Greg from Chestertown

Lou Reed, take a walk on the wild side.

Caught a show in RFK, early nineties. Coming out of space, they started the John Denver tune, Take me home, Country Road.’ They all kinda looked at each other then put it back down, almost like no one knew the words so they couldn’t pull it off. Woulda been a classic if that had happened.

Fat man in the bathtub. Ah, the pitter patter of Little Feat.

Gotta be some Steely Dan that would work. Early stuff like show biz kids or My Old school, maybe something off of Aja? Josie?

It has been so nice the last couple of days to watch the news and have it be articles that are positive, forward looking, since Biden announced his VP pick, as opposed to the usual ‘ what stupid thing did Donald do today?’

So, I went fishing yesterday. As I was pulling my twelve foot mega yacht back out of the water at the boat ramp, this guy walks up to me. He says, I saw your license plate and thought, is that the Grateful Dead song And then when you pulled the boat out and I saw the stealie on the transom, I figured it must be the Dead song. We started talking. I explained to him his necessity to catch Dark Star Orchestra. Turns out he saw Jerry and the boys and girl at Red Rocks, 7/08/78.

Paul Simon, Late in the evening.

I was really tired. I had been using a chainsaw all day, not PCP. This debate over the best hard to handle got my to google heady version to see what other versions were in consideration. On that website, people voted the 8/06 version the best HTH with 174 votes. 4/29 took second place with 52 votes. My choice of 2/24 didn’t even make the list. Except for 12/31/82(?), every HTH on the list was from 1971.

Interesting, headyversion has 8/06 and 4/29 in first and second place, respectively. 8/06 had 174 votes to 4/29 at 52 votes. All others were 1971. My vote didn’t register.

Well, I just listened to both versions, in chronological order. They both were enjoyable listens in their own right. Pig seemed to do a better job with 4/29. Audience reaction is easy to hear on 8/06. I’m gonna call it, they’re both tied for second place! Now, go listen to 2/24/71 hard to handle. Coincidentally, that tape has been getting a turn in my truck as of late. A completely different interpretation and two months earlier. Go figure. It’s the Grateful Dead. That’s why these friendly debates are still happening 25 years after Jerry’s passing, 49 years after their original performances.

You two have inadvertently given me a homework assignment. I love it. Thanks!

Lmao! My mother would always say, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. The thing that I liked about Philly was that they were the first shows back, now they’re not. Wish I had listen, whoa, what Mama said....

Just got my refund for Hamilton shows, two plus weeks after the show was supposed to happen, if that’s any indication.

Allman’s whipping post or Neil young’s Southern Man come to mind. Randy Newman’s Short People?

I like what Jerry said about tapers. After we play it, we’re done with it. They can have it. Talk about moving the music forward, experimentation.

Ha ! I checked it out this morning. I was thinking earlier today how Dark Star Orchestra, this forum and it’s posters, your deadbase game, the internet, etc. has opened up the Grateful Dead universe to me. I started in 1980, so have always been a Brent fan and always drawn to that time period as far as listening to tapes. Catching Dark Star shows got me listening to seventies shows, seeking them out on the internet, getting an understanding of that era. About a year ago, I started to pull up shows from today’s date. A great way to explore all of the different eras of the Grateful Dead. There is so much to study. They make you listen to every note. All of it is important. It’s deep. I credit Dark Star Orchestra for keeping the wheel turning and keeping me from not fading away. Moving forward, I’m thinking one of the nights in Philly will be an elective possibly with a theme fitting of these crazy times of late.

So, I am watching public television last night, the series about the National parks. They’re talking about Yellowstone and the background music breaks into the studio version of Sugar Magnolia. I think Ken Burns just told on himself. He must have seen Some shows.

I think Brent did a great job with a difficult task, fitting into the Grateful Dead after fifteen years. Jerry liked him, you could see that onstage. Bobby spoke highly of him.

7/12/90 RFK. My last Brent show. People were coming up to me after Brent died. I kept saying, it’s ok, I just saw them play Dark Star.

Checked that one out this morning. Reviews say deadbase has it as best of ‘94. I find it interesting that reviews don’t ever match up to my take on the show. As less than stellar as they were in latter years, it’s still a Grateful Dead concert. WTF! Even if it was just one song, just one moment, I was blown away, just in awe, shaking my head, as I headed to where I think I parked my truck, swearing I would be back. The good old Grateful Dead! I need a show! Where’s DSO? Send music! Help!

3/31/87 spectrum. Actually, the best I have ever seen Bobby. One small lyric flub which isn’t bad considering that song had about five songs worth of lyrics.

I remember back in the Garden, in ‘87, when Jerry was singin’ TA ME !

We’ll never understand why they do what they do. Plugging in parts of another night to a video of a show. Expect the unexpected. I am thoroughly enjoying this conversation as I wasn’t there. Nice to read people talking about shows I wasn’t at but feeling the same vibe I felt from the shows I was at.

7/17/89

That show had a nice set list, good flow, in my opinion. It musta been an enjoyable dance fest.