The Grateful Dead

[Shug]

Drumming at the Edge of Magic (co written with Jay Stevens of Storming Heaven, interestingly) is pretty much Mickey's auto-biography. Of course it has lots of stuff about rhythm, culture, drums and consciousness, as those are Mickey's prime areas of interest, but it tells his life story, too. It was pretty good, I thought, but its been a few years since I read it.

[calvino]

Drumming at the Edge of Magic (co written with Jay Stevens of Storming Heaven, interestingly) is pretty much Mickey's auto-biography. Of course it has lots of stuff about rhythm, culture, drums and consciousness, as those are Mickey's prime areas of interest, but it tells his life story, too. It was pretty good, I thought, but its been a few years since I read it.

 

That's cool - I didn't know that. Does he talk about what he was doing between 71-75 and how he supported himself, ie was he on the Dead payroll still ---- I guess I should read the book...

[Analogman]

Speaking of GD books, they have The Grateful Dead Family Album book for ten bucks (it was 20) at dead.net. I've always wanted that book.

[jw harding]

Pretty sure Bob has plans to write a book too.

[Analogman]

(By way of Dead.net) Dave's Picks Number 3:

 

In all of the years that archival Grateful Dead recordings have been coming out, there have been only two from the red-hot fall of 1971, Keith Godchaux's landmark first tour with the band. Now there is a third. Dave's Picks Volume 3 features the complete October 22, 1971 concert from the beautiful Auditorium Theatre in Chicago on two discs, with a third disc culled from the previous night's scorcher at the same venue.

 

The sparkle and verve that Keith brought to the band is immediately apparent on Dave's Picks Volume 3. He tears through rockers and bouncy mid-tempo numbers with the confidence of someone who had been playing this music forever and you can feel the electricity in the rest of the band, as Jerry, Phil, Bob and Bill absorb and play off of the amazingly inventive musings of their new recruit. The songs are a blend of old, still-recent (from Workingman's Dead on) and brand-new (“Tennessee Jed,” “Jack Straw,” “Mexicali Blues,” “Ramble On Rose,” “Comes A Time,” “One More Saturday Night”). One forgets that crowd-pleasers such as “Bertha,” “Deal” and “Playing in the Band” had come into the repertoire only eight months earlier, and “Truckin'” and “Sugar Magnolia” were just over a year old. Even a bunch of the cover tunes were relatively recent additions - “Big Railroad Blues,” “Me & Bobby McGee” and “Johnny B. Goode.” Keith handles all with his characteristic aplomb, but perhaps most impressive is how he fares on the Dead's big jamming numbers. On Disc Two, you'll hear his thoughtful and inventive contributions to a truly stellar, 29-minute version of “That's It for the Other One.” And on Disc Three (from 10/21), listen to him as he navigates through a spectacular “Dark Star,” which is split by a spirited romp through “Sitting on Top of the World.” Lest we forget to mention, the encore of 10/21 also features the first of only three “old school” (pre-hiatus) versions of “St. Stephen” Keith played on.

 

As always, the 3-CD set has been lovingly mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman from the original vault reels, and the eco-friendly Digipak includes a booklet with an essay by Blair Jackson about the show and, in this case, some very cool photos of the interior of Chicago's historic Auditorium Theatre

[calvino]

It's looks like it may be already sold out. Hopefully it just a computer glitch - but who knows. It would have been great to see them at the Auditorium.

I had the 21st show but not the 22nd, until I grabbed it last night off of etree.

 

http://www.dead.net/...-picks-volume-3

[Analogman]

I like watching those videos that David makes.

 

RCMP Officer at Headquarters: I don't know what you're talking aboot, eh?

Kabral: Aboot! It's ABOUT! And what's with this 'eh' business?

Roy Boy: [pointing a gun] We have ways of making you pronounce the letter O, pal.

[calvino]

Is the above from the Yoda video?

[Analogman]

A movie called Canadian Bacon (1995).

[calvino]

Well, I don't get it, A-Man.....but I do enjoy his videos, too.

[Analogman]

David is Canadian. Listen to how he pronounces about.

[calvino]

Okay - got it, now (little slow this morning) - I thought of that after I posted my last comment.

[calvino]

http://www.gdao.org

 

The Grateful Dead Archive Online is up and going. I guess the UC Santa Cruz library opened up the Dead archive last week, also.

[Fritz]

Been listening to some early stuff, in particular:

 

 

Pigpen's organ playing is sublime.

[calvino]

Just got done participating in my 1st 4th of July parade with the kid's - now, both zonked out while listening to 2/11/70 in our AC confines - it's a scorcher here in Chicago.

 

http://archive.org/details/gd1970-02-11.sbd.smith.patched.99154.sbeok.flac16

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Easy Wind popped up on my iTunes shuffle just now. Man, Pigpen was a great blues singer...not exactly on the level of Muddy or Howlin' Wolf, but better than any other white guy I can think of. The dude had a lot of feeling and soul in his vocals....sadly, I think he lived the blues to a fair extent.

[jw harding]

Easy Wind popped up on my iTunes shuffle just now. Man, Pigpen was a great blues singer...not exactly on the level of Muddy or Howlin' Wolf, but better than any other white guy I can think of. The dude had a lot of feeling and soul in his vocals....sadly, I think he lived the blues to a fair extent.

 

Greg Allman.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

That's a good call. I would rate Greg probably right behind Pigpen.

[dagwave]

i would reverse the two

 

and give strong consideraton to eddie hinton and maybe dan penn, too.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Boy, these threads get derailed easily. Did I forget to say IMHO?

[winterland121072]

Spent last few days listening to 27 September 1980 - Warfield...interesting show. Acoustic set a bit average, followed by a first set that was much better. Second set coooked all the way up to the drums segmetn. Jerry really on fire at some points. Highlights were the let it grow, deal, adn other one...here are some notes i took...

 

 

Dire Wolf – nice version; jerry solo smacked nicely; A

Race Is On – tight and well done; jerry smacking solos nicely; ending flubbed B+

Jack A Roe – tight and rowdy version; jerry again soudnign very nice; great energy A

Monkey Engineer – more solid jerry soloing in first solo; second solo average; great energy B

Musta Been the Roses – song portion very well done – jerry solo a bit bland B

Dark Hollow – well done with nice enthusiasm; getting there – B+

Bird Song – song portion standard; jerry solo had some interesting meander but no real apex; just wandered and carefully wandered back to reprise B

To Lay me Down – sweet verion; nice jerry solo – beautiful ending A

On the Road Again – great enthusiasm and solo – finally the band nailed exceptional A

Oh Babe It Aint No Lie – very loose and well done; nice B+

Ripple – loose and well done – B+

 

½ Step – first solo in song ok, second solo ripped; first rio had great exceptianl jerry smacking; post rio again very impressive – nice intensity – great version A

Franklin’s - first solo short but intersrtgin; second solo a bit more intense – still interesting licks; third more intense and paced – reached some nice apexes; fourth as well; fifth a bit tame – nice version overall B+

Mama Tried – tight and well done B+

Mexicali Blues – nice jerry throughout – he’s on; nice pacing and timing; finale solo soared – well done A

Row Jimmy – first solo fragmented and very drifty; somewhat interesgin weir solo followed by another drifty jerry solo that slightly apexed nicely – B-

Red Rooster – nice intense version; ok jerry; main solo only had midland and weir; weir solo well done – B+

Althea – somewhat tame song portion; short solos ok; finale very well done though – nice apexing – A= (KEEP FINALE)

Let It Grow – song portion well done; jerry sizzled on the jams though; first was nearly all apex with exceptional meandering in and out of apexes; main jam scorched as well – very impressive A

Deal – song portion well done but jerry stole it with another scorching solo job – amazing – very fierce and on the target jerry – A

 

Cold Rain Snow – scorching jerry solos – high energy – band really on A

CC Rider – not surprising scorching verison – band during song really on and jerry solo nailed amazingly; weir screaming / singing amazing A

Ramblin’ Rose – again- very strong; song tight and jerry solo smacking with intensity…A

He’s Gone – great solosing from jerry; song portion tight; transition wreaked of the other one – exceptional veriosn A

The other one – start with the he’s gone space – very well done; very aggressive ; jerry on fire; amazing first series of jams; all apex; post first verse still amazing and all apex – jerry’s a mad man…A

Space – interesting feedback and occasional notes…nothing too memorable B

Drums –

Space – basically just jerry plucking notes with nice progressions – nothing to moving but still a bit ephemeral…B+

Stella Blue – very loose and a bit sloppy; timing off and harmonies too; finale though was amazingly exceptional B (KEEP STELLA FINALE)

Miracle – tight version; jerry solo started on fire and was meandering nicely and gaining steam but it abruptly transitioned to GDTRFB instead of gaining a really nice apex- oh well…B+

GDTRFB – song well done; each jerry solo sparkling with intensity – very well done; high energy – jerry on fire again…A

JBGoode – flubbed start; band on but no real spectacular jerry soloing – B

 

OMSN – well done but nothing spectacular…B

 

http://archive.org/details/gd1980-09-27.nak300.walker-scotton.miller.89006.sbeok.flac16

[Dmada]

I would have loved to have seen one of the 1980 acoustic/electric shows

[calvino]

Saw Furthur a couple of nights ago here in Chicago. They played an outdoor pavilion on the lake (Charter One Pavilion) which suited the show greatly.

 

The show itself was pretty good and entertaining. The background vox, though sometimes too high in the mix, were really good. The all around playing was tight, also.

 

Glad I finally gotten around to see them. I thought it sounded better than the last time I saw The Dead play. John suits the band very nicely and Russo, through I not a huge fan of the sound of his drums, played great. I was a little bit disappointed in the Jeff C. piano/organ playing - some of it was pretty repetitious. The last time I saw the Dead, Jeff C's playing was the highlight of the night. Weir and Lesh both played great, too. Kudos to the sound system, too - thought it sounded great for an outdoor show.

[Shug]

I put on the acoustic live album Reckoning from the 1980 tour, man does that sound good! What I noticed most is how good the vocals are compared to when they play electric. I've heard it time and time again, when bands go acoustic and the singers can actually hear themselves, you get to hear how they really can sing. Check out Jerry's high harmonies on Dark Hollow, so frickin' sweet! I love that version of To Lay Me Down, too. Its crazy to me that songs as good as To Lay Me Down and Comes A Time were so rarely played. Maybe they were hard to play/sing or Jerry had to be feeling just right to do them, or maybe he wanted to keep them special, but from my perspective, its almost criminal that they didn't get the glory I think they deserve.

[Vacant Horizon]

Saw Furthur a couple of nights ago here in Chicago. They played an outdoor pavilion on the lake (Charter One Pavilion) which suited the show greatly.

 

The show itself was pretty good and entertaining. The background vox, though sometimes too high in the mix, were really good. The all around playing was tight, also.

 

Glad I finally gotten around to see them. I thought it sounded better than the last time I saw The Dead play. John suits the band very nicely and Russo, through I not a huge fan of the sound of his drums, played great. I was a little bit disappointed in the Jeff C. piano/organ playing - some of it was pretty repetitious. The last time I saw the Dead, Jeff C's playing was the highlight of the night. Weir and Lesh both played great, too. Kudos to the sound system, too - thought it sounded great for an outdoor show.

 

i passed this year. after having not seen any dead-related bands for a while i went to Furthur last year. it was so boring and they played the entire Terrapin! every song is so slow and the band really hasn't found their groove that comes with playing years together. arrangements are touch and go and John is way over his head. he is so timid and really can't jam. he didn't jam in DSO either. if they brought in stu allen or a mellow player that had his own sound and actually ripped solos at the right spot, the i'd go. i really wish bob and phil would get hornsby, billy and stu allen on board and chose 20 songs to learn inside and out, then jam from there. i'd go see several shows even if they played eyes, scarlet fire, china rider and help/slip/frank every night!

 

i know we've discussed this here so much. i just had to jump in though. the remaining boys have really had a hard time pulling it together since garcia's death. btw, happy 70th jerry. my dead cover band is playing a festival here in atlanta. i was looking forward to it, but i'm the only real dead head in the band. the keys guy insists on playing studio versions of songs and totally gets pissed when i tell him i'm soloing after each verse!!