Embarking on a Grateful Dead journey (all purpose thread, second set)

because he was like this at other times....

 

Well, he's not as sharp here (wavering eye contact, etc)... But he's clearly happy, and he doesn't really look rough or anything.

 

happily strung out thats for sure....

 

http://jasobrecht.com/jerry-garcia-the-complete-1985-interview/

I think I learned of this interview from a past thread here. The writer describes how Garcia was evidently in horrible shape based on his behavior during the interview, while at the same time he gives one of the best musician interviews I've read.

 

I really hope this thread does not turn preachy and ugly. But when you say "rough" here are a few things to think about. Nutrition, shelter, clean clothes, etc.If Jerry was poor, on the streets and this strung he would look a lot rougher. No judgments here...

Shine On, Rockin' Lazy'

 

Yeah, Ive been side by side with folks exhibiting a lot of those behaviors. No judgement passed here tho, everyone lives their own movie and you gotta give him credit for living life on his own terms

Im reminded of Ken Kesey's letter to Jer after his funeral:

Hey, Jerry-- what's happening? I caught your funeral. Weird. Big Steve was good. And Grisman. Sweet sounds. But what really stood out -- stands out -- is the thundering silence, the lack, the absence of that golden Garcia lead line, of that familiar slick lick with the uptwist at the end, that merry snake twining through the woodpile, flickering in and out of the loosely stacked chords...a wriggling mystery, bright and slick as fire... suddenly gone. And the silence left in its wake was-- is-- positively ear-splitting.

Now they want me to say something about that absence, Jer. Tell some backstage story, share some poigniant reminescence. But I have to tell you, man: I find myself considerably disinclined. I mean, why go against the grain of such an eloquent silence? I remember standing out in the pearly early dawn after the Muir Beach Acid Test, leaning on the top rail of a driftwood fence with you and Lesh and Babbs, watching the world light up, talking about our glorious futures. The gig had been semi-successful and the air was full of exulted fantasies. Babbs whacks Phil on the back. "Just like the big time, huh Phil." "It is! It is the big time! Why, we could cut a chart-busting record to-****ing-morrow!" I was even more optimistic. "Hey, we taped tonight's show. We could release a record tomorrow. "Yeah right--" (holding up that digitally challenged hand the way you did when you wanted to call attention to the truth or the lack thereof) "--and a year from tomorrow be recording a Things Go Better With Coke commercial."

You could be a sharp-tongued popper-of-balloons ****-head when you were so inclined, you know. A real bastard. You were the sworn enemy of hot air and commercials, however righteous the cause or lucrative the product. Nobody ever heard you use that microphone as a pulpit. No anti-war rants, no hymns to peace. No odes to the trees and All things Organic. No ego-deaths or born-againnesses. No devils denounced no gurus glorified. No dogmatic howlings that I ever caught wind of. In fact, your steadfast denial of dogma was as close as you ever came to having a creed. And to the very end, Old Timer, you were true to that creed. No commercials. No trendy spins. No bayings of belief. And if you did have any dogma you surely kept it tied up under the back porch where a smelly old hound belongs.

I guess that's what I mean about a loud silence. Like Michaelangelo said about sculpting, "The statue exists inside the block of marble. All you have to do is chip away the stone you don't need." You were always chipping away at the superficial. It was the false notes you didn't play that kept that lead line so golden pure. It was the words you didn't sing. So this is what we are left with, Jerry: this golden silence. It rings on and on without any hint of let up...on and on. And I expect it will still be ringing years from now. Because you're still not playing falsely.

Because you're still not singing Things Go Better With Coke.
Ever your friend, Keez

 

I am reading my way through the first set of this thread, and someone linked to an article about The 10 Best GD Songs. The comments included one bit that I couldn't help but laugh.

"The best was Jerry’s solo version of Black Star played in the men’s toilet at the Route 80 truck stop in either 77 or 78 during a full lunar eclipse. He farted-out the whole song. I taped it. You can even hear Bobby peeing in the background. Sacred stuff, man."

​

 

I was texting my brother just now. He was saying that his favorite "Dark Star" is on DP 4. "Some people think the one on Live/Dead is the best version. But those people are wrong."

 

It kind of depends of which "era" of Dark Star one prefers. 2/13/70 is one of the best, if not the best of the "open space" '70 Stars that typically feature a long, spooky "space" section and often incorporate a "tighten up" jam.

The '72 versions got much more jazzy and sometimes had freaky, atonal space sections. By '74 Dark Star could go in any number of directions such as: funky, bluesy, freaky/atonal, light n' jazzy, one verse/two verse/no verse, etc.

I will say though that 2/27/69 (Live/Dead version) is my favorite '69 Star, though. For the arrangement they had at the time, it's an extremely inspired and psychedelic rendition.

 

Speaking of Dark Star: tell me about Grayfolded. . .

 

Here is one recent discussion about it.
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/grateful-deads-greyfolded-and-infrared-roses-albums.381069/

 

Thanks for the link. Fascinating discussion. Now I am more curious than ever.

Both albums are on spotify.

 

Thanks for the link , all over discussion is interesting.

Oakland Park FL Locksmith

 

44 years ago today, my first dead show. It was at the Capitol in port chester NY. I don't count seeing them at expo 67.

 

You made it to one of those shows? Wow. What a start!

If you were also at one of the '67 Montreal shows, I think that counts, even if they were short. Can you recall which one it was? What they played?

 

my older brother jeff, who many here are familiar with, took me to the capitol show. we had great seats and it was an amazing show. still among my faves after all these years. the montreal show was free outside at expo 67. I can't recall much about what was played but there's a few recordings around from then so I'm sure it was their usual stuff. the expo pics below are not mine but are from that show. the airplane played too.

 

Such great photos. Jerry listening to The Airplane!

First known New Potato Caboose at those shows. You could have heard it!

 

Didn't know which of the many Grateful Dead threads to post on, but found this older one.

I've been listening to a lot of live Dead music that is available online, including Deadpod and the Archive.org sites and have found myself becoming immersed in the music. Probably a natural progression from the stuff I've become interested in recent years like CSN, Neil Young.

Was at the stage that I wanted to buy some studio albums. Thought about getting a few albums fromAmazon, then came across this auction for The Golden Road that was minimum bid of £60 (about $90) and started considering this. have read a lot of information over the last few days and decided to stick a bid in and got it for the starting price.

Looks like it's in good second hand condition - a new set would have cost almost double that in the UK.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grateful-...?pt=UK_CDsDVDs_CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item58bccd559a

So, it's all paid for and on it's way, can't wait to receive it and get playing the albums.

 

that's a great way to start. it's got a bit of everything dead.

 

For a group who supposedly couldn't make good albums, they made a bunch of good albums, many of which are in this set. I think these discs all sound really good too.

Does the set contain Birth Of The Dead? That's so pretty awesome.

 

Hi - I started this thread - and I also started my Dead journey in similar fashion - I grabbed both of the big Rhino boxes of their official studio/live releases. There is a motherlode of great posts/info in this thread, btw (especially the "first set" of it) that were very helpful to me as I was wading into the Dead pool. They are deep waters and it was great to hear feedback from the guys here who have an enormous amount of knowledge about the band - particularly with the live stuff which is nearly bottomless.

FWIW, although I think their studio output was at least good, I don't listen to them (outside of American beauty and Workingman's Dead) that much anymore. The live stuff is where they really lived and breathed.

 

I love when I get an alert that someone posted on this thread.
It always means a new journey has begun at the end of a Dead thread.

 

Agreed! I learned a lot from going through these two "sets", and it's always a treat to see more folks doing the same.

 

Yeah, that is included.

 

Hi there, yeah loved the thread you started, I've been poring over all these threads with a lot of interest, some great insights and loads of good advice.

Been listening to some of the live shows online, but will definitely need to get some of the official live releases once I've digested the mammoth box set a bit. The choice is, of course, staggering. Like the look of the 3 disc Fillmore West 1969 set for starters.