Grateful Thread

[SNOONE]

Podcast

For all you ipod users, if the do a search in itunes store under podcast you can subscribe (free) to the GD podcast.. It updates automatically once a week

Dead Show/podcast for 08/05/05 46:23 8/5/05 All Jerry this week.. My tribute show.. Sugaree 10-17-83, Crazy Fingers 7-18-82, Standing on the Moon 2/11/89, RAmble On Rose 12/31/78, Stella Blue 3/21/94, So Many Roads 7/9/95. Sleep in the stars.

 

[Emoto]

Maybe not with The Dead. With his own projects, he's amazing, though. If you're planning to be at Heath, find me, and I'll fire some up on my iPod for you.

Magic, or just damn fine playing? I don't mean to take away from the guy; I really like his playing and he does things that I can only dream of doing.

I've been thinking about this off and on since first posting about Jimmy not having the magic, and here's my little warped take on it: The thing that I call "magic" is when the band takes you soaring with them. When it feels like you are riding a rollercoaster constructed of all the notes that each of them is playing. That you are bouyed through the ether by thier notes. You rise and fall with them. Everyone in the room can feel this when it happens. It is so thick you can almost cut it with a knife, and yet it is incredibly fragile at the same time.

Now, here's where I think Jimmy's style precludes him from taking anyone on that big ride with him: In terms of a set's ebb and flow, Jerry and the band would make these long slow build-ups that caressed and cajoled your mind and very gradually persuaded it to come along. Sometimes it was the whole show, sometimes it was a set, sometimes it was a song or jam. You would gradually start to go with them because the pull wasn't too abrupt. I think of pulling the group consciousness along much the same as a simple soap bubble like kids make for fun on a hot summer day with a little bottle and a stick with a loop on the end - you can lift one up with a finger or a straw or blade of grass, but you must move gently and gradually or the bubble will burst. Jimmy jumps immediately into amazingly fast trills and runs, and never gives the consciousness bubble the chance to come along for the ride. I'd like to ride along, but I can't jump onto a train blowing past me so fast. Know what I mean?

Sorry I won't be at Heath, but will take a rain check.

 

[SNOONE]

Know exactly what you mean.. People that don't understand the band wonder how we can listen to the same tunes over and over again.. Each Dark Star or each morning dew had the ability to bring different things to your ears time and time again.. Some evoked mellowness or jazziness and some were a little schitzo. The buildup was always different as was the middle and the end. Most of these tunes still take me to the place and I'm still hearing new sonic flurries that I've never heard before

 

[jmerlino]

Magic, or just damn fine playing?

I suppose that depends on the listener. You and I might disagree. I think his stuff with Jazz is Dead and Project Z is amazing. I've never seen him live, other than with The Dead, so I can't vouch for that aspect of it.

Also, Jimmy is heavily into an aspect of music that I'm very much into as well, which is "outside" playing. He does amazing things with dissonance, and advanced harmonic stuff, which for me is THE most fascinating area of improvised music. So it's possible that what I'm calling "magic" is just my extreme fascination with what the guy does. But if it hits me on that level, what difference does it make?

The point I'm trying to make is that "magic" is in the ear of the behearer, if you will. There are a lot of people out there who think Jerry's playing (and the Grateful Dead in general) is boring. I don't understand that, but it's true.

 

[Emoto]

I suppose that depends on the listener. You and I might disagree. I think his stuff with Jazz is Dead and Project Z is amazing. I've never seen him live, other than with The Dead, so I can't vouch for that aspect of it.

Also, Jimmy is heavily into an aspect of music that I'm very much into as well, which is "outside" playing. He does amazing things with dissonance, and advanced harmonic stuff, which for me is THE most fascinating area of improvised music. So it's possible that what I'm calling "magic" is just my extreme fascination with what the guy does. But if it hits me on that level, what difference does it make?

The point I'm trying to make is that "magic" is in the ear of the behearer, if you will. There are a lot of people out there who think Jerry's playing (and the Grateful Dead in general) is boring. I don't understand that, but it's true.

No, I'm saying that there is a certain special shared experience that used to happen. It is not something that can be captured on tape. It only happens when the music is being created live.

 

[jmerlino]

No, I'm saying that there is a certain special shared experience that used to happen. It is not something that can be captured on tape. It only happens when the music is being created live.

Ah, I understand. Well, as I say, I've never seen any of Jimmy's non-Dead projects live, so I can't say.

 

[Emoto]

Ah, I understand. Well, as I say, I've never seen any of Jimmy's non-Dead projects live, so I can't say.

I would definitely go to see Jimmy play in one of his own gigs, if I knew of any.

Dickie Betts in Plymouth next Friday...

 

[BobFV1]

Lightly customized my R1 with Puig Dark Smoke Double Bubble windscreen:

 

[SCDorman]

Alright, here's a good exercise for you guys. I have a limited Dead library (American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Dead Set). I was perusing the live stuff available on iTunes. They've got all or most of Dick's Picks plus some other downloads. How do you choose a couple of the best? Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[SNOONE]

I've developed a favorite set of years and or venues. I personally like 1977,1973, 1976. All of the Dicks picks and From the Vault series are great recordings, but I would suggest going to the dead site www.dead.net to download the files.. You have the ability to download hi-res files that you can then convert to mp3's..enabling you to have hires on cd for the car or home and mp3's for the bike or ipod.

 

[BobFV1]

Alright, here's a good exercise for you guys. I have a limited Dead library (American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Dead Set). I was perusing the live stuff available on iTunes. They've got all or most of Dick's Picks plus some other downloads. How do you choose a couple of the best? Any suggestions? Thanks.

Man this is a tough one. I am lucky enough to have gone to a lot of shows and I focus on shows I went to. I really got in to the dead in about 1975 when I was a freshman in college and was pretty hard core until the mid-1980's, when I remained a Dead Head but pretty much stopped going to shows. I like the energy of Winterland shows, and I really like shows that I attended. I also like shows from the late 70's.

I like "Without a Net" a lot - the "Eys of The World" on that album has an incredible sax part. Dick's Pick's 33 is a favorite because I was at those shows in the Oakland Colliseum. The "Steal Your Face" recordings are also great, from the "Wall of Sound" era.

Don't know if any of that is helpful. It's all good - just load up the iPod and keep rocking!

 

[SCDorman]

Thanks for the advice guys. I started with the Winterland 12/77 show, Dick's Pick #10, and am very pleased. I'll probably grab another couple along the way. If you have any "wait, you gotta hear this one..." revelations, please pass them along.

I haven't seen them since 1984 here in Cedar Rapids. I didn't think they were at the top of their game that night.

 

[jmerlino]

I don't know if it's a Dick's Pick, but I really like 6/10/73.

Also, if you don't have it, Europe '72 is a must. It really has the definitive (or at least as much as any Dead version can be called "definitive") versions of a lot of classic tunes.

Also: Hartford, CT 10/14/83. Set two opens with a fantastic Scarlet/Fire/Estimated/Eyes. Great show. (EDIT to add: Although Brent's voice sounds even raspier than usual.)

 

[Emoto]

Thanks for the advice guys. I started with the Winterland 12/77 show, Dick's Pick #10, and am very pleased. I'll probably grab another couple along the way. If you have any "wait, you gotta hear this one..." revelations, please pass them along.

I like to buy the CDs, so I get a few liner notes and a nice archival disk. They're not very expensive if you buy them directly from the Dead.

My all time favorite show was 9/3/77. It was an outdoor show with 150,000 people attending. The New Riders opened, and then the Marshall Tucker Band played, and then the Dead. I was there right in front. Talk about a great Eyes of the World and so many others. They really rose to the occasion. I had a bootleg casette of this since the show, so was overjoyed when it came out as Dick's Picks 15. I think of this as a "must have".

http://stores.musictoday.com/store/product.asp?dept_id=1541&pf_id=DECD040&band_id=171&sfid=7

 

[SNOONE]

9/3/77, Thanks for the reminder. I'm listening to the 13 minute eyes as I'm reading. I was at that show in Englishtown and as I remember it was broadcast on WNEW FM.

 

[jmerlino]

Okay, I decided to have a listen to 10/14/83 for the first time in a long time, and I really need to redouble my recommendation for this show. In addition to the aformentioned four-fer, there's also a killer "The Other One" and a "Stella Blue" that's got to rank as one of Garcia's best performances ever (both vocal and guitar). The whole band was really "on" that night, but Garcia was especially so. His guitar playing is less noodly and more incisive than usual.

It's Dick's Picks volume 6. (It's worth getting the DP, too, as Bobby's guitar comes though much better on the soundboard recroding than on audience recordings that I've heard.)

 

[Emoto]

9/3/77, Thanks for the reminder. I'm listening to the 13 minute eyes as I'm reading. I was at that show in Englishtown and as I remember it was broadcast on WNEW FM.

Yup, WNEW used to air that show now and then for years, but as I recall, the FM broadcast had a messed up Promised Land and was missing the encore (Terrapin Station). Some other friends of mine were there with gear, so they taped it from the audience, so I had that version too. In the Dick's Picks release I think they mixed Jerry's guitar a little softer than it was at the show. Does that jive with your memory of it?

I really wish I had a recording of Marshall Tucker's performance. Wasn't it awesome?

 

[Emoto]

Okay, I decided to have a listen to 10/14/83 for the first time in a long time, and I really need to redouble my recommendation for this show. In addition to the aformentioned four-fer, there's also a killer "The Other One" and a "Stella Blue" that's got to rank as one of Garcia's best performances ever (both vocal and guitar). The whole band was really "on" that night, but Garcia was especially so. His guitar playing is less noodly and more incisive than usual.

It's Dick's Picks volume 6. (It's worth getting the DP, too, as Bobby's guitar comes though much better on the soundboard recroding than on audience recordings that I've heard.)

Thanks, Joe, I'll have to look for that.

 

[SNOONE]

You definately have a better memory than I.. At the show the things you remember more is the scene that was going on at the time or the memory of the girls or friends you might have been with.. The music was important but at an outdoor venue such as englishtown but there was a lot of other distractions and activities.

 

[jmerlino]

You definately have a better memory than I.. At the show the things you remember more is the scene that was going on at the time or the memory of the girls or friends you might have been with.. The music was important but at an outdoor venue such as englishtown but there was a lot of other distractions and activities.

That's a good reason to get recordings of the shows you were at. You can give a really close listen and catch all the musical nuance that you may have missed at the time.