The kids they dance and shake their bones...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Hey hey folks

Rhythmdvl, your resident drummer, environmental analyst and Deadhead here checking in on his ONE-YEAR anniversary of officially joining the TM. I know I’m not the only Deadhead on the boards, and I’ve never seen a Deadthread before, so I’m using my anniversary to start one up.

Favorite show? Mine was Deer Creek '92, third night - Terrapin-Space-Darkstar-Wheel lots more went into making that tour unfreakingbelievable.

Favorite tape? Ithaca '77. Whhhhoooooooooo boy, makes me wish I was twice as old.

What do I miss (besides the obvious?) Man oh man do I miss the disco-truck. Any east-coast heads out there remember the Ryder truck with the amazing post-show sounds?

Anyone up for a bit of tape tradin?

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Uh-huh…
Remember kids:

Drugs.

Thay maim, they kill.

3

and the politicians throwin’ stones.

My favorite shows were: Nassau Coliseum 1979, Halloween, November 1, November 2 - closing show, closing song: Casey Jones.

Philly Spectrum some time in 1985 or 1986: Opened with “(In the) Midnight Hour”, “Walkin’ the Dog”, “Big Boss Man”, opened the second set with “Revolution” - man, what a hot show! It was at another show at the Spectrum or maybe Madison Sq. Garden that they performed “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” (Phil sang).

Merriwether Post Pavilion, also in the early or mid-80s - Shakedown, Jack-A-Roe, all kinds of good stuff.

Also shows where they were joined by Branford Marsalis (saw 2 or 3, esp. great on Eyes of the World), Bruce Hornsby, etc.

Hampton '8? - “Box of Rain” comes out of the closet.

And the 90s shows when they would bring out “Rain”, “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Baba O’Reilly”. Best damn cover band I ever heard. In fact, listening to the Dead got me into all sorts of music I didn’t listen to before - bluegrass, some country, some folk.

I miss the live shows, and I haven’t gotten into a lot of the Dick’s Picks or other stuff out there, but I recently happened upon “Swingin’ to the Grateful Dead” - instrumental arrangements, in swing/jazz/dixieland idiom, that I think is way cool. It really gets at the spirit of the music while at the same time being something totally different.

Yeah, I miss the truck. And people barefootin’ along on the sidewalks of New York - talk about carrying a good thing too far.

Thanks for starting this thread, rhythmdvl - it’s good to visit this old space, reminisce about those drug-hazed years.

And Inky-, as for drugs - if you get confused, just listen to the music play. :slight_smile:

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Binghamton, NY, spring of 1980. My one and only “China Cat/Rider” as a second-set opener. I swear, Jerry would see me coming and say “It’s Uke! That’s means we open the second set with ‘Playing in the Band!’”

Not that I have anything against “Playing in the Band,” but I must have gotten that at two dozen shows. I also heard “Stella Blue” so many times that folks would ask how the show was and I’d say “Fine, but I got Stella Blooed again.”

Favorite tape…the Ithaca show from May of '77 is way up there, but I was always fond of the Englishtown, NJ, show of September '77. That one became DICK’S PICKS VOLUME 15, so now I guess it’s my favorite CD.

Incidentally, my children are named “Rose” (after the other half of the predominant Dead symbology) and “Quinn,” after the night their Old Man called the encore tune at Madison Square Garden in '87.

…You guys DO know that they’ve just released a 4-CD set of stuff from the Fillmore run of '71, right?

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Yeah, Ike, I know what you mean - I can’t remember how many times I heard Playin’ --> Throwin’ Stones --> NFA coming out of space. All good tunes, but after 20 or 30 times, enough’s enough.

Yeah, I heard about the Fillmore set, but I haven’t checked it out yet.

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Rhythmdvl! Happy anniversary, and thanks for starting this one. Let my inspiration flow…

East Coast head here - Cantrip, my first shows were the Nassau '79 set!!! I can’t say that I really and truly remember the shows themselves, if you know what I mean, but I’m sure I had a great time. I remember the Ryder Truck! And the dude with the light-up purple bear costume, and so many other great memories.

My favorite shows were just about all of them. Some standouts were the Branford show at Nassau, NYE in Oakland 1989, the MSG shows in '90 with Bruce, all of the Boston Garden shows in '91 (even though I grew up in NYC, I am a Celtics fan, and that place is hallowed ground), and the Pyramid shows in Memphis in '95, which were my next to last, but I saw my one and only Unbroken Chain. Aw, hell, I loved 'em all.

How about non-Dead shows? Hands down, no question, and as a fellow drummer, you will likely appreciate this Rhythmdvl: Seeing Mickey at Carnegie Hall! I had front row seats, and I was in heaven.

My favorite tapes are anything from '72 or '73 - off the top of my head, the Veneta Co. Fair show is a gem.

Oh, and other Deadhead Dopers include mailman and retsin2000, and I believe Bottle Of Smoke may be as well.

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I’m one of the unlucky ones who only caught on late and only got to see two shows. I was supposed to go to a show in DC the summer that Jerry died.

A friend of mine kept insisting that I go. I kept promising him that I would, and did a couple times that I got leave, but I was in the army for seven years after I got out of high school and I didn’t get out until jan 99.

So, anyway, I guess the thing I miss about the shows was one of the things that I learned during those two that I got to see: The cool way you could navigate the arena by the positioning of the drummers in the audience. Anyone else do this?

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Hey, Demo, think of it this way: at least you got to see two! I run into a lot of people at Widespread Panic shows who would’ve loved to see one.

I guess I never thought of using drums to navigate, but while walking around I couldn’t help but notice the delicious pockets of skunky incense. Mmmmm.

The thing I liked about the whole scene was that it was more than just a concert. Starting with calling the hotline, getting ticket orders ready, driving to a show and meeting other people along the way, or just passing another car full of Heads and waving (every show I’ve ever driven to featured at least one car full of Heads broken down on the highway). The whole parking lot scene, running into people you know, and just hanging out inside before the show and during the set break. It was like a whole little community, where everyone was nice and you could strike up a conversation with anyone (provided they were on the same planet at the time)

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I don’t know why you qualified that, Dire Wolf; some of the most fun conversations I had were with Heads I couldn’t swear were in the same galaxy. But I digress. Or possibly I don’t. It’s hard to tell.

The '79 shows were my first shows too! If I remember correctly, there was a Help → Slip → Franklin’s → Terrapin leading into drums and space on one of the nights, but I too was in no condition to remember much of anything.

The scene was great. And it still is (in the stranges of places, if you look at it right?) - I still get a great feeling when I wave at someone because of their bumper sticker/window sticker/license plate/t-shirt, maybe throw a peace sign, sometimes get into a conversation, which usually, I daresay inevitably, leads to being offered a joint. sigh

I’m getting so nostalgic that I went and added a sig. :slight_smile:

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Well, maybe I’m slightly biased. At one of the Dylan/Dead shows - July of 87 in Giants Stadium - I was talking with a guy who was completely ripped. It was a mildly entertaining, if often rambling, conversation. All of a sudden, he just stops and stares into space, and I hear the unmistakable saound of piss hitting concrete. Yep. He just unloaded right there, in his shorts, down his leg, and into his boots, spilling over onto the ground. Something I will never forget! I also heard THE loudest Phil Bomb ever at that show, I think it knocked a tooth loose.

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This is TOO weird…I first Got On The Bus in 1979, too. The January show in New Haven, Connecticut.

It was supposed to be a December 1978 show, but that was the one where Jer got the flu or somethin’ and they had to postpone.

I’m trying to remember the setlist for ya, but I had a mighty headful of Green Dragon that night. There was a rousing second-set “Eyes,” that much I recall, because in about the middle of the jam the gravity in the hall stopped working.

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I’m surprised Frankd6 hasn’t shown up here yet. At one point, he actually had a sig that quoted “Black Throated Wind.”

I mean, “Black Throated Wind” is pretty damn hardcore. Who the fuck quotes “Black Throated Wind” ? I was impressed.

If I was gonna quote a Dead tune in a sig, I think i’d pick…uhhhh…how about “Mason’s Children” ?

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“Incidentally, my children are named ‘Rose’ (after the other half of the predominant Dead symbology) and ‘Quinn,’ after the night their Old Man called the encore tune at Madison Square Garden in '87.”

I did not read that. I did NOT read that.

—Eve [relieved for the first time that Ukulele Lady met Ike before she did]

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Cantrip…did it rain buckets at the Merriwether show?
I was there sometime in the 80’s (god knows what year) and it seemed that the harder they played the harder it rained.

Dire Wolf… I was at the Dylan/Dead show at JFK in Philly. Was that really 1987? Pretty bizarre show.

…if I had my way, I would tear this ole’ building down.

Dave

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I’m what I like to call a post-Deadhead–one of the many who got into the band too late to see them. (Well, not exactly–I got into them about the time I started college in 1994, and badly wanted to go to the Deer Creek shows in '95. Good thing I didn’t, in retrospect. :frowning: )

I haven’t gone to my (analog) tape collection in a while, but I am slowly amassing the Dick’s Picks series. #8 (Harpur College, 1970) and #11 (Stanley Theatre, 1972) are my favorites.

Anyone up for a Doper Deadhead CD-R trading ring? (Not that I have anything to contribute…)

Dr. J

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No, Dave, the Merriwether shows I went to (6/30-7/1/85) were sunny and warm. At least, it was sunny and warm in my mind. :wink: The set lists were great. In fact, to get set lists for just about every show ever played, try this site (these people had way too much time on their hands, but the site is useful as hell).

I’ve heard great things about String Cheese Incident - anyone ever seen them? I got a couple of their disks; they have a lot of the same influences as the Dead, but they don’t combine them; instead they play lots of different stuff (like a rockin’ version of Lonesome Fiddle Blues, by the great Vassar Clemens).

But I digress. Again.

Wolf, I dunno, when I read your post, I cracked up - that’s the kind of “never see it anywhere else” kind of thing that was so cool about Dead shows (as long as you didn’t get splattered, of course). Especially if I wasn’t in my own right mind, which was usually the case. (I’m being circumspect as I’m posting from work.)

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June 1983 Merriwether Post - My, my, my. How the rain did come down. Phil and God got into a pissing contest (Phil being convinced that he could use his bass during Wharf Rat to show Him a thing or two). God won when lightning struck the Pavillion. The best Sugar Magnolia ever. Bar none. No contest. My first show.

Any number of Hampton shows (saw them all post 1984), but the highlight was the Warlocks gigs of 1989. Help-Slip-Frank to open the second set night one, and, of course, Dark Star on night two. I overamped a bit, got confused, lost, wandered outside to breathe a little at the very end. My friend comes out, finds me, and says, “What about that Attics of My Life, eh?” I missed it, too high for my own good.

Highlight of highlights - meeting Jerry in 93 when JGB played the Richmond Coliseum. I was working for the City, the City Attorney was a great guitar player who had picked up some pickups (ha ha, a little joke) from a local electronics whiz and was delivering them backstage. All of a sudden, there he is. Right there. Nice as could be. I have a photograph of he and I. I’m standing on my head and he’s standing next to me, looking just as straight as he can be.

The “Stellar Cornell” is good, but over-rated in my book.

And I like Donna Jean. A whole bunch.

Have about 350 hours but haven’t traded in a looooooong time.

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DoctorJ - As I pulled this post up, I am listening to DP11 right now at work, and…

Ike, you know it’s gonna get stranger…Black Throated Wind is playing. My very favorite Dead tune.
“You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t want to know”
Maybe I’ll make it my sig.

uberDave - ‘87 was indeed the year of the Dylan/Dead tour. Best damn backup band ol’ Bob ever had.
You want rain? I was at yet another Giants Stadium show, maybe 89 or 90, and there was a report of a tornado near Fort Lee NJ. It rained so hard that the guys actually had to stop playing, and they cleared the field off. Mammoth lightning in the area, and everyone was completely drenched. My GF was wearing a blue sun dress, and when we got home, her skin was tinted blue. My little Smurfy.

plnnr, you got me thinking about some of the great show openers. I remember one of the Boston Garden shows in '91 opening with Help/Slip/Fire, and a Giants Stadium Eyes opener ('92, if my remaining brain cells recall correctly).

Another highlight was at MSG when they all came out and sang an acapella “We Bid You Goodnight” for an encore. I had 3rd row mail order seats that night.

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plnnr—thanks for the memories…

Saw my first show at Camaron Indoor at Duke in the fall of
'77 or '78. Donna and Keith were still playing with them. Best as I can recall, I was a bit overamped myself. ;).

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Hey there Cantrip, so glad someone else out there remembers the disco-truck. Not an easy phenomena to explain to someone who wasn’t there…. Then again, that goes for a lot of goings on at shows.

Dire wolf brings up some anxiety-filled memories - calling the hotline. Bzzz bzzz bzzzz…. Finally some info, and the nervous preparation of mail order goodies. Any other bands have such beautiful tickets? Stayyyy in touch!

Anybody remember the looong string of Liberty closers? Anyone ever own a ‘Bad Bobby, no Corrina!" bumpersticker? What I wouldn’t give for just one more Lib’ closer. Reminds me of a not too funny but poignant Deadhead anecdote:

Zeek: Man, the left speakers were so spotty tonight.
Zed: Sure were. And Jerry missed what, a quarter of the lyrics?
Zeek: At least. And did Bobby forget to tune up? Did the boys forget to drink their coffee before playing?
Zed: No kidding. The worst part was that they only played for two and a half hours!

Ya never know when you have it sooo good.

As far as tape tradin’ goes… anyone know where I can get my hands on some of the last Boston Garden shows? Jerry belts out a killer ‘So Many Roads’ changing the chorus to 'So many roads to heal my soul…"
Or what about the Eidy Brikel (?) show where she jams with them during Space?

Anyone know what happened to deadradio.com?