Grateful Dead

First, congratulations on the arrival of a new addition to your family! Bless you and your family. Anyway, I felt compelled to jump in here because of your very interesting posts on the subject of higher consciousness, the Tao (OK, I added that part, but it's the same point), and the different ways people may find their way there. I am reminded of a story in I book a read long ago by Ram Dass, who was an associate of Timothy Leary. Now, my memory is not great, and it has been at least 25+ years since I read this book, but if I remember correctly, Ram Dass traveled to India in search of a Guru, which he did eventually find. So, he gives this Guru an extremely large dose of LSD, fully expecting said Guru to lose his mind. Much to his surprise, this Guru does not seem at all fazed by this mega-dose of LSD. Ram Dass asks him, "How did you like the LSD?" The Guru responds, "It was very good, but not as good as meditation." Perhaps in the same book, or maybe somewhere else, I remember reading something that has stayed with me all these years and made perfect sense to me...(paraphrasing here)... The person who takes LSD is essentially drowning in the mystic waters that the meditation practitioner swims in. That is to say, that LSD offers an ephemeral glimpse of the hidden reality we are usually unaware of, while the practitioner, little by little, learns to master it. Which only makes sense when you think about it; one puts a little blotter on his tongue, while the other spends years perfecting his art. You get out of it what you put into it. I don't think there are any shortcuts. This is not a judgment on my part (I have been on both paths personally in my life; fleetingly, in both instances), but rather an observation based on personal experience. Take from it what you will. But back to the Grateful Dead...there is no doubt in my mind, that what the boys did was as close as one could get to the "oneness" with the universe that can be attained through music. There are times when you listen to the Dead where you hear, without question, that they have, as musicians and as a group, transcended time and space, and have reached the pinnacle of "being here now" with the music. Or, as we all know, many times "the music played the band." I once seriously considered giving my Zen Master/Martial Arts Master (I'm talking 26 years ago) a bootleg tape of the boys to listen to, just to see what he would say. I never did, figuring (probably correctly) that he wouldn't have the baseline knowledge of Americana music to really appreciate the transcendent nature of it, and to experience what I did. Anyway, all that is to say, that I know just what you're talking about. And I agree...the Grateful Dead do often open the door to that realm for us as well.

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"Take your 16-shooter up to the mountains to protect yourself from the liberal masses, don't care." I AM a Liberal, silly. Don't expect you to understand what that really means, though. Few today do. I won't hold it against you, though. I know, the gun thing has you all confused, doesn't it. Heh. Sorry about that.

4.25.71 - Fillmore East - New York, NY

My dreams were riding tall.. _____________________________________ Yea, I have no idea what the implications are of a contract extension vs. letting the contract expire might be. I have no idea what's going to happen and I imagine we won't find anything out until it in the rear view mirror. I can't imagine GD Merchandising would want to take this in-house again though. The website would have to be completely rebuilt or absorbed, manufacturing would have to be spec'd out and outsourced and they would be responsible for marketing, distribution, warehousing, etc. David Lemieux would likely become even more distracted than we thought possible. Unless Rhino really pissed off someone in the organization (which is possible) I would think they have a shot at renewing this. Then it becomes an issue of money, terms and contract iterations. Then again, if the money wasn't right.. they could afford to take it in house and beef up their staffing, etc. I also wonder if the overall strategy would change as Kayak Guy seems to think, specifically less emphasis on CD's and more on digital and vinyl. I have no information on this, but I can't see them turning their back on CD's and Box Sets just yet, its currently their bread and butter for all things GD. I bet its happening now though.. so either we will find out or we won't in which case it will be business as usual. To complicate things, I hear wjonjd is just days away from finishing his tunnel and punching through building foundation five floors below the vault. When he finishes the contract details will be moot and we will be marketing KeithFan's picks from our island in the Pacific. Apparently the drought has made the soil there rock hard... so digging has been arduous and slow. On that note.. back to my regularly scheduled listening of 4/25/77, what a great Wharf Rat > PITB out of drums. Mesmerizing... _________________________ Walking along in the Mission In The Rain

First off congrats Sixtus on the paper and the imminent arrival of #2, it must be busy in the Sixtus household right now. The GDM final release was April 2006, it was Download series #12. That was 10 years ago this month. Given that it takes a while to put together the packaging and distribution, the contract was probably finalized in summer 2006. The first Rhino release was Jan 2007 with Live at the Cow Palace, which was followed with 3 from the Vault in June 2007 both from multitracks and then Road Trips Vol 1 #1 in November 2007 which was the first of the Rhino 2 track releases. Like I said, ten years of the original deal is probably close to the end and has the rest of Dave's Picks 2016 and a fall box left still under contract. I predict more downloads and vinyl releases, that's where Rhino makes the best margin and CDs are continued as limited releases for the hardcore collectors.

So Kayak Guy, just catching up from...A Little Diversion...I was never aware of the Ten Year Deal....is this true? I Love the link provided, and the threads, but they are loooooooong....I'm not sure I can make it to the end. But listen - I think we all can get what we want, when we want it - via The Archive - even if only still via stream - but there are other avenues too, here. A friendly poke or request usually does it; gratitude and offerings abound. Those who receive, give. And vice versa! I couldn't be happier with whatever has been released since whenever. I recall gathering XLII's and reveling in each thread of tape; what has landed and continues to arrive in our laps is amazing all things considered. And KeithFan, I'd love to trade Snoke Theories. My mind's been churning since mid-December. Sixtus

No clue about FE April 71, haven't read anything on that. No insider knowledge, silly little goose egg, just reading what's published publicly!

Longshoreman's Hall - San Francisco, CA - 4.24.66

seems like you have some insider knowledge ?