Cloud Surfing

Grateful Dead Records just announced the release of a high-quality vinyl boxed set of the first five Grateful Dead (studio) albums. In honor of that announcement, here’s an excerpt of a March 2010 interview with Betty Cantor-Jackson, talking about an album that isn’t in this set because it was reissued on high-quality vinyl a while back: Live Dead.

Tales of the Grateful Dead and New York
Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society

From the free concerts in Tompkins Square and Central Park to Filmore East and Madison Square Garden, the Grateful Dead considered New York a second home for much of the band’s 30-year touring career, and enjoyed a special relationship with New York Deadheads. Fans and experts share their memories and stories of one of the most innovative bands of our time.

Date: Thursday, May 27 2010, 6:30 PM
Full Price Ticket (Non-Members): $20.00
Member Cost: $10.00

Gary Lambert (moderator) is the co-host of “Tales from the Golden Road,” a weekly talk show on the Grateful Dead Channel (Sirius 32 and XM 57). He is the editor of the Grateful Dead Almanac. Surprise guests to be announced.

Pete Fornatale was one of the architects of Progressive Rock FM in the 60′s and has been a fixture on New York radio for 40 years. He is the author of several books, including The Rock Music Source Book, The Story of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock.

Carol Brightman is the author of Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead’s American Adventure and a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning biography of Mary McCarthy. She is the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.

Lenny Kaye is the lead guitarist for the Patti Smith Band, as well as a record producer, author, and musical historian. He is the author of You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon and co-author of Waylon: An Autobiography. He first saw the Grateful Dead at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York in 1967.

Ordering Information: Tickets for this program are sold through SmartTix. To order online visit www.smarttix.com. To order by phone please call SmartTix at 212-868-4444. The SmartTix Call Center is open 9am-8pm Monday through Friday, 10am-8pm Saturday and 10am-6pm Sunday. For more information on programs: Please call the N-YHS Public Programs Department at 212-485-9205.

This is from the Folk Alliance Region-West mailing list, where we have been talking about the Grateful Dead for the last few days. Reproduced here with the permission of its author, Duff Ferguson:

i was a late arrival to this phenomenon, attending my first show in the late 80s at Giant’s Stadium in New Jersey, and as a teen was admittedly drawn with my friends more by the prospect of some epic partying than a great appreciation for the band’s music or history. but it was clear shortly after arrival that this was a very different scene than the usual rowdy pre-show tailgating experienced at Giants Stadium shows by AC/DC or the Stones — it was more like you ran away into a Renaissance Fair or traveling circus that emerged from the forest, took over an oil stained parking lot and made it a magical suspended time place for an afternoon (with or, in my case, without the aid of Kool Aid). it was worth the price of admission just to walk through the field and eyeball the colorful, rickity vans and buses of the committed traveling fans, who were eager to meet others, jam, relax, share food, but also often sported handmade signs warning not to ask them for any drugs, which i guess was a tiring, continuous request that gets very old. kind of a mobile Burning Man festival of sorts…

we had bought cheap seats at the last minute and were very disappointed to find that our seats were actually in a little nosebleed section showhorned *behind* the stage, so we set about trying to sneak into the floor area and were successful. spotting some roving security guards assigned to catch folks such as us, we were looking around for a hiding spot when we heard “hey man, come over here!” turning quickly, we saw a row of tie-dyed, wheelchair bound people sitting happily in an elevated handicapped-only section beckoning our way. at their direction, we grabbed their chair handles from behind as if we were there helping them move around during the show, and the guards left us alone. in the conversation that followed, the elderly fellow in the chair i manned described how the music and community at the shows not only gave him a place where his disability and age were no barrier to his acceptance, but the qualities of the music also helped his mind and spirit soar in a way that transcended his physical limitations. in short, the music was a therapy.

later, we tried out our cheap seats and found they were literally the best seats in the house… we were positioned backstage right behind the tattered amps, right up close, with a perfect view of the backsides of all the players. from this perspective, removed from the hurly burly, we were able to appreciate the intimate, jazz club jam vibe of the stage itself and the humble interplay and deep respect all the players showed for each other as they worked their way through the long night. they played to each other more than to the crowd, and the results were nothing less than exquisite.

a taste of living history and an inspiration to those who wish in their hearts that their creative output might also, someday… somehow… spark a true, rich cultural tradition all its own…

This was posted on the eurotraders list today. It’s an excerpt from the interview book Garcia: A Signpost to New Space by Charles Reich and Jann Wenner:

Reich: Well then if we wanted to talk about “Dark Star”, could you say anything about where it comes from?

Garcia: I can’t. It talks about itself.

The interview took place in 1972, I believe.

I am reading a book called Confessions of a Dead Head by a guy who calls himself The Starburst Commander. It’s a quick read, and I am enjoying the hell out of it so far. He got on the bus in 1974 and drove a van called The Orange Barrel. Freaks of a certain vintage will recognize the reference.

This isn’t a deeply analytical memoir – just the warmly told story of some wonderful times. I’d like to see a hundred more books like this, ’cause every one of us has a similar set of experiences.

Here’s an excerpt that I especially enjoyed:

Dentist and I love Stella Blue and once listened to a live bootleg version of it more than 30 times in a row. We were on a construction site off of St. Stephen’s Road in Lafayette, CA. This was back in the cassette tape days, and by replay number six we had the timing down on the rewind.

Stella Blue is the perfect combination of brilliant musical and lyrical writing. This song is Garcia and Hunter in their element and at their very best. There is not one wasted word. Every line, every verse sets us up for the next line and the next verse. And when Jerry finishes it up on his guitar, we have a genuine masterpiece. It is as perfect as a song can be, and Hunter’s lyrics are a true reality check….

“Dust off those rusty strings just one more time.” It gets me every time. “Gonna make ‘em shine” – that last hope of hopes. it is beautiful, but starkly lonely. It seems a brutally, pessimistically optimistic song.

Then – “There’s nothing you can hold for very long… Stella BLue.” Fuck me four times sideways. Like a lamb to the slaughter I follow every word. My emotions are pulled n every direction. Am I sadly happy or happily sad? This song leaves me longing for the knowledge of something I don’t quite understand, and Jerry’s solo continues to take me apart before he slowly puts me back together again. The pauses between his notes here are perfect evidence of his musical genius. Style over speed, quality over quantity. Never a blur, always succinctly clear. I find myself anticipating each note and the wait is sweet.

You can read more about it, and order a copy, here. I recommend it highly, and I do mean highly. I get all molecular just thinking about it.