Podcasts about Fillmore East

Welcome to Part 3, and the final installment of my conversation with Don Stevenson, in which we cover the expansive era of 1969 to the present. Don says this will be the very last time he'll be talking about his time in Moby Grape, so you absolutely will not want to miss this. Here's just a few of the many things that Don discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast:How Skip Spence's Oar really got made, not the mythological pajama-wearing motorcycle ride to Nashville that's been bandied about for years;The difficulty of Bob Mosley's breakdown occurring in the much larger shadow of Skip's concurrent mental problems;The reasons why their final album, 2010's The Real Potato, was shelved (Director's Cut only);How their disastrous 1971 gig at The Fillmore East really went down;The unimaginable horrors that occurred during the making of 20 Granite Creek;And a track-by-track deep-dive on Truly Fine Citizen, 20 Granite Creek, Live Grape, Legendary Grape, and several other records Moby Grape made during this period!Listen: linktr.ee/discograffitiI support a wife and a six-year-old son with Discograffiti as my sole source of income. If you're a Moby Grape & Skip Spence superfan like me, The Director's Cut of this episode is ad-free and features 27 additional minutes of essential material. Purchase The Director's Cut as a one-off at Patreon.com/Discograffiti.Purchase the full Grape Expectations Collection: www.patreon.com/collection/1467935Subscribe to Discograffiti's Patreon at the Major Tier and receive a ceaseless barrage (4 shows a week) of must-hear binge-listening: Patreon.com/DiscograffitiOrder Cam Cobb's Skip Spence bio: https://a.co/d/iuSyBGcCONNECTJoin our Soldiers of Sound Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1839109176272153Patreon: www.Patreon.com/DiscograffitiPodfollow: ⁠⁠https://podfollow.com/1592182331⁠⁠YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClyaQCdvDelj5EiKj6IRLhwInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/discograffitipod/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Discograffiti/Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiscograffitiOrder the Digital version of the METAL MACHINE MUZAK 2xLP (feat. Lou Barlow, Cory Hanson, Mark Robinson, & W. Cullen Hart): www.patreon.com/discograffiti/shop/197404Order the $11 Digital version of the MMM 2xLP on Bandcamp: https://discograffiti.bandcamp.com/album/metal-machine-muzakOrder the METAL MACHINE MUZAK Double Vinyl + Digital package: www.patreon.com/discograffiti/shop/169954Merch Shop: https://discograffitipod.myspreadshop.com/allVenmo Dave A Tip: @David-GebroeWeb site: http://discograffiti.com/CONTACT DAVEEmail: dave@discograffiti.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/hooligandaveInstagram:  https://www.instagram.com/davidgebroe/Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveGebroeThere is no other Patreon in existence where you get more for your money. 4 shows a week is what it takes these days to successfully blot out our unacceptable reality…so do yourself a favor and give it a shot for at least one month to see what I'm talking about.  If you're already a member, please comment below about your experience.  www.Patreon.com/discograffiti#mobygrape #sanfrancisco #sixties #billgraham #fillmorewest #gordonstevens #doobiebrothers #weirdherald #billydeanandrus #donstevenson #peterlewis #bobmosley #jerrymiller #robertplant #skipspence #avalonballroom #grapeexpectations #thebyrds #jeffersonairplane #matthewkatz #camcobb #bellevue #jormakaukonen #discograffiti #metalmachinemuzak #soldiersofsound #grapeexpectations #thematrix #martybalin #omarspence 

In questa prima puntata di Rock In Time, Umberto esplora un avvenimento unico ed incredibile nella storia del rock: il concerto al Fillmore East del 6 giugno del 1971 di Frank Zappa con John Lennon e Yoko Ono! Conduzione: Umberto Giustozzi

GGACP celebrates the birthday of Emmy-winning director and producer Allan Arkush by revisiting this in-depth interview from 2018. In this episode, Allan entertains Gilbert and Frank with tales of working at the late, great Fillmore East, crossing paths with Ol' Blue Eyes (and Groucho!) apprenticing for the legendary Roger Corman and helming the cult classic “Rock ‘n' Roll High School.” Also, Jackie Mason fails to connect, Malcolm McDowell talks to his crotch, Bruce Willis locks horns with Cybill Shepherd and “A Hard Day's Night” changes Allan's life forever. PLUS: P.J. Soles! “The Girl Can't Help It”! In praise of Alexander & Karaszewski! Zacherle introduces the Grateful Dead! And Allan (reluctantly) remembers “Caddyshack 2”! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quintas ao vivo hoje com discotecagens dos spirituals musicais afroaméricaeuropaáfrica das criações pelo mundo do  jazz e da música instrumental contemporânea. Abrimos com Miles em uma execução pública em Fillmore East (raridade). Depois passamos pelos últimos trabalhos de Moor Mother e seu Irreversible Entanglements conectando com o disco El Corazón… Source

Episode 185: Jerry Lee W/E Street Band, Leeds Music, Blue Jays, Fogelberg March 31, 2025 Going back to the first airing of episode 30 on RadioFreeNashville.org and November 2022, we'll play Jerry Lee Lewis and Springsteen's Band at the opening of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, which, looking at recent inductees, should be remarqueed Hall of Music (Pop). Live at Leeds was regarded by some as one of the, if not THE best recorded live albums, along with The Allmans at Fillmore East. There's some shakin' going on there too. The entire hour is filled with a lot of the great LP cuts that made the 60s & 70s music so important. I want to say thank you to all the financial supporters of Tales Vinyl Tells. Whether a small amount monthly or a very generous donation, each of you listeners are very appreciated and if you can and do give monthly, my deepest gratitude goes to you. If you're not a patron yet and want to know more about becoming a patron of this music program you can go Patron.podbean.com/talesvinyltellssupport. Thank you and rock on! And thanks for listening today.  My email is talesvinyltells@gmail.com.  If you want to hear a Tales Vinyl Tells when it streams live on RadioFreeNashville.org, we do that at 5 PM central time Wednesdays. The program can also be played and downloaded anytime at podbean.com, Apple podcasts, iHeart podcasts, Player FM podcasts and many other podcast places. And of course you can count on hearing the Tales on studiomillswellness.com/tales-vinyl-tells anytime.

The recent movie about Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown, has led many people to "discover" Bob Dylan's music. Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thenexttrack). We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks! ‌Show notes: Don't look back: after decades of apathy, A Complete Unknown has turned me into a Dylan nut (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jan/30/dont-look-back-after-decades-of-apathy-a-complete-unknown-has-turned-me-into-a-dylan-nut) Elijah Wald: Dylan Goes Electric (https://amzn.to/3CKnDZW) Episode #20 – You Think You Know about the Blues? Eliah Wald on the History of the Blues (https://www.thenexttrack.com/21) Our next tracks: Allman Brothers: Live at the Fillmore East (https://amzn.to/42Mg53s) Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisted (https://amzn.to/3WWAhMq) If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.

Before discovering punk rock and forming New Jersey hardcore band Detention with his brothers Daniel and Paul, bassist Kevin Shields was a rock and roll kid. He bought the Johnny Winter And 'Live' album because he thought the cover looked cool, and no matter where his musical path took him this blistering live set recorded live at The Fillmore East in 1970 remained near-and-dear to his heart. Rock. And. Roll. Songs discussed in this episode: It's My Own Fault - Johnny Winter And (Live at the Fillmore East, NYC 1970); El Salvador, Dead Rock 'N Rollers - Detention; Out of Vogue - The Middle Class; Anxiety Attack - Detention; Wait For The Blackout - The Damned (Live from 'A Night Of A Thousand Vampires'); It's My Own Fault - Johnny Winter And (Live at the Fillmore East, NYC 1970); Since I've Been Lovin' You - Led Zeppelin; Tobacco Road - Edgar Winter; Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo - Rick Derringer; Hang On Sloopy - The McCoys;  I'm Your Captain - Grand Funk Railroad; Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - Johnny Winter And (Live at the Fillmore East, NYC 1970); Statesboro Blues - The Allman Brothers (Live at Fillmore East, 1971); It's My Own Fault, Jumpin' Jack Flash - Johnny Winter And (Live at the Fillmore East, NYC 1970); Chaos - Bigger Thomas; Rock and Roll Medley - Johnny Winter And (Live at the Fillmore East, NYC 1970); Highway 61 Revisited - Johnny Winter (Live in California, 1975); Mean Town Blues - Johnny Winter And (Live at the Fillmore East, NYC 1970); Glory - Television; Johnny B. Goode - Johnny Winter And (Live at the Fillmore East, NYC 1970); Beach - Detention *Check out Left For Dead Records' reissue of Detention's classic 1983 single 'Dead Rock 'n Rollers' plus 8 more songs at: https://www.leftfordeadrecords.com/

The Jokermen are joined by returning champion Alex Pappademas to discuss a monumental meeting of California rock titans at the Fillmore East on April 27, 1971: the night The Beach Boys jammed with The Grateful Dead. LISTEN TO 4/27/71 ON THE INTERNET ARCHIVE FOLLOW ALEX ON INSTAGRAM SUBSCRIBE TO JOKERMEN ON PATREON

True magic was worked in "The Name Of This Band Is R.E.M." as author Peter Ames Carlin came up with an absolutely engaging way to weave the four band members personal stories into the broader presentation about the band. His writing just made you feel like you were right there. And REM's humble beginnings was a great way to get an up close feel for the four members of the group and their untraditional rise to crazy stardom. This Month's SHOUT OUT goes to -Long Live The ABB NewsletterAllman Brothers fans this one is for you! I guarantee you will not find better ABB content anywhere that can top the in-depth, passionate, informative and original material covered in this newsletter. Conversation from the crossroads of Southern music, history, and culture from historian Bob Beatty, author of 'Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East. Check Out this great newsletter-https://substack.com/@longlivetheabbWant to win a free copy of the number two best book of the year, Robyn Hitchcock's memoir 1967? It's easy, just send me an email to sign up. You can find a link to my email address below. *Reminder this is for US citizens only*Support the showemail Big Rick at:info@rocktalkstudio.com

Here comes the Top 10 of 2024's best rock n roll documentaries! If you are looking for the next great doc to check out, here' my list of the best of the best. Springsteen, Joe Cocker, John Lennon, Santana, Nicky Hopkins, and Stevie Van Zandt are just a few artists that released note worth docs in 2024. Which one was the best? Join me for some great viewing recommendations and the best titles of 2024. Want to win a free copy of the number two best book of the year, Robyn Hitchcock's memoir 1967? It's easy, just send me an email to sign up. You can find a link to my email address below. *Reminder this is for US citizens only*This Month's SHOUT OUT goes to -Long Live The ABB NewsletterAllman Brothers fans this one is for you! I guarantee you will not find better ABB content anywhere that can top the in-depth, passionate, informative and original material covered in this newsletter. Conversation from the crossroads of Southern music, history, and culture from historian Bob Beatty, author of 'Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East.Check Out this great newsletter-https://substack.com/@longlivetheabbSupport the showemail Big Rick at:info@rocktalkstudio.com

Émission entièrement consacrée.à la sortie de cette fin d'année, le live Welcome To The Shepherd's Bush.Les différentes chroniques portent sur :Jean-Louis Aubert - PafiniEric Clapton - MeanwhileCrosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Live at Fillmore East, 1969Black Pumas - Live From Brooklyn ParamountJimi Hendrix - Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix VisionAlbert King/Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Session DeluxeÀ découvrir : Gaëlle BuswelHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Happy Thanksgiving As is the custom here on the Deadpod, this Thanksgiving we feature an acoustic set and I think we are especially fortunate this year as this set is one of the very best such sets from 1970. From September 20, 1970 this set from the Fillmore East features both David Grisman and David Nelson on mandolin for much of the set, including a very unusual 'Big Railroad Blues' and an acoustic 'Truckin'. Jerry is in particular fine voice throughout, especially on 'To Lay Me Down'.  If you are a fan of acoustic Dead this is a set to savor  .. I hope you enjoy..      Grateful Dead Fillmore East New York, NY 9/20/1970 - Sunday One   Uncle John's Band [6:47] Deep Elem Blues [5:51] Friend Of The Devil [3:32] Big Railroad Blues [3:14] Dark Hollow [2:56] Ripple [4:20] To Lay Me Down [5:12] Truckin' [5:35][0:12] Rosalie McFall [2:24] Cumberland Blues [5:04] New Speedway Boogie [9:31] Brokedown Palace [5:13]    You can listen to this week's Deadpod here:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/deadshow/deadpod112824.mp3    I have far more to be thankful for than I can express here.. first of all to all of you who reached out with your well wishes and concern during my recent surgery and recovery.. to my doctors and nurses who did such a wonderful job helping to get me back home.. and of course to my beautiful wife without which I never would have been able to see this through...   

Happy Trails” is an album recorded from performances at the Fillmore East & West venues. Most of the tracks are reworkings of some of Bo Diddley's tracks. Quicksilver Messenger Service was very influential but wasn't commercially successful The 500 invited Wayne Federman & DJ Morty Coyle back to unpack “Happy Trails”, the last QMS album to feature their original lineup.  Follow Wayne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instafederman/ Follow Wayne on Twitter: https://x.com/federman Follow Morty on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djmortycoyle https://www.instagram.com/alldaysucker/ Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshadammeyers/ Follow Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoshAdamMeyers Follow Josh on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshameyers Follow The 500 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the500podcast/ Follow The 500 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/the500podcast Follow The 500 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The500PodcastWithJAM/ Email the show: 500podcast@gmail.com Check the show's website: http://the500podcast.com DistroKid Artist Of The Week: Giant Sand https://youtu.be/tQBa7c2e5Zk?si=ENrMInRN9RMn_4xa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This months show is one of those nights with the Grateful Dead where everyone seems to remember the date.  Hard to think we waited  this long, but here we are.  For the intermissions you just get an extra dose of the two of us... too good of a night to even have to think about anything but an amazing show!  Enjoy ya'll. GRATEFUL DEAD  February 13, 1970  Fillmore East  NYC, NY SOURCE:  Soundboard / Master Reel

Exploring the Grateful Dead's LegacyIn this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, Larry Mishkin takes listeners on a nostalgic journey through the Grateful Dead's music, focusing on a concert from September 30, 1993, at the Boston Garden. He discusses various songs, including 'Here Comes Sunshine' and 'Spoonful,' while also touching on the band's history and the contributions of key figures like Vince Wellnick and Candace Brightman. The episode also delves into current music news, including a review of Lake Street Dive's performance and updates on marijuana legislation in Ukraine and the U.S.Chapters00:00 Welcome to the Deadhead Cannabis Show03:39 Here Comes Sunshine: A Grateful Dead Classic09:47 Spoonful: The Blues Influence14:00 Music News: Rich Girl and Lake Street Dive24:09 Candace Brightman: The Unsung Hero of Lighting38:01 Broken Arrow: Phil Lesh's Moment to Shine42:19 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: A Beatles Classic48:26 Marijuana News: Ukraine's Medical Cannabis Legislation54:32 Bipartisan Support for Clean Slate Act01:00:11 Pennsylvania's Push for Marijuana Legalization01:04:25 CBD as a Natural Insecticide01:10:26 Wave to the Wind: A Phil Lesh Tune01:13:18 The Other One: A Grateful Dead Epic Boston GardenSeptember 30, 1993  (31 years ago)Grateful Dead Live at Boston Garden on 1993-09-30 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet ArchiveINTRO:                                 Here Comes Sunshine                                                Track #1                                                0:08 – 1:48 Released on Wake of the Flood, October 15, 1973, the first album on the band's own “Grateful Dead Records” label. The song was first performed by the Grateful Dead in February 1973. It was played about 30 times through to February 1974 and then dropped from the repertoire. The song returned to the repertoire in December 1992, at the instigation of Vince Welnick, and was then played a few times each year until 1995. Played:  66 timesFirst:  February 9, 1973 at Maples Pavilion, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USALast:  July 2, 1995 at Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN, USA But here's the thing:                         Played 32 times in 1973                        Played 1 time in 1974                        Not played again until December 6, 1992 at Compton Terrace in Chandler, AZ  - 18 years                        Then played a “few” more times in 1993, 94 and 95, never more than 11 times in any one year. I finally caught one in 1993 at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago with good buddies Marc and Alex. My favorite version is Feb. 15, 1973 at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, WI SHOW No. 1:                     Spoonful                                                Track #2                                                :50 – 2:35 "Spoonful" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. Released in June, 1960 by Chess Records in Chicago.  Called "a stark and haunting work",[1] it is one of Dixon's best known and most interpreted songs.[2]Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record chart hit with their duet cover of "Spoonful" in 1961, and it was popularized in the late 1960s by the British rock group Cream. Dixon's "Spoonful" is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton.[3] Earlier related songs include "All I Want Is a Spoonful" by Papa Charlie Jackson (1925) and "Cocaine Blues" by Luke Jordan (1927).The lyrics relate men's sometimes violent search to satisfy their cravings, with "a spoonful" used mostly as a metaphor for pleasures, which have been interpreted as sex, love, and drugs. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful" as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".[9] It is ranked number 154 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2021 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[10] up from number 221 on its 2004 list. In 2010, the song was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame "Classics of Blues Recordings" category.[12] In a statement by the foundation, it was noted that "Otis Rush has stated that Dixon presented 'Spoonful' to him, but the song didn't suit Rush's tastes and so it ended up with Wolf, and soon thereafter with Etta James".[12] James' recording with Harvey Fuqua as "Etta & Harvey" reached number 12 on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart and number 78 on its Hot 100 singles chart.[13] However, Wolf's original "was the one that inspired so many blues and rock bands in the years to come". The British rock group Cream recorded "Spoonful" for their 1966 UK debut album, Fresh Cream. They were part of a trend in the mid-1960s by rock artists to record a Willie Dixon song for their debut albums. Sung by Bob Weir, normally followed Truckin' in the second set.  This version is rare because it is the second song of the show and does not have a lead in.  Ended Here Comes Sunshine, stopped, and then went into this.  When it follows Truckin', just flows right into Spoonful. Played:  52 timesFirst:  October 15, 1981 at Melkweg, Amsterdam, NetherlandsLast:  December 8, 1994 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA, USA  MUSIC NEWS:                              Lead In Music                                                Rich Girl                                                Lake Street Dive                                                Lake Street Dive: Rich Girl [4K] 2018-05-09 - College Street Music Hall; New Haven, CT (youtube.com)                                                0:00 – 1:13 "Rich Girl" is a song by Daryl Hall & John Oates. It debuted on the Billboard Top 40 on February 5, 1977, at number 38 and on March 26, 1977, it became their first of six number-one singles on the BillboardHot 100. The single originally appeared on the 1976 album Bigger Than Both of Us. At the end of 1977, Billboard ranked it as the 23rd biggest hit of the year. The song was rumored to be about the then-scandalous newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. In fact, the title character in the song is based on a spoiled heir to a fast-food chain who was an ex-boyfriend of Daryl Hall's girlfriend, Sara Allen. "But you can't write, 'You're a rich boy' in a song, so I changed it to a girl," Hall told Rolling Stone. Hall elaborated on the song in an interview with American Songwriter: "Rich Girl" was written about an old boyfriend of Sara [Allen]'s from college that she was still friends with at the time. His name is Victor Walker. He came to our apartment, and he was acting sort of strange. His father was quite rich. I think he was involved with some kind of a fast-food chain. I said, "This guy is out of his mind, but he doesn't have to worry about it because his father's gonna bail him out of any problems he gets in." So I sat down and wrote that chorus. [Sings] "He can rely on the old man's money/he can rely on the old man's money/he's a rich guy." I thought that didn't sound right, so I changed it to "Rich Girl". He knows the song was written about him.  Lake Street Dive at Salt Shed Lake Street Dive is an American multi-genre band that was formed in 2004 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.[1] The band's founding members are Rachael Price, Mike "McDuck" Olson, Bridget Kearney, and Mike Calabrese. Keyboardist Akie Bermiss joined the band on tour in 2017 and was first credited on their 2018 album Free Yourself Up; guitarist James Cornelison joined in 2021 after Olson left the band. The band is based in Brooklyn and frequently tours in North America, Australia, and Europe. The group was formed in 2004 as a "free country band"; they intended to play country music in an improvised, avant-garde style.[3] This concept was abandoned in favor of something that "actually sounded good", according to Mike Olson.[4] The band's name was inspired by the Bryant Lake Bowl, a frequent hang out in the band's early years, located on Lake Street in Minneapolis. Great show last Thursday night my wife and I went with good friends JT and Marni and Rick and Ben. Sitting in the back near the top of the bleachers with a killer view of the Chicago Sky line looking west to southeast and right along the north branch of the Chicago River.  Beautiful weather and a great night overall.  My first time seeing the band although good buddies Alex, Andy and Mike had seen the at Redrocks in July and all spoke very highly of the band which is a good enough endorsement for me. I don't know any of their songs, but they were very good and one of their encores was Rich Girl which made me smile because that too is a song from my high school and college days, that's basically 40+ years ago.  Combined with Goose's cover of the 1970's hit “Hollywood Nights” by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band it was a trip down memory lane. I would recommend seeing this band to any fan of fun music.  They were all clearly having a great time. Katie Pruitt opened and came out to sing a song with LSD. In 2017, Pruitt was awarded the Buddy Holly Prize from the Songwriters Hall of Fame[4] and signed with Round Hill Records.[5] Her EP, OurVinyl Live Session EP was released in March 2018.[6] She was named by Rolling Stone as one of 10 new country artists you need to know[7] and by NPR as one of the 20 artists to watch, highlighting Pruitt as someone who "possesses a soaring, nuanced and expressive voice, and writes with devastating honesty".[8] On September 13, 2019, Pruitt released "Expectations", the title track from her full-length debut. Additional singles from this project were subsequently released: "Loving Her" on October 21, 2019,[9] and "Out of the Blue" on November 15, 2019.[10] On February 21, 2020, Pruitt's debut album, Expectations, was released by Rounder Records.[11][12] She earned a nomination for Emerging Act of the Year at the 2020 Americana Music Honors & Awards.[13] In the same year, she duetted with Canadian singer-songwriter Donovan Woods on "She Waits for Me to Come Back Down", a track from his album Without People.[14] In 2021 the artist was inter alia part of the Newport Folk Festival in July. Recommend her as well.  2.     Move Me Brightly: Grateful Dead Lighting Director Candace Brightman Candace Brightman (born 1944)[1] is an American lighting engineer, known for her longtime association with the Grateful Dead. She is the sister of author Carol Brightman. Brightman grew up in Illinois and studied set design at St John's College, Annapolis, Maryland.[1] She began working as a lighting technician in the Anderson Theater, New York City, and was recruited by Bill Graham to operate lighting at the Fillmore East.[3] In 1970, she operated the house lights at the Chicago Coliseum with Norol Tretiv.[4] She has also worked for Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker and Van Morrison. After serving as house lighting engineer for several Grateful Dead shows, including their 1971 residency at the Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, she was recruited by the band's Jerry Garcia to work for them full-time.[1] She started working regularly for the Dead on their 1972 tour of Europe (which was recorded and released as Europe 72), and remained their in-house lighting engineer for the remainder of their career.[1] One particular challenge that Brightman faced was having to alter lighting setups immediately in response to the Dead's improvisational style. By the band's final tours in the mid-1990s, she was operating a computer-controlled lighting system and managing a team of technicians.[5] Her work inspired Phish's resident lighting engineer Chris Kuroda, who regularly studied techniques in order to keep up with her standards. Brightman continued working in related spin-off projects until 2005.[1][7] She returned to direct the lighting for the Fare Thee Well concerts in 2015, where she used over 500 fixtures. Now facing significant financial and health related issues. 3.    Neil Young and New Band, The Chrome Hearts, Deliver 13-Minute “Down By The River” on Night One at The Capitol Theatre My buddies and I still can't believe Neil with Crazy Horse did not play their Chicago show back in May this year.  Thank god he's ok and still playing but we are bummed out at missing the shared experience opportunity that only comes along when seeing a rock legend like Neil and there aren't many.   SHOW No. 2:                     Broken Arrow                                                Track #5                                                1:10 – 3:00 Written by Robbie Robertson and released on his album Robbie Robertson released on October 27, 1987.  It reached number 29 on the RPM CanCon charts in 1988.[23]Rod Stewart recorded a version of "Broken Arrow" in 1991 for his album Vagabond Heart.[24] Stewart's version of the song was released as a single on August 26, 1991,[25] with an accompanying music video, reaching number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two in Canada. This ballad is not to be confused either with Chuck Berry's 1959 single or Buffalo Springfield's 1967 song of the same name, written by Neil Young. "Broken Arrow" was also performed live by the Grateful Dead from 1993 to 1995 with Phil Lesh on vocals.[28] Grateful Dead spinoff groups The Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, and The Other Ones have also performed the song, each time with Lesh on vocals.[29] Played:  35 timesFirst:  February 23, 1993 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA, USALast:  July 2, 1995 at Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN, USA  SHOW No. 3:         Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds                                    Track #9                                    2:46 – 4:13 "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their May, 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartneysongwriting partnership.[2] Lennon's son Julian inspired the song with a nursery school drawing that he called "Lucy – in the sky with diamonds". Shortly before the album's release, speculation arose that the first letter of each of the nouns in the title intentionally spelled "LSD", the initialism commonly used for the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide.[3] Lennon repeatedly denied that he had intended it as a drug song,[3][4] and attributed the song's fantastical imagery to his reading of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books.[3] The Beatles recorded "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in March 1967. Adding to the song's ethereal qualities, the musical arrangement includes a Lowrey organ part heavily treated with studio effects, and a drone provided by an Indian tambura. The song has been recognised as a key work in the psychedelic genre. Among its many cover versions, a 1974 recording by Elton John – with a guest appearance by Lennon – was a number 1 hit in the US and Canada. John Lennon said that his inspiration for the song came when his three-year-old son Julian showed him a nursery school drawing that he called "Lucy – in the Sky with Diamonds",[4] depicting his classmate Lucy O'Donnell.[5] Julian later recalled: "I don't know why I called it that or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously had an affection for Lucy at that age. I used to show Dad everything I'd built or painted at school, and this one sparked off the idea."[5][6][7]Ringo Starr witnessed the moment and said that Julian first uttered the song's title on returning home from nursery school.[4][8][9] Lennon later said, "I thought that's beautiful. I immediately wrote a song about it." According to Lennon, the lyrics were largely derived from the literary style of Lewis Carroll's novel Alice in Wonderland.[3][10] Lennon had read and admired Carroll's works, and the title of Julian's drawing reminded him of the "Which Dreamed It?" chapter of Through the Looking Glass, in which Alice floats in a "boat beneath a sunny sky".[11] Lennon recalled in a 1980 interview: It was Alice in the boat. She is buying an egg and it turns into Humpty-Dumpty. The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that.[3] Paul McCartney remembered of the song's composition, "We did the whole thing like an Alice in Wonderland idea, being in a boat on the river ... Every so often it broke off and you saw Lucy in the sky with diamonds all over the sky. This Lucy was God, the Big Figure, the White Rabbit."[10] He later recalled helping Lennon finish the song at Lennon's Kenwood home, specifically claiming he contributed the "newspaper taxis" and "cellophane flowers" lyrics.[8][12] Lennon's 1968 interview with Rolling Stone magazine confirmed McCartney's contribution.[13] Lucy O'Donnell Vodden, who lived in Surbiton, Surrey, died 28 September 2009 of complications of lupus at the age of 46. Julian had been informed of her illness and renewed their friendship before her death. Rumours of the connection between the title of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and the initialism "LSD" began circulating shortly after the release of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP in June 1967.[24][25] McCartney gave two interviews in June admitting to having taken the drug.[26][27] Lennon later said he was surprised at the idea the title was a hidden reference to LSD,[3] countering that the song "wasn't about that at all,"[4] and it "was purely unconscious that it came out to be LSD. Until someone pointed it out, I never even thought of it. I mean, who would ever bother to look at initials of a title? ... It's not an acid song."[3] McCartney confirmed Lennon's claim on several occasions.[8][12] In 1968 he said: When you write a song and you mean it one way, and someone comes up and says something about it that you didn't think of – you can't deny it. Like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," people came up and said, cunningly, "Right, I get it. L-S-D," and it was when [news]papers were talking about LSD, but we never thought about it.[10] In a 2004 interview with Uncut magazine, McCartney confirmed it was "pretty obvious" drugs did influence some of the group's compositions at that time, including "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", though he tempered this statement by adding, "[I]t's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the Beatles' music." In 2009 Julian with James Scott Cook and Todd Meagher released "Lucy", a song that is a quasi-follow-up to the Beatles song. The cover of the EP showed four-year-old Julian's original drawing, that now is owned by David Gilmour from Pink Floyd.[59] Lennon's original handwritten lyrics sold at auction in 2011 for $230,000. A lot of fun to see this tune live.  Love that Jerry does the singing even though his voice is very rough and he stumble through some of the lyrics.  It is a Beatles tune, a legendary rock tune, and Jerry sings it like he wrote it at his kitchen table. Phil and Friends with the Quintent cover the tune as well and I believe Warren Haynes does the primary singing on that version.  Warren, Jimmy Herring and Phil really rock that tune like the rock veterans they are. The version is fun because it opens the second set, a place of real prominence even after having played it for six months by this point.  Gotta keep the Deadheads guessing. Played:  19 timesFirst:  March 17, 1993 at Capital Centre, Landover, MD, USALast: June 28, 1995 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI, USA  MJ NEWS: Ukrainian Officials Approve List Of Medical Marijuana Qualifying Conditions Under Country's New Legalization Law2.      Federal Marijuana And Drug Convictions Would Be Automatically Sealed Under New Bipartisan Senate Bill3.      Pennsylvania Police Arrest An Average Of 32 People For Marijuana Possession Every Day, New Data Shows As Lawmakers Weigh Legalization4.      CBD-Rich Hemp Extract Is An Effective Natural Insecticide Against Mosquitoes, New Research Shows   SHOW No. 4:         Wave To The Wind                                    Track #10                                    5:00 – 6:40 Hunter/Lesh tune that was never released.  In fact, the Dead archives say that there is no studio recording of the song.  Not a great song.  I have no real memory of it other than it shows up in song lists for a couple of shows I attended.  Even this version of the tune is really kind of flat and uninspiring but there are not a lot of Phil tunes to feature and you can only discuss Box of Rain so many times.  Just something different to talk about. Played:  21 timesFirst:  February 22, 1992 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA, USALast:  December 9, 1993 at Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA, USA  OUTRO:                   The Other One                                    Track #16                                    2:30 – 4:22 "That's It for the Other One" is a song by American band the Grateful Dead. Released on the band's second studio album Anthem of the Sun (released on July 18, 1968) it is made up of four sections—"Cryptical Envelopment", "Quadlibet for Tenderfeet", "The Faster We Go, the Rounder We Get", and "We Leave the Castle". Like other tracks on the album, is a combination of studio and live performances mixed together to create the final product. While the "We Leave the Castle" portion of the song was never performed live by the band, the first three sections were all featured in concert to differing extents. "Cryptical Envelopment", written and sung by Jerry Garcia, was performed from 1967 to 1971, when it was then dropped aside from a select few performances in 1985. "The Faster We Go, the Rounder We Get", written by Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir and sung by Weir, became one of the band's most frequently performed songs in concert (usually denoted as simply "The Other One"). One of the few Grateful Dead songs to have lyrics written by Weir, "The Faster We Go, the Rounder We Get" became one of the Dead's most-played songs (being performed a known 586 times[2]) and most popular vehicles for improvisation, with some performances reaching 30+ minutes in length. The song's lyrics reference the influence of the Merry Pranksters and in particular Neal Cassady.[2] Additionally, the line "the heat came 'round and busted me for smilin' on a cloudy day"  - one of my favorite Grateful Dead lyrics  - refers to a time Weir was arrested for throwing a water balloon at a cop from the upstairs of 710 Ashbury, the Dead's communal home during the ‘60's and early ‘70's before the band moved its headquarters, and the band members moved, to Marin County just past the Golden Gate Bridge when driving out of the City. In my experience, almost always a second set tune.  Back in the late ‘60's and early ‘70's either a full That's It For The Other One suite or just The Other One, would be jammed out as long as Dark Star and sometimes longer.  During the Europe '72 tour, Dark Star and the full Other One Suite traded off every show as the second set psychedelic rock long jam piece.  Often preceded by a Phil bass bomb to bring the independent noodling into a full and tight jam with an energy all of its own. The Other One got its name because it was being written at the same time as Alligator, one of the Dead's very first tunes.  When discussing the tunes, there was Alligator and this other one. I always loved the Other One and was lucky enough to see the full That's It For The Other One suite twice in 1985 during its too brief comeback to celebrate the Dead's 20th anniversary. Played:  550 timesFirst:  October 31, 1967 at Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA, USALast:  July 8, 1995 at Soldier Field in Chicago Birthday shout out: Nephew, Jacob Mishkin, star collegiate baseball player, turns 21and all I can say is “no effing way!”  Happy birthday dude! And a Happy and healthy New Year to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah which begins this week. .Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast

PUBLIC VERSION. Filmmaker Allan Arkush (ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, DEATHSPORT, CADDYSHACK II, GET CRAZY, HEROES, ALLY MCBEAL, MOONLIGHTING, DAWSON'S CREEK) joins Adam and Joe in the ArieScope studio to discuss his long and incredible career. From his humble beginnings working for the great Roger Corman and the lifelong friendship he formed with Joe Dante (GREMLINS)… to screening movies with the Jerry Garcia… to having a projectionist literally close the curtains in the middle of his test screening for 1978's DEATHSPORT… to his first major studio directing gig working with the legendary Andy Kaufman on 1981's HEARTBEEPS… to how his early years working at the Fillmore East lead to his 1983 film GET CRAZY… to making the move into directing television and music videos… to the difficult time he had making CADDYSHACK II… to his prolific success directing episodes of FAME, ST. ELSEWHERE, MOONLIGHTING, ALLY MCBEAL, HEROES, NASHVILLE, and more… Allan candidly shares some of his most amazing stories, triumphs, and struggles over the course of this riveting 2 hour conversation.  Also, the group does their best to provide “Hollywood Therapy” for a filmmaker struggling with self doubt, Adam passes on “Donna” several times, and Allan attends a Christmas party to remember at Mick Jagger's house!

Jeff packs a ton of bands from the 1950s to now, into the first of two parts celebrating bands with brothers and bands with sisters. This time, brother and sister bands from the letters A through H. Q: recognize the brothers in the photo? Think Macon Georgia, The Fillmore East, and some of the finest southern blues rock ever made. That and more right here. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Frumess sits down with the legendary director Allan Arkush to discuss his incredible work as a filmmaker. Subscribe to Allan's youtube channel HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@UCSormz-EZa4yugvJ3MyKVkQ ⁠www.frumess.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FRUMESS is POWERED by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.riotstickers.com/frumess⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ JOIN THE PATREON FOR LESS THAN A $2 CUP OF COFFEE!! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/Frumess ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Born in New York City and raised in the Caribbean as Richard Gerstein - Richard T. Bear boasts a career that spans more than 40 years, one that led to a string of acclaimed solo albums and collaborations with a number of influential icons, including Al Kooper, Stephen Stills, former Rascals Gene Cornish and Dino Danelli, Kiss, Pat Benatar and many more. He has shared stages with artists such as Dave Mason, Mick Fleetwood, the Doobie Brothers, Richie Havens and Odetta. T. Bear penned "Love and Pain," a track found on Take Me Home, one of Cher's most successful albums and also tallied several hits on his own, including the single "Sunshine Hotel" from his debut album Red, Hot and Blue. He has appeared on a number of recordings including CSN's Southern Cross, Billy Squier's Tale of the Tape and The Blues Brothers Soundtrack album. After taking some time to focus on his own sobriety, T. Bear became an early activist helping others with addiction. His self-imposed hiatus lasted nearly three decades, and now T Bear is back with two striking new releases, Fresh Bear Tracks and The Way of the World, his first studio albums in 25+ years. Richard is a distinctive singer and talented keyboard player. His latest albums feature a host of special guests. From Stephen Stills, Robby Krieger, Edgar Winter, Walter Trout, to former Paul McCartney & Wings members Laurence Juber and Denny Seiwell and The Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench. His latest album, The Way of The World, was written and recorded as the world emerged from the pandemic. It boasts a stunning set of 13 original songs. Musically, it's a stirring melodic mix of blues, rock n roll, Americana, and roots. T. Bear's first album spawned the single “Sunshine Hotel.” A remix of the song climbed to #4 on the world dance charts before becoming the dance staple that it remains today. Richard has appeared on numerous recordings by iconic artists including Crosby, Stills and Nash's Southern Cross, The Blues Brothers Soundtrack, Richie Havens Mixed Bag II, Kiss members Gene Simmons and Peter Criss' solo ventures, as well as Toby Beau's hit single My Angel Baby. As a soloist T Bear found his initial inspiration in the sounds of the British Invasion. At age 13 he was writing his own songs.  An early break came when he was working at Manny's Music in New York City when Hot Tuna's Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady stopped in and hear him improvising on piano. They were impressed enough to ask him to sit in with them during a Hot Tuna show at the famed Fillmore East. He worked for a time as Carly Simon's road manager and opened shows for the likes of Jeff Beck and Richie Havens before moving to Los Angeles.  In 1983, he took a lengthy hiatus from making music to get his personal life in order before returning to action in 2017. Fast forward to the present and T Bear is so excited about the new album.  As he puts it, “Making The Way of the World was like getting a new pair of glasses. I see everything more clearly and in focus around me. These are songs that made me think and dream. It's an oasis for the mind.” Meet Richard T Bear this week as he unravels his incredible story of survival and comeback against all odds. I hope you really enjoy this episode.  

If you love the Allman Brothers Band you will love this episode with Dr. Bob Beatty -historian/author of the book PLAY ALL NIGHT: Duanne Allman and The Journey To FILLMORE EAST!  Dr Bob Beatty is recognized as one of the most respected historians of the Allman Brothers Band and their important legacy and influence on American music, politics and culture. For more on Bob and his work about The Allman Brothers log onto:https://www.longlivetheabb.com/https://www.facebook.com/LongLiveTheABB

Guests: Frank Mastropolo and Joshua White This month, "Reading is Funktamental" host Sal Cataldi speaks to two people who know the illustrious history of the legendary Fillmore East best. Frank Mastropolo is the author of Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock History Forever, a comprehensive history of the most famous rock hall in NYC history. He will joined by Joshua White, the man who created the Joshua Light Show which added an artsy element to the sounds made on this venerable stage."Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. From time to time, the host and authors will be joined by notable musicians, writers, and artists who are die-hard fans of the subject matter covered. Expect lively conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it. "Reading Is Funktamental" can be heard the second Wednesday of every month from 10 – 11 AM on Wave Farm: WGXC 90.7 FM and online at wavefarm.org.Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

This week, RITY has hit the road as I'll be broadcasting LIVE from The Fillmore East in New York City! So many great names on the bill for this show! For more info on the show, visit reelinwithryan.com

"Neil Young's 2024 Tour with Crazy Horse: A Legendary Performance"Larry Mishkin discusses the creation of the song "The Music Never Stopped" by Bob Weir and John Perry Barlow. Weir explains his collaborative process with Barlow, where they developed lyrics together over the phone, inspired by Barlow's description of a scene from Wyoming. Weir also reflects on the importance of lyrical and musical cohesion, and the song's debut and history of performances, including at venues like the Great American Music Hall and the Palladium. The discussion transitions to Neil Young's recent tour with Crazy Horse, highlighting the band's performance and Young's energy despite his age. He also mentions upcoming events and concludes with a focus on the Grateful Dead's performance of "St. Stephen" and other songs from 47 years ago. Grateful DeadApril 30, 1977  (47 years ago, tomorrow)PalladiumNYCGrateful Dead Live at The Palladium on 1977-04-30 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet ArchiveAudience Tape This is another good show from 1977, but the recording quality is actually not bad considering this is an audience recording.  Since then the show has been commercially released as the first volume of the Grateful Dead Download Series if you want to hear the crisper soundboard recording.Highlights from this show are the first set Mississippi Half Step and even Looks Like Rain is played with a passion that is moving even if the song always is not. In the second set, the Dead start off with a Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain (pretty good), swing into a fun mid-set Good Lovin (common for that time, but for the last 15 years, it was almost always a set closer as an alternative to Sugar Mag) or an encore tune (send everyone home with a smile), Friend of the Devil , Estimated Prophet.  And then they blow the doors off the place with a St. Stephen>Not Fade Away>Stella Blue>St. Stephen sandwich that must be heard in full to be truly appreciated.  It's pretty awesome to hear Stella Blue transition back into the St. Stephen, an unusual pairing to say the least. Close with a Saturday Night and then yet another 1977 Terrapin Stationencore.   INTRO:                                 Music Never Stopped                                                Track #2                                                0:00 – 1:26                 Hunter Weir tune, released on Blues For Allah (Sept. 1,1975). Bob:  As a lyricist I'm glacially slow. I can generally get the job done, but it takes too damned long. So I like to work with people who have a little more facility with that—you know, John Barlow, Garrett Grant, Robert Hunter.Or I may have a general notion of the color of the rhythm and the harmonic or melodic development, and I'll sit with a guy and we just fire blank verse at each other until we start to corner that color—and then often the song will fall right out of the sky. Other times, I may have no notion of where the song wants to go, in which case I'll let whoever I'm working with surprise me. . . .“The Music Never Stopped” is a song that we wrote over the telephone. I had this business going [plays opening guitar riff, Example 13 below]. So I played this over the phone to John, and he just started spitting stuff at me. The first line came out, “There's mosquitoes on the river / Fish are rising up like birds.” He was living in Wyoming at the time on a ranch, and he started describing a situation that I'd seen with him, where it was late summer on a dry year and things were hot and kind of dull and dead.So where are we going to take this? Well, first I figured the verse is going to have to be twice as long as I originally figured, because if you're starting with an image that thick, you have to get into some detail about it. “It's been hot for seven weeks now / Too hot to even speak now / Did you hear what I just heard?” That last line came after some deliberation. It's a pregnant line, sort of like a leading tone in a harmonic development.The success of the endeavor, if you're working with a lyricist, depends on how closely the lyric marries the music. With Barlow or Gerrit Graham or whoever, there's a lot of back and forth. I guess I get to be the decider, because the words are going to have to come from my lips. And so I have to be able to tell the story.I have to be that character, because my job is to get the hell out of the way and let the character tell the story, musically and lyrically. When I'm standing in front of the microphone, I may look like me, but I'm not.If the character arrives with a really defined face and features, then it's easy for me to do my job.Fun version because almost always a first set closer and here it is opening the show.  Love that.            236 times            First:  August 13, 1975 at Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA, USA            Last:  June 28, 1995 at The Palace of Auburn Hills                      The Palladium:  The Palladium (originally called the Academy of Music) was a movie theatre, concert hall, and finally nightclub in New York City. It was located on the south side of East 14th Street, between Irving Place and Third Avenue.Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, it was built in 1927 across the street from the site of the original Academy of Music established by financier Moses H. Grinnell in 1852. Opened as a deluxe movie palace by movie mogul William Fox, the academy operated as a cinema through the early 1970s.Beginning in the 1960s, it was also utilized as a rock concert venue, particularly following the June 1971 closure of the Fillmore East. It was rechristened the Palladium on September 18, 1976, with the Band live radio broadcast,[1] and continued to serve as a concert hall into the following decade.In 1985, the Palladium was converted into a nightclub by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, after their success with Studio 54. Japanese architect Arata Isozaki redesigned the building's interior for the club.[2]Peter Gatien owned and operated the club from 1992 until 1997.The Palladium closed in August 1997 following its purchase by New York University.[3] In August 1998, the building was demolished in order to build a twelve-story residence hall that students affectionately referred to as Palladium HalThe Dead also played there when it was called the Academy of Music in a series of seven shows on their way to Europe for the '72 tour.  One of the those shows, the entire March 28, 1972 performance plus selections from March 25, 1972 and March 27, 1972 were released as Dick's Picks Vol. 30This five night Palladium run, of which today's show was the second, is famous for a lot of reasons including the part of 1977 when the Dead put together a string of some of their best shows ever, peaking on May 8, 1977, just over one week later, at Barton Hall in Ithaca, NY.  All five of these shows are well played, great tunes, and a very grooving feel that you can still pick up off of the CD or down load 47 years later.  I had most of these shows on tape and wore them out from so much playing.  Love that they previously released this show as Download Series Vol. 1 and the new Dave's Picks release, No. 50!!, is the May 3, 1977 show including some extra songs from the next night as well as the annual Dave's Picks Bonus Disc that is even more songs from the May 4th show).  If you are not listening to Dave's Picks, you are missing out on quality recordings of some of the best shows ever.How hot was the band, check out this extended jam at the end of ½ Step, the second to last song of the first set (ending with a great Promised Land) and be sure to listen for Jerry and Keith going back and forth throughout this clip:                                             SHOW No. 1:                    Mississippi ½ Step                                                Track #11                                                7:06 – 9:29 Garcia/Huner tune released on Wake of the Flood in 1973.  Also live versions included on Steal Your Face, Dick's Picks Vol. 1, Without a Net and who knows how many other Dick's/Dave's Picks releases, etc.  If you want to hear it, you can find it, easily. First performed July 16, 1972 at Dillon Stadium in Hartford, Connecticut. Followed "Me and My Uncle" and led into "Sing Me Back Home," which closed out the first set. A staple of the repertoire ever since. 236 times (exact same as Music Never stopped!)First:  July 16, 1972 at Dillon Stadium, Hartford, CT, USALast:  July 6, 1995 at Riverport Amphitheater Maryland Heights, MO Music News: Neil Young Tour  SHOW No. 2:                    St. Stephen                                                Track #1                                                              0:00 – 1:49 Blah Blah Blah, everyone knows about St. Stephen.  Dead's Fluffhead apparently.  Because of its true melodic nature and strong lyrics, it existed long outside and after the end of Primal Dead.  Still only played a total of 187 times:                 First:  May 24, 1968 at National Guard Armory, St. Louis, MO, USA            Last:  October 31, 1983 at Marin Veteran's Memorial Auditorium, San RafaelBut post Dead hiatus year, they started making song sandwiches often based around this song.  This four song sandwich at the end of the show is so good that I had to feature all of it at the expense of some other really great tunes like Bertha, Peggy O, Looks Like Rain, Promised Land, and any tune in the second set.  This sandwich is just too cool to ignore or not give it proper due. Here is the first layer change: SHOW No. 3:                    St. Stephen>Not Fade Away                                                St. Stephen                                                Track #19                                                4:10 – end                                                INTO                                                Not Fade Away                                                Track #20                                                0:00 – 1:15 Great switch out of St. Stephen and into an amazing opening jam of NFA. I wanted to try and catch the opening lyrics but the jam went on for almost 4 minutes which is too long even for these extended clips. MJ News Check out this next transition that they pull off seamlessly: SHOW No. 4:                    Not Fade Away>Stella Blue                                                Not Fade Away                                                Track #20                                                14:15 – end                                                INTO                                                Stella Blue                                                Track #21                                                0:00 – 1:30 Beautiful how they downshift on cue from the raucous NFA into the gentle and beautiful ballad mode required for Stella Blue.  Jerry's voice is so strong and clear.  Really a treat. Not even getting to the last tune of the encore today.  Not enough time but had to close out the episode with the final sandwich transition, from Stella back into an immediate upbeat St. Stephen that is so strong I told Dan we could not edit out any of it!  What a great (almost ending) to such a great show.   Deadheads walked out knowing there were still 3 more to go!  Like going to bed and already being told the next day is a snow day! Thank you all for listening.  Please be sure to join us next week when I am joined by Rob Bleetstein of Grateful Dead Radio (show host), Pearl Jam radio and he is also the Curator for the New Riders of the Purple Sage.  He is joining us to discuss, among other things, the newly released NRPS live album “Hempsteader”.  If you haven't heard it yet, check it out.  I'm looking forward to hearing from Rob how this was all put together and what the NRSP are up to these days. Also, a Birthday shoutout to very good buddy, Sam who is turning old tomorrow.  At his age, the actual number doesn't matter but we love him anyway. ENCORE:                            Stella Blue>St Stephen                                                Stella Blue                                                Track #21                                                7:50 – end                                                INTO                                                St. Stephen                                                Track #22                                                Start - end .Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast

Episode 140: Another 15 Million Unit LP, Long Time Since Phoenix Flew And More April 19, 2024 The ironies in life… This hour-long show just played on RadioFreeNashville.org and yesterday I was informed that Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band had passed away peacefully. He was 80. Jaimoe is the soul survivor of the original ABB now. The irony being that this particular episode started off Wednesday on radiofreenashville.org talking about the Allman Brothers at Fillmore East sessions from the summer of 1971. In fact, the second and third tunes from that session, on this episode, are from those Fillmore East fabulous concerts. If you didn't catch it during the live radio show, I was living in South Florida and was hanging out with some people I would call cool and we were doing a lot of concerts (and a fair amount of extracurricular recreational things). The concerts were affordable, like five dollars to eight dollars and we didn't mind traveling an hour to the Miami jai alai fronton to see the Allman Brothers Band live. That allowed plenty of time to get our heads right. It was a big party! It was the Fillmore East sessions! We were blown away. And in the first three months that the double album was on the market, it's sold a half million copies. I still have mine and you probably know I'm in love with it! Stormy Monday is a killer, you don't love me is a great jam and the four sides contain wall-to-wall great southern rock. By the way, Tales Vinyl Tells plays Wednesdays at 5 PM Central time on 103.7 and 107.1 FM around Nashville and streams live on RadioFreeNashville.org and here. Replays can be heard on the StudioMillsWellness website, iheart, playerFM, Apple, Podbean.com(our RSS feed host) and most of your good podcasting apps. I'm asking for your financial support to help me pay the bills and make this show better. Thanks to all the generous fans of this great music of the 60s & 70s. My story is at Patron.podbean.com/talesvinyltellssupport. Thank you, thank you. All you listeners and especially you financial supporters, I want you to send me your favorite artist(s), favorite songs, memories etc. What I'd like to do is put together a special private podcast for the financial supporters. Ya dig? I asked my bud Vince to do that a few years ago and you can hear the Vince Playlist on episode 92. He's no longer with us which makes his list that much more valued. Dig in.

This week Dave and Bryan take a look at Allan Arkush's follow up to Rock n Roll High School, the rock musical Looney Tunes mayhem of Get Crazy. It's a story of three filmmakers butting heads over the movie they were trying to make. Arkush intended for a nostalgia-drenched tribute to his teenage years at The Fillmore East in the style of Scorcese's The Last Waltz, the producer wanted a fast and stupid visual comedy in the style of Airplane! and the Executive Producer wanted a movie that was going to fail and fail badly so his tax shelter investors could turn a healthy profit. Somehow, they all got what they wanted in the end. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bring-me-the-axe/message

"Reflecting on the Grateful Dead's Capitol Theatre Shows and Toby Keith smoking with Willie Nelson"Larry Michigan discusses the Grateful Dead's historic show at the Capitol Theatre on February 19, 1971. Larry reminisces about the atmosphere of the venue and the significance of the performance, highlighting the debut of several iconic Dead songs. The discussion delves into the band's evolving musical style, particularly the transition from psychedelic blues to Americana influences. He explores the historical context surrounding the show, including Mickey Hart's departure from the band and the impact of manager Lenny Hart's embezzlement. He also touches upon the significance of the show's release in the "From the Vault" series and discuss other notable releases in the Dead's catalog. Additionally, Larry provides updates on Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers' postponed performances with the National Symphony Orchestra and share news about upcoming music releases.  Grateful DeadFebruary 19, 1971 (53 years ago)Capitol TheatrePort Chester, NYGrateful Dead Live at Capitol Theatre on 1971-02-19 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive The second of the legendary six night run at the Capitol Theatre in late February, 1971:Feb. 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, and 24 INTRO:                  Loser                                Track #3                                2:55 – 4:24 Hunter/Garcia tune that was released on “Garcia”, Jerry's first solo album, in January, 1972, the last song on side one of the album.  It was a standard first set tune, part of a rotating number of Jerry first set ballads including Candyman, It Must Have Been The Roses, High Time, Row Jimmy, To Lay Me Down and others. A very sweet melodic tune that tells a great story by way of a beautiful piece of music.  SECOND time playedPlayed a total of 353 timesFirst time:  “Last”night 2.18.71Last:  June 28, 1995, The Palace of Auburn Hills, outside Detroit                               THIS SHOW: Last year we covered the Feb. 18th show famous as the debut for Bertha, Greatest Story, Loser, Wharf Rat and Playin In The Band and the Beautiful Jam out of Wharf Rat and back into Dark Star.  It was also Mickey's last show before his almost three year hiatus before he returned for the final 1974 show before the band's 1975 year off February 19th show is just as historical:  The band's first show without Mickey since he joined the band in 1967.  Many people theorize that this was Mickey's response to his father, Lenny Hart who was the band's manager stealing almost $155,000 of the band's assets before disappearing.  Although he was eventually located by a private detective hired by the band and arrested in San Diego on July 26, 1971, convicted and spent six months in jail, the money was never returned.  The song, “He's Gone” is based on Lenny Hart's embezzlement and disappearance.  Ashamed by his father's actions, Mickey left the band after the 2.18.71 Capitol Theater show returning full time in 1975.  Lenny died of natural causes on Feb. 2, 1975.  According to Dennis McNally, "Mickey went to the funeral home, cleared the room, took out the snakewood sticks that had been his inheritance, played a traditional rudimental drum piece, "The Downfall of Paris" on Lenny's coffin, and split." Starting with this show, the band became a very lean mean fighting machine with just five members (Jerry, Bobby, Phil, Bill and Pig) until Keith jointed the band seven months later in September.  On this night, the band played the five songs debuted the night before and debuted Deal and Birdsong.  Pig also has a strong showing this night leading the band through four standouts:             Hurts Me Too            Smokestack Lightning:  the third to last time it would be played with Pig in the band            Easy Wind:  the second to last time it would be played without Pig in the band            Good Lovin  This really marked the beginning of the band's hard shift away from psychedelic blues (Primal Dead) to the more Americana style music that began with Workingman's and American Beauty.  Within a year, Pig would be very ill with just enough energy left for the Europe '72 tour.  But this night, he was rocking the house like only he could do.  Here is the first of his four featured songs:  SHOW No. 1:      Hurts Me Too                                Track # 5                                2:08 – 3:42 Great showcase number for Pig featuring his singing and harp playing.  We got just a bit of Jerry's lead but all this great music is too long to fit into one clip – don't want Dan getting mad at me! "It Hurts Me Too" is a blues standard that is "one of the most interpreted blues [songs]".[1] First recorded in 1940 by Tampa Red in Chicago, the song is a mid-tempo eight-bar blues that features slide guitar. It borrows from earlier blues songs and has been recorded by many artists.  Release on May 10th with Tired of Your Reckless Ways on the B-side. In 1949, Tampa Red recorded a variation of "It Hurts Me Too", titled "When Things Go Wrong with You".[9] It was recast in the style of a Chicago blues, with electric guitar and a more up to date backing arrangement. The song was a hit and reached number nine on Billboard'sRhythm & Blues Records chart in 1949.[10] (The original "It Hurts Me Too" was released before Billboard or a similar reliable service began tracking such releases, so it is difficult to gauge which version was more popular, although the former's title won out over the latter's.) Although the song retained the refrain "When things go wrong, so wrong with you, it hurts me too", Tampa Red varied the rest of the lyrics somewhat. This would become the pattern for future versions, in which succeeding artists would interpret the song with some of their own lyrics. Noted covers:            Elmore James            Junior Wells            Grateful Dead – with Pig singing the vocals.  Was first released by the Dead on Europe '72 album.  After Pig left the band, the song was retired.             The Dead played the song a total of 59 times            First:    May 19, 1966 at the Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco            Last:     May 24, 1972 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London (last show of Europe '72 tour             “FROM THE VAULT”: This entire show was released by the Dead as “Three From The Vault” in 2007.  The “From The Vault” series, launched by the Band in 1991 with One From The Vault – August 13, 1975 at The Great American Music Hall, with first live performance of the songs from Blues For Allah.  In 1992 the Dead released “Two From The Vault” – August 23 and 24, 1968 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.  Then, along came Dick Latvala and his Dead scene changing Dick's Picks series which was wildly popular, so much so that the In The Vault Series was put on hold.  For 15 years.  Until 2007 when they circled back to the original series of live releasees with Three From The Vault which features the same show we are talking about today from the Capitol Theatre.  That was it for In The Vault releases.  The Dead did have several other “Vault” like releases – multi-track recordings including Hundred Year Haul, Dozin' At The Knick, Fallout From the Phil Zone, Terrapin Station, Live At the Fillmore East 2.11.69, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Grateful Dead, Nightfall of Diamonds, Trucking Up To Buffalo and so many more. They just stopped calling them “From The Vault”.  Dick's Picks, of course would go on to have a total of 36 releases, the last few releases coming after Dick's death in 1999.  Which led into the still wildly popular Dave's Picks from David Lemieux who took over for Dick and now has 49 releases and still going strong.  And “short” lived, but generally popular  “Roadtrips” series.  And all of the box sets that are all amazing but too numerous to name except for the Complete Recordings, the four-night run at the Fillmore West from Feb. 27 to March 2, 1969 – four shows with the band at the peak of Primal Dead, and Europe '72 which consists of the live recordings for all of the shows on that tour.  Another milestone for the Dead in terms of their ever expanding reputation for Jam Band, psychedelic, and amazing song catalogue, even at that “early” stage of the band's existence.  SHOW No. 2:      Playin In The Band                                Track # 7                                2:23 – 4:05                                            By:  Weir and Hunter "Playing in the Band" is a song by the Grateful Dead. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter and rhythm guitaristBob Weir composed the music, with some assistance from percussionist Mickey Hart.[1] The song first emerged in embryonic form on the self-titled 1971 live albumGrateful Dead. It then appeared in a more polished form on Ace, Bob Weir's first solo album (which included every Grateful Dead member except Ron "Pigpen" McKernan).The instrumental break of "Playing in the Band" was introduced as early as the February 19, 1969 "Celestial Synapse" show at the Fillmore West, in which it appears somewhat indistinct from the preceding and following jams.[5] The completed song was also included on Mickey Hart's 1972 solo album Rolling Thunder within "The Main Ten", making reference to the song's time signature of 10/4.  "The Main Ten" appears on Dick's Picks Volume 16, from their performance at the Fillmore West on November 8, 1969. On that set, it appears in the middle of "Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)".During a Bob Weir and Wolf Bros concert livestream on February 12, 2021, Weir credited David Crosby with the composition of the main riff. Weir stated, "David Crosby came up with the seminal lick... and then he left. We were out at Mickey's barn. So Mickey said, 'Make a song out of that'. Next day, I had it" It has since become one of the best-known Grateful Dead numbers and a standard part of their repertoire, usually as a second set pre-drums jumping off point for jams to who knows where. According to Deadbase X, it ranks fourth on the list of songs played most often in concert by the band with over 600 performances. If you download this show from Archive.org, and play this track, at the 3:20 mark during the mid-song jam, they get to the point where they would normally dive back in but instead, Bobby plays on for an almost additional 30 seconds and then just dives back in to the song.  He is clearly still working it out.  Over the course of the Europe '72 tour, it was played almost every night as Bobby finally worked it outThis is all really good stuff. SECOND time ever played 661 times (No. 1)                First – “last: night's show, Feb. 18, 1971 Capitol Theatre                Last:       July 5, 1995 at Riverport Amphitheater, Maryland Heights, MO outside of St. Louis.                SHOW No. 3:      Greatest Story Ever Told (The Pump Song)                              Track #13                           Start – 1:41               By Weir, Hart and Robert Hunter (some give credit to Rev. Gary Davis)               Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis (born Gary D. Davis, April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972),[1] was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy, Davis first performed professionally in the Piedmont blues scene of Durham, North Carolina in the 1930s, then converted to Christianity and became a minister. After moving to New York in the 1940s, Davis experienced a career rebirth as part of the American folk music revival that peaked during the 1960s. Davis' most notable recordings include "Samson and Delilah"[2] and "Death Don't Have No Mercy" Released on:AceRolling Thunder, as "The Pump Song"Dead SetDick's Pick's, vol. 6Europe '72 box setLots of other releases              Per Hunter:  "Also known as "Pumpman" and "Moses"--I wrote this to the rhythm of the pump in Mickey Hart's well."                Released on Ace on May 1, 1972              First song on the album with Bobby setting a rocking tone              Another tune that was played almost every night of and refined during the Europe '72 tour                             283 times              First:  “last night” 2.18.71              Last:  June 27, 1995 at the Palace at Auburn Hills outside Detroit               SHOW No. 4:      Bird Song                                Track #15                           :42 – 2:15               By Garcia and Hunter              Second song on Garcia              Robert Hunter originally wrote the song as a tribute for Janis Joplin. Phil Lesh now sings "All I know is something like a bird within him sang", transfering it Jerry Garcia instead A regular for the Dead, and still played by Dead and Co., Bobby and Phil and Friends. Beautiful song, even for the fist time you know it's going to be special. Played 301 tines              First:  This is it!              Last:   June 30, 1995 at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA   OUTRO:                Deal                                Track #17                                Start – 1:33  May 16, 2023 by Chris Huber of Chill One of the Grateful Dead's live staples, and many gambling songs is the Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia collaboration, “Deal”. First performed on February 19th, 1971, the song was in regular rotation until the end, both for the Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band.“Deal” saw studio release as the opening track to Jerry Garcia's 1972 debut solo album, Garcia, which also contained several other classic Grateful Dead live songs including “Sugaree”, “Bird Song”, “Loser”, and “The Wheel. Although it would move around a bit in the set list early on, this debut version is consistent with the ultimate tradition of the song closing out the first set.  Even in JGB sets it was a first set closer.  And would always leave you waiting through the break to see how they were going to kick off the second set and keep the show moving along.  For a first time played, this version stays true to the version we all know and love from a few years later.                            Played 428 times              First:  This is IT              Last:  June 18, 1995, Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ Thank you. .Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast

We are pleased to be revisit our conversation with our friend Kelli Dowd, as we discuss this iconic live album from the Allman Brothers!  We'll consider it's slot change, and discuss why this is not just a great live album, but also get to hear of Kelli's great love of music and her many live concert experiences. As a reminder, you can find our favorite songs from the RS500 on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠our Spotify playlist right here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - we'll be updating it as we go with our favorite songs from each album! You can check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rolling Stone's updated 2020 list right here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We'd love it if you would review us in your favorite podcast app, and while you're at it, give us a like on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook Page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and send us a message if you have any comments or questions. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/soundlogic/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/soundlogic/support

Backstage interviews during Grateful Guitars' Inaugural Benefit Concert at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco: Music director and show participant Alex Jordan talks about herding the group of talented musicians playing at the show; Zach Nugent (Zach Nugent's Dead Set) chats about his history of playing the famed guitars supplied by Grateful Guitars; Gary Lambert (Sirius Radio Tales From The Golden Road host) reflects on his Grateful Dead journey and the band's staying power; and keyboard player extraordinaire, Danny Eisenberg tells a memorable story about his first exposure to the music and Jerry Garcia's under appreciated voice. Also, a bonus interview with Johnny “Mojo” Flores (Achilles Wheel) moments after he played the famed “Alligator” guitar at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA. All guests express their deep appreciation for Grateful Guitars Founder and President, Andy Logan!He's GoneInternet Archive.org: Grateful DeadGrateful Dead Live at Musikhalle on 1972-04-29https://archive.org/details/gd72-04-29.aud.vernon.5250.sbeok.shnf/gd72-04-29d2t04.shnUncle John's BandInternet Archive.org: KSANGrateful Dead 1970 Winterland SF KSAN 1970-10-04https://archive.org/details/grateful-dead-1970-winterland-sf-ksan/gd1970-10-04t14.mp3Ripple (2015 Remaster)Robert Hunter/Jerry GarciaYouTube Channel: The Grateful DeadProvided to YouTube by Grateful Dead/Rhinohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wh7ylJManIMagnificent Sanctuary BandSunshine Garcia Band - Days Between, Laytonville, CA August 7, 2022https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9TqJpz_YqIYouTube Channel: Ted Silverman AKA TedToobhttp://www.youtube.com/@TedToobSeasons of My HeartGeorge JonesSeasons of My Heart - Previously unreleased studio rehearsal from 1969https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ylxKwa691if_PVE90rwYwLI3ZJ13WnupFfBz5FS2gO4/editYouTube Channel: DaysBetweenhttp://www.youtube.com/@daysbetween6339Romance of The ViolinSongs My Mother Taught Me, Op. 55, No. 4 (Arr. for Violin and Orchestra)Joshua Bell · Michael Stern · Antonín Dvorák · Craig Ogden · Academy of St Martin in the Fieldshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw0HqxWJvPkYouTube Channel: Joshua Bellhttp://www.youtube.com/@joshuabellmusicStella BlueRobert Hunter/Jerry Garcia“Stella Blue” - Oteil BurbridgeFrom the album “Lovely View of Heaven”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOy5zVDoyR8YouTube Channel: Relixhttp://www.youtube.com/@RelixMagBilly's BagBilly PrestonProvided to YouTube by The state51 Conspiracyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC77Qw9FIfMYouTube Channel: Billy Preston - Topichttp://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk0o3_qkXiJn8ZNiIoAOWmQWharf RatRobert Hunter/Jerry GarciaGrateful Dead - Live at Fillmore East, New York, NY, April 26, 1971https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6NDmh86RAYouTube Channel: Grateful Deadhttp://www.youtube.com/@gratefuldeadPeggy-OPEGGY O-GRATEFUL DEAD- 9/3/1977-Vocals and Guitar Isolatedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmG3IzrPZOMYouTube Channel: Grungy Channelhttp://www.youtube.com/@GRUNZYLinkshttps://gratefulguitars.org/https://www.alexjordanjams.com/https://www.zachnugent.com/https://www.siriusxm.com/channels/grateful-dead-channelhttps://www.facebook.com/tftgr/: https://oteil.fanlink.to/stellabluehttps://www.facebook.com/danny.eisenberg.758https://www.facebook.com/p/G-Deloian-Band-100070913872268/https://www.motherhips.com/

On Aug. 18, 1969, legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix stepped onto the stage at the Woodstock, N.Y., Music Festival and embarked upon an uninterrupted set lasting nearly two hours--one of the longest performances of his career.FOUR MONTHS LATER...........December 31, 1969 -Prior to their two concerts later that evening, Hendrix and his Band Of Gypsys held an afternoon sound check and rehearsal at the Fillmore East.Fillmore East, New York Two Shows Prior to their two concerts later that evening, Hendrix and his Band Of Gypsys held an afternoon sound check and rehearsal at the Fillmore East. Later that evening, before a sold out crowd of 2,639, Hendrix rang in the New Year and new decade with two unforgettable performances. The evening's festivities opened with a spirited set by the Voices Of East Harlem, an enthusiastic young gospel ensemble. With the anticipation of the sold out Fillmore audience heightened to fever pitch, Hendrix led his trio through a scintillating, seventy-five minute opening performance. None of the eleven songs presented had yet to grace an Experience album. In the place of signature songs like “Purple Haze” and “All Along The Watchtower” were confident renditions of “Izabella” and “Hear My Train A Comin'”. At midnight, Kip Cohen, the venue's master of ceremonies, rang in the new year and decade buffeted by Guy Lombardo's “Auld Lang Syne”. Never one to be upstaged, Jimi and company greeted the joyous house with their own inspired reading of the holiday staple. For Amalie Rothschild, the Fillmore East's house photographer, the experience was an unforgettable one. “Then there was the countdown at midnight. It was the countdown that was a real scream. We're talking about the end of the Sixties. December 31, 1969 turning into January 1, 1970–.A new decade. This was significant. After all, we were living through it and we knew that the Sixties were the Sixties. We had this big countdown on the [Joshua White] light show screen with this big clock 10, 9, 8, 7, 6…and everybody is yelling together. Then the light show screen pulls up and everybody is on stage–all the crew and the musicians. Hendrix, who is now on stage, launches into this amazing rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne' and I filmed it [excerpts of Rothschild's color film footage can be seen in the VHS/DVD Band Of Gypsys]. This was history in the making. You could not miss this. His performance was just so inspired. It was just terrific and I can't find the words to describe it.” The recordings which make up both Band Of Gypsys and its two disc sequel Live At The Fillmore East certainly bear out Rothschild's remembrances. Jimi's celebrated work with the Band Of Gypsys stands among his most impressive and lasting achievements. After the show, Ian Dove of Record Mirror interviewed Jimi Hendrix for the January 10, 1970 edition of the British paper. Later that night, Hendrix retreated to The Café Caliph (previously known as The Café Au Go Go) in Greenwich Village where he joined The James Cotton Blues Band on stage for a jam.

In which The Curmudgeons plumb the vast archival releases of one of our favorite artists, Neil Young. Chris, in fact, considers himself a Neil Young-ologist, and he takes the lead in touring ten of the most essential releases in what has seemed, since 2009, like a never-ending torrent of live recordings and unreleased studio material dating all the way back to the 1960s. Also, Arturo shows how much he doesn't know about Young's 1974 classic record On the Beach.     Here's a nifty Wikipedia page to help you start exploring the Neil Young Archives yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young_Archives   Also check out Neil Young's YouTube channel, in which nearly everything he has ever released is available for free: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8gbK8uoqKhlACSeenUPkFQ    Here's a handy navigation companion for this episode.   (0:54 - 3:44) - Arturo sets the parameters for the episode   (06:38 - 17:26) - The Parallel Universe, featuring new releases from Jamila Woods and Robert Finley   (18:25 - 59:44) - A run through five Neil Young Archival releases, including Live at Fillmore East 1970 and Odeon Budokan   (01:01:22 - 01:46:26) - A run through five more Neil Young archival releases, including Chrome Dreams and Way Down in the Rust Bucket   Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80M

The Hook Rocks quarterly Live Album Review series continues with a discussion about the legendary Allman Brothers Band live album "At The Fillmore East". Joined once again by Twitter follower & Super Fan 'Rob in The Hood' we reflect on its iconic status amongst music fans & why this is considered one of the best live performances ever recorded. Please enjoy the episode! Part of The Pantheon Podcast Network The Allman Brothers Band https://allmanbrothersband.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Fillmore_East Rob In The Hood https://twitter.com/TheRecidivists The Hook Rocks https://www.facebook.com/TheHookRocks/ https://www.instagram.com/thehookrocks/ https://twitter.com/TheHookRocks Pantheon Podcasts http://pantheonpodcasts.com/ https://www.facebook.com/PantheonPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/pantheonpods/ https://twitter.com/pantheonpods Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this video, we dive deep into the legendary live album "Band of Gypsys" by the iconic Jimi Hendrix. Join us as we take a journey through the history, significance, and musical brilliance that makes this record an absolute classic. Released in 1970, "Band of Gypsys" was a groundbreaking departure from Hendrix's previous work with the Experience. This album was recorded live at the Fillmore East in New York City and it showcases a new musical direction for Hendrix, incorporating funk, blues, and soul elements into his signature psychedelic rock sound. We'll take an in-depth look at each of the album's six tracks, including the mesmerizing "Machine Gun," the groovy "Power to Love," and the soulful "Message to Love." Learn about the stories and inspirations behind these songs and why they remain fan favorites to this day. Hendrix's Band of Gypsys featured the exceptional rhythm section of Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. We'll explore their chemistry and the impact they had on Jimi's music during this pivotal period. We'll delve into Jimi Hendrix's creative vision during this time in his career and how "Band of Gypsys" represented a departure from his earlier work, showcasing his growth as an artist and his commitment to pushing musical boundaries. Join us as we celebrate the timeless brilliance of Jimi Hendrix and his "Band of Gypsys." Whether you're a longtime fan or new to his music, there's something for everyone to appreciate in this monumental live album. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell to stay updated on our latest explorations of music history. Let us know in the comments your favorite track and the one track you would Scratch from "Band of Gypsys" 0:00 Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys Album Review 19:45 Who Knows 22:30 Machine Gun 26:35 Changes 29:05 Power to Love 31:10 Message of Love 32:25 We Gotta Live Together 34:45 Grimm's Scratch 35:55 Dude's Scratch #JimiHendrix #MusicHistory #ClassicAlbums

"The Sphere in Vegas: U2's Sonic Odyssey and the Future of Concert Venues"Larry Mishkin  is joined by great friend of the show, Alex Wellins to catch up and talk about a Grateful Dead concert held at Poly Pavilion on November 20th, 1971. Larry talks about the significance of the show, including the band's transition in music style, notable songs played, and the presence of famous basketball player Bill Walton in the audience. Later, Alex discusses recent concerts they attended, highlighting U2's performance at The Sphere in Las Vegas, known for its immersive audiovisual experience, and another show at the historic Castro Theater in San Francisco featuring the band St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Both Larry and Alex express enthusiasm about these diverse musical experiences..Produced by PodConx  Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast  Grateful DeadNovember 20, 1971Pauley Pavillion – UCLAL.A.Grateful Dead Live at Pauley Pavilion - University of California on 1971-11-20 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive By late 1971 Dead's transformation from Primal Dead to Americana Dead was well on it's way.  This concert is a great snapshot of that time, this show being more in the Americana camp with the a killer 25 minute jammed out Other One (including its Bill Kreutzman drum solo lead in) really being the only true nod to the Primal era . Also, the band was in transition as Pigpen missed the show as part of his descent into alcohol related illnesses that eventually took him in March 1973.  Keith had been playing with the band since February but Mickey began his “leave” in February after night one of the Capitol Theater run.  So this night is just five of them up on stage playing their hearts out for the fine students of UCLA and other Deadheads ( then a very brand new “thing” having just been recognized by the band in the liner message inside the Grateful Dead album stating:  “DEAD FREAKS UNITE!  WHO ARE YOU?  WHERE ARE YOU?  HOW ARE YOU? Send us your name and address and we'll keep you informed”) One fact that should be obvious given the venue and the time – an unknown UCLA student and want-a-be college basketball player, Bill Walton was in attendance along with some of his Bruins teammates for this first ever Dead show at Pauley Pavilion, famed home court for the UCLA Bruins, a team that following the amazing successes of Lew Alcindor (Kareem) and Sidney Wicks, now was being led for the first time by Bill and his teammates Jamaal Wilkes and Greg Lee (spoiler alert:  Bill has some success at UCLA too).  Bill, of course, went on to be an NBA All-Star and a regular attendee of Dead shows and, as Alex can attest, not unusual to see him at a West Coast dead show right up until the end – kind of hard to miss a 7 foot deadhead with his red hair and tie dye apparel.  Rumor has it when they knew he was going to be at a show the band would set up a basketball hoop backstage and that Bruce Hornsby was a hooper too. INTRO:               Bertha                           Track No. 1                           3:30 – 4:37 Great traditional opener although it was known to pop up in different spots during shows from time to time.  At this point, it is still “new” having been debuted earlier that year, on February 18th at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester.  Never released on a studio album, but it is the opening tune on the Dead's live album, “Grateful Dead” a/k/a Skull and Roses (or Phil's preferred name, “Skull Fuck” which was promptly rejected by their label, Warner Bros) on September 24, 1971.  From shows in NYC at the Fillmore East and the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan Center (plus Johnny B. Goode from Winterland – couldn't completely ignore the west coast). SHOW #1:          Tennessee Jed                           Track No. 5                           0:45 – 1:46 This is one of the “new” ones played in this show.  Along with Mexicali Blues, One More Saturday Night, Ramble On Rose and Jack Straw had all just been played for the first ever just two months earlier on October 19, 1971 at the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis – also Keith's first show.  A tune that more than most really captures the change in the band's direction as you have Garcia previously of Dark Star, St. Stephen and Eleven fame twanging away, musically and vocally, on a song with a feel that is a cross between country, western and a dash of rock n roll.  Deadheads of Alex's and my era will note how much quicker the tempo is in this early version and Garcia's noticeable energy evident from his strong vocal performance. Played 436 times in concert, putting it at No. 15 of the list of the Dead's most played tunes.1st (again) on Oct. 19, 1971 in MPLSLast on July 8, 1995 at Soldier Field, Chicago A great sing along tune that the Deadheads always enjoyed, normally found in the first set, towards the middle. SHOW #2:          Jack Straw                           Track No. 10                           :12 – 1:20 As just mentioned, this another “new” one just two months old.  Everyone loves Jack Straw, even the Band which is why it checks in at No. on list of most tunes played by the Band with 476 performances (last one on July 8, 1995 at Soldier Field).  But in this early version, there is a little bit of a change from the version we all know and love.  First, thing to know it is a tune by Hunter and Weir.  Garcia did not write it although he sang it with Weir in a “trading off of verses” style.  Second, in these early versions, before the Europe '72 tour, Weir sang all the verses like we just heard, “I just jumped the watchman, right outside the fence” was always sung by Jerry, but here, Weir sings it. Not sure of the reason for the change, but I like it a lot better with Jerry singing his verses (the other being “Gotta go to Tulsa, first train we can ride”).  First time with Jerry on vocals was May 3, 1972 at the Olympia Theater in Paris, that also just happens to be the version of the song that wound up on the Europe '72 album.  Although in its earlier years the song would appear in either first or second set, after their 1975 hiatus it became an almost exclusive first set song. And after Brent joined the band, almost always a show opener.  Home to the more than occasional Phil base bomb, it was one of the Band's most popular tunes and a great way to open any show (especially if they had just opened with Bertha the night before so you got to catch them both!). SHOW #3:          Ramble On Rose                           Track No. 18                           0:00 – 1:28 Last of the “new” ones that we will feature today.  Just like Tennessee Jed, upbeat, good energy, Jerry and the boys are having fun, like with any new creation.  Still working out all the details, the james, keeping track of the lyrics and Jerry has not yet developed his signature growl on “goodbye mamma and poppa, goodbye jack and jill”.  What I really like about this version and why I chose a clip from the beginning of the tune is to hear Keith's piano accompaniment that works so well with this song and adds another layer of creativity to the mix.  Garcia always seemed to get energy and inspiration from the band's keyboard players and Keith, even this early in his career, is no exception. After its introduction on Oct. 19, 1971 in Minny, played a total of 319 times, good for 39th place on the all time list, just behind US Blues and just ahead of Don't Ease Me In (really?).  Last played on June 27, 1995 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, MI. SHOW #4:          You Win Again                           Track No. 20                           1:12 – 2:21 "You Win Again" is a 1952 song by Hank Williams. In style, the song is a blues ballad and deals with the singer's despair with his partner. The song has been widely covered, including versions by Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, the Grateful Dead, Charley Pride, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. Hank Williams recorded "You Win Again" on July 11, 1952—one day after his divorce from Audrey Williams was finalized. Like "Cold, Cold Heart," the song was likely inspired by his tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife, "You Win Again" was released as the B-side to "Settin' the Woods on Fire", primarily because up-tempo, danceable numbers were preferable as A-sides for radio play and for the valuable jukebox trade. Nonetheless, "You Win Again" peaked at number ten on the Most Played in C&W Juke Boxes chart, where it remained for a single week. Over a time period of less than one year, the Dead played You Win Again 24 times in concert, the first on November 11, 1971 at the Municipal Auditorium in Austin, TX (this show in L.A. was only the third time it had been played) and the last on September 16, 1972 at The Music Hall in Boston.  A version of the song was released on the Europe '72 album (second album side), from their show on May 24, 1972 at The Strand Lyceum in London, one of the final shows on that tour. JGB recorded a version of the song in 1976 during the Reflections album sessions but not played live again.  It was briefly revived by The Dead with Dylan in 2003.  OUTRO:          Going Down The Road Feeling Bad                        Track No. 23                        3:45 – 5:12 "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad" (also known as the "Lonesome Road Blues") is a traditional American folk song, "a white blues of universal appeal and uncertain origin" The song was recorded by many artists through the years. The first known recording is from 1923 by Henry Whitter, an Appalachian singer,[2][3]as "Lonesome Road Blues". The earliest versions of the lyrics are from the perspective of an inmate in prison with the refrain, "I'm down in that jail on my knees" and a reference to eating "corn bread and beans."[4] The song has been recorded by many artists such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Skeeter Davis, Elizabeth Cotten, and the Grateful Dead, and the song is featured in To Bonnie from Delaney, "Mountain Jam", Born and Raised World Tour, The Grapes of Wrath, and Lucky Stars.Others who recorded it include Cliff Carlisle (also as "Down in the Jail on My Knees"), Woody Guthrie (also as "Blowin' Down This Road" or "I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This Way"), Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Roy Hall, Elizabeth Cotten and the Grateful Dead, Delaney and Bonnie, Canned Heat and Dillard Chandler. Dead played it 302 times (No. 46 on the most played tunes list just behind a tie between Mama Tried and Terrapin and just ahead of Birdsong).  1st time on October 10, 1970 at Colden Auditorium, part of Queens College in Queens, NY.Last played on July 5, 1985 at the Riverport Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, MO. During the time period of this show it was almost always paired with Not Fade Away (as made famous at the end of the Grateful Dead album).  In later years, when Alex and I were regulars on tour, it would show up as a second set tune, usually, but not always after Drums/Space.  A very upbeat tune that the band obviously loved playing the crowd loved hearing. For our purposes, a great way to end the show and say goodbye and HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

This week the Deadpod travels to the East Coast for a show that took place around 2 months after last week's show. This is the early show from the Fillmore East in NYC on January 2, 1970. This is quite a nice tape, don't let the few seconds at the beginning fool you.  The 'Mason's Children' opener is a good representation of this somewhat odd song. 'Black Peter' is quite extended, much more than usual for this song. 'Hard to Handle' is explosive as usual. The boys really hit their stride here with the 'Cryptical Envelopment>Drums>Other One'. I quite enjoy the 'Cosmic Charlie' that follows but that's a tune I thought they never played often enough :)  I hope you enjoy it..   Grateful Dead Fillmore East New York, NY 1/2/1970 - Friday Early - 59:51:00     Intro (1) [1:05] > Mason's Children [6:09][1:34] Casey Jones [4:17][0:12] Black Peter [10:41][1:18] Mama Tried [2:32] > Hard To Handle [4:43][0:15] Cumberland Blues [5:33][0:16] Cryptical Envelopment [1:57] > Drums [3:53] > The Other One [10:34] > Cryptical Envelopment [2:04] > Cosmic Charlie [6:46#]   You can listen to this week's Deadpod here:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/deadshow/deadpod111723.mp3 Thanks for your kind support, we couldn't bring you the Deadpod without your help.  

"Phish's Chicago Adventure: Unpacking the Three-Night Run"Larry Mishkin  talks about his experience at a recent Phish concert in Chicago. He mentions the uniqueness of this Phish show and focuses on their cover songs, specifically mentioning their cover of Talking Heads' "Remain in Light" album and the way Phish adds their signature jamming style to it. Larry also discusses a rare cover of Neil Young's "Albuquerque" and the joy of seeing a band like Phish covering classics. He mentions the fan culture at Phish concerts, including the prevalence of nitrous oxide vendors in the parking lot. He shares his experience over three nights of the concert and highlights the setlist from each night. Larry also talks about Phish covering Little Feat's "Spanish Moon" and its significance, given that it's a rarely played song by Phish..Produced by PodConx  Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast  Phish Weekend in ChicagoOctober 13 – 15, 2023United Center Today is the Phish covers which were spectacularPlay amazing covers by incredible artists – sometimes they dig deep into the other performer's catalogue to pull out rarities.  Other times they cover the hits.  This weekend featured some great examples.  INTRO:                  Cross Eyed and PainlessPhish Cross Eyed and Painless 2023 10 13 Chicago Illinois - YouTube2:00 – 3:40October 13, 2023, Second set, out of Tweezer and into Light. Who doesn't love a cover of a Talking Heads tune, ANY Talking Heads tune.  But this one is special.  Second song on Remain In Light, one of the greatest albums of all time.  Released on October 8, 1980 by Sire Records, the band's fourth album.   Last Heads album produced by Brian Eno.  Phish debuted the tune on October 31, 1996 at the Phish Halloween show at the Omni in Atlanta, GA, covered Remain In Light as their Musical CostumePlayed 62 times overallThey really jam it out in a way the Talking Heads did not.  Always well received and this show was no differentLast played on August 4, 2023 at MSG, 7 shows ago  SHOW #1             AlbuquerquePHISH : Albuquerque : [NEIL YOUNG] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/13/2023 - YouTube:50 – 2:18October 13, 2023, First set, out of a killer Ghost and into Saw It Again. Beautiful Neil Young tune from Tonight's The Night released in 1975The song sees Young returning to a theme that has filled his music from very early on: the vapidity of fame. It's something he seems to struggle with even more than most other musicians. Or, at least, it's something he's chosen to sing about more often than most. It may in fact be the most common theme of all his music, besides obvious stuff like heartbreak and love.In "Albuquerque," Young is thinking about renting a car and driving from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Santa Fe, just to be alone and "independent from the scene." He never tells us why he's in Albuquerque to begin with, but he does tell us he wants to roll a joint and rent a car and stop to eat some "fried eggs and country ham."The "country ham" bit is kind of interesting, because country ham is a food popular in the southeast, not so much in the southwest. It's probably just a simple oversight on Young's part, but it may also reveal another common thread in Young's music: the escape into rural simplicity as a cure for the craziness and fakeness of modern day life.Phish first played this song on July 26, 1998 at the Starplex Amphitheatre in Dallas, TX.Played a total of 17 timesLast played on June 11, 2011 at Merriweather Post Pavillion outside of D.C., gap of 457 shows  SHOW #2:           Spanish MoonPHISH : Spanish Moon : [LITTLE FEAT] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/15/2023 - YouTube:50 – 2:05October 15, 2023, Second set out of Pebbles and Marbles and into A Wave of Hope Little Feat cover, one of their most popular tunes.From the album, Feats Don't Fail Me Now, released in 1974 "Spanish Moon" was written and sung by guitarist Lowell George, who was a creative powerhouse in the early years of Little Feat. The song is about a fictional place called the Spanish Moon - a seedy club with whiskey and bad cocaine, but a girl singer that made it worth it. There are many dangers at the Spanish Moon, but the ones likely to do you in are the women.Lowell George was an excellent storyteller and created the Spanish Moon from his imagination, but he lived through the vices he describes in the song, especially cocaine. Around this time, his addictions were starting to overpower him, his health started failing, and he developed hepatitis. Feats Don't Fail Me Now was the last Little Feat album where he was clearly the leader; his contributions to the band slowly tailed off, and in 1979 he released a solo album. While on tour supporting it, he died of a heart attack at 34. Phish debuted it live on October 31, 2010 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City when Phish's musical costume was Waiting For Columbus, the famed Little Feat live album.Phish has performed it live only 3 timesLast before this show was on February 21, 2019 at Barcelo Maya Beach, Riviera Maya, Qunitana Roo, Mexico, gap of 170 shows  SHOW #3:           No QuarterPHISH : No Quarter : [LED ZEPPELIN] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/14/2023 - YouTube1:53 – 3:25October 14, 2023, Second Set, out of Everything's Right, into Fluffhead "No Quarter" is a song by Led Zeppelin that appears on their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. It was written by John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant. The song became a centerpiece at all Led Zeppelin concerts thereafter, until their final tour. It appears in both the film versions and both live album versions of The Song Remains the Same, released in 1976 and expanded in 2007. It appeared once more in 1994 on Page and Plant's reunion album as the title track. It also appears on Led Zeppelin's 2012 live album Celebration Day, which documented their 2007 reunion performance at the O2 Arena in London. It was re-released on the deluxe edition of Houses of the Holy. The title is derived from the military practice of showing no mercy to a vanquished opponent and from the brave act of not asking for mercy when vanquished. This theme is captured in several of the song's lyrics. Like "Immigrant Song" two albums prior, it evokes imagery from the Vikings and Norse mythology, with lyrics such as “the winds of Thor are blowing cold.”Record producer Rick Rubin remarked on the song's structure, "It takes such confidence to be able to get really quiet and loose for such a long time. [Led] Zeppelin completely changed how we look at what popular music can be."                        Phish debuted the song on June 1, 2011 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ                        Phish has performed the song 19 times                        Last before this show was on April 23, 2023 at the Hollywood Bowl, gap of 32 shows SHOW #4        IzabellaPHISH : Izabella : [JIMI HENDRIX] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/13/2023 - YouTube:35 – 1:14October 13, 2023, Encore Written by Jimi Hendrix, released on Band of Gypsys, released April 8, 1970After Hendrix disbanded the Jimi Hendrix Experience in early 1969, he formed Gypsy Sun and Rainbows to fulfill his contract to play Woodstock. This was one of the new songs that he introduced at the festival, after which the guitarist was eager to perfect a studio version. Hendrix recruited bassist Billy Cox, who had played with him while they were in the army and his drummer friend Buddy Miles, for a new ensemble, Band of Gypsys. They recorded this as the B-side to his "Stepping Stone" single for Reprise, but it was quickly pulled after Hendrix complained about the mix. The Band of Gypsys made their live debut at the Fillmore East on New Year's Eve, 1969 and this song was played during their first set. Phish debuted the song on June 13, 1997 at The S.F.X. Centre in Dublin, IrelandPhish has performed the Song  17 timesLast before this show July 30, 2023 at MSG in NYC, gap of 15 shows OUTRO:                Loving CupPhish Remastered - 10 - 15 - 2023 - United Center, Chicago, Illinois - YouTube2:34:50 – 2:36:23October 15, 2023, Second set, out of Evolve, set closer. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, released on Exile on Main Street (1971)Exile on Main St. has grown to be appreciated with time, and this is an example of a song that become more popular later on. In a 2003 interview, Mick Jagger explained: "On the Forty Licks tour, when we were preparing the set list for a show in Yokohama, Chuck Leavell suggested we play 'Loving Cup,' the ballad from Exile on Main St. I didn't want to play the tune and I said, Chuck, this is going to die a death in Yokohama. I can't even remember the bloody song, and no one likes it. I've done it loads of times in America, it doesn't go down that well, it's a very difficult song to sing, and I'm fed up with it! Chuck went, Stick in the mud! so I gave in and put it in the set-list. Lo and behold, we went out, started the song and they all began applauding... Which just proves how, over time, some of these songs acquire a certain existence, or value, that they never had when they first came out. People will say, What a wonderful song that was, when it was virtually ignored at the time it was released." >> Phish debuted the song on February 3, 1993 at the Portland Expo in Portland, MaineInteresting because they did eventually cover Exile On Main Street as a Halloween musical costume on October 31, 2009 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, part of Phish Festival 8.Clearly one of their favorite covers, and a crowd pleaser, played 148 times.Last played before this show on August 5, 2023 at MSG, gap of 13 shows

Bob Beatty, author of Play All Night: Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East, visits the podcast for an upbeat episode on the musical legacy of The Allman Brothers Band. We take a deep dive into all things Allman Brothers Band with an emphasis on Bob's amazing book. Learn More About Play All Night: https://www.atfillmoreeastbook.com/ Follow Bob: Substack: https://longlivetheabb.substack.com/ X: https://twitter.com/LongLiveTheABB IG: https://www.instagram.com/longlivetheabb/

"Jamming at Borderland: Goose, Trey Anastasio, and More Shine Bright"Larry Mishkin welcomes the Deadhead Cannabis Show's sound editor, Jamie Humiston to discuss his experience at the Borderland Music and Arts Festival. Jamie highlights various bands that performed, including Goose, Trey Anastasio's Classic Tab, and The Infamous Stringdusters. Jamie shares their impressions of the festival's atmosphere, mentions a cannabis-infused hot sauce that he discovered, and provides insights into the different musical acts. The conversation touches on the evolving jam band scene and the unique charm of festivals..Produced by PodConx  Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast Going with a hot one, September 25, 1980Grateful Dead Live at Warfield Theater on 1980-09-25 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive Opening night of the Grateful Dead's Warfield/Radio City acoustic/electric runs, recorded every night and best wound up on Reckoning (acoustic) and Dead Set (electric) Warfield Run – September 25, 1980 – October 14, 1980Radio City Run – October 22, 1980 – October 31, 1980 Prior to these shows, had not played a full acoustic set in concert since 1970 or maybe early 1971.  As a result, a good number of songs that the Dead liked to play acoustic had not been heard in a number of years before this show. first "Ain't No Lie" - last "All Around This World": 02-14-70 [706] - last "Bird Song": 09-15-73 [382] - last "Dark Hollow": 04-29-71 [550] - last "Monkey & Engineer": 12-31-70 [589] - last "Ripple": 04-29-71 [550] - last "Rosalie McFall": 11-08-70 [609] - last "Roses": 01-12-79 [118] INTRO:                Birdsong                           Track No. 1                           1:00 – 2:13               From Jerry's first solo album, “Garcia” released Jan 20, 1972.              Robert Hunter lyrics:  Robert Hunter originally wrote the song as a tribute for Janis Joplin. Phil Lesh now sings "All I know is something like a bird within him sang", transfering it Jerry Garcia instead.            First played Feb. 19, 1971 Capitol Theater Port Chester           Last played June 30, 1995 Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh           Played by the Dead 300 times in concert This was the first time played since 9.15.73 (382 shows) This version is amazing both because it is acoustic and Jerry's voice is so strong.  Makes you fall in love with the song all over again, or, as One Armed Lary would say, “taste it again for the first time” although I don't think he was talking about this song, or any song, when he said it (Deer Creek 1989). SHOW  #1:         I've Been All Around This World                           Track No. 2                           1:23 – 2:16               The origins of I've Been All Around This World are not easy to trace. It possibly derives from a number of different songs. The 'Hang Me, Oh Hang Me' verse is thought to derive from the traditional song My Father Was A Gambler, a US ballad, which is thought to be about a murderer who was hanged in 1870. The song has also been collected under such titles as "Diggin' on the New Railroad", “The Gambler, ” “My Father Was a Gambler,” “The New Railroad,” “The Hobo's Lament,” “The Hobo's Blues” and "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me". In 1930, George Milburn published a book entitled the Hobo's Hornbook that included a version of “I've Been All Round this World”. It was also found in Henry Marvin Belden's "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society". The book was printed in 1940 but the song was "secured by Miss Frances Barbour in 1917 from the singing of Minnie Doyle of Arlington, Phelps County [MO]". Dead's version is “Traditional, arranged by the Grateful Dead and they all get credit (Pig Pen days)Released on History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. ! Bear's Choice (a live album by the Grateful Dead. It is their fourth live album and their ninth album overall. Released in July 1973 on Warner Bros. Records, it offers concert highlights recorded February 13 and 14, 1970 at the Fillmore East in New York City. Often known simply as Bear's Choice, the title references band soundman Owsley "Bear" Stanley. It was originally intended to be the first volume of a series.)                                                      First played by the Dead on December 19, 1969 at the Fillmore West              Last played by the Dead on December 31, 1980 Oakland Civic Auditorium              Played a total of 19 times in concert This was the first time played by the Dead since Feb. 14, 1970 (706 shows) I really love the acoustic guitar in this version.  Jerry can pick with the best of them. BORDERLAND  SEPT. 15, 16 AND 17EAST AURORA, NY (JUST OUTSIDE OF BUFFALO)5th year The Borderland Music + Arts Festival celebrates the rich history and renaissance of the region with a three-day music and cultural festival set in one of the most scenic and storied grounds in all of New York State, Knox Farm State Park. Great lineup with headliners:              Goose              TAB              Moe.Also featuring:   Infamous String Dusters                           Dawes                           Sammy Rae and Friends                           Neal Francis                           Not Fade Awa Band (Dead and Zeppelin covers)                           Eric Krasno                           Brandford Marsalis                           Anders Osborne                           Etc. Jamie Humiston was there.Jamie – discuss festival, highs, favorite acts, etc. SHOW #2:          SONG FROM BORDERLAND                           GOOSE SHOW #3:          SONG FROM BORDERLAND                           TREY AND DAWES Back to the Dead from 9.25.1980 SHOW #4:          Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie                           Track No. 8                           :10 – 1:35               By Elizabeth “Libba” Cotton January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987)[1][2][3] was an American folk and bluesmusician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down.[4] This position meant that she would play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as "Cotten picking".[5]NPR stated "her influence has reverberated through the generations, permeating every genre of music."[6]Her album Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar (1958), was placed into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, and was deemed as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The album included her signature recording "Freight Train", a song she wrote in her early teens.[7] In 1984, her live album Elizabeth Cotten Live!, won her a Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording, at the age of 90.[8] That same year, Cotten was recognized as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.[9] In 2022, she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as an early influence.[10]               David Dodd:  The song debuted in the Dead's repertoire during their Warfield run on September 25, 1980, and was then played ten times over the course of the acoustic shows at the Warfield and Radio City Music Hall runs. After that, it made three more appearances, in one-off situations such as an acoustic set at the Mill Valley Recreation Center, or in the Netherlands for an acoustic set, and finally at Marin Vets, on March 28, 1984, in a performance that kicked off the second set, without Weir and Mydland onstage.However, I know the song had been “around” for much longer than that. It appears on the studio outtakes from Garcia's Reflections album, as released in the All Good Things box set. And personal interviews with Garcia's circle of acquaintances in Palo Alto in the early 1960s make it explicitly clear that he was familiar with the work of Libba Cotten. So I expect Garcia had performed the song many times during his folkie period, and it may have been in the Jug Band repertoire. Dodd:  An avid Grateful Dead concertgoer for more than two decades, David Dodd is a librarian who brings to the work a detective's love of following a clue as far as it will take him. Author of:The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics OUTRO:            Ripple                           Track No. 9                           3:04 – 4:30               From American Beauty  (Released Nov. 1970)               Robert Hunter wrote this song in 1970 in London on the same afternoon he wrote "Brokedown Palace" and "To Lay Me Down" (reputedly drinking half a bottle of retsina in the process [3]). The song debuted August 18, 1970 at Fillmore West in San Francisco. Jerry Garcia wrote the music to this song.[3]                       Between 1970 and 1971 the Grateful Dead played the gorgeous Garcia/Hunter tune “Ripple” a number of times both electric and acoustic before putting the song in mothballs until 1980. Though the Dead performed “Ripple” a whopping 27 times acoustically in 1980 and then once again unplugged in 1981, it disappeared from the repertoire for the final 14 years of the band's career with one exception. On September 3, 1988 the Grateful Dead busted out an electric “Ripple” for the first time in 17 years for what would be the final performance of the tune.As the story goes, which is unconfirmed, the band was approached by the Make-A-Wish Foundation with a request from a young fan dying of cancer. The Grateful Dead were asked to perform “Ripple” at their September 3, 1988 show in Landover, Maryland. Jerry Garcia & Co. honored the request by ending the evening with the tender ballad. “Ripple” hadn't been played in any form in 459 shows and it had been 1,113 performances since the last electric version of the American Beauty stunner which took place at New York City's Fillmore East. As you can imagine, the crowd went absolutely ape shit the moment the “Ripple” bust out begins.That was also the night of the rehearsal dinner for my wedding weekend in Chicago.  A number of my good Deadhead friends were in town celebrating with my wife and me and much later that night (remember, no cell phones or internet or on-line set lists.  Had to wait for the 800 RUN DEAD line to be updated and then be able to get through.  Somehow even by those standares word got around very fast and my buddies were not at all pleased since many of them would have undoubtedly been at that show (although, since it was a second encore a number of fans had already walked out of the Cap Center and then desperately tried to get back in.No better way to end any show, including this one. Music Stories:Neil Young & Crazy Horse Deliver ‘Tonight's The Night' and ‘Everybody Knows This is Nowhere' in Full Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros Announces Three-Night New Year's Eve Stand in Fort Lauderdale Phish to Bring Four-Night New Year's Run Back to Madison Square Garden

You're Miles Davis.  It's March of 1970 and you're about to release Bitches Brew, your most incendiary album yet.  You have an electric band of young assassins (each of whom will go on to become a legendary bandleader in his own right) and they don't sound like any band anyone has ever heard.  You know you've got the goods.  You're looking for a new audience for this new sound and you get invited to share a bill with a major rock band at the Fillmore East, THE place where the Woodstock Generation is finding its music.  Can you win them over?  What do you hit them with?     Slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein and producer/beatmaster Scotty Hard have both been both relentless shatterers of audience expectations and dedicated fans of Miles Davis, particularly in this phase of his career.   What happens if we put them in the audience for Miles's first night at the legendary Fillmore East?  (and did we mention that it's Wayne Shorter's last gig with Miles?).     Find out Monday (8/7) from 6p to 9p NYC time on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.  Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/    Photo credit: publishing info not available.   #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #ScottyHard #StevenBernstein #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #JazzRockFusion #FillmoreEast #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #BitchesBrew  

You're Miles Davis.  It's March of 1970 and you're about to release Bitches Brew, your most incendiary album yet.  You have an electric band of young assassins (each of whom will go on to become a legendary bandleader in his own right) and they don't sound like any band anyone has ever heard.  You know you've got the goods.  You're looking for a new audience for this new sound and you get invited to share a bill with a major rock band at the Fillmore East, THE place where the Woodstock Generation is finding its music.  Can you win them over?  What do you hit them with?     Slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein and producer/beatmaster Scotty Hard have both been both relentless shatterers of audience expectations and dedicated fans of Miles Davis, particularly in this phase of his career.   What happens if we put them in the audience for Miles's first night at the legendary Fillmore East?  (and did we mention that it's Wayne Shorter's last gig with Miles?).     Find out Monday (8/7) from 6p to 9p NYC time on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.  Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/    Photo credit: Miles Davis - Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. - 1970 by Robert Houston - Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert and Greta Houston.   #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #ScottyHard #StevenBernstein #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #JazzRockFusion #FillmoreEast #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #BitchesBrew  

We hear a few from Feb. 1, 1969 (the Late Show) at the Fillmore East, NYC. Led Zeppelin is winding up their first tour and they're winning hearts and minds with their energy and virtuosity. I play Train>I Can't Quit You and How Many More Times. Amazing band.

You're Miles Davis.  It's March of 1970 and you're about to release Bitches Brew, your most incendiary album yet.  You have an electric band of young assassins (each of whom will go on to become a legendary bandleader in his own right) and they don't sound like any band anyone has ever heard.  You know you've got the goods.  You're looking for a new audience for this new sound and you get invited to share a bill with a major rock band at the Fillmore East, THE place where the Woodstock Generation is finding its music.  Can you win them over?  What do you hit them with?     Slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein and producer/beatmaster Scotty Hard have both been both relentless shatterers of audience expectations and dedicated fans of Miles Davis, particularly in this phase of his career.   What happens if we put them in the audience for Miles's first night at the legendary Fillmore East?  (and did we mention that it's Wayne Shorter's last gig with Miles?).     Find out Monday (8/7) from 6p to 9p NYC time on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.  Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/    Photo credit: Miles Davis - Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. - 1970 by Robert Houston - Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert and Greta Houston.   #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #ScottyHard #StevenBernstein #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #JazzRockFusion #FillmoreEast #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #BitchesBrew  

Discograffiti talks with the music-obsessed director about: The 1966 concert that forever changed his life; The most indispensable box set of all time; And why it took him some time to “get” The Ramones. Also, don't miss our incredible summer Patreon series FILLMORE FEAST, a sordid, many-coursed meal of intimate happenings that went down during Allan's time rising through the ranks at the Fillmore East, as he hung out, partied, got dosed by, and became tight friends with The Dead, The Allmans, and all the rest of rock history's legends…that is, all except for CSNY.   NEXT WEEK: Vashti Bunyan rates the entirety of her own discography! Allan Arkush's incredible YouTube channel, in which he tells his life story through music: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSormz-EZa4yugvJ3MyKVkQ CONNECT Join our Soldiers of Sound Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1839109176272153 Patreon: www.Patreon.com/Discograffiti Podfollow: https://podfollow.com/1592182331 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discograffitipod/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Discograffiti/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Discograffiti YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClyaQCdvDelj5EiKj6IRLhw Web site: http://discograffiti.com/ CONTACT DAVE Email: dave@discograffiti.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hooligandave Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/davidgebroe/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveGebroe CONTACT TODD ZIMMER: GRAPHIC DESIGN Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ToddZimmer and https://www.facebook.com/punknjunkradio Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_real_todd_zimmer/ and https://www.instagram.com/punknjunkradioshow/ #allanarkush #rogercorman #paulbartel #fillmoreeast #joedante #rocknrollhighschool #billgraham #ramones #theramones #martinscorsese #joeyramone #bobdylan  #punkrock #cultclassics #musical #jonathandemme #riffrandell #juliecorman #deedeeramone #johnnyramone #genx #pavement  #discograffiti #getcrazy #thetemptations #elvismeetsnixon #shakerattleandrock #jerrygarcia #theallmanbrothers #fillmoreeast  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/discograffiti/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/discograffiti/support

The Allman Brothers' 1971 album At Fillmore East features one of the era's great rock bands at its prime, selling over a million copies despite not producing a single “hit” song. It is also the last album produced by the Allman Brothers prior to the death of the band's founder, Duane Allman. In this episode we speak with Bob Beatty, whose new book Play All Night!: Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East, tells the story behind the creation of the album and how the Allman Brothers pioneered a style that continues to influence rock music today. Dr. Bob Beatty is a historian and musician who has worked in museums and nonprofits for more than 25 years. You can follow him on twitter and Instagram at @longlivetheabb. This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.

From the Vaults of LIGHT TALK, we bring you Episode 6 from way back on May 22, 2017. When we were deciding who to invite to be our first guest on our crazy show, Josh White immediately came to mind. I had met Josh the previous year as I was researching liquid light shows and synesthesia. I knew that Josh would fit in well with our special brand of insanity. As you can tell from this BEST OF LIGHT TALK episode, I was correct. Enjoy! In this episode of LIGHT TALK with The Lumen Brothers, Steve, Stan, and David welcome special guest Josh White from The Joshua Light Show. Josh discusses: The early days of liquid light shows at The Fillmore East; Working with The Who on Tommy; Installing aircraft landing lights into overhead projectors; Creating abstract lighting statements; Armadillo icons; Improvisational lighting and busking; Accidentally inventing the lava lamp; Staying out of the army; Disaster at Woodstock; Synesthesia; Max Headroom; Using spot welders in your light show; and Not losing track of your "analog side".  Nothing is Taboo, Nothing is Sacred, and Very little makes sense.

This week on Discologist, we're revisiting an episode from the before times wherein Eduardo, Kevin, and Andre (IYKYK) delved deep into the monumental box set by the Grateful Dead called 'Get Shown The Light'.This box set captures the band's legendary four-night run at New York's iconic venue, Fillmore East in 1977. It includes what many consider to be the finest performances of their career, particularly the Cornell show on May 9, 1977. Whether you're a dedicated Deadhead or simply curious about the band, this set is essential listening.Join us as we explore the standout moments from this treasure trove of music, including the soulful 'Sugaree', the epic 'Morning Dew', and more. We'll also delve into the Grateful Dead's innovative sound, their legendary live performances, and their enduring influence on the music world.Tune in now to embark on an unforgettable journey through the legendary box set, 'Get Shown The Light', by the Grateful Dead.------We're able to bring you great conversations like this and more because of your generous support. Please consider making a one time gift or a recurring donation today!SUPPORTSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/discologist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 165 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Dark Stat” and the career of the Grateful Dead. This is a long one, even longer than the previous episode, but don't worry, that won't be the norm. There's a reason these two were much longer than average. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Codine" by the Charlatans. Errata I mispronounce Brent Mydland's name as Myland a couple of times, and in the introduction I say "Touch of Grey" came out in 1988 -- I later, correctly, say 1987. (I seem to have had a real problem with dates in the intro -- I also originally talked about "Blue Suede Shoes" being in 1954 before fixing it in the edit to be 1956) Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by the Grateful Dead, and Grayfolded runs to two hours. I referred to a lot of books for this episode, partly because almost everything about the Grateful Dead is written from a fannish perspective that already assumes background knowledge, rather than to provide that background knowledge. Of the various books I used, Dennis McNally's biography of the band and This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead by Blair Jackson and David Gans are probably most useful for the casually interested. Other books on the Dead I used included McNally's Jerry on Jerry, a collection of interviews with Garcia; Deal, Bill Kreutzmann's autobiography; The Grateful Dead FAQ by Tony Sclafani; So Many Roads by David Browne; Deadology by Howard F. Weiner; Fare Thee Well by Joel Selvin and Pamela Turley; and Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheads by David Shenk and Steve Silberman. Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is the classic account of the Pranksters, though not always reliable. I reference Slaughterhouse Five a lot. As well as the novel itself, which everyone should read, I also read this rather excellent graphic novel adaptation, and The Writer's Crusade, a book about the writing of the novel. I also reference Ted Sturgeon's More Than Human. For background on the scene around Astounding Science Fiction which included Sturgeon, John W. Campbell, L. Ron Hubbard, and many other science fiction writers, I recommend Alec Nevala-Lee's Astounding. 1,000 True Fans can be read online, as can the essay on the Californian ideology, and John Perry Barlow's "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace". The best collection of Grateful Dead material is the box set The Golden Road, which contains all the albums released in Pigpen's lifetime along with a lot of bonus material, but which appears currently out of print. Live/Dead contains both the live version of "Dark Star" which made it well known and, as a CD bonus track, the original single version. And archive.org has more live recordings of the group than you can possibly ever listen to. Grayfolded can be bought from John Oswald's Bandcamp Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript [Excerpt: Tuning from "Grayfolded", under the warnings Before we begin -- as we're tuning up, as it were, I should mention that this episode contains discussions of alcoholism, drug addiction, racism, nonconsensual drugging of other people, and deaths from drug abuse, suicide, and car accidents. As always, I try to deal with these subjects as carefully as possible, but if you find any of those things upsetting you may wish to read the transcript rather than listen to this episode, or skip it altogether. Also, I should note that the members of the Grateful Dead were much freer with their use of swearing in interviews than any other band we've covered so far, and that makes using quotes from them rather more difficult than with other bands, given the limitations of the rules imposed to stop the podcast being marked as adult. If I quote anything with a word I can't use here, I'll give a brief pause in the audio, and in the transcript I'll have the word in square brackets. [tuning ends] All this happened, more or less. In 1910, T. S. Eliot started work on "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", which at the time was deemed barely poetry, with one reviewer imagining Eliot saying "I'll just put down the first thing that comes into my head, and call it 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.'" It is now considered one of the great classics of modernist literature. In 1969, Kurt Vonnegut wrote "Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death", a book in which the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, comes unstuck in time, and starts living a nonlinear life, hopping around between times reliving his experiences in the Second World War, and future experiences up to 1976 after being kidnapped by beings from the planet Tralfamadore. Or perhaps he has flashbacks and hallucinations after having a breakdown from PTSD. It is now considered one of the great classics of modernist literature or of science fiction, depending on how you look at it. In 1953, Theodore Sturgeon wrote More Than Human. It is now considered one of the great classics of science fiction. In 1950, L. Ron Hubbard wrote Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. It is now considered either a bad piece of science fiction or one of the great revelatory works of religious history, depending on how you look at it. In 1994, 1995, and 1996 the composer John Oswald released, first as two individual CDs and then as a double-CD, an album called Grayfolded, which the composer says in the liner notes he thinks of as existing in Tralfamadorian time. The Tralfamadorians in Vonnegut's novels don't see time as a linear thing with a beginning and end, but as a continuum that they can move between at will. When someone dies, they just think that at this particular point in time they're not doing so good, but at other points in time they're fine, so why focus on the bad time? In the book, when told of someone dying, the Tralfamadorians just say "so it goes". In between the first CD's release and the release of the double-CD version, Jerry Garcia died. From August 1942 through August 1995, Jerry Garcia was alive. So it goes. Shall we go, you and I? [Excerpt: The Grateful Dead, "Dark Star (Omni 3/30/94)"] "One principle has become clear. Since motives are so frequently found in combination, it is essential that the complex types be analyzed and arranged, with an eye kept single nevertheless to the master-theme under discussion. Collectors, both primary and subsidiary, have done such valiant service that the treasures at our command are amply sufficient for such studies, so extensive, indeed, that the task of going through them thoroughly has become too great for the unassisted student. It cannot be too strongly urged that a single theme in its various types and compounds must be made predominant in any useful comparative study. This is true when the sources and analogues of any literary work are treated; it is even truer when the bare motive is discussed. The Grateful Dead furnishes an apt illustration of the necessity of such handling. It appears in a variety of different combinations, almost never alone. Indeed, it is so widespread a tale, and its combinations are so various, that there is the utmost difficulty in determining just what may properly be regarded the original kernel of it, the simple theme to which other motives were joined. Various opinions, as we shall see, have been held with reference to this matter, most of them justified perhaps by the materials in the hands of the scholars holding them, but none quite adequate in view of later evidence." That's a quote from The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story, by Gordon Hall Gerould, published in 1908. Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five opens with a chapter about the process of writing the novel itself, and how difficult it was. He says "I would hate to tell you what this lousy little book cost me in money and anxiety and time. When I got home from the Second World War twenty-three years ago, I thought it would be easy for me to write about the destruction of Dresden, since all I would have to do would be to report what I had seen. And I thought, too, that it would be a masterpiece or at least make me a lot of money, since the subject was so big." This is an episode several of my listeners have been looking forward to, but it's one I've been dreading writing, because this is an episode -- I think the only one in the series -- where the format of the podcast simply *will not* work. Were the Grateful Dead not such an important band, I would skip this episode altogether, but they're a band that simply can't be ignored, and that's a real problem here. Because my intent, always, with this podcast, is to present the recordings of the artists in question, put them in context, and explain why they were important, what their music meant to its listeners. To put, as far as is possible, the positive case for why the music mattered *in the context of its time*. Not why it matters now, or why it matters to me, but why it matters *in its historical context*. Whether I like the music or not isn't the point. Whether it stands up now isn't the point. I play the music, explain what it was they were doing, why they were doing it, what people saw in it. If I do my job well, you come away listening to "Blue Suede Shoes" the way people heard it in 1956, or "Good Vibrations" the way people heard it in 1966, and understanding why people were so impressed by those records. That is simply *not possible* for the Grateful Dead. I can present a case for them as musicians, and hope to do so. I can explain the appeal as best I understand it, and talk about things I like in their music, and things I've noticed. But what I can't do is present their recordings the way they were received in the sixties and explain why they were popular. Because every other act I have covered or will cover in this podcast has been a *recording* act, and their success was based on records. They may also have been exceptional live performers, but James Brown or Ike and Tina Turner are remembered for great *records*, like "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" or "River Deep, Mountain High". Their great moments were captured on vinyl, to be listened back to, and susceptible of analysis. That is not the case for the Grateful Dead, and what is worse *they explicitly said, publicly, on multiple occasions* that it is not possible for me to understand their art, and thus that it is not possible for me to explain it. The Grateful Dead did make studio records, some of them very good. But they always said, consistently, over a thirty year period, that their records didn't capture what they did, and that the only way -- the *only* way, they were very clear about this -- that one could actually understand and appreciate their music, was to see them live, and furthermore to see them live while on psychedelic drugs. [Excerpt: Grateful Dead crowd noise] I never saw the Grateful Dead live -- their last UK performance was a couple of years before I went to my first ever gig -- and I have never taken a psychedelic substance. So by the Grateful Dead's own criteria, it is literally impossible for me to understand or explain their music the way that it should be understood or explained. In a way I'm in a similar position to the one I was in with La Monte Young in the last episode, whose music it's mostly impossible to experience without being in his presence. This is one reason of several why I placed these two episodes back to back. Of course, there is a difference between Young and the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead allowed -- even encouraged -- the recording of their live performances. There are literally thousands of concert recordings in circulation, many of them of professional quality. I have listened to many of those, and I can hear what they were doing. I can tell you what *I* think is interesting about their music, and about their musicianship. And I think I can build up a good case for why they were important, and why they're interesting, and why those recordings are worth listening to. And I can certainly explain the cultural phenomenon that was the Grateful Dead. But just know that while I may have found *a* point, *an* explanation for why the Grateful Dead were important, by the band's own lights and those of their fans, no matter how good a job I do in this episode, I *cannot* get it right. And that is, in itself, enough of a reason for this episode to exist, and for me to try, even harder than I normally do, to get it right *anyway*. Because no matter how well I do my job this episode will stand as an example of why this series is called "*A* History", not *the* history. Because parts of the past are ephemeral. There are things about which it's true to say "You had to be there". I cannot know what it was like to have been an American the day Kennedy was shot, I cannot know what it was like to be alive when a man walked on the Moon. Those are things nobody my age or younger can ever experience. And since August the ninth, 1995, the experience of hearing the Grateful Dead's music the way they wanted it heard has been in that category. And that is by design. Jerry Garcia once said "if you work really hard as an artist, you may be able to build something they can't tear down, you know, after you're gone... What I want to do is I want it here. I want it now, in this lifetime. I want what I enjoy to last as long as I do and not last any longer. You know, I don't want something that ends up being as much a nuisance as it is a work of art, you know?" And there's another difficulty. There are only two points in time where it makes sense to do a podcast episode on the Grateful Dead -- late 1967 and early 1968, when the San Francisco scene they were part of was at its most culturally relevant, and 1988 when they had their only top ten hit and gained their largest audience. I can't realistically leave them out of the story until 1988, so it has to be 1968. But the songs they are most remembered for are those they wrote between 1970 and 1972, and those songs are influenced by artists and events we haven't yet covered in the podcast, who will be getting their own episodes in the future. I can't explain those things in this episode, because they need whole episodes of their own. I can't not explain them without leaving out important context for the Grateful Dead. So the best I can do is treat the story I'm telling as if it were in Tralfamadorian time. All of it's happening all at once, and some of it is happening in different episodes that haven't been recorded yet. The podcast as a whole travels linearly from 1938 through to 1999, but this episode is happening in 1968 and 1972 and 1988 and 1995 and other times, all at once. Sometimes I'll talk about things as if you're already familiar with them, but they haven't happened yet in the story. Feel free to come unstuck in time and revisit this time after episode 167, and 172, and 176, and 192, and experience it again. So this has to be an experimental episode. It may well be an experiment that you think fails. If so, the next episode is likely to be far more to your taste, and much shorter than this or the last episode, two episodes that between them have to create a scaffolding on which will hang much of the rest of this podcast's narrative. I've finished my Grateful Dead script now. The next one I write is going to be fun: [Excerpt: Grateful Dead, "Dark Star"] Infrastructure means everything. How we get from place to place, how we transport goods, information, and ourselves, makes a big difference in how society is structured, and in the music we hear. For many centuries, the prime means of long-distance transport was by water -- sailing ships on the ocean, canal boats and steamboats for inland navigation -- and so folk songs talked about the ship as both means of escape, means of making a living, and in some senses as a trap. You'd go out to sea for adventure, or to escape your problems, but you'd find that the sea itself brought its own problems. Because of this we have a long, long tradition of sea shanties which are known throughout the world: [Excerpt: A. L. Lloyd, "Off to Sea Once More"] But in the nineteenth century, the railway was invented and, at least as far as travel within a landmass goes, it replaced the steamboat in the popular imaginary. Now the railway was how you got from place to place, and how you moved freight from one place to another. The railway brought freedom, and was an opportunity for outlaws, whether train robbers or a romanticised version of the hobo hopping onto a freight train and making his way to new lands and new opportunity. It was the train that brought soldiers home from wars, and the train that allowed the Great Migration of Black people from the South to the industrial North. There would still be songs about the riverboats, about how ol' man river keeps rolling along and about the big river Johnny Cash sang about, but increasingly they would be songs of the past, not the present. The train quickly replaced the steamboat in the iconography of what we now think of as roots music -- blues, country, folk, and early jazz music. Sometimes this was very literal. Furry Lewis' "Kassie Jones" -- about a legendary train driver who would break the rules to make sure his train made the station on time, but who ended up sacrificing his own life to save his passengers in a train crash -- is based on "Alabamy Bound", which as we heard in the episode on "Stagger Lee", was about steamboats: [Excerpt: Furry Lewis, "Kassie Jones"] In the early episodes of this podcast we heard many, many, songs about the railway. Louis Jordan saying "take me right back to the track, Jack", Rosetta Tharpe singing about how "this train don't carry no gamblers", the trickster freight train driver driving on the "Rock Island Line", the mystery train sixteen coaches long, the train that kept-a-rollin' all night long, the Midnight Special which the prisoners wished would shine its ever-loving light on them, and the train coming past Folsom Prison whose whistle makes Johnny Cash hang his head and cry. But by the 1960s, that kind of song had started to dry up. It would happen on occasion -- "People Get Ready" by the Impressions is the most obvious example of the train metaphor in an important sixties record -- but by the late sixties the train was no longer a symbol of freedom but of the past. In 1969 Harry Nilsson sang about how "Nobody Cares About the Railroads Any More", and in 1968 the Kinks sang about "The Last of the Steam-Powered Trains". When in 1968 Merle Haggard sang about a freight train, it was as a memory, of a child with hopes that ended up thwarted by reality and his own nature: [Excerpt: Merle Haggard, "Mama Tried"] And the reason for this was that there had been another shift, a shift that had started in the forties and accelerated in the late fifties but had taken a little time to ripple through the culture. Now the train had been replaced in the popular imaginary by motorised transport. Instead of hopping on a train without paying, if you had no money in your pocket you'd have to hitch-hike all the way. Freedom now meant individuality. The ultimate in freedom was the biker -- the Hell's Angels who could go anywhere, unburdened by anything -- and instead of goods being moved by freight train, increasingly they were being moved by truck drivers. By the mid-seventies, truck drivers took a central place in American life, and the most romantic way to live life was to live it on the road. On The Road was also the title of a 1957 novel by Jack Kerouac, which was one of the first major signs of this cultural shift in America. Kerouac was writing about events in the late forties and early fifties, but his book was also a precursor of the sixties counterculture. He wrote the book on one continuous sheet of paper, as a stream of consciousness. Kerouac died in 1969 of an internal haemmorage brought on by too much alcohol consumption. So it goes. But the big key to this cultural shift was caused by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, a massive infrastructure spending bill that led to the construction of the modern American Interstate Highway system. This accelerated a program that had already started, of building much bigger, safer, faster roads. It also, as anyone who has read Robert Caro's The Power Broker knows, reinforced segregation and white flight. It did this both by making commuting into major cities from the suburbs easier -- thus allowing white people with more money to move further away from the cities and still work there -- and by bulldozing community spaces where Black people lived. More than a million people lost their homes and were forcibly moved, and orders of magnitude more lost their communities' parks and green spaces. And both as a result of deliberate actions and unconscious bigotry, the bulk of those affected were Black people -- who often found themselves, if they weren't forced to move, on one side of a ten-lane highway where the park used to be, with white people on the other side of the highway. The Federal-Aid Highway Act gave even more power to the unaccountable central planners like Robert Moses, the urban planner in New York who managed to become arguably the most powerful man in the city without ever getting elected, partly by slowly compromising away his early progressive ideals in the service of gaining more power. Of course, not every new highway was built through areas where poor Black people lived. Some were planned to go through richer areas for white people, just because you can't completely do away with geographical realities. For example one was planned to be built through part of San Francisco, a rich, white part. But the people who owned properties in that area had enough political power and clout to fight the development, and after nearly a decade of fighting it, the development was called off in late 1966. But over that time, many of the owners of the impressive buildings in the area had moved out, and they had no incentive to improve or maintain their properties while they were under threat of demolition, so many of them were rented out very cheaply. And when the beat community that Kerouac wrote about, many of whom had settled in San Francisco, grew too large and notorious for the area of the city they were in, North Beach, many of them moved to these cheap homes in a previously-exclusive area. The area known as Haight-Ashbury. [Excerpt: The Grateful Dead, "Grayfolded"] Stories all have their starts, even stories told in Tralfamadorian time, although sometimes those starts are shrouded in legend. For example, the story of Scientology's start has been told many times, with different people claiming to have heard L. Ron Hubbard talk about how writing was a mug's game, and if you wanted to make real money, you needed to get followers, start a religion. Either he said this over and over and over again, to many different science fiction writers, or most science fiction writers of his generation were liars. Of course, the definition of a writer is someone who tells lies for money, so who knows? One of the more plausible accounts of him saying that is given by Theodore Sturgeon. Sturgeon's account is more believable than most, because Sturgeon went on to be a supporter of Dianetics, the "new science" that Hubbard turned into his religion, for decades, even while telling the story. The story of the Grateful Dead probably starts as it ends, with Jerry Garcia. There are three things that everyone writing about the Dead says about Garcia's childhood, so we might as well say them here too. The first is that he was named by a music-loving father after Jerome Kern, the songwriter responsible for songs like "Ol' Man River" (though as Oscar Hammerstein's widow liked to point out, "Jerome Kern wrote dum-dum-dum-dum, *my husband* wrote 'Ol' Man River'" -- an important distinction we need to bear in mind when talking about songwriters who write music but not lyrics). The second is that when he was five years old that music-loving father drowned -- and Garcia would always say he had seen his father dying, though some sources claim this was a false memory. So it goes. And the third fact, which for some reason is always told after the second even though it comes before it chronologically, is that when he was four he lost two joints from his right middle finger. Garcia grew up a troubled teen, and in turn caused trouble for other people, but he also developed a few interests that would follow him through his life. He loved the fantastical, especially the fantastical macabre, and became an avid fan of horror and science fiction -- and through his love of old monster films he became enamoured with cinema more generally. Indeed, in 1983 he bought the film rights to Kurt Vonnegut's science fiction novel The Sirens of Titan, the first story in which the Tralfamadorians appear, and wrote a script based on it. He wanted to produce the film himself, with Francis Ford Coppola directing and Bill Murray starring, but most importantly for him he wanted to prevent anyone who didn't care about it from doing it badly. And in that he succeeded. As of 2023 there is no film of The Sirens of Titan. He loved to paint, and would continue that for the rest of his life, with one of his favourite subjects being Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein monster. And when he was eleven or twelve, he heard for the first time a record that was hugely influential to a whole generation of Californian musicians, even though it was a New York record -- "Gee" by the Crows: [Excerpt: The Crows, "Gee"] Garcia would say later "That was an important song. That was the first kind of, like where the voices had that kind of not-trained-singer voices, but tough-guy-on-the-street voice." That record introduced him to R&B, and soon he was listening to Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, to Ray Charles, and to a record we've not talked about in the podcast but which was one of the great early doo-wop records, "WPLJ" by the Four Deuces: [Excerpt: The Four Deuces, "WPLJ"] Garcia said of that record "That was one of my anthem songs when I was in junior high school and high school and around there. That was one of those songs everybody knew. And that everybody sang. Everybody sang that street-corner favorite." Garcia moved around a lot as a child, and didn't have much time for school by his own account, but one of the few teachers he did respect was an art teacher when he was in North Beach, Walter Hedrick. Hedrick was also one of the earliest of the conceptual artists, and one of the most important figures in the San Francisco arts scene that would become known as the Beat Generation (or the Beatniks, which was originally a disparaging term). Hedrick was a painter and sculptor, but also organised happenings, and he had also been one of the prime movers in starting a series of poetry readings in San Francisco, the first one of which had involved Allen Ginsberg giving the first ever reading of "Howl" -- one of a small number of poems, along with Eliot's "Prufrock" and "The Waste Land" and possibly Pound's Cantos, which can be said to have changed twentieth-century literature. Garcia was fifteen when he got to know Hedrick, in 1957, and by then the Beat scene had already become almost a parody of itself, having become known to the public because of the publication of works like On the Road, and the major artists in the scene were already rejecting the label. By this point tourists were flocking to North Beach to see these beatniks they'd heard about on TV, and Hedrick was actually employed by one cafe to sit in the window wearing a beret, turtleneck, sandals, and beard, and draw and paint, to attract the tourists who flocked by the busload because they could see that there was a "genuine beatnik" in the cafe. Hedrick was, as well as a visual artist, a guitarist and banjo player who played in traditional jazz bands, and he would bring records in to class for his students to listen to, and Garcia particularly remembered him bringing in records by Big Bill Broonzy: [Excerpt: Big Bill Broonzy, "When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too)"] Garcia was already an avid fan of rock and roll music, but it was being inspired by Hedrick that led him to get his first guitar. Like his contemporary Paul McCartney around the same time, he was initially given the wrong instrument as a birthday present -- in Garcia's case his mother gave him an accordion -- but he soon persuaded her to swap it for an electric guitar he saw in a pawn shop. And like his other contemporary, John Lennon, Garcia initially tuned his instrument incorrectly. He said later "When I started playing the guitar, believe me, I didn't know anybody that played. I mean, I didn't know anybody that played the guitar. Nobody. They weren't around. There were no guitar teachers. You couldn't take lessons. There was nothing like that, you know? When I was a kid and I had my first electric guitar, I had it tuned wrong and learned how to play on it with it tuned wrong for about a year. And I was getting somewhere on it, you know… Finally, I met a guy that knew how to tune it right and showed me three chords, and it was like a revelation. You know what I mean? It was like somebody gave me the key to heaven." He joined a band, the Chords, which mostly played big band music, and his friend Gary Foster taught him some of the rudiments of playing the guitar -- things like how to use a capo to change keys. But he was always a rebellious kid, and soon found himself faced with a choice between joining the military or going to prison. He chose the former, and it was during his time in the Army that a friend, Ron Stevenson, introduced him to the music of Merle Travis, and to Travis-style guitar picking: [Excerpt: Merle Travis, "Nine-Pound Hammer"] Garcia had never encountered playing like that before, but he instantly recognised that Travis, and Chet Atkins who Stevenson also played for him, had been an influence on Scotty Moore. He started to realise that the music he'd listened to as a teenager was influenced by music that went further back. But Stevenson, as well as teaching Garcia some of the rudiments of Travis-picking, also indirectly led to Garcia getting discharged from the Army. Stevenson was not a well man, and became suicidal. Garcia decided it was more important to keep his friend company and make sure he didn't kill himself than it was to turn up for roll call, and as a result he got discharged himself on psychiatric grounds -- according to Garcia he told the Army psychiatrist "I was involved in stuff that was more important to me in the moment than the army was and that was the reason I was late" and the psychiatrist thought it was neurotic of Garcia to have his own set of values separate from that of the Army. After discharge, Garcia did various jobs, including working as a transcriptionist for Lenny Bruce, the comedian who was a huge influence on the counterculture. In one of the various attacks over the years by authoritarians on language, Bruce was repeatedly arrested for obscenity, and in 1961 he was arrested at a jazz club in North Beach. Sixty years ago, the parts of speech that were being criminalised weren't pronouns, but prepositions and verbs: [Excerpt: Lenny Bruce, "To is a Preposition, Come is a Verb"] That piece, indeed, was so controversial that when Frank Zappa quoted part of it in a song in 1968, the record label insisted on the relevant passage being played backwards so people couldn't hear such disgusting filth: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Harry You're a Beast"] (Anyone familiar with that song will understand that the censored portion is possibly the least offensive part of the whole thing). Bruce was facing trial, and he needed transcripts of what he had said in his recordings to present in court. Incidentally, there seems to be some confusion over exactly which of Bruce's many obscenity trials Garcia became a transcriptionist for. Dennis McNally says in his biography of the band, published in 2002, that it was the most famous of them, in autumn 1964, but in a later book, Jerry on Jerry, a book of interviews of Garcia edited by McNally, McNally talks about it being when Garcia was nineteen, which would mean it was Bruce's first trial, in 1961. We can put this down to the fact that many of the people involved, not least Garcia, lived in Tralfamadorian time, and were rather hazy on dates, but I'm placing the story here rather than in 1964 because it seems to make more sense that Garcia would be involved in a trial based on an incident in San Francisco than one in New York. Garcia got the job, even though he couldn't type, because by this point he'd spent so long listening to recordings of old folk and country music that he was used to transcribing indecipherable accents, and often, as Garcia would tell it, Bruce would mumble very fast and condense multiple syllables into one. Garcia was particularly impressed by Bruce's ability to improvise but talk in entire paragraphs, and he compared his use of language to bebop. Another thing that was starting to impress Garcia, and which he also compared to bebop, was bluegrass: [Excerpt: Bill Monroe, "Fire on the Mountain"] Bluegrass is a music that is often considered very traditional, because it's based on traditional songs and uses acoustic instruments, but in fact it was a terribly *modern* music, and largely a postwar creation of a single band -- Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. And Garcia was right when he said it was "white bebop" -- though he did say "The only thing it doesn't have is the harmonic richness of bebop. You know what I mean? That's what it's missing, but it has everything else." Both bebop and bluegrass evolved after the second world war, though they were informed by music from before it, and both prized the ability to improvise, and technical excellence. Both are musics that involved playing *fast*, in an ensemble, and being able to respond quickly to the other musicians. Both musics were also intensely rhythmic, a response to a faster paced, more stressful world. They were both part of the general change in the arts towards immediacy that we looked at in the last episode with the creation first of expressionism and then of pop art. Bluegrass didn't go into the harmonic explorations that modern jazz did, but it was absolutely as modern as anything Charlie Parker was doing, and came from the same impulses. It was tradition and innovation, the past and the future simultaneously. Bill Monroe, Jackson Pollock, Charlie Parker, Jack Kerouac, and Lenny Bruce were all in their own ways responding to the same cultural moment, and it was that which Garcia was responding to. But he didn't become able to play bluegrass until after a tragedy which shaped his life even more than his father's death had. Garcia had been to a party and was in a car with his friends Lee Adams, Paul Speegle, and Alan Trist. Adams was driving at ninety miles an hour when they hit a tight curve and crashed. Garcia, Adams, and Trist were all severely injured but survived. Speegle died. So it goes. This tragedy changed Garcia's attitudes totally. Of all his friends, Speegle was the one who was most serious about his art, and who treated it as something to work on. Garcia had always been someone who fundamentally didn't want to work or take any responsibility for anything. And he remained that way -- except for his music. Speegle's death changed Garcia's attitude to that, totally. If his friend wasn't going to be able to practice his own art any more, Garcia would practice his, in tribute to him. He resolved to become a virtuoso on guitar and banjo. His girlfriend of the time later said “I don't know if you've spent time with someone rehearsing ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown' on a banjo for eight hours, but Jerry practiced endlessly. He really wanted to excel and be the best. He had tremendous personal ambition in the musical arena, and he wanted to master whatever he set out to explore. Then he would set another sight for himself. And practice another eight hours a day of new licks.” But of course, you can't make ensemble music on your own: [Excerpt: Jerry Garcia and Bob Hunter, "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" (including end)] "Evelyn said, “What is it called when a person needs a … person … when you want to be touched and the … two are like one thing and there isn't anything else at all anywhere?” Alicia, who had read books, thought about it. “Love,” she said at length." That's from More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon, a book I'll be quoting a few more times as the story goes on. Robert Hunter, like Garcia, was just out of the military -- in his case, the National Guard -- and he came into Garcia's life just after Paul Speegle had left it. Garcia and Alan Trist met Hunter ten days after the accident, and the three men started hanging out together, Trist and Hunter writing while Garcia played music. Garcia and Hunter both bonded over their shared love for the beats, and for traditional music, and the two formed a duo, Bob and Jerry, which performed together a handful of times. They started playing together, in fact, after Hunter picked up a guitar and started playing a song and halfway through Garcia took it off him and finished the song himself. The two of them learned songs from the Harry Smith Anthology -- Garcia was completely apolitical, and only once voted in his life, for Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to keep Goldwater out, and regretted even doing that, and so he didn't learn any of the more political material people like Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, and Bob Dylan were doing at the time -- but their duo only lasted a short time because Hunter wasn't an especially good guitarist. Hunter would, though, continue to jam with Garcia and other friends, sometimes playing mandolin, while Garcia played solo gigs and with other musicians as well, playing and moving round the Bay Area and performing with whoever he could: [Excerpt: Jerry Garcia, "Railroad Bill"] "Bleshing, that was Janie's word. She said Baby told it to her. She said it meant everyone all together being something, even if they all did different things. Two arms, two legs, one body, one head, all working together, although a head can't walk and arms can't think. Lone said maybe it was a mixture of “blending” and “meshing,” but I don't think he believed that himself. It was a lot more than that." That's from More Than Human In 1961, Garcia and Hunter met another young musician, but one who was interested in a very different type of music. Phil Lesh was a serious student of modern classical music, a classically-trained violinist and trumpeter whose interest was solidly in the experimental and whose attitude can be summed up by a story that's always told about him meeting his close friend Tom Constanten for the first time. Lesh had been talking with someone about serialism, and Constanten had interrupted, saying "Music stopped being created in 1750 but it started again in 1950". Lesh just stuck out his hand, recognising a kindred spirit. Lesh and Constanten were both students of Luciano Berio, the experimental composer who created compositions for magnetic tape: [Excerpt: Luciano Berio, "Momenti"] Berio had been one of the founders of the Studio di fonologia musicale di Radio Milano, a studio for producing contemporary electronic music where John Cage had worked for a time, and he had also worked with the electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Lesh would later remember being very impressed when Berio brought a tape into the classroom -- the actual multitrack tape for Stockhausen's revolutionary piece Gesang Der Juenglinge: [Excerpt: Karlheinz Stockhausen, "Gesang Der Juenglinge"] Lesh at first had been distrustful of Garcia -- Garcia was charismatic and had followers, and Lesh never liked people like that. But he was impressed by Garcia's playing, and soon realised that the two men, despite their very different musical interests, had a lot in common. Lesh was interested in the technology of music as well as in performing and composing it, and so when he wasn't studying he helped out by engineering at the university's radio station. Lesh was impressed by Garcia's playing, and suggested to the presenter of the station's folk show, the Midnight Special, that Garcia be a guest. Garcia was so good that he ended up getting an entire solo show to himself, where normally the show would feature multiple acts. Lesh and Constanten soon moved away from the Bay Area to Las Vegas, but both would be back -- in Constanten's case he would form an experimental group in San Francisco with their fellow student Steve Reich, and that group (though not with Constanten performing) would later premiere Terry Riley's In C, a piece influenced by La Monte Young and often considered one of the great masterpieces of minimalist music. By early 1962 Garcia and Hunter had formed a bluegrass band, with Garcia on guitar and banjo and Hunter on mandolin, and a rotating cast of other musicians including Ken Frankel, who played banjo and fiddle. They performed under different names, including the Tub Thumpers, the Hart Valley Drifters, and the Sleepy Valley Hog Stompers, and played a mixture of bluegrass and old-time music -- and were very careful about the distinction: [Excerpt: The Hart Valley Drifters, "Cripple Creek"] In 1993, the Republican political activist John Perry Barlow was invited to talk to the CIA about the possibilities open to them with what was then called the Information Superhighway. He later wrote, in part "They told me they'd brought Steve Jobs in a few weeks before to indoctrinate them in modern information management. And they were delighted when I returned later, bringing with me a platoon of Internet gurus, including Esther Dyson, Mitch Kapor, Tony Rutkowski, and Vint Cerf. They sealed us into an electronically impenetrable room to discuss the radical possibility that a good first step in lifting their blackout would be for the CIA to put up a Web site... We told them that information exchange was a barter system, and that to receive, one must also be willing to share. This was an alien notion to them. They weren't even willing to share information among themselves, much less the world." 1962 brought a new experience for Robert Hunter. Hunter had been recruited into taking part in psychological tests at Stanford University, which in the sixties and seventies was one of the preeminent universities for psychological experiments. As part of this, Hunter was given $140 to attend the VA hospital (where a janitor named Ken Kesey, who had himself taken part in a similar set of experiments a couple of years earlier, worked a day job while he was working on his first novel) for four weeks on the run, and take different psychedelic drugs each time, starting with LSD, so his reactions could be observed. (It was later revealed that these experiments were part of a CIA project called MKUltra, designed to investigate the possibility of using psychedelic drugs for mind control, blackmail, and torture. Hunter was quite lucky in that he was told what was going to happen to him and paid for his time. Other subjects included the unlucky customers of brothels the CIA set up as fronts -- they dosed the customers' drinks and observed them through two-way mirrors. Some of their experimental subjects died by suicide as a result of their experiences. So it goes. ) Hunter was interested in taking LSD after reading Aldous Huxley's writings about psychedelic substances, and he brought his typewriter along to the experiment. During the first test, he wrote a six-page text, a short excerpt from which is now widely quoted, reading in part "Sit back picture yourself swooping up a shell of purple with foam crests of crystal drops soft nigh they fall unto the sea of morning creep-very-softly mist ... and then sort of cascade tinkley-bell-like (must I take you by the hand, ever so slowly type) and then conglomerate suddenly into a peal of silver vibrant uncomprehendingly, blood singingly, joyously resounding bells" Hunter's experience led to everyone in their social circle wanting to try LSD, and soon they'd all come to the same conclusion -- this was something special. But Garcia needed money -- he'd got his girlfriend pregnant, and they'd married (this would be the first of several marriages in Garcia's life, and I won't be covering them all -- at Garcia's funeral, his second wife, Carolyn, said Garcia always called her the love of his life, and his first wife and his early-sixties girlfriend who he proposed to again in the nineties both simultaneously said "He said that to me!"). So he started teaching guitar at a music shop in Palo Alto. Hunter had no time for Garcia's incipient domesticity and thought that his wife was trying to make him live a conventional life, and the two drifted apart somewhat, though they'd still play together occasionally. Through working at the music store, Garcia got to know the manager, Troy Weidenheimer, who had a rock and roll band called the Zodiacs. Garcia joined the band on bass, despite that not being his instrument. He later said "Troy was a lot of fun, but I wasn't good enough a musician then to have been able to deal with it. I was out of my idiom, really, 'cause when I played with Troy I was playing electric bass, you know. I never was a good bass player. Sometimes I was playing in the wrong key and didn't even [fuckin'] know it. I couldn't hear that low, after playing banjo, you know, and going to electric...But Troy taught me the principle of, hey, you know, just stomp your foot and get on it. He was great. A great one for the instant arrangement, you know. And he was also fearless for that thing of get your friends to do it." Garcia's tenure in the Zodiacs didn't last long, nor did this experiment with rock and roll, but two other members of the Zodiacs will be notable later in the story -- the harmonica player, an old friend of Garcia's named Ron McKernan, who would soon gain the nickname Pig Pen after the Peanuts character, and the drummer, Bill Kreutzmann: [Excerpt: The Grateful Dead, "Drums/Space (Skull & Bones version)"] Kreutzmann said of the Zodiacs "Jerry was the hired bass player and I was the hired drummer. I only remember playing that one gig with them, but I was in way over my head. I always did that. I always played things that were really hard and it didn't matter. I just went for it." Garcia and Kreutzmann didn't really get to know each other then, but Garcia did get to know someone else who would soon be very important in his life. Bob Weir was from a very different background than Garcia, though both had the shared experience of long bouts of chronic illness as children. He had grown up in a very wealthy family, and had always been well-liked, but he was what we would now call neurodivergent -- reading books about the band he talks about being dyslexic but clearly has other undiagnosed neurodivergences, which often go along with dyslexia -- and as a result he was deemed to have behavioural problems which led to him getting expelled from pre-school and kicked out of the cub scouts. He was never academically gifted, thanks to his dyslexia, but he was always enthusiastic about music -- to a fault. He learned to play boogie piano but played so loudly and so often his parents sold the piano. He had a trumpet, but the neighbours complained about him playing it outside. Finally he switched to the guitar, an instrument with which it is of course impossible to make too loud a noise. The first song he learned was the Kingston Trio's version of an old sea shanty, "The Wreck of the John B": [Excerpt: The Kingston Trio, "The Wreck of the John B"] He was sent off to a private school in Colorado for teenagers with behavioural issues, and there he met the boy who would become his lifelong friend, John Perry Barlow. Unfortunately the two troublemakers got on with each other *so* well that after their first year they were told that it was too disruptive having both of them at the school, and only one could stay there the next year. Barlow stayed and Weir moved back to the Bay Area. By this point, Weir was getting more interested in folk music that went beyond the commercial folk of the Kingston Trio. As he said later "There was something in there that was ringing my bells. What I had grown up thinking of as hillbilly music, it started to have some depth for me, and I could start to hear the music in it. Suddenly, it wasn't just a bunch of ignorant hillbillies playing what they could. There was some depth and expertise and stuff like that to aspire to.” He moved from school to school but one thing that stayed with him was his love of playing guitar, and he started taking lessons from Troy Weidenheimer, but he got most of his education going to folk clubs and hootenannies. He regularly went to the Tangent, a club where Garcia played, but Garcia's bluegrass banjo playing was far too rigorous for a free spirit like Weir to emulate, and instead he started trying to copy one of the guitarists who was a regular there, Jorma Kaukonnen. On New Year's Eve 1963 Weir was out walking with his friends Bob Matthews and Rich Macauley, and they passed the music shop where Garcia was a teacher, and heard him playing his banjo. They knocked and asked if they could come in -- they all knew Garcia a little, and Bob Matthews was one of his students, having become interested in playing banjo after hearing the theme tune to the Beverly Hillbillies, played by the bluegrass greats Flatt and Scruggs: [Excerpt: Flatt and Scruggs, "The Beverly Hillbillies"] Garcia at first told these kids, several years younger than him, that they couldn't come in -- he was waiting for his students to show up. But Weir said “Jerry, listen, it's seven-thirty on New Year's Eve, and I don't think you're going to be seeing your students tonight.” Garcia realised the wisdom of this, and invited the teenagers in to jam with him. At the time, there was a bit of a renaissance in jug bands, as we talked about back in the episode on the Lovin' Spoonful. This was a form of music that had grown up in the 1920s, and was similar and related to skiffle and coffee-pot bands -- jug bands would tend to have a mixture of portable string instruments like guitars and banjos, harmonicas, and people using improvised instruments, particularly blowing into a jug. The most popular of these bands had been Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, led by banjo player Gus Cannon and with harmonica player Noah Lewis: [Excerpt: Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, "Viola Lee Blues"] With the folk revival, Cannon's work had become well-known again. The Rooftop Singers, a Kingston Trio style folk group, had had a hit with his song "Walk Right In" in 1963, and as a result of that success Cannon had even signed a record contract with Stax -- Stax's first album ever, a month before Booker T and the MGs' first album, was in fact the eighty-year-old Cannon playing his banjo and singing his old songs. The rediscovery of Cannon had started a craze for jug bands, and the most popular of the new jug bands was Jim Kweskin's Jug Band, which did a mixture of old songs like "You're a Viper" and more recent material redone in the old style. Weir, Matthews, and Macauley had been to see the Kweskin band the night before, and had been very impressed, especially by their singer Maria D'Amato -- who would later marry her bandmate Geoff Muldaur and take his name -- and her performance of Leiber and Stoller's "I'm a Woman": [Excerpt: Jim Kweskin's Jug Band, "I'm a Woman"] Matthews suggested that they form their own jug band, and Garcia eagerly agreed -- though Matthews found himself rapidly moving from banjo to washboard to kazoo to second kazoo before realising he was surplus to requirements. Robert Hunter was similarly an early member but claimed he "didn't have the embouchure" to play the jug, and was soon also out. He moved to LA and started studying Scientology -- later claiming that he wanted science-fictional magic powers, which L. Ron Hubbard's new religion certainly offered. The group took the name Mother McRee's Uptown Jug Champions -- apparently they varied the spelling every time they played -- and had a rotating membership that at one time or another included about twenty different people, but tended always to have Garcia on banjo, Weir on jug and later guitar, and Garcia's friend Pig Pen on harmonica: [Excerpt: Mother McRee's Uptown Jug Champions, "On the Road Again"] The group played quite regularly in early 1964, but Garcia's first love was still bluegrass, and he was trying to build an audience with his bluegrass band, The Black Mountain Boys. But bluegrass was very unpopular in the Bay Area, where it was simultaneously thought of as unsophisticated -- as "hillbilly music" -- and as elitist, because it required actual instrumental ability, which wasn't in any great supply in the amateur folk scene. But instrumental ability was something Garcia definitely had, as at this point he was still practising eight hours a day, every day, and it shows on the recordings of the Black Mountain Boys: [Excerpt: The Black Mountain Boys, "Rosa Lee McFall"] By the summer, Bob Weir was also working at the music shop, and so Garcia let Weir take over his students while he and the Black Mountain Boys' guitarist Sandy Rothman went on a road trip to see as many bluegrass musicians as they could and to audition for Bill Monroe himself. As it happened, Garcia found himself too shy to audition for Monroe, but Rothman later ended up playing with Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. On his return to the Bay Area, Garcia resumed playing with the Uptown Jug Champions, but Pig Pen started pestering him to do something different. While both men had overlapping tastes in music and a love for the blues, Garcia's tastes had always been towards the country end of the spectrum while Pig Pen's were towards R&B. And while the Uptown Jug Champions were all a bit disdainful of the Beatles at first -- apart from Bob Weir, the youngest of the group, who thought they were interesting -- Pig Pen had become enamoured of another British band who were just starting to make it big: [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "Not Fade Away"] 29) Garcia liked the first Rolling Stones album too, and he eventually took Pig Pen's point -- the stuff that the Rolling Stones were doing, covers of Slim Harpo and Buddy Holly, was not a million miles away from the material they were doing as Mother McRee's Uptown Jug Champions. Pig Pen could play a little electric organ, Bob had been fooling around with the electric guitars in the music shop. Why not give it a go? The stuff bands like the Rolling Stones were doing wasn't that different from the electric blues that Pig Pen liked, and they'd all seen A Hard Day's Night -- they could carry on playing with banjos, jugs, and kazoos and have the respect of a handful of folkies, or they could get electric instruments and potentially have screaming girls and millions of dollars, while playing the same songs. This was a convincing argument, especially when Dana Morgan Jr, the son of the owner of the music shop, told them they could have free electric instruments if they let him join on bass. Morgan wasn't that great on bass, but what the hell, free instruments. Pig Pen had the best voice and stage presence, so he became the frontman of the new group, singing most of the leads, though Jerry and Bob would both sing a few songs, and playing harmonica and organ. Weir was on rhythm guitar, and Garcia was the lead guitarist and obvious leader of the group. They just needed a drummer, and handily Bill Kreutzmann, who had played with Garcia and Pig Pen in the Zodiacs, was also now teaching music at the music shop. Not only that, but about three weeks before they decided to go electric, Kreutzmann had seen the Uptown Jug Champions performing and been astonished by Garcia's musicianship and charisma, and said to himself "Man, I'm gonna follow that guy forever!" The new group named themselves the Warlocks, and started rehearsing in earnest. Around this time, Garcia also finally managed to get some of the LSD that his friend Robert Hunter had been so enthusiastic about three years earlier, and it was a life-changing experience for him. In particular, he credited LSD with making him comfortable being a less disciplined player -- as a bluegrass player he'd had to be frighteningly precise, but now he was playing rock and needed to loosen up. A few days after taking LSD for the first time, Garcia also heard some of Bob Dylan's new material, and realised that the folk singer he'd had little time for with his preachy politics was now making electric music that owed a lot more to the Beat culture Garcia considered himself part of: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"] Another person who was hugely affected by hearing that was Phil Lesh, who later said "I couldn't believe that was Bob Dylan on AM radio, with an electric band. It changed my whole consciousness: if something like that could happen, the sky was the limit." Up to that point, Lesh had been focused entirely on his avant-garde music, working with friends like Steve Reich to push music forward, inspired by people like John Cage and La Monte Young, but now he realised there was music of value in the rock world. He'd quickly started going to rock gigs, seeing the Rolling Stones and the Byrds, and then he took acid and went to see his friend Garcia's new electric band play their third ever gig. He was blown away, and very quickly it was decided that Lesh would be the group's new bass player -- though everyone involved tells a different story as to who made the decision and how it came about, and accounts also vary as to whether Dana Morgan took his sacking gracefully and let his erstwhile bandmates keep their instruments, or whether they had to scrounge up some new ones. Lesh had never played bass before, but he was a talented multi-instrumentalist with a deep understanding of music and an ability to compose and improvise, and the repertoire the Warlocks were playing in the early days was mostly three-chord material that doesn't take much rehearsal -- though it was apparently beyond the abilities of poor Dana Morgan, who apparently had to be told note-by-note what to play by Garcia, and learn it by rote. Garcia told Lesh what notes the strings of a bass were tuned to, told him to borrow a guitar and practice, and within two weeks he was on stage with the Warlocks: [Excerpt: The Grateful Dead, “Grayfolded"] In September 1995, just weeks after Jerry Garcia's death, an article was published in Mute magazine identifying a cultural trend that had shaped the nineties, and would as it turned out shape at least the next thirty years. It's titled "The Californian Ideology", though it may be better titled "The Bay Area Ideology", and it identifies a worldview that had grown up in Silicon Valley, based around the ideas of the hippie movement, of right-wing libertarianism, of science fiction authors, and of Marshall McLuhan. It starts "There is an emerging global orthodoxy concerning the relation between society, technology and politics. We have called this orthodoxy `the Californian Ideology' in honour of the state where it originated. By naturalising and giving a technological proof to a libertarian political philosophy, and therefore foreclosing on alternative futures, the Californian Ideologues are able to assert that social and political debates about the future have now become meaningless. The California Ideology is a mix of cybernetics, free market economics, and counter-culture libertarianism and is promulgated by magazines such as WIRED and MONDO 2000 and preached in the books of Stewart Brand, Kevin Kelly and others. The new faith has been embraced by computer nerds, slacker students, 30-something capitalists, hip academics, futurist bureaucrats and even the President of the USA himself. As usual, Europeans have not been slow to copy the latest fashion from America. While a recent EU report recommended adopting the Californian free enterprise model to build the 'infobahn', cutting-edge artists and academics have been championing the 'post-human' philosophy developed by the West Coast's Extropian cult. With no obvious opponents, the global dominance of the Californian ideology appears to be complete." [Excerpt: Grayfolded] The Warlocks' first gig with Phil Lesh on bass was on June the 18th 1965, at a club called Frenchy's with a teenage clientele. Lesh thought his playing had been wooden and it wasn't a good gig, and apparently the management of Frenchy's agreed -- they were meant to play a second night there, but turned up to be told they'd been replaced by a band with an accordion and clarinet. But by September the group had managed to get themselves a residency at a small bar named the In Room, and playing there every night made them cohere. They were at this point playing the kind of sets that bar bands everywhere play to this day, though at the time the songs they were playing, like "Gloria" by Them and "In the Midnight Hour", were the most contemporary of hits. Another song that they introduced into their repertoire was "Do You Believe in Magic" by the Lovin' Spoonful, another band which had grown up out of former jug band musicians. As well as playing their own sets, they were also the house band at The In Room and as such had to back various touring artists who were the headline acts. The first act they had to back up was Cornell Gunter's version of the Coasters. Gunter had brought his own guitarist along as musical director, and for the first show Weir sat in the audience watching the show and learning the parts, staring intently at this musical director's playing. After seeing that, Weir's playing was changed, because he also picked up how the guitarist was guiding the band while playing, the small cues that a musical director will use to steer the musicians in the right direction. Weir started doing these things himself when he was singing lead -- Pig Pen was the frontman but everyone except Bill sang sometimes -- and the group soon found that rather than Garcia being the sole leader, now whoever was the lead singer for the song was the de facto conductor as well. By this point, the Bay Area was getting almost overrun with people forming electric guitar bands, as every major urban area in America was. Some of the bands were even having hits already -- We Five had had a number three hit with "You Were On My Mind", a song which had originally been performed by the folk duo Ian and Sylvia: [Excerpt: We Five, "You Were On My Mind"] Although the band that was most highly regarded on the scene, the Charlatans, was having problems with the various record companies they tried to get signed to, and didn't end up making a record until 1969. If tracks like "Number One" had been released in 1965 when they were recorded, the history of the San Francisco music scene may have taken a very different turn: [Excerpt: The Charlatans, "Number One"] Bands like Jefferson Airplane, the Great Society, and Big Brother and the Holding Company were also forming, and Autumn Records was having a run of success with records by the Beau Brummels, whose records were produced by Autumn's in-house A&R man, Sly Stone: [Excerpt: The Beau Brummels, "Laugh Laugh"] The Warlocks were somewhat cut off from this, playing in a dive bar whose clientele was mostly depressed alcoholics. But the fact that they were playing every night for an audience that didn't care much gave them freedom, and they used that freedom to improvise. Both Lesh and Garcia were big fans of John Coltrane, and they started to take lessons from his style of playing. When the group played "Gloria" or "Midnight Hour" or whatever, they started to extend the songs and give themselves long instrumental passages for soloing. Garcia's playing wasn't influenced *harmonically* by Coltrane -- in fact Garcia was always a rather harmonically simple player. He'd tend to play lead lines either in Mixolydian mode, which is one of the most standard modes in rock, pop, blues, and jazz, or he'd play the notes of the chord that was being played, so if the band were playing a G chord his lead would emphasise the notes G, B, and D. But what he was influenced by was Coltrane's tendency to improvise in long, complex, phrases that made up a single thought -- Coltrane was thinking musically in paragraphs, rather than sentences, and Garcia started to try the same kind of th

Bear's Choice 50The Deadcast returns to the Fillmore East and digs into the Dead's 1st archival live album, History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice), produced by former LSD alchemist Owsley Stanley & released as a tribute to Pigpen just after his death.Guests: Allan Arkush, Gary Lambert, David Lemieux, Starfinder StanleySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode 513. Today's guest is Michael Frondelli… he goes back as far as the first Neil Bogart KISS press showcase introductions at the NFE Theater, the old Fillmore East, with Bill Aucoin and Sean Delaney. Then working later at Electric Lady with Eddie Kramer. Michael shares many early stories related to KISS, as well as stories about many […]

What if you could meet your heroes? Craig talked about connecting with Eddie Van Halen to deliver long-lost Van Halen bootlegs, recording his own triple amp guitar setup, hanging out with Dweezil and Frank Zappa, and soloing John & Yoko's vocal mics. Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com My guest today is Craig Parker Adams owner of Winslow Ct studio in LA and accomplished guitarist and producer. Craig was a guest on episode RSR331 when he shared his background in music and talked about running the oldest recording studio in the world dating back to the 1900's for the earliest sound for film productions. Craig has worked with a great list of which unclides Frank Zappa and got a great write up in Rolling Stone about mixing Frank Zappa and the Mothers' Epic 1971 Fillmore East Shows for the 50th-Anniversary Reissue 8-CD box set which includes band encores with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and even a recording of the infamous London's Rainbow Bridge gig that left Zappa nearly paralyzed. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS! https://UltimateMixingMasterclass.com https://www.solidstatelogic.com https://www.Spectra1964.com https://MacSales.com/rockstars https://iZotope.com/Rockstars use code ROCK10 to get 10% off any individual plugin https://jzmic.com use code ROCKSTAR to get 40% off the Vintage series mics https://www.adam-audio.com https://RecordingStudioRockstars.com/Academy Use code ROCKSTAR to get 10% off https://www.thetoyboxstudio.com/ Listen to this guest's discography on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3aWNiedgR7Fr7ph6Yh7jb8?si=2c89e3c3dedb46d2 If you love the podcast, then please leave a review: https://RSRockstars.com/Review CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AT: https://RSRockstars.com/383

Episode one hundred and fifty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “White Rabbit”, Jefferson Airplane, and the rise of the San Francisco sound. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-three-minute bonus episode available, on "Omaha" by Moby Grape. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum I refer to Back to Methuselah by Robert Heinlein. This is of course a play by George Bernard Shaw. What I meant to say was Methuselah's Children. Resources I hope to upload a Mixcloud tomorrow, and will edit it in, but have had some problems with the site today. Jefferson Airplane's first four studio albums, plus a 1968 live album, can be found in this box set. I've referred to three main books here. Got a Revolution!: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane by Jeff Tamarkin is written with the co-operation of the band members, but still finds room to criticise them. Jefferson Airplane On Track by Richard Molesworth is a song-by-song guide to the band's music. And Been So Long: My Life and Music by Jorma Kaukonen is Kaukonen's autobiography. Some information on Skip Spence and Matthew Katz also comes from What's Big and Purple and Lives in the Ocean?: The Moby Grape Story, by Cam Cobb, which I also used for this week's bonus. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start, I need to confess an important and hugely embarrassing error in this episode. I've only ever seen Marty Balin's name written down, never heard it spoken, and only after recording the episode, during the editing process, did I discover I mispronounce it throughout. It's usually an advantage for the podcast that I get my information from books rather than TV documentaries and the like, because they contain far more information, but occasionally it causes problems like that. My apologies. Also a brief note that this episode contains some mentions of racism, antisemitism, drug and alcohol abuse, and gun violence. One of the themes we've looked at in recent episodes is the way the centre of the musical world -- at least the musical world as it was regarded by the people who thought of themselves as hip in the mid-sixties -- was changing in 1967. Up to this point, for a few years there had been two clear centres of the rock and pop music worlds. In the UK, there was London, and any British band who meant anything had to base themselves there. And in the US, at some point around 1963, the centre of the music industry had moved West. Up to then it had largely been based in New York, and there was still a thriving industry there as of the mid sixties. But increasingly the records that mattered, that everyone in the country had been listening to, had come out of LA Soul music was, of course, still coming primarily from Detroit and from the Country-Soul triangle in Tennessee and Alabama, but when it came to the new brand of electric-guitar rock that was taking over the airwaves, LA was, up until the first few months of 1967, the only city that was competing with London, and was the place to be. But as we heard in the episode on "San Francisco", with the Monterey Pop Festival all that started to change. While the business part of the music business remained centred in LA, and would largely remain so, LA was no longer the hip place to be. Almost overnight, jangly guitars, harmonies, and Brian Jones hairstyles were out, and feedback, extended solos, and droopy moustaches were in. The place to be was no longer LA, but a few hundred miles North, in San Francisco -- something that the LA bands were not all entirely happy about: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Who Needs the Peace Corps?"] In truth, the San Francisco music scene, unlike many of the scenes we've looked at so far in this series, had rather a limited impact on the wider world of music. Bands like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Big Brother and the Holding Company were all both massively commercially successful and highly regarded by critics, but unlike many of the other bands we've looked at before and will look at in future, they didn't have much of an influence on the bands that would come after them, musically at least. Possibly this is because the music from the San Francisco scene was always primarily that -- music created by and for a specific group of people, and inextricable from its context. The San Francisco musicians were defining themselves by their geographical location, their peers, and the situation they were in, and their music was so specifically of the place and time that to attempt to copy it outside of that context would appear ridiculous, so while many of those bands remain much loved to this day, and many made some great music, it's very hard to point to ways in which that music influenced later bands. But what they did influence was the whole of rock music culture. For at least the next thirty years, and arguably to this day, the parameters in which rock musicians worked if they wanted to be taken seriously – their aesthetic and political ideals, their methods of collaboration, the cultural norms around drug use and sexual promiscuity, ideas of artistic freedom and authenticity, the choice of acceptable instruments – in short, what it meant to be a rock musician rather than a pop, jazz, country, or soul artist – all those things were defined by the cultural and behavioural norms of the San Francisco scene between about 1966 and 68. Without the San Francisco scene there's no Woodstock, no Rolling Stone magazine, no Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, no hippies, no groupies, no rock stars. So over the next few months we're going to take several trips to the Bay Area, and look at the bands which, for a brief time, defined the counterculture in America. The story of Jefferson Airplane -- and unlike other bands we've looked at recently, like The Pink Floyd and The Buffalo Springfield, they never had a definite article at the start of their name to wither away like a vestigial organ in subsequent years -- starts with Marty Balin. Balin was born in Ohio, but was a relatively sickly child -- he later talked about being autistic, and seems to have had the chronic illnesses that so often go with neurodivergence -- so in the hope that the dry air would be good for his chest his family moved to Arizona. Then when his father couldn't find work there, they moved further west to San Francisco, in the Haight-Ashbury area, long before that area became the byword for the hippie movement. But it was in LA that he started his music career, and got his surname. Balin had been named Marty Buchwald as a kid, but when he was nineteen he had accompanied a friend to LA to visit a music publisher, and had ended up singing backing vocals on her demos. While he was there, he had encountered the arranger Jimmy Haskell. Haskell was on his way to becoming one of the most prominent arrangers in the music industry, and in his long career he would go on to do arrangements for Bobby Gentry, Blondie, Steely Dan, Simon and Garfunkel, and many others. But at the time he was best known for his work on Ricky Nelson's hits: [Excerpt: Ricky Nelson, "Hello Mary Lou"] Haskell thought that Marty had the makings of a Ricky Nelson style star, as he was a good-looking young man with a decent voice, and he became a mentor for the young man. Making the kind of records that Haskell arranged was expensive, and so Haskell suggested a deal to him -- if Marty's father would pay for studio time and musicians, Haskell would make a record with him and find him a label to put it out. Marty's father did indeed pay for the studio time and the musicians -- some of the finest working in LA at the time. The record, released under the name Marty Balin, featured Jack Nitzsche on keyboards, Earl Palmer on drums, Milt Jackson on vibraphone, Red Callender on bass, and Glen Campbell and Barney Kessell on guitars, and came out on Challenge Records, a label owned by Gene Autry: [Excerpt: Marty Balin, "Nobody But You"] Neither that, nor Balin's follow-up single, sold a noticeable amount of copies, and his career as a teen idol was over before it had begun. Instead, as many musicians of his age did, he decided to get into folk music, joining a vocal harmony group called the Town Criers, who patterned themselves after the Weavers, and performed the same kind of material that every other clean-cut folk vocal group was performing at the time -- the kind of songs that John Phillips and Steve Stills and Cass Elliot and Van Dyke Parks and the rest were all performing in their own groups at the same time. The Town Criers never made any records while they were together, but some archival recordings of them have been released over the decades: [Excerpt: The Town Criers, "900 Miles"] The Town Criers split up, and Balin started performing as a solo folkie again. But like all those other then-folk musicians, Balin realised that he had to adapt to the K/T-event level folk music extinction that happened when the Beatles hit America like a meteorite. He had to form a folk-rock group if he wanted to survive -- and given that there were no venues for such a group to play in San Francisco, he also had to start a nightclub for them to play in. He started hanging around the hootenannies in the area, looking for musicians who might form an electric band. The first person he decided on was a performer called Paul Kantner, mainly because he liked his attitude. Kantner had got on stage in front of a particularly drunk, loud, crowd, and performed precisely half a song before deciding he wasn't going to perform in front of people like that and walking off stage. Kantner was the only member of the new group to be a San Franciscan -- he'd been born and brought up in the city. He'd got into folk music at university, where he'd also met a guitar player named Jorma Kaukonen, who had turned him on to cannabis, and the two had started giving music lessons at a music shop in San Jose. There Kantner had also been responsible for booking acts at a local folk club, where he'd first encountered acts like Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a jug band which included Jerry Garcia, Pigpen McKernan, and Bob Weir, who would later go on to be the core members of the Grateful Dead: [Excerpt: Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, "In the Jailhouse Now"] Kantner had moved around a bit between Northern and Southern California, and had been friendly with two other musicians on the Californian folk scene, David Crosby and Roger McGuinn. When their new group, the Byrds, suddenly became huge, Kantner became aware of the possibility of doing something similar himself, and so when Marty Balin approached him to form a band, he agreed. On bass, they got in a musician called Bob Harvey, who actually played double bass rather than electric, and who stuck to that for the first few gigs the group played -- he had previously been in a band called the Slippery Rock String Band. On drums, they brought in Jerry Peloquin, who had formerly worked for the police, but now had a day job as an optician. And on vocals, they brought in Signe Toley -- who would soon marry and change her name to Signe Anderson, so that's how I'll talk about her to avoid confusion. The group also needed a lead guitarist though -- both Balin and Kantner were decent rhythm players and singers, but they needed someone who was a better instrumentalist. They decided to ask Kantner's old friend Jorma Kaukonen. Kaukonen was someone who was seriously into what would now be called Americana or roots music. He'd started playing the guitar as a teenager, not like most people of his generation inspired by Elvis or Buddy Holly, but rather after a friend of his had shown him how to play an old Carter Family song, "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy": [Excerpt: The Carter Family, "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy"] Kaukonen had had a far more interesting life than most of the rest of the group. His father had worked for the State Department -- and there's some suggestion he'd worked for the CIA -- and the family had travelled all over the world, staying in Pakistan, the Philippines, and Finland. For most of his childhood, he'd gone by the name Jerry, because other kids beat him up for having a foreign name and called him a Nazi, but by the time he turned twenty he was happy enough using his birth name. Kaukonen wasn't completely immune to the appeal of rock and roll -- he'd formed a rock band, The Triumphs, with his friend Jack Casady when he was a teenager, and he loved Ricky Nelson's records -- but his fate as a folkie had been pretty much sealed when he went to Antioch College. There he met up with a blues guitarist called Ian Buchanan. Buchanan never had much of a career as a professional, but he had supposedly spent nine years studying with the blues and ragtime guitar legend Rev. Gary Davis, and he was certainly a fine guitarist, as can be heard on his contribution to The Blues Project, the album Elektra put out of white Greenwich Village musicians like John Sebastian and Dave Van Ronk playing old blues songs: [Excerpt: Ian Buchanan, "The Winding Boy"] Kaukonen became something of a disciple of Buchanan -- he said later that Buchanan probably taught him how to play because he was such a terrible player and Buchanan couldn't stand to listen to it -- as did John Hammond Jr, another student at Antioch at the same time. After studying at Antioch, Kaukonen started to travel around, including spells in Greenwich Village and in the Philippines, before settling in Santa Clara, where he studied for a sociology degree and became part of a social circle that included Dino Valenti, Jerry Garcia, and Billy Roberts, the credited writer of "Hey Joe". He also started performing as a duo with a singer called Janis Joplin. Various of their recordings from this period circulate, mostly recorded at Kaukonen's home with the sound of his wife typing in the background while the duo rehearse, as on this performance of an old Bessie Smith song: [Excerpt: Jorma Kaukonen and Janis Joplin, "Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out"] By 1965 Kaukonen saw himself firmly as a folk-blues purist, who would not even think of playing rock and roll music, which he viewed with more than a little contempt. But he allowed himself to be brought along to audition for the new group, and Ken Kesey happened to be there. Kesey was a novelist who had written two best-selling books, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes A Great Notion, and used the financial independence that gave him to organise a group of friends who called themselves the Merry Pranksters, who drove from coast to coast and back again in a psychedelic-painted bus, before starting a series of events that became known as Acid Tests, parties at which everyone was on LSD, immortalised in Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Nobody has ever said why Kesey was there, but he had brought along an Echoplex, a reverb unit one could put a guitar through -- and nobody has explained why Kesey, who wasn't a musician, had an Echoplex to hand. But Kaukonen loved the sound that he could get by putting his guitar through the device, and so for that reason more than any other he decided to become an electric player and join the band, going out and buying a Rickenbacker twelve-string and Vox Treble Booster because that was what Roger McGuinn used. He would later also get a Guild Thunderbird six-string guitar and a Standel Super Imperial amp, following the same principle of buying the equipment used by other guitarists he liked, as they were what Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin' Spoonful used. He would use them for all his six-string playing for the next couple of years, only later to discover that the Lovin' Spoonful despised them and only used them because they had an endorsement deal with the manufacturers. Kaukonen was also the one who came up with the new group's name. He and his friends had a running joke where they had "Bluesman names", things like "Blind Outrage" and "Little Sun Goldfarb". Kaukonen's bluesman name, given to him by his friend Steve Talbot, had been Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane, a reference to the 1920s blues guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson: [Excerpt: Blind Lemon Jefferson, "Match Box Blues"] At the band meeting where they were trying to decide on a name, Kaukonen got frustrated at the ridiculous suggestions that were being made, and said "You want a stupid name? Howzabout this... Jefferson Airplane?" He said in his autobiography "It was one of those rare moments when everyone in the band agreed, and that was that. I think it was the only band meeting that ever allowed me to come away smiling." The newly-named Jefferson Airplane started to rehearse at the Matrix Club, the club that Balin had decided to open. This was run with three sound engineer friends, who put in the seed capital for the club. Balin had stock options in the club, which he got by trading a share of the band's future earnings to his partners, though as the group became bigger he eventually sold his stock in the club back to his business partners. Before their first public performance, they started working with a manager, Matthew Katz, mostly because Katz had access to a recording of a then-unreleased Bob Dylan song, "Lay Down Your Weary Tune": [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Lay Down Your Weary Tune"] The group knew that the best way for a folk-rock band to make a name for themselves was to perform a Dylan song nobody else had yet heard, and so they agreed to be managed by Katz. Katz started a pre-publicity blitz, giving out posters, badges, and bumper stickers saying "Jefferson Airplane Loves You" all over San Francisco -- and insisting that none of the band members were allowed to say "Hello" when they answered the phone any more, they had to say "Jefferson Airplane Loves You!" For their early rehearsals and gigs, they were performing almost entirely cover versions of blues and folk songs, things like Fred Neil's "The Other Side of This Life" and Dino Valenti's "Get Together" which were the common currency of the early folk-rock movement, and songs by their friends, like one called "Flower Bomb" by David Crosby, which Crosby now denies ever having written. They did start writing the odd song, but at this point they were more focused on performance than on writing. They also hired a press agent, their friend Bill Thompson. Thompson was friends with the two main music writers at the San Francisco Chronicle, Ralph Gleason, the famous jazz critic, who had recently started also reviewing rock music, and John Wasserman. Thompson got both men to come to the opening night of the Matrix, and both gave the group glowing reviews in the Chronicle. Record labels started sniffing around the group immediately as a result of this coverage, and according to Katz he managed to get a bidding war started by making sure that when A&R men came to the club there were always two of them from different labels, so they would see the other person and realise they weren't the only ones interested. But before signing a record deal they needed to make some personnel changes. The first member to go was Jerry Peloquin, for both musical and personal reasons. Peloquin was used to keeping strict time and the other musicians had a more free-flowing idea of what tempo they should be playing at, but also he had worked for the police while the other members were all taking tons of illegal drugs. The final break with Peloquin came when he did the rest of the group a favour -- Paul Kantner's glasses broke during a rehearsal, and as Peloquin was an optician he offered to take them back to his shop and fix them. When he got back, he found them auditioning replacements for him. He beat Kantner up, and that was the end of Jerry Peloquin in Jefferson Airplane. His replacement was Skip Spence, who the group had met when he had accompanied three friends to the Matrix, which they were using as a rehearsal room. Spence's friends went on to be the core members of Quicksilver Messenger Service along with Dino Valenti: [Excerpt: Quicksilver Messenger Service, "Dino's Song"] But Balin decided that Spence looked like a rock star, and told him that he was now Jefferson Airplane's drummer, despite Spence being a guitarist and singer, not a drummer. But Spence was game, and learned to play the drums. Next they needed to get rid of Bob Harvey. According to Harvey, the decision to sack him came after David Crosby saw the band rehearsing and said "Nice song, but get rid of the bass player" (along with an expletive before the word bass which I can't say without incurring the wrath of Apple). Crosby denies ever having said this. Harvey had started out in the group on double bass, but to show willing he'd switched in his last few gigs to playing an electric bass. When he was sacked by the group, he returned to double bass, and to the Slippery Rock String Band, who released one single in 1967: [Excerpt: The Slippery Rock String Band, "Tule Fog"] Harvey's replacement was Kaukonen's old friend Jack Casady, who Kaukonen knew was now playing bass, though he'd only ever heard him playing guitar when they'd played together. Casady was rather cautious about joining a rock band, but then Kaukonen told him that the band were getting fifty dollars a week salary each from Katz, and Casady flew over from Washington DC to San Francisco to join the band. For the first few gigs, he used Bob Harvey's bass, which Harvey was good enough to lend him despite having been sacked from the band. Unfortunately, right from the start Casady and Kantner didn't get on. When Casady flew in from Washington, he had a much more clean-cut appearance than the rest of the band -- one they've described as being nerdy, with short, slicked-back, side-parted hair and a handlebar moustache. Kantner insisted that Casady shave the moustache off, and he responded by shaving only one side, so in profile on one side he looked clean-shaven, while from the other side he looked like he had a full moustache. Kantner also didn't like Casady's general attitude, or his playing style, at all -- though most critics since this point have pointed to Casady's bass playing as being the most interesting and distinctive thing about Jefferson Airplane's style. This lineup seems to have been the one that travelled to LA to audition for various record companies -- a move that immediately brought the group a certain amount of criticism for selling out, both for auditioning for record companies and for going to LA at all, two things that were already anathema on the San Francisco scene. The only audition anyone remembers them having specifically is one for Phil Spector, who according to Kaukonen was waving a gun around during the audition, so he and Casady walked out. Around this time as well, the group performed at an event billed as "A Tribute to Dr. Strange", organised by the radical hippie collective Family Dog. Marvel Comics, rather than being the multi-billion-dollar Disney-owned corporate juggernaut it is now, was regarded as a hip, almost underground, company -- and around this time they briefly started billing their comics not as comics but as "Marvel Pop Art Productions". The magical adventures of Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, and in particular the art by far-right libertarian artist Steve Ditko, were regarded as clear parallels to both the occult dabblings and hallucinogen use popular among the hippies, though Ditko had no time for either, following as he did an extreme version of Ayn Rand's Objectivism. It was at the Tribute to Dr. Strange that Jefferson Airplane performed for the first time with a band named The Great Society, whose lead singer, Grace Slick, would later become very important in Jefferson Airplane's story: [Excerpt: The Great Society, "Someone to Love"] That gig was also the first one where the band and their friends noticed that large chunks of the audience were now dressing up in costumes that were reminiscent of the Old West. Up to this point, while Katz had been managing the group and paying them fifty dollars a week even on weeks when they didn't perform, he'd been doing so without a formal contract, in part because the group didn't trust him much. But now they were starting to get interest from record labels, and in particular RCA Records desperately wanted them. While RCA had been the label who had signed Elvis Presley, they had otherwise largely ignored rock and roll, considering that since they had the biggest rock star in the world they didn't need other ones, and concentrating largely on middle-of-the-road acts. But by the mid-sixties Elvis' star had faded somewhat, and they were desperate to get some of the action for the new music -- and unlike the other major American labels, they didn't have a reciprocal arrangement with a British label that allowed them to release anything by any of the new British stars. The group were introduced to RCA by Rod McKuen, a songwriter and poet who later became America's best-selling poet and wrote songs that sold over a hundred million copies. At this point McKuen was in his Jacques Brel phase, recording loose translations of the Belgian songwriter's songs with McKuen translating the lyrics: [Excerpt: Rod McKuen, "Seasons in the Sun"] McKuen thought that Jefferson Airplane might be a useful market for his own songs, and brought the group to RCA. RCA offered Jefferson Airplane twenty-five thousand dollars to sign with them, and Katz convinced the group that RCA wouldn't give them this money without them having signed a management contract with him. Kaukonen, Kantner, Spence, and Balin all signed without much hesitation, but Jack Casady didn't yet sign, as he was the new boy and nobody knew if he was going to be in the band for the long haul. The other person who refused to sign was Signe Anderson. In her case, she had a much better reason for refusing to sign, as unlike the rest of the band she had actually read the contract, and she found it to be extremely worrying. She did eventually back down on the day of the group's first recording session, but she later had the contract renegotiated. Jack Casady also signed the contract right at the start of the first session -- or at least, he thought he'd signed the contract then. He certainly signed *something*, without having read it. But much later, during a court case involving the band's longstanding legal disputes with Katz, it was revealed that the signature on the contract wasn't Casady's, and was badly forged. What he actually *did* sign that day has never been revealed, to him or to anyone else. Katz also signed all the group as songwriters to his own publishing company, telling them that they legally needed to sign with him if they wanted to make records, and also claimed to RCA that he had power of attorney for the band, which they say they never gave him -- though to be fair to Katz, given the band members' habit of signing things without reading or understanding them, it doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility that they did. The producer chosen for the group's first album was Tommy Oliver, a friend of Katz's who had previously been an arranger on some of Doris Day's records, and whose next major act after finishing the Jefferson Airplane album was Trombones Unlimited, who released records like "Holiday for Trombones": [Excerpt: Trombones Unlimited, "Holiday For Trombones"] The group weren't particularly thrilled with this choice, but were happier with their engineer, Dave Hassinger, who had worked on records like "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, and had a far better understanding of the kind of music the group were making. They spent about three months recording their first album, even while continually being attacked as sellouts. The album is not considered their best work, though it does contain "Blues From an Airplane", a collaboration between Spence and Balin: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Blues From an Airplane"] Even before the album came out, though, things were starting to change for the group. Firstly, they started playing bigger venues -- their home base went from being the Matrix club to the Fillmore, a large auditorium run by the promoter Bill Graham. They also started to get an international reputation. The British singer-songwriter Donovan released a track called "The Fat Angel" which namechecked the group: [Excerpt: Donovan, "The Fat Angel"] The group also needed a new drummer. Skip Spence decided to go on holiday to Mexico without telling the rest of the band. There had already been some friction with Spence, as he was very eager to become a guitarist and songwriter, and the band already had three songwriting guitarists and didn't really see why they needed a fourth. They sacked Spence, who went on to form Moby Grape, who were also managed by Katz: [Excerpt: Moby Grape, "Omaha"] For his replacement they brought in Spencer Dryden, who was a Hollywood brat like their friend David Crosby -- in Dryden's case he was Charlie Chaplin's nephew, and his father worked as Chaplin's assistant. The story normally goes that the great session drummer Earl Palmer recommended Dryden to the group, but it's also the case that Dryden had been in a band, the Heartbeats, with Tommy Oliver and the great blues guitarist Roy Buchanan, so it may well be that Oliver had recommended him. Dryden had been primarily a jazz musician, playing with people like the West Coast jazz legend Charles Lloyd, though like most jazzers he would slum it on occasion by playing rock and roll music to pay the bills. But then he'd seen an early performance by the Mothers of Invention, and realised that rock music could have a serious artistic purpose too. He'd joined a band called The Ashes, who had released one single, the Jackie DeShannon song "Is There Anything I Can Do?" in December 1965: [Excerpt: The Ashes, "Is There Anything I Can Do?"] The Ashes split up once Dryden left the group to join Jefferson Airplane, but they soon reformed without him as The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, who hooked up with Gary Usher and released several albums of psychedelic sunshine pop. Dryden played his first gig with the group at a Republican Party event on June the sixth, 1966. But by the time Dryden had joined, other problems had become apparent. The group were already feeling like it had been a big mistake to accede to Katz's demands to sign a formal contract with him, and Balin in particular was getting annoyed that he wouldn't let the band see their finances. All the money was getting paid to Katz, who then doled out money to the band when they asked for it, and they had no idea if he was actually paying them what they were owed or not. The group's first album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, finally came out in September, and it was a comparative flop. It sold well in San Francisco itself, selling around ten thousand copies in the area, but sold basically nothing anywhere else in the country -- the group's local reputation hadn't extended outside their own immediate scene. It didn't help that the album was pulled and reissued, as RCA censored the initial version of the album because of objections to the lyrics. The song "Runnin' Round This World" was pulled off the album altogether for containing the word "trips", while in "Let Me In" they had to rerecord two lines -- “I gotta get in, you know where" was altered to "You shut the door now it ain't fair" and "Don't tell me you want money" became "Don't tell me it's so funny". Similarly in "Run Around" the phrase "as you lay under me" became "as you stay here by me". Things were also becoming difficult for Anderson. She had had a baby in May and was not only unhappy with having to tour while she had a small child, she was also the band member who was most vocally opposed to Katz. Added to that, her husband did not get on well at all with the group, and she felt trapped between her marriage and her bandmates. Reports differ as to whether she quit the band or was fired, but after a disastrous appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival, one way or another she was out of the band. Her replacement was already waiting in the wings. Grace Slick, the lead singer of the Great Society, had been inspired by going to one of the early Jefferson Airplane gigs. She later said "I went to see Jefferson Airplane at the Matrix, and they were making more money in a day than I made in a week. They only worked for two or three hours a night, and they got to hang out. I thought 'This looks a lot better than what I'm doing.' I knew I could more or less carry a tune, and I figured if they could do it I could." She was married at the time to a film student named Jerry Slick, and indeed she had done the music for his final project at film school, a film called "Everybody Hits Their Brother Once", which sadly I can't find online. She was also having an affair with Jerry's brother Darby, though as the Slicks were in an open marriage this wasn't particularly untoward. The three of them, with a couple of other musicians, had formed The Great Society, named as a joke about President Johnson's programme of the same name. The Great Society was the name Johnson had given to his whole programme of domestic reforms, including civil rights for Black people, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts, and more. While those projects were broadly popular among the younger generation, Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam had made him so personally unpopular that even his progressive domestic programme was regarded with suspicion and contempt. The Great Society had set themselves up as local rivals to Jefferson Airplane -- where Jefferson Airplane had buttons saying "Jefferson Airplane Loves You!" the Great Society put out buttons saying "The Great Society Really Doesn't Like You Much At All". They signed to Autumn Records, and recorded a song that Darby Slick had written, titled "Someone to Love" -- though the song would later be retitled "Somebody to Love": [Excerpt: The Great Society, "Someone to Love"] That track was produced by Sly Stone, who at the time was working as a producer for Autumn Records. The Great Society, though, didn't like working with Stone, because he insisted on them doing forty-five takes to try to sound professional, as none of them were particularly competent musicians. Grace Slick later said "Sly could play any instrument known to man. He could have just made the record himself, except for the singers. It was kind of degrading in a way" -- and on another occasion she said that he *did* end up playing all the instruments on the finished record. "Someone to Love" was put out as a promo record, but never released to the general public, and nor were any of the Great Society's other recordings for Autumn Records released. Their contract expired and they were let go, at which point they were about to sign to Mercury Records, but then Darby Slick and another member decided to go off to India for a while. Grace's marriage to Jerry was falling apart, though they would stay legally married for several years, and the Great Society looked like it was at an end, so when Grace got the offer to join Jefferson Airplane to replace Signe Anderson, she jumped at the chance. At first, she was purely a harmony singer -- she didn't take over any of the lead vocal parts that Anderson had previously sung, as she had a very different vocal style, and instead she just sang the harmony parts that Anderson had sung on songs with other lead vocalists. But two months after the album they were back in the studio again, recording their second album, and Slick sang lead on several songs there. As well as the new lineup, there was another important change in the studio. They were still working with Dave Hassinger, but they had a new producer, Rick Jarrard. Jarrard was at one point a member of the folk group The Wellingtons, who did the theme tune for "Gilligan's Island", though I can't find anything to say whether or not he was in the group when they recorded that track: [Excerpt: The Wellingtons, "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island"] Jarrard had also been in the similar folk group The Greenwood County Singers, where as we heard in the episode on "Heroes and Villains" he replaced Van Dyke Parks. He'd also released a few singles under his own name, including a version of Parks' "High Coin": [Excerpt: Rick Jarrard, "High Coin"] While Jarrard had similar musical roots to those of Jefferson Airplane's members, and would go on to produce records by people like Harry Nilsson and The Family Tree, he wasn't any more liked by the band than their previous producer had been. So much so, that a few of the band members have claimed that while Jarrard is the credited producer, much of the work that one would normally expect to be done by a producer was actually done by their friend Jerry Garcia, who according to the band members gave them a lot of arranging and structural advice, and was present in the studio and played guitar on several tracks. Jarrard, on the other hand, said categorically "I never met Jerry Garcia. I produced that album from start to finish, never heard from Jerry Garcia, never talked to Jerry Garcia. He was not involved creatively on that album at all." According to the band, though, it was Garcia who had the idea of almost doubling the speed of the retitled "Somebody to Love", turning it into an uptempo rocker: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Somebody to Love"] And one thing everyone is agreed on is that it was Garcia who came up with the album title, when after listening to some of the recordings he said "That's as surrealistic as a pillow!" It was while they were working on the album that was eventually titled Surrealistic Pillow that they finally broke with Katz as their manager, bringing Bill Thompson in as a temporary replacement. Or at least, it was then that they tried to break with Katz. Katz sued the group over their contract, and won. Then they appealed, and they won. Then Katz appealed the appeal, and the Superior Court insisted that if he wanted to appeal the ruling, he had to put up a bond for the fifty thousand dollars the group said he owed them. He didn't, so in 1970, four years after they sacked him as their manager, the appeal was dismissed. Katz appealed the dismissal, and won that appeal, and the case dragged on for another three years, at which point Katz dragged RCA Records into the lawsuit. As a result of being dragged into the mess, RCA decided to stop paying the group their songwriting royalties from record sales directly, and instead put the money into an escrow account. The claims and counterclaims and appeals *finally* ended in 1987, twenty years after the lawsuits had started and fourteen years after the band had stopped receiving their songwriting royalties. In the end, the group won on almost every point, and finally received one point three million dollars in back royalties and seven hundred thousand dollars in interest that had accrued, while Katz got a small token payment. Early in 1967, when the sessions for Surrealistic Pillow had finished, but before the album was released, Newsweek did a big story on the San Francisco scene, which drew national attention to the bands there, and the first big event of what would come to be called the hippie scene, the Human Be-In, happened in Golden Gate Park in January. As the group's audience was expanding rapidly, they asked Bill Graham to be their manager, as he was the most business-minded of the people around the group. The first single from the album, "My Best Friend", a song written by Skip Spence before he quit the band, came out in January 1967 and had no more success than their earlier recordings had, and didn't make the Hot 100. The album came out in February, and was still no higher than number 137 on the charts in March, when the second single, "Somebody to Love", was released: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Somebody to Love"] That entered the charts at the start of April, and by June it had made number five. The single's success also pushed its parent album up to number three by August, just behind the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the Monkees' Headquarters. The success of the single also led to the group being asked to do commercials for Levis jeans: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Levis commercial"] That once again got them accused of selling out. Abbie Hoffman, the leader of the Yippies, wrote to the Village Voice about the commercials, saying "It summarized for me all the doubts I have about the hippie philosophy. I realise they are just doing their 'thing', but while the Jefferson Airplane grooves with its thing, over 100 workers in the Levi Strauss plant on the Tennessee-Georgia border are doing their thing, which consists of being on strike to protest deplorable working conditions." The third single from the album, "White Rabbit", came out on the twenty-fourth of June, the day before the Beatles recorded "All You Need is Love", nine days after the release of "See Emily Play", and a week after the group played the Monterey Pop Festival, to give you some idea of how compressed a time period we've been in recently. We talked in the last episode about how there's a big difference between American and British psychedelia at this point in time, because the political nature of the American counterculture was determined by the fact that so many people were being sent off to die in Vietnam. Of all the San Francisco bands, though, Jefferson Airplane were by far the least political -- they were into the culture part of the counterculture, but would often and repeatedly disavow any deeper political meaning in their songs. In early 1968, for example, in a press conference, they said “Don't ask us anything about politics. We don't know anything about it. And what we did know, we just forgot.” So it's perhaps not surprising that of all the American groups, they were the one that was most similar to the British psychedelic groups in their influences, and in particular their frequent references to children's fantasy literature. "White Rabbit" was a perfect example of this. It had started out as "White Rabbit Blues", a song that Slick had written influenced by Alice in Wonderland, and originally performed by the Great Society: [Excerpt: The Great Society, "White Rabbit"] Slick explained the lyrics, and their association between childhood fantasy stories and drugs, later by saying "It's an interesting song but it didn't do what I wanted it to. What I was trying to say was that between the ages of zero and five the information and the input you get is almost indelible. In other words, once a Catholic, always a Catholic. And the parents read us these books, like Alice in Wonderland where she gets high, tall, and she takes mushrooms, a hookah, pills, alcohol. And then there's The Wizard of Oz, where they fall into a field of poppies and when they wake up they see Oz. And then there's Peter Pan, where if you sprinkle white dust on you, you could fly. And then you wonder why we do it? Well, what did you read to me?" While the lyrical inspiration for the track was from Alice in Wonderland, the musical inspiration is less obvious. Slick has on multiple occasions said that the idea for the music came from listening to Miles Davis' album "Sketches of Spain", and in particular to Davis' version of -- and I apologise for almost certainly mangling the Spanish pronunciation badly here -- "Concierto de Aranjuez", though I see little musical resemblance to it myself. [Excerpt: Miles Davis, "Concierto de Aranjuez"] She has also, though, talked about how the song was influenced by Ravel's "Bolero", and in particular the way the piece keeps building in intensity, starting softly and slowly building up, rather than having the dynamic peaks and troughs of most music. And that is definitely a connection I can hear in the music: [Excerpt: Ravel, "Bolero"] Jefferson Airplane's version of "White Rabbit", like their version of "Somebody to Love", was far more professional, far -- and apologies for the pun -- slicker than The Great Society's version. It's also much shorter. The version by The Great Society has a four and a half minute instrumental intro before Slick's vocal enters. By contrast, the version on Surrealistic Pillow comes in at under two and a half minutes in total, and is a tight pop song: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "White Rabbit"] Jack Casady has more recently said that the group originally recorded the song more or less as a lark, because they assumed that all the drug references would mean that RCA would make them remove the song from the album -- after all, they'd cut a song from the earlier album because it had a reference to a trip, so how could they possibly allow a song like "White Rabbit" with its lyrics about pills and mushrooms? But it was left on the album, and ended up making the top ten on the pop charts, peaking at number eight: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "White Rabbit"] In an interview last year, Slick said she still largely lives off the royalties from writing that one song. It would be the last hit single Jefferson Airplane would ever have. Marty Balin later said "Fame changes your life. It's a bit like prison. It ruined the band. Everybody became rich and selfish and self-centred and couldn't care about the band. That was pretty much the end of it all. After that it was just working and living the high life and watching the band destroy itself, living on its laurels." They started work on their third album, After Bathing at Baxter's, in May 1967, while "Somebody to Love" was still climbing the charts. This time, the album was produced by Al Schmitt. Unlike the two previous producers, Schmitt was a fan of the band, and decided the best thing to do was to just let them do their own thing without interfering. The album took months to record, rather than the weeks that Surrealistic Pillow had taken, and cost almost ten times as much money to record. In part the time it took was because of the promotional work the band had to do. Bill Graham was sending them all over the country to perform, which they didn't appreciate. The group complained to Graham in business meetings, saying they wanted to only play in big cities where there were lots of hippies. Graham pointed out in turn that if they wanted to keep having any kind of success, they needed to play places other than San Francisco, LA, New York, and Chicago, because in fact most of the population of the US didn't live in those four cities. They grudgingly took his point. But there were other arguments all the time as well. They argued about whether Graham should be taking his cut from the net or the gross. They argued about Graham trying to push for the next single to be another Grace Slick lead vocal -- they felt like he was trying to make them into just Grace Slick's backing band, while he thought it made sense to follow up two big hits with more singles with the same vocalist. There was also a lawsuit from Balin's former partners in the Matrix, who remembered that bit in the contract about having a share in the group's income and sued for six hundred thousand dollars -- that was settled out of court three years later. And there were interpersonal squabbles too. Some of these were about the music -- Dryden didn't like the fact that Kaukonen's guitar solos were getting longer and longer, and Balin only contributed one song to the new album because all the other band members made fun of him for writing short, poppy, love songs rather than extended psychedelic jams -- but also the group had become basically two rival factions. On one side were Kaukonen and Casady, the old friends and virtuoso instrumentalists, who wanted to extend the instrumental sections of the songs more to show off their playing. On the other side were Grace Slick and Spencer Dryden, the two oldest members of the group by age, but the most recent people to join. They were also unusual in the San Francisco scene for having alcohol as their drug of choice -- drinking was thought of by most of the hippies as being a bit classless, but they were both alcoholics. They were also sleeping together, and generally on the side of shorter, less exploratory, songs. Kantner, who was attracted to Slick, usually ended up siding with her and Dryden, and this left Balin the odd man out in the middle. He later said "I got disgusted with all the ego trips, and the band was so stoned that I couldn't even talk to them. Everybody was in their little shell". While they were still working on the album, they released the first single from it, Kantner's "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil". The "Pooneil" in the song was a figure that combined two of Kantner's influences: the Greenwich Village singer-songwriter Fred Neil, the writer of "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Dolphins"; and Winnie the Pooh. The song contained several lines taken from A.A. Milne's children's stories: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil"] That only made number forty-two on the charts. It was the last Jefferson Airplane single to make the top fifty. At a gig in Bakersfield they got arrested for inciting a riot, because they encouraged the crowd to dance, even though local by-laws said that nobody under sixteen was allowed to dance, and then they nearly got arrested again after Kantner's behaviour on the private plane they'd chartered to get them back to San Francisco that night. Kantner had been chain-smoking, and this annoyed the pilot, who asked Kantner to put his cigarette out, so Kantner opened the door of the plane mid-flight and threw the lit cigarette out. They'd chartered that plane because they wanted to make sure they got to see a new group, Cream, who were playing the Fillmore: [Excerpt: Cream, "Strange Brew"] After seeing that, the divisions in the band were even wider -- Kaukonen and Casady now *knew* that what the band needed was to do long, extended, instrumental jams. Cream were the future, two-minute pop songs were the past. Though they weren't completely averse to two-minute pop songs. The group were recording at RCA studios at the same time as the Monkees, and members of the two groups would often jam together. The idea of selling out might have been anathema to their *audience*, but the band members themselves didn't care about things like that. Indeed, at one point the group returned from a gig to the mansion they were renting and found squatters had moved in and were using their private pool -- so they shot at the water. The squatters quickly moved on. As Dryden put it "We all -- Paul, Jorma, Grace, and myself -- had guns. We weren't hippies. Hippies were the people that lived on the streets down in Haight-Ashbury. We were basically musicians and art school kids. We were into guns and machinery" After Bathing at Baxter's only went to number seventeen on the charts, not a bad position but a flop compared to their previous album, and Bill Graham in particular took this as more proof that he had been right when for the last few months he'd been attacking the group as self-indulgent. Eventually, Slick and Dryden decided that either Bill Graham was going as their manager, or they were going. Slick even went so far as to try to negotiate a solo deal with Elektra Records -- as the voice on the hits, everyone was telling her she was the only one who mattered anyway. David Anderle, who was working for the label, agreed a deal with her, but Jac Holzman refused to authorise the deal, saying "Judy Collins doesn't get that much money, why should Grace Slick?" The group did fire Graham, and went one further and tried to become his competitors. They teamed up with the Grateful Dead to open a new venue, the Carousel Ballroom, to compete with the Fillmore, but after a few months they realised they were no good at running a venue and sold it to Graham. Graham, who was apparently unhappy with the fact that the people living around the Fillmore were largely Black given that the bands he booked appealed to mostly white audiences, closed the original Fillmore, renamed the Carousel the Fillmore West, and opened up a second venue in New York, the Fillmore East. The divisions in the band were getting worse -- Kaukonen and Casady were taking more and more speed, which was making them play longer and faster instrumental solos whether or not the rest of the band wanted them to, and Dryden, whose hands often bled from trying to play along with them, definitely did not want them to. But the group soldiered on and recorded their fourth album, Crown of Creation. This album contained several songs that were influenced by science fiction novels. The most famous of these was inspired by the right-libertarian author Robert Heinlein, who was hugely influential on the counterculture. Jefferson Airplane's friends the Monkees had already recorded a song based on Heinlein's The Door Into Summer, an unintentionally disturbing novel about a thirty-year-old man who falls in love with a twelve-year-old girl, and who uses a combination of time travel and cryogenic freezing to make their ages closer together so he can marry her: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Door Into Summer"] Now Jefferson Airplane were recording a song based on Heinlein's most famous novel, Stranger in a Strange Land. Stranger in a Strange Land has dated badly, thanks to its casual homophobia and rape-apologia, but at the time it was hugely popular in hippie circles for its advocacy of free love and group marriages -- so popular that a religion, the Church of All Worlds, based itself on the book. David Crosby had taken inspiration from it and written "Triad", a song asking two women if they'll enter into a polygamous relationship with him, and recorded it with the Byrds: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Triad"] But the other members of the Byrds disliked the song, and it was left unreleased for decades. As Crosby was friendly with Jefferson Airplane, and as members of the band were themselves advocates of open relationships, they recorded their own version with Slick singing lead: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Triad"] The other song on the album influenced by science fiction was the title track, Paul Kantner's "Crown of Creation". This song was inspired by The Chrysalids, a novel by the British writer John Wyndham. The Chrysalids is one of Wyndham's most influential novels, a post-apocalyptic story about young children who are born with mutant superpowers and have to hide them from their parents as they will be killed if they're discovered. The novel is often thought to have inspired Marvel Comics' X-Men, and while there's an unpleasant eugenic taste to its ending, with the idea that two species can't survive in the same ecological niche and the younger, "superior", species must outcompete the old, that idea also had a lot of influence in the counterculture, as well as being a popular one in science fiction. Kantner's song took whole lines from The Chrysalids, much as he had earlier done with A.A. Milne: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Crown of Creation"] The Crown of Creation album was in some ways a return to the more focused songwriting of Surrealistic Pillow, although the sessions weren't without their experiments. Slick and Dryden collaborated with Frank Zappa and members of the Mothers of Invention on an avant-garde track called "Would You Like a Snack?" (not the same song as the later Zappa song of the same name) which was intended for the album, though went unreleased until a CD box set decades later: [Excerpt: Grace Slick and Frank Zappa, "Would You Like a Snack?"] But the finished album was generally considered less self-indulgent than After Bathing at Baxter's, and did better on the charts as a result. It reached number six, becoming their second and last top ten album, helped by the group's appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in September 1968, a month after it came out. That appearance was actually organised by Colonel Tom Parker, who suggested them to Sullivan as a favour to RCA Records. But another TV appearance at the time was less successful. They appeared on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, one of the most popular TV shows among the young, hip, audience that the group needed to appeal to, but Slick appeared in blackface. She's later said that there was no political intent behind this, and that she was just trying the different makeup she found in the dressing room as a purely aesthetic thing, but that doesn't really explain the Black power salute she gives at one point. Slick was increasingly obnoxious on stage, as her drinking was getting worse and her relationship with Dryden was starting to break down. Just before the Smothers Brothers appearance she was accused at a benefit for the Whitney Museum of having called the audience "filthy Jews", though she has always said that what she actually said was "filthy jewels", and she was talking about the ostentatious jewellery some of the audience were wearing. The group struggled through a performance at Altamont -- an event we will talk about in a future episode, so I won't go into it here, except to say that it was a horrifying experience for everyone involved -- and performed at Woodstock, before releasing their fifth studio album, Volunteers, in 1969: [Excerpt: Jefferson Airplane, "Volunteers"] That album made the top twenty, but was the last album by the classic lineup of the band. By this point Spencer Dryden and Grace Slick had broken up, with Slick starting to date Kantner, and Dryden was also disappointed at the group's musical direction, and left. Balin also left, feeling sidelined in the group. They released several more albums with varying lineups, including at various points their old friend David Frieberg of Quicksilver Messenger Service, the violinist Papa John Creach, and the former drummer of the Turtles, Johnny Barbata. But as of 1970 the group's members had already started working on two side projects -- an acoustic band called Hot Tuna, led by Kaukonen and Casady, which sometimes also featured Balin, and a project called Paul Kantner's Jefferson Starship, which also featured Slick and had recorded an album, Blows Against the Empire, the second side of which was based on the Robert Heinlein novel Back to Methuselah, and which became one of the first albums ever nominated for science fiction's Hugo Awards: [Excerpt: Jefferson Starship, "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite"] That album featured contributions from David Crosby and members of the Grateful Dead, as well as Casady on two tracks, but  in 1974 when Kaukonen and Casady quit Jefferson Airplane to make Hot Tuna their full-time band, Kantner, Slick, and Frieberg turned Jefferson Starship into a full band. Over the next decade, Jefferson Starship had a lot of moderate-sized hits, with a varying lineup that at one time or another saw several members, including Slick, go and return, and saw Marty Balin back with them for a while. In 1984, Kantner left the group, and sued them to stop them using the Jefferson Starship name. A settlement was reached in which none of Kantner, Slick, Kaukonen, or Casady could use the words "Jefferson" or "Airplane" in their band-names without the permission of all the others, and the remaining members of Jefferson Starship renamed their band just Starship -- and had three number one singles in the late eighties with Slick on lead, becoming far more commercially successful than their precursor bands had ever been: [Excerpt: Starship, "We Built This City on Rock & Roll"] Slick left Starship in 1989, and there was a brief Jefferson Airplane reunion tour, with all the classic members but Dryden, but then Slick decided that she was getting too old to perform rock and roll music, and decided to retire from music and become a painter, something she's stuck to for more than thirty years. Kantner and Balin formed a new Jefferson Starship, called Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation, but Kantner died in January 2016, coincidentally on the same day as Signe Anderson, who had occasionally guested with her old bandmates in the new version of the band. Balin, who had quit the reunited Jefferson Starship due to health reasons, died two years later. Dryden had died in 2005. Currently, there are three bands touring that descend directly from Jefferson Airplane. Hot Tuna still continue to perform, there's a version of Starship that tours featuring one original member, Mickey Thomas, and the reunited Jefferson Starship still tour, led by David Frieberg. Grace Slick has given the latter group her blessing, and even co-wrote one song on their most recent album, released in 2020, though she still doesn't perform any more. Jefferson Airplane's period in the commercial spotlight was brief -- they had charting singles for only a matter of months, and while they had top twenty albums for a few years after their peak, they really only mattered to the wider world during that brief period of the Summer of Love. But precisely because their period of success was so short, their music is indelibly associated with that time. To this day there's nothing as evocative of summer 1967 as "White Rabbit", even for those of us who weren't born then. And while Grace Slick had her problems, as I've made very clear in this episode, she inspired a whole generation of women who went on to be singers themselves, as one of the first prominent women to sing lead with an electric rock band. And when she got tired of doing that, she stopped, and got on with her other artistic pursuits, without feeling the need to go back and revisit the past for ever diminishing returns. One might only wish that some of her male peers had followed her example.