Grateful Dead

drchampagneI remember it as though it was 33 years ago! I lived pretty close to Winterland & liked to watch them load in whenever they played there & maybe be lucky enough to catch a soundcheck. I remember noticing a lot more speaker boxes than usual being unloaded from the truck (a bright yellow Ryder 40 foot cab-over semi if memory is actually serving). We snuck in & planted ourselves on the houseleft side downstairs by the big exit doors onto Post St in the back row so as not to attract attention. There it was like nothing we'd ever imagined--the giantest Grateful Dead sound system ever! Just boxes & boxes of JBL's in various sizes stacked to the ceiling! It was as though they had been listening to our innermost wishes as our appetite for volume & clarity was voracious & insatiable. I guess theirs was too. What was most memorable about this soundcheck was Phil standing at the back of the floor watching & listening to Jack Cassidy playing his (Phil's) rig onstage--the old Alembicized Guild through more power than ever before. Phil was noticably "jacked-up" over it as was Jack & us! We were just getting comfortable & looking forward to the band getting up there to try out this new rocketship when Steve Parrish noticed us & immediately came & physically removed us from the premises, dammit! (I've since spoken to Parrish about the (non)event which he didn't remember & he cordially apologized--he's become quite the nice guy long after John Belushi lampooned him as a jerk on SNL!). I remember those 4 shows at Winterland as being vastly superior to the actual advertised "Soundcheck" the next month at the Cow Palace. Everything was always better at Winterland--we thought the Cow Palace was aptly named.

This show was very good. By now I had been in the Bay area for a few months. I must admit I was parting so much I really needed to go back out to sea to get some rest and make a living. I really enjoyed Eyes of the World. Truck'n was my national athem as it was for many people then and now. I had started to not go to many shows. Thinking back now I realize that what I missed was the small movie type venues that the DEAD and other bands played at. I guess I did'nt want to share the DEAD experiance with so many people at once. The crowds were so large at the Colusium and large stadiums. The DEAD had to get out there message, and a lot of people wanted to hear it, They all wanted to get on the BUS and Captain Trips wanted to take them to that place we all come to know. Just over the Horizon. I still like going there.