THE GRATEFUL DEAD

I have been listening to The Grateful Dead a lot lately, largely thanks to a Forum I belong to where the amazing guy who runs it is a real Dead Head amongst other things (being a fine fine singer songwriter in his own write, Bob Dylan, TTRH etc) He has posted some awesome recordings and they have been on my decks hour by hour passing the choogling time away and I have rekindled my appreciation having left them around the time Pigpen McKeirnan passed away and along with lots of other stuff gong on I had stopped listening to them. My dear old school friend Billy passed away last year and it was he who originally turned me on to them around the time of the release of Workingman's Dead. So this is in part dedicated to them . . . . .

Pigpen

Now Big O have had a mini (sic?) festival of posting boots from the boys not least because legendary bootleggers like Charlie Miller and David Latvala have been cleaning up and re-issuing tapes from as long ago as 1969

Now Big O only tend to make these available for a couple of weeks so I post them here on that understanding you need to get them downloaded a bit smartish before they all disappear again ( you could always ask them to re-up the files but it is worth checking them out now).
I really admire the guys over at Big O and these are merely links to their website so any gripes take it up with them yes?

The Grateful Dead - Philadelphia 1983

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2258

# THE GRATEFUL DEAD - NEW YORK 1972

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2255

# THE GRATEFUL DEAD - BOSTON 1973

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2254

# THE GRATEFUL DEAD - FILLMORE WEST (JUNE 7, 1970)

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2253

# THE GRATEFUL DEAD - FILLMORE WEST (JUNE 6, 1970)

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2252

The Grateful Dead Fillmore West - June 5, 1970

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2249

# THE GRATEFUL DEAD - CHICAGO 1971

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2251

# THE GRATEFUL DEAD (WITH JANIS JOPLIN) - FILLMORE WEST 1969

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2250

 Now they also suddeny posted this one from their archive and the text hit me for six as it was the last concert by the Dead before Jerry passed away in rehab from a heart attack due to the effects of his heroin addiction and the text there really moved me so I reproduce it here in tribute to Croz at the ROIO Forum, to Jerry Garcia and Deadheads everywhere

# Grateful Dead Chicago 1995

The LAST CONCERT

http://www.bigozine2.com/features05/GDremember.html

Remember The Dead
Jerry Garcia (1942-August 9, 1995)

In the months before Jerry Garcia died on August 9, there were many unprecedented events that plagued the Grateful Dead on their final tour of 1995. There was a near riot and gate crash at Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville on July 2, which forced the cancellation of the next night's show. The gatecrashes during the final tour have mostly been blamed on new fans of the Dead but three cities decided to take it out on the band, and the Dead were banned from playing Albany, NY; Highgate, VT; and Noblesville, Ind. Then some fans were struck by lightning. And a structure in a camp ground occupied by Dead fans collapsed. Both incidents were like something out of the Twilight Zone. There were persistent rumours of threats to Jerry Garcia’s life. It was at the show in Indianapolis that he received the first threat. He was reported to be afraid for his life. It seemed like something was going to happen. The Dead played their final gig at Soldier’s Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995. Then Jerry Garcia started taking heroin and committed himself into a drug rehab centre for two weeks at the end of July and everything seemed fine. He voluntarily admitted himself a second time into another centre at the beginning of August. It was here that he was found dead in bed at Serenity Knolls from a heart attack. The Grateful Dead started life avoiding the trappings of commercialism. They were outlaw hippies with ideals. The ideals were simple - they wanted to make great music for people to enjoy. They wanted to make music as best as they could. The Dead spent a lot of money and time perfecting their sound in the studio. This memorable anecdote comes to mind: In 1967, Joe Smith the exec who signed the Dead to Warner Brothers, wrote a letter to the Dead’s manager complaining of the time wasted in completing the Anthem Of The Sun album. "The Grateful Dead are not one of the top acts of the business yet," Smith wrote. "Their attitudes and their inability to take care of business when it’s time to do so would lead us to believe that they never will be truly important. No matter how talented your group is, it’s going to have to put something of itself into the business before it goes anywhere." Later, the letter was found with big capital letters scrawled on it the words, "FUCK YOU". The Deads’ attitude to business was typical hippie idealism. They looked after the fans, they cared for their music and they showed all this by allowing every concert they played to be taped by fans and shared. The Dead took great pains and at great expense to make their sound system the best money could buy. They treated their fans like real people not consumers of their records. Today when you hear about music "collectives" whether it’s the folks at Elephant Six or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the Dead were there at the beginning building a community, setting an example. On the internet, sharing of the Deads’ music won’t get you in trouble. The band also started their own indie label to put out high quality recordings of their many concerts from 1968 to 1995. They have a large and active mailing list of fans and there are numerous sites discussing the Deads’ music. When Tower Records opened in $ingapore in 1995, the American manager who stocked the magazine section filled it with Rolling Stones’ Jerry Garcia issue, not knowing if the Dead were popular here. He was paying tribute to a fellow traveller. The Grateful Dead seem immune to the trends of the rock business and the whims of fashion and technology. Neither the fast changes of the internet nor the fickleness of pop culture have affected their popularity and commercial appeal. The secret of their success is indeed simple. They cared. And in return we cared about them. - The Savage Hippo

#  Grateful Dead Long Beach 1985

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2092

# Grateful Dead with The Beach Boys Fillmore East 1971

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=830

# Grateful Dead Warlok

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1745

# Grateful Dead with Joan Baez San Mateo 1981

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1149

In the summer of 1969, John Dawson was looking to showcase his songs while Jerry Garcia was looking to practise his brand new pedal steel guitar. The two played in coffeehouses and small clubs initially, and the music they made became the nucleus for a band - the New Riders Of The Purple Sage. That same year, David Nelson, expert in both country and rock guitar, joined the group on electric lead guitar. Filling out the rhythm section in those early days were Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and engineer Bob Matthews on bass, who was later replaced by Phil Lesh. In 1970, Dave Torbert took over on bass and the New Riders played every chance they got.

# New Riders Of The Purple Sage Fillmore West 1971

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2245

and for what it's worth ( a lot actually!) there's a lovely NRPS set too available over on the archive:

New Riders of The Purple Sage - 28th April 1971 (Charlie Miller)

  

Deadheads

 

and try to remember . . . . . .