Grateful Dead

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We are about a month out.. which is usually about the time Rhino starts clearing out some of the issues.

This one is weird though, less communication.. which is something I did not really think was possible.

I'm in the same boat, hopefully soon.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vi3jBYmOaHU What a great tune, and the Dead did a killer cover of it! The Dead's version got better as the years went by, I would have loved to see them bring this one back.

Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band ( I think they were called) played this when I saw them in London in 2014. They encored with Help-Slipknot-Franklins. Pretty good night.

for those looking,,, here is the link for 31 days of december

https://www.phantasytour.com/bands/phish/threads/4692776/gd-2020-unoffi…

Also just for the hell of it... 30 days of dead specs

This year we got 7 hours of music sent out way. This was the 10th year and here are the 10 year specs

66 hours and 45 minutes of music,,,, I got it down as 333 tracks.

Thanks to those at the Dead organization that do this every year.

NOW IF THEY COULD JUST GET ME A DOWNLOAD LINK FOR AMERICAN BEAUTY - ANGEL'S SHARE!!!!!!! :-)

Or ship a CD!

I'm also still in the boat of trying to resolve the issue that I don't think a DP 36 was ever shipped my way. Still no CD or any follow up from customer service on them supposedly providing a replacement.

I would agree that communication with customer service seems much more difficult in years past. I purchase enough music from online vendors that I know that getting a replacement should not be this difficult.

If anyone at dead.net is monitoring these threads. There seems to have been a significant issue in the distribution of this release! It would be great to feel like someone was trying to fix the situation!

I'm generally not one to use this forum to air my complaints but this has been very frustrating.

Check your PM.

I have nothing but love for the GD's arrangement of Viola Lee Blues. What a great song..

As for Phil doing it? First glad you got to see him when he came your way, Dave. True.. with Phil's bands there can be some vocal challenges but I love seeing them, these guys can rock it. He is what pulled me out of my post Jerry rut and made me realize the flame is still shining bright. He played Viola in 2007 when I first saw him without the GD as well. I loved it.. the swirling pulsating timing changes, rainbow colored crescendo's.. what an amazing song. I was hooked on the first listen to their first studio album.

And how about that Lake Tahoe version, or the one from the bonus tracks of the Valentines Day 68 road trips? Holy Swirling Macaroni Batman.. The only down side of a truly great Viola Lee Blues is one can get exhausted simply listening to it. I'd imagine if you created a playlist with nothing Viola Lee Blues and listened to it every day for a week, you would lose some weight.. but you also might need to spend some time with a good psychiatrist. :D

Hey Estimating Prof -
Just an FYI - 3 weeks ago customer service said they sent me a replacement 36 - I have still not received either one -
I'll be contacting them again today. Sort of a bummer to get them so late, after all the comments are now slowly moving past the action -

Dr. Rhino - next presidential election = Dave's Picks 52 = better ship that one well before or after the election

Here here for Viola Lee Blues !! The GD sure start a heavy groove on that one, mix in some madness, and don't let up. Thanks Billy The Kid for the Cannon's Jug Stompers link to the original! Had not heard that one.

I had to comment when I saw your post about Phil and his buddies.

I saw them the night after Halloween at the Capitol Theatre in 2014. It seems like just yesterday, but that was six years ago. Wow.

Viola to open the second set and H>S>F encore as well. Nels Cline and Danny Lebowitz sat in. One of the best Phil shows I have ever seen and certainly better than anything the GD performed in the later years. I came away very impressed by Lebo.

Yeah, was fortunate to see several shows at the Denver Fillmore early century with the “quintet”, Ryan Adams, Jackie Green, others?, and Susan and Derrick sitting in. Amazing stuff! Really dug all the cool shit we never got to see with the Dead. Like Viola a few times, awesome shit!
Then saw a bunch of Further shows early on, including several at Red Rocks. Think I liked them even better.
Still bums me out they way Billy dissed John K....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFifxmhX0k. What an all around killer of a festival!

I always felt it was shit dealt by bill on that one also. Times I saw John K with Furthur he was great! SHOULD have used him over Trey for 50,, but enough, a road well trod over.

Where's my download!!!

Furthur's shows were truly great performances and we were blessed to have them. They took risks and did not just "cover-band" telephone-it-in." I still listen to those Furthur shows which I attended -- they were great!

I concur. They were a great band. I saw many iterations of the remaining members, but none really grabbed me until Furthur. It is highly unlikely that I would have gotten back into the GD as much as I have without having seen them.

John K. fit in very well with both Furthur and Phil’s group. Oro - your are correct. Jackie Greene with Phil was top notch stuff.

Truly was special. When I heard it announced and it would be Bob and Phils first band together in many years I had to fly out for their first shows during the Oakland run. Loved that Joe Russo was pulled into the dead orbit he is one my favorite drummers. Coming from the East coast he was a major staple in many years of shows in NYC with the Duo and his other side projects. Billy's comments were not pleasant and ya gotta wonder what he was thinking at that time and if someone just caught him in a surly mood, not the personality I had come to expect from him but who knows. John absolutely should've been the guy over Trey, hands down. I would've preferred Kimock but with all the past drama I kinda figured that would never happen major bummer. Kimock was gifted pedals and equipment by Jerry including a vintage Mutron. Wouldve been nice to hear a guitarist who knew Jerry personally, had some his equipment, and embodied yhe spirit of the music more holistically. I know Trey gets it but his playing choices usually lose my interest at numerous points in a night. He's great but not my cup of tea. I've said before on here, it wasn't "Fare Thee Well" it was "Fare Thee Phil." :) As soon as Bobby started hinting at the band not stopping but Phil was...I got the impression it was ON. Dead and Company have been plenty of fun too albeit a little more mellow. They should throw a massive reunion of side projects, Dead and Co., and Phil & Friends for a 21st century acid test. Freak freely in the 21st my friends, buckle up kids, the music never stops!

LOVED that band! Plus, you could pay $50 to see them in theaters that hold 3000-5000 fans, rather than $150 to see them in a football stadium with 40,000 of your closest friends. I've enjoyed the three Dead & Co. shows I've seen, but not like I enjoyed the three Furthur shows I caught.

I'm not a robot, but did see one mowing the neighbor's yard the other day--like a Roomba for your grass . . .

If pressed I’d have to say I liked them the best outta all the wonderful post JG units I was fortunate to experience; Furthur Fest bands, the Other Ones, Phil & Phriends, The Dead, Furthur, D&C etc..
seeing Phil early on at the Denver Philmore was besides awesome, reassuring and reaffirming; yeah Jer Bear was gone and it was never gonna be the same, but the music would live on! And all those groovy old school tunes I either saw brief, later years versions, or never saw at all, were a fine consolation. But something about Furthur really moved me, literally to tears the first time I saw them at Broomfeild. It felt like a band, and no disrespect to anyone, but like The Who and others “legacy” bands have learned, there’s something about having a young guy on the skins that gives the whole band more life imho...Molo was fine, but Joe felt better.
And Totally what DHBrewer said, only we were getting in VIP for free at bigger, but half empty venues. .Really mellow like the old days of Dead.
Kinda wild that 25 years after the real deal, we’ve been so fortunate to have all the “other ones” we’ve had. A true testament to not only the music, but this culture that we’ve not only kept alive, but have fostered yet another generation on the preverbal bus!
All aboard!
ONWARD!

I concur heavily with all that has been touted and said of appreciation regarding Further. And hell, DSO is up there too, I caught many a show when they were in their original/JK form. Some of the best "Dead" shows I ever caught. I recall seeing them up in Hamptom Beach, NH many years ago and they played a killer show from summer '76....I was in heaven.

Oro, your last line in there sums it up perfectly, and we should all feel proud and satisfied in so many ways - not withstanding holding up the tent poles for so long to keep allowing new folks to discover the hidden circus inside.

Be Well People.

Seventy-Sixtus

I find things I like in most of the modern incarnations.. It's easy to be critical and there was a terrific void to fill. I am content in seeing the torch still burning and really do enjoy what Phil is doing/has done, D&C, Furthur and others.. JRad and DSO serve a need without any surviving members in their bands. Hollie Bowling serves a need. What Warren has done. It's a richer world with GD music and it's great to see new artists add to the pudding. It still seems fresh after all these years.

Can't wait for live music to return!

I find things I like in most of the modern incarnations.. It's easy to be critical and there was a terrific void to fill. I am content in seeing the torch still burning and really do enjoy what Phil is doing/has done, D&C, Furthur and others.. JRad and DSO serve a need without any surviving members in their bands. Hollie Bowling adds a heap of talent and a creative touch. What Warren and others have done is terrific. It's a richer world with GD music and it's great to see new artists add to the pudding. It still seems fresh after all these years.

Can't wait for live music to return!

Anybody ever catch these guys?

John K on guitar and vocals
Jay Lane on drums
Reed Mathis on bass and vocals
Jeff Chimenti on organ

I caught a show at the end of '18 in a small venue at Martyr's in Chicago and had a blast.

...Holly Bowling....man, she is inspiring! Her 'Wilderness Sessions' were nothing short of spectacular; the settings, the majesty, the f'n JAMMING on piano in and out of GD and Phish, she is a true talent in her craft. Wildly recommend checking out her stuff if you haven't already; as an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqs3K1qjaOc

Good Call Jimmy.

Sixtus

Here is my Mt. Rushmore of Rock & Roll, Grateful Dead, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Chuck Berry. I know, I left some heavyweights off the mtn. (Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan) but I only had 4 choices and I'm going with those 4.

Rock and roll BEGINS with Bob Dylan, no? :) (I humbly submit that it does . . . ) After Dylan rocked out, the Beatles and Stones were freed from being excellent Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry imitators respectively, and could then become the twin towers of soul-searing rock and roll. No?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Kv0vF41Bc. Deadheadbrewer, you make an excellent point. Here's where it all began, Dylan backed by members of the Paul Buttetfield blues band. So who's on your Mt . Rushmore of Rock & Roll.

I think even Dylan would agree that rock n roll did not begin with a white guy! :) It was much deeper than that, thats partially why it was so controversial in society at the start.

Thus sprake John Lennon. A bit overstated, perhaps, but the way Elvis welded blues, country, gospel, pop...whatever was to hand... was visionary. The recordings made for Sun still sound immaculate, and there is a great dvd called "Elvis in 1956" which shows him gravitate from cult to world wide fame in 12 easy months. Brilliant T.V. performances.
In the notes for the 5 disc set "Complete 50's Master's", Scotty Moore describes his guitar work as "ancient psychedelia".
Truly out of this world.

before Elvis there was nothing but the blues, then came Elvis and the cat was out of the bag. He was the one and only and totally brought rock to the masses. He did it with class and smarts, using his gospel roots to snare all the doubters and win over all the old folks who thought rock and roll was the devil in disguise. He had such class and could deliver a song like no other before him. He isn't called the King for nothing ya know.
Funny how the conversation has veered to after the Dead bands. I saw them all, when Jer passed, I was left without a compass, he was my guiding light, my go to for all things psychedelic and the one and only. I did not want it to end and went to the first Furthur festival in 96 with Ratdog and loved it, it wasn't over and I had to have more. Then to the Furthur fest in 97 and 98 with the return of Phil to the line up, that one was special and then onward to 2000 with the return of Bruce and Billy, all were special in their own way but that 2000 line up was awesome with Mark K. and Steve K. duel leads was the sh%t. They got it down on that tour and one of my favorites of the post Jerry bands. Saw Ratdog many times back then also, loved every one of those shows as Bobby still had it and was not going to stop the bus. Saw Phil and friends with Warren back in 2001 also, right after his operation and they were good too, not furthurfest good, not ratdog good, but still good and loved the old tunes they brought back. Caught Furthur in 2010 at a 3000 seat auditorium, they were good, real good and John K was the best Jerry to date. Loved his take on Stella Blue, he nailed it. Honorable mention goes to Mickey's band, they were great and I was fortunate to catch them twice and both times they never lost site of what the Dead were all about, improv and great tunes. Love you Mickey.
Sorry Billy but you were wrong and Trey was not the guy for FTW, he did not have what it took to fill the big guys shoes, IMHO. JK had been playing Jerry for years with DSO and he had the chops and knew the material by heart.
Honorable mention again to DSO, best cover band yet.
Yes, it should have been called Fare the Well Phil, but it was a money grab and that's the way it was to be. As I look back on these 25 years after Jerry has left us, I see the bus, with many different colours, still rolling down the road and will until they all leave us. Long live the Grateful Dead

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oTMm4NEQc1Q. I still remember where I was the day he died.

If you really mean rock and roll then I think the four heads should be Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
For myself choosing innovators I’d pick Robert Johnson, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Rodgers and Woody Guthrie.

I still say Chuck was the real innovator in the chicken or egg argument, but I’m not going down that rabbit hole again.
I got into like a four day tennis match last time lol

I certainly did not mean that before Dylan there was nothing happening in rock and roll. But to me, each of the important influences on what we would come to call "rock" music were limited and somewhat self-repeating streams. The great blues artists certainly did some great blues; the seminal folk/country/R&B/etc. artists did amazing things within their own genres. Elvis absolutely blew the door open for Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee, Chuck Berry . . .

But by the mid-Sixties, each artist was still somewhat re-writing what he/she had already written; musically and lyrically pop music had stagnated. The Beatles and Stones were poking at some cracks between genres, but then Dylan came and wiped out everything with the opening chord of "Like a Rolling Stone." After that, folkies could rock, blues musicians could rock, soul artists could rock, and rockers could do whatever they wanted. Now the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who, and the good ol' Grateful Dead could make rock music about anything, and could draw upon whatever influence tickled their fancy. And after Dylan, the sky was the limit, lyrically. The bands most of us repeatedly listen to were made possible by Robert Zimmerman. Would we still all listen to our Elvis, Muddy Waters, Sarah Vaughan, and Chuck Berry records had Dylan never existed? Undoubtedly. But not like we LISTEN to the Beatles, Stones, GD, Hendrix, Joni . . .

And of course, I am open to the idea that I could be totally wrong about all this. :)

Mount Rushmore has a secret room that no one can enter. Located behind the facade of Abraham Lincoln, sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the chamber to hold....

Free concerts perhaps?

I'd like to think of the Dead as the band that played in the secret room inside the mountain away from the park police, crowds and tourists.

Just adding a little flavor to the conversation. It does have a secret room, this part is true.

Edit: Then.... there's this. Hard to argue, it is written in stone.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/123075002293278936/

and hey, I may not remember where I was when the big E checked out, but I know where he was!....sorry, sometimes I just can’t help myself ; )

I'll go with

Glenn Miller
Frank Sinatra
Elvis Presley
The Beatles

Last 5:

UFO - The Salentino Cuts
Al Di Meola - Across The Universe
Grateful Dead - Dick's Vol. 24, 3/23/74 Cow Palace
Grace Jones - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection
The Gun Club - Lucky Jim

\m/

Anyone who believes rock and roll could have happened without black culture, black music, African rhythms and much, much more, simply hasn’t done enough digging. Music has been transforming and growing since the first note was played. Finding a singular voice is where the true innovators come in. We don’t need a Mt. Rushmore, or even a Hall Of Fame. We need textbooks, encyclopedias and libraries, to hold the incredible volume of written history that I feel so lucky to have read just a tiny sliver of.

Music is the best!!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HIrx3M5aLL0. Hey Dave Rock , check this out, I think you'll dig it.

Earlier please, Steven Foster, John Phillip Sousa, Al Jolson. ALL "Pop" music. Not sure what would have counted before that? Seems Foster needs to be the beginning, if you think of popular music as the "songs" that were on the peoples lips of the day. Whaling songs?

“Is tuning up”
Bob

On Highway 61: Music, Race and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom

It's a hefty read, a great book that ties all the loose ends of this conversation together nicely.

Hey Jim, I dig your post of Mt. Rushmore with Hendrix and Garcia, very cool! I heard Wavey Gravy doing an interview once, where he was talking about who would be on the Mt. Rushmore of freaks, and he said, Ken Kesey, Neal Cassidy, Allen Ginsberg, and Jerry Garcia, that's where I got the idea for the Rock & Roll Mt. Rushmore.

Elvis being given the credit for "beginning" rock n roll is the essence of white washing. He was so controversial because he brought black music to young white kids on national level. Making something popular with the white crowd does not make it a "beginning." Only a beginning for white culture, which often prominently claims their learning of something, even if it isn't "new" is the start of its greatness. Think the "New World" as your prime example...it wasn't "new" nor undiscovered, nor crappy before they arrived. :) Credit where credit is due. If Elvis didn't pick up on rock n roll it might not have found a white audience as easily or quickly but rock n roll would still exist without him.

To me the Dead are the ultimate band because they fuse together both styles of Americana music, black heritage and white heritage to make something truly unique. Hell they even weave in a bunch of esoteric references to natives and other cultures. GD music is the melting pot of genuine American music and Elvis was a highly marketable knock off and appropriation of authentic culture. Fine I'll say it Elvis was NOT the "King." ;)

Not to mention no ones really mentioned how big an influence jazz was on the early dead,s idea of improv, playing, and then eventually that wonderful 73 sound, not to mention their righteous appreciation for the musicians. I dont know who'd be on my Mt. Rushmore of Rock n roll. But the very idea that I'm building a monument on top of a sacred native mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota for a bunch of white dudes some of whom were slave holders seems odd to say the least.

If rock n roll is truly from the people and the music of outlaws, the monument to its beginnings is made of earth and wood hidden down some backwoods haunt sitting in the late full moonlight on a Summer's evening with a smell of smoke in the air and sounds of laughter.

..about the fact that there was nothing before Elvis was made from the perspective of a white middle class English teenager in the 1950s. As such, it is unlikely that he would have heard black rhythm and blues. When we are teenagers, we have little sense of the history of music, from whence it came. So I could say that before T.Rex there was nothing. Picture me at 14 in 1971 watching Top of the Pops on T.V.-and T.Rex coming on. I didn't know anything about where this came from-but for me it started there. They are a long way from my favourite band now-but back then..

Going back to the historical perspective, I still haven't heard heard any records from 1954 or earlier that sound remotely like the ones Elvis cut that year. Their are elements of his sound in some Hank Williams records, maybe, and Carl Perkins claims to have welded country and blues before hearing Elvis-but on records that I have heard, music seemed to exist in specific genres-blues, country, gospel, folk whatever until Elvis lit the fuse.

Its also been said that Chuck Berry did a similar thing to Elvis, mixing blues and country and coming up with rock n' roll, but that he came form a blues background. Very different, from say, Howlin' Wolf, who arguably rocked harder than either, but did so without assimilating cultures outside the blues.

The Dead carried on this tradition of combining elements from different cultures-they didn't start it.

Daverock, thanks for the great post, your posts are always so intelligent and well thought out.

Blues was of course the inspiration for rock and roll, as demonstrated by such greats as John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and Freddie King to name but three of my personal faves. Going back further you've got Robert Johnson, Leadbelly and Charlie Patton to name only a few. All of whom were influenced by field songs and hollers as well as gospel music. It has been said that some of these cadences go all the way back to Africa.

In context, "popular music" suggests higher sales and wider exposure to a record-buying public and commercial radio airplay than blues music ever enjoyed. Blues was a fantastic subculture along with jazz that began to be most efficiently exploited by the white man with the mercurial rise of Elvis Presley.

I see a path from the swing of Glenn Miller to the smooth, panty-wetting crooning of Frank Sinatra and then of course on into Elvis and the Beatles. I won't go post-Beatles because once you get into the Rolling Stones, Cream and Led Zeppelin where does it stop?

All credit due to the African American musicians who broke ground and whose delightful art form sprung in part from their suffering. I consider that music sacred, but not "popular" in the sense, pre-Elvis.

And thank you for that great clip of Son House and Mike Bloomfield.
Son House actually played in London on 1970 at a small venue called The 100 Club. I have been to the 100 Club many times, but that was before my gig going days. What I would have given to have been there that night - it must have been like seeing God. There is a great recording of it, too, which I highly recommend, called "Blues and Spirituals". On some tracks he is backed up perfectly on harp by Al Wilson from Canned Heat.

It's never been black or white; Blues borrowed from folk, and Country borrowed from Blues. Black artists listened to white artists, and vice-versa.
Take Chuck Berry's Promised Land, it's the melody of Wabash Cannonball with new lyrics(via Roy Acuff, who got it from AP Carter, etc.) Elvis' genius was to take R&B and Country/Bluegrass and come up with something new, seamless that was neither Country nor R&B. Elvis' first single, Sun 209, had a Bill Monroe tune one one side(Blue Moon of Kentucky), a Bluegrass waltz that Elvis changed to a 4/4 and on the flip side, an Arthur Crudup jump Blues(That's Allright Mama)

An enjoyable Sunday morning read. Thanks all.

I was at Altamont after hitching up from LA the day before...whew...