Garcia said “We were great for seconds on end.” I was lucky to see Jerry play for about 1,000,000 seconds exactly. Thanks for your 1,000,000 views here . Dave Davis wrote this blog for 500 posts and 5 years from 2015 to 2019. Contact me at twitter @gratefulseconds

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Late 1970's Dead Dance at Duke


One of the favorite college spots for the Grateful Dead was always Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, NC, the home of Duke University (5 shows between 1973 and 1982 after one outdoor show with Pigpen in April 71). Thanks to a hero named Voodoonola2, you can see the full 1978 show below.  Or you can get your mind blown by the 1976 first set Crazy Fingers>El Paso by clicking above.  And of course the music is here or here  For real historical info (from a real Grateful Dead historian) try http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-grateful-dead-in-north-carolina-and.html
As usual, I am just a fan.







Our reviewer from the 1978 Daily Tar Heel, must have had an early deadline as Allen calls "Jack Straw" and "Dire Wolf"  and starts dancing and stops writing anymore about the show.





I like both of these shows, but especially the Fall '76 one. And the entire Fall 1976 tour actually.




9-23-76
SET 1
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
New Minglewood Blues
Ramble On Rose
Cassidy
Brown Eyed Women
Lazy Lightning >
Supplication
Crazy Fingers >
El Paso
It Must Have Been The Roses
The Music Never Stopped
SET 2
Help On The Way >
Slipknot >
Franklin's Tower >
Looks Like Rain
Eyes Of The World >
Samson & Delilah
High Time
Dancin' In The Street >
Wharf Rat >
The Other One >
Morning Dew

4-12-78
SET 1
Jack Straw
Dire Wolf
Beat It On Down The Line
Peggy-O
Mama Tried >
Mexicali Blues
Row Jimmy
New Minglewood Blues
Loser
Lazy Lightning >
Supplication
SET 2
Bertha >
Good Lovin'
It Must Have Been The Roses
Estimated Prophet >
Eyes Of The World >
Drums >
Truckin' >
Wharf Rat >
Around & Around
ENCORE
U.S. Blues


Thursday, November 17, 2016

The Dead's First Visit to Vermont, May 6, 1978



The Grateful Dead made only four visits to Vermont, two little ones at University of Vermont in Burlington in 1978 and 1983 and two giant ones at Highgate in 1994 and 1995. I was lucky to see the first in 1978, the next night after the band's only visit to New Hampshire.  Darn I forgot what a hot first set this is, and there are several very strong tapes at the Archive thanks to Jerry Moore among others.

Even though my sister Debbie was a Junior at UVM in Spring 1978, I remember I had to sleep outside on a field somewhere on campus the night after the show, since the campus security woke us up from dorm common rooms.  Oh, the good old days.  And don't forget to listen to the Terrapin Station from this show, it's one of those perfect 1978 power keg versions.

I suggest Ben and Jerry were at this show, although since their company was founded in Burlington, only ONE DAY before the show, they may have been a little busy. Still, it looks like about a 20 minute walk to Patrick Gym.  So tell me Ben & Jerry were you one of the few thousands that went to the show.   Trey did not go to the show since he was barely a teenager and likely in Princeton or Watertown this day. And here is your music or here 


I have never seen a full complete soundboard of 5-6-78 although one does exist of the dual couplets of Terrapin>Playin' In the Band and Wharf Rat>Sugar Magnolia that ends the show and a separate one of set one. And I am not sure why Bobby didn't play the Race Is On as I recall some big horse race that afternoon.

The first discussion of the show was in the February 3 local paper

And like other northern New England states (like Maine, see Lewiston), local officials were not happy



The Burlington Free Press had a nice review two days after the show. Click on the picture to get a readable copy. Charles Frazier did a remarkable job in his review since he mentions nearly every song the band played that day. "More happiness"





1978 Era Ticket Prices. I didn't know I could have paid only $8 and slipped around to the front.



11-15-81 Garcia Returns to Patrick











Sugar Magnolia > Caution


After 1971, Caution was on its last legs with the Dead.  So many great tunes ended with Ron's death. As the chart below shows, Caution was almost entirely a 1968-1969 vehicle.



















Year   # of Caution Versions
1966         2
1967         7  (all Alligator>Cautions)
1968       21
1969       16
1970         5
1971         1
Stats per Deadbase 50, page 161

After 1971, Caution would only be played only in 6 shows, in a mini-resurgence all in 1972, although a Caution Jam would be played twice in 1974, and once each in 1978, 1979, and 1981.  I was lucky to see the October 27, 1979 Cape Cod version (see 30 Trips, 1979 for the #1 rated show of 1979)

The 1972 Cautions were principally a Sugar Magnolia follower, always in Europe (so available in great sound per the Europe '72 Complete collection), although there was one special night on March 22, 1972 at the Academy of Music in NYC where Sugar Mag jammed hard into Caution.   I first got wind of this a bonus disc on the Rockin the Rhein release, but it was also released as a tapers section release.

This is one of the most fun once-only jams in the bands history.
Listen. or here

3-22-72 NYC Sugar Magnolia > Caution> Jam > Uncle John's Band

4-8-72 London Dark Star> Sugar Magnolia > Caution

4-14-72 Copenhagen   Good Lovin'> Caution > Who Do You Love?  > Caution > Good Lovin'

4-17-72 Copenhagen Dark Star>Sugar Magnolia > Caution

4-29-72 Hamburg Dark Star> Sugar Magnolia>Caution

5-11-72 Rotterdam Dark Star > Sugar Magnolia> Caution > Who Do You Love?> Truckin'





Wednesday, November 16, 2016

The Late Great Leon Russell Crossing Paths With The Grateful Dead

RIP Leon.  I wish I would have seen you live.   But here's a funny tale that's seldom told. It's the day that Leon and the Dead were to play together in 1976.
It was to be a Tribute to the Apache. But it didn't happen. It was a fraud.




First Set

01 High Heel Sneakers (Tommy Tucker)
02 Wild Side Of Life (Hank Thompson)
03 Swingin’ Doors (Merle Haggard)
04 Me & Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson)
05 Stormy Monday (T-Bone Walker)
06 That’s All Right (Mama) (Arthur Crudup)
07 Come On In My Kitchen (Robert Johnson)
08 T For Texas (Jimmie Rodgers)
09 Mr. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan)
10 (Is Anybody Goin’ To) San Antone (Charley Pride)
11 Sugarfoot Rag (Hank Garland)
12 I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams)
13 Jambalaya (Hank Williams)
14 Today I Started Loving You Again (Merle Haggard)
15 Columbus Stockade Blues (Traditional)
16 Honky Tonkin’ > Dear John (Hank Williams]

Second Set

01 Orange Blossom Special (Bill Monroe)
02 Kentucky Waltz [Bill Monroe)
03 Big Boss Man (Jimmy Reed)
04 Searchin’ (The Coasters)
05 Those Lonely Lonely Nights (Earl King) > Shake A Hand (Faye Adams)
06 Hey Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley)
07 It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (Bob Dylan)
08 A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan)
09 Wild Horses (Rolling Stones)
10 Slippin’ Into Christmas (Leon Russell)
11 Money Honey (Drifters/Elvis Presley)
12 Chug-A-Lug (Roger Miller)
13 Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) > Good Golly Miss Molly (Little Richard) > Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry)

The Players: Doug Sahm, Leon Russell, Jerry Garcia, Mary Egan, Benny Thurman, Phil Lesh, Jerry Barnett


Monday, November 14, 2016

1973-03-30: The Dead Create A Frenzy In Rochester Every Time They Play


Don't you love this rare Jerry drawing
Rochester loved the Dead as I know well from 11-5-77
Below are loves from 1973, have fun and listen here or here
Just another place where the Grateful Dead are the greatest rock band in the world
We love you Mark Starr for loving them too


Promised Land
Deal
Looks Like Rain
They Love Each Other
Mexicali Blues
Box of Rain
Cumberland Blues
Candyman
Beat it on Down the Line
Don't Ease Me In
El Paso
Row Jimmy
The Race Is On
Bird Song
Playing in the Band

China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Jack Straw
Wave That Flag
Greatest Story Ever Told
Truckin'
Eyes of the World
Not Fade Away
Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad
One More Saturday Night









Thursday, November 10, 2016

Grateful Dead: The World's Best Rock Band, April 17, 1971


According to the LA Times, on April 18, 1971. the World's Best Rock Band is the Grateful Dead.  I agree.  For example, listen to Pigpen and the boys play Princeton University on the night before here
or here

The Grateful Dead’s invasion of Dillon on April 17, 1971 — Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang in tow — is famous among devotees for a quintessential performance of “Good Lovin’ ” by band member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, then suffering from what would be fatal cirrhosis. “The concert was expensive, $10,000,” says Lockwood, a faithful Deadhead who treasures a cassette recording he made that night.

The band played until “well past midnight,” Lock­wood recalls, and “a substantial part of the audience, which was all students, was stoned out of their minds.” Concertgoers passed ­marijuana joints down the rows of seats, he says. According to legend, when a Princeton proctor demanded that ­shaggy singer Jerry Garcia extinguish his joint, Garcia snarled, “I’ll never play here again.” He never did.  https://paw.princeton.edu/article/play-song-me











Sunday, November 6, 2016

This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead is A Gem

I have read every book ever written about the Grateful Dead.  This is likely the best one.
Don't just believe me, read all these five star reviews at Amazon. So far, I have the autographed hardcopy and the kindle edition, but now I want the audible. Just so I can listen sometimes.

You can get the newly released paperback at http://cloudsurfing.gdhour.com/archives/9571

I only met Blair a few times in 1981 when I worked at Rasputin Records in Berkeley, when he would come into the store and trade his new releases of random rock for Japanese-pressed Beatles LPs.

I never met David, but he has been awfully nice when I have called into Tales and with periodic retweets of my blog posts.

My favorite David story is when he suggested Weird to open in Cassidy, which they did once in Cal Expo in 1993 and found that Uncle John's Band fit nicely right inside.

But, I have followed them closely since I moved to Berkeley at the end of 1980 and I appreciate all the hard work and effort they have put into providing me and other Dead Heads with information, music , cool BAM cover interviews with Jerry, and for getting the band to split Cassidy that one special time.  I love the 1981 photo on David's website, in the soundcloud below, I hope it's ok to borrow for my non-profit fansite :)

This is just a fun read and very educational in reading, even for old deadheads like me.  I love the old Palo Alto stories, the vast list of band members, employees, friends, and Dead experts who contribute to interviews, the story of the special double-necked twelve-string guitar Bobby was going to play for the full Terrapin Station Suite encore at Englishtown (which didn't happen, but almost did, picture please).  I wont give anything else away


from Oakland Magazine, all rights reserved to them


Friday, November 4, 2016

Rejoice for the Dead in Florida May 21 and 22 1977



Rejoice for the Grateful Dead in Lakeland and Hollywood Florida  (the fab Pembroke Pines, maybe best show of that magical year). May 21-22, 1977

It's like my Mom wrote this piece in Fort Meyers (near Naples where she lives). You might hear Raised In a Lion's Den or Jailhouse Rock or Roll Jimmy Roll.   Instead there's that awesome four Jerry songs in a row sequence.

Ok, here's the shows :) 

First newspaper review I've seen of Dick's Picks 3 May 22, 1977







Thanks @black_friar66 for this






5-21 Lakeland
Bertha
Me & My Uncle
TLEO
Cassidy
Jack A Roe
Jack Straw
Tennessee Jed
Minglewood
Row Jimmy
Passenger
Scarlet> 
Fire

Samson
B. E. Women
Estimated> 
He's Gone> 
Drums> 
Other One> 
Comes A Time> St. Stephen> 
NFA> 
St. Stephen> 
Saturday Night

U. S. Blues


5-22 Pembroke Pines
Music Never Stopped*
Sugaree*
El Paso
Peggy-O
New Minglewood Blues
Friend of the Devil
Lazy Lightnin'*>
Supplication*
Ramble on Rose
Dancin' in the Streets*

Help on the Way*>
Slipknot!*>
Franklin's Tower*>
Samson and Delilah*>
Brown Eyed Women
Good Lovin'
Sunrise*
Estimated Prophet*>
Eyes of the World*>
Wharf Rat*>
Terrapin Station*>
Morning Dew*

Sugar Magnolia




Tuesday, November 1, 2016

30 Days Again xoxoxoxox







 Here's all of them

Bookmarked at the top for November

Nov 1  9-16-72  Dark Star>Brokedown Palace
Nov 2 5-12-91 Picasso Moon
Nov 3  9-01-79 Mississippi Half Step>Franklin's Tower
Nov 4 8-28-88 Victim of the Crime>Foolish Heart  (dedicated to Evan)
Nov 5 2-23-74 Weather Report Suite>Stella Blue
Nov 6  10-02-76 The Music Never Stopped
Nov 7           70?  Attics of My Life