hotel carack: The Days Between

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Day Two of Grateful Music's Grateful Dead Musical Retrospective: The Ark Boston, Mass 4-23-1969. Primal Dead at it's best.

Today we are going back to 1969. This is the apotheosis of Primal Dead. Everyone knows about the early March shows released by the band. However, the whole year is just amazing show after amazing show. I haven't had a harder time picking a show in a long while.

Yesterday, we started the "Days Between" with a concert from 1966. Today we jump through space and time to the heart of Primal Dead. The years between shows have seen the release of The Grateful Dead and Anthem of the Sun and now we are into Live/Dead territory. The intervening years shows a progression of skills and a willingness to fail that served the band well in 1969. This year is the year that saw the perfection of the classic "Dark Star>St. Stephen>Eleven>Lovelight" series that marks out the year. 1969 however, avoids the semi-stagnation of 1968 setlists of Anthem of the Sun material and the embryonic band of 1967. This year has so many great shows from March at the Fillmore to the Dream Bowl in Vallejo and the classic shows at the Avalon. An embarrassment of riches to be sure!

I chose this show because it is pure primal Dead bookended with two slow songs. One would be played through 1969 and once almost exactly a year later and retired. The other was played only six times in the entire next decade. The whole run of shows at the Ark, from the 21st to the 23rd are all amazing and it was a hard choice to pick one. The second night has a magical "Mountains of the Moon>Dark Star", that has the band each picking up electric instruments one by one and diving into the groove. Still, for me, I like the 23rd for personal reasons but I suggest listening to the whole run.

Written by: Greg Heffelfinger

The stream at archive.org of 4-23-69

Setlist:

The Ark

Boston,MA

4-23-69

Set One: Set Two:

1. Intro 1. Morning Dew

2. He Was a Friend of Mine 2. Hard to Handle

3. Dark Star > 3. Doin' that Rag

4. St. Stephen > 4. Alligator >

5. It's A Sin > 5. Drums >

6. St. Stephen > 6. Drummers Chant>

7. Cryptical Envelopment > 7. Jam >

8. Drums > 8. The Eleven >

9. The Other One > 9. Jam >

10. Cryptical Envelopment > 10. Caution (Don't Stop on the Tracks) >

11. Sitting on Top of the World > 11. Feedback >

12. Turn on Your Lovelight 12. And We Bid You Goodnight (Mtn. Jam teases)

Encore:

1. Not Fade Away tease

2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Highlights:

Wonderful Friend of Mine

St. Stephen Sin Sandwich

Jam > Eleven > Jam > Caution

Mountain jam teases during AWBYGN

For all the taping and patching info with setlist. Thank You, Charlie Miller. A Savior of Tapes and Sound Jedi bar NONE

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Today is the birthday of Jerome "Jerry" Garcia and while I Miss Him More than Ever, I Know He's Smiling: An editorial by Greg Heffelfinger

Today is the birthday of Jerome "Jerry" Garcia and while I Miss Him More than Ever, I Know He's Smiling: An editorial by Greg Heffelfinger

Every great writer in music history has written about Jerry Garcia. He's an icon for millions recognized by people all over the planet. His time on earth was short but he accomplished more than most could in ten lifetimes. He lived it no way but his own. Not many people can say that. The music that he plays touches my soul like no one else ever will. He was known as Jerry G of the Grateful Dead. At the same time, he wasn't married to the Grateful Dead. Part of his charm would be that even between tours, he had to play. He truly was a musical vessel that will be missed for as long as I can see. He started in humble, somewhat tragic circumstances and overcame that to be adored by so many people it made the naturally outgoing man, a little nervous. So many estimated prophets called for his attention and he always just called himself as a guitar player. There is a quote from the eminently quotable man," I would be happy playing as a nobody at some Mission St bar for the rest of my life." To know that he was so empathic and so conscious that he stayed in a analogue to an abusive marriage in The Grateful Dead just to keep paying the bills for people, says everything. I'm not here to praise him to death but I think we should all acknowledge a special being was here for awhile and dusted off those strings so many times for us. His lived life, his way, and I'm grateful for it.

Rock Scully always said that all the skeleton imagery freaked him out a little. He would never take a picture in a graveyard, for example. He was a real person not just a guitar player. I love little tidbits about him because he showed only so many cards on stage even though he gave all to us when he was done. His sound and charisma drew so many to him. And the taping policy, because he used to travel and tape bluegrass bands,let him leave it with us. Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions might be one of the most influential unknown bands ever. Because the man practiced all the time and sometimes literally slept with his guitar, I know he just wanted to get the music out. I feel like he's looking down on his little brother Bobby and smiling because there are so many roads to find what you are looking for. There were so many roads to ease his soul and he went down one that took him early. Thankfully we had him here for awhile.

Happy Birthday Jerry

(8/1/42-8/9/95)

Written by: Greg Heffelfinger