John A

The best examples, IMHO, of lyrics invading one's mind, is when by whatever reason a familiar Dead song throws up a few lines that you interpret anew. For me, this is most typical with Garcia/Hunter material. It usually happens based on a new life experience, but it can also happen out of nowhere by a surprisingly fresh interpretation. To wit: despite Jerry shelving it after 3 live plays, I consider If I Had The World To Give top notch Garcia/Hunter stuff. And I digress by noting DSO seems to agree, as it pops up more than occasionally in elective shows. More digression: this shit fascinates me - what made Jerry take up great songs that he poingently delivered only to abandon them? Sing Me Back Home and She Belongs To Me are a couple other good examples. World To Give is classic Hunter, whereby its thrust is powerfully uplifting, only to go against that grain while not in obvious fashion (and of course we all know Hunter thrived on the non-obvious nebulous verse). Anyway, I'm trying to get to lines I heard in a newfound darkness. "Only if you let me be your world, could I ever give this world to you." What an awful concept, and what an unhealthy sentiment.

I had what I'd go as far as to call a profound experience Friday night, on account of music / location / psychedelic enhancement. (I guess that trifecta reads like, well, duh!.") I'm going to write it up while still fresh, and to help some life to this place I'll definitely post it. 😬 😜 Teaser alert: I saw Easy Wind, for my show at Belly Up in Solana Beach. (Which is pathetic; I've lived here in North County SD for over 6 months and Solana Beach is one town down.) I was totally solo, Ubering in case I wanted to imbibe with impunity. I didn't spend a cent in the venue, because the wildcard was the shrooms. I've partaken a fair amount over the past few decades various psilocybin forms, including the premium harvested stuff. I've also done small to medium LSD doses a couple times since the 90s. So how could carefully portioning off a third of the 4g laboratory mushrooms my wife bought home from a source in NYC go wrong? I'm eating about 1 1/3 grams. By showtime and hour later I was (a) dumfounded at the potency of these things, (b) wondering and/or fearing how much higher I was going to get, and (c) realizing that if when the music started this band wasn't bringing it I for me I might be in trouble! It's about 8 miles home if I walked on, or closely when not possible, the coast line. What a great way to experience this unexpectedly insane high if necessary! This is the kinda shit now hitting me. Looking at my phone to text my wife about these Frankenshrooms was a chore as it swirled and pulsated. While I'm a lightweight in these circles, I know what a full scale phchedelic high is, this stuff was turbo charged. I don't think I've been this high since the late 80s. So all that said, maybe folks can chime in with Easy Wind experiences. My story soon...

Bro, there's no "leagues". Just the love, passion, and connection with the music. Now having scolded you, welcome! 😁 And your passion seems palpable. If you want GD in its purest mold, you've come to the right place...

Good grief does that ever look like the ultimate tastiness!

Morning Dew (torrential downpour)

Talk about a setlist that'd keep one off their feet from start to finish. An inspired looking flow. I mean, Maggie's -> Mystery Train? Yo! And to top it off a bust out!

2muchfun - I haven't gotten to the Palladium yet (my stereo will blissfully come out of 6 months relocation driven storage next week!), but as fate would have it post drums Buffalo was on Sirius XM as I was driving yesterday. The body of Comes A Time was sublime, and listening to Garcia spit out a tour's worth of gorgeous high pitched notes in the outro jam was breathtaking. That'll be a tough one to beat!

Man, witnessing Spring '77 in person? Regardless you win! And it's sandwiched between Playin' and the Playin' Reprise no less. My memory says 5-9 is the one, but specifically because of the insane volume of beautiful notes Jerry delivers in the outro jam. I will freshly cue up 5-4 in the near future. I'm not suggesting the body of the song can't compete...

That show has a solid claim for the greatest Stella Blue. And that's a weighty statement. At the very least, it's irresponsible to declare another Stella the GOAT better before listening to Lexington. It's akin to Comes A Time 5/9/77 Buffalo. You can't proclaim a different preference for the GOAT without discussing Buffalo.

Hey - nothing wrong with spirited disagreement! I liked the unique angle of the forces outside The Dead as narrated in real time with The Dead's story. I was also intrigued by Jerry's apolitical stance juxtaposed with the political zeitgeist, and I loved how the author wove Jerry's technically non-political views, using Jerry's own words, with what was happening outside The Dead's scene. Of course a boring vs a propulsive read lies in the eye / mind of the reader. I've communicated with few folks who've read the book; a couple loved it and one very much did not. I guess now it's 50/50. But for this experienced Deadhead, the book provided greater insight and enhanced details of Jerry's formative years, his personal relationships, as well as his personal life going forward.

Maybe the craziest thing abut DSO's late 60s recreations is the original sets were sufficiently compact such that the filler can be worth the price of admission. 😁

Set 1: Bertha ; Greatest Story Ever Told ; Loser ; Black Throated Wind ; Bird Song ; Beat It On Down The Line ; Tennessee Jed ; Me And My Uncle ; Friend Of The Devil ; Playing In The Band ; He's Gone ; The Promised Land Set 2: Brown Eyed Women ; Mexicali Blues ; Truckin' > drums > The Other One > Stella Blue ; El Paso ; Ramble On Rose ; Not Fade Away > Going Down The Road Feeling Bad > Hey Bo Diddley > Not Fade Away People should really start using Grateful Sets as a set list source.

Oh, dear... to have experienced these BCT shows, in The Boys' backyard no less (hell, Phil even went to Berkeley High School). The absolute peak of their powers. Talk about hitting some DSO recreation pay dirt. And Veneta was right around the corner. Goodness gracious. I caught DSO doing the show on this run with Dark Star -> Morning Dew, down the street from the BCT at the UC Theatre on University Ave. Perhaps as good as I've witnessed them play; at the least I've not seen better than the Dar Star -> Dew itself. And with a flask from the bottle of Mitcher's Barrel Proof Bourbon that Rude had smuggled in from the bottle he'd hauled from Kentucky - the cherry from mixed case he'd driven out for me. Actually, I think Meili might have smuggled it in. Anyway, you get the picture.

What a show to officially welcome The Boys back - and with all those bust outs, no less! Don't really need filler after that debut Wheel encore. Only show with a Might As Well opener and only show with a Wheel encore.

Try Stagger Lee from 9-15-78, which was included on the release Rocking The Cradle from the Egypt shows. It's the 3rd time they played it live and Jerry's having a good ol' time. Not weak whatsoever!