attention you could see them communicating non verbally and they’d pick up on if you weren’t just some stoned civilian, but could tell if you were really catching all the little things they were doing. It was like you were in the band and if they picked up on you, they’d watch you and see if you caught little things they’d toss about. They seemed to really dig folks who could properly pay attention to all this, especially if they made a mistake!
    I can still picture any of them throwing some musical little tid bit out there, and watch your reaction, and then smiling because they knew you caught it, PRICELESS!
    It was big fun to joke around between songs with them too. We used to pick on Bob about songs and Phil especially always had a good time with that!
    Sigh, those were the daze!
    BUT!!! learning the fungal foxtrot in front of the SB was pretty damn sweet too lol.
    And aw those awesome summer nights outside with a big ole moon during a hot Terrapin…
    Sigh, yep, those were the daze my friends, we thought they’d never end…

  • hendrixfreak
    Joined:
    Getting close...

    So apart from Watkins Glen we had partaken of the GD/ABB gathering at RFK earlier that summer, the first day. The GD went on first, I think because Jer had an Old & In the Way show in Boston that night -- that's what we heard. (He 'coptered from DC to Boston with Peter Rowan, according to hearsay.

    So a good friend who had not eaten the blotter said, "Let's go up front." Plenty of room to manuever that day. We got real close -- definitely whites of their eyes -- and several things unfolded, no longer sure the sequence. First, some Deadheads being assholes, a few miscreants were tossing fireworks around. Some genius lobs an M-80 onto the stage and it lands at Jer's feet. He used to do a little shuffle when he was jamming and, without skipping a beat, he kicks the M-80 (prior to explosion) back into the crowd with one smooth movement. When they started He's Gone, the crowd moans and boos -- the feral animals on acid syndrome. But Garcia carries it off and I think they closed the set with China-Rider. (Just looked at the Setlist Program, and that's backwards -- set closer with China-Rider, 2nd set opener He's Gone.) During China Cat I get acid-confusion. Bobby is playing a Gibson SG (I believe) and Phil is playing a big brown hollow body, but in my youth and ignorance I always associated the solid body with bass and the hollow body with a Gibson guitar -- so I'm like, wait, which one's Bobby and which one's Phil?? (I knew from photos who was who, but go figure in that "special moment"...) I said nothing, but I think my buddy realized he was leading a potential casualty around and we retreated. Also, when you're 15, although tall, you are rail thin and still getting initiated, so we did not make a habit of pressing forward. It was a foray only.

    In 1976, during their theater tour, I had something like 7th row center, 3,000 people, I could the band quite well right in front of me and discovered for the first time the buzz of the amps in the back line. I was much closer in May '73 for Old & In the Way: 3rd row, audience left, right by Jer and his banjo.

    If that's not a great way to grow up, I don't know what is.

  • 1stshow70878
    Joined:
    About 20 rows up at red rocks

    Is just exactly perfect. My first show 7th row middle was too close for the best sound. Got there early as HF suggested and had our pick. But it was so loud I had to sit some just to give my ears some relief. Next two times there we figured out, as Vguy notes, the balance and full bass effect was better about 20th row middle. A few rows in front the tapers section and soundboard (duh, that's why they put it there). For Brent's RR debut in '79 we got back closer to 12th row as we wanted to see the new guy and the sound was pretty darn good and it seemed the crew had figured out the Red Rocks by that third visit and how to bounce Phil off them. All my other shows were pitifully far back or to the side with McNichols '79 the worst sound of all, upper deck right side and an echo chamber. The Denver Coliseum, where I saw a few other bands, had terrible acoustics. College halls that were designed for good acoustics like C.U. Boulder's were ideal. Pin drop perfect for the Chick Corea/Gary Burton show. You could visually see the notes, no wait, maybe that was the shrooms.
    Cheers

  • dmcvt
    Joined:
    close up Newcastle May 1970

    Probably late to the party on this, just discovered on utube , lengthy (almost two hours) coverage of the Dead's May 1970 trip to England, rough cuts, casual interviews, a few tedious moments, loaded with inside looks and about 35 minutes of concert footage from 5/24: "Grateful Dead England 1970 (The Lost Film)"

  • daverock
    Joined:
    Seeing the whites of their eyes

    As I remember it, it was quite easy to walk up quite close to the front of the stage when the Dead played at the Rainbow, London, in October 1981. It was standing room only down there.
    I was even closer the first night on the October 1990 run at Wembley. Brilliant! Seeing people you have read about and listened to so much, for so long, at such close quarters. Prior to this night it was hard to believe that they actually existed. Nobody I knew had ever seen them, or even heard of them. Like living in a world of your own. Which, given the alternative, might not be a bad thing.
    The last night I was up the balcony to the right, and that wasn't as good. I'll never know what was me - I was high as a kite - and what was really happening. The people around me appeared to be dancing and cheering before the band came on. It was like they could hear something I couldn't. When the band did come on, the only instrument I could clearly hear was Bruce's piano. I went bombing downstairs to try and get in to the stalls, but was easily ejected and went back to my seat. The balance improved during the show - but it was an odd sound. And as I have said before, drums and space was incredible.

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    Being really close at the Dead....

    ....only twice. Vegas '91 and Portland '95. Sound sucks up there anyways.

  • Angry Jack Straw
    Joined:
    Getting up front

    Was fairly easy early on. Then it became a headache.

    Back in 93 or 94 we decided to go to the Spring shows on Long Island. You were still able to call in for tickets back then and somehow I got right through. To the customer service rep - I need tickets for Thursday and Friday, but purchase Friday first because that will sell out quickly. Of course when she reads the first order back it is for Thursday. Annoyed, but I got 6th row. By the time she put in the Friday order, we got the farthest section back in the upper deck. That was the last time we got up real close. Of course as any seasoned head would do, we brought our Thursday stubs to the Friday show. The usher gladly showed us to our seats right up front soon after the lights went down.

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    Up Front

    Pretty much gave that up around 85-86. Combo of no more GA, getting a little older, and most of all…discovered the Lysergic shuffle which requires proper floor space lol

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    Phish fans....

    ....yup. They have changed a lot since I first saw them in 1994. People up front on the floor tend to get very territorial. Throw down huge tarps and will say they are "holding spots for their friends" and will get hostile sometimes. A lot of times I never see their so-called friends ever show up. Sad really. I don't go up front anymore.

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In reply to by Colin Gould

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Those of us in Blighty don't get full tracking even when you sign up to UPS.The reason being is that they are sent economy post, and they do not track the item, from leaving the USA.
However you do get false emails from UPS when an expensive box set is ordered,and you pay over the odds on postage.

BTK... seems like we were at alot of the same shows in the early 80's .... I will never forget Halloween at the BCT ... it was all the heads dressed in costumes that made the shows, although "Halloween Space" was pretty trippy as I recall. And I missed the BBQ, dammit! Maybe next time ............tc

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The ones with meandering intros are the best. :-)

I am dabbling in June 76. 6-11 to be specific. But, 6-9 is another grate one...

We get the Bean sound again in Dec. 78. 12-17 has an Eyes of the World, but it's minus a real long intro...

P.S. Crosswalks

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14 years 9 months
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the Grateful Dead were the greatest band ever, there, ok.

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4 years 1 month

In reply to by DeeDeeMcTrivers

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The GD is the Dark Star at the center of this galaxy.

Sometimes we go to solar systems, planets, moons, etc. in our bizarre galaxy. Vacations, rants, joys, whatevers, hockey teams, trolls, und so weiter.

Just scroll past the stuff you don't want to read, and read the stuff you do want to read.

Keep on orbiting the Dark Star, y'all, and share what you will.

God bless us, everyone, and God bless the GD.

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8 years 10 months

In reply to by proudfoot

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Check one of the other active discussion boards.

This board is open mic night.

Red Wings started good……

DaP44 departed Fontana, due Tuesday.

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In reply to by proudfoot

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Bi-Curious George

A comet: Buoy the mascot.. WTF.

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In reply to by proudfoot

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not follow Deedee. What would YOU like to talk about?

Ya see many of us have been talking too much about the GOGD for so long that we’ve covered a lot of ground, and well, like a big family we discuss, or fight, about all kinds of things, but if you start a good GD topic, someone will most certainly reply…

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Those 1984 BCT shows were a lot of fun. I'm surprised you didn't see me , I was the guy with the long hair and a very cool tie dye t shirt. I bought the tie dye t shirt along with a very cool Rick Griffin poster outside at the very first show. I bet there were a lot of other folks who post on this forum that were also at those shows. Anyway, good to hear from you, have a great day and a great Holloween.

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over on the 2023 DaP Subscription page this morning between TimP and Keithfan. Things I didn't know about Keith and the keyboards he played and when.
Ya just gotta poke around DD.
Cheers
My 44 now tracking, due Wed.

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17 years 3 months
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send me a PM with the details and I'll get the Doc on the case and also alert the tech folks that all is not as it should be.

As it turns out, I put the "ass" in asteroid this time.

I entered the wrong expiration date. A 5 looked like a 3. DERP.

"Got two good eyes but I still don't see."

Mea culpa, Marye.

I apologize for acting like a grumpy old man, Marye. How do you tolerate monitoring us?

Wait, I AM a grumpy old man.

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Ahoy, maties, 44 is shipped! Supposedly. Now comes the part where the post office doesn't know where it is for about 4-5 days, and then it takes another 4-5 to meander across California, as if traveling via dosed coyotes, and I'll get my copy about a week from now. Whatever. I'm used to it by now.

The Revolver deluxe edition sure looks a money grab. You get 5 discs: a new remix, a mono mix, two "sessions" discs of outtakes and demos and whatnot, and then a disc with nothing but mono and stereo versions of Paperback Writer and Rain. Now, Revolver is only about 35 minutes long, so the remix AND mono versions PLUS the Paperback Writer and Rain tracks could've all fit on ONE disc. Talk about "milking it."

The thing is, I wouldn't mind hearing the remix. The original stereo mix has always been a problem; there's way too much stereo panning, The mono mix is great, but it doesn't do justice to the swirling psychedelia of Tomorrow Never Knows. So I may have to break down and get the two disc version, which has the new stereo mix (all 35 minutes of it) on one disc, and then a disc out of outtakes. I think I've probably bought that record at least 5-6 times now, since getting that first copy from K-Mart for I think $1.99 back in the Pleistocene Era.

Good on you guys for remembering Steps Ahead! I'm a tenor sax player, so I'm obsessed with all things Michael Brecker (who was really The Guy on tenor after Coltrane) so I've got all the Steps records that he was on. I actually like them better than the Brecker Bros, whose studio recordings often suffer from overly slick production, IMO. (Though the live recordings are great!) Those first few Steps records with MB, especially Smokin in the Pit, are really really good.

Just listened to DaP 25. I do this a lot, where they announce a new release, and I get excited about it, but it's months before it's going to come, and so I listen to whatever GD I've got that's from the same tour to tide me over. So after they announced the Portland shows from October '77, I pulled out this gem (from a couple weeks later). Man, that has got to be one of the great first sets ever! Second ain't bad, either.

And speaking of baseball ... (OK, more like, "since nobody is speaking of baseball"): what an amazing World Series opener last night! Houston gets off to a 5-0 lead, had Verlander on the mound (a pitcher who was 99-0 in games in which he led by 5 runs), and the Phillies somehow come back and win 6-5. If I can't have my Giants in the post season, I can at least enjoy the schadenfreude of an epic upset win over the Trashtros.

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Sonic genus and amazing to listen to. Sounds unbelievable…

No comment on costs….

But it’s f’ing Revolver! Just saying…

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That was one of the best baseball games I've ever seen last night. They were playing Grateful Dead music going into the commercial breaks, Throwing Stones and Foolish Heart.

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just got a signed copy of Ken Babbs' new book Cronies Adventures with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, The Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead. Reviews looks like fun, more Dead tales.

Revolver release haven't heard it yet but looks good, It's The Beatles and it's Revolver. nuff said.
Last 5:
America 1st lp
Alan Parsons Project Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here MFSL Original Master Recording
Grateful Dead 3-24-95 Set 2
Moody Blues On the Threshold of a Dream
Steve Miller Band Book of Dreams Original Master Recording
Beatles Revolver Original Master Recording let's see if the new release will sound as good as this one.
jumping all over the place today.

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Got Dave's # 44 and Revolver box set today and I am a big Phillies Fan Big day to listen and Watch

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In reply to by DeeDeeMcTrivers

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Just back from a wonderful vacation on the Oregon coast. Watched a ton of hockey on TV.

Ya know, when I eat pork chops, I never let the mashed potatoes touch the chops OR the string beans. It just doesn't seem right.

I hear there's a World Series going on. Cool. More hockey. Planning next year's vacation, even now. And though I don't care about hockey, I think I'll just start watching a ton of it.

And then commenting here in detail on every single game. With breaks to discuss how to avoid having my mashed potatoes touch my pork chops.

Okay, I get the joke. "DeeDee" is actually Bobby Weir, but he done yanked his own chain a leetle too hard.

....I also don't like my food touching each other. In fact. I usually spin my plate around and eat the offerings one at a time.
The Wild/Red Wings game just started and Minnesota scored a minute and a half in. Muted of course. Dave's 42 on the stereo.
Detroit misses Yzerman. At least on the ice. He is their GM after all. Spent all 22 years with them. You hardly see that in any sport anymore.
I see heads are getting their Autzen's already. Sweet!!
Just checked my mailbox. No Dave's. But five political fliers. All the Republican ones just parrot each other regarding how they/you/me can help stop the steal by voting for them and nothing else. No plan. Luckily, my trash bin is just feet away from my mailbox.
Time for a beer.

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Great choice for a release. Jerry’s very inspired all night long, with an uplifting edge to every note played during the marathon second set. Massive versions of Eyes, Uncle John’s Band, Miracle, and Dew. The drum loops in the percussion segment is one of the trippiest ever.

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See article from Rolling Stone “Jerry Garcia's Lost Pipe Has Been Found After 30 Years -- and It Still Smells Like Weed” on the internet.
Amusing.

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In reply to by That Mike

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11 12 72
Vocals almost inaudible buuuut you can hear lots of instrumentation

Worth at least one listen in your lifetime

Can't read article no subscription

I'm sure that pipe is kinda nasty

PF - That’s odd you cannot get the article, because I don’t subscribe to that magazine either, it just came up on my news feed, but the article has been picked up by dozens of outlets.
The pipe appears to have been made by the one and only Owsley Stanley, driven by only one owner - Jerry - and lost for many years behind a bed at Merl Saunders home. It is a cool looking thing, and as Owsley designed jewelry, quite unique!
I hope you can find it, at least the pics of it.

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In reply to by wilfredtjones

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You’re welcome.
It’s a cool looking pipe, isn’t it? I never owned one that fancy, I chose function over style, but I had buddies with some pretty elaborate ones. More like art pieces. Even the boxes they kept them in were more intricate than anything I had, almost like they were ceremonial.

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That Mike, that's a good story about Garcia's pipe.

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14 years 9 months
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for Jerry, how cool. They really did love each other. Tractors

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Stanley was a man of great talent and vision, and we all reap the benefits of his sonic acumen still.
Glad you all liked the article.

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Excellent show with a killer Dancing in the Streets, possibly the best Cassidy I've heard, stellar Let it Grow and superb Scarlet/Fire. Ran into Billy the Kidd there, he borrowed my comb and never returned it, dammit!! Regardless, this show would make a great pick.

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the pipe or the cool logos Rhoney Stanley, Owsley's ex, carved into it.
The reclining cat from Cat's Down Under on the bottom of the bowl.
The crouching tiger from Jerry's guitar on the front of the bowl.
Wonder how much Steve Cabella had to give for it?
Says it needs to be seen but not just in some pot museum.
And no one will be smoking it, he says, that was Jerry's job.
Obviously priceless!
Cheers

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2 years 10 months
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Cousins, thanks for the comb, I still have it. Its s an ACE, its a beauty.

11 12 72

You CAN hear three guitars

No drums or keys

An odd one. Worth a check after you have heard everything else.

Article...will pursue furthur. Get it? Furthur? Haha...ha...lame.

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10 years 6 months
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It's a Betty Board of their set opening for the GD in London, May 26 [guess the year]

The band is tight, Marmaduke's vocals are pretty disciplined, the setlist is fun, the show fills an 80 minute disc and Betty's recording is her usual stellar stuff.

Great band! Caught 'em a few times in '72-'73, with the GD and without. Great fun. "Highly" recommended.

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38 years ago today,( you know where I was at). along with Cousins and alot of other great folks who post on this forum, the BCT, for a rocking night with the Good old Grateful Dead. This was my favorite show of the whole run, but they all were great! After the show, we stopped at Everett & Jones BBQ down on San Pablo Ave for some great bbq. My brother saw Rock Scully in Everett & Jones after a Dead Greek show one night, probably picking up some bbq for Garcia.

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The other day I went to one of those "celebration of life" things for a friend who passed a couple weeks ago, a drummer who I'd played in a couple bands with. He was very well liked, so there were lots of people there, lots of mutual friends I hadn't see in a while. And after catching up with one friend for a while, he tells me a story about how he went to the Sweetwater to see Ramblin Jack Eliot a few weeks ago, and Bob Weir saved the day,

Jack, who's over 90 now, was apparently drunk. At first it was funny, and it seemed like maybe he would pull it together. But it soon became apparent that, no, he was too far gone, and this was just going to be painful for all concerned. Jack couldn't remember lyrics, couldn't remember what story he was trying tell, couldn't play, and it was just ugly.

Then, who should appear from backstage but Bob Weir, with a guitar. Weir sets up on a stool behind him, and helps Jack through a couple songs, playing guitar to back him up and reminding him when he can't remember the words. But after a couple tunes it's clear even this is unworkable. So Bob puts his arms around Jack, helps him off the stage. Then he comes back, apologizes to the audience, and offers to play a few tunes. Which he does. Plays and sings his heart out, in fact.

Bob's a good dude. As if we didn't know that already. Just thought you might like to know that happened.

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In reply to by proudfoot

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They will be on Ebay tomorrow.

In other news, Tao, Merl Saunders recently laid off cleaning person, is accepting new clients.

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081227881580
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