Web Hype
The Grateful Dead…
Donna Jean & Jerry onstage at the Winterland Ballroom
…are on the top of the New York Times website right now. It makes me love life. Ben Ratliff provides a concise introduction to GD/taper culture and engages in the fine art of arguing about what the best Dead show/tour/era of all time is/was. The hook for all this is that the surviving band (now known simply as The Dead) is touring again, and Grateful Dead Productions has just released To Terrapin: Hartford ’77 (which I am listening to right now- there’s a 19 minute version of “Sugaree!” On disc ONE!!). 5/28/77 is a fascinating choice because it was a mere 20 days after 5/8/77 at Cornell, a show which is historically regarded by most hardcore fans as THE BEST Grateful Dead show and which has never seen an official release. (Personally, I think there’s a good argument to be made for 12/31/78, The Closing of Winterland, which is where the photo above was taken.)
Deadheads have often been polled about their favorite show, through fanzines and Web sites. The answers have stayed fairly consistent. May 8, 1977, at Barton Hall, Cornell University. The pairing of Feb. 13 and 14, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York — perhaps the first widely traded shows. The Veneta and Binghamton shows. You’d think the canon would have been displaced as more and more information came along, but it hasn’t, really; it has only widened. I have spoken to young Deadheads who, surprisingly, respect the ancient judgments. “I’ll stick with May 8 because of its historical importance,” said Yona Koch-Feinberg, an 18-year-old from Manhattan. “That’s almost as important as the musical ability of the evening.”
The article is accompanied by a gallery of user-contributed photos from all eras of the band’s career. Awesome awesome. But, uh, books? Books. Yes, right. Okay. Well, my favorite book about The Grateful Dead is Carol Brightman’s Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead’s American Adventure. I also really enjoyed Phil Lesh’s autobiography, Searching for the Sound. And of course, you need a copy of David Dodd’s Complete Annotated Grateful Dead lyrics, which overlaps quite a bit with but is not to be mistaken for or in any way replace Robert Hunter’s A Box of Rain: Collected Lyrics 1965-1993.
Tags: Grateful Dead
Hippie.
Hippie.
You beat me to it.
You beat me to it.
I think it’s really sweet that Justin is a deadhead. I had moccassins in high school. I also had a pair of really smelly espadrilles that I would put patchouli oil in to make them smell better- that’s how bad they smelled to begin with. But I was never a deadhead. Although I saw them once at Red Rocks in Boulder at age 17. Wacky stuff.
It’s the same story the crow told me
it’s the only one he knows
It’s the same story the crow told me
it’s the only one he knows
I whole-heartedly endorse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayfolded
I whole-heartedly endorse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayfolded
Woah, I just woke up in the back of my camper and I totally don’t know what town I’m in. Taylor, peace my brother. My your Jerry beard shine with the conditioned luxuriance of a million awapuhis. 77 forever.
Woah, I just woke up in the back of my camper and I totally don’t know what town I’m in. Taylor, peace my brother. My your Jerry beard shine with the conditioned luxuriance of a million awapuhis. 77 forever.
’77 was a great period for GD. The songs were more focused and technical, the jams tighter, the band still probably zonked on LSD, etc. but maybe less so and so better musically maybe. There’s that Dennis McNally book, A Long Strang Trip, which is all the GD you’ll need for a while. The Lesh book is very good also. I like Phil Lesh. He is a good person. And a survivor.
’77 was a great period for GD. The songs were more focused and technical, the jams tighter, the band still probably zonked on LSD, etc. but maybe less so and so better musically maybe. There’s that Dennis McNally book, A Long Strang Trip, which is all the GD you’ll need for a while. The Lesh book is very good also. I like Phil Lesh. He is a good person. And a survivor.
The Lesh book is great
The Lesh book is great
There’s a new book just out called Growing Up Dead by Peter Conners. I’ll plug it here since I’m pals with Peter and he’s a writer of fine sentences and this book is his story about being a deadhead in the 80s.
There’s a new book just out called Growing Up Dead by Peter Conners. I’ll plug it here since I’m pals with Peter and he’s a writer of fine sentences and this book is his story about being a deadhead in the 80s.
Woah, BBSoS, like — woah, man! You’re here, too? Gah. I just drove in from my winter pad up in Maine. Me and my old lady are here to see —
Hey, where is Starla? Like, you haven’t seen an a-grade pure organic free-trade honey of a girl wandering around here have you? Wearing beads and a hempen poncho and a wineskin filled with Whole Foods cherry wine? Huh. Anyway.
So, listen, I heard that THE Justin Taylor is here. Yeah, yeah — the pedantic, squinty-faced guy that got sodomized by Charlie Mason. Twice. That’s the dude. But hey — he’s totally keyed into where we can score signed, first edition copies of Carol Brightman’s — wait for it! — SWEET! CHAOS! Man, I kid you not, man! I kid you fucking NOT!
I can’t wait to take that book back to my house in Massachusetts! I’m going to so add it to my carefully catalogued library of ‘Dead literature. Like, I think it’ll totally impress the lady coming to interview my daughter for a spot at Groton.
Oh, there’s Starla. She’s waiting over there in the front seat of our Mercedes. Man, I better get going. Need to find Justin.
Anyway, BBSoS, it’s so so totally great seeing you, man.
77 forever!
Woah, BBSoS, like — woah, man! You’re here, too? Gah. I just drove in from my winter pad up in Maine. Me and my old lady are here to see —
Hey, where is Starla? Like, you haven’t seen an a-grade pure organic free-trade honey of a girl wandering around here have you? Wearing beads and a hempen poncho and a wineskin filled with Whole Foods cherry wine? Huh. Anyway.
So, listen, I heard that THE Justin Taylor is here. Yeah, yeah — the pedantic, squinty-faced guy that got sodomized by Charlie Mason. Twice. That’s the dude. But hey — he’s totally keyed into where we can score signed, first edition copies of Carol Brightman’s — wait for it! — SWEET! CHAOS! Man, I kid you not, man! I kid you fucking NOT!
I can’t wait to take that book back to my house in Massachusetts! I’m going to so add it to my carefully catalogued library of ‘Dead literature. Like, I think it’ll totally impress the lady coming to interview my daughter for a spot at Groton.
Oh, there’s Starla. She’s waiting over there in the front seat of our Mercedes. Man, I better get going. Need to find Justin.
Anyway, BBSoS, it’s so so totally great seeing you, man.
77 forever!
And Sam Ligon interviews Peter Conners about this book – podcast available at the Keyhole website. It’s an interesting listen (from this non-GD listener).
And Sam Ligon interviews Peter Conners about this book – podcast available at the Keyhole website. It’s an interesting listen (from this non-GD listener).
there’s a good chance my review of “Growing Up Dead” will be in the upcoming Blurt print magazine. It’s a very fun read for anyone remotely interested in ‘the scene.’ it’s a relatively short review; word cap in play for the publication. Conners did a good job of balancing his personal story with observations about the scene in general. good stuff…
there’s a good chance my review of “Growing Up Dead” will be in the upcoming Blurt print magazine. It’s a very fun read for anyone remotely interested in ‘the scene.’ it’s a relatively short review; word cap in play for the publication. Conners did a good job of balancing his personal story with observations about the scene in general. good stuff…