August 3 - August 9, 2009

Greetings, and welcome back to the Tapers’ Section, where we explore music from this week in the Grateful Dead’s recorded history. This week we have a couple of bits from 1971 and one big jam from 1989.

Our first stop this week is at the Terminal Island Correction Facility near LA, where the Grateful Dead were performing for their friend and longtime sound genius, Owsley, on 8/4/71. From that concert we have the Lovelight from the end of the show.

Next up, from the first night at the Hollywood Palladium, on 8/5/71, we have the big jam (plus two shorter song), which oddly was in the first set this night, consisting of That’s It For The Other One>Wharf Rat, Me and Bobby McGee, Casey Jones. The next night, 8/6/71, is a little more famous due to this stunning Hard To Handle, which is one of the finest versions of this song ever played.

Our last stop this week is to Cal Expo, for the start of the second set on 8/4/89, the first night of a three night run at this fine little venue in Sacramento. From that show, we have the very unique sequence of Truckin'>Wang Dang Doodle>Crazy Fingers>Cumberland>Eyes of the World. This really was a terrific run of shows, something that was quite common at Cal Expo.

Be sure to stop in next week for music from 1972, 1979 and 1982. It’s always great to see you here, and feel free to write with questions or comments to the email address below.

David Lemieux
vault@dead.net