Grateful Dead

http://www.festivalexpress.com/ Back in 1970, these Canadian would-be promoters hatched the brilliant scheme of chartering a train, filling it up with assorted rock stars, and going across Canada, stopping periodically for a stadium show. Not only would it be big fun, they'd all get rich. And hey, they'd film everything and make a movie and get even richer! When it came to lining up the talent, these guys had taste. In addition to a number of bands I never heard of, they brought in Janis Joplin, The Band, the New Riders, the GD... the list goes one. When it came to a few practical considerations, things didn't work out so swell. For one thing, Canadian hippies suddenly got the notion that all music should be free, so ticket sales were lousy and gate-crashing a constant issue. There's a really poignant scene of Jerry remonstrating with the crowd, saying they were going to do a free show-before-the-show, but hey, musicians had to eat too. Also, since other options were limited, alcohol was consumed in massive quantities by people who weren't entirely used to doing so, and one's viewing of the film is somewhat overshadowed by the thought of the hangover that must surely have followed. There is another incredibly sweet, poignant scene of Rick Danko, Marmaduke, Jerry and Janis Joplin in which they are all completely sloshed except Janis, who's just in her glory. Janis is, in fact, in her glory for the entire movie, with not a hint of tortured soul about her. There's lots more. But the bottom line is, the promoters ran out of money really early, they stiffed the film guys, and in retaliation the film guys ran off with the film. Thirty years later about a third of it turned up in some garage, after being used as hockey pucks by the camera guy's kids for years. That was used to make the film (and, necessarily, determines what we get to see). The rest of it's still out there someplace, or gone forever. So this is definitely flawed. But it's also amazing and not to be missed. Can't find a ride like that no more, indeed.

there was an autograph on the booklet, and I had to think about whose it was before deciphering that it was Ian Tyson's. Ian and Sylvia, soon to be divorced, were also on this tour, and Sylvia's interviewed fairly extensively. Ian appears fleetingly off to the side of the stage every now and then, which was enough to make me go, OMG, Ian Tyson! I never got to see Ian and Sylvia live, but luckily got to know their stuff in college and it's in my DNA. And let's just say ol' Ian was a serious hottie. Probably knew it too, but between that voice and his songs (as I recall, "Four Strong Winds" was the first one he wrote, while recovering from rodeo injuries) you gotta give the man his due. Well, it turns out that pretty much for the last few decades he's had a thriving career in cowboy music, and not long after I got the DVD, he was in town playing the Freight. And, lemme tell you, he may be in his 70s and walk like he's been bucked off a few too many horses, but he's still pretty darn swoonworthy. I picked up a couple CDs while I was there, but had brought along the DVD just in case, and when it came to autograph time at the end of the show, I presented it. What's this? wondered one of his backup musicians, a beefy young dude named Gordon (both of them were named Gordon. One of the running jokes was that every Canadian child born in the '70s was named after Gordon Lightfoot, including the girls). So I started explaining, and said Ian and Sylvia were in it. "Sylvia's in it, I'm not," sez Ian. I kept explaining the thing to young Gordon, finishing up with "it's kind of hard to explain. It was a different time." "Yeah, it sure was a different time," says Ian. But he signed it.

John "Marmaduke" Dawson of the New Riders next to Janis above.

I've had the DVD for probably a couple of years, but never watched it because, as hinted earlier, the whole thing's kind of intense. So, finally watched it yesterday, with liberal use of the fine capabilities of freeze frame. Personally, I think it does better on the small screen, just because (as I recall) it was shot on essentially Super 8, and therefore the big screen really taxes its resolution. I was lucky enough to attend what I think was the first screening in SF, and the basketball-size grain of the film was sometimes an issue. On a TV screen, no problem. But the other thing--even though we're all here because we're Deadheads, as it were--so many of the other artists are just stunning. E.g. The Band. I'm here to say that at the aforementioned screening,it took about a verse and a half of "Slippin' and Sliding'" to get the mellow crowd on its feet screaming. On our way home from said screening, my friend Bennett and I got to talking about how much one's sense of The Band is formed by The Last Waltz (and rightly so; Martin Scorsese, what's not to like...), when, as Robbie Robertson so accurately said, they were at the point where they had to get off the road before it killed them. Here you see 'em eight years earlier, not so far removed from being the baddest-ass bar band in Canada, taking no prisoners. Every one of those guys just tears your heart out.

glad you found your way to us.

it is NOT a Grateful Dead production (hey, neither is Woodstock...) and one of the main reasons the release was delayed and the result is so fragmentary is that the promoters, while they treated the performers like gods, stiffed the crew bigtime, with the results that the camera guys ran off with the reels. It's something of a miracle that this was rescued at all; as I understand it the reels that were salvaged represent about a third of what was shot.

This is, of course, an oversimplification. But it is simply inaccurate to assert that the footage is in the GD vaults or that Rhino Records has jack to do with the whole thing. It's not even in the Store. And, as asserted above, while the Canadian National Film Board may have a full set, the Grateful Dead sure don't.

Hell, the Dead don't even get top billing on this. And they sure didn't call the tune.

It's still great.