The Story So Far…

Today’s Jerry Week entry is not coming to me too easily. So I thought I’d just write a little about my history as a Deadhead.

I probably started listening to the Grateful Dead in the mid-eighties just as I began listening to other groups from the 60’s and mostly rejecting the pop music of the day. Something about the music of the era spoke to me and I filled my twelve-year-old brain with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Bod Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, The Who and, The Grateful Dead. I think it was late in eighth grade when my friend’s dad gave him two cds for his birthday: Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced and Big Brother & The Holding Company – Cheap Thrills. I immediately taped those and began to digest their contents.

With my radio tuned to classic rock and tapes playing as much of the stuff as I could copy from friends or from the radio, I was enveloping myself in the music of the past and loving it. I dubbed copies of American Beauty and Skeletons In The Closet and wore them out. But I soon had all of the albums and, having moved, I made new friends who actually had seen the Grateful Dead. One gave me my first live tape (1981-05-05 Glens Falls, NY) and, that Spring, they invited me to join them for the shows at the Cap Center. My parents denied me those shows just as they had denied me all concerts at that point.

Summer of 1991 approached and, with it, another tour. Then that fateful day of June 14th arrived and my life changed forever.
(Read about it here.)

Anybody who really gets it will tell you that The Grateful Dead were more than just a rock band. And they weren’t just a lifestyle choice, either. They were troubadours bearing a message more complex than peace and love. Theirs was of higher thought and interconnectedness; groupthink and grasping after the elusive “it”. Jerry Garcia, although he casually rejected the mantle of leadership, bore that weight and guided us into places no other music has uncovered.

Have a listen to some of that RFK ’91 show:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3A22B30080BACE40[/youtube]

Dark Star Crashes…

1972-08-27 PosterToday I want to tell you about one of my favorite bits of Grateful Dead music. Some (most) days I will probably tell you that the 1972-08-27 show from Veneta, Oregon is the Best Show Ever. Naturally, that’s just my opinion but it certainly is one of the great ones.

Played in record heat as a benefit for Ken Kesey’s Creamery, this show features notable performances of China > Rider, Playing In The Band, Jack Straw, Bird Song, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. It’s the triple-punch of Dark Star > El Paso followed by Sing Me Back Home that launches this show up into legendary status.

Dark Star opens the third set just as the sun has slipped away and the band and audience find relief from its blistering heat. They begin at a leisurely pace completely dialed in from their long hot day on the stage and hit several peaks before launching into space. Deep space. Out of that space, an astute listener may think they hear Morning Dew beginning to form. I certainly do. But then, in a move that may forever be questioned but ultimately proves decisive and delightful, Wier begins strumming El Paso and Jerry takes off with it. The intergalactic ego-death of Dark Star into the murderous cowboy ballad of El Paso comes off as a powerful mind-fuck if you let it. The song is nailed and then, after only the briefest pause, they slowly enter Merle Haggard’s prison ballad, Sing Me Back Home. This one is a great song given the most powerful of treatments and should forever go down as one of Garcia’s strongest vocal performances. You’ve got to hear it to believe it, so I’ve setup a stream of this epic three song passage below.

If that does the trick for you, I suggest you seek out the entire show. It also floats around in the form of an unreleased concert film entitled, “Sunshine Daydream”. Here’s the Jack Straw from the film:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K1dZOeElIo[/youtube]

Dark Star > El Paso & Sing Me Back Home stream comes from the Live Music Archive at Archive.org.

Happy Birthday, Jerry Garcia

Happy 68th Birthday, Jerry.

Please enjoy The Grateful Dead from 1973-08-01 Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ

Set 1:


The Promised Land, Sugaree, The Race Is On, You Ain't Woman Enough,

Bird Song, Mexicali Blues, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw, Stella Blue,

Big River, Casey Jones


Set 2:


Around And Around, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Me And My Uncle,

Row Jimmy, Dark Star > El Paso > Eyes Of The World > Morning Dew,

Sugar Magnolia


Encore:


Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > One More Saturday Night

Stream via the Live Music Archive at Archive.org

Keller Williams Electronic Experiment 2010-06-09

Wednesday, Fredericksburg, Virginia’s Otter House played host to a little something new. Announced as K. Lovedub And The Sun, local-boy-made-good, Keller Williams took his recent “Electronic Experiments” to a new level.

The evening began with Magic Hat beer specials and a 90 minute set of roots, dub, and dancehall reggae from DJ One Drop. He got the room ready to party and, as midnight approached, the curtain pulled back and the bass from the stage merged with the bass from the records and the experiment was underway. Onstage with Keller was Scott Sunn, a visual/video artist who has worked with Radiohead, SCI, as well as Keller at many of his festival performances. As Keller laid down bass, midi-guitar and more Sunn mixed video on the screen near the stage and the two appeared to collaborate on selecting and triggering samples via the onstage mixer.

Keller’s longtime sound engineer, Lou Gossain, was mixing in the front-of-house position, of course, and he had the room sounding as good as I’ve ever heard it. This made for a great 90 minutes of dance music that definitely had the room on their feet and dancing well into the night.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”385″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Rq7OA7K9w[/youtube]

K. Lovedub And The Sun (Keller Williams & Scott Sunn)
The Otter House - Fredericksburg, VA
Dance music > Fire On The Mountain / More Than A Little >
More dance music > Don't touch that button > Freeker * >
More dance music > Freshies > More dance music >
Old School hip hop groove > Cosby "Himself" groove **

Encore:
Celebrate Your Youth

* HR Puff N Stuff on the screens
** with thanks

Watch this post or follow my twitter for updates, including audio links and an improved video.

Pics are here.

http://www.kellerwilliams.net

Scott Sunn/Tracer Visuals