Hardpan

Some great selections here, John. Listened to 11/2/84 for the first time last night based on your testimony and agree that it’s great. I’ll toss a few of my favorites out: 3/14/81, Hartford: great show throughout, love the raw tone to Jerry’s voice. Tough to pick a highlight. 7/15/88, Greek: another JohnA recommendation that has become a favorite show. One of my all time favorite Dews and a killer huge sound ⚡️⚡️ 6/18/83, SPAC: has a feeling that they’re barely keeping the beast under control, a great, almost going off the rails feeling to this show where it feels like the band is being played by the music 🌋 11/1/85, Richmond: I gotta choose, the Jack Straw is my number one version. One of my earliest recordings I had and best loved shows of all time. That’s all I have for now, listening to the SPAC 83 show right now, first time in a while, man it’s a smoker 🌋⚡️😄

I hear ya on that, Rude. It’s tough when they’re so little and tough on grandma for sure also. I chalked it up as being impossible with leaving the kids but Jake said he’s goin either way so I figured I had to give it a shot, it didn’t take much convincing and my mom agreed to stay with them. Our youngest starts kindergarten in the fall so it makes it easier. Not bringing the taping stuff, I’ve more or less abandoned doing it, it was fun and met many friends while set up but it really cuts into the amount of fun you can have. If I could set something small up that I didn’t need to monitor I’d do it every time.

Yep we’re gonna give it a shot. It’s gonna be a marathon of marathon 72 shows. It would be nice to have the break in the middle sometime but it will be nice to have time to explore a little in London and Paris. We booked hotels for all of the single nights and airbnbs for London and Paris. We figured out the travel by train, it’s all doable the next morning from city to city versus overnighting it. The one exception was Munich to Milan which was a 9 hour overnight train that bypasses the mountains. The bus the next morning is around five hours and cuts thru them. Would have probably done something like sleep on the train for some stretches but there’s the problem of having our bags with us at the show and dealing with that stuff. Me and Jake are doing the run, my wife is gonna be with us from London to Berlin and heading home from there. She’s got a friend out there so she’ll have stuff to do while we’re at the shows and will attend her second DSO show at the Olympia, her only other one was Red Rocks 2018 😄

We’re taking the train. Some long rides between cities and I think a car would be a hassle to deal with. All the venues are pretty close to train stations. Most of the train rides between tour stops you can walk onto with the Eurail pass, but the international ones (England >France, France >Germany) you need to book a seat in advance. The train from Munich to Milan is overnight and leaves too early to be able to catch the Munich show, so we’re taking the bus the next morning. Looks like a nice ride thru the Alps ⛰ It’s around 550 bucks for the Eurail pass to do the whole tour in first class, seems like a good upgrade with bigger seats, more space etc over coach which looks cramped and still around 400 bucks.

That’s our plan, hopefully we’ll be able to put a nice compound together, hope you guys spend your festival downtime over with us. The hotel is gonna be great for the family.

We’ll be there, gonna be our first trip in the camper, excited to see everyone!

Happy birthday Chuck, hope to meet you one day 😀

I like seafood salad, the imitation crabmeat kind. Someone must have eaten some at the Ithaca show the other day, and I kept smelling this sweaty, mayonnaisey odor near me, it was gross. Now I’m out driving around at work, thinking about getting some at a place that makes it, and I am getting grossed out, hopefully this isn’t permanent 😅

Shakedown Street > Corrina Might as Well Broken Arrow Lazy Lightning > Supplication Lazy River Road Lost Sailor > Tangled Up in Blue Sugar Magnolia> Bird Song> Truckin’> Sunrise> Drums > Imagine Space > Don’t Let Go> Throwing Stones > Don’t Let Go Visions of Johanna> Sunshine Daydream E: Piece of My Heart Inspired elective, amazing sound, killer Tangled, tremendous bombs during Truckin, lots of loving audience interaction during Imagine, great ending sequence post drums, had some good space down in front, in a grand old theater on a beautiful spring day 😃

You forgot >Space> between all the Cumberland and Big Rivers😄 DSO Big Rivered me the other night when I thought for sure it was Cumberland. I think those are my top two for a killer dance song.

Boston Garden, Boston, MA (5/7/77) Bertha Cassidy Deal Jack Straw Peggy-O New Minglewood Blues Mississippi Half-Step Big River Tennessee Jed Music Never Stopped Terrapin Station Samson and Delilah Friend of the Devil Estimated Prophet Eyes of the World drums The Wheel Wharf Rat Around and Around E: U.S. Blues F: Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu Well, that was quite a fun night! Good sound and venue, good space in our little corner, went down to the floor for the last few songs. Lots of fun, great company and sore feet, can’t ask for much more 😄

My friends used to have a prom at one of the bluegrass festivals up this way every year. All the guys in the group would dress up in suits and tuxedos and there was a collection of prom dresses that was assembled from thrift shops, tag sales, etc. for the ladies. Everyone would dress up and remain like this for the night. It was mainly before my time hanging out with them, but I got to witness one prom, it was pretty fun 😁

I had a dream last night that Dark Star Orchestra, the entire band and crew, took the stage riding a gigantic costumed circus elephant, it was quite the spectacle 🧐

Just looked up the Picasso guitar, what a bizarre looking device!

Baby Kennel 🤣

I think it’s awesome that Bob wanted to sit in with the band, and of course DSO, I am sure, was thrilled to have him. I think the bottom line is, if you made a career playing this music, and Bob Weir wants to sit in for a few songs, you let him, and he’s in charge for whatever he wants to do. I think it was gracious of Eaton to step aside to give Weir the space in the music he’s carved out for himself and is accustomed to occupying. It was probably cool to watch his hero sit in in his position in his band, and I’m sure it was a treat for the audience!

That was a killer jam, thanks for the recommendation, gotta check out the rest of that show now.

That looks like a pretty good time 😁

Weird that Zack Nugent would post all that stuff. He also posted a picture of a fake shirt saying “Bobby, Mickey, Drummer #2, Oteil, Jeff, JRAD guy. Kind of a petulant display of ill temper from someone who should (at least publicy) display some mutual respect and professionalism towards other professional GD musicians. (Or don’t say anything 😎)

Jelly roll blues

They’re calling people who have tickets to the festivities “package holders” 😁

I’ve always thought it came from the sunburned necks of farm workers, interesting to hear about the red kerchief. 23 for me, not bad for a Yankee raised in the city. Most of mine were the mainstream selections, though 😁 Happy New Year!

One time, I got myself into a full blown panic, when the phrase “full blown panic” got into my head, gently at first, but with increasing intensity until I was convinced I was heading off into the storm. Gathered up my foul weather gear and was ready to fly through the night until I realized how silly the situation was. That has nothing to do with this, just wanted to share🤡⚡️😁

Into a smoking crater?

I gotta go with Bill Graham’s introduction into the Help>Slip>Frank from 8/13/75 as my all time favorite specific show opener. Gets me all charged up and it’s a killer version ⚡️⚡️