Grateful Dead

Crow-your comments on Rolling Stone reminded me of when I was 15 and started buying records, going to gigs..and reading the music press. N.M.E. to be precise. I was surprised to read that nearly all the bands I liked were routinely dismissed - T.Rex, David Bowie, Hawkwind, Black Sabbath - all a pale imitation of what had gone before, apparently. Being 15 I had no idea what had gone before - and in the heat of the moment it didn't much matter.

It seemed to me that the people who wrote this stuff were at least 5-6 years older than me. They were writing about music aimed at teenagers from the point of view of someone in their mid 20's. So although they assumed they had their fingers on the pulse, they were actually a bit out of touch. People who assume to represent the views of others often are.

By way of comparison, in ‘92, my wife and I were driving by the Forum in LA, and Gretzky and the Kings were hosting Edmonton for a playoff game that night. On a whim we went to the box office for tix, thinking no way. No problem, seating chart pulled out (before any on-screen purchasing), and we picked up decent tix at face value. Fast forward to this year, my youngest goes to a lot of games, tried for First Round tix here, and he told me it was “Taylor Swiftish”, really exorbitant pricing (I think he said extortion pricing), and resale on the secondary market was crazy. Getting tix for hockey here is so insane, that when my kids were little, the first game I took them too was in Ottawa. I couldn’t get decent tix for four in TO without signing a mortgage to get them. He was in Vegas for his stag last month, wanted to get Knight tix for the playoffs, timing was just off.
PS - Jack, that particular Leaf “loss” is local lore here, a true case of bad refereeing by Kerry Fraser, who is persona non grata here. Gretzky blatantly high sticked Doug Gilmour, ensuing power play gave the Kings the game.
VGuy - When the A’s move, do all the animals living in Oakland Stadium move to Vegas, too?

....Gretzky.
And T-Mobile gets extremely electric.
There have been renderings released of the potential look of the Oakland A's ballpark being planned here.
It. Has. A. Partial. Roof.
No thanks regarding that genius idea. Apparently, the architects haven't been to Vegas in July/August.

Back in 1993, The Leafs were hosting the LA Kings, with Gretzky, in game seven of the conference finals. My brother and I decided to drive up to see if we could get tickets. Scalpers were asking $900 per ticket right before game time. 900 Fkin dollars! Granted, it’s Toronto. But, that was the conference finals not the Stanley Cup finals. And it was before StubHub, or any other similar online service that drives up ticket prices. So we did just what Mike said. Went across the street to the local pub, partied our asses off, had a blast with the locals and woke up $700 or so less in debt. One of the best hockey experiences I’ve ever had. And yeah, the Leafs lost.

I get prices rise the further the team advances, that’s dynamic pricing, and they are smart to do it while the demand is there. Plus, there is something to be said for “being there”. Anyone that has been to a live concert, a sporting event, etc, knows the excitement, the electricity of it. But the clinching games will likely be starting at $900. (Jimi’s If 6 Was 9).
But $600 buys a LOT of music. And $900 buys MORE…

....I will probably go. Otherwise, staying home for the first couple games. My couple of friends I usually go with agree.
Panthers tix are about the same price.

I am kind of low key fascinated with reading old copies of Rolling Stone. It's especially fun to read reviews of albums and performances they initially panned but which later became recognized as total classics by pretty much everyone, including Rolling Stone themselves. The panned the great debut albums by Jimi, Zeppelin, and Sabbath, the Stones' Exile, Nirvana's Nevermind, Neil Young's Harvest, and lots of other examples of the best music ever recorded. And, in most cases, they eventually backtracked and listed those albums on their lists of all time bests.

They loved the Dead in the early days, kind of turned against them for a while in the late '70s-early '80s, and then jumped back on the bandwagon for the Touch of Grey years, IIRC. Whatever. I change my mind all the time, too.

Hendrix songs? Sheesh, almost all of it is great so it's hard to pick favorites but just for the heck:

Manic Depression: bone crushing riff and man, I related to the lyrics when it first came out: "I know what I want but I just don't know ... how to go about gettin it."

Purple Haze: this one is so obvious no one ever lists it, but seriously. That riff? Scuse me while I kiss the sky screaming out my 12-year-old self's transistor radio? When I first heard this one, it sounded like the saucers had landed, our new reptilian overlords were walking among us and the world would never be the same. And some of that turned out to be true.

1983/Merman: still leaves me speechless. Incredibly imaginative fantasy, beautiful playing.

Axis: love the lyrics and vocal, spent many an hour trying to learn that amazing solo at the end.

Who Knows: had to pick at least one Band of Gypsys track, and I always thought this one was really under-rated. What a groove!

Feeling a little low. The wife got Covid, again, and though I'm testing negative I still feel like shite. I'm-a put on some Jimi and power through.

Blue are the life-giving waters, taken for granted,
They quietly understand.

$600! For the cheap seats!
A great sports bar with lively atmosphere, decent food and drink, a bunch of pals is the way to go. Better “seats”, great food, beer that isn’t pony pee, no hassle washroom access, and you save a bundle.
For the next game!!

That was one of the first things I ever read about The Dead - before I had heard a note of their music. It was in a book called "The Rolling Stone Rock N' Roll Reader". Printed in 1974, I've still got it - a great piece of writing. It made the band and their scene sound amazing, and I couldn't wait to jump in. Even the titles of the albums- Aoxomoxoa, Anthem of the Sun - very exotic.

Great show! Time for an official release on this one. This show was part of a great story by Rolling Stone on the Grateful Dead in 1969, with Garcia on the cover. If you haven't read it, its well worth checking out.