Grateful Dead

I missed at least 4 Dead shows here in the DFW area. One was at Dallas Memorial Auditorium in 1972 which was right across the street from my place of employment at the time and apparently again in 1973 at the new Dallas Convention Center, an extension of Memorial Auditorium. Another was at Texas Christian University "TCU" Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. I was 20 at the time, it was a Sunday night and I can only imagine what I was doing while this show was going on. I did manage to get a CD of I think half of this show which is the "bonus" disc for Road Trips Vol 3 No. 2 Austin Texas. While I was looking for any history on the Dead playing around these parts, I found a great article from TCU Magazine, about the day the Grateful Dead played TCU. Especially since it was in the aftermath of Jefferson Airplane playing the same venue and causing "turmoil"! I've linked to it, (although I can't get the "link" function to work for me). Hope that's OK...well worth the read! http://www.magazine.tcu.edu/Magazine/Article.aspx?ArticleId=216#comments

Since I moved five hours north of Toronto I've missed plenty of concerts that I would have liked to have gone to, but nothing stung more than missing Furthur at the Ottawa Blues Fest 2010. Dead related shows are a rarity in this country and I'm afraid I'll never get the chance again. If I had to pick one concert that I would have loved to see but couldn't because of my age it would probably be any Bob Marley show. If I could only time travel...

wjonjd - Glad you enjoyed :). The Talking Heads have always been in my top 5 bands and I am so thankful this video is out there. Sums up a great tour from that time period. Always creative and interesting. For the life of me I don't know how the audience remains seated throughout. Must have been a directive from the producers of the Sessions at West 54th show.

I checked out that link, figured I'd watch a little to see what you were talking about. Couldn't stop watching till it was over. Thanks!

Catching this show at the old "Bible Speaks" campus in Lenox, MA helped to make up for it. Takes from this tour are featured here. Classic and oozes with creativity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUiUx4c6Imk&list=RDDUiUx4c6Imk#t=0

Talking Heads 10/6/83 - Stop Making Sense Tour Bill Monroe - 1993 Grateful Dead Oregon - 1992 (Jerry health problems) Missing these shows eats at me to this day...gotta let it go ;)

As it happens, it's her version of Sempre Libera I like best of all the ones I've heard.

I stumbled onto his version with Jan Peerce et al some years ago, and reading the liner notes realized that Toscanini KNEW Verdi, etc. What I have is the dress rehearsal recording, which is apparently notorious for having exhausted the cast so much they were still worn out for the official opening. What's cool about this recording (and startling till you realize what's going on) is that Toscanini's microphone is on, so you hear his various exclamations and directions.

I wasn't thinking along those lines, but that would have been great. The Sing Sing Sing for the ages. I've heard stories about how at the beginning of the show, Krupa thought they were all stiff and nervous, and just suddenly went OFF hitting everything he had as loud as he could, not to wake up the audience, but to wake up the band. Evidently, it worked. They were nervous because Carnegie had never hosted a jazz band, it was a high class tuxedo set kind of thing. One of the band described it as feeling like being a whore at the Waldorf Astoria. Once Krupa got them shaken up a little, everything was aces from there. Another show I wish I could have seen was one of the 1955 Maria Callas Norma's or Traviata's. Actually I'd die happy if I could have seen her in anything. And, finally, how about the first Beethoven 9th which he conducted (sort of, the players were instructed to ignore him and pay attention to the concertmaster) himself.

I don't think Verdi conducted his works (or anybody's), but at least you can get recordings of Arturo Toscanini conducting some of his works. Toscanini played cello in the premiere of Otello and I believe also met and got to know Verdi a little. He also conducted the premieres of Puccini's La Boheme, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and many other premiers. Historically, it's cool to be able to hear him perform these works. Unfortunately, I really don't like his approach to music and conducting and even in "historical" performances I prefer others. I don't know if you know about the controversies (musical, not all the other b.s.) about Maria Callas' performances. A lot of opera 'snobs' look down at her relative to other sopranos in similar repertoire. The main issue is that she doesn't have a traditionally beautiful voice at all. It can be harsh, piercing, and has a metallic feel to it. The issue, much like with GD music, is that you really need to listen from a different perspective. The best way I can describe it is that she turned that "ugly" voice into the most expressive instrument I've ever heard in my life. And so, what she does with it, as a means of communication, communicating directly from the soul, is simply unbelievable and beautiful in a much more profound sense then hearing a pretty voice sing great arias. It's actually in the moments in between "arias" that her most amazing moments occur. After listening to her obsessively over a long period of time, it got to the point where operas without her were just plain boring. I got over it, especially after I developed a Wagner addiction, and she doesn't sing those (except for a small role once in Parsifal - in Italian!) One last thing on Traviata - she only recorded the opera once in the studio (contract issues followed by timing issues), and I still prefer it to other studio performances just because of her. But, just like GD, bootlegs of live performances were key (they're still occasionally finding ones unknown to have existed). EMI has released some of them, but I don't think all. In any case, my favorite is maybe the last one that there is a recording of, at Covent Garden on 6-20-58. Her voice has lost much of the strength of earlier years, has now become inconsistent, is not completely in control at the top - it's almost just a wisp at times relative to in earlier years. She gets through some of the coloratura stuff early in the opera by the skin of her teeth so to speak. But her artistry, which was always genius-level-unbelievable-can-you-believe-how-she-can-make-you-feel, has by this point reached just - well reached as high as art can go. It really just has to be heard with ears and soul and heart ready to hear beyond the physical sound of her voice. GET THIS RECORDING.