3/26 was my favorite of the 3 I saw. The very faint 1st row ticket stub scan in the booklet is mine along with the photo from 3/23 taken by my friend who was sitting next to me.
Might be my all-time favorite run of shows. I love that the run has the incredible range of playing as in Europe, but there's also still something a little "roadhouse" about their approach that we don't get in most of those great halls off Europe (and don't get me wrong--I love the Europe shows; it's more of a comment on what makes this run unique). I feel fortunate that we have so much of the run in Dick's and Dave's and bonus discs.
I had orchestra seats all three nights. it was a great and very familiar feeling there, even the hell's angels night.
San Francisco rock journalist Joel Selvin has a post-JG GD book out this summer: Fire and fury in Grateful Dead land Not sure if "the Machiavellian Lesh" is Selvin's wording or the IJ journalist's but either way this points to juicy tales from someone who's been around a few blocks a few times.
At the usual places...5/4/72 from Betty's two-track recording (not the complete show - ends at Dark Star). I believe all other Archive sources are from a mix made from the multitrack in the 90's.
I have zero interest in a narrative of angst, struggle, infighting, and bad vibes among Dead band members since Garcia’s death. ZERO.
re: early versions of "Me & My Uncle": I heard an uptempo early rendition once with drums so churning and upfront that it practically sounded like Turkish music. Likely a two-drummer version, but I never did catch the date of it. Definitely not a post-1974 version, though.
I've been on a kick of reading GD books, most from the library. Barring those 'very good' to 'like new' used copies that can be had for a song, there are very few GD books I feel the need to own. I'm sure I will check out the new Selvin book eventually, and there's definitely a lacuna there in terms of the history of the band, which in the several books I've read skews drastically towards 65-70. I think the continued health of the 'successor groups' and the proliferation of the community online and in person is an important part of the band's cultural impact more than 2 decades after Garcia's death.
Oh, my, sweet banana jeezus. Today was all kinds of lame. Got up at 5 am cuz I couldn't sleep from hacking my throat out all night long. Get to work about 8. Leave with my truck and trailer. Of course this pickup doesn't even have a CD player, let alone an AUX in, so spoiled me I have to grin and bear it with the useless cassette player and static-y FM radio. No Dead for me. Then, about 2 hours into my drive, 30 miles from the dropoff point, I blow a tire on this little trailer. I had to spend 2 hours in a parking lot effing around with a horrible "screw" jack that ended up not being tall enough and eventually actually broke because the screw was too stripped to turn it any more. Me and two lovely blokes who saw me and helped me out helped me lug all 11 of the multi-hundred pound tires I had off of the trailer so that 2 of us could manually lift it and the 3rd guy could put the spare tire on. Luckily that worked and the tire thankfully lasted the day. So the gist of this mission today was that I was delivering tires to a guy that was leaving the company. He just spend a few thousand on brand new tires for his truck in the recent past and was NOT gonna let the company have 'em. Can't blame him at all. So he said screw it and sold 'em to our company. So basically I was bringing him old tires and we were gonna take his new ones from him. After getting there and spending 2 hours getting the tires changed on the vehicle at a shop, we get my trailer loaded up. The guy starts freaking out saying my boss hasn't paid him yet, yadda yadda. After more "negotiations" and being stuck in the middle of their kerfluffle, I call my boss and he assures me the guy is paid and I'm good to go. The guy "won't let me leave" and I kinda just take off when he's not looking. He runs after me screaming profanities. An hour down the road I get pulled over by the county mounties for larceny. Yup, the guy called the cops and said I stole the tires. I was this close to being put in the slammer. Oh jeez. Long story short the guy is an idiot, he got paid and the cops let me go scot free. By this time it's late afternoon, I'm still sick, I'm pissed off and irritated and traffic is hassling me big time. We find out the guy is still being a "insert profanity here" and that he's making his way towards us to our shop. So I have to go drop the trailer at a discrete (read: hard to find and get to) location before returning to the shop. At the shop when I arrive somehow the guy is already there and I have to pretend to be pissed at my boss. See, the guy could still charge me for theft if he wanted to so we had to make it look like my boss screwed me over as well (so I could get the guys sympathy and he would'nt sue, ya dig?). I play it off like a boss, tossing swears left and right at my employer, middle fingers aloft I get in my ride and haul tail out of there. Apparently it worked perfectly. My boss called me up and alls good. Now I'm trying to figure what the hell happenned today and why I'm here bothering to tell you all about it. Peace and love - it's on to set 2 of 6/15/76 for me tonight.
It really has been stunning to see the scene continually reconvene all these years on. That the core four can magically reconfigure is amazing no matter the drama.
Didn't get a chance to finish 9/18/74 Dijon the other day, so playing from Eyes of the World on (disc 3 of the crushed porch variety). Eyes Of The World > China Doll, He's Gone > Truckin' > Drums > Caution Jam > Ship Of Fools, Johnny B. Goode E: U.S. Blues
Jeez, @warewolf95; some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Maybe this will soothe your day: Grateful Dead 2018 Peggy-O Funiculi Funicula Four Tournament
Tell me about it "Easy Day" my rear end.... sheesh! Thanks for the link. Love me some good Peggy O's. She always soothes my soul.
Cherry Picking Earlier the HCS & Dark Star from 12/6/73 Top 10 Dark Star and top 5 freakout after the verse Viola Lee from Dick’s 22 (2/23 & 2/24/68) Then disc 2 with a wonderfully sweet Dew followed by Schoolgirl
Glad your day worked out after all, and I have great compassion for the trajectory of your experience. Pretty Peggy O will set you right. The song is nice, too.
2/24/68 one of the greatest shows (short as they were back then) ever. Primal Dead indeed. Stunningly long powerful Schoolgirl then short intense TOO suite and THEN New Potatoe Caboose with a 5/6 minute jam that is pure genius.
I’m intrigued by the book. I’m going to pay close attention to the sources and how they’re used though, but that’s the historian in me...
