On The Cover of The Rolling Stone

Like all good rock fans in their teens, I subscribed to Rolling Stone starting in 1976 when I was 17.
The Beatles, in various forms, hold the record for being on the cover 30 times, but The Grateful Dead and specifically Jerry Garcia hold a cool 18.

Even this "Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr Hook youtube video with 5 million views greets you with the famous issue 148 animated Jerry

This are the covers of the Grateful Dead:

Jerry Garcia – musician, The Grateful Dead (40, 66, 100, 101, 148, 207, 504/505, 566, 616, 664, 717, 724/725, 740, 972, 1000, 1236, Fall Music Preview 2009)
The Grateful Dead (66, 101, 504/505, 1236, Special Edition 2013)

From My Personal Collection  Issues 100 (1-20-72) and 148 (11-22-73)

From My Personal Collection  Issues 53 (3-7-70) and 66 (9-17-70)

Issue 40, August 23, 1969, First Jerry Garcia Cover 

Issue 101 (2-3-72)

Issues 1 and 5 of Rolling Stone both have prominent mentions of the Dead

Issue 207, February 26, 1976

Issue 504/505 July 17, 1987

2013 Special Edition

Issue 1235, June 4, 2015

August 1996, Issue 740 (plus)

Issue 616, October, 1991

Issue 664, September 1993

Issue 566, November 30, 1989

Issue 717, September 21, 1995

Issue 972 April 21, 2005

Issue 1000 May 18, 2006

Issue 724/725, December 28, 1995

The Middle

Of course we all went for the Jam  Top 31 (I'll Get to this someday), but what really punched up a show for me was The Middle, the part where they would play a really great Rooster, or Althea or Bird Song and then close out the first set with an amazing little ditty like China>Rider or The Music Never Stopped. Then after a "short break", the band would launch into Scarlet>Fire or Shakedown or Help on the Way>Slipknot!>Franklin's Tower.
This is what I have decided to call The Middle, the end of side two of tape one of the show, and the beginning of side one of tape two.  (Click below for best viewing)

Here's a great example from May 8, 1977 where The Middle would be
Dancin' in The Streets/Scarlet Begonia/Fire on The Mountain:

Even Estimated was often a part of The Middle in early 77. This is the kind of thing, I pull together if I have a 50 minute commute from Pasadena to West LA and I need to relax. You know what I mean.

There are some very cool one-offs like this:

October 10, 1976 Oakland Dancin>Wharf Rat>Dancin, Samson

February 26, 1977 San Bernardino, Playin>The Wheel>Playin, Samson, Jed. Music

April 22, 1977 Philly, Playin, Scarlet>Fire

May 4, 1977 New York, Dancin, Estimated, Scarlet>Fire (incredible)

Some of my personal favorite Middles from my own shows are:

August 2, 1976 Colt Park  Lazy Lighting>Supplication caps the 14 song first set followed by the only Might As Well>once-only Might jam>Samson & Delilah

April 23, 1977 Springfield   Blackbird Tuning, third version of Scarlet Begonias> Fire On The Mountain followed by Set 2 Openers of  Estimated Prophet , Bertha; and The Music Never Stopped

May 7, 1977 Boston  Blazing Versions of The Music Never Stopped followed by Terrapin>Samsons

November 4, 1977 Colgate   Dupree's Diamond Blues, Let It Grow, Phil's Jones Gang Intro followed by a remarkable Samson And Delilah  > Cold Rain And Snow

November 5, 1977 Rochester Late set Jack Straw followed by Deal [6:26], and once-only Slow March Phil Solo> Eyes Of The World> Samson And Delilah

May 11, 1978 Springfield  Lazy Lightnin'> Supplication and  Scarlet Begonias> Fire

September 2, 1978 Giant's Stadium After my first Miracle and A great Peggy-O, we get  Lazy Lightnin'> Supplication  and Good Lovin' followed by Dick's favorite  Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain

January 15, 1979  Springfield Passenger; Deal followed by  I Need A Miracle> Shakedown Street

September 6, 1980  Lewiston Little Red Rooster; China Cat Sunflower> I Know You Rider > The Promised Land [4:07] followed in set two ny  Shakedown Street  Lost Sailor> Saint Of Circumstance and Althea.

December 31, 1980 Oakland Althea>Sailor>Saint>Deal, Sugar Magnolisa>Scarlet>Fire

September 11, 1981 Berkeley  Sailor>Saint>Deal, Stranger>Franklin's

September 12, 1981 Berkeley "The Perfect Middle" of China>Rider  following by Scarlet >Fire was only played 5 times  (my show was the middle of the five) : 

10-22-80 Radio City C>R, S>F and then Sailor>Saint ("The More Perfect Middle" show)

7-8-81 Kiel St Louis C>R, S>F and then Sailor>Saint>Franklin's ("The Most Perfect Middle")

09-12-81 Berkeley China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Scarlet Begonias>Fire>CC  Rider

12-09-81 Boulder Colorado China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Scarlet Begonias>Fire

9-4-83 Park West China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Scarlet Begonias>Fire

Some of my others favs that I saw

12-30-81 Oakland Lazy>Supplication>Might As Well, acoustic Me & Bobby McGee, Lady Di, Barbara Allen, Feel Like A Stranger

10-31-83 San Rafael Sailor>Saint>Deal, Help>Slipknot!>Franklin's

12-31-83 San Francisco Hell>Don't Ease, Sugar Magnolia>Touch of Grey

7-15-84 Hell, Do It in The Road>China>Rider

I love The Middle and I hope you do too.  The Middle often contains the best stage banter and Take A Step Backs. The chart below tracks the evolution of these tunes from 1971 to 1985.  I was very lucky to live through the golden era from 1976-1981 as the band annually would add new tune by new tune to The Middle like The Music Never Stopped,  Scarlet>Fire, Let It Grow, Help>Slip>Franklin's, Lazy Lightning>Supplication, Shakedown, Feel Like A Stranger, Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstances.

Double click the chart below to see the whole thing

Add caption

December 27, 1980 Oakland, Sons of Anarchy Conspiracy Show

I flashed upon December 26, 1980 more than 100 posts ago in post #2  http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2015/01/east-to-west-grateful-dead-live-at.html but when GEMS put up an upgraded soundboard of this up on Lossless Legs yesterday, I felt I had to speak now to my 43rd show (out of 80, so just over the midpoint of my Grateful Dead Journey), but only my 5th show in California, the promised land.  I have to say the recording and the performances are just superb. Make sure to listen.

There is a lot to love about this show. Obviously, the SBD is fantastic.

There is a nice Stranger opener followed by a nice 1980 Sugaree>Minglewood, high quality LLR and The Music Never Stopped. And the second set is no slouch, with China>Rider, Estimated>Eyes>Jam, and a nice closing sequence of Space>The Wheel>truckin>Wharf Rat>GDTRFB>Saturday Night.

Enjoy!

A funny sidenote is that years later, Sons of Anarchy showrunner Kurt Sutter decided to give the character Juice a nice 12/27/80 tattoo.  Considering the fact the show takes place in the East Bay, it makes you wonder....  Such is the world of bike clubs and San Francisco rock bands of a certain era.

SONS CONSPIRACY SECTION

Hi Juice

The Reddit Conspiracy

I should have asked Tiggy about this

Before Jerry, Merl Saunders Played With Muhammad Ali

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders started playing together about February 2, 1971, but prior to that Merl had an interesting gig with Muhammed Ali.

This past weekend, I watched an HBO partial documentary on the champ that centered around his battle with the US Supreme Court. In that, I saw Ali dressed for a 1969 Broadway production, which I just learned was called Big Time Buck White. And the musical director of this was none other than Merl Saunders.

You might have know this, JGMF obviously knew and LIA but not me. And after the sad death of the Champ, this made me smile.

http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-did-jerry-garcia-and-merl-saunders.html

In 1967, Merl was in Reno

By 1969, he was in SF working on this play that Ali got interested in

The Musical Comes to Oakland Auditorium (Kaiser)

Early mention of Jerry and Merl together, Wonder if that Charlie Daniels is the Same

On The Bus, 25 Year Flashback, June 6, 1991 Deer Creek

Indiana is still on my mind from the nice Dead & Company show the other night. Time to check the wayback machine 25 years to June 6, 1991 at Deer Creek.  (thanks to Steve Ulman for math skills)

As you can see, the Grateful Dead were much more popular in 1990s with the top-2 May, 1991 concert stands at Shoreline and Cal Expo.

Great coverage of the scene and the show in the local Indy Star paper, even a review with the setlist!
I expect the next night 6-7 was better since it has four songs reach the Tapers Section and got 8 votes for show of the year for 1991 in DeadBase 11.  Enjoy the look back and the music

Indiana was happy to see the boys again, as the boys brought the scene, and the fans, who were becoming older and thus had more cash to send. The Indy Star welcomed the fans to come and spend their money right here in Indiana.

Note the personal ad from the SWPF 43 on the left and the brokers on the right. here I am stuck in the middle with you. On to the show.  

30 Years Ago: Jerry Garcia and I Both See Bob Dylan and Tom Petty at the Greek

Unfortunately. Jerry saw June 14, 1986 and I saw the night before. You can hear it here

This was right before a few combined shows, that unfortunately fell in the Garcia 1986 health problems. The 1987 shows, sans Petty, were much stronger.