Greg from Chestertown

Count me out . I have a day job. Literally heartbroken over not making it. ….this darkness got to give….

I was pressed for time this morning, went straight to Dark Star of that show. Got my day started on the right foot! Nice jam there.

It’s going to be a last minute call for me but if I can pull it off, I’m going to squeeze the trigger on it. Not sold out. Yet.

Interesting. Another estimated, he’s gone. I was checking out 11/04/79 this morning. Got an estimated, he’s gone there too. I was blown away by the beginning of he’s gone. Like I’ve never heard before. Thought they might be fighting over what to play, gotta listen again. Tune clocks in at 21:47.

Don’t forget Stagger Lee, Peggy-O. Back to back Jerry tunes. They broke rhythm there. I’m always intrigued by the Spectrum set lists from before I started being a regular attendee there. I think of what I was doing then, before I discovered the Grateful Dead. Thanks, Bill.

So, I work two days a week on an organic farm for a guy who used to be a trauma surgeon in the ER at San Francisco General Hospital, from 1965-1992. We go Out to lunch a lot during the slower times of the year. Over lunch, he has Some incredible stories from his past. About six months ago, we were talking about the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club. He told of a benefit they did every year at the Hospital. He told me a story of one member, Chocolate George, who got in a bad motorcycle accident. He had irreversible head injuries, ended up in a coma and eventually dying. While he was in the hospital, he was an attraction to all of the nurses because his body was covered with pornographic tattoos. Fast Forward to the other morning, I’m reading one of the books a local deadhead woman gave me, the Grateful Dead Family album. (See my post above, it’s a long story) I get to page 61, and there’s a picture of chocolate George! Blew my mind! I took the book into work and showed Frank, he got a laugh out of it., said Chocolate George came to a hard end. You had to be there. It was pretty cool.

Just got a clip of shakedown going to commercial on the football game tonight.

I got blown away by my first and only Comes a Time also. Unfortunately, I was too wasted on beer, pot, blotter, and opium to begin to comprehend what I was witnessing but it was great nonetheless. That alone motivated me to buy more Grateful Dead tickets and to ask what was actually in the pipe that was just handed to me, from that point forward.

So, I pull into the laundromat a few years ago and this woman is sitting on a bench out front. As I walk away from my truck and towards her and the laundromat, she starts singing Box of Rain to me. (She saw my license plate, BOXRAIN) we became friends, needless to say. She’s a wildlife artist, has Done some things with Native American themes also. She had a son who committed suicide at 24 years of age. She told me they played Ripple at his funeral. I hadn’t run into her in town for a few years but got a call from her recently. She’s moving to Ohio to live with her daughter, getting too old to live alone. (Gotta be in her eighties). They’re going through the house, sorting through a lifetime of accumulating stuff. She called to let me know she had a stack of books about the Grateful Dead and wanted to know if I would like to have them. I stopped by this afternoon and picked them up. We hugged and she told me it’ll nice to have known you. I said yes, it’ll nice to have known you too. Pretty cool, strangers until the realization that we have the Grateful Dead in common. Then, it’s good friends.

Caught the high and wides at the Garfield theatre in Chestertown last night. Local group playing bluegrass for about twenty years plus. Originals plus other tunes. One nice highlight was when the guitarist broke a string. Banjo player turned to the fiddle player and said its up to us. They chatted about what to play and broke into a nice jam. Pretty cool. They had a guitarist from El Salvador open up for them, played a handful of tunes, stayed with them for their first tune which was reminiscent of Eyes of the World but in Spanish. Interested music, tight band. They play Baltimore/DC area too. Check ‘em out if you get the chance.,High and Wides, formerly Chester River Runoff.

Yea, I had a couple of immediate thoughts. First, Stella Blue. That might be because that was the first Jerry Ballad that I got into, through the album not a performance at one of my first shows. I think, I can’t remember. The other thought I had was that they all had a turn. The storyteller makes no choice… I think he gets into a tune and then revisits it, polishing it a little more even time. It’s like asking a grandpa what’s his favorite story to tell. They’re all good. With Jerry, I think it depends on the era in his history, when you got in to him. Which song he was spending time with at that time. They’re all good. With the internet, lately, I seek out the dark stars. That’s for his noodling on the guitar, not the soulful singing. Passionate singing, lyrics that fit him, gotta go with Stella. Visions of Johanna fits him well in his last year. Yea, great conversation.

Memories turn into scattered thoughts. We fill in the blanks. That’s how legends are born. I have little in the way of memories any more. More like a feeling about it. I tend to live in the moment and look forward. … the past is just a goodbye….

Caught little feat at the Grand Opera house in Wilminton, De. Walked in and saw posters advertising DSO playing there in the near future. First DSO show at the Grand. Hardly remember lil’ Feat cuz I was so pumped that Dark Star was coming to my home town. Got my Dark Star tickets at that Little feat show, front and center on the balcony. Took my son, twelve at the time. Yea, the highlight of my last little Feat show was getting Dark Star Orchestra tickets.

Caught Genesis in around ‘81? With tower of power horn section. I went with my buddy who was a drummer, into Jazz. He was freaking out! Lowell George died pretty much as soon as I got turned on to Little Feat. Time loves a Hero.

When I was first shown the light, still in training, my roommate from college told me, forget St. Stephen, they’ll never play it. Those three performances slipped under my radar. Mind you, this was pre internet, cellphones. That knowledge stayed so far from me until I was recently educated here on forums. It’s still surreal for me.

It sounds like you provided the explanation for why things are the way they are these days. It’s still not completely profitable yet. Not school night level yet. Looks like we’re still in transition, not out of Covid yet. …. If you go, no one may follow….

Skip on rhythm guitar, that’s cool. Thanks for taking the mystery out of that one for me.

Formerly the warlocks all over again?

I heard they played some VFW in Jersey this past weekend, not sure which exit. Shared the stage with some other band.

I’m partial to the Warfield/Radio City acoustic/electric run. I think they are refocused, reinventing themselves again after Keith and Donna’s departure. Brent is getting settled in. The future was looking bright. No one in the band is worn out , weary from the road, the drugs. They weren’t mainstream yet. Ahh, the good old days. I find it more precious than late eighties when everyone says they were at their best. That’s all, thanks for letting me share.

Makes you wonder if newer, higher fees aren’t based in insurance post Covid. Gouging being passed on?

Any other shows?

That song has a special place in my heart also. I won’t bother you with the story as it pales in comparison to your human level, but, yes, that song showed up in my life at a time that I needed it. Heaven sent at a time I was questioning how I was going to get through a situation. That one gets me to stop dancing and just take it in.

What’s old and wrinkled and smells like Ginger ? Fred Astaire’s face.

I was checking that one out this morning. Phil singing, I’m going back to Berkeley, I do believe I’ve had enough.