Writing

"When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate."

--John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Radio City Ghost -- 5/22/00

Pearl Jam Here Come The Midwest

DATE                          CITY                              VENUE
Oct-1                          Cincinnati, OH                US Bank Arena
Oct-3                          St Louis, MO                  Scottrade Center
Oct-3-5*                      Austin, TX                      Austin City Limits Music Festival
Oct-8                          Tulsa, OK                       BOK Center
Oct-9                          Lincoln, NE                    Pinnacle Bank Arena
Oct-10-12*                 Austin, TX                       Austin City Limits Music Festival
Oct-14                        Memphis, TN                  FedEx Forum
Oct-16                        Detroit, MI                       Joe Louis Arena
Oct-17                        Moline, IL                       iWireless Center
Oct-19                        St. Paul, MN                   Xcel Energy Center
Oct-20                        Milwaukee, WI                BMO Harris Bradley Center
Oct-22                        Denver, CO                     Pepsi Arena

Workingman's Dead

I'm on a huge Dead kick right now. This sounds like an enjoyable read in the 33 1/3 series.

Workingman’s Dead- Grateful Dead

By Buzz Poole

Coming September 2015!

Released in 1970, the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead is cold-water-shock departure from the Acid Test feedback madness of the late ‘60s material, exemplified by songs like “St. Stephen” and “Dark Star.” Rather than relying on chemically-fuelled guitar licks and spacey improvisational explorations, this album is the first listen to what would become an extensive songbook informed and inspired by dusty, rough and tumble American history and world mythologies, charting the long, winding path to self-discovery and individual empowerment.

The eight songs that comprise Workingman’s Dead will serve as points of entry from which will form a fully-rendered portrait of an exceptional musical recording, both in terms of the songs but also, and perhaps more importantly, how these songs speak to late twentieth-century America, and the attendant cultural and political anxieties that resulted from the idealism of the ‘60s giving way to the uncomfortable realities of the ‘70s, making a case for the relevance of this music nearly forty-five years after it was recorded. Based on research, interviews, and personal experience, the book will probe the paradox at the heart of the band’s appeal: the Grateful Dead was about much more than music, though it was really just about the music.

Louie Season 4 Has Begun

Spontaneous moments of beauty in this life.

Grateful Dead -- Roanoke, VA. July 27th, 1974

Back in Savannah from Tryon. Drinking Abita on this Sunday afternoon.

Stepdad Mike saw the Grateful Dead twice. In Roanoke. For sure once in '74.

He doesn't recall much else about it... so he was definitely in attendance.

Here it is. The Wall of Sound days. A nice Charlie Miller SBD.

Set 1:
Bertha
Mexicali Blues
Row Jimmy
Jack Straw
Mississippi Half-Step
It Must Have Been The Roses
Me and Bobby McGee
Tennessee Jed
Playing in the Band

Set 2:
China Cat Sunflower->
I Know You Rider
Me and My Uncle
Ramble On Rose
Big River
U.S. Blues ->
Promised Land
Not Fade Away ->
Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad ->
Johnny B. Goode

Nick's Picks

Some Grateful Dead shows I wouldn't have bothered to listen to without this article. Notably, he has an ear for eighties dead.

1/22/78, MacArthur Court, Eugene, Oreg.

1978 got a little sloppy, but this one is a monster. Start with “Terrapin,” or else “The Other One.” Listen for the “Close Encounters” theme prior to “St. Stephen.” “Not Fade Away,” often rote, shows some special snarl. Sounds like Garcia was abducted by aliens. (Listen here.)

1/15/79, Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, Mass.

The end of the Keith and Donna Godchaux era had its ups and downs, this night being no exception. But the way the “I Need a Miracle” crashes into “Shakedown Street” is unique and stately. It sounds almost (banish the thought) pre-meditated. The pretty, chimey jam out of “Drums” into the so-called “Playin Reprise” ends with warp-speed Garcia fingerwork that boggles the mind, until you hear the band careen into “Casey Jones,” and then it all makes pharmacological sense. (Listen here.)

11/30/80, Fox Theater, Atlanta, Ga.

An old cult favorite. The whole second set, courtesy of Dr. Bob Wagner. The “Scarlet Begonias”-“Fire on the Mountain” may be the main attraction, but the “Playin’ ” jam is a headlong fever dream—not for the faint of ear. The way “The Wheel” comes out of the “Space” is real purty, though, as is the weepy, deliberate “Ship of Fools.” (Listen here.)

8/29/83, Silva Hall, Hult Center, Eugene, Oreg.

In the early- to mid-eighties, there were marquee nights and grim ones. You could build a rescue raft out of a dozen sturdy “China”-“Rider”s. I just adopted this version, even though no one else I know really seems to know it. The band plays faster than ever, tight and coke-y bombastic bluegrass. The recording is rough (this is why God made equalizers, or other bands), but Garcia blazes. You’ll shed a few pounds. (Listen here.)

7/13/84, Greek Theatre, Berkeley, Calif.

The “Scarlet”-“Touch of Grey”-“Fire” (this was before “Touch of Grey” had been recorded; it’s brisker here) is a beloved oddity. Garcia, often AWOL in 1984, comes to play. The synthy keyboards may frighten off “Alligator” fans, but let’s not forget this was the era of Wham! There’s also another beautiful “Space”-“Wheel” (it’s happenstance, the combo is not a fetish of mine), a death-shrouded “Stella Blue,” a floor-bouncing “Sugar Magnolia,” and then a rare thing for this era, “Dark Star,” as an encore—in the lore, a shooting star blessed the breakout. You’re not in 1969 anymore, but still, a taste of the old magic. With apologies to 10/12/84. (Listen here.)