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    Dave's Picks Vol. 51: Scranton Catholic Youth Center, Scranton, PA (4/13/71)

    Look out Big Boss Man, Pigpen's on the loose! We're shedding our lovelight on the not-to-be-overlooked Spring 1971 tour with DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51, featuring the complete unreleased show from the SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 AND the 2nd set from the previous night at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, PA on 4/12/71.

    These gems find the original Grateful Dead quintet delivering some of their most inspired, energetic, and tightest performances. There's a dab of WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, a splash of AMERICAN BEAUTY, a great foreshadow into what would soon appear on SKULL & ROSES. And you'll need nearly all those fingers (or those toes) because - count 'em - there's eight classic covers ("Mama Tried," "Hard To Handle," and a rare "I Second That Emotion," to name a few) done as only the Dead could do them with Mr. McKernan and his magical harmonica.

    Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51: SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

    P.S. We had a little extra room on Disc 2, so please enjoy the final five DP48 bonus tracks to complete 10/24/70, St. Louis, MO.

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  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    Mission Control +

    I have a cool book: Immortal Axes That Rocked, that has cool pics and similar info about Phil’s bass, AND!!! Jerry’s Pretzel Guitar!
    Good sheet Mon!

    You say po TA Toe, I say p tah to lol
    Gary, Yer not seeing double, this time lol (JK)
    The original good Oroboros, who is the creator of the ceramic beast and it’s long strange trip, beat me to it by two weeks, so I had seen another spelling some where? Used to think in the Dead Book by C Loves father, Hank Harrison, but now think that’s not correct? Can’t really remember?, and now of course it’s gotten confusing, so like that awesome Seinfeld episode where they all have alternative dimension other selves, like in “Bizarro Jerry”, “Bizarro George” etc, that we’re just like them, only opposite personality wise, hilarious if you’ve never seen it!
    So I’m the Bizarro Oro, the Other, Other One Lol the evil twin lol
    I felt bad when Marye posted his great tale in the community section but with my spelling. I tried to set the record strait back then, but kept getting pummeled mercilessly by the you know who police!
    Thanks again to Marye for posting that awesome tale!
    The stories are my favorite reason to hang here, so we need more good tales!

    So glad now to be able to give credit where credit is due!
    The kind, good, original Oroboros is THAT Oro, and I’m just a second rate loud mouth prankster who eats breaths shits way too much GOGD, but hopefully at least brings smiles and laughs to the people ; )

    Oh, the meteorite is crazy stuff, but reminds me of the episode where Kramer has a dream he’s riding one “like a cowboy Jerry” …. ; )

  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    Kinda slow, maybe I'll stretch out a little

    In 2018 we were having discussions about Osiris REx. A NASA satellite launch which had 2 purposes. 1) It was sent to collect a Sample from near earth asteroid Bennu. 2) After flying by earth to drop the sample to earth, which it accomplished on September 21, 2023, it's name was changed to Osiris Apex (Osiris Apophos). It is heading to Apophos which is a large asteroid that is heading to very near earth in 2029. Apophos means God of Destruction. It is the size of the Eiffel Tower and will be visible with the naked eye. Space trackers have pushed out it hitting earth until 2129 or so, 100 hundred years from now. But still a very high level threat.

    Now to continue on this thread considering Grateful Dead and its meaning and Phil Lesh and Egypt. I ran across a great Guitar World report on Phil's "Mission Control" base as part of it follows:

    "Just about any Deadhead is familiar with the Phil Lesh bass known as ‘Mission Control’. What is hazy are many of the details, as this bass guitar seemed to simply disappear over 40 years ago.

    This astounding custom Alembic bass, with serial number 74 00008, was played by Lesh on stage with the Grateful Dead from June 16, 1974 until July 1, 1979, and was hand-built at Alembic by luthier Rick Turner.

    Only the eighth instrument built by Alembic, Turner started it in 1972 and completed it in mid-1974. ‘Osiris’, aka ‘Mission Control’, ‘Osage Orange’ or ‘The Omega’, was built not just for, but as part of, the band’s historic Wall Of Sound. The significance of the Wall Of Sound, another brainchild of Alembic co-founder Owsley ‘Bear’ Stanley III, cannot be overstated.

    This grand audio experiment spawned the modern PA system, and set a standard still unmatched today. However, that is only part of the story of this bass and its builders at Alembic. This instrument and a handful of its contemporaries set the stage for the modern ‘boutique’ instrument.

    Consider the construction of this bass, beyond its exotic inlays and electronics. When this instrument was built, you could count on two hands the number of instruments built this way. It featured laminated neck-thru construction, coupled with sandwiched, exotic tone wood wings known as ‘The Hippie Sandwich’.

    These techniques, pioneered by the builders at Alembic, have paved the way for countless luthiers and instruments that now use these elements as the standard for today’s boutique instrument. Jerry Garcia’s Wolf guitar, built by Luthier Doug Irwin in 1972 to 1973, featured the same type of construction, and was also used with the Wall Of Sound.

    Irwin also came from the Alembic tree of luthiers. Used by Lesh at over 250 Grateful Dead shows in that five-year period, the Mission Control bass became iconic in its own right, with Rolling Stone magazine featuring the instrument in an Alembic article in September 1973. It was also featured in its own scene in The Grateful Dead Movie the following year."

    Later in the article, dated April 1, 2021, it lists the inlays of Phil's Osiris Bass, also called Apophos in another article as follows:
    "The ebony fingerboard is covered in 11 different exotic inlays. For the record, these are:

    Mother-of-pearl lightning bolts striking lapis lazuli An abalone serpent eating its own tail
    A mother-of-pearl crescent moon
    An abalone lizard
    An abalone Darkstar Mother-of-pearl and abalone stars
    An abalone bat
    An abalone infinity symbol
    A mother-of-pearl and abalone Saturn
    Abalone kissing fish, as Lesh is a Pisces
    More mother-of-pearl lightning bolts striking lapis lazuli"

    I bring this up as Oroborous has the picture of Oroborous today as his picture. I know we have 2 Oroborus', hope I have the right one. The other talked about making an Oroborous and putting it on stage and then meeting Jerry the next morning and giving it to him. Now that is a long time ago so memory fuzzy. But look at the neck Phil had of these GD symbols. Also, it matches his guitar strap.

    There is a lot too this. May post more later, but feel I have over extended the welcome for now. Send PM if you want direct web pages. I am sure they will have to be broken up.

    G

    From there down the rabbit hole I found articles by Ryan Slesinger, PhD and Vincent Bridges. Both who document the deeper meanings of Grateful Dead as it relates to the book of the dead. These are long involved article which I am still reading/digesting.

    Apophis not Apophos. Edit

  • Oroboros
    Joined:
    Got mine, too.

    Shipping notice received.

    Hope others get theirs as well.

    Got a sticker handed to me at my last JRAD show, a quote from Joe Russo "It's kinda amazing when everybody is so fuckin quiet. It allows us to do things. Thanks guys. Silence is cool."

    Agree x 1,000,000,000 with Joe's sentiment (and that expressed by posters here).

    "Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself."

  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    Things are getting better

    Shipping: We have to remember that Discovery Network bought Warner Brothers a little over 2 years ago in a highly leveraged buyout. Discovery just today lost its bid for NBA rights in USA. However, the CEO David Zaslav is a capable CEO. I am sure he has done a full asset review. In my opinion, it took him a while to get to working on Warner Bros GD asset. I am hoping we are now seeing better fruit. I will know Monday if they can get me Dave's as scheduled. His hand is obvious in moving to DHL for European counterparts. I think he realizes GD is a valuable asset, one he does not won't to sell off. Let us watch next year for improvements in operations. I think we will continue to see the GD machine hum much better. He will pull away some operations of GD enterprise to a more centralized unit, but hopefully, leave Dave and the GD machine to do what they know best, that is, GD. Possible Mr. Zaslav had his hand in upping the merchandise side of GD.

    Just one man's thoughts. I did meet David Zaslav in 1987 when he as chairman of discovery network; he spoke at the college from which I graduated. His reputation, though, is more of a entrepreneur. That is, he takes home big pay to the expense of company shareholders. They do own the ESPN of Europe, I think is is called Sky news sports (now I think called Eurosport.)

    If Simon, Colin, and others get their release before August 1st, then things are noticeably better.

  • proudfoot
    Joined:
    11 11 70

    Heard first few tracks on my morning walk

    Music is fine

    But early on we have the dreaded talkers

    "Let's go pay money for a show that will be many decibels and then blab over it at the top of our range."

    S t f u

    Please

  • proudfoot
    Joined:
    Randoz

    Jimmy Herring: good health to you

    Shipping notice received

    Shipping blues for some, I can see. Luckily for me I have never had a problem

    11 11 70...yes, I really wish soundboards existed for much of 1970. I will check out that show

    Back in 90 I went to a show at a small place in Seattle where Jimmy H was guitarist. He walked right past me. I almost said hello but didn't

    Shoulda coulda woulda...

  • JoeyMC
    Joined:
    Shipping

    I can't pass up an opportunity to complain about it. So, this is an ongoing series for what? Twelve years now? They are released on the last Friday of the month, every three months, again for years...and there seems to be not even the resemblance of consistency. Shit show every time. It's their own damn date for God's sake...not mine.
    I almost didn't subscribe in October...but I did...

  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    Jimmy

    Hope Mr. Herring is only down a for a few months. Panic's August stuff still scheduled. Again, glad they caught it early. Wrote about him a few weeks back on #50 board. Would re-write it but dont have the energy.

    shipping notice tracker says Monday delivery. Maybe similar to other heads in the states.

  • jjc
    Joined:
    Shipping

    Why is it that it takes this entity so long to get out shipping notices? Jerry Garcia ordering from them is a pleasure always get the shipping notice days before the release date ridiculous already. That being said why can they Not put o hi res jpg file on the order page of the cover art? They did it for Dave’s 36 why is this such a problem?

  • DeadVikes
    Joined:
    Shipping

    Good to hear #51 is on the way to our friends overseas.

    Anyone in the US receive a shipping notification? I am still waiting on mine. Edit. TN John has his.

    Oh and what is the latest gossip from Reddit on this year's Box?

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Dave's Picks Vol. 51: Scranton Catholic Youth Center, Scranton, PA (4/13/71)

Look out Big Boss Man, Pigpen's on the loose! We're shedding our lovelight on the not-to-be-overlooked Spring 1971 tour with DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51, featuring the complete unreleased show from the SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 AND the 2nd set from the previous night at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, PA on 4/12/71.

These gems find the original Grateful Dead quintet delivering some of their most inspired, energetic, and tightest performances. There's a dab of WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, a splash of AMERICAN BEAUTY, a great foreshadow into what would soon appear on SKULL & ROSES. And you'll need nearly all those fingers (or those toes) because - count 'em - there's eight classic covers ("Mama Tried," "Hard To Handle," and a rare "I Second That Emotion," to name a few) done as only the Dead could do them with Mr. McKernan and his magical harmonica.

Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 51: SCRANTON CATHOLIC YOUTH CENTER, SCRANTON, PA 4/13/71 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.

P.S. We had a little extra room on Disc 2, so please enjoy the final five DP48 bonus tracks to complete 10/24/70, St. Louis, MO.

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A delayed first listen because I was holding off for yesterdays car ride down to Deer Creek for this weekend's Phish shows. With the first set, the drive was straight toward a massive thunderhead that just sat there on the horizon getting bigger and bigger. And when I got into the second set Drums, somewhere near a place called Angola, things started to get really dark..... caught some ripping lightning bolts tear down from the sky. Was an absolute thrilling match to the garage-rock style energy of the show.

Is there a Big Railroad Blues that rocks harder than that? And how about Phil?!? He's absolutely on fire here. Effortlessly playing both the pocket and the leads.

I'll have to go back an listen to the Pittsburgh material as it was sort of a let down following up after Scranton.

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In reply to by FiveBranch

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1STShow - I went to nearly all the March and October shows at the Rainbow. It was an elaborate old cinema which played host to loads of great bands, including a great run of shows from Dire Straits. I lived in Highbury at the time, just a short walk away. Next time I saw Grateful Dead was in Paris 1990 when a group of people loosely associated with the fanzine Spiral Light hired a coach over. And then the final ever UK shows at Wembley. Fun times.

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8 years 10 months

In reply to by frankparry

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Time for a Bruce release.

Yeah, my DaP51 still has that new plastic smell.

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15 years 10 months
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Just got to the liner notes. Pretty cool story about the Kiel Opera House show and the recording.

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9 years 1 month

In reply to by icecrmcnkd

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Too funny.

Thanks for the smile.

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10 years
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Let the guessing games begin.
Maybe somewhere in the 88-91 era?
But it could be anywhere. Dave has tricks up his sleeve and cards he isn't showing, lol. It's all welcome if he thinks it is worthy.
Cheers

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11 years 10 months
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Check email and IM.

All requested items put up.

Let me Know if gotten.

Dennis

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Let me say this: The King was a pretty big influence on Weir's vocal style, if ya ask me. Cue up just about any version of Around and Around and you'll see what I mean.

Last five!

McCoy Tyner: Sahara
TTB: Let Me Get By
Dap #51
Lee Morgan: Cornbread
Dylan: 11/19/75 (from the Rolling thunder box)

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I don't recognize any Elvis influence in "Not fade awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"

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One more: think of the way Elvis would sing Looks Like Rain. And then think of how Weir does sing it. And maybe imagine Bobby handing out scarves to women in the front rows.

Too bad Elvis didn't do a Dead tribute album. Maybe if he'd lived longer. He could've crushed Big River, Love Light, Fire on the Mountain. Would've been fun to hear him try The Other One.

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was a song that I thought Bobby would like to cover.

"Chance favors the prepared mind." - Phil Lesh

They shared a few covers - Johnny B. Goode, Promised Land and See See Rider come to mind. Also Hey Jude. Hard to decide which of them did the worse version of that one!

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Dont forget; Garcia did "Thats all right, mama" and "Mystery train" - with his solo-bands - the "King" and the Dead also shared Madison Square Garden - Elvis did a live album there in 1972 - one of (if not the..) the first full, uncut shows to make it to vinyl - back in the day..

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10 years 8 months
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A drummer! Still blows my mind that Ronnie Tutt was the drummer for 2 guys in the mid-70s, Elvis and Jerry. He was a tasteful, masterful drummer. Jerry treated him pretty shabbily on his firing, not letting him know, which was compounded by Elvis's death months before, but they made pretty awesome music together.

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sang with Elvis and the Dead. Elvis and the Dead both played at the Cow Palace(probably a lo of other places too).

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14 years 9 months
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yeah man, got em, thanks a bunch, just so...awesome.

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15 years 11 months
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Future Dave's Picks...? If they have the reels?
03/17/67- Winterland Arena - San Francisco, CA
03/18/67- Winterland Arena - San Francisco, CA
03/19/67- Fillmore Auditorium - San Francisco, CA
Would make a grooovy cover too!?

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This sampler cd from the Archives Vol III ( and a pin) arrived in the UK less than 8 days from the first mention that it was on the way. Well done Greedy Hands and DHL.
Even more unusually, both the NYA and Rhino sites said that these items would only be sent out in advance to customers in the US, overseas customers would get them with the box. I hope that dead.net continues to use DHL for their deliveries.

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9/26/81

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In reply to by daverock

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Got to remember he didnt like hippies or "drugs." He got some DEA token/badge from Nixon. He didnt have problems with the Dr prescribing his drugs but hated that others didnt take the same path.

I love him and his music, but the person, uuhmmm.

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He could sing.

End of story.

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9 years 1 month

In reply to by PT Barnum

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Great documentary with Donna Jean in it.

Great stories.

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Got 51 today - fine slice of the "5-man-bar-room-Dead-band" 1971 - keep 71 comming.. Elvis recorded "Big Boss Man" in September 67, and did it (a lot..) live in 1974 and a little in 75/76/77.. BW from Copenhagen

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Didn't see any good versions of Steve Vance’s cover art for Dave's 51 online. I was about to scan mine that had just arrived, when Copperdomebodhi came to the rescue. He made three versions: 1) Scranton, PA 4/13/71 (art from the CD cover & booklet); 2) Pittsburg, PA 4/12/71 (set 2); 3) St. Louis, MO 10/24/70 (the 5 final tracks that complete Dave’s 48). Plus I snagged the gif from one of the deadnet newsletters. You'll have to scroll down:

"3 w dot"
dropbox "dot" com/sh/qx5j9ydoc7bzm8z/AAD8yK_vCv_kQ-oLkLJQVCEla?dl=0

Enjoy, pass ‘em around, and let the music play (LOUD!)

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11 years 2 months
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Is this true? I would love more 1981 releases. Great energy.

I just ordered the MSG box. Arriving this week. Looking forward to some good early '80's...

THIN

I would assume everything is speculation or hope right now...

Thank you Jeff I got the email from D box, I did make my own cover art this time though with a photo I took for the first time, it came out pretty good.

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Thin.. you dont think it is 9/26/91..

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Who put this out there and even showed a script type picture shot of this being the 2024 Box Set?!? IT was on the picture of the script actually showing it as an store.dead.net blah blah....obviously someone found this behind the IT wall or something???
WHY the f is this not the box set this year??? I mean I get it that those April 1978 shows are popular, even gimmicky(Jerry at Duke), and OF COURSE Betty Boards....but lets be honest: the setlist are VERY repetitive, Jerry sounds out of tune in most of the shows, and a bit...ummm, tired, Keith sounds like he is simply plunking notes on a 1978 Sears electric piano(he sure doesn't sound like late-1971 when he joined, and Donna is simply high-pitched screaming on a lot of tunes.
BOTTOM LINE - How was the above title showing up as a dead.net exclusive on that javascript pic shot, and now it's not the 2024 BOX SET- maybe later this year?!?!?!

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9 years 1 month

In reply to by Thin

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MSG box is way better than most that do not have it realize. Sure the sound is different from a Betty Board as it is on cassette. But, it does have a great stereo image. That image, in my own opinion, does have the line arrays embedded in it. To date, I havent even run the MSG box thru the equalizer, but I am going to. Just thought of that now.

My home town arena is 50% the size of MSG. And I mean 50%, as the local arena was built with MSG's blue prints; only, dimensions are 50% smaller. When listening to great sounding groups, say like Yes, we always sat in the upper deck directly in the middle (straight on shot of the stage.) This allowed us to have great stereo sound out of an old concrete arena.

The playing within the box is superb.

G

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It's easy to make a script, put it up on a monitor and make a screenshot of it. That doesn't make it genuine. Various punters searched for the script but none found it. The conclusion was that it was a fake, but some people obviously believed it.

Conclusion: Never trust a Prankster.

Archiving 7 18 89
First set nice
Will do 2nd later

"Ain't noways tired" Jerry ain't tired during US Blues 4 12 78
Jumpin' Jer Flash

I know it's 2024. But hearing 7 18 89 makes me yearn ("I yearn, George") for being AT a GD show. 35 years gone.

Whoever did the shorelines beckon prank needs to be...

Remember, it's shoreLIGHTS, not shorelines. The prankster let loose a tell.

A few hours of work and then back to Alpine

One more: the cover art for the sleeve of the 5/4/77 is totally off the mark for the glorious GD on the disc. I really dislike the tagger image (taggers deserve to have their fingers broken). Opportunity to create my own cover art, I say.

Oh boy, “that would be something”
Fine show from another great under represented year!
Yep, need to hit that MSG box again soon…

Baked Alaska: as much as I’d enjoy that fantasy box, I’d much rather have this April 78. The Alaska shows are good, but I think I recall only one being exceptional? And I’m unfamiliar with the 70 shows, but even IF they were on primo recordings, would that be enough to justify using up a coveted “once a year only” box slot?
But hey, sorry your not happy this go round. Maybe it will be a late addition, perhaps just in time for the holidaze? Remember when they used to market for the holidaze? And maybe sometime you’ll get shown the light and find a new found affinity for April 78? Whatevs…it’s all good!

The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion.)

I Second that Emotion.

Not Fade Away.

The Call of two songs and the response of one.

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In reply to by Gary Farseer

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....play a Dicks tonight.
I picked out #30. Bo Diddly y'all!

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In reply to by Vguy72

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had to be towed to mechanic. (Of course towed is an out dated word)

After car was loaded, the drive said "Thank You Big Boss Man."

Nice.

It is amazing how 99% of the people react when meeting them, you treat them with kindness.

Of course, you have to learn how to watch and scope manipulators.

He was genuinely kind also.

That is all.

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Did Dick's 30 a couple of weekends back. Just love the Bo Diddly.

Cant remember which song he has a minor discussion about you got to "Eat it, eat all of it." If memory is correct.

Has to be a reference to we ate the acid, especially at that Hell's Angel benefit. Haha benefit, right.

This is a very good Pick, one of my favorites. Very raw era, with just guitars and drums and vocals. Sometimes the recording goes into the red (surprised it doesn't happen more often, honestly), but a wonderful delight for Phil plans, of which I am a huge one. You get to clearly hear some of his unorthodox choices, Me & Bobby McGee is especially revelatory; with no keys, Phil has to be more of a rhythmic anchor, and he adapts to it well. I get why Doc loves this era so much. Very potent. Not a huge fan of Sugar Magnolia, but was digging the ones on here quite a bit.

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I've listened to this release 3 times. Each time when it gets to Big Boss Man I think "Is that Jim Morrison singing?" Anyone else get that sense?

I think the fake out has to do with Pig sounding a little extra soulful / sexy on this tune. Plus the vocals are pushed forward, yet a good warm vocal mix.

All said, really digging this release. good energy, good vibes!

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LATVALA

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Too early to talk about 53?

2/21, 22/73 Assembly Hall perfect four disc Dave's Pick.

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