Grateful Dead

....I remember him from Frasier!

I was in W-S to start on my master's degree at Wake Forest. As it had been a while since undergraduate degree, they wanted some of the older folks to attend an advanced math boot camp to reinforce/prepare for the coming math onslaught. Started boot camp on August 7th. The camp was 7am till noon for five days.

WFU gave me a great education. Previously I had been what is called a "Lead Negotiator" for the federal govt. Just had to get out of there, as by working harder, I was honored by doing the work of the many less than acceptable employees. Now as I approach 60, I am semi-retired and have worked from home almost 15 years. So things worked out well. Have time to read and sometimes post here.

More later on Robbie, other topics here.

Still we must smile smile smile

Great post, Oro, and you raise some really valid points. You have first hand knowledge, and that had to be an incredible trip being with them (and I agree on Jim Weider’s guitar prowess). I know the guys were also pissed that RR never shared songwriter credit (and the incredible royalties), but why were they not equally upset at Dylan for excluding them for songwriting on the Basement Tapes? Excusing Lee being a late arrival to the Tapes, I cannot believe that Tears of Rage (Richard) and This Wheels On Fire (Rick) were the only two songs they helped shape? Garth and RR contributed zilch!? So why didn’t they have an axe to grind with Dylan?
So there is a lot of here say and egos and anger that did them in, and that was unfortunate. But the stories you tell are great, and it had to be a hell of an experience to see them play first hand.
We know, too, how destructive drug addiction can be - look no further than Jerry and Brent. And with three of them heavily into junk, Robertson must have felt like it was nailing jello to a wall trying to get them sober enough to record. I’m just saying a lot of stuff is hung on RR I don’t think was fair.

Yes, I’d say the truth is skewed a bit towards the middle, but as you say RR could be very self serving. Probably why he did so well on his own, especially with film etc. And yeah, those boys weren’t always the most professional.
I got to work several dozen shows with them in the nineties and there were definitely some sub par outings that usually could be attributed to use, or more likely, being without and not being able to…I remember this one show in Houston in 96 at some small dumpy club. Horrible super short show. Pauly the roadie told me Lee wanted to stop after like 3 or 4 songs. Pauly said he kept having to tell him “Lee, you just started, it’s only been like a half hour” etc.
But the majority of shows, though perhaps short, we’re very enjoyable. Some nights, usually if there was more incentive than the endless crappy clubs, you could still witness the greatness first hand. We were on stage with them when they opened for the Dead at those last Chicago shows, and they played great. With Jimmy Weider, Randy Ciarlante on drums, and the great Richard Bell on piano, I saw nights that were amazing. And what a dance band!
I danced way more at Band shows in the nineties than Dead shows.
I think if they’d been playing the caliber of shows they had become a custom too, they would have been more motivated and thus professional. Traveling hard and playing clubs is tough enough even if you’ve never been that famous.
Yeah I can understand Robbie’s POV, and he certainly is justified in personally wanting more/different, but it’s the way he went about it that leaves a bad taste.
Honestly, I think much of it was Lee didn’t know anything else but playing, so like Bob and Jer needed to be playing, it’s who he was. So I think maybe deep down he was bummed that Robbie sorta took that away, for awhile at least. He overly blamed Robbie for breaking his heart more than anything, and so turned that into anger…and hey, sometimes it’s easier to put the blame elsewhere?
But Boy it would have been cool to see them get together even if just for that Carnegie reunion run. The band was tight then and Robbie would have just been the Cherry on top!
Really it’s all just a shame they couldn’t have worked something out besides all or nothing…
Oh well, as a former muscian I’ve always said being in a band is like being married to several people.
The musics the easy part it’s all the rest that makes and breaks bands.

I gotta get that and some other 80s going on

live on Maui

A tragedy and a half

… any Love for the dead’s ‘STARLIGHT THEATRE’ - AUGUST 3, 1982 performances from the entire band ! Bob is really nailing it during crucial parts of the performance on every song. Jerry is on top of his game! Jerry’s guitar playing seems to be pouring out his fingers going down the frets of the guitar! Fire indeed! The first set is one of the strongest in a long time! 11 songs if I remember correctly. The second set shows the band flying down the train tracks with a a killer “ Casey Jones!” As an encore . Very rare at this point in time in the dead’s playing.
The second set contains amazing good Ol Grateful Dead musicianship as a band! Grateful Setlist as well! Anyone else a fan of this show??
Beautiful’Stella Blue’ very sweet!
One of my favorite ‘he’s Gone’ primo!
Setlist 1
Mississippi Half-Step
Franklin's Tower
New Minglewood Blues
Peggy-O
El Paso
Cumberland Blues
Althea
Cassidy
Big Railroad Blues
Man Smart/Woman Smarter
Might As Well
‘Set 2’
Shakedown Street
Samson and Delilah
To Lay Me Down
Let it Grow
drums
He's Gone
The Other One
Stella Blue
Sugar Magnolia

Casey Jones

Same old story and I know it's been told

Some like jelly jelly

The vast majority like gold.

Easy for me to say, but if I had 2 million in the bank, I would gift some to my bandmates.

But I don't have 2 million in the bank nor former bandmates, so maybe I'm full of brown acid.

Oro - I agree the guys were pretty sore at Robbie, Levon especially. Robbie argued that Lee, Rick and especially Richard became major fuck ups and too unreliable to record or tour, and I’m sure the truth is somewhere in the middle. I’m not defending RR, and I found his film (Band of Brothers) and his book kind of self-serving, but lots of bands break up, and the guys don’t crash and burn like those guys did. They did live hard, and maybe there was truth to what RR said. Maybe Garth is the only guy that knows? But regardless, they made music for the ages. Timeless.
PS - I agree with VGuy that August 9 kind of has an aura about it now.

…THEY, didn’t want to quit, only Robbie did. He tried to make it out like “they” did, but it was only him.
Heard this straight from Lee himself around the time they were getting offered millions to do a reunion at Carnegie Hall. The Band and especially Lee could have really used the bread.
That’s how hurt and stubborn Lee was about Robbie breaking up the band: he’d rather be broke…

Of course the Band kept on in one form or another and eventually Jimmy Weider took over the guitar slot and did a Hellava job! The 90s Band was sweet if perhaps not the monster they once were.