Grateful Dead

I live 2.2 miles from work, generally takes 10-12 min but can be worse some days. I found that there is less traffic at 9:30 than 8:30, so I go in later and stay later.Due to my short commute it takes a few days to get through a show. Last week was 6-9-84, then started 6-10-84 on Friday, will finish that this week. Definitely need GOGD when in the car. Now watching Bob and Phil 3-3-18. Really miss Phil’s bass. No offense to Oteil who is great. But Phil is Grate. https://youtu.be/JORI6sK-OTY

Even though I have a better gig than most have to deal with, it is still rife with its own inherent none-sense. 2-21-71 has a nice warm-up-by-the-wood-burning-stove feel to it and is going perfectly with the sunset behind the hills here in Colorado. Already built the next weeks playlist, does anyone else prepare themselves for the coming week in such fashion? Hope everyone is having a remarkably good Sunday!

....treated myself to a sweet fountain pen the other day. Anyone notice that real ink is hard to find? It's all gel pens. Screw that noise. Gel sucks. My opinion. Random shit.

11/5/702/20/71 2/21/71 2/23/71 3/24/71 10/21/83 10/31/83 11/1/85 Miles Davis Bitches Brew Acid Mothers Temple Acid Mothers Temple X Los Angeles

80 minutes each way. I have the entire Grateful Dead catalog on my phone (with kick-ass music app that includes EQ), and a Blu tooth hookup to a good sound system in the car. I decide what to listen to pretty much on the spot. I usually try to stick with the same show, but sometimes I jump around. I'll say what I don't do on the car ride, and that's listen to many Roses, China Dolls, or Row Jimmy's. Once in awhile I'll let that ethereal Stella Blue from 11/4/77 wash over me; but generally, I want to economize on those precious 80 minutes, and let the uptempo, jammy, and moody pychedelic stuff pave the road. It's the best time for my Dead listening, because there are no interruptions and it's loud. Here's to fountain pens and random shit.

have become a very trendy gift among teenagers due in large part to the popularity of Hamilton.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=afzmwAKUppU http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680311.html http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680329.html ~ 8.6.82 ~ "Little Red Rooster" "Bird Song" ~ 9.27.81 ~ "Candyman" ~ 5.2.81 ~ "Scarlet Begonias" ~ > "Fire on the Mountain"

....I didn't buy one to be trendy. I bought one because they're smooth and comfortable in the hand. And they expand and contract. Calligraphy, here I come!

Because I'm retired, it kind of opens up the avenues of time and choice for listening to music. Basically, whenever and whatever I want to, that is. Only issue is that headphones are needed at home sometimes when the wife is around. Driving alone, however, opens other opportunities, even though it's no longer to get to work. Today was a normal, ideal 65-70 degree sunny day in the Bay Area. Drove up over the East Bay hills along Grizzly Peak road to the east into Contra Costa for an afternoon hike, where the green hills can make Ireland jealous after all the recent rains we've had. Took DaP 18 with me after the inspiration from the recent board discussions here about 1976. Only had time for one disc, so naturally it had to be disc 2. There are several pull over spots on Grizzly Peak drive with expansive and breathtaking views over the SF Bay to downtown SF and Marin County. On Sundays, a lot of weekenders go up there to relax and take in the views. So I felt it only right to roll down my windows and treat them to some Dave's Picks jams. Timing was good, as I passed there on the way over with the Comes a Time outro jam rolling, and the Eyes jam on the way back. Hope they enjoyed it, however briefly. Just trying to contribute my fair share to the locals and tourists while they gaze upon the view.

The one thing that sucks about a 10 min (on a bad day) commute, is I don't get enough time to listen to a good section of music, just a song, possibly two, maybe less than a full tune, maybe a lot less, depending on cowboy tune or Dark Star, etc. But I have 32gb, 64gb, and 128gb USBs in my car, chock full of Dead, String Cheese, Phish, ABB, Floyd, and albums from all kinds of genres from Miles Davis to Bela Fleck. So I take pleasure in my longer trips to play music by finding some really good inspirational playing to meditate over. (On long trips with the wife, we alternate, and I also try to throw in Motown, Bob Marley, Paul Simon and other stuff we mutually dig. She can't stand Phish or Cheese, but says the dead annoy her least, and I've caught her grooving to them on more than one occasion, Bertha and Samson especially catch her, and now she likes Don't Let Go since my band started playing that.) But even those ballads you mention I tend not to skip. Especially China Doll, since it usually means a ripping Eyes just preceded it, and they usually were able to catch their collective breath with China Doll, and Phil does some masterful quiet playing that reminds me of Entwistle on Getting In Tune. I will skip Little Red Rooster or later Look Like Rains. The Bobby histrionics just kill me. Hell in a Bucket can get there, too, but it usually at least rocks out enough to compensate. But I miss those days where I had a 30+ min commute, I got some serious listening done. It probably left me in a better mood as I walked into work then, too...

Fountain pens discriminate against left-handed people. Whenever I used one it would always smear me.

brought to you by "By now you know that the face on your dollar Got a thumb on its nose and a hand on your collar" for me, 23 minutes there, 30-40 back good listening time a good car stereo is a nice thing to have driving for UberEats is a way to listen to GD and make money at the same time

first time he heard "Day Job", he thought it was a TV show theme song

Not implying that you would ever be trendy, vguy. Rather, I find it very cool that this generation is finally fascinated with something so elegant as oppossed to being tied to their cell phones. Problem for me is they can get quite expensive.

pretty good camouflage for a THC oil smoker

11/1/852/28/81

....I can see the resemblance. They both expand and contract! Sploosh!

I hardly drive at all now-maybe about 10 minutes every week, just to keep the battery running. So I felt quite nostalgic reading about other people listening while in the car. My favourite journey for doing this was when I used to visit my parents, which was an 11 hour round trip, done in two journeys. I loved listening to whole shows from beginning to end, without a break-something I never do now. The shows that seemed to work best, and my favourite at that time, were ones from 1973. 26th May at Kezar Stadium was one that worked really well. But my all time greatest listening experience in a car was in 1990, when I went to the West Coast of America with my then girlfriend. I only took one show, as she didn't like the Dead much-and that was Stanley Theatre 26th September 1972. It was amazing driving ( or being driven to be precise-I couldn't drive then) through the wonderful American country side listening to the Dead. When we got to San Francisco, as we were driving over the Golden Gate Bridge we were listening to Playing in the Band from that show. After we arrived we went to Haight Ashbury and then on to the City Lights book shop owned by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. What a great day that was! When we got back to England, I heard that the Dead were going to play 3 nights in London in October-November, which was the perfect homecoming news.

Well I got that wrong about the band peaking early! While the first set is a collection of well played songs, the second is a beautiful dream fugue of a set that transcends the some of its parts. Maybe that is what differentiates a good show from a great one. The good are composed of strong versions of songs, whereas the great go beyond the songs that are played. If that makes sense.

I, too, am stuck with a 15-mile commute which, in turn, repays me with a 45 minute car ride if I'm lucky...usually longer. BUT, as others have noted, it certainly affords me some down-home GD time. Whoever it was that declared they have a shoe box full of CDRs...me too! I actually bought these snap-together small banker-type boxes a few months ago that are the perfect CD size so that definitely helps. But yeah I have a mad conglomeration of ripped CDs, mixes (aka Sixtus' Picks) and even (blasphemous!) a few actual copies of Dave's Picks hanging around in there. I also have a cassette deck still. Yes. that is correct. A cassette deck. I will spin a copy of DaP 18 from time to time in there, just for nostalgia's sake. But the warble is ever-present, of course. Sad will be the day when I go to get my next car and will have to negotiate simply having a CD player in there. I couldn't even imagine not having one... Traffic is the bane of my existence. Sixtus

It was a great Saturday: house to myself, a nice fire in the stove, a few IPAs and something edible and DP8 on vinyl. It's crazy; I have probably listened to that show on CD/ digitally I don't know how many times, but it seemed to take on a different life on vinyl. It was warm and had depth (I'm sure being able to solely focus on the music helped as well). It felt like you were sitting on stage with the boys. It was clear, funny, raucous, and amazing. By the time they got electric, I was up and dancing around my living room like a nut- I wonder if the neighbors caught a glimpse. Haha! The Cold Rain and Snow was a nice surprise- a longer instrumental intro than normal and maybe a little rough around the edges, but I'm glad it was included- wish it was on the original release. Overall, it was just an incredible way to spend the afternoon/ evening. Can't wait to do it all over again- though I don't think the wife has any plans to take the boys anywhere anytime soon. The packaging/ book/ the whole thing is just awesome. Definitely glad I grabbed it. Is it time for a Box announcement yet? Ark, please!

tapes always n tha car 9 28 75 full show 9 27 76 set 2 6 9 77 set 2 9 2 78 set 2 4 22 79 set 2 also a box of random reconstruction an legion of mary tapes nothin beats rowing down tha bayou with tha boombox blastin thelma 69 an pow wow tapes tha gators love it

...this release is Primo, beautiful work all around for this release.Don’t miss out ! and order a copy while they are still available! Gratefully presented in high quality :)

Pretty darn tough and very few tapes coming out of the cassette housing, fidelity and tape hiss issues were a problem.I still have a few left, all GD and 1 or 2 JGB tapes. Almost all CDs except for some vinyl. I've got 2 decks at home but nothing in the car nor a boombox. I'm looking for nice hand-drawn and hand lettered j-cards for 5/8/77.

Dead of the Day: March 12, 1966http://gratefuldeadoftheday.com/03-12-1966 Danish Center Los Angeles, California The Dead of the Day is from 1966, and, really, that is all we should need to say. The Viola Lee is phenomenal with really crisp riffs and an almost pop delivery to the vocals, making it clear the Dead are still exploring their sound and at least somewhat influenced by the Top 40 radio of the day. But do not be lulled into complacency as the picking jams during the second half of the tune are lights out. As the show goes on, we get a couple of first time played songs, including You See a Broken Heart, which was not just the first time, but, also, the only time it was played. The Ice Cream Break banter is pretty humorous towards the end, and then the Dead go into another sweet blues jam in the Stormy Monday rendition that rivals the end of the Viola Lee. In all, the show is an enticing piece of early Dead. Taken as a whole, it might not be as well constructed as some others from the era, but it absolutely shows you something about the evolution of the band’s sound. This is primal Dead at its most raw, still searching for how it will rise out of the water and start walking on the land.

I am a road warrior. 1-2k miles/month. GOGD all the time, everytime. Rotation of DP and DaP along with the 96 pack of burned goodies. One GOGD disc is too much, a thousand is not enough. Have fun in the snow, you darn yankees. Hope to take the snow tube out for a maiden voyage tomorrow!

Hey all. I’ve enjoyed the wonderful posts intermittently over the past couple few months. Been super busy coaching high school wrestling and teaching math and science, so may have missed a little. Good thing we have both sports and academia. Who’d wanna choose between ‘em? Who’d break up Boxilla? Who argues about various GD time periods? Who would start listening to GD later in life? Oh, welcome to Maine. I was a fan of the GOGD from about 8th grade on. I became obsessed later in life when the archive and I met around ‘05-‘06. Back then I was able to download shows, and I took full advantage. I then became, and still am, consumed with the official release stuff. Wholly crap there’s a ton of released material! My commute is about 12 miles out of Atlantic City and back on the Expressway with a little bit of suburbia to round out the 23 minute drive. Driving is dangerous in jersey, no matter what time of day. I can’t concentrate enough to enjoy music the way I want to while I drive. My inferior car radio is usually tuned to Temple Jazz / Classical station. It’s purely background as I use it to calm my nerves and keep me driving safely. I don’t know, maybe it’s my base model car stereo or the fact I’m afraid to zone out a little while I drive. I can zone out grooving while cooking dinner or sitting on the couch during deadicated listening sessions… driving?….eh, notsomuch. I say bring on autonomous cars! Then I’ll kick back and enjoy some GOGD on the go. I’ll be the first person to turn over my keys, sit back and relax. Yes. I trust the computer programmers, and engineers hella more than I do the average vacationer texting, or the person who gets off work tired texting, or the person who left home pissed off texting, or the person putting on make up…texting, or the teenager / twenty year old person instagramming, facebooking, snap chatting, and texting. This whole driving cars thing is crazy; albeit necessary. Random shit. I much prefer time machine travel. Cheers all!

hey y'all 2/27/81 2/27/81 2/27/81 "let there be pre-86 80s Grateful Dead to fill the air"

A gem!

3/3/71 a tasty little sucker

Old Chief Smokum - Can't agree with you more on DP 8 Vinyl. I've had it for a couple weeks now and it keeps finding its way back on my turn table along with The Keystone Companions Box Set. I have also listened to DP 8 on CD, but mostly on Spotify and numerous times as I love the acoustic jam, but there is nothing that compares to this fully remastered version on vinyl. Jerry's voice and slanky (is slanky a word?) guitar form a sweet lullaby to my ears. So effing good.... I think that is why I like the Keystone box set with Merle so much, reminds me of Jerry in 70 and 71. Check it out if you have not! Much Love to Doc for showing me the light lately! 2/21/71 on my hit list next. In Doc's words... Rock on, CJ

Mr Graham!!!!! Morning, rockers!!!! Mr Miller et al have just unleashed an upgraded, newly remastered FM of 12/31/71, nice upgrade over the previously circulating Lanum remaster. Anybody who needs/wants, you know where to find me........ Agree with stoltzfus: 3/3/71---underrated show (hey HF--good Pigpen show!), poor sound quality on commonly circulating copies. 3/24/71--hot show, great sound quality. Thanks to Mr Miller, for all he does!!!! Rock on! Doc

I used to enjoy driving and listening to music back in the day, but it seems now that cars are a massive problem. Far too many cars in England-everywhere you go you have to wait for them to pass, belching pollution, killing small animals-and some bigger ones. A lot of people in cars also seem to feel its okay to be rude to other people, as they feel protected in the metal bubble. I would like to see car ownership confined to people who need them for work purposes only. I can remember also, occasionally when I was driving longer distances, I would look out of the window, and think "Where am I?" and "How did I get here?" The same thing can happen when you are walking, or waking up, but it isn't as dangerous.

Hasn't arrived in England yet, but I am not concerned this morning. Hopefully it will arrive in one piece fairly soon. If it does, and it meets my expectations-as I am sure it will-maybe I will get that November 1967 vinyl release if it is still available.

DP 8 won't disappoint-- one of the best listens I've had in a very long time. They did an amazing job with this one. Quality all around. The Shrine '67 is another trip- tons of energy, great jams- Viola leads off and kills it. Morning Dew is great. A New Potato Caboose- what's not to love? Alligator into Caution to wrap it up. A great 3 lp set. I saw it online for $55, not bad. Here's the link: https://www.deepdiscount.com/goog/081227950118?&gclid=eaiaiqobchmirf-9w… Hope DP 8 gets to you soon- it's worth the wait. Ark! Ark! Ark!

What's the deal, it's like crickets around here for new releases....Hell, we knew about DP#25-26 the first week of JAnuary.....and PLEAS don't tell me the nauseating live greatest hits or "singles" count as new, just more regurgitation!!! Bring on the SPRING box set already...IS it shows from the Greek over the years or not?!?!?!

"IS it shows from the Greek over the years or not?!?!?!" Yes or no.

Doc, noted that 3/3 and 3/24 1971 are recommended. Much obliged for the advice. Gotta go now! And the inmates are rattling the cage for a new box. I feel Summer '73 coming on (or is that a pistol in my pocket?), but realistically, given the returned tapes barrage, I'm wondering if it's 1976. I doubt the returned tapes included any '80s material.

Here's a nice hypothetical box set, all from Betty Boards: 06.10.76 The Boston Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts 06.11.76 The Boston Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts 06.14.76 The Beacon Theater, New York City 06.15.76 The Beacon Theater, New York City 06.29.76 The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, Illinois You could even throw in 6-28 with it.

They should come out with a release along the lines of "Greyfolded", where they use the process called "plunderphonics" to build, layer and fold every version of every Donna and Bob scream from "Playing in the Band" and "One More Saturday Night" (and some of the "Estimated Profit" screams as well). They could call it "Caterwauling: The Banshee Tapes". Ideally, they could edit out all of the instrumentation and musical content and just present the screaming unaccompanied, in full 24 bit HD surround sound.

Maybe they're waiting for Phil's birthday to unveil the new Box......

Like Guss West below, I too drive a lot for work, about +/- 2000 miles per month. I started this a couple of years ago and, coincidentally or not, that's when I started getting deep into the Dead. They are ideal driving music, as they jam on for long periods, their 3-hour concerts just about fill a typical commute for me, and they don't get me keyed up and enraged the way some of my other listening choices might. (Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats are a great band, but y'know, probably best to leave them out of the car.) Like several of us, I have been on a 1971 tear lately, courtesy of forensic doc. Thanks doc! But also I've been grooving to the Download Series from ( I guess) a few years back. Haven't seen people give that one much love, or else I haven't noticed... But Volume 1 is really good (4/30/77), as is the Family Dog show from 2/4/70 with lots of Pig. Also, advice needed: I missed Boxzilla in 2015 but I have come into a little bit of money. Not an outrageous amount, but enough to treat myself to something. I am seeing Boxzilla on ebay for under $1200, which amounts to less than $15 per disc. I'm tempted... Is it worth the outlay? This is about a 40% markup over the original price, which does not seem outrageous for a limited edition item which is long since sold out. It's also a nice overview of the whole 30 years, which is appealing (and not likely to happen through DaP for a very long time, as others have pointed out.) But I have seen comments here that are critical of some of the performances and, especially, the recording quality of some of these shows. So I'm curious what others think. Thanks!

No way do I drop that kind of money on the box. Not sure what box sets you already have, but for that kind of cash I would purchase both FW69 and E72, then use whatever is left over to purchase individual shows.

Only a sick mind could come up with an idea like that... but what to call it? "Music To Slit Your Wrists To" sounds kind of dark... Tell you what, it would be a hell of a thing for our U.S. Army Special Ops to blast outside of ISIS and Al-Qaeda strongholds... we'd have the enemy surrendering in no time.

I'm glad I got it. I can remember thinking when it came out that there were an awful lot of shows included from years I don't listen to much. The shows I listen to most are from 1968-1974, and , though I hate to admit it..1977. That meant I would be shelling out for about 20 shows I wasn't sure I would like. But I can honestly say that I have never been disappointed with a single show I have listened to in the box. And what has happened is that shows from some years that I don't usually listen to-the one in 1988 comes to mind-have shown what I have been missing, and have inspired me to seek out more from the year. I cant remember any details of this 1988 show as I write now-just that I enjoyed it. But its like anything-taste is subjective. Hopefully you will get some feedback from people who see things completely differently from me, then you can sift through and decide if its for you or not. I wouldn't go without food for it.

My best guess is a March '73 box with 4-5 shows. This would make me extremely happy.

Daverock and AJS, thanks for your input. I think I will need to mull this a while... AJS, to answer your question, the only box sets I have are GSTL and Winterland 73. I plan to buy the May 78 box soon. I would love Winterland 77 and Fillmore West 69, but they are even pricier (per disc) than Boxzilla. They each routinely sell on ebay for +/-$400 each, about $40 per disc. The big box seemed a better way to get more bang per buck, so to speak. And the range of shows appeals too... The Europe 72 set is appealing but I'm wary of the repetition from show to show, perhaps needlessly. But there are an awful lot of songs not contained on those 73 discs, that find their way onto the 80 disc TTATS. That said, I'm aware that the Fillmore 69 set is viewed by many as the single best release from the GD, ever... Aaargh! More confused than ever :-) I know, first world problems...

Maine, I have all the box sets you mentioned, but enjoy FW69 and E72 the most. By far. With regard to E72, the first sets can be similar, but the appeal is in the second sets. Maybe grab yourself an individual show or two from E72 to see for yourself. When I first purchased FW69, I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I do. The recording itself is exceptional. Looking at the cost per disk is one way to arrive at your conclusion. However, I measure it more on how many times am I inclined to listen to a particular release. I have plenty of $10 disks that are still "riding the pine" since the first listen.

I bought both of these sets and still listening to shows. My favorite show seems to be the last one I listen to. Yeah I know that's a lot of money. But I do the same thing with Miles and Dylan, just got to have them. Buy what you can live with to the extend to avoid the purchase creating internal issues. Freud said if you suppress your natural desires , they become unnatural. Got back into Vinyl recently and bought DP 8 on vinyl sounds really good.Only issue had damaged disc and took four emails before someone at Brookvale got back to me. Waiting two weeks for replacement disc.

I didn't want to miss out on this box, because it was the first one that was available since I became a dead head. However I was not interested in anything after Keith and Donna. So I bought it and then sold the leftovers, which worked out to be 17 shows. So if you want some but not all that's one way to go about it. I paid about 200 bucks for Dave's Picks Volume 4, William & Mary, September 1976. The audio on here is probably the worst of any non 1974 70s release. I'm not complaining, I bring it to light because I wonder how this came to be, when I consider every other show from this time. Is a magnificent Betty Board. In fact it's not even in stereo. When I hit the mono button nothing changes. Does anyone know what happened with this one?