Anyone who has ever seen the Dead can testify that one of its shows will add quite a bit of color to the environment here at Stanford. Anyone who has not seen one of these spectacles should have the opportunity to do so. The Grateful Dead are an important part of the Bay Area's cultural history. Those of us who saw them last week can testify that the Dead are alive and well. The Concert Network would be hard-pressed to find an act which would bring Frost Amphitheatre to life as the Dead would. - The Stanford Daily
As you know by now, we'd certainly have voted aye on this motion, so much so, that we've loaded up DAVE'S PICKS 49 with not one, but two complete Grateful Dead shows from the Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 4/27/85 and 4/28/85. The first shows from '85 in the series, these back-to-back hometown performances couldn't be more different while delivering the same level of passion and precision, five hours of it, in fact.
In 1985, the band were celebrating "20 Years So Far," a feat that found them on these particular nights confident with invention in terms of both setlists and playing. There are old songs renewed, rare covers revived, undeniably nuanced Jerry moments, and a few surprises from Brent Mydland too. While it's impossible to select highlights, we can say with certainty that the overall clarity of these shows is unparalleled, courtesy of Dan Healy's recordings.
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 49: FROST AMPHITHEATRE, STANFORD U, PALO ALTO, CA 4/27/85 & 4/28/85 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering.
totally unrelated to this
but
happened upon a Frank Zappa documentary last night. I don't remember the title or the channel, but interesting stuff.
FZ: I've always had mixed feelings about him and his stuff. Obviously a musical genius and incomparable composer. Some absolutely magnificent music. Also some not so great. And I wouldn't have wanted to meet him. His vulgarity always turned me off.
anyway, an important figure in the world of music.
my unasked-for opinion
Angels' Share?
I don't care.
back to work, PF
Zappa
Proudfoot
You are correct in your thoughts of Zappa. I saw him in my Senior year at Penn State 1972 and the show was Great but a friend saw him in the "East Halls" section of the campus and he was not the most friendly person to approach. That is what my friend said. I never really knew how and what he said to Zappa when he approached him
Frank
'Human species is a mistake, I am convinced of it.
If there is a god he really fu cked up when he made people.
Because there’s only one thing human beings can do and that is K I L L.
They do that exclusively well and better than any other species.
They like to make a mess, they like to k i l l, they like to make trouble.
That’s why the species will eventually just obliterate himself and the world would be safe,
once again, for cockroaches and moss'.
(FZ - A comment from back in the 70ies!)
FZ
Profane, controversial, polarizing. Brilliant satire, great guitar, exceptional composer. He was working on getting out the vote more than fifty years ago, when our country was reeling from Viet Nam, Civil Rights issues and a corrupt administration. My apologies, happily avoid politics here. Dark, yeah, however Stephen Hawking also warned us we had about 100 years before the planet is ruined.
Up the Grand Wazoo
Some months ago I mentioned being curious about Zappa here, and several people provided really useful recommendations. (Thanks again!)
My take, having now listened to fair number of those recs? The music is never less than interesting, occasionally great. His guitar playing is technically impressive but can get wanky. His bands are universally amazing. The lyrics are often annoying, with lots of juvenile potty humor. Ergo, I tend to gravitate towards the recordings where there's lots of the great playing and not so much singing.
Which is to say: I LOVE Hot Rats, the Grand Wazoo, and the Wake Jawaka box. And much of the aptly titled Shut Up and Play Your Guitar series.
Oddly enough, I don't really want him to shut up, though. His interviews are always great. He may have had a cynical view of mankind, but it's hard to argue with most of what he says.
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
Amen, my brother.
Zappa's Peaches en Regalia....
....last covered by Phish on 2.24.22.
Which reminds me.
Four Phishy shows at the Sphere starts tomorrow.
Wish me luck my friends.
Going with no ticket. I've laid out my "plan" here a couple of times.
I just want one. Solo.
You will NEVER regret being kind. Karma. Be on my side.
Ticketmaster "released" some tix today. $1200. Platinum Charity. 🤪
That card in my avatar was given to me by a random fan at a Phish show here in 2018. Nice.
Listening to NRPS
Anyone else pick up this new release?! Loving it! New riders of the purple sage new live release from
Hempsteader: Live At The Calderone Concert Hall, Hempstead, New York, June 25, 1976 captures the band live and on fire on the heels of their MCA New Riders release. Several of John “Marmaduke” Dawson’s original fan favorites like “Henry,” “Portland Woman” and “Glendale Train” are given prime treatment, especially this version of “Portland Woman” which finds the band stretching out with guitarist David Nelson and pedal steel guitarist Buddy Cage taking the song to new places and heights. The band also delves into covers by the likes of Delbert McClinton, Hazel Dickens, Jack Tempchin, Loudon Wainwright III, Chuck Berry, and tremendous takes on the Otis Redding classic “Hard To Handle” (which Grateful Dead fans will recall from their earlier days) and the The Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers.”
As with Thanksgiving In New York City, Field Trip, and Lyceum ’72, this release is helmed and Produced for release by Rob Bleetstein—Host and Producer on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead and Pearl Jam channels, and NRPS archivist. Bleetstein also provided photos and liner notes. Primo Audio Quality is amazing!
Hempsteader: Live At The Calderone Concert Hall, Hempstead, New York, June 25, 1976 is a chance to relive that time and place, or just feel like you were there.
CD / DIGITAL TRACK LIST:
PANAMA RED
LITTLE OLD LADY
HONKY TONKIN’ (I GUESS I DONE ME SOME)
FIFTEEN DAYS UNDER THE HOOD
ANNIE MAY
HENRY
DON’T PUT HER DOWN
ASHES OF LOVE
PORTLAND WOMAN
WHISKEY
SHE’S LOOKING BETTER EVERY BEER
TEARDROPS IN MY EYES
I HEARD YOU’VE BEEN LAYIN’ MY OLD LADY
THE SWIMMING SONG
YOU NEVER CAN TELL
HARD TO HANDLE
GLENDALE TRAIN
DEAD FLOWERS
Re Zappa...
Thumbs up Crow on your picks...any Mothers and Zappa release up to '74 or so is pretty great, but even with that said the Flo & Eddie stuff doesn't bear repeated listening...after that he went into what I refer to as the "Smarty Pants Era" that can get quite tedious...The Uncle Meat three disc set "Meat Light", The Hot Rats Box and the Live Wazoo and Waka Ja Waka releases are awesome...just saw a short clip of Zappa being interviewed at the height of the Tipper Gore censorship mess...he was asked is there anything you as a parent don't want your children listening to and he said "We Are The World" with a serious dead pan expression...the interviewer didn't know what to say...
not sure about release day
hopefully soon
I remember last year around this time the HCS box was announced
will the new box be announced within the next 4 weeks question mark
I am shivering with antici
pation
Release Date
My email order confirmation shows the release date as 25th April if we can trust the store to get it right.
Dave's Picks Vol. 49
(Release Date: 25 January, 2024)
Dave's Picks Vol. 50
(Release Date: 25 April, 2024)
Dave's Picks Vol. 51
(Release Date: 25 July, 2024)
Dave's Picks Vol. 52
(Release Date: 24 October, 2024)
I feel like its going to be…
I feel like its going to be a fall box.
The release date is the last Friday of the month, so the 26th this time.
RIP Dickey Betts
What can one say. He was huge in this community.
before the GD entered my world, there was the Clash
before the Clash entered my world, there was the Allman Brothers
RIP Dickey Betts
:_(((
Before any of those....
....in my world, was The Beatles.
No offense.
Start of the world
"Before Elvis there was nothing" - John Lennon
Before the Sphere
Vguy, may the force be with you, a ticket will be found. My earliest pop music Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Chubby Checker... Elvis doing Jailhouse Rock, great to see that show up on Beckola. Hot Rats was my gateway into Zappa, the MOI, OK but when the Hot Rats phase arrived, yes indeed. There's some good stuff on the "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" series too. Zappa brought great players together and rehearsed them silly.
Plan didn't work....
....didn't go down there. Figured I'd use the first show as a litmus test.
30 minutes into the 1st set and tickets were still outrageous. Prices actually were going up!
Damn shame.
Looks like tonight's show is hovering at a grand. WTF.
Been hearing on social media that the visuals were hit or miss. Sound was stellar though. I did stream it. I don't think that space does a video screen justice.
Before Elvis.....
There was Muddy Waters. Speaking of the Blues, I hear the next OSF release might be a Blues release, maybe the Butter field Blues Band, maybe Charlie Musslewhite. That would be fantastic!
The Blues in England
I might be wrong, but I don't think many people knew about the blues in England before they heard Elvis. The early 1960's seemed to be the watershed years for blues in this country...swiftly followed by Alexis Corner, Cyril Davis,The Stones, The Pretty Things, etc etc on and on... forever and ever.
Lennon, Elvis, and RnR......
Hey rockers!!!
I say this as somebody who really likes Lennon, the early Elvis, and what came before.
Lennon's comment that "Before Elvis there was nothing" is total BS. Anybody truly interested should read Birnbaum's "Before Elvis: The Prehistory Of Rock And Roll".
To me, Elvis, never THE king, was a guy who was absolutely in the right place at the right time..............
Rock on!
Doc
If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.....
Understanding perspectives
I think John Lennon's comment about Elvis was said from the perspective of a teenager living in the North of England in the 1950's. The amount of American music he would have heard - country, rhyhm and blues would have been very limited. So for him, before he heard Elvis, musically, it's understandable that there was nothing. It wasn't an objective statement based on historical study.
Phish @ The Sphere looked awesome....
....couldn't justify $1200 however.
The Sphere...
Why would a band choose to play at a venue with such rip-off prices? Just another example of the all-pervading greed culture that has now gone far beyond the bounds of capitalism. I don't subscribe to that sort of culture and can't understand those that do.
Glad to see that Vguy baulked at paying $1200 for a ticket.
SOMEDAY...
...I'll ADD-UP the cost of the TIX for each of the 53 GD concerts which I had the opportunity to ATTEND, and...
...I'll guarantee that the total COST did not exceed $1,200.00...
'nuff said!
ticket prices
Don't know what the ticket prices started at for Phish at the Sphere, $1200 is scalper territory. As I understand it (never been to one) Phish used to go to some effort to control ticket prices. Not their fault scalpers in Vegas got crazy. They donated their efforts last summer at SPAC for two concerts for flood relief in VT and NY. Balk at anything past three digits, the last, a few nights ago in a 90 seat club, Tony Trischka quartet, $20, music was outstanding. Trischka has an album coming out in tribute to Earl Scruggs, guests include Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sam Bush.
Thanks DMCVT
I'll be looking for that tribute to Earl.
Been a fan since the Beverly Hillbillies, lol.
Tony T. in a club? Heavenly!
Cheers
Face was $160 when they first went on sale....
....so, yeah.
I would've paid $500, but it didn't pan out. Could I afford $1200? Yes. But there has to be a line drawn in the sand at some point.
Don’t support ticket scalpers
Ticketmaster Platinum is dynamic pricing.
What a scam.
I haven’t been to a show since 2017 D&C (where I paid $99 for GA floor).
Instead of a trip to Vegas for D&C Sphere I can use that cash for a new refrigerator and living room furniture. I’ll get way more enjoyment out of those.
The Sphere
It did cost over a $Billion dollars to build. They are going to have to recoup that somehow. I can't figure out this one, it's probably worth it once or twice if you're sitting on such a wad of cash in your pocket that it's giving you curvature of the spine carrying it around. Especially if there are party favors involved.
I passed on D&C and Phish but have given this a lot of thought. I'm waiting for holographic Elvis opening up for the GD with holographic Jerry and holograpahic Pigpen. I wonder what they'd charge for that?
So I guess I'm with ConeKid on this one. Too much, too fast.
Edit: I would gladly pay scalper prices for the chance to see the Grateful Dead with Jerry at the Greek Theater again. I'd call that a bargain. My first GD ticket cost me $10, showed up a half hour before show time and the tickets were tenth row center purchased from the nicest couple I have perhaps ever met outside the venue without fear of scalpers or fake tickets, etc. Soon after that I happily gave the nice gentleman hanging out in the dark, under the stairwell another $4 for two small pieces of parchment about 4 minutes after we got inside. Another bargain, I wish I could thank him. What a change 42 years can make in a world. What have we become?
Good Question Jim
We ask that all the time.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.
But stuff's getting better I think.
Cheers
Had way more but got HNed.
Trischka etc
I tried to post but was Hey Nowed to death. Thanks Jim for perspective, good to keep big picture when greed rears its ugly head. First show, you called it, Trischka's first set was dedicated to the Earl Jam release which will drop June 7 sparked by him being sent a thumb drive with Earl and John Hartford jams, like the Pizza tapes. Yes, audience sing along, Rainy Day Women, Lady Madonna if you can believe it in bluegrass and yes, the Beverly theme, all three verses. concert is on line search on the Mainstay in Maryland.