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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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17 years 5 months

In reply to by marye

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same here...my son introduced me to JRAD. really enjoying t.

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15 years 11 months

In reply to by Graceful_Dead

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Hey Graceful Fred,

We'll be in Boulder this year -- if you feel like meeting up, please let me know! What an incredible weekend it was last year. You guys won't be disappointed!

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by ASL

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Weeeeellllll, ASL,
we have a financial squeeze at present and likely will not travel out there.
We're looking into selling the tix, but maybe someone out there can give me some insight:

There are lots of tickets offered on Stubhub, but it appears that the Folsom box office site also still has many on offer.
Do people just not look at the stadium site first?

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15 years 11 months

In reply to by Graceful_Dead

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Hi again.

Ugh, sorry to hear you won't be there. I'm not sure if people go to Folsom first or not. I remember last year there were still a lot of tix available leading up to the Boulder shows, but by the time we got to Boulder, people were having a hard time finding...so not really sure how it goes.

Hope you guys are doing well! Happy Summer!

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"Whether you love the Dead or have never listened to them (no one who gives them an honest-to-goodness chance ever ends up disliking them), these two concerts are not to be missed."

from the Chicagoreader in anticipation of 2 nights at Wrigley.

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by mkav

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For each of the 3 two-night stands so far this summer, the first night has had a song debut;
It Must Have Been the Roses being the latest.

What's left for the rest of the summer? Place your bets:

Attics of my life
Dupree's Diamond Blues
Cosmic Charlie
Born Cross-Eyed
Mason's Children
Me and Bobby McGee
Might as Well
Money Money
Mountains of the Moon
New Potato Caboose
Operator
Rosalie McFall
So Many Roads
The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
Till the Morning Comes
To Lay Me Down

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17 years 5 months

In reply to by Graceful_Dead

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is it true D&C have played no Brent songs? I "heard" that recently, but have not researched it. Maybe they'll surprise us!

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by mkav

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I have not seen any record of Dead Co performing a Brent song.

Two omissions from my list of possibles (besides Brent and Keith-Donna songs):

Alligator
Candyman

This summer's pattern for debuts by Dead Co held over the weekend:
the first night at Wrigley had the first "To Lay Me Down".

But as they come East, there are no more two-night stands on the schedule; the next is the finale in Boulder.

So no more premiers? Inquiring minds want to know

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by geomeister

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I can't even bear to say it. Another loss, seems more close and mournful.

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by mkav

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I know it's been a while, but I'm moved to write by last night Nuggs broadcast of the Halloween show from MSG last year.
It started with the Ripple tribute to Hunter, but that was not all:
every song that night was a Hunter song (except the Werewolves encore).
I was at that show but don't think I realized as it was unfolding what the connection was.

It made it more meaningful to listen to again knowing that each song was chosen with Hunter in mind, and appreciating how many lyrics referred to songs: of course,
Let there be songs to fill the air;
Light the song with sense and color;
Sometime the songs we hear are just songs of our own; and of course,
How does this song go?
And Oteil sang his heart out on China Doll; really moving.

And ultimately,

The storyteller makes no choice
soon you will not hear his voice

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17 years 5 months
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where DOES the time go?

Sure glad that was not really the final shows.

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10 years 5 months
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Hello again everybody. Just happened to click this link, and lo and bee-hold, we're still here! How reassuring is that!?! Hope you've been managing to negotiate the pandemic gauntlet okay. All's well here. (Drop of Dew) Pam and I both had light bouts with covid last October, but are back up at full steam.

This time SIX YEARS AGO we were just beginning to reach out to shake each others hands. FTW was still over five months away and the Pic-A-Nic wasn't even a daydream! Tempus sure is fugitting big time! I'll try to stop by more often from now on.

Onward!, (Oat Willie) Jeff

Glad to hear you're both well. I check back in occasionally to see whazzup.
knock on wood...no Covid here.
I was dialing to get a Covid vaccine appointment the past few days and it reminded me of the spinning circle trying to get tix way back then. I was more successful getting FTW tix than Covid vax appointment...first things first!
Stay safe .

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9 years 10 months
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Hey Hey Hey,
Hope you all are well. We scored tix to Dead & Co Dallas on 10/14. Hit me up if you will be there!
Cheers, GOB

can't make it, even though only a mere 4.5 hour drive north. Age is catching up: I'll be recovering from hip replacement surgery at that time.
if the Covid don't getcha, then arthritis will

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10 years 5 months
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Hey now GOB, Mkav and SSDDers,

Man Mkav, bummer about the hip replacement conflict – still, in the big picture its great you're getting that taken care of. All the best. And stream on!!!

GOB: I've got a ticket for Dallas, but starting to have second thoughts about using it. I won't be eligible for the booster until November, and my two Moderna's are apparently staring to wane. Got a few weeks to decide.

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10 years 5 months
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RE: Dos Equis Pavillion, Dallas October 14: I’m driving over on Wednesday. Once back out in civilization, my cellphone will come back to life at 432 249 0032. My seat is Sec 205, Row B, Seat 1.

What finally made the decision for me was when, during a visit to my doctor a couple of weeks ago, I happened to ask what she thought about going to live music. (we had covid last October, and had both Modernas in March). She said as long as I maintained indoor protocols during the trip, I should be okay and responsible. As I was leaving she asked who I was going to see. "D&Co", I answered. "We are too she replied." That cinched it.

Onward

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9 years 10 months
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Greetings Daydreamers,

Just a quick note to say hello and hope you all get to many shows this summer.

Cheers, GOB

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10 years 5 months
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Hey now GOB (and the crickets that seem to have taken up residence here since FTW), Also hope lots of SSDDers get to a show or two this summer. I'll be at the two Folsom concerts. The only other SSDDer I know of going to Boulder is Spascarella. . . Lisa Deadgeek couldn't get away. Neither could James M. or Geomeister. Not sure who'll be driving the bus, but I know WE WILL GET BY! Onward, Oat Jeff

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17 years 5 months
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We had a thunderstorm after midnight last night. Lightning, thunder. I then opened Deadbase 50 and remembered June 17, 1972 was the last time Pigpen performed with the Grateful Dead. Albeit without singing. A major turning point for the band. They were never the same band again. But as with the winds preceding a monsoon storm we also experience the winds of change. Storm over the land (Carl Sandburg) indeed.
Last go round. Thank you Pigpen.

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10 years 5 months
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Meeting up with SSDDer Steve P. for all three at Folsom. Any other Daydreamers going? Can't touch the close-in seats anymore, but you can find $90 tix if you poke around.

Interesting Pigpen tribute from Strider, but I think we're now back to the Sunshine Daydreamers thread (plus lots of crickets).

Onward.

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17 years 5 months
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I went to Dallas show and was disappointed. sigh. The high points were excellent but there was just too much low energy, pointless noodling....very well played but no "zing". It was sort of boring IMO. I left early for the first and only time in seeing GD and related spin-offs since 1975.

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10 years 5 months
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I'm meeting SSDDer Steve P. for the Boulder shows. Anybody else heading to Folsom?

Bummer MKAV, Sorry Dallas was disappointing this year. Couldn't make it this year, but thought the sound at last year's Dallas show was lacking – maybe sound-level restrictions from Fair Park? I talked to others who were in "lawn" and they thought the same thing about the sound. Could that have been part of the problem this year? Still sorry we missed connecting then last year. Onward.

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17 years 5 months

In reply to by JeffSmith

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Hey Jeff, enjoy the show.
Sound in Dallas was fine, the musicianship was excellent, the crowd was cool, Shakedown St was all good...so all ingredients were in place...the energy was just not there consistently. I've caught 3 or 4 D&C and/or Bob Weir shows, and this one was just ...ehhhh. Videos from other stops seem more energized.

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17 years 6 months
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so great to see this still lives!
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10 years 5 months
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Hey "Crickets". . . Holy shitoly what an amazing 3 days at Folsom. As usual, D&Co took it up a few notches up from under Boulder's Flatirons at Folsom. And there were a full moons, double rainbows, cooling rain sprinkles (well, one intermission replacing "weather delay"). Dave Matthews sat in to end set 2 on the final night. And after Boulder banned 4th of July fireworks, D&Co et al trumped with hundreds of lighted, color-changing drones forming the Earth which morphed into several Stealie variations and more during drums/space, and then returned after the show as bears reminding us to "Please Be Kind" as we left the show and returned to Earth.

The baton now passes to Lisa and Chuck at the upcoming Gorge shows. Hang on.

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17 years 6 months
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Are you still out there? Going to the Sphere?
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13 years 9 months

In reply to by marye

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Hi Mary
Glad you checked in on us
I keep getting Red X errors about "no HTML"

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17 years 6 months
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I take it there is no html in the post? Send me a PM and tell me what you're seeing so I can alert the tech folks.
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In reply to by marye

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I'm not sure Mary was actually talking to me, but I'll jump in anyway.

I feel like I am going to regret it if I don't go - the Sphere 'n Bob Weir! And yet my heart isn't in it. A large part of that is about my sobriety - Vegas and I have rarely played nicely together on that score, and things feel fragile for me right now. Even though it's months away, I think it's wiser if I do the couch tour again instead. And honestly THAT makes me happy just to think about it, so despite the misgivings about regrets, I feel like it's the right call for me.

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that decision which is "top of mind"

uncle_tripel

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by uncle_tripel

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Hoping gremlins are banished.

I was intrigued by the U2 sampler from the Sphere during the Grammy's.
But my aversion to Las Vegas will prevail (plus, oh yeah, budget)

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by Graceful_Dead

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and so happy to see Mkav, Oat Jeff, Geo and GOB!

Oh, the memories!

I have begun working on a book manuscript about Deadheads and have some thought to share about how to classify the newer generation that acts like us but wishes not to be called Deadheads.

Either, they associate that with older people, or they are more generally into "Jam" and not exclusive to the Dead

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17 years 5 months
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wow...that captcha almost made me not logon!

Anyway, I'm going to the Sphere for the 8/9 show. I was not going to due to $, time and I was generally disappointed the last time I saw D&C (Dallas May 23...NO energy in that show)

After watching YouTube videos and seeing the videos, feeling the vibe, well...I just HAD to dance.
Anyone else?

FWIW, I don't like being called a Deadhead. I've been going to Dead and Dead-related shows since 1975. I hope no one is offended by this comment: Deadheads have a connotation with which I do not associate. I love the music, I love the vibe of the shows, I love Shakedown (even before it had a name), I have not met a single person at a Dead show that I have not found interesting. BUT, the connotation of unwashed and unemployed wanderers never appealed to me.

I KNOW the "outside world" perception is greatly exaggerated and overly stereotypical. Again, sorry if I offended anyone.

Maybe this phenomenon can be a chapter? Many of my fellow Grateful Dead fans feel the same way. We're all "older".

Hey MKAV
Thanks for taking the time to share your point of view.

One of my goals in trying to get this published is to counter the stigma of the unwashed drifter.
Not unlike the writer of Acts of the Apostles who seems to have had a goal of convincing the mainstream folks of the Empire that the Jesus followers were not so different from them.

Each chapter of the book includes a common trait of Deadheads (open and engaging; looks for the best in others; relishes hearing new versions of their favorite song) that cannot be proven statistically but is amply demonstrated by getting to know some. And so the working title is "Ask a Deadhead" and encourages the curious to go out to a Shakedown and see if they, like you, don't find many common, and likable, traits in the crowd.

One of the prompts for this was what took place at a Congressional hearing last summer when Fed Chair Powell was asked about attending a DeadCo show; Yes, he happily replied, and related that he has been enjoying the music for 50 years. The curious member of Congress then made the sweeping statement: "I like people who like the Grateful Dead". Which would also be a good book title.

PS Vegas makes me itchy and twitchy; I am content with at home big screen versions posted by generous YouTubers

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15 years
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new band I heard the other day, nice and spacey.
Tangerine Dream Legend
Alan Parsons Project Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Jade Warrior Last Autumn's Dream
Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood and Michael Shrieve Go
There are a lot of good titles left in my record collection.

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17 years 5 months

In reply to by Graceful_Dead

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I would absolutely love to read this when it's complete.

In a way, I was always jealous of those who could drop everything and go on tour for a summer, year, decade.

I'm not a Vegas fan at all, so I understand not wanting to subject yourself to Las Vegas, but that's where Mohammed is right now.

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13 years 9 months

In reply to by mkav

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Hey MKAV (or MaryE?)

I’ve got a book proposal ready to send to publishers if you want a preview; send a contact to the Inbox if you desire.

A fuller list of traits that I say are common (but of course not exclusive) to Deadheads:
Open and engaging;
Look for the best in others;
Value new experiences over new possessions;
Can describe (in detail) a life-changing listening experience;
Are optimistic about the future of the GD world (and maybe in general)
There are no mean Deadheads;
No one stops being a Deadhead

They love the Grateful Dead.
It differentiates them from hippies, who have many of the same traits, but aren’t necessarily obsessed with GOGD.
And not all Deadheads look like hippies.
Good luck with the book Graceful.