tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post220275775536689498..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: March 1981: Jerry Garcia InterviewLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-40580862229581700322021-06-09T14:12:59.338-07:002021-06-09T14:12:59.338-07:00It's a snippet in the fadeout of the 1968 Dark...It's a snippet in the fadeout of the 1968 Dark Star single: <br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k182h4qYJok <br /><br />The tape might be from this 1964 banjo practice session: <br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECelYHsKYLY Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-60236532517195953192021-06-09T14:12:08.021-07:002021-06-09T14:12:08.021-07:00The last few seconds of the studio ("single&q...The last few seconds of the studio ("single") version of "Dark Star" have a little snippet of Jerry's banjo playing. jeffknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-1312698824902510812021-06-09T09:40:28.940-07:002021-06-09T09:40:28.940-07:00Do you know what Jerry is talking about with Banjo...Do you know what Jerry is talking about with Banjo/Dark Star?<br /><br />SF: You hadn't really played that much banjo with the Dead. Like, it appeared on "Dark Star".<br /><br />JG: Actually then I used a tape, an old tape I found somewhere, that had me playing banjo for a banjo lesson I think I was giving to somebody. That tape is from '62 or something like that. So, I found this old tape and threw it on the end of "Dark Star" just for the hell of it, just to bring up during the fade for the hell of it. Completely unrelated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-48812449454432741582021-05-28T23:16:02.716-07:002021-05-28T23:16:02.716-07:00A lengthy two-part interview from the English folk...A lengthy two-part interview from the English folk-music magazine Swing 51, which was full of lengthy interviews with & coverage of various folk luminaries. (The magazine was named after a track on the David Grisman Quintet album.) <br />As the editor mentions, Garcia was not an obvious candidate for an interview. Nonetheless, Garcia was eager to talk about his bluegrass roots, the folk background of the Dead, and the history of American roots music in general. It's rare to see him so enthusiastic on a subject - his answers here sometimes go on for whole columns, and it's a unique look at Garcia the musicologist. (Despite mention of a third installment, I don't think one was ever published.)<br />Although the interview took place in '81, there is practically nothing that would place it as an '80s conversation, almost no mention of recent work at all (even Reckoning) - instead they roam over the past, and the focus is entirely on music topics. Bob Weir makes a memorable contribution as well. <br /><br />There's almost too much to comment on here, so I'll just point out a few things: <br />- Garcia says the OAITW album wasn't the band at its best, saying, "Our finest moments which unfortunately aren't on record anywhere are on tape in private collections. None of them have been circulated." I wonder if any of the performances he's thinking of have circulated since? <br />- He seems very aware of what tape collectors have, for instance Mason's Children: "It's been circulated some in the underground tape circles in the United States. I don't know where the hell they got a tape of that from!" Talking about the '78 Garcia Band: "Maybe those tapes will find their way over here some time. American collectors have them...they have some fabulous stuff over there." <br />- Speaking of the '78 band, he sounds quite nostalgic ("really interesting material...really lovely moments"), and seems to miss it. He's practically begging English tape collectors to seek out tapes of that band. <br />- Some of his comments on traditional music & copyright attributions echo an early '67 interview: <br />http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2013/04/march-1967-larry-miller-interview.html <br />- The interviewer mentions Hunter's song "Sweet Alice" which Hunter played around '79, but I doubt that song was ever considered by the Dead: <br />https://whitegum.com/~acsa/songfile/ALICEGAR.HTM <br />"What'll You Raise" was a Go To Heaven outtake that Hunter liked enough to later record on a solo album: <br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd6UuYGcTWI <br />- I find it touching when Garcia says he'd do more half-remembered folk songs he sang in the past, but he doesn't know how to find the obscure records they were on. <br />- He still proudly remembers the Box of Rain performance from 9/17/70. <br />- "How many royalty checks have we got from Scorpio Records?" Weir has mellowed on the Dead's first single ("They weren't bad...it sounds OK...we've done worse on record"). But interviewed by Mojo Navigator back in '66 when it was just out, the Dead were a lot more upset by the Don't Ease Me In single: <br /><br />GARCIA: We never got in on the mixing of it and we didn’t really like the cuts and the performances were bad and the recordings were bad and everything else was bad so we didn’t want it out.<br />MOJO: We have the record.<br />GARCIA: Well, you’re one of the few.<br />WEIR: Go burn it.<br />MOJO: It’s a treasure to, like the people who have it.<br />GARCIA: It’s not that bad, but - <br />PIGPEN: Bullshit.<br />MOJO: It’s better than a lot of the stuff on the radio.<br />WEIR: Oh the fuck it is.<br />GARCIA: Well, it might be and then again it might not be.<br />MOJO: It doesn’t sound like you though.<br />GARCIA: Yeah, right that’s the big thing about it is that it doesn’t sound like us.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com