There’s an insane amount of live Grateful Dead shows on YouTube these days, and I’ve fallen hard into the rabbit hole the past couple of weeks.
I’ve spent some time traveling back to the late 80′s at Alpine Valley (to think I was a clueless 18 year old just 45 minutes away at this moment), the early 90′s at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl in Las Vegas (where I saw my final Dead show), and most recently – today in fact – over in Germany at the 1981 Rockpalast Festival.
The show really takes off midway through the first set, with the run of “Sugaree”, “Me & My Uncle”, “Mexicali Blues”, and the funky disco-jamming of “Shakedown Street.”
Here’s the Dead at the Rockpalast Festival in March 1981 – all three hours and twenty-two minutes – featuring a guest appearance late in the show by a Mr. Pete Townshend.
It’s been a long time since I’ve hosted a contest and it’s been way too long since I’ve featured the good old Grateful Dead. And wow, do I have a cool bundle of swag to give away this time around.
Earlier this month, Rhino released Europe ’72: Vol. 2, a follow up to the almost 40 year old Europe ’72, which captures one of the Dead’s most legendary tours (not to mention Ron “Pigpen” McKernan’s very last tour). There was a lot of great music from the tour still hanging around in the vaults all these years, and lucky for the us, Dead archivist David Lemieux got his hands on them, and gathered 20 songs for Vol. 2.
The result is a collection of twenty tunes from the 22-show tour, ranging from “Bertha”, “Next Time You See Me”, and “Greatest Story Ever Told” to the always epic “Dark Star” > Drums > “The Other One” from the May ’72 Bickershaw Festival in Wigan, UK (outside Manchester). Plus a whole bunch of other Dead classics from different stops along that European road (the track list is down below).
So, let’s get to the goods. Yes, I’ve got this great new release for one lucky winner. But – how do they say it? – that’s not all!!
I’m telling you, I’m envious of whoever gets this. It’s sitting here staring me in the face, begging to be ripped open and explored. Buuut I’ll be good and pass it on to one of you fine people.
It couldn’t be easier to enter – just leave a comment below, and after a week, I’ll select a winner. If you’ve seen the Dead, I’d be interested to know, what was your one favorite show or your one cherished memory? If you didn’t catch them before Jerry’s untimely passing in 1995, just go with stream of consciousness… favorite song/show? Era? Does Donna Godchaux’s backing vocal stylings from their 70′s shows make your skin crawl, or does it do something for you? (Sorry Donna, for me, it’s the former.)
I’ll pick a winner and notify him or her by email on Friday, October 7th. Make sure to leave your email address in the field below. It’s not shared with the masses, I just need a way to get in touch (once). This giveaway is open to anyone in the US or Canada.
1. “Bertha” – Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen (4/14/72)
2. “Me And My Uncle” – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)
3. “Chinatown Shuffle” – Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen (4/14/72)
4. “Sugaree” – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/3/72)
5. “Beat It On Down The Line” – Theatre Hall, Luxembourg (5/16/72)
6. “Loser” – Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen (4/14/72)
7. “Next Time You See Me” – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/4/72)
8. “Black-Throated Wind” – Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen (4/14/72)
9. “Dire Wolf” – Jahrhundert Halle, Frankfurt (4/26/72)
10. “Greatest Story Ever Told” – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/3/72)
11. “Deal” – Olympia Theatre, Paris (5/4/72)
12. “Good Lovin’” – Jahrhundert Halle, Frankfurt (4/26/72)
13. “Playing In The Band” – Strand Lyceum, London (5/24/72)
Disc Two
1. “Dark Star”> – Bickershaw Festival, Wigan (5/7/72)
2. Drums > – Bickershaw Festival, Wigan (5/7/72)
3. “The Other One”> – Bickershaw Festival, Wigan (5/7/72)
4. “Sing Me Back Home” – Strand Lyceum, London (5/26/72)
5. “Not Fade Away”> – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)
6. “Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad”> – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)
7. “Not Fade Away” – Wembley Empire Pool, Wembley (4/7/72)
I have a ton of old mix tapes sitting around in boxes. Today, I pulled one out to have a look. I thought I’d see if I could dig up all the tunes on Rdio and recreate the tape’s playlist. Sure enough.
As you can tell, I was heavily into the Dead and Chris Rea at the time. Actually, March 4th and 5th of ’94 were my first two Dead shows, here in Phoenix at what was then called Blockbuster Desert Sky Pavilion (now Cricket Wireless Pavilion).
The mix also includes Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Gypsy Woman” (part of a tribute to Curtis Mayfield), a gem from Chris Whitley’s Living With The Law, and one of the great ones from World Party’s Goodbye Jumbo.
Friday Five : \’frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.
The Five:
“Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups (from Swoon, 2009)
When describing Silversun Pickups to friends who haven’t heard them yet, I generally tell them that they are like Smashing Pumpkins minus the whole “sucking since 1999″ thing. Actually, that isn’t entirely fair to Silversun Pickups; as they seem to have an ear for a pop hook that Billy Corgan never did. My favorite from this record is still “Catch and Release.”
While Joy remains my favorite Phish record in years, this track seemed out of place. It channels the Grateful Dead in such an obvious way, and is far too hokey; especially in comparison to cuts like “Backwards Down the Number Line” and “Kill Devil Falls.”
A long time friend introduced me to U.K. singer-songwriter David Ford a few weeks back. I’ve been slowly working my way through his most recent release. He has a penchant for overwrought orchestral type movements not normally associated with the singer-songwriter genre, but does it with such effortless aplomb that you can’t fault it. I put him pretty high on my list of artists that you should check out.
Dammit. I knew there was no way that I’d get through this week without at least one of these. Even though this contains just about every power ballad cliche, it’s a decent track. It’s a shame. Ugh, see what I did there? I might kick my own ass for that one.
“Laydown” by Prince (from 20Ten, 2010)
Purple Yoda? Ain’t that a bitch. In my review of 20Ten I mentioned that this was “one of the heaviest beats he’s delivered since The Black Album.” I stand by that assertion a few weeks later. Though I cringe at some of the lyrics, it is still on par with “Face Down,” and that ain’t all that bad.
The nature of vacations is that they fly by way too quickly. And my first 2 week vacation since, well, since I started working for a living, is about to draw to a close. After I celebrate my 39th year on earth tomorrow, it’s back to the grind on Tuesday.
My family and I just spent 11 great days with my mom and my dad in Telluride, Colorado. My folks live up there during the summers, and it has become a yearly tradition to strap the car-sick-prone kids into the vehicle and brave the 9+ hours to the San Juans of southwest Colorado.
As fate would have it, along with the hiking, fly fishing, restaurantin’, Smugglers Brewpubbin‘ and such, I managed to catch some quality live music during our visit. Early on, it was James McMurtry playing for free in Mountain Village. And Friday, for our final day in town, it was the Telluride Cajun Festival, featuring Louisiana native Papa Mali, with new BFF (and drummer for the Dead) Bill Kreutzmann in tow…
Just a random offering here, from my Grateful Dead Hour tape archives. David Grisman on mandolin, Jerry Garcia on acoustic guitar, and their blissful, laid back, powerful take on this Jimmy Cliff tune.
Buy the Soundtrack to Grateful Dawg, a film documenting the relationship between Garcia and Grisman, a friendship and musical collaboration that lasted from 1964 until Jerry’s passing in 1995:
Hey! Let’s talk about drumming and rhythm and percussion, and give away a couple of CD’s: Mickey Hart’s 1991 collaboration with Airto Moreira and a number of amazing percussionists from around the world – Planet Drum; and Mickey’s latest project, Global Drum Project, a collaboration with some of the same legends, including Nigerian talking drum legend Sikiru Adepoju.
But that’s not all! I’ll also throw in The Very Best of Jerry Garcia, Rhino’s 2-cd release chock full of Captain Trips’ excellent solo and live material.
For the contest in question, let’s focus on the drummin’. To have a chance to win these CD’s, I pose one question to you fine ladies and gents….
Who is your favorite drummer(s) / percussionist(s) and why?
Neal Peart? Bonzo? Bun E. Carlos? Animal from the Muppets?
I just realized I have no clear favorite, but if I had to choose, I know who would be up there. Jon Fishman of Phish always blew my mind at their shows – how he could stay in rhythm and navigate through their myriad of mind-blowing jams. Fela Kuti’s drummer, Tony Allen, never ceases to amaze me when listening to Fela’s great Afrobeat catalog. I love the way Prince drums in “Irresistible Bitch” – a 1999-era B-side. But I recently found out that’s Morris Day doing the drummin’.
So let’s pick your brains. Leave a comment below with your opinion. The winner will be chosen from the comments in a week or so.
Jumpin’ back to 1989, here’s Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir singing “This Land is Your Land” with the boys from a band I get more and more obsessed with by the day: David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, and Steve Berlin from Los Lobos…
Once again, I have to thank my 18 month old for pulling a great cassette out of the box that I thought was so securely closed (you know, the four flap clockwise fold – there’s probably a name for it, like Boy Scout knots).
Between 94 and 97, I taped just about every Grateful Dead Hour off a local radio station (KZON, then KDKB). In late ’95, they played what was then an early Ratdog show from the Warfield in San Francisco – it was September 2nd, short of a month after Jerry Garcia’s death.
I’ve always loved this particular version of “Heaven Help the Fool”. And “Throwing Stones” was always one of my favorites. This early version of Ratdog included Rob Wasserman on bass (Weir and Wasserman performed together for years prior to that), and former Primus member Jay Lane on drums. In this particular show, though, former Tubes-man Prairie Prince is pounding the skins.
Regardless of your general palate for the Grateful Dead, it’s pretty hard to listen to this version of the Bob Dylan-penned “Simple Twist of Fate” and not be moved. Whether it’s Garcia’s pleading and perfect vocal, or his crisp and cascading guitar solos, this performance is simply gorgeous.
The Jerry Garcia Band was Jerry’s opportunity to let loose and play some of his favorite music outside of the Dead “scene”, from Dylan to Motown to gospel. And in my opinion, it got no better than this…
There’s an insane amount of live Grateful Dead shows on YouTube these days, and I’ve fallen hard into the rabbit hole the past couple of weeks.
It’s been a long time since I’ve hosted a contest and it’s been way too long since I’ve featured the good old Grateful Dead. And wow, do I have a cool bundle of swag to give away this time around.
(2-CD set)
(Remastered 2-CD set)
The nature of vacations is that they fly by way too quickly. And my first 2 week vacation since, well, since I started working for a living, is about to draw to a close. After I celebrate my 39th year on earth tomorrow, it’s back to the grind on Tuesday.
