1 of 1- TheLagerLad
- Exchange Beer Snob
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#Dead50
The next two weekends will be awesome for me as for one last time, the four remaining members of the Grateful Dead will take the stage one last time as the Grateful Dead.
This weekend, they play two shows in San Francisco and over July 4th weekend, the play three shows in Chicago.
Playing the part of Jerry Garcia will be the great Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. On Piano will be Bruce Hornsby, and on keyboards will be Jeff Chimanti.
So if you'll indulge me, for the next couple of weeks, I'll be putting some Grateful Dead music up here. Jerry Garcia once said of the Dead's music, "We're like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice."
In that spirit, I hope you give some of these jams a listen.
First up, some Rob "Pigpen" McKernan era Grateful Dead doing the blues standard, Turn On Your Lovelight
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
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Re: #Dead50
Go for it, lager!
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- TheLagerLad
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Re: #Dead50
The Grateful Dead played numerous styles of music over the years. From their LSD fueled psychadelia sound of the 60's, to all of their blues covers, to their disco-era albums of the late 70's (Shakedown Street, Go To Heaven) to their more straight forward rock sound of the 80's (Built to Last, In the Dark) they touched on everything musically throughout thier careers.
They also dabbled in the country-western space as well. A popular component of a first set of a show was Bob Weir breaking out some short and straightforward country tunes. Two of my favorites are here. The first was the John Phillips tune, 'Me and My Uncle' which is an uptempo song about cowboys, drinking, gambling, and murder. It's followed by the Weir song "Mexicali Blues" about a poor guy living in Mexico who was seduced by a young lady and ends up mistakenly killing a man in a shootout.
It also contains one of my favorite lyrics from a Grateful Dead song:
Cherish well your thoughts, and keep a tight grip on your booze,
Cause thinkin' and drinkin' are all I have today.
From Halloween night at Radio City Music Hall in 1980, here's Me and My Uncle > Mexicali Blues
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
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Thread Starter- TheLagerLad
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Re: #Dead50
Today's let's talk about segues.
Part of the jam band culture, for which the Dead are unquestionably the Godfather's, it's very usual for certain songs, different in composition but in a live show environment, work together back to back.
It goes like this -- Song 1 is played, followed by an improvisational jam, which the flows into Song #2.
With the band Phish, you always find this with the songs, Mike's Song, which will eventually land at Weekapaugh Groove
For the Grateful Dead, I'll focus on two of their most common segues. The first, is China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider. China Cat is a Jerry Garcia composition with lyrics by Robert Hunter. China Cat is a very trippy song both musically and lyrically. Not really danceable, but at the same time carries a thick groove. From there, they'll
move into I Know You Rider, a traditional blues tune credited to an 18 year old black woman who was jailed for murder prior to 1930.
The second example is Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain. Both of these songs were recorded for the 1978 album, Shakedown Street.
I chose the 12/28/83 China/Rider because Jerry's playing was spot on, his solos were tight, Brent Mydland's keyboard was high up in the soundboard mix, and because of a really good segue into Rider.
The Scarlet>Fire comes from New Years Eve 1978
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
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Thread Starter- TheLagerLad
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Re: #Dead50
We'll keep it simple today and just play one of my favorite of my favorite Dead songs, "Eyes of the World"
There are only a few Grateful Dead songs that would change someone who dismisses them as relic from the 60's to someone who "gets it". And by it, I mean the magic of a band in perfect harmony, happy to be playing together, while at the same time being in perfect sync with their audiance.
I don't know the exact number of Grateful Dead shows I've attended. I know my first was March 30, 1987 at the old Philadelphia Spectrum. I know my last show was July 6, 1995 at the Riverport Amphitheater outside St. Louis. I would guess I saw somewhere between 30-40 shows in between. The reason I went to all those shows was to catch moments of musical bliss like this one.
June 17th, 1991 - Giants Stadium - The Meadowlands. Bruce Hornsby sat in on piano. I was there and remember this as the highlight of that night's show.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
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Thread Starter- TheLagerLad
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Re: #Dead50
Coincidentally, I came across this classical piano version of Eyes of the World this evening. It's quite beautiful so I thought I'd add it here.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
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Thread Starter