Grateful Dead

I was lucky enough to see Little Richard in 1999, on a great bill that included Jerry Lee Lewis ( with James Burton on guitar) and Chuck Berry. George Harrison was seated across the isle from me.
All those artists are incendiary. There's some great clips of Little Richard online. "The Girl Can't Help It" -the 1956 film is something else, also featuring clips of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps to great effect. Plus Julie London appears as a ghost singing "Cry Me A River". It's full of the attitudes of the day - so you have to bear that in mind, too.
The origins of rock n' roll is a fascinating subject with no right answer as to where it started. The post war years ( that's the second world war - there have been so many since..) in America up to about 1960 were incredible. Just looking at record labels - any compilation of SUN or Chess records from the 1950's will be full of brilliant records, many of which weren't apparently known about at the time of their release. Only two weeks ago, I bought a box set called "The Speciality Story" which was Little Richard's label. 5cds, and 90% of the artists I have never even heard of. H-Bomb Ferguson? It came out in the early 90's - if you see a second hand copy floating around it's well worth taking a punt. R'N'B - gospel - rock n' roll is what's on offer here. When Little Richard appears the blue touch paper has been lit. Amazing how so much of this music seemed to slip under the radar of mainstream America.

For The Dead - definitely - 3/2/69 would make a perfect RSD release.

I know this is a long shot but I'd like to see Oxford Plains Speedway, 7-2-1988 come out as a Dave's Pick. Since 7-3-1988 was released with the 30 Trips Box Set I'd say it's not impossible. The Morning Dew is great, in my opinion anyway. Really the whole second set is top notch. Of course I'm biased since that was my first Dead show but I think it is a worthy show for release. Iko Iko and Jack Straw to open the show is pretty good too!

DaP 45 - 77
DaP 46 - 72
DaP 47 - 79
DaP 48 - has to be from 67-69, maybe 70.
Unless 3-2-69 vinyl is released for Black Friday RSD. In that case DaP 48 should be 10-31-91.

Ready to purchase! GRATEFUL DEAD - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, NY 3/9/81 (ROCKTOBER) Vinyl LP
Primo audio quality! Excellent pick for a release on vinyl! Got me dancing already. Love it!

....King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Fishing For Fishies
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
GOGD - 7.17.76 Orpheum Theatre
Cowboy Junkies - Such Ferocious Beauty
Phish - 2.20.93 Roxy, Atlanta, GA
The new Junkies release is as melancholy as ever. Not for everyone lol. Gotta be in a certain mindset. My wife wasn't at the time. "So depressing Vinnie." I guess? But Margo's voice just draws me in. Forgive me.
Edit. How was Bobby & Wolf Bros Bluecrow? I see they played the entire Terrapin Station Suite, Salt Lake City and GSET. Very nice.
I saw them a couple of years ago and was not disappointed.
Edit again. It's up on livemusicarchive. Firing it up now.
Ooooh. There are horns and winds?
Nice recording as well. God Bless the tapers.
Nice pedal slide I hear as well.
Last six.

Hey Deadheads, got an opportunity to catch Buddy Guy on his farewell tour next month. Anybody seen him lately? Myself personally I'm not a big blues fan but this man is 87 and still out there putting it out. Got to give him some credit for that for sure.
I did catch a documentary or a show that he was on, about him or something like that, can't really remember but if I remember anything it's that dude can play. Still plenty of good tickets available at the box office for under 50 bucks.
It's at Harrah's Cherokee casino in the mountains a hour of so away, driving thru the mountains in late October makes for some fantastic views and killer colors.

....looks like he played Vegas on 8.1. I was unaware. Darn.

How was the show, BlueCrow? VGuy got me to look at the setlist and check out a sample on the Archive.

Interesting and appealing.. Love the full WRS (with horns) and the full Terrapin Stations too.

PT - I can't remember exactly the last time I saw him live - not that long go - maybe 2016. He was definitely worth seeing then- still unleashing solos like a hurricane. You might like to check out " Champagne and Reefer" that he played with The Stones circa 2006 - he could sing too!
Of his albums, my favourites are one called "Blues Giant" ( also known as Stone Crazy!), which is captures him at his wildest, and "Sweet Tea" which is more hypnotic. He must be the last of his generation from within the blues world still playing.

....wow, wow, wow.....wow.
Bluecrow caught a good one. Congratulations🎊

RIp Pigpen ! The original leader of the dead. Pigpen is one of a kind! 100% Heart & soul he brought to the dead!! God bless him , happy birthday Pigpen! Peace be with you! 🙏❤️💀🌹

....I'll take two scoops. Thanks!!
Happy Anniversary to Dave's 46 btw.
9.9.72. Going in.

On 7/2/88 if that rhyming 8 ain't from '68. I advocated that previously, partly because I like that one a bit more than the next night released in 30 Trips. Figured that was coming as a Dave's Picks fairly soon after. And room for filler, as it should fit on 2 discs. I had no idea those shows were so massive until seeing pics in an article for 35th anniversary, made me look up other pics, as people were talking 250,000+. I really hope we get 2 or 3 '68 shows for DaP 48, and would love DaP 51 to be 7/2/88. Either would be fun.

That nice recording was done by A Top Hat Crew Recording. One of the nice things about the archive is the lnk system. Followed the lnks to Top Hat recordings,,,, downloading a DSO chunk right now,,, great recording.

If you go to Bob lnk over to Top Hat.

Buddy Guy was along for the ride in Festival Express, that 1970 train movie through Canada that's well worth a revisit for an inside look at the way things were, one of the older musicians then. He performed locally a couple times not that long ago, one show he played his guitar out into the audience, sauntered to the back of an 800 seat venue and up into the balcony, he stopped to rock out and dance at times, it was phenomenal. I worked various shows as usher and stage security at that location and helped facilitate his moves that night.

Helleva party!
Even on crutches.
The music was pretty sweet too!

30 Trips

But, as usual, they didn't ask me.

Hey PT - I saw Buddy Guy at Wolftrap in June. It was a really good show, but man is he old and it shows. I can tell you that he had a very large supporting cast and overall I give it a B+. The gal he has singing with him is tremendous, you won't regret it, just don't go in thinking you're going to see Buddy shred all night.

DMCVT reminded me of The Ice Pick (and also called the Master of the Telecaster), Albert Collins.
That was far enough back he didn't have a cordless rig so he had like a 100 ft. cord and would duck walk and dance his way slowly down the main aisle and in the small venue I saw him in he actually went through the double doors and into the pool hall part of the bar. Much to the displeasure of the rednecks playing pool who were not there to see him it seemed. Hilarious and unexpected. What a showman!
Cheers

Oh wait, that was the Salt Lake Valley.

This is Park City, a mountain idyll.

Awesome fun show. Absolute picture perfect late summer mountain weather. Chillest scene of any show I've ever been to. This was part of a music and wellness festival. Among other events, Jay Blakesberg had curated an exhibit of photos (his and others) documenting the history of the GD, set out on a grassy plaza and when I arrived he was giving an informal walking tour through it, maybe 30 - 40 people. Spoke passionately of the Sacred Contract some of us have with the band and their music.

Along with my brother, with a close friend and colleague (SLC native who saw '87 GD Park West show among others) and his wife. Our word for the venue was "intimate". Temporary stage in Canyon Village (old Park West) opening on a relatively small patch of steeply sloping cool grass. Blankets and lawn chairs and plenty of room. Maybe 3000 people(?). Venue footprint was not that of the '83 and '87 shows - '87 show maybe within a couple hundred meters but memories were fuzzy. One long set, 2-1/2 hrs: single set seems to be the way for the festival appearances.

Does bluecrow like horns? Check, check, check!
Fiddle and cello? Check, check!
Pedal steel? Check!

Weir, Chimenti, Lane, Was, the Wolfpack. What a treat to hear that band.

Sweet Cassidy opener. Super special Utah two-fer with Salt Lake City and Friend of the Devil. Oh man. Queen Jane a return to show days in 1987. Weather Report Suite was a personal highlight. Horns ala 1973 plus those strings and steel. So cool.

The 3 guest artists were like a special mid-set interlude. Living legend Rambling Jack Elliot on Baby Tonight?? 92 years old, crusty as you might imagine, and just exactly perfect in that way. Didn't seem to want to leave the stage after just one song - as my brother said, "The biscuit was hot!" The Looks Like Rain duet with Brittany Spencer was stunningly beautiful. And then JD Souther and Heartache Tonight ("Nice to hear this song with the horns. Wow!" - JD Souther.) It was nice for sure!

And then back to the regularly scheduled programming. Greatest Story, New Speedway > Other One (V1 and V2) > Wharf Rat > Terrapin Station Suite, Ripple.

Loved it all (the vibe of New Speedway has been really resonating with me for a good while.) There were points in Wharf Rat that felt like being in Cowboy Church, not down by the wharf. Pre-show I had thought a Terrapin was in the air, Ripple too, but when they segued into At a Siding it was no freaking way - Full Suite Ahead!! Yeah, V-guy, Terrapin Flyer!!

As always, Ripple was a jewel.

Special after show treat was riding the Cabriolet, a small, open bucket, gondola lift that runs from a lower parking lot up to the village. By 10:50 pm quiet dark cool night, just the low hum of the cable, as you pass over the a network of streets. Very very cool. My brother and I stayed in the village, so we rode it down with friends who were headed back to SLC and then back up again.

A sweet special night night for the memory books. Special thanks to Top Hat Crew for taping : )

Grew up in the Chicago area and saw him several times, but never in a small club setting, alas. One of my more memorable club shows was at his original Checkerboard Club on the South Side ca. summer '82. Had an under age college friend show up in town and I figured that he wouldn't get carded down there. Magic Slim and the Teardrops played. Kicked ass.

7/2/88 needs to be released for sure. I saw first 6 shows in Summer '88 tour. Remember a friend returning from Oxford (to Oxford) with a sweet audience of 7/2 and, oh man, was I wishing I'd been there.

....I just discovered White Zombie. Be right back.
Dolphins won btw. Best game of the day.

And no disrespect, but that looked like a fumble ; )
Ha, let the games begin lol

To the Mickster!
Keep on keepin on to the number one groove Meister!

In my early GD years I was solidly on Mickey's side. It took me a long time to appreciate Billy for what he was/is; the pillar of strength and foundation of GD music. But my soft spot for Mickey remains.

I did come to the table with a bias, however.. I liked The Beast, The Beam and all the toys he used to bring to the table, Mickey provided the special sauce. The father of one of my high school friends founded the Institute for Ethnomusicology in UCLA in 1960 and later established the ethnomusicology program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus. He was into world music and had the chops and credentials to prove it. Somehow he met Mickey and the two kept in touch. When the GD played at Merriweather Mickey used to come over to their house for dinners the days before or after when schedules permitted. My buddy was a head too, so it was kind of cool hearing him talk about Mickey and his father playing with toys and hanging out in between shows. I'm not sure how involved he was in the goings on or not, but he had some cool stories. My memory is every time the GD came through town he would stop by, which from my involvement were the Merriweather years in the mid 80's.

So I guess I have a small bias. Anyway.. a very interesting guy, a great musician and I always appreciated his passion and deadication to music. We are lucky to have him and so was the GD. Happy Birthday Mickey.

....Happy Anniversary to the '83 Santa Fe shows. And Happy 24th wedding anniversary to Mrs VGuy and Me!
It was the band, not the drink btw.

I've been listening to my records mainly in the last week or so - 3/1/69 and Dicks 26 - featuring 4/26 and 4/28/ 69 got a spin over the weekend. Incredible power Mickey added to the band. There were a few other factors involved, but to me they improved beyond recognition once he joined.

I knew that, I was just teasing ; )
But congrates to you both, happy anniversary!
Sounds like you didn’t forget either, always a plus lol

Yeah Mickey made a huge impact early on.
But I probably dig the Mickless years best?
No offense to him, just 4 or 5 piece has always been my preferred musical line up, though of course exceptions to every rule etc.
But for a long time, I didn’t like the first post hiatus years partially because it felt like they were trying to outdo each other more than gel? Eventually they worked it all out again and perhaps with age mellowed a bit so that in the 80s onward they were more like one big beast again instead of 2 young males trying to have a contest.
Funny, Billy discusses all this in his book…
I think the technology helped too. I know not everyone agrees, but I felt like everything, but especially the drums and bass sounded much better later because of the tech and mics etc.
In the last years, and post JG years, Mick and the drums/space were often the highlight of the show. Totally felt that way sometimes with D&C, though this year everyone was killing it!
Sometimes I even feel that I like Micks solo albums the best too. Definitely an interesting, informative guy who I hope can keep busy and keep going furthur!

Jim: wow, that’s pretty cool story. Can’t imagine being some young Beavis and Butthead like dude and having Mickey coming by to hang with your old man! I love this shit, this is the stuff that makes being a DH so fun.

to me, Mickey is to drums what Jerry was to music, totally Intune with the cosmos. Love ya Mickey, get that Mickey Hart Band back together from 2012, Happy B day.

I've become quite partial to the one drummer years myself, 74 being a high water mark to me. Like I said, grew to appreciate Billy over time. I really like what they were able to do from 71 through 74.

In a way, we are privileged to have all the different versions of the Grateful Dead we had. They all had their mystic powers and they created their own groove.

....no excuse to forget it.

Cap Center: Landover, MD.

Beginning of 2nd set - Happy Birthday tuning, then Phil "Happy Birthday Mick!"

Nice - had a long visit that night with Bozo the Clown - tasty!

So Happy Birthday Mick!

Buddy Guy - have seen 3 times. Twice in late 1990's as my friends were opening for him. And then last year. He put on a great show last year but was way more ferocious in the 1990's. He buggied and funked more. I assume he may still drink like he used to. In the 1990's 2 bottles of Crown heading into and thru show.

BTW, old friends are touring again, writing new material, maybe a phoenix rising! May go see them here locally in October in local music hall. Should sell out...1,250 folks@ $40 a ticket...nice!

For me greatest sound they got was with the two drummer from late1967 - 1970, and then with just Bill up to the end of 1974. I don't think it worked so well with two drummers after Mickey returned, unfortunately.
Ironically, just as Mickeys arrival helped them to become more adventurous in 1967, so his return in 1976 seemed in part to lead them to becoming more pedestrian.
The only time it made sense to me, having two drummers post 1976, was during the drum solo section late in the second set, which did seem to improve as years went by. That and space was the highlight of 11/1/90 at Wembley - you could feel it in your bones.

Billy and the Kids are playing at the Santa Barbara Bowl on November 2nd. I'm in.

I just wanna bang on the drum(s) all day"

Ja, gerne!!!

Sampson benefited from two drummers.. if they ever performed the whole Terrapin Station Suite, I'm sure that would have rocked with two drummers. They had less of a turn on a dime, jazzy, all for one - one for all feel post haitus.

No one ever mentions this.. but I suspect cocaine really piled on after their hiatus (pun intended) and this had more an effect than people realize. Not that it was a stranger prior to 1976, but I suspect this substance is more a distraction to the kind of focus it takes to get the full value of having two percussionists, whereas lysergic might have been a better mixer for that kind of sound.

It's all history at this point, but we got Scarlet Fires, Help/Slip!/Franklins, Estimated>Eyes and a louder more forceful GD post hiatus. Sometimes you take what you are given for good or ill.

Looks like a damned good lineup in Mexico this winter. Alumni of the GD, ABB, TTB and Goose playing under the billing of Dead Ahead. If I was lighting up hundred dollar bills to pass the time I'd be on that train, especially after the recent Wolf Bros reviews and the high energy of the last D&C tour. I kinda lost interest when the ticket prices went up and the energy and speed declined. Now I feel like I am missing something, which is a good thing.

42 years ago tonight I was at the Greek Theatre for an absolute knockout show with the Good old Grateful Dead. This was my favorite Dead show at the Greek, and also my favorite year that the Dead played there. Joan Baez brought a birthday cake out for Mickey Hart and the crowd sang him happy birthday. Where is that Complete Greek box set. Killer Morning Dew, Cumberland, and Other One.

Yes, that song did benefit from having two drummers. I don't know, but I would have thought heroin, and to a lesser extent alcohol, also led to a simplification in style. Not that I'm saying there weren't still great shows, but they seemed to lose the psychedelic dimension from 1976 onwards. It's not easy to say what that dimension is exactly - it wasn't a formula - but you can recognise it when it's there. And when it's not.

Coke show

Especially 2nd set

Deadbase sez they left the stage for a short bit after Samson and then did the monster rest of the show.

Hmm.

Daverock You Nailed it From 1976 onward they lost something. They were still GREAT!! But the shows from 1968 to 1974 were the Best (In My Opinion ) I remember Phil saying something like.......When we came back from the year off (1975) we never got the Magic back that we had before. I saw them 40+ times before 1975 and 60+ after They changed as everything does and they were always Great, but to me pre 1975 was Magical like Daverock says the psychedelic dimension

Two things -

On the archive there is a user/member - "Top Hat Crew". Guy has great recordings.

From the guy I've gotten all of his "Terrapin Flyer" stuff. These guys are pretty damn good,,, seem to be out of Utah. Worth checking out in my book.

PS - Like Jim in MD, I say the 80's hold a lot of gold. I only saw during the 80's. The sound may have changed after 75, but wasn't worst. They seem to turn on a dime in my book. As Jim once pointed out,,, if you stop at 75 you miss a lot of great tunes.

An excellent show, I remember when that first came out.. I was in heaven. It's got one of the better examples of the faster tempo Eyes of the World. That outro jam from He's Gone is special too, and who doesn't like the 77 Terrapins.

Good points all around. I'm partial to 68 through 74 also, but I have to admit I like a good show or even good moments from any era or configuration. Listening to the Jam out of He's Gone from Englishtown as I write this. A great piece of improvisation.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that they didn't play any great shows after 1975, or that they are not worth listening to after that date. Chuck couldn't have put in any clearer - and that from first hand experience.
I got Dicks Picks 33 on vinyl earlier this year - 10/9 and 10/10/76. They are both great - 10/9 is really good !

In the nice little Rolling Stone/Special Collectors Edition magazine, the introduction, by Bobby, includes this quote....."For me, the shows we did in the late Eighties were our peak, our best era." Interesting how the musicians have different interpretations of shows/eras than the fans. I like them all, but since I missed the beginning through late 1973, I only have 1973-1995 as my reference point for the live experience. Would have loved to seem live in the late '60's, but soooo thankful for all the archival music.

Wish they could grab Phil and Friends along with Warren Haynes.

Been playing around with The Dead a touch. Fired up an old computer and rediscovered a file from 2008/09 with a lot of shows in it. Forgot about that. They had some very good shows with Warren Haynes.

And the continuation of the drums thread, they had some awesome drum/space during this 2008/09 period.

Wrote on here years ago about how I felt drums/space was a kind of replacement for Dark Star. As an aside, I think it matches up with "Where's the dog star?" Or, Where is your night time Compass? Many used D/S as a rest room break. In the shows which I saw, I never took a bathroom break at any shows, ever, except one which I plan to write about next year. If I, and we, make it.

It is interesting that Sirius, aka, Alpha Canis Major, or A CMa, is a binary star having Sirius A & B (to keep things easy). I have spent years reading on this type of stuff and believe with many, that our solar system maybe be binary, or bipolar. Is there a planet x out there, some of the math says so. I believe it could be true.

So any way, I think the fellas played around a lot with the next psychedelic jam. Where can that dog star be in our shows. Most of the time, in later years, it was that one hour nugget in almost every show centered around drums/space. Now sometimes that was off and the started the show blazing psychedelia from the get go, for me 1982-09-21, MSG, with Playing>Crazy opener. My point, even when you are way over-dosed, and questioning decisions made, the fellas had a guide star. After all, Sirius A is a fixed star, a Compass. They always lead you out of the psychedelia so that you can go back into the real world, and do your best to function/not get caught.

All of this, points to the true meaning of Grateful Dead, much like the Phoenix rising. Each show day they set-up and take down the System (life/death). They move on down the road and set-up again. Each show, they almost always recreated the Tests, by initiating new partakers to play in the swirling chaos of a show, the chaos of life and death for all of us. Many would come and the experience would overwhelm them, scare the shit out of them. That is, they always maintained the joy and fear of life as we know it. for me, let's say a show with 10,000 has a 5% or 500 new participants, I always believed only 10% of those continued on. Many were just trying to get a bucket list item checked off. Again, the mysteries dark and vast, have never been captured even closely by any other band or other forms of art.

Have a great friend see his one and only GD show on October 8th, 1989. He had a great time, but he was like "look at the dude in a skirt!" Great friend, but never attached or understood. This same friend I saw a Yes show in Nashville April 1984, one of his closest friends went to Hampton GD, that same weekend.

She dont lie, she dont lie, she dont lie...Cocaine. If memory is correct, I think it was on Long Strange Trip, Wiz says he left in 1976 due to the increasing amounts of Cocaine. That it was changing the band and the music. I dont think GD could be GD without psychedelics, cocaine, and heroin. All three stages provide me with differing styles and points of entry.

Have more thoughts on all of this but need to post before computer fouls up and lose it.

G

Its all cool to me.

Other than the Grateful Dead and post-GD incarnation bands, Buddy Guy is the artist who I have seen in concert the most. He does what me and my college buddies from the early 1990s called "Roaming Buddy" every concert-- you know, where he walks into the crowd jamming.

The first time I saw him was at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee as part of a blues fest with a lineup of Dr. John, Buddy and BB King. The place was mostly empty, but he took his guitar up to the top of the seating area. The next time I saw him at the long-defunct R&R Station bar in Madison-- just a killer show. I had a bootleg tape of it (probably still in my basement). From there, I caught him whenever he played in my area (Madison, Milwaukee and then southwest Michigan/South Bend, IN) and saw him annually in the late 90s and early 00s at his Legends club.

Funny story about the shows. Whenever he did Roaming Buddy, he would stop at me and play. Every time. I was at a work conference in Portland in 2002 and Buddy Guy is playing the night after and I met a friend there and went to see him play. He starts his Roaming Buddy bit and again, stops at me-- as usual. Only this time, he does a double take look at me and smiles and shakes his head-- like he recognized me, but thinking, "What is this m-fer doing out west, he is always in Wisconsin and Chicago?" He was so obvious about it, my friend asked me why he looked at me like that. That was my only guess.

I haven't seen him in over a decade though-- so many good memories from when he was younger. Oops, forgot that I took my son to see him in St. Joseph about 7 years ago (son was about 6 at the time and we didn't make it through the entire show, so I don't count that one). Go see the legend if you haven't seen him. I traveled to the Chesapeake Blues Festival in 1999 to see John Lee Hooker for a rare show east of the Mississippi River and I do not regret it.

42 years ago today you know where I was at. What a killer of a show! Started with a fantastic Shakedown Street into a ripping Greatest Story. HEY DAVE WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET A COMPLETE GREEK BOX SET. The Dead were always cool and they always will be.