SANDY BENEFIT

Tonight Bobby sat down with an amplified electric guitar and sang a pretty cool version of "Here Comes Sunshine." Afterwards he answered some questions from twitter.
By far the best one was; "Bobby any chance you'd auction off any of your Daisy Dukes?" To which he replied, "Ha, Daisy Dukes, I never hear that one." Really???

As the questions concluded, Bobby announced that he was going to be holding a benefit to support the victims of Hurricane Sandy in the near future. Let the rumors begin as to who will be joining the band.

LAUGHING WATER

Last night at the Wellmont Theatre in New Jersey, Phil and Friends opened up there brief Northeast tour with the approbate Grateful Dead album "Wake of the Flood." It was fitting tribute to the victims of Sandy, one week beforehand. Several New Jersey residence are still without power, there are gas lines that are hours long and as if it couldn't get any worse, it's snowing.
The album that came out on October 15, 1973, now seems to have new meaning like its a concept album like "Dark Side of the Moon." "Mississippi Half Step" is the story of Sandy hitting the shore, and the aftermath is captured in "Let Me Sing Your Blues Away." Then "Row Jimmy" is fighting the flood waters and "Stella Blue" is the pain of sifting through the rubble of the left over personal affects. "Sunshine" is the purging clean up and "Eyes of the World" is the news coverage that this area has gotten. "Weather Report" is the Nor'easter that was then rolling though dumping heavy wet snow on the area that is still piecing together their lives.

I'll see you in the " Wake of the Flood" at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York.

BABY WON'T YOU CARRY ME

I've been a New Yorker my whole life. Even when I lived elsewhere, most people could tell that I was New Yorker by my accent, and being a New Yorker and not a Manhattanite, I see the beauty in New York State as a whole. Lucky my Deadheadism, has me traveling from place to place to see the next show.
Currently, a New Yorker's life could not be any worse. Sandy has robbed and pillaged our homes and lifestyle. The line from The Talking Heads song "Life During Wartimes" is echoing in my head, "Sound of gunfire off in the distance, I'm getting used to it now." Well that gunfire is the constant hum of the generator off in the distance. But I'm not used to it, and I hope that I don't grow accustom to that generator hum.
In the aftermath of Sandy, I had seen the damage first hand and had a choice to make. Knowing very well that when Con Ed says seven to ten days, they mean ten of eleven days. There was colder weather moving in and I saw that the best option for my infant son and pregnant wife was to get them out of harms way. So I packed them up and drove them to be with her family in Buffalo. Lucky my sister in-law was willing to cut off some of the drive by meeting me in Elmira, so I could get back to the house and work.

I don't mind driving. I could drive for days. Now with iPods, iPhones, and Satellite radio, driving is easy. I remember shuffling through a case of 240 tapes, looking for a tape and realizing that the tape I was looking for was in the trunk, in another case. I put on a show, listen to NPR or Stern, or call a friend and hours melt away on the vacant asphalt.
I was lucky. The power came back, even though my parents, brother and sister all still don't have lights. So this weekend I drove up to Buffalo. I saw a college hockey game. I went to a romantic dinner at the Roycroft, where our wedding reception was held. And took my one and half year old son ice skating for the very first time. Then drove back, with extra containers of gasoline.

I listened to 6/12/76 (because my Dave's Pick 4 got to my house an hour after I left) and 1/20/79 on the way up there. On the way back, I was thinking of New York State. Over a year earlier, I was in Cooperstown when Irene hit. My wife and son went back to Buffalo, while I drove through the demolished Catskills region. I saw at town that was completely washed out. Shop owners all wore wadders and carried out soaked garbage bag after garbage bag. I saw a house that was folded on top of its self. I drove till I got to a bridge on route 28. The bridge was shut down till an engineer could come a clear it. I waited an hour before I tried about ten other routes all of which were blocked. Eventually I drove back to the Cooperstown area before, coming down i88 to Binghamton so I could get 17. Binghamton, a small town in the middle of New York, who's claim to fame is the University and the AHL Binghamton Senators. That and two legendary Grateful Dead shows that I spun on our recent trip home, 5/2/70 (Dicks Picks 8) and the fall tour closer of 11/6/77.

Please download the show HERE and HERE, on it's 35 year anniversary. Hopefully it finds you in better condition than us New Yorkers. Two things to pay attention to when listening to this show; Jerry forgets the second verse of "Scarlet," and this is the last time that "NFA" breaks "St Stephen" at the verse. Also, please remember to vote.

I: Half Step, Jack Straw, Jed, Mexicali, Uncle, Friend, Minglewood, Dupree's, Passenger, Dire Wolf, Music 

II: Samson, Sunrise, Scarlet, Fire, Good Lovin', St Stephen, Drums, NFA, Wharf Rat, St Stephen, Truckin' E: JBG

Every year we choose a charity to donate to on Boxing day, December 26, as a family. Last year, I lost my Grandma to breast cancer so we gave to the Susan B Komen fund. This year we will be giving to the Red Cross for all the work they do for people in need, as we are seeing in New York right now.

THE WORLD'S TALLEST DEADHEAD

Today is Bill Walton's 60th birthday. Over his long strange trip, Bill Walton managed to see over 350 Grateful Dead shows and is still a regular at Dead related events. He even made the epic trip to the Pyramids to see the band play in 1978.

I do not know much about Basketball, because I am a hockey fan, but I know Bill Walton was a prolific college player at UCLA and then was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers. He had some problems there with management and when it came to contract talks, he said that he would only resign if the Grateful Dead was hired to play at half time and after every home game. Yeah that would have worked well for the Dead.

I bumped into Mr. Walton one night in San Diego. I was seeing a Dead cover band at a bar named Winston's, between sets I went outside for a smoke. All of a sudden I saw these legs coming out of the bar, and I instantly recognized Bill Walton. I approached him and asked, "So what do you think of the band?"
His response to me, "Well I love all the songs." So do I, so do I.

I have a post coming tomorrow on a show and life after Sandy.

I SAW A WEREWOLF

On this date in 1985, the Grateful Dead rolled into the University of South Carolina for a special Halloween night gig. DOWNLOAD a very good audience copy of the only time the Grateful Dead ever played in South Carolina.
When the band comes to the stage they start tuning and that progresses into a spacey jam that has a couple of Garcia lead teases. The first is a classical piece "Peer Gynt in the Hall of the Mountain King," and that changes into "Funiculi Funicula." Then Bobby lets out a howl signaling whats to come, as the jump into "Werewolves of London" for the first time since 7-8-78. Singing and smiling, Garcia has a hard time with the lyrics but manages to get through most of it. As mentioned in 7-8-78 blog, Donna vocals and Bobby's slide is missing from this version, but they make up for it through their enthusiasm in the song. Instead of letting the moment die, Bobby calls for "Music" as it comes charging out of "Werewolves." Afterwords Bobby announces, "Welcome music lovers." Jerry uses the pause to tease "Teddy Bear's Picnic" before starting the slow rant "West LA."
Later in the set is a fun "Jed," where based on the crowd reaction is very fulfilling. There was heavy rains in South Carolina on this day so Bobby sings them dry with "LL Rain." Wonderful interaction between Bobby's vocals and Jerry's guitar, that shoots the band into the set closer, "Never had such a good time, in my life before."
There is a lot of anticipation with the opening of the second set, and the wah-wah tips the crowd on whats to come. A massive "Shakedown St" opens the second set. The band gets into it and lays down the funk for the next 15 minutes. Garcia lays heavy on the wah-wah, as Phil entwines his funk, Brent sparkles his keys, and Bobby's falsetto; "Just gotta poke around". "Playin'/Ship of Fools/Playin'" comes next. An airy spooky haze of a "Playin'" sandwich. There is scary element to the improvisational music, as the howling spook from the earlier jam can be heard during "Drums/Space." Pieced together out of spookiness is the Brent jaunt "Mr Fantasy," as a raucous "Not Fade" caps off the set.

The real star of this show is the return of "Werewolves," Which was played at every Halloween show therefore after. This includes every time JGB played a Halloween show.

I: Space, Werewolves, Music, West LA, Mama Tried, Mexicali, Jed, LL Rain, Might as Well
II: Shakedown, Playin', Ship of Fools, Playin', Drums, Space, Fantasy, NFA E US Blues

Thank you Becky for dealing with my singing of "Peer Gynt," without you, I wouldn't have identified the pieces title. With the power being down I'm going to find it hard to do this blog, I had planned to do one on the fifth and the sixth, but I guess we will have to wait for the 14th.

ZENITH

In a recent UStream interview, Dave Lemieux said that the coolest place that he ever saw the Grateful Dead was at the Zenith in Paris, France. They played two shows at the Zenith, and download the SBD of the second night HERE and HERE.

The show opens with a majestic "Touch." Then after the "Candyman" the crowd starts a "We want Phil" chant that he quells by speaking the few words in French that everyone know, "Para Le Foo France?" That gets a roar from the crowd as he obliges the crowd with "Box of Rain." Bobby kicks it up with a "Mexicali/Maggie's Farm," which features the trading of verses between all the members of the band. The set closes with the Grateful Dead debut of the Hornsby song "Stander on the Mountain."

Hornsby only played this song three times with the Dead, because he never liked how his songs were interpreted by the Dead. If anyone has ever seen Hornsby with his band, you see that not only is he the composer but the conductor also. The Dead did play that way. They played off of each other, but at any given moment that could be any member of the band, so without a leader, he songs come off unrehearsed.

"Victim" opens the second set, its a Phil bomb laden version. The dark jam brightens into a marvelous "Eyes" were Phil's baseline along with Hornsby's brilliant piano drives Garcia guitar into full realization of the song. The familiar partner comes next like a "fire wheel burning in the air." As "Estimated" starts to evaporate, there is a brief "Bid you Goodnight" type jam before settling on "Uncle John's." Listen to "Drums/Space" and you'll notice two electrically engineered animal sounds; cow and duck. Phil explodes the band into "The Other One," which Hornsby has some interesting piano rifts on. The band is really in sync as they close the set with "Wharf Rat/Sugar Mags." The night comes to a close with beautiful "Knockin'," as Phil again shows off his French skills by saying "Goodnight."

I: Touch, Walkin' Blues, Candyman, Box, Mexicali, Maggie's Farm, Althea, Cassidy, Jed, Stander

II: Victim, Eyes, Estimated, Uncle John's, Drums, Space, Other One, Wharf Rat, Sugar Mags E: Knockin'

Next post coming on Halloween as long as I have power.

IT EVEN MATTERS IN THE LONG RUN

On this date in 1989 the Grateful Dead closed out their fall run in Miami, Florida. This fall tour is the precursor to the excellent tour that was just released as a boxset, the spring of '90. Three of the seventeen shows from the fall '89 tour are official Grateful Dead releases, "Formerly the Warlocks" and "Nightfall of Diamonds," and this show features the one "Dark Star" from the tour that wasn't released. Download the SBD copy HERE and HERE, though I do have to worn that there are a few drop offs in this copy.

The show opens with a great "Foolish Heart," and it kind of ends in a disastrous bang. It's clear that Garcia likes this jam and wants to use the song similar to "Shakedown," were it can be an exploratory first or second set opener. I'm not comparing "Shakedown" to "Foolish Heart" as songs, just the way the band uses them. Bobby follows "Foolish Heart" with a great "Rooster." In my opinion, the best "Rooster's" are early in the sets and all feature the coy Brent verse. Later in the set, the band plays a very lively "BE Woman," then contrast it with a dark "Victim." The "Victim" jam slides down a shaded path at dusk, dark notes on a dark guitar, that drifts into the abyss of the night sky. This vehicle drops to the cold dark center of the universe, black, as the bright opening to "Don't Ease" shoots us back to Earth and the end of the set.
There is a casual manner in the slight jam as the band takes the stage and drops into "Estimated" to open the second set. "They're gonna light my way," a line that is very prevalent because of how this tour is a foreshadow of what is the best tour of the Brent Myland Grateful Dead era, Spring 90. As the jam fades Jerry starts the "Blow Away" rift, although there isn't the reprieve after the "Wait a minute" line, it's a solid version. The band falls back into that fiddling jam that started the set before jumping into "Dark Star." Of the three of this tour, this is the longest and it is also the first 25+ version since the 70's, though there aren't many versions in the 80's. There is 12/31/81, 7/13/84, 10/9/89, and 10/16/89. Since the band had just started to play "Dark Star" on a regular biases there is conformability with the song and that is what gives it its depth and length.

This "Dark Star" is like a wave that you catch as it lifts you, then carries you on it's crest through the theme, the cosmos and the verses, until the wave crashes with the end of the second verse.  However,  the motion of the water doesn't end there and neither does the band. The water rushes on and up to the shore, the music does the same until the dry sand is beneath your feet and "Drums" plays on.
Don't skip "Space," there is ambient keys played by Brent and as Deadbase notes, there is a "Close Encounters" type sound to it. There is a brilliant breakdown of the chord structure at the end of "Watchtower" to transport them into an elegant "Stella Blue." This "Stella" does have that special reflection in Garcia's voice and that firm tenderness of his guitar. A moving rendition that is played into "NFA," which Bobby's guitar work is fantastic on. As always the crowd doesn't let the "NFA" clap chant die, as the band reprises it briefly before closing tour with "Bid you Goodnight."

I: Foolish Heart, Rooster, Stagger Lee, Uncle, Big River, BE Woman, Victim, Don't Ease

II: Estimated, Blow Away, Dark Star, Drums, Space, Wheel, Watchtower, Stella Blue, NFA E: Bid You Goodnight

Dave's Pick's 5 has been announced and it is a monster of a show from UCLA on 11/17/73. In the announcement, Mr. Lemiuex apologizes for the fact that it took 40 years to release this show, with the show highlight being "Playin'/Uncle John's/Dew/Uncle John's/Playin'," we accept your apology.