Looking for Deadheads and interested Civilians

[mhardy6647]

no rush

 

[Astoneroad]

1970. My first show, I was 13, Pig Pen was alive. Biggest show... Watkins Glen 1973, 3 days, 600,000 heads. Last show with Jerry, Vegas, 1995, Dave Matthews was the opening act. Note, I was married earlier that day, so my wedding reception was an intimate affair of 50,000. About 100+ shows in between... and every keyboardist along the way... Those have been the soundtrack of my life since. I'm so fuckin' lucky to have been a hippie from the very start and that I found the Dead early on. "Always a Hoot".

 

[August West]

Here's the list:

My Top 20 GD Shows I Attended

(Not in any particular order)

12-28-1979
02-17-1982
02-27-1981
05-22-1982
10-19-1974
12-31-1981
12-13-1980
10-21-1978
10-31-1983
10-15-1976
08-12-1979
10-02-1977
09-05-1982
05-14-1983
10-09-1982
10-10-1982
09-12-1981
02-24-1974
07-16-1976

I'd love to respond to questions comments etc about this.
I saw 276 Grateful Dead shows and these are very memorable ones.

 

[August West]

I am now listening to master tape from 06-21-1980. It was at the West High School Auditorium (1600 capacity) in Anchorage, Alaska

 

[Heatsink]

1970. My first show, I was 13, Pig Pen was alive. Biggest show... Watkins Glen 1973, 3 days, 600,000 heads. Last show with Jerry, Vegas, 1995, Dave Matthews was the opening act. Note, I was married earlier that day, so my wedding reception was an intimate affair of 50,000. About 100+ shows in between... and every keyboardist along the way... Those have been the soundtrack of my life since. I'm so fuckin' lucky to have been a hippie from the very start and that I found the Dead early on. "Always a Hoot".

I was at those shows in Vegas in '95, but I would give anything to have seen the band in 1970 with Pigpen! What fun!

 

[Heatsink]

Here's the list:

My Top 20 GD Shows I Attended

(Not in any particular order)

12-28-1979
02-17-1982
02-27-1981
05-22-1982
10-19-1974
12-31-1981
12-13-1980
10-21-1978
10-31-1983
10-15-1976
08-12-1979
10-02-1977
09-05-1982
05-14-1983
10-09-1982
10-10-1982
09-12-1981
02-24-1974
07-16-1976

I'd love to respond to questions comments etc about this.
I saw 276 Grateful Dead shows and these are very memorable ones.

That's awesome - the only overlap with my collection is 2-24-1974, but it's absolutely a favorite. I would call that a life well lived!

 

[mhardy6647]

OK @August West I've finally worked up the gumption to ask you a question.
Did you, by any chance, know or cross paths with Larry Rogers? Larry was a mainstay of the once-very active "Rock" music forum at audioasylum, with, by all appearances, some fairly deep roots in the 1960s-70s SF/Bay Area music, umm... scene. He passed away in August 2016.

Larry Rogers died on Monday - My name is Fred - General Asylum

Larry Rogers died on Monday - My name is Fred - General Asylum

db.audioasylum.com

He's a person I "knew" mostly online (although we did do each other a few "long distance" favors in real life over the years). I never got to meet him but he always struck me as one of the good ones.
I figure there's a fair chance you'd at least know of him.

More outakes from Europe 72 - LWR - Rocky Road

More outakes from Europe 72 - LWR - Rocky Road

db.audioasylum.com

 

[August West]

OK @August West I've finally worked up the gumption to ask you a question.
Did you, by any chance, know or cross paths with Larry Rogers? Larry was a mainstay of the once-very active "Rock" music forum at audioasylum, with, by all appearances, some fairly deep roots in the 1960s-70s SF/Bay Area music, umm... scene. He passed away in August 2016.

Larry Rogers died on Monday - My name is Fred - General Asylum

Larry Rogers died on Monday - My name is Fred - General Asylum

db.audioasylum.com

He's a person I "knew" mostly online (although we did do each other a few "long distance" favors in real life over the years). I never got to meet him but he always struck me as one of the good ones.
I figure there's a fair chance you'd at least know of him.

Unfortunately, no.

 

[mhardy6647]

Thanks. Had to ask; hope you didn't mind!

I added a couple of his outtake photos from Europe in 1972 to my earlier post.
If you ever get bored and/or interested enough, do a search for him at AA in the "Rocky Road" forum with a few limiters (he was a frequent poster, almost to the very end). Lots of interesting stuff on music and also wine. He was a hifi buff, as well.

 

[August West]

It is Saturday March 11. I'm listening to and recording GD Seattle Coliseum 08-29-1982. One of the best recordings for the sound of the vocals. Crazy good. I enjoyed this show very much. The whole tape is killer sounding. Way up front in the sweet spot...killer mic's (Nakamichi CM 700's) a Sony TC D5M) and the coup de grace a dbx type II home unit modified to run on dc.

 

[August West]

It's been a while. Since December I've listened to and transferred over 100 GD shows. It is endlessly entertaining. Reliving my childhood. Its a 50-50 chance that I will ever listen to any other artist.

 

[August West]

A bit of an explanation. I started collecting Grateful Dead concert tapes in 1971. My last masters are from 1986. (What I think of 1986 is a subject unto itself). But I never stopped acquiring stuff. Not many surprises left except for official releases. But I never took a break just to listen to all my hard work. And now I am. I am always ready to talk "shop".
Next post will be my current stereo system. Got it in 2021 and there's a story there.

 

[617]

Curious as a devoted deadhead how you feel about the 'Compliments' album? I absolutely love it.

 

[August West]

Curious as a devoted deadhead how you feel about the 'Compliments' album? I absolutely love it.

I honestly believe its near the bottom of his official releases. There's not much real guitar playing happening. Studio albums by JG and the Grateful Dead are an outline of what the songs will become. They write em, rehearse them and go on the road and perfect them. Most of the songs on "Compliments" were never performed live. And I have virtually every GD and Jerry show that's ever been circulated. If I was asked for a recomendation, I would suggest "Live at Kean College". That is Jerry in his element at his best in my opinion.

 

[Astoneroad]

Curious as a devoted deadhead how you feel about the 'Compliments' album? I absolutely love it.

I'm giving this a listen for the first time since 1975... I'll tell you later.

Now I remember... not a huge fan of these arrangements for Jerry. I saw lots of configurations of the JGB in the '70s, with some of these guys, especially Kahn and Saunders... some worked... some not so much... imo. Below is the list of various JGB members from Wikipedia. Chances were, unless you went to shows on consecutive nights, you never saw the same configuration twice.
Jerry Garcia
John Kahn
Ron Tutt
Nicky Hopkins
James Booker
Keith Godchaux
Donna Godchaux
Maria Muldaur
Buzz Buchanan
Ozzie Ahlers
Johnny D’Fonseca
Greg Errico
Melvin Seals
Jimmy Warren
Daoud Shaw
Essra Mohawk
Liz Stires
Bill Kreutzmann
Jaclyn LaBranch
DeeDee Dickerson
David Kemper
Gloria Jones
Gaylord Birch
Donny Baldwin

 

[617]

I honestly believe its near the bottom of his official releases. There's not much real guitar playing happening. Studio albums by JG and the Grateful Dead are an outline of what the songs will become. They write em, rehearse them and go on the road and perfect them. Most of the songs on "Compliments" were never performed live. And I have virtually every GD and Jerry show that's ever been circulated. If I was asked for a recomendation, I would suggest "Live at Kean College". That is Jerry in his element at his best in my opinion.

See, as a non deadhead, I just find the guitar playing live to be...too long and noodly. But I love his playing and singing. I also think the production decisions on the studio albums are very good and have aged well.
The Kean College album is pretty good though, I'm listening to it now. Seems more focussed than a lot of the live recordings people recommend.

 

[Astoneroad]

See, as a non deadhead, I just find the guitar playing live to be...too long and noodly. But I love his playing and singing. I also think the production decisions on the studio albums are very good and have aged well.
The Kean College album is pretty good though, I'm listening to it now. Seems more focussed than a lot of the live recordings people recommend.

Unless I was tripping... the drums and space segment in the second set of every show, was the time that everyone sat down and smoked, ate, drank, chatted, fucked... until you heard a first glimmer from Jerry that led into the transition song... and it was like a dog whistle... that most of the ears in the crowd were sensitive to whatever that song was going to be. Those were collectively magic shows. I was at Watkins Glen as a high school sophmore in '73, 600,000 of Jerry's kids. Honestly, I never saw the world the same after that. Being 16 and being there... changed whatever has followed, somehow. The clippings from that show are still on the wall in my office 50 years later.

 

[August West]

I'm giving this a listen for the first time since 1975... I'll tell you later.

Now I remember... not a huge fan of these arrangements for Jerry. I saw lots of configurations of the JGB in the '70s, with some of these guys, especially Kahn and Saunders... some worked... some not so much... imo. Below is the list of various JGB members from Wikipedia. Chances were, unless you went to shows on consecutive nights, you never saw the same configuration twice.
Jerry Garcia
John Kahn
Ron Tutt
Nicky Hopkins
James Booker
Keith Godchaux
Donna Godchaux
Maria Muldaur
Buzz Buchanan
Ozzie Ahlers
Johnny D’Fonseca
Greg Errico
Melvin Seals
Jimmy Warren
Daoud Shaw
Essra Mohawk
Liz Stires
Bill Kreutzmann
Jaclyn LaBranch
DeeDee Dickerson
David Kemper
Gloria Jones
Gaylord Birch
Donny Baldwin

Not true. Nicky Hopkins was in the band from september 1975 till december 31. James Booker was the shortest member...2 shows I believe and he was gone. Jimmy Warren was another real short-timer. Everybody else was around for a while.

 

[August West]

Unless I was tripping... the drums and space segment in the second set of every show, was the time that everyone sat down and smoked, ate, drank, chatted, fucked... until you heard a first glimmer from Jerry that led into the transition song... and it was like a dog whistle... that most of the ears in the crowd were sensitive to whatever that song was going to be. Those were collectively magic shows. I was at Watkins Glen as a high school sophmore in '73, 600,000 of Jerry's kids. Honestly, I never saw the world the same after that. Being 16 and being there... changed whatever has followed, somehow. The clippings from that show are still on the wall in my office 50 years later.
View attachment 275738View attachment 275735View attachment 275741

I have really good sounding tapes (audience and soundboards of Watkins Glen).

 

[GD Fan]

Portland 5.19.74. going down here on the upper west side this evening. GDTRFB coming up late in the second set, should be good.

Love the 1974 shows.