mountain bed

Apparently they're going to speak with Betty Cantor-Jackson. You know I'll be all over that.

I love set 2 from 10/20 Berlin. I got the FM that circulated at the time. My pleasure!

Honestly, I wanted a Fenway/Wrigley Series. I wanted to see Papi on the big stage for the last time. I've rooted for the Red Sox in the AL since we traded Buckner to them. I guess I'm sorry about that!

Because they won a championship? I don't understand why you would say that. It really was one of the best nights of my life.

Not mind-blowingly good, but anytime a band can cover what is possibly my favorite Zeppelin song with that degree of proficiency I'm all in. I am DYING that I can't see a show on this tour.

That's an interesting thought, because although the words and melodies are about the same it's an entirely different feel. That Bird Song you speak of is one of the first 10 versions attempted. It's a great early version. Those '71 versions are in the key of D and the drums are pretty tribal-sounding - lots of toms, very little snare. Once it was reintroduced with Brent it was in E and you hear the drums laying back, with really nice snare and cymbal work. I love 'em both. It's just a very major piece (to state the obvious!).

Jerry and Brent most definitely were playing VERY crisply and fast during many tunes in that time. Bird Song is a fine example - as you probably know that tune sat on the shelf for a long time ('73-acoustic run in '80) but when it came back electric in early '81 it immediately became a vehicle for some of Jerry's most blinding solos. If you're a big Phil Freak he's a bit too laid back much of the time for my tastes. I would recommend investigation of that real early Brent time frame. It's most likely my second favorite period after '72-'74.

That's a good call. I wouldn't say the entire LP is great but it does have 2 of Crosby's very best on it - Mind Gardens and Everybody's Been Burned. I love those tunes a LOT. For me, 5D is the one. I love every single cut on that record - even the filler (of which there isn't much!). This record, along with The Stones' "High Tide & Green Grass" comp were the first 2 LPs I ever had. My parents bought those for me when I was pre-K age.

I love Victim! I'd say by the Fall of '89 it had really taken off and could get super weird. I love the ugliness of it - it might be about the most dissonant song they ever did. Definitely a later-era Crimson feel to those ascending steps.

I'm pretty sure Dan Healy worked with McCune Sound systems with The Dead pre-Wall of Sound.

That's an interesting choice. I personally like the first album better, but III might be their most influential record, when you consider what came after. Things like Battle Of Evermore, Going To California, Black Country Woman, and most importantly (to me) Rain Song seem to be direct descendants of III. They really get into "light and shade" here more than the first two records.

I've always been a big fan of '81. Had lots of tapes from that year. '82 was a different story - for some reason '82 & '83 were always under-represented in my collection. After I got into Archive I heard much more than the April and August shows that dominated my tapes. I've come to the conclusion that '82 seems to me to be underrated as a whole - for levels of consistency more than anything. They were really gelling a lot! The Fall shows, while not (maybe!) as hot as late July/early August is to my ears still very very strong. I always bemoan the lack of '81 and '82 shows in the official

This is kinda strange, but I would say the best versions of Just a Little Light were post-Brent. I thought Warren sang it well with Phil and Friends, and it had places in the tune that really took off and jammed. Really a shame that aspect of the song wasn't more fully developed with GD.

Licks My Decals Off is a great one. Fortunately there's quite a bit of cool stuff of his on youtube. And if you're on FB definitely like his page (Captain Beefheart - Singer). They always have neat stuff about Captain they put up.

At work I usually take a few of the 2000+ hours of Grateful Dead I have on cassette and blast them through a nice, old school boombox. They still play, they still sound great.

Right now I can't access Google for gmail, can't get on FB or youtube for some reason, yet I can get here. Amazing.

That's a nice run for sure!

Nope, I'm a good 3 hours away (1 hour north of Indy). Just a big Nelson fan.

I actually saw DNB at Canal St. a BUNCH of times, '98, '00, '01 (THREE TIMES!), '02, '03, and '05. They never went back. Sigh. I picked the third '01 show cause it was close to my birthday, and they did "Give Me Love" as a tribute to George (who had just passed).

DAMN

Impossible task! But I'll try! King Crimson - Vogue Theatre, Indy, April 1984 Grateful Dead - Sports Centre, Indy, 6/30/84 Black Sabbath/Blue Oyster Cult, MSA, Indy, October 1980 Frank Zappa - Vogue Theatre, Indy, August 1984 Allman Brothers, Deer Creek, August 1990 Bob Dylan, Alpine Valley, 6/18/88 Phish, Deer Creek, 8/13/96 David Nelson Band, Canal Street, Dayton, Dec 2001 String Cheese Incident/Phil Lesh & Friends, Deer Creek, 7/15/01 Santana/Jeff Beck, Deer Creek, August 1995

20 years ago today. The First Festival. Happy Anniversary, Clifford Ball!

Lambert is amazing! I got the opportunity to sit and talk at length with Gans last March when he was here. Sweet guy. Anyway - the subject of Lambert came up and Gans (quite the Dead Scholar himself) talked about how consistently he is blown away by Gary's encyclopedic knowledge of all things GD. Nice to know he digs Teh Wilcos as well.

Late morning, 8/9. I was working 3rd shift and had been asleep for maybe 2 hours. My wife took a call and woke me up - it was my long time pal and tour buddy Jack. He delivered the news. I had that night off so we organized a wake at my house with all of my pals I went to shows with. I was ok until the 12/12/69 "He Was A Friend Of Mine" came on. That's when I broke down.

Can you even imagine what it must have been like at that show?