Space in the velvet green

[Supplicated Velvet Thunder]

Alright. Yeah. So.... when discussing the arrangement of tunes.... here is my current revelations. I fell in love w DSO bc of the space that JK (so corny, initial names) left in the licks that Jerry filled. But w Jeff, bc he fills the space w an incredible (almost infinate) amount of notes, I was initially turned off. This is why:

so, space is a special place holder. If you don’t hold the space of non-sound while playing, the music can become confused, and though i still listen to the music play and I am deeply grateful for the multitudes of sound on the one (Jerry said one is wherever u want it to be and that’s always worked pretty well for us!) that became the Dead, i also mourn the loss of space and that such triviality was resigned to a little segment during second set. Cause.... space is the place between the syncopation that the NO SOUND leaves filled. Ian Anderson knew this, as did other contemporaries of Jerry. 

This is why DSO is special to me. When John first made this shit real for us, now, it was so special bc he yearned and sought the places bw the sound where our minds wander without losing the integrity of the true rhythm. Now, with Jeff, the sound becomes a million notes per goddamn second- which can also take us there. But..... the space is what actually takes us home, goddamn it!

so, as I learn to NOT play in those spacial moments of awareness now, I see that Dino is actually the key to this band. He knows when to NOT hit a note. This is sacred. Anyone, especially the super talented, can play a million notes per second, but it takes true respect of music (music IS love, right?) to NOT play those notes when you could. It’s the dramatic pause. The SPACE between the moments of revelation where you find yourself to be a simple puddle on the dance floor.

the best show ever was when DSO found their space, with Jeff, in Columbia. It was all disconcerting space with left turns full of diminished and augmented chords and lines. I LOVE Jeff bc he knows how to rock n roll n will also leave us to our space while lookin in all of our eyes and hearts with that unfathomable depth that only a true space pirate can hold for ransom on the booty. John tried WAY too hard. Poor kid, they used him like a goddamn guitar monkey when he got to play in the band....

what I am tryin to say is that the GD was an Amazing cover band. But even Hunter just stole his traditional American lyrics from his contemporaries that couldn’t quite put a solid lick on it. And DSO takes this concept WAY beyond that. The shows I crave and return to see are the ones that hold our sacred SPACE, but not just as a scripted formula.

this is why DSO is the only band that do what they do. It was hard when Jeff came in with his million notes per second bc we had all gotten super comfy w John’s light, fluttering no space of one note that can take you home every time. 

But... I am still hopelessly devoted to the sound that only DSO can bring me that makes my heart fly free. They truly take the cover band concept that made the Grateful Dead a cultural phenomenon to a wholely new musical jazz based level. Bc they leave the space- pure, unadulterated space. It’s all we really have. At least all I have.

Radio ads still claim that DSO plays shows note for note. Absurdity. We all know it’s about the space they allow us to be ourselves within and revel in the exact absurdity that normally sperates us in our day to day. Wherever you come from, wherever you are going, DSO has a sound for that. And I will always be grateful for that one that calls the tune.

thank you, my dear ones, for all that we have created together. But don’t forget..... Jerry just replayed and redid it all just for YOU. As long as we all live, we give it to each other.

and goddamn if it wasn’t for DSO......... there wouldn’t BE an ultimate cover of the space between where consciousness rests and then creates a full circle. 

Thank you. Space and syncopation, that’s what it’s all about, though it is hokey and pokey as fuck.

kiss kiss

[chuckvegas]

Well thought out, well felt, and well said. There is room for discussion and loving disagreement but this is a considered and consistent point.

 

Nothing is more American than Americana, and this music is nothing if not that. 

[Supplicated Velvet Thunder]

Thanks, pops. I was quite drunk at 4 this morning, listening to Jethro Tull (my husband makes me listen to not Dead and defend the Dead constantly bc he is a musician and goddamn prick about the value of Jerry’s contemporaries and gets easily disgusted w the cult of deadheads that don’t recognize the value of jerry’s influences and omg- now that I play music w others it gets really annoying 

when the Dead heads make us play their memorized licks- “that FOTD line is just a reverse G maj. scale, babe, blah blah blah”- instead of being in the moment w us! But of course, my solid rebuttle is ALWAYS that I am a STAR head, not a dead head, and he shuts his damn mouth bc he loves DSO so much, especially those rainbow keys hehe) when I wrote this, and upon re-reading I am damn proud of my drunken ramblings of space travel. Glad we get shown the light in the strangest of places every fuckin day when we look at it right. Once and a while could never cut the cheese hehehehe

 

what would y’all do without my running sentences? Def wouldn’t win no marathons without me  pardon my double negative, i am back in the south and it makes me write as my southern self. 

 

Kiss kiss

 

 

[John A]

Jerry liked to invoke the famous Miles Davis quote describing music's critical importance: "it's the space between the notes." 🎵

 

Other than that I have nothing to add to the drunken ramblin'. 

 

[chuckvegas]

And stream of consciousness is an honorable literary tradition.

[Tea]

34 minutes ago, chuckvegas said:

And stream of consciousness is an honorable literary tradition.

I'm glad to hear this as It's about all I got.  That and GIF's of course....

[PoetryGirl]

Whew. Faulkner’s Sound and the Fury. Good existentialism in that stream of consciousness. 

[chuckvegas]

Joyce’s Ulysses- much word in that stream. Signifying something...

[Brian NJ]

Huh? I've not the time, energy or desire to try and figure what was said. Endless rambling is to my ears as sandpaper would be to my eyes.

Maybe I've just got better places for  indulging in philosophical debates. 

 

 

[Supplicated Velvet Thunder]

9 hours ago, cnjBrian said:

Huh? I've not the time, energy or desire to try and figure what was said. Endless rambling is to my ears as sandpaper would be to my eyes.

Maybe I've just got better places for  indulging in philosophical debates. 

 

 

If u get confused, listen to the music play? Is that the proper language?

ain’t no time to hate (this ain’t no debate)? Are you kind? 

have you ever listened to the lyrics of crazy fingers? Shit makes my head spin from the inside out, but it’s a good dance.

just sayin.... “pot-kettle-black”.... ahem.....

 

i can make u yak hair fishing lures! (Do u still fish?)

 

you were at my first show and watching you dance and love this music so much that night is a big reason you are all stuck w me, now- and I don’t wash away like bar scum on the feet in a venue sink. So good luck. 

 

Man, we had some good times. But ever since Hampton Beach a few years ago, I realized you had some serious ill wishes towards me. That’s fine by me, bc I will always love you and your progression into grumpity grump and tell you I am grateful for you being you. 

 

Kiss kiss

 

 

 

 

[Brian NJ]

No ill will for you Steph... If I was to portray love for everyone and everything I would be disingenuous. 

I don't like rambling, I actually detest it.

For the most part, the actions of the day will dictate the reality of tomorrow .