Grateful Dead

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50 years ago today……

April 24, 1971
Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Set 1: Truckin'-Deal-Hard To Handle-Me And Bobby McGee-Bertha-Playin' In The Band-Cumberland Blues-Next Time You See Me-Loser-Sugar Magnolia-Casey Jones

Set 2: Good Lovin'-Me And My Uncle-Sing Me Back Home-Greatest Story Ever Told>Johnny B. Goode-Not Fade Away>Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad>Not Fade Away-Uncle John's Band

It’s a long way from Bangor, Maine to Durham, North Carolina. About 930 miles…..

Sometimes being “average” results from being caught between twin pillars of excellence, it “suffers from comparison”. Stuck between Cortland-Providence-Bangor and the Fillmore East, Durham sometimes seems like the waylaid orphan of April 1971 Dead shows. It ain’t classic, but it ain’t chopped liver either…….

Ric Carter took excellent photos of the show and they are worth checking out. In those images you’ll see that Lesh is playing an SG-type bass, Garcia appears to be using a Guild, SG-like guitar, and Weir has a Gibson, ES175/225-ish guitar. Did they arrive on time, but their guitars didn’t????

Rock on!!

Doc
Ain't no man can avoid being born average, but there ain't no man got to be common……

Keithfan - sorry about that, I should have been clearer about signposting where 6/24/73 can best be found-the PNW box. I am also amazed that this one hasn't sold out. I speedily snapped it up on the day of release, expecting it to be gone by the end of the week-and here we are. Maybe some people have been put off by the vocal drop outs on 5/19/74, and the few minutes it takes to to get the sound right on the 74 shows. But, as I think you have said earlier, the overall sound quality is superb for all 6. That Dark Star is the highlight of the 73 shows, although The Other One jam on 26th is also exceptional. What it lacks in the rock power and psych flavourings of earlier years is more than made up by its spiralling jazz like sections. Led by Phil, a lot of it-not so much Jerry on "lead" guitar".

With The Stones, I was very surprised to see Keith Richards take the lead breaks on Bitch, rather than Mick Taylor when I first saw videos from 1971-72. I assumed Keith's observations of guitar weaving and meshing of lead and rhythm referred more to the Brian Jones and Ron Wood eras than when he was playing with Mick Taylor. Especially as Mick Taylor was such a fluid soloist, and Keith perfected and often played in open G between 1969-1973 - which I always thought was more suited to riffs and chords than single noted runs. Shows what I know.

Gary-drug laws have been responsible for an astronomical amount of avoidable deaths and preventable misery in Britain too.

Article says he had a known drug problem. Please be careful those of you that might buy street drugs. Been there done that. A close friend of mine, I write occasionally about the band Brother Cane, he was in that band. His son passed away 2 weeks ago tonight. His son was 27. I have not spoken to my friend yet as they have closed camp in this time of intense grief. Word is that his son was smoking meth, but it was laced with fentanyl. A small group of bandmates all died together as they passed it around. His son was an up and coming musician just on the cuff of making it big. Makes me think Humpty died the same way in a Tampa hotel room. Man, what a good and humane drug policy would do for this country. I listen mostly to and support Dr. Carl Hart of Columbia University (yeah that Columbia) who thinks all drugs should be decriminalized. His area of expertise is neuropsychopharmacology. There is a good bit I could write about him but won't today. Any way, decriminalize all but makes plants completely legal. That would start a huge shift in bringing down the incarcerated. It is a total abomination that this country is now allowing private prisons. Great job idiots of Washington, those with no wisdom, worshiping at the alter of money. How long will it take the evil ones to lobby for more people to put in their private prisons. Any way, sorry for that, I pledged I would not write about politics or religion so that is far as I will go.

Here is Dr. Hart:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hart

EDIT: Click this one, lets see if we can ring Columbia's bell. Ding Dong!

https://psychology.columbia.edu/content/carl-hart

Here is an article from yesterday on fentanyl:
https://scpr.org/news/2021/04/22/97534/overdose-deaths-surged-in-pandem…

So hoping Humpty didnt die alone on fent.

And for your information, there could be a day when I need a good dose of fentanyl.

Sorry for the rant,

G

On the positive, got me some 71 waitin!

You reeled me in at "Dark Star 6/24/73". I couldn't recall which one that was - PNW box set, right, forgot about that one, and was thinking Jai-Alai. Anyway, yeah, the Lone Dark Star from the six show box set. That bummed me a little, but hey, they were going for a theme. Hmmmm, maybe that's why it hasn't sold out yet. Not enough Dark Stars.... If all six(6) shows featured a Dark Star, would it have sold out already? Probably not. I don't know, maybe. I bought it regardless, but I would buy any half dozen new shows from '73 - '74. I guess the question is why didn't some people buy it? Anyway, tangent.

I also enjoy listening to Bobby on Dark Stars. I think one of those Doc 1971 soundboards has him mixed up very loud. St Stephen was another one from that show where I was just intrigued by his playing. I'm listening to 6/23/74 DS now, and yeah...this is good stuff. I used to listen to this one a lot + the Eyes of the World it goes into, but it's been awhile.
The Keith Richards comment definitely described the Rolling Stones approach. The solo he plays on Sympathy is fantastic. And then you get into the era with Mick Taylor, and it's Mick who plays rhythm on Bitch while Keith plays the fills. Then there is the multiple guitar weaving rhythm thing he loves to do with a second player. He gets into some discussion on that in his autobiography, (which is great).

I like my oatmeal lumpy!

But dang, we done lost Humpty.

Wonder how many even know what that means...?

Digital Underground...one of the first to make Roland 808 drum machine popular. The 808 is why we have sub-woofers today as it digitally created low end that had never been heard before. My sub creates strong low end, it even rattles my bowels. Phil bombs are intense. Never found the article I meant to post as a result of Dave' first show. It was an article concerning Meyer Sound. For Fare The Well, Meyer 18"subs were used both on stage and flown. The article has Mickey stating that Dead and Meyer were exploring the medical benefits of sub frequencies on healing. Hope some day to see how that is going. Of course that kind of healing has been going on for 25-30 years, like when they use sub waves to break up kidney stones. Hmmm...throwing kidney stones. Well that "is" stupid...

G

mine is in transit also. Have you looked at the Savory box set Mosaic has available?

Today is the 50th Anniversary release date of "Sticky Fingers"...
"Woah-oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?"

I might well be missing the point, but all this exposure for 1971 makes me wonder if people feel like tipping their hats to some of the sources of this great music. The last day or so I have been listening to the Complete 50s Chess recordings of Chuck Berry. He was covered so often in the 1960s and 70s, by so many-everyone from Joe Bloggs to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, that its easy to forget -if it was ever known in the first place-how great the original recordings of his songs were. And there is of course, much more. Download Howlin' Wolf on to your phone and the damn thing is likely to explode.

The Dead I listened to last night was 6/24/73, and I found myself zeroing in on Bob Weirs playing during Dark Star. What a great and unusual player he was at that time-the term "rhythm guitar", which to me implies a percussive approach, doesn't do his style justice at all. He added so much colour and texture. As Keith Richards has been wont to say - there is no such thing as lead guitar playing, or rhythm guitar playing-its all just guitar playing.

As for a box of 1969 Avalon and Ark shows, count me out. Only joking - it would be stellar.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X01lIQiqh3k. Time for that big 1969 box set April 1969, Avalon & Ark. Great show!