The Grateful Dead May 1977 Poll

I'm listening to Scarlet on the Cornell show (for the first time) and Keith's piano is quite good.

Buffalo imo

I think Cornell is still my fave, but Buffalo is pretty close too -- going to have to revisit all of these, I guess.
I also am a big fan of May 19, which was released as Dick's Picks -- tons of great stuff there.

I wasn't able to get into it earlier, but I'm gonna give Cornell another shot.

And looking at the setlists, did they really not play "Truckin'" at the Buffalo show? Because that's kind of a hilarious dick move.

try the audience tape of cornell, it is probably my preferred version.
i think they only played "tennessee jed" once in tennessee so maybe they were wary of that kinda thing.

Didn't stop them from playing "One More Saturday Night" on many a Saturday night!

I don't know all of these, so I'm not voting, but Cornell does not contain either "Sugaree" or "Help on the Way," and those are two of my favorite pieces of Dead music, so I'm putting on Dick's Picks 3 now. (5/22 Pembroke Pines, FL.)

yeah the 77 sugarees are so nice

Dan -- Buffalo opens with an outstanding Help > Slip > Franklin, you'd love it if you're a Help guy (I am too)

lol wimmels you took the words right out of my mouth re: saturday night. gotta go with boston here, despite the rampant tech difficulties. it's pretty much a dream second set for 77. I'd take Eyes Of The World > Drums > The Wheel > Wharf Rat > Around and Around over the Cornell St. Stephen medley any day. plus with boston you also get Terrapin, Cassidy, and a slow Friend of the Devil.

And looking at the setlists, did they really not play "Truckin'" at the Buffalo show? Because that's kind of a hilarious dick move.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, April 25, 2017 10:28 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

to be fair there are a lot of cities mentioned in Truckin

5/22/77 for me

i'm really spotty on my '77 dead, couldn't vote.

but. the copy on the link you posted is fucking golden:

WHAT DEAD HEADS HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT...

NEW HAVEN 5/5/77
"Here is a prime example of the saying ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ … It’s called synergy and the Dead wrote the book on it.”

BOSTON 5/7/77
“The music they laid down brought me places I had not been before.”

CORNELL 5/8/77
“...the single best rock performance anywhere, anytime, by anyone.”

“There was just some kind of magical connection this night between the band members and the band and the audience - some texture, or some type of cosmic or celestial force is in the room.”

"This show is, was, and always will be Mecca.”

BUFFALO 5/9/77
"...an awesome display of the Dead’s captivating power"

i also love how they call the sound clips "listening parties" lol

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

77 box shipped today!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

voted cornell, but really just because that was the one i had listened to most recently. the "official" version might not be revelatory, but it does sound damn good, some new layers/textures revealed in there for me.

i've been into matrix recordings lately, the crowd sounds add a lot for me. also extra cool to listen to during wall of sound era

Well, I'll be damned. I bought the OFFICIAL Cornell dealie in the hopes that it'd turn my head around on it. And it does, and I'm digging it...and I'm realizing that the "Cornell '77" recording I heard before wasn't even this show. No idea what show it was, but "They Love Each Other" was a completely different tempo, and the set included "Truckin'."

Were they still doing Truckin in 77? (probably)

Inspired by this thread, have been digging through my (legit) Dead 77 holdings. Starting w/ the Winterland 77 bonus disc from 12/5/1977 Chicago with a v sweet Mississippi Half-Step, Garcia sounding exquisite on two longish solos.

don't think i'd ever say that Cornell is THE BEST SHOW EVER but I will say after recent listens that the "Row Jimmy" on it is all time best. Garcia's solo is just pure beauty there.

Eleven Truckin's in '77.

http://www.setlists.net/?search=true&venue=&city=&state=&month=&day=&year=77&songs=Truckin%27%0D%0A&submit=Search

got the box this weekend. haven't had the chance to listen but WOW what a presentation.

yeah, getting the box wasn't in the budget, but i was very jealous seeing it show up on my social feeds this weekend. looks beautiful.

The recording I had (but deleted, because I needed the hard drive space) I swore had "Truckin'," "Franklin's Tower," and "They Love Each Other." But apparently, they didn't play all three at any show in '77.

Hm, OK, I think the "Cornell" show I had was actually 12/19/78 in Jackson, MS. Not awful (from the clips I just listened to in order to confirm what I remembered), but certainly not in the vicinity of Cornell's reputation.

otm on that 'row jimmy', it's gorgeous

on the cornell audience tape you can hear a dude desperately calling out for truckin -- "AMERICA'S FAVORITE SONG!! TRUCKIN'!!!" but they do not heed his request.

lmao

hahaha

I like that the audience member thought, "You know, just yelling 'Truckin'!' doesn't get the point across. I need something to buttress my argument..."

"Bob, did you hear that?"
"What, Jer?"
"Someone called out for 'Truckin'.'"
"Yeah, dude, that happens every four seconds. I hear it in my sleep."
"But hold on, apparently...and stay with me on this...it's America's favorite song!"
"...the country, or the band?"
"What difference does it make? How can we turn down such a well-reasoned case?"
"Good point, Jer. Let's do it."

so this is sourced from the betty boards? it sounds pretty different compared to the SBD (i thought) I had. it's up on spotify! if the fidelity is that much different for all the shows i sorta wished i'd sprung for it

It is a Betty, yes. There's something different for sure. These sound matrix-y. Someone who knows more about this than I do might be able to expand on this from a technical standpoint, but I hear the crowd in a way I didn't on previous SBDs. Really, these are some of the best *sounding* Dead shows I've ever heard.

New Haven is better than its reputation would have you believe btw

i'm guessing they just had a better technician handling the mixing/mastering than whoever originally circulated the tapes

yeah it does sound good -- i was wondering if they incorporated some elements of the audience recording in there, since yeah, you can hear more going on there. Keith's keys sound better/more prominent in places too.

the screaming guy in jack straw sounds about the same though

i had never listened to this show before and i don't know if it approaches pembroke pines, which was my dead gateway, but damn, "scarlet > fire" is kicking my ass

"this show" meaning cornell

it's a good one for sure (love jerry's first solo) but it misses some of the weird kind of funky rhythmic interplay between bob and jerry in the intro

love how they included the 'take a step back...' bit specifically as part of the track on here ha

very heavy on the phil, and i can tell a lot of people are way into that

5/5 New Haven (please explain)

Listening to it this afternoon. St. Stephen on this is great, goes from gentle Jerry/Donna vocals that are really *on* into a fiery jam. In fact, whole second set is fire.

I actually agree. Made that mildly snarky comment in the poll before re-listening to this new version. Second set is indeed excellent (but still doesn't touch the other 3 shows of that week). First set is about average, but I need another average first set of Dead music like a need a hole in my water bong

holy fuck the Sugaree at New Haven is OUTSTANDING.

yeah, that one is so good.
is 77 when they reintroduced Good Lovin to the live set? With Weir leading the way that song is super skippable.

if you like that one you might like saint paul 5/11 or 10/16 louisana state, both get kind of fierce

xp

The one and only time I saw Dark Star orchestra they did the St. Paul '77 setlist. That was a good show.

I listened to New Haven in the car today and then when I got into the office (laptop & headphones instead of CD player) I listened to Baton Rouge 9/1/69, whose sound quality is complete garbage but whose set/performance is just a completely diff. world. not sure if the keys are Pig or Tom Constanten (likely the latter) but they're just so good and lively. the distance from '69 to '77 is just so so great

Blasphemy, I know, but these days I prefer even 90s Dead to 60s Dead. Pig bums me out and TC is a snore

not trying to harsh on my dead lovin online buds

and I am a mild fan, and have spent dozens of hours trying to get"there" - live dead, Europe 72, old renaissance fairgrounds, the studio albums etc

listening to Cornell and right now Scarlett Begonias is really great, but how do you guys deal with stuff like Dancing in the Street (not the middle jam which is ok) but just desecrating the absolute genius and economy of that original into this tepid hippie shuffle then esp at the end when they "break it down" and it's "dan....cin dancing in the streets EVERYBODY"

it's just so mortifying I feel embarrassed fur everyone listening to it and like we clown dudes like Bonnamassa but this is ok?

again on the whole I'm enjoying this and not trying to fight

btw on fire on the mountain and I'm assuming this is why this show was a big deal? pretty cosmik

also small thing but someone should have thrown that Auto wah (envelope filter?) pedal in the trash

no wonder Treehouse banned you.

it's just so mortifying I feel embarrassed fur everyone listening to it and like we clown dudes like Bonnamassa but this is ok?
haha, i was listening to the cornell dancing this week and thinking simultaneously "goddamn this is dumb" and "goddamn this is great."

no wonder Treehouse banned you.

― by the light of the burning Citroën, Wednesday, May 10, 2017 9:03 AM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol do we know each other irl?

i think i heard them referred to as 'this ridiculous band that i can't stop listening to' at one point and that about sums it up. once you get further in, the added context gained makes it sort of addicting to keep digging in no matter how lame it can get. so unless you want to find yourself looking up rankings of different 'take a step backs' on headyversion dot com i'd almost advise not dipping in any further

Yeah, their post-hiatus versions of Dancing are so cringey, though the jams sometimes go to special places. For anyone underwhelmed by Cornell, I strongly recommend the Red Rocks 7/8/78 show that was released last year. It has a similar sanitized coked-up late-70s Dead sheen, but a bit rougher around the edges. It's a total party, with a superior setlist imo. Also Dick's Picks 33, a double-header from 1976, should not be slept on.

xpost - citroen

if you have any legit problem with me please ILX webmail me, that incident was part of many others and not really a joke given his history of attacking people irl and threatening women including getting in my wife's face when we had our 2 yr old with us

xpost - do you guys like old renaissance fairgrounds? that's more early 70s and i really liked that one alot, i think i chose it off a site because it was well regarded?

the early 70s the instrument tones are a lot better....though since those posts i've gotten almost through the scarlett begonias > fire on the mountain > estimated prophet which i'm assuming is probably why this set has such cache

xp

sorry, joking off the Minnesotans thread, well aware of the issues there. (think we've met in the past, and I've seen you play)

'morning dew' is really good from cornell and i don't even generally like their version

>xpost - do you guys like old renaissance fairgrounds?

Oh hell yeah, it's as close as they ever got to the platonic ideal of a Grateful Dead concert and is widely regarded as such. While there are a couple of shows from 72 and 73 that I might prefer personally (4/7 and 4/8/72 and 8/1/73 come to mind), 8/27/72 is truly definitive, and it would be if it only consisted of "Bird Song" and "Dark Star">"El Paso". And the fact that it was captured on film is miraculous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URtCml8FHrU

and it would be if it only consisted of "Bird Song" and "Dark Star">"El Paso"

OK, maybe this is hyperbole. It's just a great show!

8/27/72 veneta is probably my candidate for best show of all time -- think it's got everything that's good about the Dead in there, except pigpen (and I'm usually a little lukewarm with him). and the movie is great too. it's what I'd give to anyone wanting to get into the Dead i think.
i like that late 70s autowah/envelope filter haha. wah wah wah wah wah

also small thing but someone should have thrown that Auto wah (envelope filter?) pedal in the trash

this is crazy, Jerry w/ Mu-tron is one of the best sounds in music

8/27/72 veneta is probably my candidate for best show of all time -- think it's got everything that's good about the Dead in there, except pigpen (and I'm usually a little lukewarm with him). and the movie is great too. it's what I'd give to anyone wanting to get into the Dead i think.

otm, major gateway for a lot of people. Turned my gf from "dead hater" to "dead neutral"

"playing in the band" from veneta is infinitely deep

Not a huge fan of the 77 Dancing in the Streets - def prefer the version on Dick's Picks 8 from 1970 (overall, one of the greatest Dead shows) - but I think there's still something admirable about them covering it - an openness to all kinds of American music, a refusal to acknowledge boundaries and distinctions between rock and pop and soul and country. And yeah, I kinda love that funky Auto Wah sound in the right place and time.

Am definitely one of those ppl who think it can't be a definitive Dead Set w/out a Dark Star, which is one of the reasons why Veneta scores so highly, but I'm also very partial to the last London Lyceum show on 5/26/72, and that doesn't have a Dark Star, tho it does feature the Truckin' and Morning Dew (one to rival the Cornell version) from Europe 72, minus the post-production sweetening. Don't think you can go too far wrong with ANY '72 show tbh, definitely their peak year.

xp

sorry, joking off the Minnesotans thread, well aware of the issues there. (think we've met in the past, and I've seen you play)

― by the light of the burning Citroën, Wednesday, May 10, 2017 9:19 AM (forty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool no worries :)

upper miss you do have to open yourself up to that mu-tron. I'm w/you largely on "dancin'" - waiting for the vocals to stop and the jam to begin on that tune is the longest wait in any post-pigpen Dead show -- but then sometimes it does open into some v cosmic jamming

OTOH while you love the original song it is not even a top 30 motown tune for me so I'm not so bothered by how tepid the presentation of the lyric is in the Dead's read, the words are just there to get to the break

"listening to Cornell and right now Scarlett Begonias is really great, but how do you guys deal with stuff like Dancing in the Street (not the middle jam which is ok) but just desecrating the absolute genius and economy of that original into this tepid hippie shuffle then esp at the end when they "break it down" and it's "dan....cin dancing in the streets EVERYBODY" "

the way i look at the dead, and hopefully this isn't too weird a metaphor, is kind of the way i look at old "doctor who". in that a lot of the time it's just super cheesy and awful and there's no real point in defending it. the dead are about the last band you can say something like "well, even at their worst they're still better than 90% of all the other bands". if you're gonna listen to the dead you kind of have to acknowledge that they're a rubber-monster band and like them either despite that or, possibly, because of that.

when it comes to the dead, i'm a "despite that" guy. i'm never going to develop genuine affection for bob's horrible fashion sense, am always going to skip the tuning tracks. honestly my dead listening is pretty much all '70 and '72 right now and i have no particular desire to "branch out".

last 2 posts are great

the way i look at the dead, and hopefully this isn't too weird a metaphor, is kind of the way i look at old "doctor who". in that a lot of the time it's just super cheesy and awful and there's no real point in defending it. the dead are about the last band you can say something like "well, even at their worst they're still better than 90% of all the other bands". if you're gonna listen to the dead you kind of have to acknowledge that they're a rubber-monster band and like them either despite that or, possibly, because of that.

rubber monster band is great

but how do you guys deal with stuff like Dancing in the Street (not the middle jam which is ok) but just desecrating the absolute genius and economy of that original into this tepid hippie shuffle then esp at the end when they "break it down" and it's "dan....cin dancing in the streets EVERYBODY"

On my first listen, I thought, no way can they pull this off. And in a way, they don't even try -- the original was (not intended as such, but taken up as) a call to revolution. This is a call to, like, lazily twirl around or something. But it's not trying to be anything else, and it works.

Come to think of it, has anyone done a not-awful cover of "Dancing In The Street"? Hell, even the Who's covers of it are awful.

if i had the digital knowhow i'd try to do a mashup of the bowie/jagger version and the dead

from a historical context, i like hearing 60s icons grapple with mid/late 70s moves and grooves -- you've got Dylan going in weird baroque directions with Budokan band, Lou Reed trying to reconcile punk and springsteen (and lenny bruce?), the Dead doing kozmik disco etc. it's not always successful, but it's always interesting (to me anyway).

Yeah, the shocking part was how solid the groove on Dancing is. Jerry really shines in that setting.

(off topic, but tylerw, you once hipped me to some '75 or '76 Dead thing that was all-instrumental and someone fusiony that was pretty mindblowing. I forgot what it is, though...does it ring a bell?)

was it the 1975 SNACK benefit show?
https://archive.org/details/gd1975-03-23.sbd.miller.110126.flac16

Yeah, the shocking part was how solid the groove on Dancing is. Jerry really shines in that setting.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, May 10, 2017 8:26 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this is how i feel about the '77 dancing. the groove is so solid and the breakdowns are so rich

albeit i don't have much of an ability to recognize "cringeworthy" things anymore

Yes! That's the one! Thanks!

xp

holy fucking shit the buffalo show is incredible

Come to think of it, has anyone done a not-awful cover of "Dancing In The Street"? Hell, even the Who's covers of it are awful.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

mamas and the papas, monterey '67.

according to a dude on fb, the Cornell show never happened. Pretty air-tight, if you ask me:

I understand why most people think that 5/8/77 was real as can be. It's widely considered to be the holy grail of GD shows. And if it was an actual, real show, it would be just that. But the fact is, that it was a HOAX perpetrated through a joint effort of the US Department of Defense and the CIA. And this is nothing new. My uncle served in �Nam with one of the guys that were actually *in* the CIA experiment. Hell, if you don't believe me, it's even on the archive!There's been a lot of talk lately about the legendary fake show on 5/8/77. I've kept my silence on the subject for 22 years ... now it's finally time to come clean on the whole subject.The whole idea began back in late 1969/early 1970. The Department of Defense and the CIA were very disappointed by the way the Vietnam War was progressing. Not only were we losing but, more importantly, the US public did not approve of the war and, worse yet, weren't believing everything the military said about what was happening. This was an unprecedented event. Every other recent war was viewed positively by the public ... or at least with apathy in the case of Korea. Something had to be done. They decided to take a page from the Soviets and experiment with mind control. Together with Disney and a fledgling computer company called Microsoft, they set out to prove that brainwashing could really work on the very people who opposedthem: the hippies.It isn't widely known but Cornell was actually the second test of these mind control procedures. The first occurred in mid-1975 and was a dismal failure. 2 major mistakes were made. First, they picked the one time that the Dead were not touring. This created all sorts of problems with the subject audience. The more serious mistake was in not updating the criteria of the experiment. Due to typical government inefficiency, they used the 1969 version of the Dead that was playing when the program was conceived. The sudden appearance of Pigpen, who had died 2 years earlier, literally blew the minds of those in attendance. 6 months were spent erasing all traces of the "show" and carefully rebuilding as much of their minds as possible. Thesubjects were eventually released and most of them became evangelists, their only lingering memory of the whole experiment being an unshakeable belief that they'd witnessed a true miracle.Unfortunately, no tapes have been found from this first experiment. That's a real shame because the version of Dark Star-> St Stephen-> Eleven-> Lovelight used was supposedly the best ever. After a few drinks, the original scientists still speak in awe about the music heard that day.By Nov 1977, everyone was ready for the second test. This time, they learned from their mistakes. A small group of college students were hired to attend shows from 1976 through 1977. Our job was to collect tapes of the Dead's performances, select which tunes to use, and tohelp identify subjects for the upcoming experiment. The location and date were chosen with equal care. It was a off-day during the tour and the location close enough to the real concerts to be believed. Of moreimportance was the late snowfall that day. That unusual and easily confirmed event provided the glue that would hold the implanted memories together. Even now 22 years later, people "remembering" that concert use almost identical words to describe leaving the show.Overall, the experiment was a great success. Of course, some people were given slightly different memories. Some, like Teddy Goodbear, "remember" taping the show and were even provided "Audience" tapes to further cement the hoax. Still others remember getting "horribly smashed" up front. None of this actually occurred.A week after the "concert" experiment, a 2nd test was done on the town of Cornell itself. In order to perfect this hoax, the town itself must also be convinced that the concert took place. Disney had acquired owner- ship of all the local TV and radio stations through dummy corporations. Using special chips developed by Microsoft, they played sublimbminal messages to every man, woman and child in a 100 mile radius of Barton Hall. For the most part, this programming still holds today although some people did prove resistant to the message.As far as the source of the music, for the most part the list posted by "brew ziggins" is correct. The only mystery remaining is the Scarlet-> Fire. That was actually performed by the Dead specifically for this experiment. Since Jerry worked for the CIA, it was easy to convince him and the rest of the band to go along. Plus he liked the idea of "pranking" a large group of people like this. The fabled 2/6/77 "take a step back" rehearsal tape is also from material taped for these experiments.The soundboard tapes in circulation were leaked by Betty O'Connell whoedited the original tapes. I don't know if it was just a coincidence or not, but they were leaked at about the same time as the tapes recorded by Betty Cantor were found. In any event, they became part of the so-called "Betty Boards". Leaking these tapes also provided the first cracks in the hoax to appear since the tapes were distributed to people who were not in the experiment and who knew that no show was performed that day. It was necessary to obtain their silence through blackmail, bribery and in extreme cases, mind control itself. That's also how this "show" came to be listed in all the popular Dead show guides like DeadBase.So what's happened to these mind control techniques used in this experiment? Microsoft has used this power to become one of the biggest, most influential companies in history. They sure didn't become that big by providing quality products. It was used to shape public reaction to the Gulf War. It's also clear that George Bush never understood the full power of these methods. . There are also indications that this technology might explain the otherwise unbelievable popularity of rap music.That's the whole story."BARTON HALL, ITHACA, NY 5/8/77 -- The Show That Never Happened"Track listing Actual Source------------ ---------------1.Minglewood Blues [4:47] Winterland 3/20/772.Loser [7:30] Springfield 4/23/773.El Paso [4:22] Chicago 5/13/774.They Love Each Other [6:59] Lakeland 5/21/775.Jack Straw [6:00] Tempe 10/6/776.Deal [5:43] St. Paul 5/11/777.Lazy Lightnin' [3:29] > St. Louis 5/15/778.Supplication [4:21] "9.Brown-Eyed Women [5:12] Winterland 6/8/7710.Mama Tried [2:37] Seattle 9/29/7711.Row Jimmy [10:52] Fox, Atlanta 5/19/7712.Dancin' in the Streets [15:43] Pembroke Pines 5/22/77 (DP3)Set II:13.Scarlet Begonias [9:14] > ???14.Fire on the Mountain [15:21] ???15.Estimated Prophet [8:32] Passaic NJ 4/27/7716.St. Stephen [4:43] > Mostly Passaic NJ 6/18/7617.Not Fade Away [16:22] > with some tricky splicing of the18.St. Stephen [1:53] > middle of an unidentified NFA19.Morning Dew [13:36] Cow Palace 12/31/76Encore:20.One More Saturday Night [4:54] Springfield 4/23/77

Since Jerry worked for the CIA,

This is covered a bit in the (just ok) new book about Cornell '77

Watching the new Amazon doc, pretty great, though the early 70s concert is so.... repellent... There's no other word. Just all these drugged out naked people writing around, announcements hey can so and so please come to the tent you lost (or forgot) your child. I almost get panic attack thinking about being there

another world is possible maaan

also dosing people without their knowledge or consent seems like a pretty fucked up thing to do

definitely stuck out that Garcia's daughter called him "Jerry."

Yeah that dosing part was crazy
Haven't seen part 4 yet

Ramrod and all those roadies were a real bunch

i watched the whole thing yesterday & feel a renewal of interest. it's such a gaping maw of a rabbit hole though i've always hung back

i told Mr Veg that I maybe finally ready to try listening to a live show & he just shook his head sadly *he worked for Bill Graham in his 20's & did every Bay Area Dead show from 88-93. He has had Dead-related PTSD ever since*

since tylerw has never steered me wrong on Floyd, i might check out 8/27/72 Veneta

but if I come back later saying I've made a mix of my favorite Dark Star versions or some shit then please kindly kill me

8/27/72 'playing in the band' is what i'd play to convert a hater

The Veneta show was one of my ways in. After whole decades of absolutely despising the Dead, that show's "Dark Star" (as posted by Scott Seward on another thread) shocked me -- I didn't hate it.

I just got the Oakland '76 shows, where they opened for the Who and played twice as long. Apart from digging them (and generally preferring these shows to Cornell), I realized with horror that I haven't even heard the Who's sets from these shows. And the contemporary review reprinted in the booklet praises both bands, but somewhat hilariously criticizes the Who for "aimless noodling."

pot black etc

I know, right?

After Monterey, Townshend said the Dead were "terrible...one of the original ropeys!"

But by 1981 he figured, "eh, these guys have some good coke, might as well sit in with them":

https://youtu.be/20dic8S3cWI

the whole doc series was pretty affecting
i can see why scorcese was a producer, it's got the tragic arc he prefers, a burst of freedom in the 60s and 70s hardens into a gilded prison and ultimately death and betrayal and hard drugs throughout the 80s and 90s

on one hand felt bad for jerry for what the whole thing had become, him trapped in his hotel room as these bud light bros rioted outside of football stadiums, but at the same time his passivity and unwillingess to ever change anything -- or most importantly ever take responsibility for anything-- was frustrating

on the other hand the whole thing was an amazing venture...the only band that really tried to try to live out the ethos of the 1960s for the rest of their lives, even though it turned into a nightmare

the part on the tape trading scene and the sheer volume of improv music they made over the years was stunning

al franken talking about "althea" guitar solos was really cuet <3

some of the people in that doc have a serious case of ray manzarek-itis when they wax philosophical about the band lol

the whole thing so gripping and i'm a very casual fan

their version of "good lovin'" by the rascals is so hideous i want to build a time machine, kill myself just and be reincarnated as a member of wire just so i could participate in the recording of pink flag

john perry barlow seems like quite a character! him and the one roadie w/the new yawk accent were my favs

Barlow probably deserves a doc of his own (though he has some cringe-worthy ideas)
still need to carve out some time to watch this damn thing! i did not marry a deadhead.

the new yawk roadie kinda turned me off, he sounded like the worst of the Jerry acolytes to me

but I liked John Perry Barlow a lot.

loved the tour manager Sam Cutler - seems like he was a no bullshit kinda dude

Barlow probably deserves a doc of his own (though he has some cringe-worthy ideas)
still need to carve out some time to watch this damn thing! i did not marry a deadhead.

― tylerw, Tuesday, June 6, 2017 1:26 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i sort of assume all these true kvlt dead insider have some sort of weirdo acid-head post hippie gun-owning libertarian get off my weird ranch vibe?

the new yawk roadie kinda turned me off, he sounded like the worst of the Jerry acolytes to me

yeah def but i guess..you know...i suppose he's been through a lot

it's funny that i remember people from when i was post HS/and in college talk about Dead shows as these big things and now understand this was like the sad, squalid death rattle of a once great band....

xpost - veg - yeah! he was great, can you imagine going from road managing the stones up through altamont then switching immediately to road managing the dead until 74?

the things he's seen....

but yeah he's like a rock lifer right out of a movie, incredible character

also jerry's daughter trixie seems like a very sweet, intelligent and decent person and you could tell she has a lot of sadness about everything....

oh yeah one more the soundtrack is on spotify and seems like a pretty good initiation to trv kvlt deadness for non deadheads, be curious what the experts thought of the tracklist

i'm enjoying it

I think Barlow self-identifies as a "Cyberlibertarian" which makes me feel like throwing up a little, but he isn't all wackadoo.

Definitely recommend Jesse Jarnow's recent book HEADS for loads of fascinating Dead-related scene reports and characters.

i love that thing cutler said, like "the Dead make some of the best music I've ever heard but let me tell you they are DUMB"

yes, almost a thesis if you will ^^^^

like almost everything they describe, the touring, the way they did or didnt make decisions, all the hangers on ... it just sounds like my worst nightmare of ppl to spend any time with

but at the same time his passivity and unwillingess to ever change anything -- or most importantly ever take responsibility for anything-- was frustrating

That part where he refused to put any blame on the Hells Angels for murdering Meredith Hunter (and assaulting many others) at Altamont was fucking infuriating. I get that he's super non-confrontational, and wants to be non-authoritarian, but to react to that disaster with a shrug (and to shrug off his own part in it -- he'd recommended the Angels to the Stones as security) is fucking bullshit.

^^^ totally

like at some point your no rules anti authoritarian hippie ethos becomes "i am an amoral asshole"

the misogyny was alluded to in the film, i'm sure there's a whole nauseating thing happening there too

definitely a misogynist thing happening w/ the dead, though i suppose very few of their contemporaries employed a female sound engineer (Betty Cantor). Does she show up in the doc?

Nope, not mentioned at all. They interview another Europe '72 engineer, but she doesn't even get name-checked.

bummer -- i know betty's relationship w/ the dead world these days is a little fraught (due in part to aforementioned misogynist attitudes)

Steve Parish mentions all the road crew by name (iirc, Stinky, Zippy, RedBong, Beardo), and there's [SPOILER ALERT] approximately 25 minutes of footage of the roadies doing nitrous.

So yeah, mentioning Betty would have meant cutting valuable minutes of nitrous-huffing.

no betty but hardly any dick either

plenty of dick just no Dick

lol

Yeah if you wanna see hippie dongs this is yr documentary

there's a tan blonde gnarly iggy pop looking dude crouched on the stack in one of the early 70's shows, and the next time they cut to him he is standing up & oh hi completely naked

i loled so hard it was just so funny to me

another part i thought was funny was phil pointing out that after 74 and the hiatus something was just missing, there was a hole there. and like five minutes later bob is like 'we just kept getting better and better... and when brent joined we had *three* good singers!!'

xp in dead circles that guy is legendary as "naked pole guy"

lol

Up to the break in 74 it was quite good. Then as mentioned upthread we get Phil saying there was a hole with no exposition. Then the a few seconds of some late 70s footage and then the episode ends and we get to look at interviews of dead heads from the 80s ? Wanted more 70s

Great hearing about Hunter tho

is barlow's role in the eff not really known very well? i knew him as "that eff guy" like several decades before i realized he had anything to do with the dead. i mean "lol cyberlibertarian" or whatever but the eff has done and continues to do good work.

what is the eff

...and what's his prolem?

EFF is gonna rock ya

they're kinda like the ACLU of the internet

https://www.eff.org/about

Veneta 72 : Dark Star -> El Paso -> Sing Me Back Home

if that doesn't bring you in, then move on, because this is the essence of the Dead imo. from the transcendent to the kinda dumb to a totally different kind of transcendent that they couldn't have reached except through the dumb

nb I call it dumb bc Weir sounds dumb on it, the music is fine o/w

Up to the break in 74 it was quite good. Then as mentioned upthread we get Phil saying there was a hole with no exposition. Then the a few seconds of some late 70s footage and then the episode ends and we get to look at interviews of dead heads from the 80s ? Wanted more 70s

― calstars, Tuesday, June 6, 2017 8:06 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, since the late '70s were a high point, you'd think there'd be more than just the minute of Egypt footage (and the band themselves don't even rate that show highly). That would've been the perfect opportunity to segue into talking about Betty and how the Cornell tape became a thing, and how a bootleg Dead tape made the US National Recording Registry.

With so many docs it's easy to say, "Welp, you can only do so much in 2 hours." This was four, and the most inexplicable omissions would've added 10-20 minutes, tops.

I've tried that "Sing Me Back Home" from Veneta. I like super-slow Jerry ballads, I love "Must Have Been the Roses," but I dunno. Maybe I just revere Merle's original too much, but that affects me way more in 3 minutes than the Dead do in 10+.

Also enjoyed in the doc Weir and his wife driving to Hunter's gig in his Tesla (huge iPad thing dash gives it away)

*in the dash

was wondering what kind of car that was

The lack of late '70s was especially odd considering how big a deal the May 1977 box set has been! I too was disappointed by the absence of Betty, especially considering how long she'd been with the band. I certainly would have rather heard more about her than Barbara Meier. Not knowing much of Jerry's personal life, the documentary gave me the impression he and Meier were long lost soul mates, but wikipedia tells me their reunion lasted just 45 days! Seems odd she got so much screen time and only passing mentions of Mountain Girl or his other wives, much less Betty, but perhaps there were access reasons.

What do you guys think Hunter's greatest lyric is? A lot of his stuff is so playful (dire wolf) or tries too hard to be psychedelic (china cat) so I can't decide where the middle ground is

Xp
Meier probably got the time because she was willing to talk.

I mean I do think Hunter is "great" but I think Jerry's delivery was even better on its own terms and lent a lot to the overall impression of Hunter.

I should probably take this discussion to a listserve from '84

What do you guys think Hunter's greatest lyric is? A lot of his stuff is so playful (dire wolf) or tries too hard to be psychedelic (china cat) so I can't decide where the middle ground is

― calstars, Wednesday, June 7, 2017 4:29 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

box of rain is beautiful

IIRC, Betty pops up in that PBS Soundbreaking thing.

yes Mississippi - always forget that one

Incidentally Leah in his beard phase looks just like Brendan canning from broken social scene

I would have also liked to have heard about the time when Garcia and Lesh were going to get rid of Pigpen and Weir. From pigpen's Wikipedia iirc

Lesh's modern interviews betray a very practiced, rehearsed history. I mean how many times has he told this story? I wish he had dropped some acid beforehand just to get some improvisation. Maybe the cameraman could have dosed his coffee.

Kreutzmann looks nothing like himself and wtf at Mickey's electric string drone thing.

Also I wonder if Weir directed the cameraman to capture his lotus pose. "Take it back there a little"

Yeah I wanted a whole hour on Hart's weird music machine thingy

Pretty sure it was that thing that scores the "stranger things" intro to each ep

Weir's Tesla & his 'Yoga Loft'... any more on the nose & he'd have done the interview under a WELCOME TO MARIN sign

Between the GD and little feat, the coke must have been epicly heavenly in 77

Not to mention W Becker

i think you could make a case for an entire doc on Betty/boots/taping culture/Dick, etc

i've always wanted to read a book tracing the history of audience tapes, going from the early jazz days (benedetti etc) through the Dead through whatever else ...

That's a great idea. Did Benedetti distribute/copy his recordings for anyone? I'm kind of curious now who the first artist was that had audience recordings passed around/traded.

Really enjoyed that documentary. Could have done with a bit more e.g. something covering the whole extended family who depended on the Dead.

The modern day Weir looks really vacant, bewildered and spaced out - as if he's shell-shocked by the whole GD experience.

Really like the dark star version they put on the soundtrack. NY Valentine's Day 1070

xp Yes, weir kind of bewildered. Prescriptions?

i've always wanted to read a book tracing the history of audience tapes, going from the early jazz days (benedetti etc) through the Dead through whatever else ...

― tylerw

clinton heylin starts with mapleson in his book - would you not start there?

Has anybody read this? After the documentary I'm tempted.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cornell-77-Magnificence-Grateful-Concert/dp/150170432X/ref=pd_ybh_a_13?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RKVJ0T196CQM24C2X77F

I finished the doc this wknd, on the whole interesting & well done (agreed esp up 74). Barlow is a real interesting character for sure and I didn't know much about him, but then when I looked up & saw he was a Dick Cheney crony it all kind of made sense in a weird neolibertarian sort of way.

When he was being interviewed with that weird blutooth earpiece...well I wasn't surprised to find out he was a weird internet tech weirdo.

The thing the doc really did cement for me is that the Dead & their music is very much not for me. I thought the 80s Dead Heads section was especially telling, that was really my first exposure to them, certainly not the music becuz I don't know if any of the Dead Heads were particularly interested in the music, but certainly the culture & circus surrounding them. All of the people I knew in junior high & high school, were Dead tie-dyes, skull shirts & the Dancing Bear gear was de rigueur among the jocks & assholes & popular kid crowd. The Dead were explicitly not for weirdos, they were only for the cool kids.

clinton heylin starts with mapleson in his book - would you not start there?
yeah i guess i would!

i'm about halfway through the doc, enjoying it so far. Almost feel like it's giving a little short shrift to the actual music, like not actually getting anyone to talk about *why* the music is transcendent (for some, anyway). what i'm saying is, the doc should be EVEN LONGER.

All of the people I knew in junior high & high school, were Dead tie-dyes, skull shirts & the Dancing Bear gear was de rigueur among the jocks & assholes & popular kid crowd.
interesting! not my experience at all, though -- i was mocked for my Dead t-shirt in 8th grade (1993ish), told i should be more into pearl jam.

interesting! not my experience at all, though -- i was mocked for my Dead t-shirt in 8th grade (1993ish), told i should be more into pearl jam.

Ha, my experience was literally the exact opposite. PJ & Nirvana & all grunge/punk bands essentially were derided by the Dead Heads for "not being able to play their instruments", as a blanket statement. They said the same thing about Neil Young & Crazy Horse as well. The Dead were "players" and everyone else on Earth was a hack.

The reason the Dead Heads part seemed extraneous to me is that it was relevant to the band from a pop cultural perspective and not a musical one. Maybe in a similar way that's why the LSD connection part earlier also seems kind of boring and doesn't add anything to the listening experience.

i agree that some indepth musical discussion would have been welcome

I think the Ess Dog from Malkmu's "Jenny & the Ess Dog" kinda reps my image of the 80s/90s Deadhead...popular jock/hippie hybrid, good looking longer than usual hair but not hippie long, may have played lacrosse or tennis or some non-football/basketball/baseball/hockey sport very well, rich parents, drives a Volvo station wagon w/stickers

ironic re Pearl Jam/Dead since Pearl Jam have basically turned into a grunge form of the Dead in the last 10-15 years lol

(besinger i realize we are basically talking about Rich from the U right now haha, he was even good friends w/steve miller's kid in HS just to perfect it)

All of the people I knew in junior high & high school, were Dead tie-dyes, skull shirts & the Dancing Bear gear was de rigueur among the jocks & assholes & popular kid crowd. The Dead were explicitly not for weirdos, they were only for the cool kids.

This was my experience, too ('87-90). The only Deadheads I knew were asshole jocks/popular kids/aspiring frat boys.

from what i remember, though they were already a big going concern, Garcia dying really boosted the Phish phenomenon, I def know dudes that sort of "transferred over" to being Phishheads (i mean they already liked them but the big thing about jam bands is that they sort of provide a specific type of fan experience -- this was touched on in the movie -- that a certain set of people need in their lives - the summer tours etc etc)

deadheads in 90s suburban cleveland were definitely cool kids but not jocks ime. lots of jock-adjacent cool kids sure, but sports were too big a deal where i lived for jocks to fuck it all up by smoking weed

(besinger i realize we are basically talking about Rich from the U right now haha, he was even good friends w/steve miller's kid in HS just to perfect it)

― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, June 12, 2017 12:02 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Exactly!

This was my experience, too ('87-90). The only Deadheads I knew were asshole jocks/popular kids/aspiring frat boys.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, June 12, 2017 12:03 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

James Spader's character from Pretty in Pink but with a tie-dyed Steal Your Face shirt

Best dark star that year?

I dig that one

Have I repped for The Mosque 5/25? I've listened to that one a few times on Archive. Laid back and lovely, esp "He's Gone."

to hell with May 77, listen to Phil & Ned 74: http://saveyourface.posthaven.com/phil-and-ned-1974

What is Phil &Ned?

Seastones!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW370_ETZ4Y

that link is a comp of phil lesh and ned lagin doing insane electronic jams through the wall of sound in 1974, bewildering even the headiest of heads.

Can't even imagine what it must've been like to experience that through the Wall Of Sound. Phil was probably like, "Bankrupt, shmankrupt -- listen to this!"

hahaha

also funny to catch snippets of (mostly negative) audience reaction during Seastones segments.

What is Phil &Ned?

I was about to say, I hadn't realized my involvement.

Ned Freaks Unite

Dark Star 10/18/74 - Ned joins Keith on a second Fender Rhodes, but you can only hear it on the Archive.org SBDs, NOT on the officially released Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack. As I understand it, ?Ned was not patched into the 16-track tape but was captured on the 2-track soundboard output. https://archive.org/details/gd74-10-18.sbd.bertha-ashley.22796.sbeok.shnf

seastones rules

ned lagin put out a new album last year -- CAT DREAMS:

"Cat Dreams is my new music album on compact disc (cd). It is a work of love, dreams, heart, magic. Music from my life shared with some beautiful little creatures, loved ones. Being a part of their lives as they were and are a part of mine. Biographical dreams and stories. Life music: sweet, emotional, deep, beautiful, happy and sad."

dude loves cats.

JSam nice tip!

There's def at least one 74 show (maybe in France?) where the rest of the Dead join in the Seastones jam

i know garcia and kreutzmann sit in on the Alexandra Palace Seastones -- https://archive.org/details/gd1974-09-11.sbd.unknown.4647.shnf

Someone should poll Feedback vs. Seastones vs. Space.

Sam Cutler (via fb):

LONG STRANGE TRIP – my thoughts on the film

Where the hell to BEGIN? Well, let’s begin with love. I loved the film. I loved that so many of the people in the film expressed love, LIVED in love, loved one another, and MOST OF ALL, loved Jerry. I became for a few years another person in that psychedelic army of people all over the planet who loved that gentle and so-loving man and his band. I was just so amazingly fortunate to have been his tour manager, co-manager (with Jon McIntyre and David Parker) and his agent, through my company Out of Town Tours from 1970 – 74.

Amir Bar Lev, the mountain-climber’s mountain-climber, sure picked one hell of a hill to climb when he decided to make this film! Solo unaided up the face of El Capitan in Yosemite has nothing on the perils associated with trying to ‘capture’ who what where how and when on the Grateful Dead. It’s an ‘impossible task’ on a rational level, but thankfully rationality was never a particularly necessary attribute around the band and the family – in fact, it seemed sometimes that the wackier things were, the better. It never seemed to represent too much of a problem, and (of course) people loved the madness, but only up to a point! When it got to be too much, the good ol’ Grateful Dead simply ‘retreated’ or ‘practiced invisibility’.

Jerry might not have been the whole ship, but he sure as heck was the vessel. AND the anchor! I was struck by what people decided to say in the film – what they articulated as ‘appropriate for posterity’. How (for example) some of the more ‘fey’ representatives of the family laughed uproariously at the notion that latter-day dead-heads could be told (or asked) to behave and not come to shows if they didn’t have tickets; whilst on the other hand, these same modern day ‘libertarians’ (so hip and so free) could happily suggest that there were too many nasty hairy Hells Angels back-stage for their taste. Jerry, bless him, kept it all in balance. For example, he point-blank refused to sign any letter to the fans when their behaviour became an issue, and he pointedly welcomed the Hells Angels to concerts as he welcomed anyone who loved the music.

The film left me an emotional mess. In the midst of it all I burst into tears and had to be comforted by my son Bodhi. It was, at times, unbelievably painful to see the mistakes we made, the errors of judgement, the poor planning, the rampant nihilism, that led like some tragic operatic shuffle towards Jerry’s demise. BUT, conversely, it was thrilling to see how all of those too-human errors that we made were happily embraced by the family and the band and laughed about, and thus in some crazy unexplainable way ‘survived’. Embracing ‘failures’ was surely one of the distinctive markers of the magnificence of the Grateful Dead. There was room for all.

One little thing stands out as a perfect example of the Grateful Dead’s approach and how posterity has somehow ‘misinterpreted’ what happened. The record company hated the tapers because they believe it would damage the band’s record sales. The band was in a quandary. It was decided that the taping couldn’t be allowed. Myself and the crew had the unenviable task of implementing this ‘edict’. That lasted for two shows at the most, then we brought up the situation in the dressing room prior to a show. We had all taken a trip and were getting high. We explained to Jerry “we aint cops, we don’t wanna be cops” and the policy of stopping taping was then and there abandoned as it was unanimously agreed that asking ANYONE to ‘police’ the tapers was a bridge too far. That was it. No big deal. We tried it. (banning the tapers) It didn’t work, so we immediately abandoned it and moved on. This was later interpreted by some Wall Street people as a supreme example of the Grateful Dead’s business ‘acumen’ which directly led thru the distribution of the tapers recordings to the bands huge commercial success. As if we’d planned it all ! You have to laugh!

WHERE did I cry in the film? Where did I laugh? When Barbara said that Jerry told her “I’d just like to live on the ice-cream money”. I thought THAT was so poignant that I cried like a baby. Poor Jerry, the thing that he had spent his life creating and nurturing consumed him in the end, and it seemed as if no-one could save him, though they all surely tried. The ONE thing that they COULD have done, they DIDN’T DO !!!! Namely, they could have ‘abandoned ship’. Called the whole thing to a halt and simply STOPPED. Jerry could have scuba-dived for the rest of his days. BUT, no-one could bring themselves to do it, and Jerry, poor Jerry, disappeared down the dumb rabbit-hole of heroin. PigPen had died, Keith had died, Brent had gone before him – tragic and ghastly precursors of what was to come. Vince followed thereafter.

The film captured it all. It was heart-breaking, and yet in the end it was MORE than simply THAT. It was an epic trip those guys wrote on the pages of their lives, an adventure of Homeric proportion and Shakespearian intensity, that has had no equal. Phil said some beautiful soulful things, as did Micky and Billy and Bobby – these guys were the true psychedelic explorers of their time and showed us how to LIVE. Phil said: “the Grateful Dead was the best thing that ever happened to me” and that goes for me too, and everyone else that was ‘on the bus’. As soon as I’ve ‘recovered’ I want to see the film again .. and again. It has so MUCH depth and is so subtle.

Amir Bar Lev is to be congratulated on a magnificent achievement. The Grateful Dead never quite managed to capture the ‘sound of heavy air’ in the recording studio, but Amir got it on film. In the end, the movie rendered me speechless and just simply GRATEFUL to all the guys in the band and all the people in the family for the four years I was involved. They were the best years of my life.

that's nice, he was my fav person in the film for sure

yeah cutler was great -- would probably just watch 3 hours of him rambling in the back of that van.

yeah no shit, i'd love his take on the Stones

Every band should have a Cutler; I can't imagine the Dead continuing past 1972 without him. I really want to check out his book.

It's fucked up that he defends the Angels, though.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Sam_Cutler.jpg/800px-Sam_Cutler.jpg

beautiful review by Cutler there, v nice indeed

he did write a book a few years back -- haven't read it though: https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Always-What-Want/dp/155022932X

ah i need to watch this

Trixie Garcia did a Reddit AMA yesterday:

Yes, Tupac came over to Jerry's house when Jerry was on the road. They didn't destroy it, but I have a distinct memory of people handing keyboards through the windows. Let me clarify, Tupac certainly wasn't a thief and his friends weren't thieves, it was a party that got out of hand. It was my good relationship with Tupac and his boys in Marin City that allowed me to get all that stuff back.

And Jerry never noticed. Or Jerry might have noticed, but he was such a non-confrontational kind of dad that he never told me he noticed.

I'm abt 6 episodes in and the doc is so great. So much footage that I've never seen elsewhere. Bobby is soooo out there, Phil is a tiny bit boring, and the roadies/managers are great.

Sam Cutler's book is very disappointing.

Just bought this cool shirt. Has "Ithaca 77" on the back

http://www.dead.net/sites/default/files/imagecache/product-main/ithacatshirt_1.jpg

Sam Cutler's book is very disappointing.
― Luna Schlosser, Wednesday, June 28, 2017 2:54 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bummed to see this, literally just hit the order button in another tab

Listening to Atlanta Fox Theater 5/18/77 this morning. Man, the first set is mellow if mellow is your bag: slow version of "Friend of the Devil," "Must Have Been the Roses," and "High Time" all clocking in at 10 minutes plus each. Great narcoleptic rainy day stuff.

i've been listening to some 77 JGB and holy shit is it slow. i think some head referred to it as "persian tempos," referring to the strain of heroin Garcia preferred. yow!

I've seen that too. The Atlanta second set also includes an 11 minute "Ship of Fools" and what I'm pretty sure is the slowest "Stella Blue" I've ever heard. Personally I'm loving this show, but Jer must have really been pissing off the twirlers that night.

lol even the "Around and Around" is slow!

https://68.media.tumblr.com/1126a1fca90d5ed1418809b8dc44dea0/tumblr_ou0gaxlSpJ1qzy30io1_1280.jpg

Ouch.

Okay, I'm listening to the Atlanta show again today, and I'm going out on a limb to say it's - if not "better" than Barton Hall - pretty much my ideal Dead listening right now.

No "El Paso" or "Mama Tried" in the first set to harsh my mellow (sorry, not a fan of Dead versions of either) and Bob isn't all shouty on "Minglewood." I'm also not big on "Dancin' in the Streets" and kinda burned out on "Scarlet/Fire" these days, so I prefer the Atlanta setlist to Barton.

Sound on this is stellar too, you can really hear the guitar interplay between Jerry and Bob. Plenty of shimmery leads, but it (almost never) gets over-noodly.

I'm even digging "Lazy Lightning/Supplication," and I'm generally not into those much.

how do you rate the night after? a couple nice slow takes there too

Not familiar, I'll give it a try!

listened to 4/23/77 the other day, kind of my ideal setlist and there's even a matrix recording which i'm normally into but i found the show pretty flat overall... i think there's some saying about not judging a show by the setlist, guess i learned that one

An offending extract from the Sam Cutler book (sorry for long quote)

On the second night of the Port Chester gig, high as a kite and feeling good, with the briefcase stashed and everything in order, I wandered back into the auditorium. The place was cooking, literally —it felt as hot as a baker’s oven. The same policeman in full uniform uniform I had seen earlier now stood at the side of the room with his back to a wall. Immediately in front of him, a couple of thousand delirious hippies were having the time of their lives. I wandered across to say hello.

I introduced myself, showing him my security pass, and asked how he was doing. He remembered me from before, but seemed a little friendlier this time. “Man, I been here for over two hours and I’m sweatin’ and I ain’t had nothin’ to drink and I need a break,” he told me. I smiled at him.

“You fancy a beer? I’ll get you a beer if you want one.”

He looked horrified. “Man, it’s more than my life’s worth to drink a beer. I’m on duty.”

I sighed sympathetically and apologized, saying, “Of course you are, sorry about that. Anyway, what d’you think of the show?”

He smiled. “That’s one hell of a band you got there; the acoustic set was great.” I thought to myself, well, at least he likes the music. He motioned with his arm to the kids boogying like mad in the auditorium. “Nice buncha kids, no problems here, these kids are having fun.”

I looked at him and smiled. “Tell you what, buddy, I know you’re on duty, but you surely could drink a Coca-Cola, couldn’t you?”

He sighed. “You know what, I’d love one, but before we came on duty we had a briefing from the captain and he told us all not to touch anything, ’cos it was likely to be contaminated with that LSD.”

I was as high as the Empire State Building, and I smiled at him again. “Seems a pity a man can’t have a drink on such a hot night.”He nodded and looked glum. I pretended to have a flash of inspiration.

“Tell you what. I could get you a Coca-Cola unopened. That way you’d be safe. There’s no way anyone can mess with a Coca-Cola in an unopened can. You can open it yourself.”

“You know what,” he said, “I reckon that would be okay.” I fetched a cold drink from the garbage can that stood on the stage and wiped away the excess water. Between the tab and the lip of the can a small drop of magic was applied, and I wandered back into the auditorium to find my thirsty policeman. I handed him the unopened can and he pulled the tab and drank with a gasp of satisfaction.

I gave him a wink and told him, “You want another one, you just let me know.” I leaned against the wall with my new best buddy and looked at the audience, checking out the view. A short time passed and the policeman took off his hat. Then he loosened his tie. It was, after all, really hot in the building. “Would you like another Coke?” I asked and he nodded appreciatively. I wandered backstage and grabbed a couple, though it was no longer necessary for the magic ingredient to be applied. He smiled as I handed him the Cokes and nodded toward the audience.

Less than five feet away, a lovely girl danced. She moved like a flower that stands in a soft breeze, her arms like petals wandering above her head, and her whole being shining with a serene light. She danced for herself; she danced for creation; she danced with the music; and she danced quite naturally and effortlessly for the policeman, who thought of himself for once as the luckiest man in the world.

I returned backstage to stand behind the amplifiers, to lose myself in the music of the gods and to relax. Over the stage apron I could see the policeman: he was smiling. In front of him, several beautiful girls were dancing as if for his pleasure. He was like a Pasha with his harem. He was no longer the outsider but was now the same as all of us in the auditorium, at one with the people and the music. Garcia noticed the cop and smiled knowingly at me. I grinned to myself as a voice in my head softly whispered the words: “Game, set, and match.”

It always amazes me that so many people considered dosing someone without their consent a light-hearted prank and not a violation. All those stories of Pigpen specifically saying he didn't want to trip and them making a game out of trying to slip it to him anyway seem creepy to me, even more so when told as though it was just this amusing goof-off. Ditto those times in the Haight house when Lesh (or maybe it was Weir) refused to trip and Bear essentially stormed up and harangued them into doing it despite their objections.

Have I repped for The Mosque 5/25? I've listened to that one a few times on Archive. Laid back and lovely, esp "He's Gone."
― smug dinner-jazz atrocity (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, June 13, 2017 12:05 PM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

came to post about this, really nice. think this might be my favorite may 77 show now, tied with pembroke pines probably

i’m like fucking obsessed with the buffalo show

i'm coming around to thinking AUDs or Matrixes are better than SBDs, you get more of the atmosphere- people singing along, cheering, getting kicked out for smoking, etc. seems the true heads hate em tho because this show is excellent and all the comments are complaining about 'too much high end' and stuff

https://archive.org/details/gd77-05-12.aud.clugston.6484.sbeok.shnf

nah, i think Heads are pretty much split on the AUDs vs SBDs debate with strong feelings in both directions. for me it comes down to my mood at the time. 75% of the time i go for SBDs because i want to be able to focus on the music, but some of the well done AUDs from the 80s in particular are worth hearing.

i'd been doing a trawl through the '85 summer tour starting from the Greek 20th anniversary run and i hit on a couple AUDs from the Oade brothers that i really liked.

a good matrix will give the best of both worlds, but i think finding a "good" one that isn't just harsh cut to audience sounds between songs is difficult sometimes.

most shocking revelation from AUDs is that people cheered at the fact a bob song was starting

(his guitar is quite loud on this mix and it's excellent fyi)

i haven't paid much attention to anything past 1983- but it's my understanding that the taper phenomenon really started picking up steam around then. i could easily see quality matrixes coming out due to that

i haven't listened to any of the tapes from that show, i usually get my fix from the first May 1977 box. i'll have to add that to my list next time i get back in a May '77 mood. as deep as that month is, i got a little burned out on it after last year's box.

i heard the SBD for this was released as part of some winterland set so if you're too picky for an AUD you could probably track that down on soulseek or something

AUDs from 1974 are pretty interesting, because they capture the feel Wall of Sound, which doesn't come through in SBDs of the era.

the roosevelt stadium aud (8/6/74) is fantastic for that reason, and also because they somehow drop into scarlet begonias out of playin' in the band and it's sloppy and totally awesome

if you just want a sampling of this 5/12 i'd say the half-step is excellent, the terrapin is great, and weirdly, dancin' is a highlight for once. it goes to some unique spaces

listening to 5/9, i normally don't care for 77 Other Ones but this is a ripper, Keith doing some crazy stuff here

i’m like fucking obsessed with the buffalo show

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, January 20, 2018 12:55 AM (three months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the buffalo show is so good

this not fade away is excellent too, love it when they chug away at the intro for a good couple minutes

Dan -- Buffalo opens with an outstanding Help > Slip > Franklin, you'd love it if you're a Help guy (I am too)

― Wimmels, Tuesday, 25 April 2017 14:57 (one year ago) Permalink

Finally listening to this one year after the recommendation. Yeah, this cooks.

giving cornell a spin a day late and man great show but this groovy jazzy version of "Mama Tried" is so shit compared to the awesome acid cowboy roller on skull & roses, why would you make such a baffling arrangement decison.

Well...there probably was a lot of drugs involved.

looking for a mutron? i think someone famous owned this one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JERRY-GARCIAS-pedal-A-piece-of-GRATEFUL-DEAD-history-BigSteve/312462357387?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3Db30a40aa2d3c47349b265f69758ac2cb%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D312462333125%26itm%3D312462357387&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

happy cornell day

i like the AUD of this show because you can hear the wasted dude yelling "Play America's favorite song — TRUCKIN!!!!"

"take a step back! and yet another step back! do you all feel better? ...what do you mean, 'no'?"

Someone should do a "Grayfolded"-type collage of all the "take a step back!"s.

i think someone's done a collection of weir's dumbest stage banter ...

Okay now listening to the Buffalo show :) woohaaa this project is eating me alive.