Dark Star "mini essay" (abstract?)

[John A]

Ok, it's not an essay as such. Perhaps better described as an abstract? 

 

But since I bothered to write it, and since this is a forum devoted to The Dark Star Orchestra after all, it seemed appropriate to post...

 

In 1967 Garcia reconnected with his early ‘60s Palo Alto friend and kindred spirit Robert Hunter. While living in New Mexico, Hunter intrigued Garcia with several song lyrics, and Hunter rejoined Garcia in Sonoma County where the pair began officially collaborating for The Grateful Dead. By Spring 1967 Jerry had started working on the chords to Dark Star, and later that year while Hunter was listening to the band play in their Rio Nido rehearsal space he began writing the lyrics. He wrote the first verse in his bed by the rehearsal space, and Garcia felt it fit perfectly. At Garcia’s request, Hunter wrote a second verse some days later while sitting in Golden Gate Park. In January 1968, Dark Star debuted. This signature jam vehicle steadily expanded, including a 48 minute version in The Netherlands during the 1972 Europe tour, making Warner Brother’s release of a 1968 Dark Star single stretching all of 2 minutes and 44 seconds quite amusing. Much ink has been spilled on the song’s structural evolution, from the late 1960s forays (like the February 1969 Fillmore West version featured on the double LP LiveDead, introducing The Dead’s psychedelic power to countless fledgling Deadheads), to the more expansive 1972-1974 renditions, to the lone three late 1970s appearances, to the latter era revivals starting in 1989. From late 1968 though early 1970, a Dead’s show’s featured jam component was often a Dark Star -> Saint Stephen -> The Eleven suite. Phil Lesh once said, “Dark Star is always playing. All we do is tap into it.” Erstwhile Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten echoed that thought, commenting, “You don’t begin it so much as enter it. You don’t end it so much as leave it.” One of the few Dead songs capable of ranging from bliss, to fear, to cacophony, to dissolved silence, Dark Star represented the ultimate ideal of The Dead’s mind-expanding mythology. By 1972, Dark Stars had become increasingly intense; The Dead capriciously either tempered these voyages with a quick interlude like El Paso, or they pressed down on the pedal with another big emotional song like Morning Dew. The Dead revived Dark Star for the final show at San Francisco’s beloved but crumbling Winterland Ballroom for their New Year’s Eve 1978 show; a fan that afternoon displayed a sign reading, “1535 DAYS SINCE LAST S.F. DARK STAR.” After Dark Star was revived its final time in 1989, it stayed tethered to the rotation for the rest of Garcia’s life. From 1989 through 1991 Dark Star’s two verses were often broken into separate 2nd set segments. Such was its legend, a mere hint at the four note opening riff could create delirium.