jerry week

Dark Star Crashes…

Today 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

Aug. 9

There were days
and there were days
and there were days I know
when all we ever wanted
was to learn and love and grow
Once we grew into our shoes
we told them where to go
walked halfway around the world
on promise of the glow
stood upon a mountain top
walked barefoot in the snow
gave the best we had to give
how much we’ll never know we’ll never know

-“Days Between” (Hunter/Garcia)

Jerry’s Other Bands

Jerry was the kind of player that had to play. He couldn’t be off for very long before he had to get out and start making music with someone, even if The Grateful Dead wasn’t touring or working in the studio. This led to a long stream of side-bands, most featuring bass player John Kahn but, otherwise changing in lineup (and name) from the early 70s up until he passed.

There was his brief stint with jazz organist, Howard Wales (which produced the heavy and far-out Hooterall? album.) This was followed by collaborations with Merle Saunders, Nicky Hopkins, Martin Fierro and more. And lets not forget Old & In The Way– one of the top, all-time, selling bluegrass albums- which featured Vassar Clements, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, and John Kahn (of course.) What an amazing record that was. Continue reading →

Bird Song

If anyone actually regularly read this blog they’d know that updated nine days in a row is actually a rare display of commitment. Last year’s Jerry Week didn’t make all 9 days mostly because I’m what’s commonly known as a slacker. Oh well.

That having been said, for today’s post, I thought I’d share some vague and unorganized thoughts about The Grateful Dead. I’m going to pu ton a tune and write on it for a few… And to stifle the collective yawns from my readership, I’m going to stream that music here from the get-go so you can listen while you read.

The above show (1982-08-06) is one that I got on tape more than 15 years ago. The “Bird Song” is a long standing favorite. (Go ahead, skip right to it.) The recording may not be the crispest ever but the playing is on point. Brent’s keys rig out and his voice warmly complements Jerry’s plaintive vocals. This song, written in memory of Janis Joplin can be heartbreaking. It is shot through with longing and the benefit of hindsight before offering the advice to clutch tightly those special few for whom time is likely short. Slipping pas the verses, Jerry begins to stretch and explore the theme. This is Grateful Dead music at its most perfect. Loose, slippery, on the cusp of flying out into oblivion but still hanging two wheels on the tracks as it rounds each twist and turn.

Brent Mydland

When asked, in the latter half of his career, why the Grateful Dead seldom played “Dark Star”, Jerry replied that there is a little bit of “Dark Star in almost everything they play. This is keenly apparently on any decent version of this song. I recall seeing “Bird Song” at a show at Hampton Coliseum. It utterly swept me up and carried me away. I can still find myself back on that floor, dancing about; egoless. And I remember stirring out of my trance as Jerry brought the lyrics back around for a reprise and repeated the line, “snow and rain,” like a mantra. It held no great meaning for me then but it still carved an impression into my consciousness. I’ve since ran with a few interpretations of the full line,

“Tell me all that you know, I’ll show you snow and rain.”

Share with me that which you’ve learned in this life and I’ll offer what I know of the elements, snow and rain, cold and sorrow, death and grieving and comfort. I love hearing “Bird Song” with Brent. His high harmonies on the refrain give me chills…

“Don’t cry now
Don’t you cry
Don’t you cry any more
Sleep in the stars
Don’t you cry
Dry your eyes on the wind.”

Until tomorrow…

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