what the hell is Bob Weir's prolem?

so points raisd above -
1) i never noticed hotpants or even short shorts - he likes shorts
2) bad jokes - the man is on drugs (apply to above)
3) weird eyes - the man is on drugs

you prefer jerry's voice? not that there is much to choose betweenthe two but bobby actually had a voice while jerry croaked for about 20 of the 30 years. both their voices succeded depending onwhat they wre singing and even then if that night they were able to do it - I love 'Crazy Fingers' more often than not (i.e 99% ofhe time) I would suffe thru Jerry's singing till he shut up and started playing guirat.

Bobby is singing "looks like rain" "cassidy" or whatever, his voice generally is ok, probably it is also that he is nor required to hit same notes as jerry but more power to him if his is smart enuf to sing in his range.

Drak Pack was just as an important part of my past as Voltron, but moreso even!

Also, I love the Dead, but have never been able to say I love Bob Weir. I went from hating him to tolerating him to actually liking a few of his songs. Basically, I just can't stand his combination of country bumpkin and hepcat whiteman vocal inflection, but occasionally he pulls off a great song (i.e. Pride of Cucamonga).

Jerry Garcia ruled, though, even when he was too fat and out of breath to hit the notes or sing coherently. Something about his voice is just so fucking emotional and sweet.

"Estimated Prophet"? "One More Saturday Night"?

Fucking "Playing in the Band"????!!!!!!!!!!!

Did he do "Unbroken Chain"? If so, there's another notch in the con column.

He's definitely a worse singer than Jerry; after all, he's the guy on all the live stuff who interjects all the off-key yelping, and the "Whoah Yeah!"s and the "Oww!"s.

Still, I kinda like him in spite of all that. He's just living the dream, you know.

But yeah, he is a total goofball. I kind of think he knows that, though.

http://faculty.eas.ualberta.ca/wolfe/IMAGES/bob-weir-madonna.jpg

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:thl2195132889d&dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=35e3973f.2217734%40enews.newsguy.com

This sounds more like high comedy to me.

He's supposed to have been straight since around 1966, isn't he? Always thought that was a little strange.

Search: “Estimated Prophet’, “Looks Like Rain” “Other One”/”Spanish Jam”
Destroy: “Victim or the Crime” “Feel like a Stranger” “Picasso Moon”

Though they’ve become part of the Dead canon I’ve never been particularly enthused abt “Playing in the Band” “One More Saturday Night” or “Music Never Stopped” etc. I prefer what could be classed maybe as the second-tier songs like “Cassidy” or “Mexicali Blues” and to a lesser degree “Jack Straw”. I would put my three search picks up in amongst the best Dead songs tho.

Depending on mood I can either find “Sugar Magnolia” just cause for killing the band and other times I’ll happily hippy out. “Sunshine Daydream” is better just ‘coz I haven’t had it shoved down my throat as often.

James Ball – well, in a video I saw of New Year’s Eve Dead show circa ’86 or so Bobby’s pupils look like he’s on about half a sheet of acid. Find it hard to believe he gave up drugs in ’66 or so.

U.S. Blues
China Doll
Unbroken Chain
Loose Lucy
Scarlet Begonias
Pride Of Cucamonga
Money, Money
Ship Of Fools

Weir's worst tendancy is go go falssetto. *Shudder*

Poor Garcia. So talented. He deserved a better band.

friend just offered me a free ticket to the weir/chris robinson show in boulder next week! second row! i'm totally going! i will ask bob weir what the hell his problem is.

No, ask him what his prolem is.

what is your prolem, mannnn

he gives a weird finger. up above. some people throw a weird bird.

that is quite the weird bird.

if you've gone to all the trouble of constructing the pointer, ring, pinky block why leave the thumb all hanging out there like it was broke.

Never knew until now that "Ace" is essentially a Dead album.

Love this thread, even with terrible attribution errors above.

I do Bob Weir air guitar moves to all music, including classical. He can be a total cheeseball obv but I often think he had the best sense of humor and perspective about the band. And Jack Straw is his best song, possibly the greatest GD song of them all.

every time he speaks between songs he sounds irritable & often really condescending, even on early late-sixties shows, to the point where when he gets started I'll find my self saying "shut the fuck up, Bob" to the stereo

I rescreened Festival Express recently, and there's some footage of an informal press conference on the train, which was presumably held to mend fences w/the Canadian underground press who'd been so critical of the motives behind the tour. A very unchill Weir snaps at one of the reporters who'd suggested The Dead play for free with something along the lines of "We're working musicians, man! That's how we make our living! You just can't understand that this doesn't happen for free, and that's really sad...." which I guess was pretty ballsy for July '70, particularly coming from someone in THE GRATEFUL DEAD.

I have also thought that Jack Straw might be the best that the Dead ever got.

hope they play that at the show!
realized the last time i was in bob weir's presence, jerrry garcia was still alive.

yeah, xp, the Dead were always kind of out-of-the-box like that... the ultimate outlaw band, and the 'drug' band - but in a way maybe because of that they'd often defy the more obvious stance. they usually found political radicals hypocritical and simple-minded... "hey, not all cops are bad people, man", and loved disco when a lot of older rockers were hating on it. Jerry was even open to punk.

which I guess was pretty ballsy for July '70, particularly coming from someone in THE GRATEFUL DEAD.

The Who did something similar, refusing to take the stage at Woodstock until they were paid (other bands were told, "Hey, it's a 'free' festival now, no one's getting paid!")

I'm relatively new to the Dead, so I don't really understand the Weir hate (then again, I haven't heard anything post-'73). "Jack Straw" and "Black Throated Wind" are all-time for me.

the Canadian underground press who'd been so critical of the motives behind the tour.

I wanted to kick the shit out of these people.

Re: Weir hate. His songwriting style is probably the most experimental and divergent of all the band-members. There are some strange and jarring chord changes and time signatures. Some songs had notes that he really shouldn't have been trying to reach. Barlow's lyrics were sometimes political or confrontational or pretentious.

He was my favorite member of the Dead when I was younger though, probably for all those reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YCZeNTui4Y&feature=related

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

good lord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQh19pokOxk&feature=related

he's got a handful of undeniable classics no doubt (cassidy, estimated, sugar magnolia, etc), but gah does this dude have so much to answer for

(even so i'd totally go to a weir/chris robinson show in boulder for free!)

barlow is no hunter! to put it mildly. and bobby is responsible for the most terrible dead-related solo stuff. everything except ace is pretty non-essential.

the only time I've seen him solo was at the second clinton inauguration. There were only like 50 people in his tent. it wasn't very memorable, and not in a typical i-was-so-stoned-on-acid sense.

poor billy cobham.

I never really liked his band very much and have never found a good reason to change my mind so to me his prolem is just being a member of the Dead in the first place. Although if someone like will likes them maybe I should give them an umpteenth chance.

Although I do enjoy Cherry Garcia ice cream and had one of the related signature line of ties at one point.

Weir's worst tendancy is go go falssetto.

Bob at his worst see 7:49

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkcMxI0ty94

"Although if someone like will likes them maybe I should give them an umpteenth chance."

you gotta go the the thread that is all about turning haters into lovers. forget what its called. or maybe don't go to it cuz you might end up loving the dead.

The Who did something similar, refusing to take the stage at Woodstock until they were paid (other bands were told, "Hey, it's a 'free' festival now, no one's getting paid!")

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Saturday, June 2, 2012 3:38 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

One thing tht links the two cited events was that both groups were coming off dire finacial situations at the time of the incidents that I assume hadn't become common knowledge to the press or public at the time. In '69, The Dead were way in the hole w/Warners due to going overbudget on both Anthem... & Aoxomox..., plus most of the money that they did have (touring revenue etc.) had been ripped off by their manager (Mickey Hart's dad). They became solvent again by doing Live/Dead and then going the no-frills route on the studio followups, which became their first hit lps.

The kicker re:Weir's comments was that the band ended up playing a free show or two outside venues on the tour to calm down people protesting the shows.

Bob at his worst see 7:49

Yikes. Well, that's why I haven't gone beyond 1973 Dead.

One thing tht links the two cited events was that both groups were coming off dire finacial situations at the time of the incidents that I assume hadn't become common knowledge to the press or public at the time.

True. wrt the Who, Michael Lang et al told the Who's management, "If you won't play for free, we'll announce it to the whole audience." The Who's management said, "Go ahead, Mike. Piss off half a million people." Bluff called, a local banker had to be rousted out of bed in order to cut the Who a certified check. Once other bands got wind of this, they too demanded to be paid.

Bobby gets a bad rap. Deadheads would have you believe he's the luckiest man in all of rock and roll, but, as evidenced by already-mentioned songs upthread, this is not the case. Sure, Bobby hams it up a bit, and in fifty fucking years onstage, still has yet to figure out how to sing INTO A DAMN MIC, but he's a great rhythm guitarist and, with Barlow, has written some of the best, most adventurous (yes, it's true) Dead tunes. He is nowhere near my favorite member of the band (that'd be Keith for nerdy reasons and Jerry overall for 'no duh' reasons) but I hate hearing people slagging him all the time, Ratdog notwithstanding. Once you think of him as the McCartney to Jerry's Lennon, he'll go down smoother for you.

Also, if you stop at '73, you are missing a ton of killer Dead stuff, dude. Hell, '77 might have been their best year (with '81 and '82 not far behind)!!

great rhythm guitarist

This cannot be emphasized enough.

I wish it was easy for the home listener to isolate instrumental parts -- there have been many times that I wanted to just listen to Weir and figure out what the hell was going on harmonically.

"Bob at his worst see 7:49"

"Yikes. Well, that's why I haven't gone beyond 1973 Dead."

there is goodness post-73. you'll see. for instance, i would totally recommend the dead set/reckoning live stuff. there is all kinds of good 70's stuff.

even worse than weir in that clip is the keyboard solo after his freakout with the keyboard on anemic fart setting.

r.i.p. vince

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfjjzZvYnkE&feature=related

Also, if you stop at '73, you are missing a ton of killer Dead stuff, dude. Hell, '77 might have been their best year (with '81 and '82 not far behind)!!

yeah if you don't listen to '77 tours I don't even know what to say, that is some of the best shit out there. I haven't delved into '81/'82 yet, a friend's sent me several '74 shows and they have great moments but I think the repertoire they're working in '74 is so bloated with weak Wake of the Flood stuff which I just cannot get into. But '77? Pembroke Pines? C'mon, now

77 is killer, yeah. i haven't really gone past that year either, though -- which 81-82 gigs should I check out.
and otm about weir being a cool rhythm guitarist. it's weird, in one of those classic album docs, they talk about how weir refused to rehearse (at least in the early days of the band). but the dude definitely figured out how to be the grateful dead's rhythm guitarist! it's not like it's just a gig where you stand up there and play the changes. he had to hold his own with the rest of 'em.

weak Wake of the Flood stuff which I just cannot get into

you are talking challops and I collect my five dollars.

http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-04-30/news/bob-weir-s-cutoffs-not-going-to-grateful-dead-archive/

One thing about late 70s early 80s Dead I think the world was deprived was them some how having one of those Weir or Mydland songs becoming some fluke FM radio hit. Could you imagine some clip of the disco dead coked out of their gourd playing on Solid Gold? It would have been hilarous to see Marilyn McCoo or Andy Gibb sending the cameras to pan over to the Dead playing on a game show set playing one of those doobie jams.

Funny thing is they 'did' kind of try to go for it (pop golden ring), but they were just way to funky for something like that too stick. There is definitely some Fleetwood slumming on some of those records, but their material is just too obscure to catch.

i remember hearing this on the radio after it came out. should have been a smash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvi8P-pMHuA

that album was almost but not quite top 20 when it came out and alabama getaway was the only chart single but it was way up there in the 60s.

lo0l that video

It definitely could have happened, as the Dead did try to tap into some serious Doobie Bros. action on that record and using Keith Olsen (Fleetwood Rumors) on Terrapin Station.

You could definitely cast Brent Mydland into the Michael McDonald role if it would have taken off.

You know that is exactly what Clive Davis was hoping would have happened.

The tunes are good and catchy but not 3 minute single tight.

There probably could be a good book (or fine Mojo article) written about the early days of Arista and their enforced Pop moves on Dinosaur band signees (Dead, Kinks, Allmans).

you are talking challops and I collect my five dollars.

naw man. let's be real about this, I'm not gonna monster-post it but look at the tracks on Workingman's Dead and look at the tracks on American Beauty and then look at the tracks on Wake of the Flood. Precipitous drop in the quality of the songs. "Stella Blue" is good live number in the '74 shows but here's Wake of the Flood:

"Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo" (Hunter, Garcia) – 5:45
"Let Me Sing Your Blues Away" (Hunter, Godchaux) – 3:17
"Row Jimmy" (Hunter, Garcia) – 7:14
"Stella Blue" (Hunter, Garcia) – 6:26
"Here Comes Sunshine" (Hunter, Garcia) – 4:40
"Eyes of the World" (Hunter, Garcia) – 5:19
"Weather Report Suite" – 12:53

if you can compare that tracklisting to the two studio albums that precede it & say with a straight face that the material's as good, well friend somebody's got challops but it ain't me

I actually love 80s and early 90s Dead (and yeah obv coked-up late 70s Disco Dead is untouchable). psych fans and hipsters have kinda been taking a while to come around to 80s>90s Dead shows, I think because they were going way beyond psych conventions and into some pretty weird/poppy/slick territories/textures (although they were always like that, never a convential/formal psych band and yet way more out-there), often toying with all these odd and sometimes questionable synth and midi sounds. but now that people have opened up to yacht rock etc in recent years, I think they're probably more equipped/open now to dig into this stuff. and, I mean, between and around the all the yacht jams and synth ballads there's this really swirly, celestial kind of sound they go into in this period that imo is the Dead at its most profoundly psychedelic

and xxxp, really agree that Weir is one of the more interesting rhythm guitarists. maybe it can be partly tied to his dyslexia, but that man has the most original and illogical approach to rhythm... almost this Thelonius Monk sense of timing - all spastic jolts and skronks and splatterings of texture out of thin air

also, I always kind of dug his vaguely Cowboy-ish vocal persona, and he actually does these really interesting microtonal things in his singing, where he'll kind of lean against a note and start to bend it just below pitch, or sliding in and out of tune in this kind of liquid way.

xxp: if you're talking about the album, yeah, ok

xxp: if you're talking about the album, yeah, ok. but most of those songs work really well live, in my experience. I mean, Mississippi Half-step and Row Jimmy are monsters. Even Let It Grow (from Weather Report Suite) is one of Weir's better numbers. Only one of those I don't really care for is Sing Your Blues Away.

outsider artist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeF-W2XNWjU

best use of bob's weird bird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvPdI0USSPk

What's the problem here, exactly??

"Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo" (Hunter, Garcia) – 5:45 - GREAT SONG
"Let Me Sing Your Blues Away" (Hunter, Godchaux) – 3:17 - HOW YOU GONNA HATE KEITH'S ONE VOCAL CONTRIBUTION EVER? THIS SONG RULES
"Row Jimmy" (Hunter, Garcia) – 7:14 - MASTERPIECE
"Stella Blue" (Hunter, Garcia) – 6:26 - MASTERPIECE
"Here Comes Sunshine" (Hunter, Garcia) – 4:40 - GREAT SONG
"Eyes of the World" (Hunter, Garcia) – 5:19 GREAT SONG
"Weather Report Suite" – 12:53 - ONE OF MY BOBBY'S BEST

Sure, the live versions are better - it's the Dead fer chrissakes! - but I'd argue that the closest the band ever came to making great studio albums was the trio of Grateful Dead Records releases, and this is the best of the bunch. Love this album. Add "Althea" and "Help On The Way / Slipknot! / Franklin's Tower" to this and you have pretty much all my favorite Dead songs (which, admittedly, have nothing to do with my favorite Dead 'jams').

American Beauty? Yall can have that shit. :)

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55fnoMRmw1qzy30io1_500.jpg
last night! we had pretty great seats, actually. fun show. sweet "rain and snow". cool solo version of "me & my uncle".

the shorts ain't as short as they used to be

he was wearing a fanny pack tho.

"OK, thanks, everyone. The next song...wait, where are my keys?!...oh, right, in my fanny pack. So, the next song we're gonna do..."

just want to mark the moment I first heard somebody assert that "Here Comes Sunshine" is a "great song"

c'mon Mr. If Assholes I am not getting you! "Althea" and "Slipknot!/Help on the Way/Franklin's Tower" are two of my all-time all-times, those are killer killer tunes. "Stella Blue" can be really good live, it really opens up but..."Eyes of the World"? that's like the most egregious grafting of a chorus onto a verse where the two didn't fit...ugh down with Wake of the Flood

did i mention that i like wake of the flood? i mean i definitely play it more than shakedown street or terrapin.

dude if you had been there in vegas in 93 during this crazy lightning/wind/rain storm and the dead starts playing "here comes sunshine" and the sun totally bursts through the clouds and covered us all in divine light oh man

but assholes goes to far with the contrarian american beauty hating. i mean come on. everyone knows that album is almost perfect except for pigpen. and even pigpen is needed cuz there can't be a perfect dead album.

assholes to aerosmith: my dark journey into internet message board culture by scott seward

heh. yeah, huge deadhead here and I just never really got the appeal of Pigpen. he just sounds like someone's doofy big brother trying to do a weak blues impression for the first time at some open mic night

there's a part in the classic albums doc i just watched where they talk about pigpen and weir being repeatedly fired from the band in the early days but "they just wouldn't leave."

Yeah, I know Pig's heart was in the right place, loving those old R&B tunes, but I just can't listen to him.

I like the way he does "Smokestack Lightning."

xxp lol yeah, it's true. Weir just wouldn't get it together in the early years, and Pigpen - just a heavy drinking biker type - never had any interest in psychedelics, and during the long jams started getting lost and bored and would just plink a few notes at the keyboard looking morose and confused

just want to mark the moment I first heard somebody assert that "Here Comes Sunshine" is a "great song"

Dude - the version on Dick's Picks 1 (Tampa) - you don't think this is the Dead at the peak of their powers? Are you sure you like the Dead?

And yeah, the Rock Scully book (hardly the best book on the band but worth reading if you like tabloids) goes pretty deep into the Pigpen / Bobby 'problem' (as it is identified repeatedly).

I can't hang with the Pigpen era much these days though the rave-ups are what got me interested in the band way back when.

77-82 is my favorite, especially if you just pretend that 1977 ended and then 1979 began. Of course, this would eliminate the year of my birth, but, you know, the Egypt concerts. Yeesh.

But really, I love all eras of the Dead - one of my favorite bands ever.

http://facesofweir.tumblr.com/

So not gonna happen...

http://24.media.tumblr.com/e3cf5324879f468ffb2ae1e4745d4fd7/tumblr_mjzcp24k6v1s9142do1_500.jpg

are you so sure, dude?

yeah i bet "it" happened a whole bunch for bob back in the day

can we be shown weirdos + bob weir

I know the Dead did some shows w/the Beach Boys back in the 70s, so it could exist, but a pic of Weir & Mike Love could destroy the universe, or at incite an instant mustache.

lol
can't believe i can't find a picture of bob weir and mike love... what a stupid world!

https://www.google.ca/images/yellow_warning.gif No results found for "weirdos + bob weir".

in what universe could this be true?

if there was an award for having met the most weirdos, or having spent the most time with a wide range of weirdoss, weir would have a shot. he probably went months or years without having a non-weirdo conversation.

haha otm

http://24.media.tumblr.com/b56595c4605913c38cd6b585faac170b/tumblr_mk3bdjLs0I1s9142do1_500.jpg

we have a winner

Why didn't I know there was an Afterhours meets Miami Vice video for "Hell In A Bucket" 'til ten minutes ago?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH7I6ibA-SM

ok, I've never seen that before either, but this is exactly how I wanted my life to turn out when I grew up.

how close did you get?

Still need the duck and the juggler.

This is a very great thread title

It's been suggested that Weir does in fact have a problem, with alcohol (and possibly pills), and there seems to be some evidence that that may be the case; one would hope he knows better. The man himself says he has serious shoulder pain issues that impinge upon his ability to play these days.

Unlike Phil, he's never interested me much outside the Dead (in which I could have left his "cowboy songs" behind but enjoyed a number of his latter-day originals more than the average fan, not to mention the fuck-you to the tie-dye mafia that was the short-shorts+polo or madonna tee getup), but I've probably had insufficient appreciation for the inventiveness of his jazz piano-inspired rhythm work, and like what he did in the aftermath with a few of Garcia/Hunter's tunes like The Days Between.

http://s30.postimg.org/4o0y8smap/bobweir610.jpg

lolz from the Annotated Dead lyrics site:

Steven Finney wrote:

> I posted this a few years ago, but it bears a repeat...I read an
> interview with Barlow (aka "the Barlitos"...to those who know the band)
> many years ago in an English music magazine, and the following was
> one of the original lyrics to "Hell in a Bucket" which Bobby chose
> not to sing...(hey! This could even be taken as an HS reference!)
>
> "And while you were saying your mantra
> I was humping your very best friend
> And comparing myself to Sinatra
> 'Cause I did it my way in her end".

It's true! I was hanging out at Weir's a bit in those days, and there
were some gnarly ideas batted around for that song. Gerrit Graham (who
wrote "Victim or the Crime" with Bobby) was around for some of these
sessions, too.

I was actually able to contribute a little to "Hell in a Bucket": I
suggested to Bob that he change "You imagine me kissing the toe of your
boot" to "You imagine me sipping champagne from your boot." Barlow
seemed slightly miffed about it, but I'm pretty sure he got over it.

lol at that original verse

I don't think they could have illustrated that one as literally in the video.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi516336921

From last year's bob weir documentary, apparently coming to Netflix at some point.

oh shit. coming to netflix today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=18&v=wfNewpF-j1E

I watched this on Saturday, since while try as I might I cannot fucking stand 90% of everything from 'em I've ever heard (1. GD was difficult to avoid many times in my life 2. I went to my first GD show, Furthur at the Barclays Center in 2013, with an open heart and mind, several huge lungfuls of dope and STILL hated it) the GD universe is still interesting to me.

And Bob is very very interesting to me. But this doc did not make the "dark force" point made above, like some heads found him to be a bummer, contrary to proper hippie behavior/energy? is that it?…did make the point that he was the conventionally handsome one in the band and took advantage as such; how his guitar playing is super unique; and implicitly that he has become more Jerry-ish in his old age…most of the National play some song with him, and it was funny to hear that whichever Dressner brother used to live around me but whom I never spoke to has the mewling indie dude voice I thought him to have…

that picture up thread is.......terrifying!

why is Weir's right forearm covered in bear hair?

bump

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jzL4NkqHr5A/U8dZJBGTWII/AAAAAAAADBQ/7c-P1jAQzBc/s1600/Bob+Weir+and+Ratdog.jpg

Worst sitcom ever. Although I am intrigued by Klaus Kinski's disembodied head

^^^ hall of fame post imo

https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a29491632/the-grateful-dead-bob-weir-workout/

He got hooked on CrossFit a few years back. “A couple of my friends and I were frequenting the San Francisco facility and managed to snake one of the instructors to train us out at my place, where I set up a little outdoor gym. I’m always on the lookout for functional stuff that’s fun to do.” One of his go-to drills is beating a huge tire with a gada mace. “The practice goes back thousands of years. The old original martial art was learning how to swing a big heavy thing and keep your balance and keep yourself collected. You can feel when you’re slipping from the proper form; there’s a timelessness about it.”

Yeah I follow him on instagram and like half of it is him doing battle ropes and hammer stuff. Honestly he has a really good old dude look going on between the fitness and the hair/facial hair style.

Yeah he rocks the beard well

"I’m always on the lookout for functional stuff that’s fun to do." What a strange sentence. I can't imagine myself ever uttering these words in this order.

"functional" is a code word in fitness for movements that are supposed to be actually useful in some way. like beating a tire with a big hammer.

"Beating A Tire With A Big Hammer" = Underrated Ratdog Jam.

It's hard work staying in jort shape

This is one of the funniest thread titles.

can't imagine needing a forklift for an exercise regimen, let alone being able to conjure one

Once a bob weirdo, always a bob weirdo

can't imagine needing a forklift for an exercise regimen, let alone being able to conjure one

Who wears short jorts?
Weir wears short jorts

having a short while ago heard Bobby and Wolf Bros slide "what's goin on" into "eyes of the world" on the Sirius GD channel, I am reminded of something that occurred to me when I saw him play with some of the guys from the National in 2016 at King's Theater: it seemed to me that he was playing mostly if not entirely Jerry tunes? is this standard for Bobby shows?

If so, seems odd, because unlike say Gilmour, who has an irreducible claim on many Waters songs, being that he sings and plays hugely key guitar parts thereupon, Bobby and Jerry songs are distinct; maybe jerry plays guitar parts on Bobby songs that heads hold dear, but it would seem that Bobby shows would be devoted to the shit that's, y'know, HIS… it would be like Mick Jones playing only Joe songs…

I'll make the easy joke and say he forgot which ones are his.

But more likely he just knows from experience which songs the crowds really want and he sees himself more as an emissary for the Dead overall than as putting on a Bob Weir show.

The short answer to this thread question is that he spent too many years in short shorts.

But to answer the new question, I think it has something to do with his slower approach to music these days. I don't have the interview handy, but he was responding to complaints of Dead & Co's slower tempos with a meandering explanation that I don't entirely buy, but that he's more interested in letting music take some time to develop and exploring the spaces between. So I think more of Jerry's songs fit this vibe, esp when it comes to Wolf Bros performances.

I wasn't sold on Wolf Bros at first, but those two curated live releases have really won me over, it's a vibe for sure.

"It's me, Bob Weir, high, I'm the prolem, it's me."

Bob Weir strikes me as one of the few people in the world who have no problems at all.

Here's the interview I was thinking of:

https://www.gq.com/story/bob-weir-grateful-dead-profile

And here's a choice quote:

“I'm looking for the most possible harmonic content from the string,” Weir says. “To get that, you have to be able to hang a note and let it change colors for you, because it will if you let it.… I love to listen to the sound of my fucking instrument. I don't play the guitar for no reason. There's so many things you can do with it. But you can't do them quickly. At least I haven't been able to figure out how to.”

I remember that interview, it was a good one, Weir appeared to be pretty unguarded.

very annoyed that I can't find a photo of his goofy getup for the daytime show at Monterey 67, with the pith helmet and the flowers painted on his face

terrible singer for one

Nah, imho he's only terrible when he gets to his adlib shrieking sections of songs.

Not terrible at all, and one of the most recognizable voices of his generation.

"HEY now GET BACK trucking on"
"HEY now GET BACK trucking on"
"HEY now GET BACK trucking on"
"HEY now GET BACK trucking on"

My Bob Weir problem is that I first heard "Black-Throated Wind" on Steal Your Face.
"This sounds like it could be a great song, but the vocal track is completely buried".
So I listen to Ace only to find that the studio version has an intrusive horn section and drumming that just plods through all of the switches of time signature.
On which of the other live records is there a decent version of this?

he seems to have poor mic technique sometimes, like he often comes in too loud or will like randomly back away from the mic for a second mid-singing.

lol
You’d think after 50 years …

this 1990 performance of estimated prophet has stuck with me for years because of bob’s weirdass vocals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ndrom5F6c

this gif is my favorite thing to come out of Dead & Co so far:

https://j.gifs.com/G5zVXK.gif

Scatman Weir

Dude is soooooo out there. I love it.

"We can share the women, we can share the ice cream..."

https://liveforlivemusic.com/news/ben-jerrys-jack-straw-berry-bob-weir-ice-cream-flavor/

On the back of the container, the Ben & Jerry’s crew gave its lyrical regards to the visiting musician: “We can share the strawberries / We can share the vegan cream / We can keep on groovin’ along / ‘Cause Bobby’s helping us live the dream.”

Mickey Hart of Darkness Double Fudge Swirl

Estimated Sherbet

Sugar Coneolia

She Wants Honey

I Know You Scooper

My Bob Weir problem is that I first heard "Black-Throated Wind" on Steal Your Face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEZZfXsooX4

Unbroken Cheesecake?

Throwing Cones

Mountain Swirl

Dark Starfruit

Fudge Ripple

Tiramisu Station

shake it, sugar cookie

uncle john's banana

Oh no!

lol

Pistachio Moonpie

Thank you Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro) for solving my Bob Weir problem!

*prolem

The Rocky Road To Unlimited Devotion

Looks Like Rainbow Sherbet

They've had Cherry Garcia for like decades so are they giving the other memb4rs flavours for real or has it only been the 2.

Only the two, with Wavy Gravy as an aside.

I really love Bob Weir.

His songwriting from the '90s on is so odd and so good! I think in the '80s he still expected to make some pop chart impact with his solo work, but eventually he realized it wasn't happening, and started writing Picasso Moon and Hell in a Bucket.

I’d use the word “serviceable” to describe him in terms of complementing Jerry. But his live outro ad-libs are pure full body cringe

As a recent semi-convert to the Dead, Bob is usually my sticking point. “Serviceable” is apt. I actually quite like “Hell in a Bucket.” He’s okay on first set songs like “Minglewood” or “Walkin’ Blues.” His country and Chuck Berry covers are lackluster.

But the lengthy, proggy songs like “Weather Report Suite” or the “Sailor/ Saint” medley, or “Victim or the Crime” which I mentioned recently in another thread, are stuffed full of too many chord changes, and want for a much stronger vocalist.

And I really dislike “Looks Like Rain.”

Oh, but I generally like his Dylan covers, so props there.

Yeah I like all of his songs on Built To Last. I love “feel like a stranger”. I do not love “Mexicali blues”.

No one’s listebing to the dead for Bobby

Gonna be a long long silky crazy night

No one falls in love with the Dead cause of Bobby, but once we're there, I think he can become an additional reason to listen. There are definitely days when the Dead song I want to hear the most is Estimated Prophet, or Passenger, or Cassidy, or Eternity, or Corrina, etc

“I think he can become an additional reason to listen. “

Nope

I’m not a hater. One of my first ways into the Dead was Burning Spear’s cover of “Estimated Prophet” so I like all Dead versions including Bob’s yelly ones. And I just listened to a spacy “Playing” where I could really tune in to what his rhythm guitar was doing.

Estimated is cool, I’ll give him that. But it’s Jerry’s lines that make the song

Calstars and I boogie on opposite sides of the Weir spectrum, but:

his live outro ad-libs are pure full body cringe

Robert Hunter thought that too, it's why he didn't write anything for Bob for decades.

It just occurred to me that I might come better-equipped than most to be patient with Bobby, because the first Dead songs I ever loved, age 10 or so, were the studio versions of New Speedway Boogie and Throwing Stones. So the band was always a two-sided deal for me. And it was always the songwriting that captivated me, along with the blend of the whole band's sound, Jerry's guitar being a taste I still haven't fully acquired. I like it but I don't hear its revolutionary aspects. My favorite lead guitar tends to be jagged and noisy -- Neil Young, Colleen Kinsella, Martin Barre. It's probably why I have so much time for a post-Jerry project like Furthur. I miss Jerry's voice a great deal -- I *love* him as a singer -- and above all I miss his songwriting, but his writing had slowed down so much by the '90s anyway...

Speaking of... would anyone care to put together an annotated, let's say, 10-live-track listening guide that would highlight what it is exactly that puts Jerry's guitar playing out in the cosmic sphere? That's no small task, but I promise to listen carefully.

You're in for a treat. I didn't really get into the Dead until a couple years ago, despite having seen them about 10 times in the 90s, when Garcia was not at his peak to put it mildly.

This 1977 Sugaree is a high point. It's not even about the band playing together, jamming. It's just Jerry going off for 20 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVkcQnyUSp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRtUk805_OE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnJmQQ9Kkfg

I just watched a few random moments of the second set and it seemed a little… rough. Maybe you had to be there.