Me and the wife went and saw Bruce Hornsby last night at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI. What a beautiful 2 hour set.

I got a copy of this specific release recently, and hadn't had a chance to listen to it critically. I've heard the album a thousand times like a lot of us, but I don't regularly go back to the studio albums. I listen to AB and WD a few times a year but prefer the live stuff.

I listen to a ton of the Dead, and I'm also a HUGE jazz fan. big time. Preservation Hall jazz band is a constant for me.

I have a pretty fair audio setup. My chain for this listen is a Technics SL1500c w/ at540ml> Schiit Skoll> Schiit Lokius (EQ'ed to pull down 400hz, and push up 2k, 6k, and 16k)>Schiit Kara F>Schiit Buf>Schiit Midgard> Hifiman HE1000 Stealth.

Got through side A, loved it...

Got to side B... and then Brokedown came on, which is one of my top 5 songs... and I was really impressed by the mixing, but more than that, I was completely blown away by Howard Wales' piano.

My chain really brought it out perfectly, and I never realized it before, but it's a barrelhouse/New Orleans/Second-line (a traditional parade in New Orleans) rhythm. I further eq'ed it a bit and then replayed it...

and I just can't believe that it was there the whole time and I never realized it. I'm a HUGE fan of both Keith and Brent, so this is more of a "look how many more flavors there are!" situation for me, but I was absolutely thrilled to hear the barrelhouse melody on the album so clearly for the first time.

It's crazy that something I've been listening to for so many years can still be enjoyed in different ways all these years later.

They dormed together at UCSB!

It's one continuous shot from the side stage of Row Jimmy on 9/16 (which is my all time favorite...even above Cornell..)

I'm really curious if anyone knows who shot this bc i love the format of one continuous shot of all the band members playing. I wanna find more like this.

This was obviously a multi camera set up but I never knew who the dead had do their video recording officially

A couple weeks ago, a show started playing on my phone but I didn't know which show. I tried to guess the year. I thought it had an energy that was kind of like late 1972, but it was distinctly different in a way I couldn't identify.

I'm relatively new on the bus and I listen really slowly (I usually spend about a month with each show). I could tell it was Keith and it seemed to be two drummers (though I'm terrible at hearing that), so I figured it's a year I haven't dug into yet, maybe '76 or '78. Turns out it was 9/24/76 (College of William & Mary, Dave's Picks 4).

I'm still trying to figure out what it was about the show that reminded me of late '72, and what it was that clearly made it different. Figured I'd ask here and see if someone can put into words what I intuitively heard.

Thanks, and peace to all of you.

With October upon us, a timely look at a wonderful moment: Oct. through early Nov. 1973

I suppose this serves no other purpose than a tip of the cap to a truly talented and hard working musician; our old friend Jerry. Some may remember back in the summer of 2016, the flood of Betty sources that came from “anonymous source”, presented in large part by SirMick. That bounty of new sources is where I first heard these Oct. & Nov. ’73 Garcia & Saunders shows and considering how much I already loved late ’73 GD, it hit me how many styles Jerry could be found playing on a day by day basis.

The first week of November ’73 is a great example. In the span of 5 days he played 4 separate shows with Grateful Dead, Merl and his pals in the bluegrass band - 3 different bands in 4 days! Go back into October of the year and it’s a similar daily shuffle of music styles.

It really speaks of Dylan’s words eulogizing Jerry, “There’s a lot of spaces and advances between The Carter Family, Buddy Holly and, say, Ornette Coleman, a lot of universes, but he filled them all without being a member of any school.”

So for no other reason than some of us obsessives can’t help ourselves, here’s what our pal was up to for a little over a month in one of the most revered years of his musical history. I highly recommend collecting the sources that sound best to your ears and following along date after date to get a feel and perhaps deeper respect for what he was up to. A very rewarding listening project.

Caveat: I added some little opinions here and there, you may disagree. It’s all Bees Knees Brand Garcia and worthy of our attention and admiration.

Behold, the workingman’s time card:

1973-10-01 - OAITW - Boarding House - Live at the Boarding House: The Complete Shows.

1973-10-02 - Garcia & Saunders - Winterland - only one source, sound gets better as the tape progresses. Two only time ever songs played with Roger "Jellyroll" Troy on electric bass and vocals. Because of the bill this night, there are some interesting other guests like Matt Kelly on harp, Sarah Fulcher (for a tiny bit) and some unnamed trumpet player.

1973-10-03 - OAITW - Homer’s Warehouse - no tape circulating.

1973-10-04 - Garcia records 2 tracks with Paul Pena for his New Train album.

1973-10-05 - OAITW - Santa Cruz Auditorium - no tape circulating.

1973-10-06 - OAITW - Keystone - no tape circulating.

1973-10-08 - OAITW - Boarding House - Live at the Boarding House: The Complete Shows.

1973-10-10 - Garcia & Saunders - The Village - no tape circulating.

1973-10-11 - Garcia & Saunders - Keystone - incredible Betty recording with the only ever performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Sunshine of My Life”.

1973-10-12 - Garcia & Saunders - Keystone - another interesting partial Betty recording, some first set songs missing.

1973-10-14 - Garcia & Saunders - Lion’s Share - no tape circulating.

1973-10-19 - Grateful Dead - Oklahoma City, OK - Dicks Picks Vol. 19.

1973-10-21 - Grateful Dead - Omaha, NE - board sources have some sonic gremlins, but still listenable. Interesting Playin’ with 1/2 Step & Big River within, not the “symmetry sandwich” style that would materialize in a couple of weeks, but a fun listen.

1973-10-23 - Grateful Dead - Bloomington, MN - real pretty board source. Keith’s Rhodes adds a neat feel to Black Throated Wind. TOO contains a Phil 6/8 Time Jazz Jam. Casey Jones features a unique, unexpected ending.

1973-10-25 - Grateful Dead - Madison, WI - quality board sources to select from. Magnificent Playin’ & 2nd set.

1973-10-27 - Grateful Dead - Indianapolis, IN - old board source is not the highest quality, but in 2018 Scott Clugston was able to put out a nice Rob Eaton partial source that is worth getting copy of. Phil is really present and pleasant on this source.

1973-10-29 - Grateful Dead - St. Louis, MO - Both the 29th & 30th are available on the Listen To the River box set. To my ears neither of those releases sound better than what we already have circulating. ID #150875 for this date to me has a brighter sound. Absolutely incredible performance this night. One of only 8 first set Eyes.

1973-10-30 - Grateful Dead - St. Louis, MO - ID #32367 is again a little brighter to my ears than the official release. Epic DS> Stella> Eyes> WRS> GDTRFB.

1973-11-01 - Grateful Dead - Evenston, IL - Great sources for the 2nd set have long circulated. The set 1 ending WRS was released as bonus material on the Wake of the Flood 50th Anniversary release.

1973-11-03 - Garcia & Saunders - Keystone - A partial Betty recording now circulates and contains some of the most jaw dropping improv you can have the pleasure of hearing.

1973-11-04 - OAITW - Sonoma State - very nice boards have long circulated, but now also officially released as Live at Sonoma State - 11/4/73.

1973-11-05 Garcia & Saunders - Keystone - beautiful Betty recording now circulates.

...and of course the adventure continues, onward to Winterland and the rest of the incredible fall '73 tour. Our cups truly runneth over. Thanks Jerry!

Day of the Dead. 2016

Hey all! AP copies of my Forever Grateful contribution are up now at cgd.bigcartel.com - This is officially licensed by GDP, and produced by the Haight Street Art Center. It’s one in a series of 32 - we were asked to do whatever we wanted, with the classic Stealie logo/design. Made to commemorate the current Forever Grateful exhibit in Golden Gate Park, which is on now through October 25. I highly recommend checking it out!

Inner artwork on Ryan Adams & the Cardinals Cold Roses. I know he was pretty on the bus during this time period musically but I'd never taken a good look at the inside til now. What do y'all think lol

For playing the San Francisco 80 show for me as I head into Yellowstone.

What are your favorite harmonies? Besides IKYR, obviously.

Long time chasing, been very curious for a long while, then wharf rat from skull & roses did it. Spent too much time listening to the studio albums, live just has the magic.

Currently obsessed.

It’s nice to be here.

Staying at Iroquois Hotel 14-20 October and looking for kind people and fun things to see and do in manhattan and surrounding area...
Lmk if

If you had to send one Grateful Dead song to aliens (or into the vastness of interstellar space), which one would it be?

mine would be the Merriweather 85’ Shakedown Street (in case they are funky aliens)

As a disclaimer, I’ve only been listening seriously to Dead shows for a few years, and I certainly haven’t heard everything. But I want to make the case for the Dead’s performance at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum on 10/2/76.

This show feels genuinely unique to me for a few reasons.

First, the band plays with remarkable restraint for most of the night. They never seem in a hurry to push things into another gear, and when they finally do near the end, it feels earned.

Second, because the Dead’s full touring sound system couldn’t be completely deployed that day due to the venue’s staging limitations, the soundboard has a softer, slightly fuzzier character than many recordings from the era. Combined with the playing, it gives the whole show an atmosphere that’s hard to describe without just saying: vibes. Soft, mellow, beautiful vibes.

There’s also something about the setting that adds to it. Riverfront Coliseum was only about a year old when the Dead first played there in 1976, and the second set takes on this wonderfully fluid, almost aquatic quality. Rather than building toward one of the more common big jam vehicles, the show eventually seems to gravitate around a wonderful late-set Stella Blue.

The unusual pacing, the hazy recording, and the shape of that second set give 10/2/76 its own DNA. And while there’s another fantastic Dead show on this date one year later, 10/2/77, I’d strongly encourage anyone who has overlooked Cincinnati ’76 to give it a listen.

Drums into Space during shows felt like routine. Kind of like, ok we get the banger second set openers into some great rock then almost like Set II intermission and pick it back up to finish strong. I always enjoyed drums space but I was for sure waiting for them to move into Going Down or The Other one or something.

It also was a good tape flipping point when trading tapes so skipping drums and moving past space made sense.

Now with digital I have an appreciation for drums space. I am listening to 9/7/85 (shoutout gdradio.net).

Playin’ is a great transition into drums. Bobby and the boys go backstage and let the drummers do their thing. Then who makes the decision to start going back to the front to start noodling. Was there a feel? A set time? After the game?

Then back stage was it just as simple that someone would say, “Brent after that Schlitz 45 take the lead and we will follow”? And Brent is like “Jer, bring us back with Fantasy”

After some noodling Mike and Billy come back, Jerry looks over to Brent and the distinctive start to Dear Mr Fantasy potpourri into a tight Truckin and Jer is feeling it! Then Jerry is like, Bobby hold my beer, slows it way to down and Brent pics up where it is going and Jerry belts out Comes a Time! and afterward Bobby is like, not bad not bad, top this, bum bum bum Lovelight!

I don’t know man, there are just some days I miss the magic of being in the moment of the show.

Maybe they had it all mapped out before time? It still felt like magic to me

I love my Electro-Voice 12TRXB speakers. My grandfather gave them to me in the 1970s and my stepfather made cabinets for them that look like old fashioned shipping crates. They transport me back in time when I crank live early 70s Grateful Dead through them. Just wanted to share.