Welcome back to the Tapers' Section. This week we're going to jump right into a nice, big jam from 1969, followed my some great music from throughout the band's recorded history.

Our first stop is that the Big Rock Pow Wow at the Seminole Indian Village in Florida, where the Grateful Dead played two shows, May 23 and 24, 1969. From the second night, 5/24/69, we have the big jam that followed the show-opening Lovelight (which we played for you here last year), consisting of Doin' That Rag>He Was A Friend of Mine>China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider>Death Don't Have No Mercy. Yes, there's a bad cut in He Was A Friend of Mine, but overall this jam was too good not to play. The minor inconvenience of that cut is certainly outweighed by the quality of the rest of the music. These two shows in Florida have long been a favourite of mine, particularly as back-to-back concerts that equal one perfect three-plus hour chunk of music.

Like last week's focus on show-openers, today we'd like to stop in on the Grateful Dead's 5/25/77 show in Richmond, VA, to the trio of songs that opened that show: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Jack Straw, They Love Each Other. Also from this show, the second set opening Scarlet Begonias>Fire On The Mountain. This was the third-to-last concert on this absolutely insanely great tour, one of the finest in the band's 30 year performing history. As a brief side note, 5/25/77 is the day Star Wars was released, and a feature film has been made called “5/25/77.” Check it out at www.5-25-77.com. And for those many fans of “Freaks and Geeks” out there, the film stars John Francis Daley. May the force be with you…

All of this Star Wars talk has got me hungry for some deep space, so, without further ado, here is the magnificent Dark Star from… oh my goodness! 5/25/72! This is too weird! Five years to the day before Star Wars was released!!! This particular Dark Star includes the Weir rocker that would follow, so here it is: Dark Star>Sugar Magnolia.

Thanks for stopping in this week, and be sure to drop in again next Monday, when we'll roll toward June and summertime Dead. As always, we really encourage you to write the email address below with questions, comments, suggestions, requests or just general bon mots.

David Lemieux
vault [at] dead.net