The Grateful Dead May 1977 Poll

EFF is gonna rock ya

they're kinda like the ACLU of the internet

https://www.eff.org/about

Veneta 72 : Dark Star -> El Paso -> Sing Me Back Home

if that doesn't bring you in, then move on, because this is the essence of the Dead imo. from the transcendent to the kinda dumb to a totally different kind of transcendent that they couldn't have reached except through the dumb

nb I call it dumb bc Weir sounds dumb on it, the music is fine o/w

Up to the break in 74 it was quite good. Then as mentioned upthread we get Phil saying there was a hole with no exposition. Then the a few seconds of some late 70s footage and then the episode ends and we get to look at interviews of dead heads from the 80s ? Wanted more 70s

― calstars, Tuesday, June 6, 2017 8:06 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, since the late '70s were a high point, you'd think there'd be more than just the minute of Egypt footage (and the band themselves don't even rate that show highly). That would've been the perfect opportunity to segue into talking about Betty and how the Cornell tape became a thing, and how a bootleg Dead tape made the US National Recording Registry.

With so many docs it's easy to say, "Welp, you can only do so much in 2 hours." This was four, and the most inexplicable omissions would've added 10-20 minutes, tops.

I've tried that "Sing Me Back Home" from Veneta. I like super-slow Jerry ballads, I love "Must Have Been the Roses," but I dunno. Maybe I just revere Merle's original too much, but that affects me way more in 3 minutes than the Dead do in 10+.

Also enjoyed in the doc Weir and his wife driving to Hunter's gig in his Tesla (huge iPad thing dash gives it away)

*in the dash

was wondering what kind of car that was

The lack of late '70s was especially odd considering how big a deal the May 1977 box set has been! I too was disappointed by the absence of Betty, especially considering how long she'd been with the band. I certainly would have rather heard more about her than Barbara Meier. Not knowing much of Jerry's personal life, the documentary gave me the impression he and Meier were long lost soul mates, but wikipedia tells me their reunion lasted just 45 days! Seems odd she got so much screen time and only passing mentions of Mountain Girl or his other wives, much less Betty, but perhaps there were access reasons.

What do you guys think Hunter's greatest lyric is? A lot of his stuff is so playful (dire wolf) or tries too hard to be psychedelic (china cat) so I can't decide where the middle ground is

Xp
Meier probably got the time because she was willing to talk.

I mean I do think Hunter is "great" but I think Jerry's delivery was even better on its own terms and lent a lot to the overall impression of Hunter.

I should probably take this discussion to a listserve from '84

What do you guys think Hunter's greatest lyric is? A lot of his stuff is so playful (dire wolf) or tries too hard to be psychedelic (china cat) so I can't decide where the middle ground is

― calstars, Wednesday, June 7, 2017 4:29 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

box of rain is beautiful

IIRC, Betty pops up in that PBS Soundbreaking thing.

yes Mississippi - always forget that one

Incidentally Leah in his beard phase looks just like Brendan canning from broken social scene

I would have also liked to have heard about the time when Garcia and Lesh were going to get rid of Pigpen and Weir. From pigpen's Wikipedia iirc

Lesh's modern interviews betray a very practiced, rehearsed history. I mean how many times has he told this story? I wish he had dropped some acid beforehand just to get some improvisation. Maybe the cameraman could have dosed his coffee.

Kreutzmann looks nothing like himself and wtf at Mickey's electric string drone thing.

Also I wonder if Weir directed the cameraman to capture his lotus pose. "Take it back there a little"

Yeah I wanted a whole hour on Hart's weird music machine thingy

Pretty sure it was that thing that scores the "stranger things" intro to each ep

Weir's Tesla & his 'Yoga Loft'... any more on the nose & he'd have done the interview under a WELCOME TO MARIN sign

Between the GD and little feat, the coke must have been epicly heavenly in 77

Not to mention W Becker

i think you could make a case for an entire doc on Betty/boots/taping culture/Dick, etc

i've always wanted to read a book tracing the history of audience tapes, going from the early jazz days (benedetti etc) through the Dead through whatever else ...

That's a great idea. Did Benedetti distribute/copy his recordings for anyone? I'm kind of curious now who the first artist was that had audience recordings passed around/traded.

Really enjoyed that documentary. Could have done with a bit more e.g. something covering the whole extended family who depended on the Dead.

The modern day Weir looks really vacant, bewildered and spaced out - as if he's shell-shocked by the whole GD experience.

Really like the dark star version they put on the soundtrack. NY Valentine's Day 1070

xp Yes, weir kind of bewildered. Prescriptions?

i've always wanted to read a book tracing the history of audience tapes, going from the early jazz days (benedetti etc) through the Dead through whatever else ...

― tylerw

clinton heylin starts with mapleson in his book - would you not start there?

Has anybody read this? After the documentary I'm tempted.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cornell-77-Magnificence-Grateful-Concert/dp/150170432X/ref=pd_ybh_a_13?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RKVJ0T196CQM24C2X77F

I finished the doc this wknd, on the whole interesting & well done (agreed esp up 74). Barlow is a real interesting character for sure and I didn't know much about him, but then when I looked up & saw he was a Dick Cheney crony it all kind of made sense in a weird neolibertarian sort of way.

When he was being interviewed with that weird blutooth earpiece...well I wasn't surprised to find out he was a weird internet tech weirdo.

The thing the doc really did cement for me is that the Dead & their music is very much not for me. I thought the 80s Dead Heads section was especially telling, that was really my first exposure to them, certainly not the music becuz I don't know if any of the Dead Heads were particularly interested in the music, but certainly the culture & circus surrounding them. All of the people I knew in junior high & high school, were Dead tie-dyes, skull shirts & the Dancing Bear gear was de rigueur among the jocks & assholes & popular kid crowd. The Dead were explicitly not for weirdos, they were only for the cool kids.

clinton heylin starts with mapleson in his book - would you not start there?
yeah i guess i would!

i'm about halfway through the doc, enjoying it so far. Almost feel like it's giving a little short shrift to the actual music, like not actually getting anyone to talk about *why* the music is transcendent (for some, anyway). what i'm saying is, the doc should be EVEN LONGER.

All of the people I knew in junior high & high school, were Dead tie-dyes, skull shirts & the Dancing Bear gear was de rigueur among the jocks & assholes & popular kid crowd.
interesting! not my experience at all, though -- i was mocked for my Dead t-shirt in 8th grade (1993ish), told i should be more into pearl jam.

interesting! not my experience at all, though -- i was mocked for my Dead t-shirt in 8th grade (1993ish), told i should be more into pearl jam.

Ha, my experience was literally the exact opposite. PJ & Nirvana & all grunge/punk bands essentially were derided by the Dead Heads for "not being able to play their instruments", as a blanket statement. They said the same thing about Neil Young & Crazy Horse as well. The Dead were "players" and everyone else on Earth was a hack.

The reason the Dead Heads part seemed extraneous to me is that it was relevant to the band from a pop cultural perspective and not a musical one. Maybe in a similar way that's why the LSD connection part earlier also seems kind of boring and doesn't add anything to the listening experience.

i agree that some indepth musical discussion would have been welcome

I think the Ess Dog from Malkmu's "Jenny & the Ess Dog" kinda reps my image of the 80s/90s Deadhead...popular jock/hippie hybrid, good looking longer than usual hair but not hippie long, may have played lacrosse or tennis or some non-football/basketball/baseball/hockey sport very well, rich parents, drives a Volvo station wagon w/stickers

ironic re Pearl Jam/Dead since Pearl Jam have basically turned into a grunge form of the Dead in the last 10-15 years lol

(besinger i realize we are basically talking about Rich from the U right now haha, he was even good friends w/steve miller's kid in HS just to perfect it)

All of the people I knew in junior high & high school, were Dead tie-dyes, skull shirts & the Dancing Bear gear was de rigueur among the jocks & assholes & popular kid crowd. The Dead were explicitly not for weirdos, they were only for the cool kids.

This was my experience, too ('87-90). The only Deadheads I knew were asshole jocks/popular kids/aspiring frat boys.

from what i remember, though they were already a big going concern, Garcia dying really boosted the Phish phenomenon, I def know dudes that sort of "transferred over" to being Phishheads (i mean they already liked them but the big thing about jam bands is that they sort of provide a specific type of fan experience -- this was touched on in the movie -- that a certain set of people need in their lives - the summer tours etc etc)

deadheads in 90s suburban cleveland were definitely cool kids but not jocks ime. lots of jock-adjacent cool kids sure, but sports were too big a deal where i lived for jocks to fuck it all up by smoking weed

(besinger i realize we are basically talking about Rich from the U right now haha, he was even good friends w/steve miller's kid in HS just to perfect it)

― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, June 12, 2017 12:02 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Exactly!

This was my experience, too ('87-90). The only Deadheads I knew were asshole jocks/popular kids/aspiring frat boys.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, June 12, 2017 12:03 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

James Spader's character from Pretty in Pink but with a tie-dyed Steal Your Face shirt

Best dark star that year?

I dig that one

Have I repped for The Mosque 5/25? I've listened to that one a few times on Archive. Laid back and lovely, esp "He's Gone."

to hell with May 77, listen to Phil & Ned 74: http://saveyourface.posthaven.com/phil-and-ned-1974

What is Phil &Ned?