The Grateful Dead Dark Star

[Peter Johnson]

Oh my god, I may very well have to get that...

[Tony Pusey]

Thanks for the heads up Chalupa! My order is in ! I am not going to miss this puppy!

[gdogus]

Forgot to add if you do the pre-order you get a bonus disc.  I have no idea what's on it.

←

From the pre-order page at dead.net:

"All pre-orders of the "Fillmore West 1969-The Complete Recordings" before November 15, 2005, will receive an exclusive bonus CD containing previously unreleased Grateful Dead performances recorded at the Carousel Ballroom and Fillmore West between 1968-1970."

[kenny weir]

Given the 10cd complete Live/Dead set is limited to 10,000 copies, what are the chances that it'll sell out pre-release?

[GregK]

if only PigPen weren't on it

[Kalo]

Forgot to add if you do the pre-order you get a bonus disc.  I have no idea what's on it.

←

From the pre-order page at dead.net:

"All pre-orders of the "Fillmore West 1969-The Complete Recordings" before November 15, 2005, will receive an exclusive bonus CD containing previously unreleased Grateful Dead performances recorded at the Carousel Ballroom and Fillmore West between 1968-1970."

←

Previously unreleased Dead performances!

How many of those can there be?

On the shortlist for reissue of the year!

[Guest akanalog]

kalo, you are giving the les mcann "invitation..." people a hard time. you are giving these "deadheads" a hard time. give me a f_cking break. you are basically trollling the dead fans over here (not that i am one of them, but i read this and the mccann thread back to back). just because you don't agree, these are perfectly viable forms of musical expression.

Edited July 29, 2005 by akanalog

[Kalo]

kalo, you are giving the les mcann "invitation..." people a hard time.  you are giving these "deadheads" a hard time.  give me a f_cking break.  you are basically trollling the dead fans over here (not that i am one of them, but i read this and the mccann thread back to back).  just because you don't agree, these are perfectly viable forms of musical expression.

←

Point taken. My bad.

I'll try to resist in the future.

Edited July 29, 2005 by Kalo

[WD45]

I haven't heard any of these shows to featured on the box. Are they as magical as they say? This is my favorite period of the Dead, the swirling psychedelic and jam-heavy version of the band. Dark Star holds a special place in my heart, and I imagine that these are some killers.

So, who has heard the tapes? Highlights?

[Quincy]

I haven't heard any of these shows to featured on the box.  Are they as magical as they say?  This is my favorite period of the Dead, the swirling psychedelic and jam-heavy version of the band.  Dark Star holds a special place in my heart, and I imagine that these are some killers.

So, who has heard the tapes?  Highlights?

←

If you have Live Dead you've heard a wee bit.

St. Stephen, Dark Star - April 27 (also The Other One from the box is this night.)

Death Don't, Feedback & We Bid You Goodnight - March 2

If this is your favorite period it is a must. It's rare to meet someone who loves '69 who hasn't heard the run though I know you're a well-rounded individual musically who hasn't spent every waking minute of your life looking for extra crispy tapes of this run and that show.

Although every night has a Dark Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven segment there is enough of a difference in the playing over the 4 nights to make it a recommended purchase. Well heck, look at how each night begins and how that effects the vibe:

2-27 - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl

2-28 - Morning Dew

3-01 - Crytical Envelopment > The Other One

3-02 - Dark Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven > Lovelight

Like the kids say, that's just sick!

[WD45]

What do y'alls make of this one? Recommended?

[Quincy]

What do y'alls make of this one?  Recommended?

←

I've heard it a couple of times but don't own it, though I have another show featuring the 2.

It has its moments in some of the jams but it's not something I go to very often.

Edited July 29, 2005 by Quincy

[jazzbo]

Got back from a week in Waikiki and saw my email announcing this preorder, and that the Bix Volume 5 on Origin Jazz has been released. . . .

Dang! Preordered and ordered!

[Chalupa]

In honor of Jerry's birthday today I broke out the 2nd set of 2/27/69. The Mountains of the Moon > Dark Star gets me every time.

[Chalupa]

http://www.dead.net/RobertHunterArchive/fi...l#anchor6780779

Ten years since old Jer kicked the bucket? Seems more like fifty. Nothing about his passing seems like "only yesterday," rather as long ago and faraway as my childhood.

From the sublime to the vicious, everything that could be said has been said and said again. Yet, the essential mystery of who Jerry Garcia was remains. What can be said with fair assurance is that he was a source, an original way of seeing the world that agreed with others in a few broad and important outlines, but which in just as many other dimensions confounded all expectations.

I wouldn't say he delighted, in any Whitmanian sense, in what appear to be his contradictions, nor that he had control of them; predictability was not his strong suit. Not even self predictability. He could be alarmingly kind in situations where kindness was the last response to be expected - and altogether gruff where sympathy seemed the more natural response. You could almost say he had weather rather than climate.

Few would disagree that a key part of him remained isolated, unknown and unknowable. His art is the closest thing to an available roadmap of his singularities, amorphous clues, and clues only, to the nature of his true affections. Where he entered, he dominated, generally to his dismay. He knew he was not a leader, more a scout striking out in the wilderness of his intuitions, unwittingly summoning others to tag along through virtue of his magnetic personality and apparently deep sense of inner direction, but basically antipathetic to following or to being followed. Driving back and forth across the bay from Larkspur to San Franscisco on Workingman's Dead recording sessions, our conversations would range wide, or, sometimes, nothing would be said at all. I remember once we got to talking about directions. He professed to having none and inquired as to mine. "For the time being," I said, "I'm just following you following yourself." "Then we're both lost," he muttered.

A persistent image I have of Jerry which seems strangely resonant with his coming and going: a brilliant sunny day on a boat bobbing above the abyss of Molokini where the floor of the ocean suddenly drops off a cliff and plunges to unknown depths, I watch him check his gear then sit on the edge of the boat and tumble over backwards into the water, which is clear to a depth of several hundred feet. I watch him dwindle in size as he descends further and further, spread eagle and motionless, until he is only a speck to the eye, then disappears altogether from view and there is no more Jerry, only ocean.

[mr jazz]

from someone who knew him perhaps better than anyone. thanks

[Sundog]

On a whim the other day I preodered Truckin' Up To Buffalo, July 4, 1989 from CD Universe.  Am I going to be sorry? Or is this pretty good late period Dead?

←

Had a chance to listen to this yet? Any good?

The cover has caught my eye more than once, already....

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I've been listening to so much early 70's material that this one just didn't click upon first listen. I need to give it another shot.

[Alexander]

On a whim the other day I preodered Truckin' Up To Buffalo, July 4, 1989 from CD Universe.  Am I going to be sorry? Or is this pretty good late period Dead?

←

Had a chance to listen to this yet? Any good?

The cover has caught my eye more than once, already....

←

I've been listening to so much early 70's material that this one just didn't click upon first listen. I need to give it another shot.

←

I thought it was quite good. The "In The Dark" material is even better here than on the studio album. The only thing I disliked about this disc was the "Drums/Space" segment (dated by drum pads and MIDI technology) and Brent's "I Will Take You Home" which is unbelievably schlocky (even moreso than on other live recordings of the period).

[jazzbo]

From todays L A Times (thanks to an email from The Mule)

POP MUSIC

Setting the live music free

Websites enable the exchange of concert recordings, a practice that has

thrived around the Grateful Dead and doesn't bother the music industry.

By Steve Hochman

Special to The Times

August 8, 2005

A decade after Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack while at a drug

rehabilitation facility on Aug. 9, 1995, the legacy he and the Grateful

Dead left is stronger than ever.

That's not so much a comment about the young fans who follow such

Dead-influenced "jam" bands as the String Cheese Incident. Nor is the

band's spirit to be found in its full flower at Bonnaroo or other

festivals furthering the scene the Dead anchored in its heyday.

If you really want to find the legacy of the Dead and its legion of

Deadheads today, go online.

In recent months there's been an explosion on the Internet of what

used to be called tape trading. This is not the illegal copying of

commercially available music that is being fought by the major record

companies. This is the free, generally legal exchange of fan-made

concert tapes, radio broadcasts and material that was never officially

released — by the Dead and just about anybody else.

It's a world that is growing daily at an exponential rate — and has

its foundation in the community of tapers and traders that initially

coalesced around and was nurtured by Garcia and the Grateful Dead.

"The Dead was the real forerunner," says Brewster Kahle, digital

librarian of Internet Archive (www.archive.org), which features a Live

Music Archive section for concert recordings. "The idea was you sell

some things, you give some things away, and that balance really

personified the Grateful Dead. They started a model."

The Live Music Archive's catalog of recordings just passed 25,000, up

from 20,000 in February and half that figure in March 2004. About a

tenth of those are of Grateful Dead shows, and the bulk of the rest are

from bands that share the loose jam aesthetic but not all. The list of

performers represented runs to more than 1,000 and ranges from

aggressive Texas rock outfit And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

to Billy Corgan's short-lived Zwan.

Such other sites as Dimeadozen and the Traders' Den offer a full

spectrum of selections. There's everything from obscure jazz dates from

the '50s to major rock concerts that happened just a couple of days

ago. Want to download Cream's Royal Albert Hall reunion shows from May?

A vintage 1969 concert by the same band? They're there. Bruce

Springsteen from the '70s? Easy. Arcade Fire at Lollapalooza last

month? Yours for the taking. This isn't limited to rock bands with cult

followings either. You'll find Mariah Carey and Ashlee Simpson

concerts, and videos as well as audio recordings.

These aren't the sites where you might find the new Mike Jones album

or other commercial releases without paying. These are the places for

people coveting music that can't be bought.

Nothing illustrates the phenomenon more clearly, though, than the

fact

that when the White Stripes played the San Diego Street Scene on July

29, a recording of the show was posted on a download site before

midnight — before many people who saw the show even got home.

"That's great," says White Stripes manager Ian Montone, himself a

Grateful Dead fan. "I love it when people come in and tape and the

shows take on an additional life when fans trade like that, when it's

talked about and people can study the nuances of the shows. It adds to

the lore and history."

In fact, Montone says that the band has fan taping to thank for

preserving at least one special part of the band's history — when Jack

White joined Bob Dylan for an encore at the latter's 2004 show in

Detroit.

"Thank goodness someone taped that, because otherwise we wouldn't

have

it," he says.

The Recording Industry Assn. of America, the music industry's

lobbying

organization that staunchly opposes illegal downloading, piracy and the

sale of bootleg recordings, says that it supports this kind of music

trading as long as the artists approve.

Dan Healy, longtime concert and studio producer for the Dead, was one

of the strongest advocates within the Dead organization not just to

allow taping but to encourage it — resulting in their concerts being

known for the seas of microphones on poles in a special section right

in front of the sound board. Fans would then keep in touch through

mailing lists and newsletters, exchanging tapes of the various

concerts. The current cyberspace explosion is a fulfillment of the kind

of community spirit Garcia stood for, he says.

"The more lines that are open, the more people will talk," says

Healy.

"That's a figure of speech, but what it means is the more readily

transmutable the stuff is, the more people that always wanted to swap

and trade will do it. The more conversations, the more swapping of

music the better. If anything it makes it more special. It's like love

— the more you use it, the stronger it gets"

And it is a community, or perhaps many interlocking communities, each

with its own set of rules and ethics. Policies vary greatly from site

to site. Some are anything-goes, but the ones that adhere most to the

spirit of the Dead have strict regulations prohibiting anything

commercially available or from artists who have not authorized such

trading. The Traders' Den is among the latter.

"Nothing that is available commercially is allowed in any way,

period," says one of the Traders' Den's administrators, who asked that

he be identified only by his screen name, bill_kate. "There are a few

bands that have expressed certain restrictions on how and what can be

traded. We respect these wishes."

Brian Wilson is among the several dozen performers whose name appears

on a "banned" list used by many sites' administrators. His views,

though, were shaped not by circulation of concert tapes but of

unauthorized releases that pieced together unfinished elements of his

long-delayed "Smile" project, which he finally completed and released

himself last year.

" 'Smile' was one of the most-bootlegged albums for many years," says

Jean Sievers, Wilson's co-manager. "It wasn't a finished work and it

wasn't what he wanted, and he was upset that people were taking those

tapes and spreading his unfinished work over the globe."

Other rules that are widely followed, at least on the sites most in

line with the Dead-spurred taping community, include asking users to

put music files in forms with the highest possible audio fidelity,

using "lossless" formats such as FLAC or SHNN rather than compressing

the data to lower-fidelity MP3 files. Posters are also asked to provide

as much information as possible about the sources of the recording and,

if known, equipment used to record in the first place.

But one rule is most adamantly stated by administrators and users

alike: The music is not to be sold.

"There is no money changing hands," says Kahle. "This was the ethos

back in the day — you couldn't even charge for the cassette you dubbed

music onto. People really stuck to that. What was interesting to me was

the level of labor and love put in by everyone involved."

Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars (a band whose

spirited blues-rooted shows are common in trading circles) says that,

over the years, bootlegs — whether bought in stores or traded — played

an important role in his music education.

"There's a bootleg film of the Allman Brothers," says the guitarist.

"Something else I collected over the years is Bob Marley live stuff.

That moves me more than even his regular records. And Jimi Hendrix, of

course! Live Hendrix!"

Dickinson himself has not experienced the Internet side of this — he

doesn't own a computer. But fans have routinely given him tapes and CDs

they've made of his band's concerts.

"I have a collection of tapes people have given me, and to me that

makes the 21 hours of the day that's spent off stage worthwhile," he

says. "People care and have documented what we do and it makes it

worthwhile."

In a twist, although the easy connections have increased availability

of unofficial releases, they have pretty much killed the profiteering

that long went on in that world, a form of piracy that has long been

fought by the music business.

ICE magazine, a monthly that targets collectors, has long chronicled

the "gray area" of bootlegging and says that the boom time for Internet

sharing has brought sad times for that black market's profit-minded

members — and a much harder hit than that anything the "real" music

business is suffering because of bootlegging.

"There's no question that the wind has been taken out of the

financial

sails of the bootleg world by this free exchange," editor Pete Howard

says. "Bootleg CDs used to be pressed in the thousands, if not tens of

thousands, for each title. Now, though it's funny and ironic to hear

the manufacturers moan and groan, no more than 500 copies is usual."

Meanwhile, the Grateful Dead continues to balance commerce and

freedom. Despite so many recordings readily available on the Internet,

the official releases of live albums continue at a steady pace, with

the "Dick's Picks" series now standing at three dozen titles alone,

complemented by other live releases, as well as a newer program of

Garcia solo concert recordings. Many make the argument that one feeds

the other.

"We've really hit on something with this community," says Internet

Archive's Kahle. "And yeah, it all came from the Grateful Dead, and it

will give them a long life. They're still selling stuff, and there are

young kids involved. It is relevant."

[gdogus]

Nice article on much-needed, alternate forms of music dissemination.

NP: Grateful Dead - June 10, 1976 • Boston Music Hall (from the internet archive)

[Chalupa]

Hard to believe that today marks 10 years....

Jerry, my friend,

you've done it again,

even in your silence

the familiar pressure

comes to bear, demanding

I pull words from the air

with only this morning

and part of the afternoon

to compose an ode worthy

of one so particular

about every turn of phrase,

demanding it hit home

in a thousand ways

before making it his own,

and this I can't do alone.

Now that the singer is gone,

where shall I go for the song?

Without your melody and taste

to lend an attitude of grace

a lyric is an orphan thing,

a hive with neither honey's taste

nor power to truly sting.

What choice have I but to dare and

call your muse who thought to rest

out of the thin blue air

that out of the field of shared time,

a line or two might chance to shine --

As ever when we called,

in hope if not in words,

the muse descends.

How should she desert us now?

Scars of battle on her brow,

bedraggled feathers on her wings,

and yet she sings, she sings!

May she bear thee to thy rest,

the ancient bower of flowers

beyond the solitude of days,

the tyranny of hours--

the wreath of shining laurel lie

upon your shaggy head

bestowing power to play the lyre

to legions of the dead

If some part of that music

is heard in deepest dream,

or on some breeze of Summer

a snatch of golden theme,

we'll know you live inside us

with love that never parts

our good old Jack O'Diamonds

become the King of Hearts.

I feel your silent laughter

at sentiments so bold

that dare to step across the line

to tell what must be told,

so I'll just say I love you,

which I never said before

and let it go at that old friend

the rest you may ignore.

~Robert Hunter

Edited August 9, 2005 by Chalupa

[Chalupa]

[7/4]

August 9, 2005

Jerry Garcia: The Man, the Myth, the Area Rug

By SETH SCHIESEL, NYT

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 8 - One of the icons of modern American culture now resides in a nondescript warehouse about 30 miles north of here, in a windowless, climate-controlled, heavily-alarmed room built like a bomb shelter that is called simply the Vault.

There, in towering rows of 13,000 audiotapes, 3,000 videotapes and about 250,000 feet of traditional 16-millimeter film lives the recorded history of the Grateful Dead, one of the seminal American rock bands.

The Grateful Dead ceased to exist on Aug. 9, 1995, when the band's lead guitarist and most recognizable figure, Jerry Garcia, died at age 53 of a heart attack at a drug treatment center. Yet 10 years later, the man and the band remain alive for millions of fans, and the once notoriously ad hoc Grateful Dead business operation has become a model for a music industry struggling with the Internet and digital democracy.

"When I first got into the record business I learned that it wasn't cool to be into the Grateful Dead," said Christopher Sabec, 40, a lawyer who said he saw the band more than 250 times and is now chief executive of the Jerry Garcia Estate L.L.C., controlled by Mr. Garcia's heirs. "But if you look at where the music business has been forced to go by technology, now it's not about selling records. It's about live shows and inspiring a fan base to be absolutely loyal. Hello? Who did that first? The Grateful Dead."

The Jerry Garcia company and Grateful Dead Productions are separate businesses each generating millions of dollars of revenue a year. Just how many millions is not publicly known. But consumers still buy more than a million J. Garcia-brand neckties each year, and Cherry Garcia is often the top-selling brand of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, each pint generating royalties for the Garcia heirs.

The band's four surviving members - the drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, the bassist Phil Lesh and the guitarist Bob Weir - have toured occasionally as the Dead, though not this year. They control the Grateful Dead's licensing business, which oversees thousands of products sold around the world, like gas tank caps, incense burners, golf club covers and sandals. (The Garcia company receives a share of the proceeds.)

But for cultural and practical matters, the heart of the Grateful Dead's legacy resides in the 10,000 cubic feet of space in Novato, north of San Francisco. The Vault feeds a continuing business based on regular releases of old concert recordings on iTunes, on the band's Web sites and in stores, feeding old Deadheads and creating new fans.

Physically, there is only one key to the Vault, and only two people know where to find it. David Lemieux, 34, the band's archivist, is one of them. Jeffrey Norman, one of the band's engineers, is the other.

"This is it, the key to the Vault," Mr. Lemieux said, holding up the gleaming shard of metal, a sliver that to some Deadheads may be more sacred than a splinter from the True Cross.

One major way the band and the Garcia company have kept the flame alive is by regularly releasing audio and video recordings of old concerts that have been restored with the latest digital techniques. Two years ago, for instance, the band released a DVD of its performance that closed San Francisco's legendary Winterland Ballroom on Dec. 31, 1978.

"There is just no way we could have done the Winterland release without the current technology," Mr. Lemieux said in his memorabilia-plastered office.

For fans used to fuzzy old cassettes, the new releases are a revelation.

"Many of us Deadheads are experiencing a renaissance now in our appreciation for the band because such high-quality recordings are available," said Amir Bar-Lev, 33, a filmmaker from New York who said he saw the band more than 100 times. "Ten years ago I was listening to 20th-generation tapes kicking around the floor of my car. Now, thanks to all of the technology, I can hear the band in all its glory."

Mr. Weir, the guitarist, said in a telephone interview on Friday from West Virginia, where he was on tour with his band RatDog, that although Mr. Garcia sometimes resented his own celebrity, he would have been pleased that his music endured. "I'm glad people can still enjoy it," he said.

He continued: "I am a big fan of Duke Ellington and I never saw him live. I'm a big fan of John Coltrane and I never saw him live. I don't want to put us on that level, but we don't play all of this music casually or callously, and of course Jerry would appreciate people being able to experience it."

More broadly, the Grateful Dead's emphasis on touring over selling records presaged the music industry's current predicament over file-sharing on the Internet.

The Grateful Dead was the first major band to allow fans to freely make and trade recordings of its live performances in the belief that spreading the music that way would ensure long-term success. That formula was later adopted almost wholesale by other successful bands, including Phish, and fans still avidly trade live Grateful Dead recordings online.

Even though there are now high-quality recordings for sale, created using the official sound-mixing boards used at concerts, fans are still free to trade recordings made in the crowd. The band used to offer a special section of seating for amateur tapers.

"They wanted to create a space for themselves and their fans to gather and play, and that didn't sit well in the offices of the record business," said Mr. Sabec, who is perhaps best known in the music industry for discovering and managing the 1990's teen-pop group Hanson. "Now I find myself sitting in meetings where other bands are using the Dead as a model."

In the years immediately after Mr. Garcia's death, Grateful Dead merchandising brought in more than $50 million in annual gross revenue. That figure may have declined a bit since then, and the band's licensing activities are now separate from the Garcia estate's business affairs, but both entities continue to thrive.

In addition to ties and ice cream, the Garcia company has expanded into rugs and wine. An artist as well as a musician, Mr. Garcia signed his work "J. Garcia."

"I'm not trying to turn the J. Garcia brand into something you find at Target, but I am trying to broaden it," Mr. Sabec said. "There are J. Garcia carpets that my mother would be happy to have in her house, and she's not a Deadhead. If you were to position it only for people who were fans of Jerry's music, it would be a much smaller market than what we're going for."

Yet even as the Garcia company has expanded its ambitions, the band's business wing, Grateful Dead Productions, has in some ways pared down its operations in recent years, like many United States companies.

For a few years after Mr. Garcia's death, as the technology bubble expanded (Aug. 9, 1995, was also the day Netscape stock went public, signaling the coming dot-com boom), the band pursued a vision of creating a business tentatively called Bandwagon, which would function as a one-stop merchandising and online distribution operation for a variety of musical acts. In addition, the band came close to creating what would have amounted to a countercultural theme park in San Francisco.

"The whole Bandwagon thing was a function of the dot-com mania, especially spectacularly in the Bay Area," said Dennis McNally, the band's longtime publicist and historian. "There was also an idea of creating a performance space and museum called Terrapin Station, which we figured we needed $50 million to do. And in the context of the dot-com revolution, that seemed perfectly doable."

In the end, the band balked at potentially having to cede final control of the projects to outside investors. And as the dot-com bubble burst, the band went in the opposite direction. It laid off dozens of longtime employees, closing its own warehouse and largely outsourcing the logistics of the memorabilia business.

Now, the band has only about 10 employees, including Mr. Lemieux at the Vault.

Although the theme park never came to be, on Sunday in San Francisco, the city unveiled the newly renamed Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in John McLaren Park, near the blue-collar Excelsior District where Mr. Garcia grew up before moving to the better-known Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.

Backstage at the event, Mr. Garcia's older brother, Tiff, seemed to share his sibling's somewhat ambivalent attitude toward the marketing of celebrity.

"They're trying to do an Elvis on him, with all of the garments and merchandise and different items," he said. "But I'm not surprised. He meant so much to so many people, and I'm proud of the fact that one individual could draw so much attention."

[jazzbo]

[jazzbo]