Grateful Dead

2 great shows! Hard to decide which I like better? Both! Lol. Maybe 5/19/74 better than 6/24/73. 73 has that unusual DS...perhaps Keef needed to hit the Lou? Feel like the tune suffered a bit without him, but hey a DS is a DS!
Really enjoyed most of the 74 second set, especially the Trucking>>Jam>>NFA>> GDTRFB etc. the jams were awesome with even a touch of mind left body in there? A nice hot, quick NFA and that interesting little weirdness transitioning into GDTRFB...perhaps my favorite part....many solid tunes all the way around here.
Only nit pick is the vocal mix was ruff sometimes (not the drop outs, those don’t bother me so much). Perhaps the combination of 2 track instead of multitrack, wall of sound mics etc. Perhaps because I’ve been listening to a lot of multitrack shows so was more sensitive to the idiosyncrasies than usual?
Didn’t get as much of a full listen to 73, so hard to properly compare.Basically, Just really need to do a full immersion of this whole box. Hopefully if I can knock a few more projects out I can just read and do music for a while, but that’s a lot of ifs....
Ok, on to June 90. I need to celebrate as it’s a big anniversary for me. Hope some of you can come along. It’s a lot I know, so no worries if you can’t or don’t want to go there...if not, we’ll see ya on the flip side!
Ok, 30 years ago today...what a day, perfect weather, I love Cal expo, some slag it, but I loved the layout. General admission always best so folks can go where they want instead of where they don’t want but someone makes them etc. nice shape for sound with wooden gentle sloping bleachers, nice real grass field, and SURPRISE, Fucking Anchor on tap, no schwill at these shows! Bring along hot new 20 year old girlfriend, throw in some x....such a night! Thanks Bill Graham for such a cool scene. Hallelujah, the promised land at last!
Ok, now have to pick a version...anyone suggest a good matrix?

EDIT: looks like we’ll try the Pearson/Healy/Miller matrix....

Cal Expo it is, I didn't see that further down the thread. Lazy me didn't read far enough down as it was late when all this ended last night. Cal- 90 were great shows..

Just finished home schooling my 11 year old today. He seems to think no school means you don't have to do shit, which didn't sit well with me.. but we as of now, I am done teaching at home. Hopefully some of that extra time will make its way back to me.

Don't let me interrupt the flow of things here.. You guys (and gals) are doing great.

I just did so Friday evening! We grabbed another Bohmenian family and went for a midnight moonlight canoe ride, thanks to the warm calm air and the clear skies, which allowed us to paddle a large local lake under the Strawberry moon. At the end, the other father, his 9-ish daughter, my 11-year old son, and I all stripped down and took the plunge. Beautiful!

So I guess 50 is not too old! The other father is 48. My wife and her friend went skinny dipping one night last summer; they were both 47 at the time.

Friday I sang, "Night swimming . . . deserves a quiet night . . . ", but I also love Kate and Anna McGarrigle's version of Loudon Wainwright's "Swimming Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ZrBxJHxo0
That entire first McGarrigle album is just a treat.

Morning!

Let's see what this week brings.
OB - I'd be down to take the anniversary Cal Expo & or Shoreline Trip June 1990. 6/8 is looking good!
JIMINMD - 6/8/77 you say.. that could be a possible too.

LMK what you all choose to do.
I'm definitely liking the look 6/8/90:
Jerry songs in Set 1 - Cold Rain, Jack-A-Roe, High Time, Bird Song...
Set 2 opener - UJB > China > Rider .
I think I know what I'm doing here..

Had some nice listening over the weekend. PNW shows were fun, neither have PITB so I tend to skip them, but am glad to have given them a relisten.

That Dark Star > Eyes > China Doll from '73 is far out.
GOLLUM wonder why Keith didn't play on Dark Star, he starts in at about 4 minutes till the end, but now I'm curious. And you all make me wanna listen to the Yale Bowl '71. Wow STRIDER 88 you saw that too! Keep em coming.

China > Rider '74 was the highlight on that for me, and hearing Money Money... it's not good, but makes me smile. Also forgot about the Vocal drop outs and had to check some reviews to make sure my gear was working :)

1987-09-18 - Love that show, I wouldn't say it's the best from '87, but it sure is fun. As far as '87 goes the 7th member is present at most of those shows, roaring and excited and having a great time. For a little while there it sure looked like it might be coming to an end. But Jerry came back and was healthy and energized, the band was having fun, the shows were fun, everybody was thrilled and that energy passed back and forth throughout the year. It was so exciting that we all still got to do this thing we loved to do.. at least one more time. OTIS, definitely check out East Coast Spring Tour Hampton & Hartford shows.

Have a Grate Day Everyone!

6/8/77 came in on the Dave's Picks 34 page. Hard to argue with that.

I have listened to about half of it, but, as today is the day I unveil Dave's Picks 34, I may not get round to the rest of it today. Lightweight that I am!

The first half dozen or so songs are really well played and shouted. The vocal drop outs cause quite an interesting effect, as it encourages me to listen to the instrumental interplay more. You couldn't really recommend it as a first buy to someone, but for us who have so much, these drop outs may not really matter.

For me also, the highlights on the first half are China-Rider and Weather Report Suite. Superb playing by Bob during the transition between China and Rider. His playing at this time was much more than what I usually imagine by the description "rhythm guitar". Great the way they move off center during the jam on WRS. The playing is so subtle, the way they play off each other-every member of the band synched in and adding to the whole. So...thoughtful sounding. No resorting to gimmicks, special effects or time honoured crowd pleasing licks. Its great! Lovely clear sound, too.

Looks awesome on the google. Sounds like a great day. Adding to the bucket list-

I had forgotten this was the show with the vocal dropouts. Two long shows back to back too.. sorry for that.

I mentioned it merely to compare the China Riders. This one is one of my more liked and a freshie today reminded me why. Also.. the temps and weather here were spectacular.. so we hopped in the truck and went trucking on down to the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, a remote stretch in (in my opinion) the most spectacular part of West Virginia. The high was 71 degrees, not high humidity, but not low either. Narly a cloud in the sky.. so we hiked up the beautiful canyon of Red Creek several miles.. found a remote spot on the river to ourselves, pretty far off trail.. not another sole to be seen and set up comfy day camp. Spectacular swimming in the middle of Class V rapids, but at very low water.. so fun and not dangerous. Beautiful waterfalls abound.. and we jammed out to the better part of this show, finishing it on the drive home.

Highlights to me were #1 the weather, #2 mother nature, #3 The Grateful Dead. The China Rider and WRS were apex, but a second set Peggy-O on the hike back.. that mellow swank (and some dank) is, to me at least, very special.

Good day. Forgot my swimming shorts.. At what age are you too old to skinny dip anyway?

Edit: #1, Mother Nature, 2 the weather, 3 GD. What was I thinking?

9/18/87: ✔️ Nice little show. Start off like a rocket sled fortunately attached to the rails or it might of jumped the tracks. Bobs all fired up. JG balances it out with a nice Sugaree, sweet Candyman, and big Bird song...Groovy Shakedown etc.
Nice/fun La Bamba surprise complete with Spanish lyrics! Good 87 show, but best of the year???

6/24/73:✔️ I don’t know what the hell it is but I’ve still not been able to really get with the PNW box. I’m sure it’s because I’ve always been trying to force it into my soul instead of letting it simmer and marinate naturally. When the box first was released things were so nuts I’m surprised I had a chance to even just rip it and background play it. Since then I’ve tried a couple times to catch up with it but things always seem to get distracting and busy and long/short.. I’ve still really haven’t had a chance to get tight with this box, sigh.
Yesterday continued the trend, as I had it on but got distracted finally coming up with some bookshelf plans for my office/stereo room. The music helped the muse and I think I have a first draft witch is often the hard part, but alas this PNW beauty was dust in my mental wind. Definitely need to hit that DS up at least, and really need to try and do a show a day real sit down of the whole box soon!...but In the mean time I’ll gladly visit 5/19/74 later today!

FUTURE PICKS: the following are going to be 30 anniversary show this next week or two, and their also part of my first trip to the promised land. Finally, after being on the bus for like 13 years and over 80 shows at that point, we finally made it to the famed promised land and it definitely was real AND spectacular!
So I’m personally going that direction for these, but thought perhaps all y’all might be in for the ride of some/all these 6 shows as Pic-o-the-day possibilities? Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard any besides the vault/cd release from 6/16/90, so I’m not really sure I can suggest anything specifically. I member they were all good shows, but only the released one comes to mind because I remember the unusual set list. I do remember thinking that these west coast shows had an energy or vibe that went inward versus powerful east coast shows were the energy flowed outward...sorry, hard to explain the thirty year old clouded ramblings of a blissful tripster, but some things fortunately do stick in what’s left of the ole memory bank. Like the vibe was comparatively quiet, subtle, mellow, relaxed in a way that was very inwardly loud and powerful? Yeah, remember it really hit me that energy vortex thingy...
So here’s the shows, if anyone is more knowledgeable about specifics or has a suggestion I’m all ears. I’m going to try and tag them all, but just thought these might be perfect for our club here as their good shows but seem to be fairly under the radar...
CAL EXPO
- 6/8/90
- 6/9/90
- 6/10/90
SHORELINE
- 6/15/90
- 6/16/90
- 6/17/90
Ok, thanks, let me know your mind!

There’s a font for that.