Life After Dead?

Posts: 4439
Joined: 05/26/07

Posted: June 20, 2007 - 5:17pm

So twice in the last week I've gotten into conversations with folks who were pretty intense Deadheads back in the day, and their general drift was look, the band no longer exists, they haven't played for 12 years. It is so Over. Get on with your life.

Which, of course, is a perfectly reasonable point of view.

And yet, here we are. And "we" includes people who never saw the band in the first place but definitely consider themselves on the bus now.

So what's up with this? Why are we here? Discuss...

Comments

After Jerry.

On June 21st, 2007 neddles said:

After Jerry passed it was too painful for me to really listen all that much. I went to one of the Other Ones shows, but after that I just stopped. All I could do was look back in sadness at what had been.
Then in 2004, a friend turned me on to all of the digitalization of the dead shows and where to download them. I was blown away... and it rekindled my love of all dead things. I went to the Comes A Time memorial the next year and really enjoyed reliving the memories.
The thing is that the scene will never be the same and the people will never be the same, but the memories always linger. And thanks to Bear (amongst many others), copious shows are out there waiting to entertain and fascinate.
I don't go to any of the post-dead shows any more, and frankly, I'm not very interested in most other so-called 'jam bands''. So for me, this site represents wonderful nostalgia and info on various shows that will continue to entertain me until I die!

Over?

On June 21st, 2007 scamperoni said:

I'm still having fun, I'm still seeing my friends at shows albiet, not Grateful Dead shows, but Bobby's there & Phil & Vince was (RIP) and a cast of many, many more...just enjoying everything as much as I can, and teaching my children how to survive in on this crazy spinning blue marble we call home. Took the family up to the Haight Street Fair a coupla weeks ago and had a total blast. Loved that last band...what's their name? Madame Butterfly...something like that...all day, everywhere people laughing and dancing and enjoying everthing. Over, over, over...maybe they're talking about the marble spinning over? People wearing blinders shouldn't tell others what to do!

Life does go on and we must celebrate what we had, what we have and what good things will come!!!!

Life's too short to be blue...

Interesting topic

On June 21st, 2007 johnnyg said:

I will be the first to tell you that I took Jerry's death and the loss of a life pretty hard. And not in a very mature nature.
But still went to work. Still paid my bills and taxes. Still cleaned the bathrooms at home.
A bad painful divorce accompanied the loss of Jerry (some correlation but not much)

I love to see Bob, Phil, and others carry the torch. I love to walk and listen down memory lane, and have made new friends doing so. And certainly relived some KILLER memories of POW, WHAMO, SOCKO from the Largeman & the Fellas. The friends and fellowships of 83-95 will never be forgotten.
I like to look at the younger kids and wonder what they are thinking....

I am only speaking for myself...but there was a candle that used to burn thats no longer, and even though its been 12 years depending on who you ask....there is still a sense of loss and sadness.
Truth is.....deep down I knew it couldn't last forever.....but I wished it would.
I mean I am so grateful for life...I have a new kidney that keeps me rollin and tumblin, and working.
I think its best to be grateful for the gifts we received and shared, and pass on what we can, and live and love the best way we know how. "We will get by!"

"Goin where the water tastes like wine..."

“The Omnipotent Grateful Dead!”

don't let go

On June 21st, 2007 cosmicbadger said:

Things that touch your life stay with you forever...you cannot discard them like an old T shirt. First love, first trip, watching the whales whatever. For me first hearing of Live Dead is part of that. My attachment waxes and wanes but the chain is unbroken and never will be. No blame for those who loved it and have left it all behind, but please don't deny it..just say

"thank you........for a real good time"

evolution vs. creationism

On June 21st, 2007 Hal R said:

It's like every morning, roll over and get up again and roll over and get up again.

For me it has been like the tide or phases of the moon, sometimes stronger and brighter than at other times.

But how can something that is ingrained in my DNA like the sound of the Dead die?
This spirit it moves me. And makes me smile, smile, smile.
I can't explain it. It is the soundtrack of my life

The scene evolve's into the next formation - Phil, Ratdog, all of the jam bands. If you take them for what they are and not expect a Dead rehash you should be able to twirl in ecstacy.

Evolution is revolution.

and all those memories, and all of the friends I made and still have and all of the sounds from 35 years of a collection of records, tapes and CDs....and the trips and the wonder.. to infinity and beyond

bliss is bliss - I touch it when I can-did then, do now, I plan on keep on keepin on

The bus came by and I got on - sometimes in the front seat, sometimes in the backseat, sometimes on the roof, sometimes breathing the exhaust and sometimes working on the engine.

Yours truly,
today's cliche king or master folklorist?

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman-Song of Myself

Dead Ahead?

On June 22nd, 2007 Greg SC said:

I think that whatever it is that makes certain music timeless, was captured by the Grateful Dead. Of all the bands I listened to back in the 70's and 80's, well, not many would now make it onto my stereo system for another play. But there is something timeless in the GD's music that breaks through all things. Yeah, you might take a break and listen to other things for a while, but when you put a good Mississippi Half Step back on, from a good 70's show (on the stereo), it just continues to send chills up your spine.

How crappy it is to listen to these "Classic Rock" stations, which continue to play the same old garbage over and over and over (and over); is makes me want to puke. How may times can a person listen to "Sweet home Alabama"? Or Boston's, "It's Been Such a Long Time"? Just back up the garbage truck, and load it up. Keep the Dead, and listen to some College radio when you get sick of it.

I only wish the Dead 2003-2004 tour had continued on. They really did some good shows. I purchased about 12 of the shows before they stopped selling them. I think Bobby is wasting his time with RatDog. Phil on the other hand, puts an occasional Friends together that is just excellent. I think he ought to get Chris Robinson back on vocals; it fits so well with the sound.

I will admit, however, that if Rhino continues at their current pace, people will lose interest, and the Grateful Dead will indeed die, at least in terms of getting enough sales to elicit more concert vault releases.

By the way, a good CD to spin right now is Springsteen's Live in Dublin. That is some excellent stuff from Bruce!

Greg SC

Well, well, well.

On June 22nd, 2007 d0ti5 said:

OK, you are right, the Grateful Dead are no more. Ratdog and Phil, DSO for that matter, fill a bit of the void. The old tapes, the "Tapers section" (here), they fill a bit. My books - "Living with the Dead", "Searching for the Sound" - they fill a spot, too. Even the "new" bands - SCI, Widespread, moe, Rusted Root, and old guys like Jorma and Hot Tuna, et al, they fill a in a little piece.

What I know we lost, what maybe we are looking for here, is that space where everything you do that makes you happy makes me happy, and visa versa - the state of consensual bliss. There were shows where that was missing, but there were more, so many more, where that was NORMAL. Where you could smile like a goofball, and someone would see you, and they would just break up, give you a hug and everyone was HOME.

I never was one to have no life but the Dead, but I really do like that space. I NEED that place. This place provides a piece of that place, and that is why I come back.
{8^{>

Forget what??

On June 22nd, 2007 owlfeather said:

I suppose we are also supposed to get over Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Gershwin, etc. They don't "tour" anymore either! Getting over history is part of how we get ourselves into messes. When it comes to music, the lessons are sweeter. Keep on truckin'.

Get over it?

On June 22nd, 2007 Canoeman said:

In my personal opinion the Greatful dead were one of the most significant developments of my lifetime. Dead Heads is the ONLY fan club I EVER joined, and I am proud to be a member today.

I will "get over it" when I am laying dead and cold in the ground, but not until then. Having been a professional performing musician, artist manager, concert promoter and recording/audio engineer, I was deeply touched by the depth of GD music in an age when 3 chord, 12-bar blues seemed to be the extent of the reportoire of most bands. The band was a technically proficient as they were musically adept, and I always appreciated that.

To me, being a Dead head is akin to being a member of the Mafia or Skull and Bones - there just ain't no getting out! I was born to be a Dead Head, I am proudly a Dead head today, and I will die a Dead Head. How could it possibly be any other way?

Never the same twice

On June 22nd, 2007 skenisahen said:

Grateful Dead. Never the same twice.

I listen and I listen. Countless hours. thousands upon thousands of hours. No two versions of any song are the same. Seriously, think about that. Not only that, they are recorded.

The crazy thing is that even when the recordings finally disappear (like 700 years from now, maybe) the music won't even stop then. Too many people will be playing these songs for future generations. Real music, I mean real human being generated music doesn't die, ever.

People who think that one "should get on with their lives" should understand that those of here are doing just that. The great thing is that we are here together doing it. For crap's sake, I was at shows with some of you and I am only meeting you now! How about that??

Here is one last thought:

When I went to shows (all 9 of them) our group of friends would scatter when the band started playing and then we always met up at the appropriate rendezvous locations during intermission and after the show.

That is how I see dead.net, one big rendezvous location. Glad we made it here, too!

| I'm just a, well...porpoise. |