Grateful Dead

York Farm - April 26, 1970 Five stars not enough for this one!Just as the Dead were tuning up, there was an aerial bombardment from a monoplane plowing furrows like a speed boat in blue sky - I swear I saw him (Kesey?) lean out the window and give the peace sign! Multi-colored peaces of paper fluttering into the trees to the NE. Everybody was waiting for instructions, looking at the Dead, who were looking at the trees. A female voice off mike said something like, "go ahead and get the blotters - they won't start playing until you get the blotters," like you won't miss anything... Jerry & Pigpen kind of nodded, and the blotters were retrieved. Lovelight came early (so did I), and I remember Pigpen grunting, and Jerry tilting the red SG (I could swear it had the Bigsby tailpiece, but it's not in the photos) and ripples of paisley or something with those Blue Bland horn riffs. Everybody took their hands out of their pockets... The Other One appeared early on its own, and later as part of "That's It For The Other One." They must have played every song they knew - 4-5 hours - Dark Star at sunset -St. Stephen caused Turquoise Navajo rug/Tibetan mandala diamonds and triangles. Very dry and dusty - water from tanker truck(s), which ran dry and made a run for a refill. When the truck returned, the driver hit the air horn with a syncopated synchronistic "Honk-Honk" - right in time w/the jam. My friend Laurel said she saw Kesey and was sure he vibed at her that he "wanted" her. He wants everybody, Laurel, but then, everybody wants you, anyway... After the Dead, Kesey ("everybody light a match!") consulted the oracle and got "Fire in the Heavens - Possession in Great Measure." I forget which hexagram # that is. That meant either something really great - or we would be busted for possession (in great measure). I'll have to check Confucius' commentary.

Oh yeah - I remember people were getting up to dance, stretch, or gawk. People behind them yelled at them to Sit Down! They yelled back, "Stand Up!"This went on for a minute or so, till Phil got on the mike and said (mockingly whining), "Stand Up! Sit Down! Do what you want!" which got applause.

A long article on the Sound Storm festival in Poynette and the Dead's performance, with lots of photos, is online here: http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wmh,50344 (Wisconsin Magazine of History, spring 2010) No tapes have been found, unfortunately.

I helped set up the stage for this rock festival. It was the first time I saw the Grateful Dead play. Can't say I understood their importance yet. But, it was different. Wasn't until I heard the "Live Dead" album that I got it.

Thanks to Olompali for links to the pix, to Bob Pulling for taking the pix, and to miedmonds for the link to the Wisconsin Magazine of History article. I figured out that you can download the whole issue as a .pdf by clicking the "Download" button. That's the best way to read it. http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/50344 Memories jogged. Minneapolis's Sorry Muthas played (Friday Night?) https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sorry-Muthas/348563205183419 Papa John Kolstad still gigs around the Twin Cities http://www.papajohnkolstad.com/ https://www.facebook.com/papajohn.kolstad It wasn't a fixed-wing plane, but a helicopter? Sheesh, hope I'm never called as a witness. The article says, "Although he received second billing, Ken Kesey did not actually attend." The guy that threw the I Ching after the Dead played sure sounded like him. Whatever - he's always with us. Thanks to The Golden Freak, promoter Pete Obranovich and landowner Irene York, who threw caution to the winds to make the gig happen. We overuse the word "epic," but that weekend lives up to the billing. Was that Pete doing the Neal Cassady-style raps on and off mike all weekend, and following us out of the grounds Sunday night? Whoever it was, thanks for the memories!

1.Cryptical Envelopment > 2.Drums > 3.The Other One 4.Dark Star > 5.Saint Stephen > 6.The Eleven > 7.Turn On Your Lovelight 8.Death Don't Have No Mercy 9.Alligator > 10.Feedback

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I have heard about that concert since I was a little kid fishing at the York farm and never relalized how cool it was until reading some of these stories and great times had there. I do know the main thing bobo through out of the helicopter was flyers with all the undercover cops pictures and names on it. That's a riot and I am not sure about the blotters but do not doubt it.....Peace

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I have heard about that concert since I was a little kid fishing at the York farm and never relalized how cool it was until reading some of these stories and great times had there. I do know the main thing bobo through out of the helicopter was flyers with all the undercover cops pictures and names on it. That's a riot and I am not sure about the blotters but do not doubt it.....Peace

Thanks to everyone who has posted memories and links and evidence that this show really happened. I had heard about it years-- heck, decades-- ago, from a rather unlikely source, a friend and one-time roommate, now long since gone, who said he "hated" the Grateful Dead. "Why," I asked, "do you hate the Grateful Dead?" "When I was fifteen," he replied, "I went up to Madison, Wisconsin over Easter break and visited my sister who was a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin. My sister had missed out on Woodstock, so she decided to take me to a rock concert she heard they were having at some farm somewhere out in the sticks that weekend--" "What's wrong with that?" I interrupted. "Sounds like a fun time!" "That's what I thought, too," he said. "But I don't remember any other bands. All I remember is the Grateful Dead. And they wouldn't stop. They kept playing. They played," he said, and rolled his eyes, "for EIGHT HOURS. Eight hours of the same stuff. Over and over. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I'll never see the Grateful Dead again. I HATE the Grateful Dead." For years I wondered if this show ever really existed. It didn't appear on the various show and venue lists that circulated among Dead Heads and in the early books and periodicals that attempted to chronicle the band's history. My late friend had taken a lot of drugs at a young age and I began to wonder if he had imagined the whole thing. And now I just wish we could've traded places that weekend!

Thanks to everyone who has posted memories and links and evidence that this show really happened. I had heard about it years-- heck, decades-- ago, from a rather unlikely source, a friend and one-time roommate, now long since gone, who said he "hated" the Grateful Dead. "Why," I asked, "do you hate the Grateful Dead?" "When I was fifteen," he replied, "I went up to Madison, Wisconsin over Easter break and visited my sister who was a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin. My sister had missed out on Woodstock, so she decided to take me to a rock concert she heard they were having at some farm somewhere out in the sticks that weekend--" "What's wrong with that?" I interrupted. "Sounds like a fun time!" "That's what I thought, too," he said. "But I don't remember any other bands. All I remember is the Grateful Dead. And they wouldn't stop. They kept playing. They played," he said, and rolled his eyes, "for EIGHT HOURS. Eight hours of the same stuff. Over and over. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I'll never see the Grateful Dead again. I HATE the Grateful Dead." For years I wondered if this show ever really existed. It didn't appear on the various show and venue lists that circulated among Dead Heads and in the early books and periodicals that attempted to chronicle the band's history. My late friend had taken a lot of drugs at a young age and I began to wonder if he had imagined the whole thing. And now I just wish we could've traded places that weekend!