Greg from Chestertown

I had a vivid dream last night that I was in the parking lot before a Dark Star Orchestra concert, getting ready for the show. I woke up in a really good mood. I can’t wait to go back to sleep tonight and see what they play.

That will put the conspiracy theorists out of business!

Nice! Brokedown Palace is my choice. I am always thinking about those killer sound bite lyrics in the Grateful Dead catalog and stringing them together as a memorial ‘speech’. I have always felt that GD lyrics are words to live by. I enjoy shows because,through dancing, I shake out the negativity that has managed to make its way into my being. I let that space be filled with these lyrics of positivity. Words to live by, advice and insight about life. (Gotta get back to where you belong) Grateful Dead shows were, and Dark Star Orchestra shows are, transformative for me. They bring me back in line, a refresher course, if you will. The ‘I need a show’ factor is real for me. A handful of times per year and life is good.

I ran into my cousin last night at our uncle’s viewing. He was at the Jrad show last Saturday night n DC. He said it was phenomenal. He described it as Led Zeppelin meets the Grateful Dead. High energy. His eyes were popping out of his head while he talked about it. He was pretty excited.

Yea, reckoning is my favorite too. You can put it on and forget about it, just listen right on through. It’s my ‘go to’ for non Dead heads. 9 of the 16 songs were played the night I was there. ‘Monkey and the engineer’ was actually from that night. My shroom mates buddy was at the show in San Fran where ‘Ripple’ was played. When they say ‘that’s Otis’ , that was , I think, Bobby’s dog running across the stage. Jerry does some of the gentlest picking on ‘to lay me down’. I gave my copy to a 62 year old guy I worked with who was into bluegrass. He taught himself ‘ripple’ on the guitar. He’s now pushing 80 and does open mic nights in the area. I love it.

I enjoy this thread. I love it when someone says ‘here, listen to this.’ Dark Star is incredible. They make you listen intently to every note.

I heard the term in my travels and it got me thinking, so, I looked it up. Touch of grey was in the top forty so, technically, they’re a one hit wonder. They’re in some good company. Hendrix with watchtower. It was an interesting list but I am drawing a blank on the other big names. You know how it is. If it’s not about the Grateful Dead, it’s like listening to Charlie Browns’ teacher.

Here’s a thought that should stimulate conversation. The Grateful Dead is a one hit wonder.

This is exactly why God invented Vanilla AND Chocolate ice cream. We all have different tastes. I believe they all bow their heads to Dylan, though.

Right!? Talk about dropping in on a friend.

Nah, he’s singing along to NFA. ....you’re gonna know just how I feel...

Look at the little kid in front of the girl. Poor little fella will never unsee that.

Yup! I’ve never met you but I gathered that from the posts. I couldn’t resist. I was actually surprised that your close friends didn’t come up with that one. That was my first thought when that pic first appeared.

‘There’s that tall guy again.’ I bet that’s what we look like to the band.

Oh, one more thing that we learned about those acoustic shows. That was the first time in ten years and they said they would never play acoustic again. Time proved that to be true outside of a couple of shows. 82?

So, one week after my first Grateful Dead concert, I go back to college for my second year. My shroom mate has a friend who went to college in San Fran just so he could go to Dead shows. He calls my roommate to say Bill Graham bought the Warfield theatre so that the Dead could play there for two weeks straight. They’re playing acoustic sets, plus two electric sets to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. With a few more phone calls over that time, we learn that every acoustic set is being closed with Ripple, and that they’re making a double acoustic and a double electric album from those shows. They asked everyone to not do too much hootin’ and hollerin’, as the shows were being recorded for the albums. We also learned that they were doing similar shows at Radio City. That got us cutting class and riding up to Radio City the Monday before Halloween. We ride into New York with his Buddy and try to scalp tickets. We get robbed by ‘scalpers’, and now we’re penniless outside of Radio City while our ride is inside the show. Pretty disappointed for about an hour when someone walks up to us wearing a ski mask and asks, ‘who wants to get snuck in?’ We tell him our hard luck story, and he says, ‘ stand right here, let me find three more people’. We end up walking right through the front doors of Radio City without a ticket. This guys neighbor was a ticket taker at the door. Once inside, we got free doses, red dragons two weeks old from Berkeley. Absolutely amazing night. Acoustic set was precious. Five and a half hour show. Life changing. That’s all, thanks for letting me share.

I read that Jerry forgot the words to the third verse so Casey Jones is filled with his and Keith’s jamming until he could figure out which way was up.

I was just kidding! Ah, the downside of giving advice. Now, you’re going to have to keep dyeing his hair, can’t let the white roots show. See what I started. I feel so bad.

I thought you would go all out and get some blue hair dye.

Remember, the last Grateful Dead tour was known as the tour from hell. Gate crashes, a porch collapsed killing or hurting a bunch of deadheads, etc. Phil had said in an interview, not sure when, that the last five years weren’t that much fun for him. Jerry was having more fun, I think, doing what he was with David Grisman. After Bruce Hornsby passed on joining the Grateful Dead full time, the only thing that kept me going was that somewhere in the show, even if it was just one song, Jerry would simply blow me away. That, and the fact that it was Obvious he was dying and then we wouldn’t be able to see him play. The Grateful Dead was running on fumes and inertia after Brent died. I’m not so sure they would have continued in their current form. They may have needed to evolve some more, maybe they had run their course. Maybe they would have gone their separate ways, doing their own thing with the music. Jerry told somebody in 1995, ‘I ‘m not going to make it through the year’. After the tour, he laid down and died. He gave the best he had to give. Everything in this world has a life span. A few years of mourning and uncertainty, the right group of people got together, and the time is right for the music to be born again and move forward again. Dark Star Orchestra picked up the torch and proceeded to learn and love and grow once more. They have the benefit of a bit of a road map, to be able to learn from the mistakes of the ones who went before them. They do have that indescribable intangible that makes them so special, just as the Grateful Dead was. This reincarnation of the music that is Dark Star Orchestra seems to be a healthier, more vibrant, longer lasting version. I intend to keep this oasis as part of my life’s style, for the long haul. Thank you, entire band, for your sacrifice, deadication, and commitment. You are, oh, so appreciated.

I love that pic. Lisa rocks !

Great question. Hard to say. Things would have been different but I think the cover bands would still be around. Some were there when Jer Bear was alive. Local bar bands. Would they thrive like nowadays? Probably not. Heck, if you ask me, Dead and company is a dead cover band. Dark Star Orchestra has captured that intangible that the he Dead had. Experimental group music moving forward into uncharted waters. That’s what separates them from all of the others. What was your original question?

Isn’t today Mickey Hart’s birthday?

I saw Dead Reckoning play the night after I caught Dark Star in Atlantic City this summer. Not perfect, not polished, but a great night of music nonetheless. Two guys on acoustic guitars and a keyboardist. Nothing but Dead. A small crowd that all seemed to know each other well. I was the new guy they welcomed with open arms. Beautiful music that is still stuck in my head, wonderful people, great conversation with perfect strangers. The next morning, I took myself out to breakfast at the airport diner in Ocean City, New Jersey. When I was leaving, an older fella was setting up out front to play for the people waiting to be seated. He was strumming a ukulele, playing songs from the twenties and thirties. He opened with ‘ in the jailhouse now’. Most of what he played either Jerry had played or sounded like something they could have but never got around to it. I listen to him for about an hour. ....in the strangest of places, if you look at it right.

Ship of fools, war frat music festival September 8th, Egg Harbor City, N.J. Camping, Grateful Dead cover bands, warf rat sober music festival. Pretty cool.