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  • mkav
    Joined:
    Sphere and other stuff

    Hey Graceful...congratulations on the contract offer. I can't wait to read the final product.

    I read an interview with Weir in which he envisioned the artists being able to control the visuals somehow, with real-time interaction. I won't pretend to understand the technology, but neither will I underestimate it. I'm sure it will happen.

    You made an astute observation about the shows. We, and most people in our section, were watching the screen more than we watched the stage. Often, the stage was projected onto the screen. Imagine Mayer and Weir 100' tall!

  • Graceful_Dead
    Joined:
    Hey MKAV,
    Thanks for taking…

    Hey MKAV,
    Thanks for taking the time to write. I feel I have a better sense of what went on.

    I watched lots of YouTubes; some with better camera work than others, but on a BIG screen at home you get some feeling for it. And can hear the crowd all oooh and aaaah together. Interesting to me how often the visuals were so bright that it did not look resemble the darkened concert hall that we are all so used to.

    Must be a very different experience for the performers to not have every eye locked on them. At times they appear to be playing accompaniment for the visual, as you have said.

    As for the timing of the musical transitions: it is my impression that as the run went on, the band id more adjusting to the visual, and not the other way around. Clearly the technology is not yet there to be quite interactive (like different color swirlies reacting to individual instruments); my sense is that the band knew the plan for the big visual transitions and they could tread water a little as needed to make the music transition match the visual. Just my view from the free seats.

    And PS: I just received a third contract offer for my book manuscript, Thanks for your support.

  • mkav
    Joined:
    Sphere?

    I'm wondering if any fellow SSDDers made it to Vegas and if so, I'd like to hear others' observations. I got to see one show 8/9.
    It was maybe the 4th or 5th time I've seen D&Co. The band was definitely "on". Tight. Not overly meandering with slow, pointless noodling, (Dallas in May 2023 actually was pretty bad in that respect). Better tempo than previous shows. The pace on most songs and jams was spot-on IMO.
    I have to imagine timing the ends of songs to coincide with the visuals' changing was a challenge, but it was seamless.
    Going there was a hassle and expensive, but I'm really glad I went. The band was really good. Boy, that Johnny B. Mayer can play!
    Having said that: the venue overshadowed the band IMO. Between the 168,000 speakers delivering pure, crisp sound to every seat, and the massive 3.7 acres worth of very cool visuals, it would have been hard to not put the venue as the highlight. YouTube videos are nice but really can't capture the magnitude.
    We had seats in 4th level, right in the middle. I can't imagine a better seat for the visuals. The sound was perfect. A friend was in a lower section and he related the "experience" was cooler down in 100 level, but the visuals were much better higher up.

    Anyway, IF they do it again, AND I can financially swing it next time, I'll definitely go again. If your circumstances allow it, I'd encourage you to go, too.
    By the way: my "mind-altered" state was not dramatic at all, but the visuals were so large, so intense and just so cool, at times it felt like a hallucination...in a good way.
    Las Vegas is and never was my thing, but the overall show made it worth it. Shakedown Street definitely had a "corporate" feel to it, but there a shroom sales lady there...very low key...so at least we had that going for us; which is nice. No veggie burritos, though.

  • Graceful_Dead
    Joined:
    Cold iron shackles, ball and chain

    I must have sung along to Tennessee Jed 1,000 times without it ever dawning on me that the first lines refer to an incarcerated person. “Listen to the whistle of the evenin' train” really evokes the character in Johnny Cash’s song who is stuck in Folsom Prison.

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    MKAV/Richfield

    Saw 90 & 91
    Enjoyed them all!
    Really liked 91.
    Still think a show or two from there could be part of a very nice fall 91 box.
    Fond memories camping out with the GF at the time, getting down to the nearby whale cries from Sea World or what ever it was?

    GOGD turned us onto the fine 92 shows, especially the stellar 6/8/92.
    Haven’t heard 3/14/93 yet, recall the fall shows were so so
    Haven’t heard 3/20/94 yet, but WTJ turned us onto the enjoyable 3/21/94.

    Being from WNY it’s weird we never hit a Cleveland Dead show (Cleveland Rocks!) but saw everywhere else around there.

  • mkav
    Joined:
    ORO ...Richfield

    oops..sorry about the double-post.

    Agree 100% on the first post-Brent shows (rather "show" as I only got to see the 2nd one).

    I saw many shows in Richfield 1990 - 1994. Always a decent vibe IMO even for a Coliseum. I lived close by, my family included 2 little boys so could not travel but did make a point to see as many as I could in Richfield.

  • mkav
    Joined:
    ORO ...Richfield

    Agree 100% on the first post-Brent shows (rather "show" as I only got to see the 2nd one).

    I saw many shows in Richfield 1990 - 1994. Always a decent vibe IMO even for a Coliseum. I lived close by, my family included 2 little boys so could not travel but did make a point to see as many as I could in Richfield.

  • Graceful_Dead
    Joined:
    Another 50th Anniversary

    This October will be the 50th anniversary of the first set of farewell concerts.

    How many have there been since then?

    Appropriate time for the Kennedy Center honor

  • daverock
    Joined:
    Spiral Light was good

    That really moved things up a gear for me with The Dead. Not just the magazine, with it's great reviews, articles and news items, but also because through them I was able to access tapes. In fact, if I am a Deadhead, I would date it from about 1987, when this happened. Up to that point I had all the official albums and the odd bootleg, but from then on I was getting tapes delivered regularly. And once you discover one source, others seem to open up too. Great stuff!

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    My bad

    I didn’t look up, but I think I mixed up the Pranksters trip.
    Thanks for correcting and straightening out the ole synapses lol
    Now that you mention about/for the millennium etc…and not in 90…

    And also, now that mention, Brent’s passing probably would have added to the energy factor. We were at the first shows in Richfield with Vince after Brent’s much too early demise, and there most definitely was a lot of extra energy.
    A lot of what now and uncertainty and ?
    Will it suck? Will it be good? Things had been steadily improving the last couple years before so there was a lot of anxiety or uncertainty.
    But man, once they started playing all that energy morphed into that big ole ball of “1” that everyone in the building became, and as the night progressed it was like you could feel 18K people all exhale in relief all at the same time, as we all realized that, “yeah, this is going to be different, but it’s gonna be alright” we will survive, we will get by!
    So I’m sure that must have been a variable too.

    Back to the bad actors thought. Again, I’m struggling to not be so ?
    I feel I’ve painted an overemphasis or oversaturated picture of people?
    Let’s think of it this way, it’s like BITD when grownups used to say “one bad apple spoils the barrel” meaning, most certainly most of the folks at shows were like the good apples, but now there were more and more bad ones getting into the barrel. And though there weren’t so many relatively, the bad ones were now a whole new kind of bad that spread the rot more prominently. ?
    Hopefully that makes better sense?

    Edit: Or lol
    What BC just said ; )

    And perhaps the biggest factor was just sheer size like BC said.
    No matter what kind of head, there just were now too many for the scene to function healthy…

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The bus came by. We got on. That's how it all began. Almost as soon as the Fare Thee Well shows were announced, folks started planning to meet in Chicago. They met. They connected. Things were never the same. And now, further! Or maybe Furthur.
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teaches that the number of Deadheads is not static, but rather a dynamic number and as such, is unknowable.
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However, we may be dodging the more important question of "How many Dead Heads can twirl on the head of a pin?"
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17 years 3 months
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just exactly perfect question
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"unknowable" is not unbounded. I am going to start the bidding at 250,000 (+1) (the RCF*) *rrrrgrrrr Correction Factor
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.....if you need the music and spirit every day to lead a happy life.....doesn`t matter if you have been to 1 , 100 or no shows at all.....
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'Mornin' Geoeclipticalenvelopmentmeister!Here're a few: Dark Star - Grateful Dead Sunshine Daydream - Grateful Dead Standing on the Moon - Grateful Dead Dark Hollow - Grateful Dead Here Comes Sunshine - Grateful Dead That Lucky Old Sun - Jerry Garcia Band; Brian Wilson Midnight Moonlight - Jerry Garcia Band Picasso Moon - Grateful Dead Mountains of the Moon - Grateful Dead Anthem of the Sun (album) - Grateful Dead And then there's: Blood of the Sun - Mountain Moon Struck One _ The Band Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In - 5th Dimension Moonshadow - Cat Stevens Birthday of the Sun - Melanie Fat Old Sun - Pink Floyd Moon Turn the Tides - Hendrix Moon Song - America Dark Side of the Moon (album): Eclipse - Pink Floyd Here Comes the Sun - Beatles; Harrison; Havens Sun King - Beatles Moondance - Van Morrison For Yasgur's Farm (Who Am I But You & The Sun?) - Mountain Moonbeam Song - Harry Nilsson And You And I: CordOfLife>Eclipse>ThePreacherTheTeacher>Apocalypse - Yes My Only Sunshine (The Old Master Painter / You Are My Sunshine) - Beach Boys Bad Moon Rising - Creedence New Rising Sun - Jimi Hendrix Judgement Of The Moon And Stars - Joni Mitchell Sunshine of My Love - Cream Moonglow - Artie Shaw Tequila Sunrise - Eagles Flor d'Luna - Santana Sunshine Superman - Donovan Third Stone From The Sun - Hendrix Wake Up Sunshine - Chicago Who Loves the Sunshine - Velvet Underground You Are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder Let The Sunshine In - Crowd at Woodstock
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That's some 2nd choice list!
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Dark Star by Grateful DeadFacts Total Plays 1101 times by 50 Artists From the release Live/Dead (Live) First Played in Concert December 13, 1967 by Grateful Dead at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA Most Recently Played August 9, 2017 by Gov’t Mule at Maine State Pier, Portland, ME, USA
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set the controls for the heart of the sun, pink floydcheap sunglasses, zztop
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7 years 2 months
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You wear them Cheap Sunglasses you might get Arrested For Driving While Blind and lest we not forget Black Hole Sun Soundgarden
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13 years 7 months
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Into The Sun by Grand Funk RailroadWaiting on a Sunny Day by the Boss btw IPA alert....Flying Monkey Brewery Barrie Ontario Canada....Juicy Ass IPA....a worthy brew....
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17 years 3 months
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Forgot about that one! I'll look for flying monkey. Thanks
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9 years 7 months
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Sunrise, on the Paul Kantner's Blows Againts the Empire
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10 years 3 months
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Killer seats! Just take an inflatable raft and you'll be fine. And keep us posted. Onward!
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17 years 4 months
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stay safe. Have an awesome show!
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13 years 7 months
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Congrats on the kickass ducats. I'm sure the better half will have a blast. I saw the forecast and it's no joke. 15-20 inches of rain in Houston, hope DFW is spared a bit. Prayers to you and yours from da Buff....Remember when you load the arc take 2 of everything, dancing bears, twirlers, terrapins, dire wolves, cats, puppers, ravens, ahhhh you get the idea. Stay dry brother. Missing Jerry something aweful today....
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Most of the rain will be arriving Sat-Mon, and we are hauling our buns out of there early Saturday morning, along with probably half the population of the Houston metroplex. It's kinda fun, monitoring four twitter feeds, three websites, two weather channels and a soggy partridge inna pear tree for news. NRG stadium, site for the soiree, is being benevolent. They will let us bring umbrellas inside, but we gotta keep them closed. Anybody want a box of rain? Free, while supplies last.
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Glad the Stadium is allowing much needed shelter. Stay safe and dry if you can.
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9 years 8 months
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1) Canoe2) Kayak 3) Extra Oars, and a call out to Jimmy and his pack-a-row 4) Life Preservers 5) Big shout-out to Neptune 6) The fickle finger of fate award to Harvey da Hurricane, 'cause... Bliss. Unpack. Show was just postponed. http://images.spaceref.com/news/2017/ooHurricane_Harvey.jpg Under that big blue blob just to the NE of the eye, is Houston, where the Coldplay crew is desperately packing up and loading out. When you can't even see the coastline, you know it's bad. Never mind the creeks rising, or the rivers, lakes, ponds and bays. This time, the ocean is rumbling and a rising storm surge, with all the boxes of rain in the gulf, is set to hammer that fair city. Harvey; not just an invisible rabbit anymore. Couch-tour commencing in DFW...prayers to those en-route or already onsite.
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good call by Coldplay, that storm is a monster, nothing worse than climbing steel in that crap
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10 years 3 months
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At least you weren't en route. Good to see even Harvey can't dull your great attitude and sense of humor. Onward.
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13 years 7 months
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The Titanic sails at dawn....and everybody's shouting which side are you on? Glad you bailed Georgie boy.... God does work in mysterious ways.... Stay safe, stay dry, hug those who matter most...and pet the rest.... (Coldplay is waaay overrated) ;-)
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8 years 9 months
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Mayer and Sons Fall 2017 tour dates...Tickets go on sale beginning September 16th... preregister at Ticketmaster to get presale codes.... November 12 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden November 14 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden November 16 Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center November 17 Boston, MA – TD Garden November 21 Washington, DC – Verizon Center November 22 Hartford, CT – XL Center November 24 Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena November 25 Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena November 28 Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center November 29 Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena December 1 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center December 2 Austin, TX – Frank Erwin Center December 5 New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center December 7 Orlando, FL – Amway Center December 8 Sunrise, FL – BB&T Center ASL and T, congrats on the home game, prayers and well wishes from the tribe, stay safe with Irma... Georgie boy....move over little dog, big dog's movin' in for a few days.... I can sleep in the shed....
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Fall D & CO Tour announced. Daydream Fall reunion, Dallas, Price of admission, who gave out the licorice at FTW 2015? Those who know, are in the know.
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ticketb*st*rd, WTF?? What happened to mail order? Must be tough to find a bot to mail all those requests. In their misguided efforts to "get the tickets directly in the hands of the fans" they now have the foxes guarding the henhouse. This is the same procedure employed for the Boss's run on broadway. Tickets were immediately on sale on stub hub for upwards of $6,000.00.
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Hey Mkav- preregister with the new ticketmaster verified fan site
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Just heard the posthumous Gregg Allman album Southern Blood in its entirety. What a fitting tribute to a vital part of music history.... https://youtu.be/DtJHGb5923Y RIP brothers Gregg, Duane, Berry, Butch and Lamar... it is worth a listen... now back to our regularly scheduled programming... To those affected by Irma....be well....
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Just as a friendly reminder, you all got one more day to get your yayas at Ticketmaster, get verified. Don't be like Bob, who missed out, be like Shirley, and jest: https://deadandco.tmverifiedfan.com/ I think you need to pick a city in the preregistration, so if you are going to multiple shows, register for each one separately Deadline is tomorrow. Presale is 9/12.
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Last night of the summer tour and first night of the fall tour. Call me a fan.
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9 years 8 months
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luckily, The Ticketmaster Wheel didnt go flat. We're in for Dallas. what say ye?
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Well the joint was rockin' goin' round and round... just like the wheels on ba dus.... out on the road late at night, I see my pretty Alice in every headlight.... Alice, Dallas Alice.... Norton.... gonna pitch a wang dang doodle All night long....
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Smiles. No puppies were hurt during the wheel-a-thon.
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in! it was actually very painless for me...very happily surprised and grateful for that
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13 years 6 months
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Sticking with the Indians then?Francona deserves another ring. I look at him and think he is made of horsehide
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yep...Indians have all the pieces. Last year they got to the last game of the WS with 3 healthy pitchers.. Klu-bot was worn out by game 7. They're all healthy this yr, knock on wood, so hopefully they get it done. Players and the city really seem to appreciate Francona, Now, if the BROWNS get a 21 game winning streak, that's a story!!!
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will get to spin the wheel today, as the masses queue up for Dead & Company tickets. Billie is busy sorting socks. He has priorities, you know. Public sale starts at 10 AM in whatever time zone your show is in. Don't be like Billie, and end up with a nice drawer of socks but no tickets. Be like Joe, be like Martha, give it a twirl, and smile, smile, smile.
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. .
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I have 2 extra tickets for Dead & Company’s Dallas show on 12/1/17. Not bad either: First Level, Section 117, Row K, Seats 1 & 2. You can have ‘em for face. Let me know this week if you think you’re interested. Onward!