Grateful Dead

RIP Dick Butkus

Listening for the first time in a while.

Great stuff, my fellow Deadheads.

But not a raging doozy

Oh well. Maybe because I am in one of those "anything but GD" phases, I am hohum about this new one. I don't wanna whine....

41 years of consuming mass quantities of GD....have I hit my limit? Or are there still diamonds in the mine?

....worth every penny.

Boy howdy and hot damn but didn't Billy Strings do a show in Sacto last night. Three and a half hours of music, with no break.

(At what would've been the set break, he just walked to the front of the stage, said he felt like picking, and asked the fans for requests. He wound up doing ten songs, completely off the cuff, mostly bone-basic roots stuff like John Henry and Beaumont Rag. All great!)

Man, that cat can play some guitar. And his band really jams: they took numbers like Turmoil and Tinfoil and turned them into 20 minute improvisations that went from traditional blue grass breakdowns to the surface of Jupiter. And beyond. Some of it sounded, I shit you not, like EDM.

He also seems like a very humble guy, somebody who just loves the music so much he would literally play all night if they'd let him. Kind of reminds me of another blue grass-inspired guitarist we used to know.

One of the best shows I've see in years. (Disclaimer: I was high AF, but I'm pretty sure it would've actually still been really good regardless.) Sky's the limit for this guy. Check him out if you haven't already. Like all musicians worth talking about, he's way better live.

In 11/20/71. When I first saw this rumor a couple hours ago here, I looked up the setlist hoping it had a Dark Star. Nope, almost the same setlist from Albuquerque. Which, I loved DaP 26 11/17/71 and 12/14/71. I'd be surprised if this is better, and if it's not, then I'd have rather had something from earlier in 1971, before Keith. April or something from summer, as those August shows on DiP 35 are smoking. But also admit to wishing that crap about 48 rhyming led to a release from 1968. This is also another missed opportunity for 8/4/76 to come out of the Vault. If there's a grayed-out silver lining, I hope Bill Walton again submits the liner notes. He'd be happier, as his team went undefeated that year, as opposed to the crushing defeats to come in the season following the 1973 show, which I think he brought up in those liners. Love Walton and his thirst for life. Wish I had that attitude about this release, just nonplussed about it.

46 was by far the Pick of the Year, and among the best in the series, IMO. That was a tentpole show I didn't know I needed to know. I like it better than the Baltimore (9/17?) DiP and Waterbury (9/24?) from 30 Trips. Wonderful companion to 9/21/72 DiP 36 (which didn't really need a companion with that excellent filler from Folsom Field). Off to pick up my replacements for HCS, minus d1 of 5/13, which they ran out of replacements for... But well under the 8 weeks they told me it could take, so that's good.

Good choice Lemieux. I will add, when ABCD first became known and Betty Boards were being returned, I had an exchange with Lemieux specifically asking if there were any things coming that simply did not circulate or were unknown. His answer vague but reading the tea leaves I seemed to gather less that was unknown, but not necessarily 0, but a lot that we now have in much better sound quality that previously existed, especially 1971 and to a lesser extent 1972. This was before Dave's Picks 26, Albuquerque and Ann Arbor was announced, so he might have just been forshaddowing that release, but that is what he said.

Yes, it took me forever to get in there, but shit, there it is.

Dave definitely keeps us guessing. Four shows from the 1970s this year.

What will he do next year?? We should know #49 by the end of month when subscriptions go on sale.

Right there in Order Status

Thanks Adedhed68! I will have to check that out.
Wait, 71 doesn't rhyme with 48???