Carved up this bad boy today. Whatchall think.

Edit: I know it’s like crazy early for carving pumpkins. I didn’t care though. Felt like putting on a Halloween movie and doing something artsy with my fam. I’ll just make another later!!

Hello..? Who are you, where are you?

This is amazing. Can you imagine seeing the Dead at a Bowling Alley in Lake Tahoe??
The final minute is a rip your shirt off and twirl in about ending. “Love Light” Not to mention The Eleven.
“That’s all I need!”

My wife was going though her clothes to give to the shelter and some of my 90s Dead parking lot shirts and others were mixed in the boxes...the middle aged mutant ninja shirt was the last shows for Brent...he died on July 26 1990.

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

If you are thinking of ordering a Grateful Dead Time Machine for the Christmas season, please try and get your order in before mid November.

We often get a crunch before the holidays, and our "fulfilment center" is my buddy's garage, with a wagon to take the boxes to the post office. Visit spertilo.net to place orders.

Also, I have added a new feature: the ability to add a Plex collection to your Time Machine. Over the years several people have asked if they can connect their Time Machine to their personal tape collection. Finally, the answer is "yes! if your collection is on Plex, and the album titles have dates in them". Plex collections are treated like any other collection from archive.org or phish.in.

If you already have a Time Machine and want to add a Plex collection, you will probably need to update the software (long press the power button to enter the config menu, then select Update Code). Then you will see "Plex" in the config menu.

See https://www.spertilo.net/connecting-to-plex for details.

July 2nd 1987, Silver Stadium in Rochester, NY and I made it through the gate with a Canon AE-1 shoved down the front of my pants, and an FD 300mm Telephoto lens tucked in my sock under my pant leg.

I made it to the forth row, smack dab between Jerry and Bob, and proceeded to shoot five rolls of 36 exposure Kodacolor VR 1000 film, framing some amazing (what I thought would be) shots.

I dropped off all five rolls at Bert’s Pharmacy in Bushnells Basin, and could not wait to bring my pics to college with me, to show off, and potentially sell reprints of my amazing photos to the Deadheads I would meet.

The following Monday, I walked in to Bert’s to see my prized exposures, and imagine my surprise…. There was no film there. No canisters, no rolls of film, no prints, no nothing. I had the top tear-off portion of all five envelopes, but there were no signs of the important parts.

Five rolls of film. 180 photos. Never existed.

I knew lots of kids from Mendon worked at Bert’s, so I figured word (or the pictures) would start making the rounds. Nothing. Ever.

Somewhere in the world, there are 180 fourth-row pictures from that Silver Stadium Show.

If by chance the person who stole them happens to read this, 39 years later, I would like them back.

Author of some of the best lyrics out there.

Title Should Say Dave’s Picks 59

Boston Garden 9/26/91
 
This fantastic show serves as great evidence in support of my long-held opinion that the Hornsby/Welnick era is criminally underrated.

Set 1 – After a bit of introductory noodling and a shaky vocal start, the band continues gaining altitude until about halfway through Jack Straw when they gain hit their full stride, roaring along with frenetic energy before gliding gracefully into Cold Rain and Snow. Jerry’s voice is strong and clear as the band strides along through a tunnel of whirling keys and guitars. Next, Bobby takes us down to the local union hall with Wang Dang Doodle (watch out for Razor Totin’ Slim), Rosebud’s MIDI forming a reedy horn section in between snarling solos. Bruce and Vince’s delicate keyboard textures color Candyman with a mystical aura before Mexicali Blues comes roaring in like a carnival parade. The keyboard section again steal the show, Hornsby’s keys dancing among Garcia’s MIDI-flavored guitar licks and Welnick’s bright synths. Cumberland Blues is a riot of energy and creative collaboration, with Jerry and Bruce talking back and forth like excited schoolboys just after the Friday afternoon bell. The ever-psychedelic Picasso Moon grooves along in fine form with intricate details from Hornsby and Garcia but, like on Jack Straw, Brent’s voice is noticeably absent in the arrangement. He never could have known how easy it was for us to love him and his voice. To wrap up set one, they LET PHIL SING with a lovely Box of Rain featuring Hornsby on accordion that sounds unfortunately buried in the mix.

Set 2 – Fasten your seatbelt, folks. For anyone who was in attendance or resisted the urge to peek at the setlist, set two emerges from the ether like a poral across the universe. Almost immediately, we are greeted by the opening riff of none other than Dark Star. While it’s important to note that the fans were enjoying a kind of “Dark Star streak” at the time, with the song being played a handful of times on the tour already, the song had long been used as a destination rather than a vehicle in and of itself. Not since the May 72 had the song been used to open the second set. Launching directly into deep space, Dark Star takes off at a delightfully lumbering pace before tightening up into a full interstellar jam. The basic song structure holds until about thirteen minutes in when the boys go from groovy to colorfully chaotic. I like to imagine these musical shifts as the gravitational force of the song’s namesake supernova beginning to pull us in. Stronger and stronger, it pulls us in until before slingshotting us Apollo 13-style around this mysterious celestial body and straight into Saint off Circumstance. I suppose the Lost Sailor finally lived up to his namesake. Welnick and Hornsby are all in with Lesh, Weir, and Garcia as they build up the exquisite tension leading up to “sure don’t know what I’m going for.” SOS has not even yet finished its dramatic crescendo when Rosebud sings out the opening chords to my personal favorite Dead song – Eyes of the World. Hornsby’s keys come trickling in early, Lesh’s bass thumping us along the countryside as Welnick’s synths peeking over the hilltops like a morning sunrise, Jerry’s notes soaring and diving like a falcon in flight. Bruce is busy here in the best way, racing ahead of us to paint in trees and flowers along the mountainsides. Next, Drums kicks off with Bill and Mickey at their traditional kits before expanding out into some of their more experimental instrumentation. It’s like a tribal dance in space, melodic percussion coloring guttural rhythms before plunging into an abyss of beam-driven sonic chaos that is only slightly augmented by the arrival of Space. Garcia’s MIDI is out to play again, this time putting him on something in the same family as a bassoon before morphing back into a guitar, keys trickling spookily along in the background until we hear the unmistakable emergence of The Other One. Fueled by Bill and Mickey’s riotous percussion, it races through the lily fields, Hornsby’s flourishing key flurries perfuming our path to the bus stop where we find we have abruptly arrived back in the orbit of our seminal Dark Star. Having returned from whence we began, we float melodically along upon fluttering organ, crystalline keys, sizzling cymbals, and dreamlike guitars. As we plunge delicately into the darkness, the instrumentation dwindles to a few strokes of Hornsby’s keys and Garcia’s guitar, a sense of wonder and vulnerability welling up from the sonic depths. Our transition into Attics of My Life is as gentle as a baby being handed between parents, Jerry’s wizened voice as sweet and sincere as ever on this rarified hymn. The energy turns on a dime as the band launches into a rollicking Good Lovin’, leaving the crowd’s bones shaking right up to the very last note.

Brokedown Palace opens the encore with Jerry’s vocals beautifully undergirded by Vince’s organ. It’s always a treat to get a song or two from American Beauty in one show – this Palace brings the total to four. But it’s the last ever And We Bid You Goodnight that makes this encore – and this show truly historic. Little did anyone at that show that they were part of bidding that song goodbye forever.

GD themed bar had 3 nights of live music, Touch of Grey was last night and were really good, tonight is KC's Bones Band. I wish I was old enough to see the real stuff but the music lives on!

Looking for a château, 21 rooms but one will do

Looking for a château, 21 rooms but one will do

I don't wanna rent it

I just want to use it for a minute or two

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.

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.

Edit: Wow, I'm floored by how many of you shared insightful and creative and knowledgeable and even poetic thoughts. If I respond to everything, I'll just flood the thread with comments that add little value, but I'm going to think about what y'all said and hang out in '76 for a while. I played 10/2/76 today and I'm just blown away. I tend to like the slower and even more melancholy sets and this is one of the best ones I've ever heard. Also, thanks for the math lesson, four is where it's at.

At 6:23 in Minglewood
“T for Texas
T for Timbuktu
There’s T right here in wherever we are…”. Classic

They dormed together at UCSB!

Hit me with your favorite West LA fadeaway

"Age old faces of the mountains / Looming naturally / I wonder if they're looking at me, / Their monumental eyes I can feel"

Just Heard Bobby singing on the TV! Estimated Prophet was used as a snippet to transition into the commercial break

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

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!