tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post2062605246093408533..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: July 16, 1967: Jerry Garcia Interview & Electric Be-InLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-64280053866792569332016-04-05T23:49:59.789-07:002016-04-05T23:49:59.789-07:00Even before this interview, the Dead had been thin...Even before this interview, the Dead had been thinking about moving to the southwest for some time. A Ralph Gleason Chronicle article on the Dead in March '67 reported, "They are leaving the Haight-Ashbury soon. They expect to live for awhile in the Southwest, perhaps Santa Fe, New Mexico."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-74376810345201073432016-01-28T16:36:38.782-08:002016-01-28T16:36:38.782-08:00After splitting with Garcia during the Acid Tests ...After splitting with Garcia during the Acid Tests in '66, Sara Garcia also went to Taos with her new boyfriend (and with Robert Hunter's encouragement). "We went off to Taos determined to find The Answer. We saw God in the rocks. We weren't taking any drugs, but everything seemed really alive at this hot springs we went to. We didn't find the answer." After running out of money, they returned to Palo Alto. <br />http://blairjackson.com/chapter_five_additions.htm (p.101)<br /><br />With four people in the Dead's circle staying in Taos for a while (at different times), and the Dead visiting there, I'm sure they must have had some social connection there - this all can't be coincidence.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-12223608710368884612016-01-14T16:16:46.818-08:002016-01-14T16:16:46.818-08:00Rosie McGee also moved to Taos in 1974 and lived t...Rosie McGee also moved to Taos in 1974 and lived there for a few years. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-59521427516428352682015-12-06T20:16:33.146-08:002015-12-06T20:16:33.146-08:00McNally writes: "Life at 710 was sufficiently...McNally writes: "Life at 710 was sufficiently hectic that horrible summer of love that the band at least briefly decided to move to New Mexico. Sue Swanson, Kreutzmann's new lady friend Susila, MG, and Vee went as scouts... They camped near the Four Corners and even found a lovely place near Taos, but were unable to pin down a lease. They also found themselves running out of money and were forced to wire home for more. At some point Vee grew suspicious when the band didn't seem all that thrilled with what the scouts had found, and concluded that they 'had just wanted us out of the house.' They returned home in time to join that band on a special jaunt [the trip to Toronto at the end of July]." (McNally p.209) <br /><br />So that would have been right when Garcia was giving this interview, telling the Helix the band was moving to New Mexico. As it turned out, they decided not to go. <br />But Laird Grant (the band's first roadie) had quit in June '67 and headed to New Mexico - he apparently settled in Taos (where he may still live today?). Robert Hunter was also living there, but in August decided to take up Garcia's invitation to join the group. He was then staying near Taos, shortly after the Haight ladies had visited - this doesn't seem like a coincidence! So there was a fair amount of Dead traffic between 710 and New Mexico that summer.<br /> <br />Phil's poet friend Bobby Petersen also lived in Taos at some point. When the band finally played New Mexico in 1971 (Albuquerque 11/17/71), according to a reviewer they took a trip to Taos - which was considerably out of their way. It seems there's an untold story about the band's connections there.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-15397279633109889362014-08-16T09:08:38.540-07:002014-08-16T09:08:38.540-07:00Thank you! The afternoon show was my first. IIRC t...Thank you! The afternoon show was my first. IIRC the truck faced the hill in back of the beach, and we sat in the trees facing the water and the band. I don't remember the set list, but I went to Eagles that night, and was on the bus forever.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-52512585674591568292014-08-16T07:06:08.486-07:002014-08-16T07:06:08.486-07:00"You know,we're concerned about our produ..."You know,we're concerned about our productivity.And what we are going to do is like get away from the,well,from just this kind of thing.<br /><br />Talking you mean?<br /><br />What a great exchange.It seems Jerry is saying instead of wasting my time talking with you as a group we could be off somewhere working on our craft or at the very least not wasting our time answering inane questions about Beatle comparisons and the Hopi Indians.jerlouvisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-4180401835191728332014-08-14T01:31:36.969-07:002014-08-14T01:31:36.969-07:00A neat little Garcia interview from summer '67...A neat little Garcia interview from summer '67, talking about the band's name, recording, drugs... <br />Garcia mentions that "we’re starting to think differently about music now," trying to get at something new - they were indeed making a huge jump to their Anthem-style music in those months. And he accurately predicts that on their next album, "we’ll spend more time in the studio, more time on production... It won’t be our material the way we perform it, it’ll be something else...with more sophistication." <br />He also talks a bit about psychedelics' effect on the music - opening up communication with the audience & the other players - but insists, "Playing is in fact the best high that I know. There’s no comparable experience in drugs. Nothing like it."<br /><br />It's said the Dead are going into "tribal retreat" and moving to New Mexico. They were starting to get tired of the Haight scene around this time; but as it turned out they wouldn't move quite that far away. It sounds like Garcia wanted to get away from the "action" & "energy" & publicity and get back into an Olompali-like scene - "we’re concerned about our productivity." (A couple times that year, they spent some time at a Russian River retreat, spending valuable time rehearsing & creating new material.)<br />I think Robert Hunter was in New Mexico at the time, but within the next month he'd move to SF to join the Dead.<br /><br />I don't have more info on what was played at these Seattle shows. (The Eagles Auditorium show was with Magic Fern and the Daily Flash, with the Union Light Co. light show, and was scheduled from 7 to 12.) <br />But there are some memories of nearby shows - a review on setlists.net of their next show at the Masonic Temple in Portland, 7/18/67: <br />"All the 'heads' of Portland were there. All 723 of them... Not so different from the debut album....frantic leads, meandering bass, single drummer, Fender amps turned up loud. Jerry playing his black Les Paul. Pigpen dinkin' away on the organ. Good stuff. A very intimate, but small event, in a very tasteful venue. No lightshow. A couple Portland bands trying hard to sound like Arthur Lee's Love."<br />Another person kept a setlist for the following show at the Continental Ballroom in Santa Clara, 7/21/67 (which did feature "lights, visual projections & illuminations"): <br />"My set list notes: Set one:1. Viola Lee Blues (30:00) 2. Morning Dew (5:00). Set two: 1. The Golden Road (3:00) 2. (Pigpen song) (13:00) 3. New, New Minglewood Blues (4:00) 4. (????) (14:00) 5. [Friend of Mine] (?) (8:00) 6. Midnight Hour (15:00). All times are approximate since I was just looking at my watch. I had the first album, so I'm sure songs 2, 4 and 5 were not on it." <br />(The new Pigpen song was probably Alligator, or maybe the brand-new Lovelight. Hard to say what #4 might've been - maybe Dancing or New Potato.)Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com