Grateful Dead

"I was in D.C., and when I got the message I thought of two things..." - Ken Kesey beginning his on-stage eulogy for Bill Graham, 10/31/91

I'd had a weird premonition leading up to the final Dead and Company shows in SF. I had been flipping through Rosie McGee's coffee table book and thinking about the Europe trips. That got me thinking about managers... Jon, Rock, Sam... and others who were gone too soon, like Rex and Sonny. Anyway, I can't explain why, but I decided to look up Sam Cutler's wiki. I'd lost track of him in recent years but I knew he'd survived cancer, and I suddenly wondered if he was still alive and kicking. This would have been late Monday evening - July 10th - so the morning of the 11th in Australia. Nothing amiss on the wiki, though, so I chalked up my strange feeling to the time of year (my family having suffered a big loss ten years ago on the 16th) and went to bed.

On the morning of the first SF show, the 14th, I was on the GD subreddit when I saw the note from his kids that Sam had passed away. I almost dropped my coffee in my lap when I realized that he might well have been breathing his last as I was looking up his wiki. Later that evening, when they began flashing those images up on the screens at the stadium, and I saw Sam's face, I have to admit that I shed some tears.

Thank you for a real good time, Sam. See you again someday...

Yes we need that mini-box. Brent killed it on that first night.
And I need the other two to remember what I saw.
I do remember a great Nobody's.
You know I'm in.
Enjoy TTB on the Rocks HF!
Cheers

My Garcia Live20 arrived with both CD’s firmly in their holders. The CD’s did not have any scratches and also did not have any glue on them.
The CD’s played great.

Rhino should ask for help from whoever puts out Garcia releases on how to manufacture and distribute live music recordings on CD.

And yes, #20 is great.
I might like the filler the best.

Read last night on OSF's FB page that Mr. Cutler had shed this mortal coil. Sad. He road managed the Stones before a multi-year run with the GD. Sam MC'd many a Dead show I attended in the early '70s. The most classic on record is on The Band at Watkins Glen, which is only partly from that show (great live CD though). Sam begins to introduce The Band when, at another mic, Bill Graham overrides him -- and many would say properly so, as Sam had a laconic delivery and intended to be brief -- and delivers a stately introduction instead.

Throw in the classy Tony Bennett and stir. Hard to say whether there are more of them (gone but not forgotten) than us (alive but anonymous). Don't think about it.

Ready for whatever Dave sends our way, but still waiting for 8-12, 8-13 and 8-14-79, first a show at Red Rocks, then two under heavy rain inside the McNichols shed. Cheers, HF

P.S. This coming week will end with two Tedeschi-Trucks Band shows at Red Rocks to commemorate (for me) a multi-day extravaganza at Watkins Glen, 50 years ago when I was a wee lad of 15 but already hooked on live GD shows. Congratulations to myself for surviving this long despite many bad decisions (women, drugs, jobs, you name it).

One of my favorite shirts, which I passed on to my daughter, on the front has several of the bears frolicking in the woods. The caption under it says, "What do you do when you see bears in the woods?"..... The back of the shirt is short & sweet: "Play Dead". I picked that up when I worked at BMG. Great company with a great employee store and super cheap prices for us. Does anyone remember when you could order CD's by mail, and if you did not send a card back, we would send you a CD that you would never buy. And don't forget to add on S&H !!!

Does a bear get down in the woods ?

Yes, I've just Saw It on wikipedia. Also un other article They say that the population of the Missouri Bear is increasing, lately.

Thank you, Bluecrow, always good to learn something new. -:)

Luis - that's a Missouri bear sculpted of limestone by Robert Cronbach. One of two, slightly different pose for each, at the entrance to the Kiel Opera House. There are 2 grizzly bears in the Missouri state seal. The Cronbach bears seem a bit chill for grizzlies. One of them in fact reminds me of my (late) dog Spirit, a very good dog, in his demeanor.

Listening to Set II on the Rolfe pull/Miller upload of Billerica 5/11/79. Wowza. Very very nice.

Edit - actually 3 grizzlies in the Missouri state seal. One small representation on all 4 paws, and 2 larger ones standing.

....got it about a week ago. Love it.
The AC broke at work today. Hate it.
Got home. Turned the shower to the coldest I could handle to help cool my core. AC set to 75.
Brain got a little scrambled.
I'm good now.