Greg from Chestertown

I wasn’t there, but they played it in philly, I think ‘94. Maybe ‘93, maybe ‘95, maybe ‘92. Anyway, the Grateful Dead played it.

Yea, I kept telling myself, shut up, Greg. You talk too much, but to no avail. A great time was had by all.

Great sound! Incredible job! Thanks so much, and thanks for the fishing stories.

Yup, I had to climb out of bed in the middle of my post show coma to walk off leg cramps. That’s the worst.

I definitely noticed and totally enjoyed the China/rider jam being ‘73 appropriate. Couldn’t agree more, days between with how you describe the band nailing era proper sound and style. What they do is no small feat. (Little Feat?)

And with the house lights on, you see a sea of tye dyes moving and shaking like only we can, all smiles, beaming with happiness!!!!

I thought the lights were fine. I was looking for the house lights during Truckin’ when they sing ‘sometimes the lights all shining on me’ like the dead used to do but it never happened. This is not a complaint.

Yea, billk522 kept me going also. He was the benchmark for endurance. He was drenched in sweat. So was I when we met, he gave me a huge hug! I do remember seeing him at other shows before.

So, we still have 6/10/73 to look forward to. My phone says I took 16, 818 steps yesterday. Dance marathon.

Yea, we were talking about how we were raised with the free range parenting method. Mom would lock us out of the house. If we wanted a drink, we had to use the garden hose. We didn’t know it was 100, it was just hot out. We rode our bikes without helmets. The good old days.

Yea, I met you. Pretty sure, but you didn’t give me your stage name and I couldn’t remember your given name. I kept asking but it still didn’t make it to long term. The band is so incredible that I was running out of energy thinking the set was almost over but they just kept going and going and going. Had to dig deep and push to the end. Easy with that song list. SUGAR MAGS! My first Row Jimmy in a long time. Box a rain is like no other song. Those lyrics kill. I dug up some old sneakers for the show cuz My new ones don’t dance well. Mistake. My feet are killing me today. Gotta find some nice ones before Philly! anyway, I had a blast, really enjoyed the people, took the show to a new level. Thanks everybody!

The second set was two sets. It seemed to go on forever! What an unbelievable band. Professional, talented, just unbelievable. So appreciative to have them in my world. I finally got to meet Hardpan, his brother Jake, gr8ful pair, tea, bill522, their friend, whose name I’m blocking on cuz last night was so incredible. Ran into Likeeveryone, Danced in Bix’s corner, met all his friends whose names went in my one ear and out the other. Danced with Clint and Holly. I know Clint from Chestertown simply because I walked past his truck in a parking lot one day and Grateful Dead music was coming out of it. Thank you for a real good time! That’s right!, they played Loose Lucy! Woo Hoo !!!

Why do you say sing me back home had to be scrapped after miracle? Is that another way of saying sing me back home tease? Curious.

So, how close to the anthem does the metro dump you out at?

If Dark Star Orchestra was a comedy act, wouldn’t they be hecklers?

Actually, what I meant to say was, sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

The times, they are a ‘changin.... I think this ‘conversation’ has a bigger picture to it. Bigger than the Grateful Dead world. I think it’s about, society, culture, civilization as a whole. In the sixties, it was the generation gap. Our parents were wrong and when we grow up, we’re gonna take charge and fix it. Make the world a better place. It’s been going on since the beginning of humans. This is sociology 101. We create the world we want to live in and surround ourselves with those things. Tangible or intangible. Anything different is a threat or an attack. If we can’t change of fix it, we go back to our little world and live in quiet peace. Hopefully. Human nature. I might be swimming too deep for my own good. Just how I see it.

Yea, I’m pulling the trigger on that show too. Feeling obligated to make the trip and show my support after reading about Penn’s Peak. I’m hoping for 7/12/90. They played Dark Star for a month that night. The weight encore. .... you know she’s the only one...

Yea, that opener is show stopper stuff right there. Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile for the rest of the show.

I really like that set list. Musta been s special show in ‘86 with boxarain /visions opener. Broke down encore always worked.

So many thoughts. I was at the show the day touch of grey was released. I was at the two shows the two days before. My buddy and I just kept commenting about how the crowd was all kids. Kinda funny, we were 25 at the time. Three shows in three days and it was like a light switch had been flipped. A couple thoughts; Grateful Dead mail order tickets. Were they able to control that? I know our mail order tickets got us in the same general area surrounded by the same people three nights in a row. The other point someone made to me a few years later, they put tickets on sale on a day when only college students can get to the place selling the tickets. If you have a job, you couldn’t get there to buy tickets. This was before the internet when people worked forty hours. Before touch of grey, for example, I had a girl tell me at a show that she got fired from her job so she could go to the show. At set break, Radio City, a girl had her back pack full of books, saying she had a mid term the next day. Deadication? Unconditional love? Ultimate priority? Passion? When touch of grey was a hit, for about a year, you would see people at shows that looked misplaced, like they had been plucked out of a Genesis concert or something. Almost like they were there to hear touch of grey. Clueless to the Grateful Dead culture. Naive? I remember being at a show and three probably eighteen year olds walking by single file. The last one holding on to the shirt of the guy in front of him, commenting about how he can’t see. Clearly dosed for the first time, unchaparoned, without an escort experienced in acid. My memory has all of this going away after about a year and back to a show full of deadheads, but the vibe was diluted, watered down. Some people at shows lacked common respect for their fellow man. Things were never the same after touch of grey. I think that’s more about popularity, demand for tickets. No disrespect to touch heads. I think we all were touch heads at first. Before that, if you liked the Grateful Dead, you were on the fringe, admitting to eating acid. With touch of grey, the Grateful Dead went mainstream. Decadence? Decline of the civilization? It always happens. Everything has a life span. Dark Star Orchestra is precious to me. I want this thing to thrive. ....rock your baby to and ‘fro. Not too fast and not too slow....

It’s inner peace and clarity that gets me off anymore, service to others. ...comes a time....

I couldn’t agree more! This is so sad to read. I have expressed myself recently on another thread about the ending of the Grateful Dead and gate crashers, etc. I’m sure Dark Star Orchestra will react to this. They have no choice. The older, more mature heads need to react to this negative element as well. Zero tolerance. I worked in the recreational boating industry for twenty years. I was told by an old timer that they teach you in survival school that when the ship is in distress, someone rises up to be the ‘captain’ and take charge of the situation. It isn’t necessarily the captain that does it, but a certain personality. We know who we are. It looks like we’ll be doing a little bit of work also, while we are enjoying ourselves at future shows. The band has enough to do. Let’s rise to the occasion. ..... I could not caution all, but I still might warn a few. Don’t lend your hand to raise no flag, atop no ship of fools.

Dark Star Orchestra never ceases to amaze me. They’re covering all the bases, speaking of bases. Songs, set lists, eras.

That Shakedown was HOT !!! It went perfectly with my first cup of coffee. Now, I don’t care what happens today. Happy Anniversary DSO