Dave's Picks Vol. 47: Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 12/9/79

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July 18, 2023 - 9:35am

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Who's ready to boogie with a little Brent-era Grateful Dead from the Gateway to the West? DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 47 features the complete unreleased show from Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO, 12/9/79 and you're going to need stamina because this one is high energy from start to finish.

By the time December 1979 rolled around, Brent Mydland had fully cemented his place in the Grateful Dead canon with his twinkling keys, harmonic tenor, and songwriting skills. No more is that evident than at this show boasting 25 songs including soon-to-be classics from GO TO HEAVEN like "Alabama Getaway," "Don't Ease Me In," "Lost Sailor," and the Brent-penned "Easy To Love You." It's also packed with whirling takes on fan-favorites like "Brown-Eyed Women," "Shakedown Street," and "Terrapin Station." And you've never heard a 2nd set quite like this with eight songs before "Drums" including an improvised "Jam" launching from the end of "Saint Of Circumstance." It doesn't stop there though, with a blazing finale of "Bertha>Good Lovin'" and perhaps one of the best versions of "Don't Ease Me In" the band ever did play. We've rounded out Disc Three with an extra nugget from '79.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, this release was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

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September 13, 2023 - 9:28am

#491

JimInMD

Joined:
June 27, 2011

Re:

I'm with Oro on the snow, no bueno.. it's a terrible drug that ruined many a life of the people I grew up with. It seemed my high school friends that didn't go to college all got 'high paying' jobs (for our age) in contruction, landscaping, cable companies, UPS, whatever.. and all started doing blow... and all experienced serious problems. Going to school, we couldn't afford it that much. A friend in 87 or so turned me on to the idea that the stuff was no good.. stay away.. Danger Will Robinson. And pretty quickly I heeded his advice.

As to Chucks comments.. well said. I saw a few shows where I walked away wondering what could have been or what happened. One was that last show at RFK in 86. Well.. they got much better after that, then they got worse but still had their moments.

In the end we got what we got.. if I have one regret it's that I wish I would have gone to a few more shows. In hindsight, I probably went to as many as I could afford. A very positive experience on my life, I am grateful for that.. and grateful that I got to meet many of you here, and for those I have not met yet.. I at least get to read about your excellent stories, views on life and takes on music and all good things.

Oh, I really liked that interview with Whiz on recording Europe 72 and the most excellent 5/26/72, which they played on SiriusXM last night at 9. Serendipitous it comes up on these threads today. I will listen to it in its entirety very soon...

Be well people.. rock on. or as Mr. Burns said after his first dead show:
Excellent!
September 13, 2023 - 8:00am

#492

Gary Farseer

Joined:
August 1, 2015

Wiz

My memory fails as to his direct relationship. He was a technical type within the Organization. Now where placed I am not sure. Under Bear directly, maybe under Betty. In the documentary, he talks about the very last show of E72 and maybe some other things. He was the last tech in the recording truck, that is, recording switching tapes etc. This last show was pulling him in, blowing his mind. When Morning Dew came, he left and locked up the recording truck and went to go watch. He gives a deeply passionate discussion of that Morning Dew, that it was so incredibly emotive. That Jerry was crying, he began crying and was absolutely blown away with that version. He never went back to the truck and felt fortunate the remaining tape was able to record the whole show. That is my understanding, and from memory 4-5 years old, and my memory is not that great. May have to go back and watch Long Strange Trip, think it is still on Amazon. Might need to re-listen to that show as I became overwhelmed by the last years offerings and didn't make it through the whole E72 box this year. But can renew the listen as I am still digesting HCS and #47, and a lot of other stuff also. I also went thru the From the Vault 1-2.

Here is a direct write up over at rick turner. Anyone want reference website, DM me or look up Grateful Dead's Wiz.

May 12, 2020
Dennis “Wiz” Leonard’s Notes on Europe ’72

Here are my old friend, Dennis “Wiz” Leonard’s tech notes on the recording of the Grateful Dead’s great live album, “Europe ’72”. Most of my blog is my own writing, but I asked Wiz if I could share this, and he graciously said, “yes”. This is the clearest explanation of how Alembic did live recordings that I’ve ever seen. Wiz now works at Skywalker Sound…he went way big league!

Dennis Wiz Leonard Europe ’72 Technical Liner Notes By Dennis Leonard
“Less is more!” This was the motto of Alembic and many of the sound artists in the S.F. Bay Area’s growing community of folks trying to advance the state of the art in both “live” and “recorded” sound for rock ’n’ roll. One can hardly mention this philosophy to recording without touching on the Alembic PA system and its unique qualities.
The new paradigm for live sound: the Alembic PA. In 1964 The Beatles played at Shea Stadium using a circular array of Vox Grenadier Column speakers, a box quite similar to the Shure Vocal Master Column. This approach to sound for a stadium was doomed even if all the girls did not scream. Fast-forward to ’67-70 and things were not much better.
The Alembic PA was the first really hi-fi approach to a live system. It had direct radiator low-frequency elements rather than horn-loaded boxes, which were the standard. It was an electronically crossed-over three-way system using McIntosh MC-75, MC-275, and MC-3500 vacuum-tube amplifiers and Ampex MX-10 vacuum-tube mixers as the front-of- house console. It eventually evolved into the famous Wall of Sound. This was a philosophic approach, brainchild of The Bear, put together by some of the most talented engineers in the Bay Area, and the same philosophy was applied to the task of recording bands.
Alembic Recording did not have a truck to pull up to a venue. We had gear, and we often built a studio at the venue in a room somewhere backstage. Sometimes we would haul the gear to the gig in a rental truck, then unpack and build the studio for the gig in the truck, take it apart when we were done, and take it back home.
Recording Europe ’72 was a monumental task, and we came up with a great solution to building a truck which we could fly airfreight to and from Europe. A video-production company was letting go of a pair of cargo containers built for them to ship a portable video-production remote unit by airfreight. This was perfect—when set back-to-back, these two rode in the top of a 747 airfreighter. Each container was built around a reinforced floor, the sides and top latched on and off.
We moved all of the components of our Ampex MM1000 16-track into a video chassis that put all 16 sets of AG-440 electronics down below the transport which was then on a 45 degree angle. This was not only more robust, but it was also going to allow us to run 14-inch reels. This took place in an all-night marathon. When we started, Ron Wickersham was not sure all of the original cabling would work. We were lucky it did! At around 5 am, the new machine was rolling; no cables needed to be cut or spliced from the original wiring loom!

Another obstacle was that the capstan speed in an MM1000 was derived from line frequency. Ours was a 60-Hz machine and we were going to 50-Hz land. Ron came up with a solution which would also solve another problem down the road: He built a precision 60-Hz crystal oscillator; we drove a McIntosh 275 vacuum-tube amplifier and picked off a tap on the output transformer, which would give us 120 volts with enough current to run the capstan motor at our precise 60 Hz/15ips, also now immune to line-frequency fluctuation. The other problem arose when we tried to get Ampex to give us their 207 tape on 14-inch reels. Ampex 207 had a thinner backing; instead of the traditional 30 minutes one got out of a 10.5-inch roll, 207 would give us 45 minutes, so a 14-inch reel was going to run 90 minutes—very desirable when recording a band with long sets, like the Dead. Ampex would not build the reels; we had to do those ourselves. Remember, we were running the recorder’s capstan on an oscillator, so for building the reels we hooked up a variable-frequency oscillator. We would ramp the machine up to 60ips to pack the tape. Each of the 14-inch reels had a splice in it. Ron and Sue Wickersham and I spent a few nights at Alembic having a 14-inch- reel-building party.
The recording rig was quite simple: “less is more.” We recorded the Dead quite often, so a lot of what we did for Europe ’72 had been tested and proven.
We built the rig at Alembic. One of the newly procured containers had the 16-track and an outboard equipment rack, the other . . . a custom built cabinet which was our tape library, and this cabinet also had our monitor console, Revox two-track, cassette machine, and Orban reverb units mounted on top of it. A carpenter met us at Heathrow airfreight in London. When the gear arrived, we took the sides and tops off of the two containers (which were left there in storage for the tour) and had them forklifted into our rental truck for the tour. The container floors were about ten inches high, so after the two were in the truck, the carpenter secured them and built us a filler floor so that the recording truck would not have a split- level floor.
We wired the truck up and hung drapes and the 4310 JBL monitors, as well as many other things at the first show venue, Wembley Arena.
The flow of the rig, starting inside the venue, consisted of the following:
Two nine-pair snakes plugged into a custom Alembic split. AC from the stage ran to the truck with the two nine-pairs. Once inside the truck, the AC power was conditioned in an automatic, motor-driven variac made by General Radio. This was to, hopefully, prevent severe voltage fluctuation. The split plugged into the rack, which held a patch bay and minimal gear. We had a couple of Ampex MX-10 tube mixers and some limiters. The limiters, by the way, were used only on vocals for our monitor mix; we did not want to do anything to the vocals on the 16-track record master.

One of the big “less is more” philosophic bits of Alembic magic was the use of transformers in the input section of the MM1000. Ampex offered modules which plugged into an octal socket on the back of each 440 record amplifier. We used these sockets for the transformers, which would allow us to take microphone level right into the tape recorder, totally passive—no electronic noise added and no record console electronics to fail.
The MM1000 fed a very small, 16-track Alembic monitoring console built by Ron. Janet Furman was our technical engineer and not only fixed things, but also set up the 16-track to the custom equalization we were using with the thinner-backed Ampex 207 tape. We could monitor, solo, and build a two-track mix on this. We recorded to a Revox B77 and a Sony cassette machine, and we also had some pretty simple spring reverbs for our two-track mixes.
Shows seemed to generally fit on two 14-inch reels and a ten-inch reel or two. Tape changes were quite interesting: We did not have a lot of room and had practiced this quite a bit, and it took three of us to do this at high speed. In an effort to not run out of tape during a performance, we had an indicator-light system of communication. Under Jerry’s monitor wedge there were three small lamps mounted on a piece of wood. The lights could be lit from the truck. A green, yellow, and red light: Green = we are rolling and in record; yellow = if you can wind it down and stop, we need to change tape; red (if, in fact, the band did stop for us) = changing tape, not in record.
This, of course, did not fit in with the way the Grateful Dead worked. There were not going to be any rules. Early in the tour, I tried a “yellow,” asking for a possible wind-down of the jam so that we could change tape. Even though this had been an idea we had discussed Stateside, Jerry was having no part of it! As I switched on the yellow light, I looked at Garcia on our 13-inch B&W TV monitor. He looked up at the camera, knowing I was watching, and simply smiled and nodded no in a very friendly way. Don’t fuck with the music!
We did some tape changes while the band was playing. We really did not want to interfere with the flow of the music.
I was in the truck for the tour, parked in front of the Ampex 16-track. Since we had no record console in the path to tape, the 16-track itself was actually the only place to make any level adjustments, so with our custom MM1000, all 16 of the AG440 record amplifiers were clustered together in two stacks of eight, easy to keep an eye on. Betty Cantor did our live two-track mix in the truck; she was around eight feet away. The band really had no set lists in those days, so as the show went down, I would write one on each of the tape boxes. Bob Matthews was at front of house. We would chat on our intercom after songs, and he, Betty, and I would decide how many stars to give a song: Three stars meant it was a really good performance! The star system was used when we got back home in order to focus on candidates for the Europe ’72 album.
Twenty-two shows in two months (57 days) is a vacation tour. The current tour-booking standard is to average 4.5 shows a week, and the Grateful Dead Europe ’72 tour was booked at around 2.5 shows per week. It does not get much better! Although it was an amazing time, with many days off, we took recording this tour very seriously and there was no relaxation on a show day at all.
It was a high time for everyone. The music was just amazing and for me not seeing any of it except on a small B&W TV was OK. I did, however, get inside on the last night. Due to circumstance, I was alone in the truck. We had, only minutes before, put a fresh 14-inch reel up and had 1.5 hours before the next tape change. A microphone onstage needed attention and I had to go inside. I did this with a bit of trepidation; I really did not want to simply leave the truck, but no one else was available and the mic needed to be fixed. The band was in a spacey jam and was very unlikely to produce levels which would be a problem on tape.
I locked the truck, went inside, and quickly fixed the bad mic, which was just a bit loose on its stand. As I went for the stairs to leave, the band dropped into “Morning Dew,” which has always been a favorite tune of mine. I decided to stay. Dynamically, the levels in the truck—which was now “running itself”—were going to be fine, and I had to stay! I parked myself behind Jerry’s rig for the song, a time I will absolutely never forget.
Fast-forward to Alembic Studios, 60 Brady Street, San Francisco. The band is choosing the final songs for the album. I am walking down the hall towards the control room. Jerry bursts out, very animated as he catches me, “Hey, Wiz. Guess what? ‘Morning Dew’ from the Lyceum is for sure going on the album.” (Big smile from Jerry.) He says, very emphatically, “And no one was in the truck!” (Bigger smile.) The Grateful Dead’s music was built on taking chances, embracing the unknown, letting serendipity have its hand. So the fact that, while no one was in the truck, a true pearl was recorded was not unusual at all! It was just an affirmation that we were letting the muse guide us in an invisible and mysterious way.
The tour was a truly magical time. It changed my life forever! If I were to be marooned on an island with only one piece of music I could ever listen to, “Morning Dew” from Europe ’72 would be it. Jerry’s solo says it all!

Oh… One more anecdote, I got back to SF after a quick trip to Vermont to get my dog Zach… Got back to Alembic in time to meet the gear, we were now at 60 Brady street… Big M (Bob Matthews) grabs me and says, “Hey remember we had to fast wind some tapes off, so I want you to play the tour, the whole tour, so all the reels are playback packed at “Tails out” the control room is yours” So I said, “hey I’ll just live here till it’s done, ok?” Big smile from Big M… What a drag, I had to play the whole tour, update thoughts (Star System) on quality and I put another pair of 4310’s in the back of the control room and played the room miss through them… (Surround sound) sat and did a live mix for I am not sure how long, I would play and sleep, sleep and play… But it was pretty constant… Stop every show to clean the heads….. Then I moved up to Fairfax and really slept..
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September 13, 2023 - 7:51am

#493

Gary Farseer

Joined:
August 1, 2015

Sixtus

I have been dabbling in Goose's pool this year. Definitely very enjoyable stuff!
September 13, 2023 - 7:44am

#494

Gary Farseer

Joined:
August 1, 2015

Wow

In the mid 80's we a had massive gak parties. Some lasting several days and going thru massive amounts of cocaine. My last dalliance was summer 1986, sort of lines up with other events of 1986. I was born with a heart condition, thought I should stop as the heart palpitations might lead to an arrhythmia. Just before that, Crack started to come out. Remember being in a friend's friends house that had turned into a Crack lab. Man were they a factory. Started to change my views about Coke. Trying to put puzzle together on 86. Only time I smoked crack was in Manhattan, August 86. My brother and I had just left the Blue Note watching Dizzy Gillespie. We were already high on white lightning (name for blotter - and yes there is that deeper connection to Bear and The Human Be-In). We were walking the streets around 2am and we come across a cat hanging out on the front of a brownstone. He was smoking and we started talking. We ended up buying bag of pot from him. He also pulled out another joint and fired it up and then passed to us. After smoking it he told us it was laced with crack. There was only one other time that I was that high and that is the show I wrote yesterday saying I would write about it next year on anniversary of show. We were so incredibly high, that at 3am on a packed subway, New Yorkers were freaking out watching us. It was a ball. I have posted about that night a couple of times here with a lot more detail. So somewhere summer/fall 86 was my last ride. Not sure of timing, remember the party but not the time. Know it was shorty after NYC August 86, but then when was the crack house event...timing of Jerry getting sick. It is all a big blur now. But dang, that feeling of doing two quarter gram lines up each nostril was absolutely amazing. That is, a buddy of mine took a gram divided into four lines and each took two.

Hmmm, I do remember an ear nose and throat doctor soaking my throat with cocaine before she sent a camera up my nose and down my throat. That was 2004, so I guess that counts too.

Everything has its purpose but all things in moderation. Guess that is why I never crossed the line and became an addict to anything.
September 13, 2023 - 7:43am

#495

Sixtus_

Joined:
November 8, 2014

Goose at the Boston Pavilion

...headed to Goose the next two nights at the seaside pavilion in Boston; looks iffy with thunder expected for most of this afternoon/evening, but tomorrow looks good. Will be the start of their Fall tour here before they head to Europe in November for the first time. I've been on this ride for the past 18 months or so, and I have to admit it's been amazing so far with no limits in sight. Each show is literally the best show you've seen, until the next one. Where have we heard that one before?? They are on a true roll. For any who may be skeptical, this is a full-hearted prompt to go and dip that toe into the waters to see what its all about. A lot of stuff on The Tube with a U, and Bandcamp has all of their shows and albums to listen for free (it's all also on Nugs).

Also saw that Phish announced their first festival in many years, holding a spot for next summer already.
In Delaware of all places!
Hey Garth, we're in Delaware....

Be Well People!
Sixtus
September 13, 2023 - 7:20am

#496

Gary Farseer

Joined:
August 1, 2015

Proudfoot

check DM.
September 13, 2023 - 7:05am

#497

Oroborous

Joined:
June 19, 2007

Toot toot totsie

No Bueno!

It was around, luckily we were too poor for that. (It was expensive then)
Occasionally, maybe for special occasions, or weddings or NYE etc, but fortunately only rarely.
If you’ve never, don’t bother.
September 13, 2023 - 6:58am

#498

Oroborous

Joined:
June 19, 2007

Sheik

My understanding is the Fillmore 71 tapes were chopped up to use for Skull Fuck and other things.
Supposedly that’s why they did Ladies and Gentlemen: to use the best of what was available…
September 13, 2023 - 2:25am

#499

daverock

Joined:
September 1, 2014

When your day is done..

Cocaine never appeared in my orbit when I was young, so I never took it either. I'm sure if it had appeared during my teens I would have had a dabble - I believed in living adventurously. I suppose I could have had a go later in life, but I never felt it was worth it, all things considered. I am not sure what the characteristics of a coke inspired jam would be.

I would watch a biopic of Jerry if it was on the telly. But I would have very, very low expectations.
September 13, 2023 - 2:02am

#500

sheik yerbones

Joined:
February 5, 2008

multitracks recordings

Recently listening to Three from the vault, St Louis 71, and Europe 72, I am just asking about the multitracks recordings if there is anything about Fillmore East 71 (a full show 27 or 29) or the final run at winterland in 74 (full show) - St louis is a good show but the sound is not as shining as the others. I return to the capitol 71 shows, they are so good, great shows as a quintet.

John Perry Barlow

John Perry Barlow

Forums

Dead Store Products

Who's ready to boogie with a little Brent-era Grateful Dead from the Gateway to the West? DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 47 features the complete unreleased show from Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO, 12/9/79 and you're going to need stamina because this one is high energy from start to finish.

By the time December 1979 rolled around, Brent Mydland had fully cemented his place in the Grateful Dead canon with his twinkling keys, harmonic tenor, and songwriting skills. No more is that evident than at this show boasting 25 songs including soon-to-be classics from GO TO HEAVEN like "Alabama Getaway," "Don't Ease Me In," "Lost Sailor," and the Brent-penned "Easy To Love You." It's also packed with whirling takes on fan-favorites like "Brown-Eyed Women," "Shakedown Street," and "Terrapin Station." And you've never heard a 2nd set quite like this with eight songs before "Drums" including an improvised "Jam" launching from the end of "Saint Of Circumstance." It doesn't stop there though, with a blazing finale of "Bertha>Good Lovin'" and perhaps one of the best versions of "Don't Ease Me In" the band ever did play. We've rounded out Disc Three with an extra nugget from '79.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, this release was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

Gabriel ... and talkers

Attended Peter Gabriel show this past Saturday. My first time seeing him.

It was a good show. He is in fine voice for being in his early 70's. His band was very good. Half of the show was new stuff. Some of it was pretty good, Panopticom, i/o, Playing for Time all very good. Some of the other new stuff was slow, which normally is not a bad thing but slow and unknown is maybe not a good combination. Between every song was 30-60 seconds of commentary from Gabriel about world problems, introducing artists who contributed to the presentation, introducing a song, talking about his past, etc. Of course the older stuff rocked.

Unfortunately I was surrounded by a group of people who talked through the entire show. They knew each other and kept switching seats to talk. Why do people insist on talking during a concert? Why are they even there if they are not listening? As the music gets louder, they get louder. At one point I yelled "Shut Up!" Everyone around stopped and looked at me. No one said anything. They kept it quiet for about 5 minutes than back to the group chat. Gabriel talking so much between songs didn't help matters. One idiot even said "Ooh this is a really good song" then proceeded to yak through the entire song.

Sorry about the rant. It was an enjoyable show but could have been so much more. Other posters here have expressed this more eloquently than me but it appears that selfish, rude people have become the norm. I really like live music but this experience made me question whether I want to go to a large venue like this again.

Describing talkers more eloquently

Jean-Paul Sartre nailed it when he wrote, "Hell is other people."

Delhead....

....the correct en vogue term is chompers. And yes. They suck. Had a few around us at a recent Weezer concert. If you want to talk to your friends, do it on the concourse dammit! Concerts are not sporting events. I'm ok with chompers at those.

Yeah, WTF?

Screw eloquent.
Why do people pay ridiculous sums of money for tix, especially the criminal fees! (Legalized robbery), and all tge other time/resources just to go talk all night?
Isn’t that what bars are for?
Maybe if people still talked to each other on the phone or at work, instead of just texting, they wouldn’t need to do so at concerts?
The camera BS too, why go to a show, just to be distracted trying to get videos?
BITD, we took as little as possible into shows, (usually only just a ticket and a, ahem, supplies, sometimes an empty wine bag to fill with water), often split from friends so you didn’t have to talk but could find a good spot to fully engage and actually LISTEN to the music. What a concept: going to a concert to actually listen to music 🙀

I guess they do it now at movies too?

I Didn't Vote For Her...

... but my congressional representative was just thrown out of the play Beetlejuice in a Denver theater. Apparently showing her soon to be ex-husband that she is having a good time without him. And she got caught on film vaping in the theater (which she later lied about doing) and had refused to stop when the pregnant woman behind her ask her to stop vaping. Add some flash photo selfies to the list along with the loud talking and inappropriate singing and she wonders why they asked her to leave, which of course she refused to do until the cops were on the way. She and her date gave everyone involved a one finger salute on the way out with a few choice words to cap it off.
Takes all kinds.
Cheers

RE: didn’t vote for her

Ahhh democracy, err gerrymandering in action, only way she could win…
Just think how much safer the world would be if she accidentally shot herself with that hidden gun she keeps up her…

Hell is other people

This^^^^

And I think people are so insecure these days they can't coexist in a few minutes of silence. If they would be split from their friends full meltdown would occur.

Psychedelic existentialism

Less well known is the fact that Jean-Paul Sartre, like Cary Grant, also tripped out before it became commonplace. He was apparently injected with mescaline in 1935. Unlike Cary Grant, though, he seems to have had a terrible time. Good news for the likes of me, though, as their comparative experiences showed you don't have to be an intellectual to navigate inner space. In fact, it could get in the way.

Garcia Family

New series: Heads & Tails, vinyl.
What do you think of this way of marketing his music?
Very inventive.
Will it catch on?
Cheers

don't get me started on people talking during concerts

GRRRRRRRRR.

I remember an Elton John show...BLAHBLAHBLAH

Some GD recordings:
1/21/71. HOT music. however...BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH.
6/28/85: first set sequence of Birdsong > Comes a Time > Deal. Look at that. During Comes a Time...BLAHBLAHBLAH.

SHUT!
THE!!
FUCK!!!
UP!!!!!!!!!

Heads & Tails....

....pretty cool. I like the artwork.

Heads & Tails

It does look cool, I may have to get a record player.

Led Zeppelin....

....minor rant here so bear with me.
I like sports. Announcers? Not so much, depending on who it is. So when Collingsworth calls Sunday night games, I cringe, so I put on music and watch the game. I can understand whats happening without hearing all the blah, blah, blah. I've said this before, however, during the Miami/NE game I went with Led Zeppelin I after the first quarter. Then went with II. Then III.
Funny how the music somehow coincides with what's going on during games sometimes. It can't just be me, can it?
Anyways. Led Zep was the perfect choice.
Heartbreaker was playing when Mac threw an int.
Bring It On Home as Miami was doing just that.
Celebration Day started as the game ended. Cool.
IV is playing now. Been a minute since I went all Zep in.
I just gave away my last five, didn't I?
Oops. Megadeths Countdown To Extinction was in there somewhere.
Edit. Spotify is funny. IV ended and segued into Driven To Tears by The Police. Momentum shifting.

Dave's #48 9/20/70. Fillmore East ?

Lets hope so.

re: Chompers

I concur with disdain for Chompers - they can truly take you out of the moment and if they are persistent and loud it just has an overall negative impact on everyone in the vicinity. It's sort of inescapable but I am with others who are like, WFT are you HERE for if you just want to chomp all the damn time?!?!? One of the other things that I'm not too keen on these days is the need to have your phone with you to get into everything/everywhere. The days of paper tickets are over; no more keepsakes or mementos to hold on to as a physical reminder of the show. Instead we're left to have to whip out the phone 1000 times, hope the battery doesn't die, hope I don't lose it, etc., etc. And, let's just say, when I'm flying hiiiiigh during shows one of the last things I want to do is have constant interactions with electronics. Just leave me the music to deal with and the other stuff should fall away.

All that said, hitting the 2x Goose shows last week in Boston were all and everything I wanted them to be (aside from the torrential deluge most of the evening the 1st night); the music was just incredible pushing every notable boundary with insane energy. So psyched their fall tour has begun - they'll be running pretty much through the fall and through November, so lots of new stuff awaits these eager ears. Nugs is your best friend for this viewing/listening - it's all there.

In summary, Chompers suck; I prefer paper tickets, Goose rocks, and you All are awesome peeps.

Be Well!
Sixtus

Wait......What??

You say you paid $150.00 just to have a conversation with music in the background?? Do you have all of your faculties sir/maam??
I was at a Sunday Phish show at Merriweather and the youngsters were talking furiously during YEM. When it got to the vocal jam, I had to say LOUDLY, "yes the vocal jam is great, but how about we LISTEN to it??
Sheesh, kids today. They seem to have more dollars than sense.

Heads And Tails. Ideally, it would be a bit "budget priced", just by the cut-up nature of it??

What was it Brian Wilson said??...I just wasn't made for these times. Yeah, that's SO right Brian!!

Re: Chompers

Isn't that what bars and Taylor Swift concerts are for?

yea.. no ticket stubs, what a bummer.

Heads & Tails....

I have no vinyl setup. Thus I will not be participating.
That you for axing.

Nappy/Proudfoot

My condolences for you both. Getting old is not for wimps. Been dealing with my ailing father and my brother. All 3 of us aren't in great health. Learning that old gospel lesson, one day at a time. Truly comes as the years go by.

Hope others are well.

Yep, I think 2023 is my last live show year. Have a few more, but all venues are now digital. On a couple of shows bought a prepaid card so I wouldn't have to use my debit or credit card. It helps me stay within budget. A few drinks in me and I can spend. "Yep another round."

I have a few more shows this year. We have Willie Nelson's Outlaw show, and both Drive By Truckers and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. A few more I am deciding on. But think I am done. Think I am going to complete the streaming live concept by joining Nugs and LivePhish. Still wish they would live stream the last 2 Meet Up at the Movies. No theaters here carried, only 2 I have missed. I would definitely pay decent money to stream both, like a package deal, maybe $30 for both???

Have had a big year this year. Went to an interesting concert a few months back George Jones tribute "Still Playing Possum." Was a touching tribute to ole George. Truly a "He Stop Loving Her Today" moment. Lots of great music. Although I am not a huge fan of a couple of the younger performers. I dont know but county music with Roland 808 drum/bass added is a little much. Still a great tribute by his wife. The concert is coming to theaters nationwide October 17th if anybody likes ole Possum. His version of Patches is one of my favorites, first done by Dickey Lee, then Clarence Carter (Grammy), but the Possum's version is my favorite. Tickets at fathom events dot bomb. It has been almost 50 years since the first time I saw the Possum. He has not been in rotation much lately, may need to do a mini deep dive.

Have a call to take, more in a bit. Have loved the 85 Red Rocks shows for a loooong thyme. 9/7/85 was one of the very first tapes I received. After that is when I started hunting for tapes instead of just receiving tapes. This was early 1986 before Jerry got sick. Jerry got sick and then my whole world changed tremendously. I had been a head almost 4 years but still hadn't seen a show. So as I have written before my first shows were at Oakland/Kaiser Auditorium. A long way from home...

Been Swinging Back Thru Elvis

I wrote last year about seeing Elvis a couple of times locally in 1975.

Last year end up buying a cd of one of the shows and it is good.

Was looking thru some stuff and came across a post card of my local city. It is a picture of a large spring which the city still uses for part of its drinking water. It now puts out roughly a million gallons of water a day. On this ancient postcard, the spring was pumping a million gallons an hour, almost endlessly.

Wish I could have set up a Still there. Speaking of, anybody ever heard or heard of Moonshine Still. They were a very good jam band. Need to go see if they are still around. Once I joined here, so many other things faded away. I am sure some around here may have seen them or Donna the Buffalo. Both great bands. Someone wrote a few weeks ago about seeing Col. Bruce Hampton and Aquarium Rescue Unit. Have seen Bruce in many iterations, including the Rescue Unit last time was maybe 2006, with the Code Talkers. That was a wild show/party! Seen Bruce maybe 10 times, his death was unthinkable. Ahh the Hampton Grease Band. Love that old picture showing Col. Bruce opening for GD. Think that is Atlanta Pop Festival 1969, memory fuzzy.

Bringing out the phone

I record video at concerts.
I’ve recorded some pretty good stuff.
Check it out on the ole utoob, search for channel:
DeadFloyd69

There’s even some Col. Bruce and Aquarium Rescue Unit.
That’s Herring’s son playing guitar for a song.

Random

Waiting for pizza to pick up

David Bowie's Golden Years on PA

loooove it

Glenn Hughes/Clapton

Saw Glenn Hughes last week. Totally sober, for my own reasons but unusual. Wanted to experience the show as Glenn does.

Fucking amazing. The man is to this day a beautiful specimen with an ageless voice and energy. Great band. Threw out many anecdotes of Tommy Bolin, which, if you've ever lived in Boulder, may have meaning. Even dropped a couple gems off "Come Taste the Band." Glenn has been long known as the Voice of Rock and, ladies and gents, it is not undeserved. The man deserves a much larger stage.

Saw Clapton Saturday night in Denver. Mellow show, but really dug the bookend of what will be my final live Slowhand experience I'm sure. Could give a fuck less about his politics, etc. Crossroads II: Live in the Seventies is about as good as rock and roll has ever gotten.

Have GNR tickets, probably Eagles and definitely Aerosmith. I like to rock. I also like languid Dead, like "Comes a Time," "Ramble on Rose," etc. Room for everything.

Peace everyone.

\m/

Without a Net

Amazon is selling Without a Net LP made by grateful Dead Productions for a Nov 10th release date. Has this been released anywhere on the site?

WAN

Not to my knowledge

So many vinyl editions of GD

"I remember when they tried to kill vinyl back in the '80s..."

- Old Man Jenkins

You Go Oteil

Looks like your latest work will be scrumptious.

He just released a Garcia/Hunter album called "A Lovely View of Heaven." Nice.

Here is a quote from write up...

"The LP serves as an intimate and personal voyage for Burbridge, who uses the songs of Garcia and Hunter as a means to navigate his own grief following the loss of his father, brother Kofi Burbridge, and mentor Col. Bruce Hampton.

Reflecting on this cathartic process, Oteil shares, “Looking back, I don’t feel like I was able to really process all the pain from these huge losses until I started working on these ballads. All these arrangements were written through many tears. And all the vocal tracks were recorded that way as well. It is my sincere hope that this album will be a catalyst for listeners to process their pain as it was for me.”"

Hendrixfreak, Hendrixfreak, Hendrixfreak??

……………?
Hmmmmmm?
(Crickets)
Oh, and what about Bolo, Bolo, Bolo, haven’t heard from that rascally rascal in ages?

A Touch of Grey

Thinking of growing old, experiencing loss, developing health problems etc etc - I've gone through all of that myself over the last 20 years or so - and I am sure there will be much more to come ! But I'm still far happier at 66 than I was at 16. Or 26 come to that.

Found some gold in them there hills

While bouncing around the archive found a section call "Jam Cruise Jam Room".

Found a good chunk of shows recorded by Charlie Miller,,, I think mostly Steve Kimock. Like he was the official recorder for Steve. But some really GREAT shit and Great recordings. You know the man can clean up other's people recordings, but his own are VERY good.

For those in the know, I will probably be posting these shows. There isn't a lot of titles they just seem to jam, though the 20 minute "Stand by Me" was great, backup vocals sounded like Sarah Fulcher from Garcia 12.

Also, working one downloading all the Everyone Orchestra,,,, some GREAT stuff there.

Enjoy

Hallo All - greatings from…

Hallo All - greatings from wonderful Copenhagen..

My first post here - had a…

My first post here - had a hard time getting it right.. 52, lives in Denmark - Deadhead since about 1988.. saw the guys just once - one afternoon long ago.. in Sweden 1990 - gone are the days.. Not a big fan of Daves 47.. I think the weakest Pick for many years.. Probably the greatest band in the world..

Glenn Hughes

Have been a follower since the Trapeze days, loved that Madusa LP. Big fan of Richie Blackmore when he was with Purple, and of course Tommy Bolin, one of the best for sure, he was great with the James Gang and Deep Purple and finally gets his own recognition and releases two great lps and poof, he's gone. So cool to see Glenn, still rockin.
Not a big fan of Clapton, loved Cream, and Blind Faith, after that, not so much. I have seen him many times, always seen to see him on a day or nite when he just ain't there. In the 70's when I saw him, too drunk to play, in the 80's same just a sloppy drunk guy trying to play even with that great band he had in the 80[s he just seemed to always dissapoint me. In the 90's sounded like an album was playing, very homogenized and no real flair. Always wanted to catch him on an on nite, never did.
Ledded hope the Eagles don't disapoint, they have always been top notch when I was lucky enough to see them. Aerosmith, loved them in the 70's, when Steven and Joe were knows as the toxic twins. Saw Tyler fall off of a stage, hit the floor and never miss a lick in the 70s, he was quite the showman in his prime, should be a rocker too.
I was thinking about Peter Gabriel this fall but I have this great memory of his Secret World tour and I just don't think he could be better than that. Even if I could get into the same frame of mind as I was back then, and the cost is way more.
Lots of cool shows coming up, just got to poke around.

Hallo Danehead!

Welcome aboard.
Ok, baptism by fire: lol, 47 the worst?...pssshhaaw ; )
Why do you think so?

47

plenty tasty to me

certainly better that 8/28/88 (not a release, I know)

DANEHEAD

Welcome to the club!! Jump right in, the water is fine.

Was at Merriweather Post Pavilion last night for a re-scheduled "Chicks" concert. Great show, impressive ratio of women to men. But these children!! Yap, yap, yap, all night long. I tried my best to tune it out. One song finally got quiet when the audience was able to recognize that the video screen was filled with women & girls, and that this was a song they just MIGHT want to listen to.

Does anyone actually LOVE music anymore, FFS??

Hey Danehead!

Love your city, not that I've been there since 1971. Welcome! (There's a Dead Heads of Europe thread as well, which isn't nearly as active as this one, but may be helpful in connecting with locals.)

Greetings

I had a good time in Copenhagen during my brief visit many decades ago. 1981, in fact. Jesu, the days we have seen.

Hallo Copenhagen

Welcome! As others have said "You Can Jump Right In."

Speaking of Roger Glover, I post on here about a great show I saw at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans, in May (?) 2003. It was a Govt Mule show in tribute to Allen Woody, bass player for the Allman Brothers Band and then Govt Mule. Allen Woody had passed away three years earlier and it was a devastating loss. So Warren Haynes had this tribute called "The Deepest End." He invited bass players from many genres to join the tribute for Allen Woody. I always recommend people get the dvd/2cd set as it is an incredible journey in music. Here is a list of the bass players that played that night:

Jack Bruce
Oteil Burbridge
Bootsy Collins
John Entwistle
Flea
Roger Glover
Mike Gordon
Larry Graham
Stefan Lessard
Dave Schools
Mike Watt
Willie Weeks
Chris Wood
Jack Casady
Les Claypool
Billy Cox
Alphonso Johnson
Phil Lesh
Tony Levin
Me'shell Ndegeocello
Jason Newsted
George Porter, Jr.
Rocco Prestia
Dave Schools
Chris Squire

Maybe that will entice some bass players (Alvarhonso?, maybe OB Wan)) to give it a listen. It was a great show but it was Jazz Fest, so it was long, clocking in at over 8 hours. No way I could do that today.

Edit: Walked away and then confused Roger Clover for Glenn Hughes. Hate that the ole control panel circuits are fraying.

Dave Rock: I agree 100%. Even though the body breaks down, I too am happier today than any other time in my life. Well, except in shorts bursts of Grateful Dead shows and all its accoutrements.

On Aging

When we were young, "Why am I here?" was the big existential question.
Now it's what I ask myself when I walk into the other room and can't remember what I went in there for. Wife laughed when I told her this a few minutes ago and said you gotta tell the Deadheads that. So I did. Pretty good, I remembered why I started this post. Score!
Cheers

Welcome Danehead

Hi Danehead and welcome! My Denmark anecdote - in the mid 90s my wife was trekking through Europe with her then hubby, and travelling by train in a lovely area just north of Copenhagen, when she runs into her brother-in-law on the train, who was touring over there as a wanna be musician. She had no idea he was there, because he was living in South Carolina (still does), and she was living in Toronto. Small world.

Gary - Your mention of Oteil makes me think of an album I played the other day that features him - Vida Blue (who was a great pitcher in the day, but I digress). An interesting little band with Page McConnell from Phish, a pretty jazzy sound. Worth a listen if you find it.

Played Bombino “Live in Amsterdam” this morning- one heck of a guitarist, thanks again DHBrewer for the heads up on this guy.

As for unruly people at concerts, you see it constantly at movie theatres, but I find venue makes a difference - if it is one of the 100+ year old opera style houses that every town has, with ornate Victorian design, I find the bands they book tend to draw a better group of fans, less disruptive. The arena shows are a free for all. Noise, talking, phones. I don’t go to many shows anymore, more because the ticket business would be more honest if it was run by the Mob, just crazy now, but truth is, most of the performers I like have either hung it up, or shook this mortal coil. I actually feel bad that young people didn’t have the joy of lining up for tickets, meeting other like minded fans in the line (not scalpers), and the joy of walking away with actual tangible tickets you could flash like a badge to your buddies.

Hey Danehead!

Love Denmark! Wife's uncle lived about 15 min from Tondor .... loved Ribe, Skagen, and other ones I can't recall .... and can't get enough of Copenhagen ... been there at least 4x and have a couple of trips planned in the next 2 years .... tcc

9/21

1972

Random Candidates

Purely for personal feels… Two shows I’d love to have as Dave’s Picks.

Merriweather Post 06/30/85
Richfield Coliseum 09/08/90

I suspect these are well embedded in many tape collections. They were two early entries during my burgeoning tape trading forays. Both are available in exceptional quality at the usual repository. These facts lead me to believe that even if folks were like minded in their appreciation of the two performances, no official release will happen any time soon. Too available and too good a quality of sound to warrant special treatment. Mores the shame.

Merriweather’s Shakedown could be on repeat all night long and I’d be happy. The Richfield, in my mind, is just about THE perfect home stretch Dead show. I have enjoyed Bruce’s tenure, but I find myself less enthusiastic as time passes for some reason. Like many a Dead phenomenon, when he hit, he really nailed it. But when he was hovering I find his playing just adds a distracting layer in the “jangly” part of the mix. He’s just a little too percussive and concussive too often, and it almost feels like there needs to be a “Hornsby Dolby Reduction” setting that needs to be switched on. He, dare I say, grates! To the point of distraction. In fact I’d be comfortable enough to say that it’s my opinion that there isn’t a Dead show that would miss him. Yes, there are some great moments, but they don’t warrant the detracting and distracting “crunching tin foil” mush that he brings to the table nearly 100% of the time. And, how many times do we need a bloody squeezebox solo tearing a new one through yet another generic standard. The novelty wears thin quickly. Again, just one chaps opinion and no malice intended. Hey, I’d give body parts for an 11/01/90 release because that was my one and only show (and an absolute maelstrom of primal electronic bedlam)! Seriously, any bad (and there’s enough of it believe you me) is more than balanced by the sort of Dead show you really didn’t get “to that extent” once the basic first set - second set start - drumz - and night y’all format became the template. That show is not that show without Bruce.

However! Richfield is not Richfield with Bruce… And Richfield is sublime! Fluid, beautifully improvised, absolutely THE show to demonstrate that 90’s Dead was yet one more brilliant facet of this bands prowess and heart. No Bruce. Just Vince, riding shotgun, occasionally spelling when the journey demanded it but otherwise content to listen and compliment and learn. The mix is stunning. I don’t think you could get closer to a “Whithout a Net” like sound field if you tried. The jams are long and liquid. The whole second set is seamless. The Space is scary and haunting and the old warhorse of Stones/Fade is so solid it demands to be listened to, hard. Likewise the Deal set one closer… Perfect! The MIDI work is sublime and complimentary with Eyes and Estimated clocking in almost a half hour of faultless and considered playing before we ease into yet another perfectly realised little ditty. Terrapin… OK I’ll just get it off my chest and say it… yes, I would shag this show if it were possible (and consensual… obviously. Come on, I’m not an animal!) So, as you can probably tell, I really, really like this show. A LOT!

Second topic. I have been super impressed with the way the Jerry site has been handling its retail experience. Pricing has been incredibly reasonable. Shipping seems to involve a competent courier and they manage things like duty and tax at point of sale which is hugely appreciated by Johnny Foreigners like myself. It’s nice to be able to pick up releases that for the most part aren’t time or volume limited. Being able to pick up the occasional piece of associated art, a t shirt here or there… And to double take at the price not in fear but with incredulity at how reasonable it is… Top marks and I thought I’d just add to the comments bigging up the Jerry releases. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ll leave you with a remark my wife made yesterday… “I really like listening to the Jerry releases. It just sounds like he’s having a lot more fun than he does with the main band.”

Now she listens to the Dead because that’s what I play… a lot. And I’m a bastard music tyrant. She’s OK with the Dead, but she likes the Garcia band releases on their own merit, and I think she’s nailed it to be honest. There’s something about Jerry unencumbered by the all consuming Grateful Dead beast that he definitely displays when playing in his side hustle. Feel free to disagree and educate me otherwise.

PS. I haven’t spell checked or proofed this. It’s too long to do on an iPad and it’s late, and I’m one month away from two years sober and feeling a little chatty. Apologies. If one person enjoys 1% of this splurge… hey. Job done.

Take care all.

Peace

Stephen.

Al Michaels

Seemed to be as bored as the rest of us during the 49ers - Giants game this evening. So he started talking about some of the older stadiums where the 49ers played.

That prompted me to listen to 3/23/75 at Kezar Stadium. The SNACK benefit show.

A short set, but Good Lord. I can’t imagine what the Doobie Brothers were thinking to themselves when they had to follow that performance.

Turned that game off....

....I love discovering new bands. Somali Yacht Club was recommended by a friend.
Pretty cool, pretty cool.

JGB and The Dead

Doing...I got the impression that somewhere along the line, for Jerry, The Dead became a job and the JGB a hobby. That is purely on the basis of listening to recordings, and probably has no basis in fact. Towards the end of my working life, I enjoyed my hobby more than my job- but I was better at my job.
I had never heard of Bruce until I saw him with The Dead, so it felt mighty strange at Wembley 10/30/90, when he started playing that solo piece. Who he?

Gary - yes, it seems to me that it can be a mistake to over identify with our bodies.

JGB having fun

9/1/89 Merriweather Post Pavilion

currently playing in the car for the past week, very enjoyable show

1st show and walking into a room

.... bad enough to not remember why you went into that room,,,,, but when it's the bathroom......

Keith

Listening to PITB from DP 11 (9-27-72 Jersey City) this morning on the GD Channel is Exhibit A why Keith was exactly the right keyboardist for the band at that time. Sublime.

Dennis - LOL!

“Live your life, forget your age.” ~anonymous

RE: Candidates

Wow, needful, taking me down memory lane: at those and that 9/1/89 JGB Good Sheet Mon!
I’ve stated much bout 6/30/85, and that Shakedown is mos def RJ! I can still picture the swell of the crowd simultaneously peaking with the music, multiple times! Summer Tour 85 Rocks! WTF David?
9/8/90: hmmmm I’ll have to check that one out again? I recall me and the 20 year old had fun and thought the shows were good, but not RJ? It was a very emotional bittersweet couple of shows. I really dug Ole Brentski so it was very hard, but I remember distinctly feeling that yes, it was the end of one era and start of another, just like when Brent replaced Keith, and it was going to be all right.
Can still feel how I felt the first night: it’s gonna be awright, the Dead are still the Dead. As time went by I didn’t always feel that way about Vince, and I still have a hard time with Long WayHome, but over the years I’ve come to appreciate Vince much more, especially after Bruce left.
9/1/89: what can ya say, the music says it all! Great shows, great time, Cept fucking Bacon pulling us over on the way to Philly show simply because of profiling (what few stickers I had on the Orange Canoe were promptly removed after) and then unconstitutionally violating several search and seizure laws!! Young douche outta his league we us though. And fortunately an older veteran cop came along and basically shut the young prick down and let us go. Which was good as we’d done absolutely nothing illegal (well, at least not that they knew or had evidence of). Found out King George the first was nearby so they were out like rabid dogs that night.
Did have THE best vegetarian Chili in the lot the first night! I’ve sorta copied the recipe for all these years since!

DENNIS: hey Ooooo, cue rim shot!

Day job versus hobby…we’ll, I wouldn’t go that far but the music speaks for itself! Listen to all the extracurricular activities JG got into in the nineties: Ornette Coleman, Sanjay Mishra, Merle, Smoke video, several great things with the Dawg, AND, some of the best JGB shows ever….he seemed to really get into this other stuff and it showed…if only they would have taken another hiatus after Brent passed, sigh…

Al Michaels: guy always seems bored, and he bores the hell outta us. Thank goodness they split he and douchebag Collingsworth up. Always better watching Vguy style with the sound down and the tunes up! It’s cool watching high when the music syncs up with the action.

Mikey, right on, I think Keith and Brent were right guys for the times! Everybody gets all hung up trying to compare.
Why bother it’s completely different AND, in all cases it’s what their employers wanted!
After K they were burnt on just percussive piano, after Brent I heard they didn’t want Hammond’s/Leslie’s all over.
So next time someone want to dis one of em, remember they were doing what they were told. Same with screechy, just doing what the boss says…don’t like due to preference fine, but don’t dis em for being good soldiers just following orders…

Oh, Gary, Bassageddon, looks interesting, thanks for the heads up. Hope I get the time to check it out!
My Bass playing BFF and I used to goof in the bad old days of having a stoned marching band of nothing but bass players. Piccolo basses, six strings, you name it, all marching down along the ave wearing pajamas with little battery powered amps on back pack like rigs lol, ahhh, the hubris of youth ; )

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