I LOVE the Grateful Dead

Way back in the last century, in the time of dinosaurs, the Rolling Stones with their style of rock based on black American blues ranked #1 with me--don't tell anyone, but even ahead of the Zep (Led Zeppelin, in fact--you can look it up in the musty, dusty--Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga-- history books with actual paper or on the infernal google machine if you wish.)

Back then when I knew everything, I looked down on the Deadheads and their constant quest to attend the next Grateful Dead show.  Sure, my album collection contained Skeletons from the Closet
and the double live album known as Steal Your Face.

Nevertheless, some of the long, live, jams on the latter like Sugaree just seemed too slow and turgid.  Probably should have listened to the Dead while doing mushrooms rather than Pink Floyd to fully enjoy the American psychedelic jams.

As have aged and hopefully mellowed a bit however, have come to enjoy the intricacy and entwined interaction between the band members as melodic and delightful.  Also, they never played the same song the same way twice.  Not for them to become a legends band playing their hits in Vegas "residencies," playing it all over and over again.  Even though they reformed without Jerry Garcia to play again in 50th anniversary shows it still sounded fresh and fun.

Although Jerry has gone to that great Greatful Dead jam in the sky--where we will all go some day, at least the cool people--the music still sounds as great as the first song on their first album, Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion:

See that girl, barefootin' along,
Whistlin' and singin', she's a carryin' on.
There's laughing in her eyes, dancing in her feet,
She's a neon-light diamond and she can live on the street.

Hey hey, hey, come right away

Come and join the party every day.

Ashes Ashes All Fall Down

Almost the Grateful Dead: Fare thee Well 4 July 2015

Almost as good as being there!

Hello Internet. Did you miss me?

Apparently no one missed me; no one cared enough to email.  Abandoned by my family, left behind by friends, ignored and abused by nursing home staff where I currently reside leaves me singing Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me.

Nevertheless, do I care?

Hell no, I don't give a shit; with my narcisism and borderline psychopathic tendencies I function on my own,: no love, no mercy, no peace, and thus really no limits on what I can do save the limits of the law, which did give me my first trespass warning on 3 July.  Good times.

Bunches of stuff happened in my time of sorrow and no intertubes connection because maintenance sucks eggs here.  Ba stards.  But all fixed now, reading news, and slowly back to my normal sunny self.

We have Donnie "Blowhard" Billionaire" Trump sticking both entire legs in his hypocritical mouth and Republicans fled in droves, the Grateful Dead played their last shows (everyone was completely sober,  even "Bear" Owlsey Stanley), the United States Womens Soccer team won the World Cup--USA, USA, USA--and last but certainly not the least the US Supreme Court stepped up and did the right thing by upholding the Affordable Care Act and establishing the right of humans of the same sex to marry and have equal rights with their straight sisters and brothers.

Yay the Supreme Court does the progressive thing!

Owsley's ashes on Dead's soundboard at last show

Grateful Dead Archive Online

Oh sweet mother of irony, found fan tape of this show in Charlotte, NC, in 1979, seen after taking seats on frat bus from Wake Forest Univ, along with my ex girlfriend, Wendy Hall, a girl from the North Country who attended Salem College, an all girls school in Winston-Salem, NC, probably the last time I saw her since my University as well as civic authorities, having taken a dim view of a gin fueled vandalism spree on my part, busied themselves running me out of town on a rail.

Fun times.

Ironic because my girl and me would be among the seemingly few people at the Charlotte Coliseum not tripping on LSD.  Actually, we stayed relatively sober since I'd have to deliver her safely back to her dorm downtown, about a half hour away from Wake.

Too tongue tied to talk, let the  love of my life walk.  Then exactly a year later on 3 May 1980 broke my neck on the beach wrestling with a rugby mate.  Unlucky much?

Now almost 40years later,we do have "fan tapes" to rellive some memories.                                                    

Throwing Stones: Penultimate step down melancholy lane

And the current fashion sets the pace,
Lose your step, fall out of grace.
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/throwing.html

Grateful Dead; "Not Fade Away"

WTF? Etta James and the Grateful Dead, "Hard to Handle"

With the Tower of Power Horns section.  First encountered the Tower on southern rock albums on the Capricorn label in the 70's. the greatest decade in music ever. The horn section added layers upon layers of groove with crescendos and fills and pumping up the rhythm.

Grateful Dead: "Hell in a Bucket"