tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post4253629164231109670..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: 1970: Myths of the DeadLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-45015980756386647682019-02-01T22:03:29.085-08:002019-02-01T22:03:29.085-08:00The 'myths' Ross wants to dispel actually ...The 'myths' Ross wants to dispel actually turn out to be not so untrue: <br />- Ross claims that the Dead played little part in Kesey's Acid Trips, since they were "teenagers who had little to offer Kesey," "just kids unable to contribute to the evening," and suggests that Kesey had no interest in them, and they were only 'on the bus' for one trip (and the truck broke down, and that was that). This is totally false, but it was due to the band themselves downplaying their own contribution when asked. <br />- the "acid rock" myth of a stoned band and tripping audience is dismissed - again, this was emphasized by the band saying that they're temperate themselves and listeners don't need to be high. On the other hand, despite the band's insistence that they didn't dose their audiences, plenty of people around them did.<br />- the myth of free shows: "no myth, actually," she admits, but now a pernicious and unmet expectation since the band could rarely play for free anymore. The "free music" crowd breaking into shows, it must be said, wanted all shows to be free, not just the Dead's, but there was an expectation that the Dead in particular "owed" them free music. <br /><br />There is something of an emphasis on the Dead becoming more Establishment - sympathizing with the police, getting ranches, staying out of politics - really not the drugged-out counter-cultural hippies of common lore. But this isn't just Ross polishing up the Dead's image to make them more palatable to a mass audience, there's certainly a streak of truth in it: things had changed quite a bit for the Dead since their original public image had formed in '66/67, and almost everything written here was said by the band. Ross was quite right to notice that the Dead were fluid, contradictory individuals, changing with the times, and not always what people expected them to be. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-76518779245233232732019-02-01T22:03:17.574-08:002019-02-01T22:03:17.574-08:00Though published in June 1971, this article was wr...Though published in June 1971, this article was written months earlier in late 1970, after some interviews the band gave during their New York stay in November '70. (Such a long time lag wasn't uncommon.) Some details were already out of date - for instance, writing of the Dead's three-part acoustic/electric format, Ross asks, "How long will they continue to use this format?" But it was already over by the time she wrote. She also refers to the Black Panthers benefit in New York on Christmas Eve, which didn't happen.<br /><br />One of the published interviews mentions that "Penny Ross, Warner’s New York publicist" sat in during the interviews. And indeed, as well as being a freelance music writer, Ross was a publicist for Warner Bros (she later became a publicist for Elektra, then CBS) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/penny-ross-0181a627 <br />So this was hardly a disinterested article! <br />There's barely a peep about the Dead's relationship with Warners, except that the Dead "have full control over the production and packaging of their records," and "Warner Brothers Records is now looking for land in the Frisco area to build them a recording studio," which implies that Warners is quite a generous label! The debt to Warners that prompted all this heavy touring isn't mentioned, and the idea of the Dead having their own independent record company is dismissed as a "fantasy." <br /><br />But at any rate, Ross paid close attention to the band's interviews to compile this piece, which is based around many of their quotes. It's quite extensive about the current state of the Dead and how they differ from their public image. I was most interested in the small bits that didn't appear in the original interviews - for instance, McIntire complaining that the band is now more a New York group, or Garcia being thrilled when an old cop said he enjoyed the music. <br />The extent to which they played in New York is somewhat exaggerated; nonetheless they'd played quite a few shows there in 1970, and would again in '71. When one fan says they're at their best in San Francisco, Weir disagrees: "some of their best concerts had been done in New York." They say they're playing better now than ever before. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com