tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post5688793851205601833..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: June 19, 1970: Mid-South Coliseum, MemphisLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-72072729244518610842017-10-12T00:19:44.244-07:002017-10-12T00:19:44.244-07:00From the November 1970 Creem interview:
CREEM: H...From the November 1970 Creem interview: <br /><br />CREEM: Have you played the South a lot?<br />PHIL: Yes, unfortunately we’ve played the South, about three or four times in Atlanta which is about the grooviest place in the South we’ve been in…and once again in New Orleans and Memphis, neither of which we’ll ever return to again.<br />BOBBY: In New Orleans they busted us, and in Memphis they gave it a real good try.<br />PHIL: Anyway in Memphis it was really an uptight performing situation. If anyone stood up in their seat they got busted, and I mean busted. Even if you thought about moving, you got wiped on the head, dragged out and taken to jail. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-46415157068510488982017-10-12T00:09:25.398-07:002017-10-12T00:09:25.398-07:00It looks like aside from the Tennessee Roc, the sh...It looks like aside from the Tennessee Roc, the show was also covered by the 6/20/70 Commercial Appeal and the 6/20 Press-Scimitar. If the original articles turn up, I'll post them! <br /><br />This seems to have been a dreadful night for the Dead. The Mid-South Coliseum seated 10,000 people - 2,000 came, and many of them left (or were ejected by the police) after Country Joe's deliberately bad set. The Dead faced an unmoving audience and a horde of dance-busting cops - they might still have played a good show, who knows, but it doesn't seem too likely. "The band seemed frustrated," Garcia was in a bad mood, and Phil even called Memphis "the most soulless place they had played." <br />Compare to the similar accounts of Southern shows battered down by unruly police (Houston 2/22/70, Atlanta 11/11/71), and it's a wonder the Dead kept heading down south at all! Things cooled down later in the '70s, but the Dead only returned to Tennessee a few more times. As Garcia grumbled, "We've played a lot of flops... That's where it's at in the South... I can't wait to get out... There isn't gonna be a next time in Memphis." Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-63811980155179791582017-10-11T23:27:29.235-07:002017-10-11T23:27:29.235-07:00McNally's book has more quotes from "Inte...McNally's book has more quotes from "Interview with Jerry Garcia of the Dead" (Pat Rainier, Tennessee Roc, August 1970).<br /><br />'A local underground newspaper reporter sat with Garcia backstage talking about the local police, about whom Garcia said, "When we first came here, we thought there was something horrible happening, or that somebody was getting beaten up or something... And then we suddenly realized that's just the way they are." <br />Surly and generally uncooperative because of the atmosphere, Garcia dismissed the reporter's questions about the acid tests ("We're just waiting for everybody else to get high"), the Woodstock movie, and what he expected to play that night: "We don't have any plans. We'll do anything that we like. There's no reason to restrict yourself. A plan is only something to deviate from and none of us have the kind of minds that are capable of planning, anyway." <br />Their opening act that night was Country Joe and the Fish, who had been warned that if the kids left their chairs to dance, they'd be arrested. After playing a deliberately lethargic set, they were still called back for an encore, and despite a glacial pace, they watched in horror as a kid started dancing. They exited the stage briskly, leaving it to the Dead. Sam Cutler approached Garcia and warned him of the night's policy, and the interviewer interjected, "They do it. Sly came here and there was one section of people dancing. The police cut their power." <br />The band played, the kids stayed mostly in their seats, and they struggled to a generally unsatisfactory conclusion, confirming what Garcia had told a fan earlier. The young man had remarked that it was too bad there was such a small audience that night. "We're used to it," Garcia replied. "We've played a lot of flops... That's where it's at in the South."' (McNally p.370) <br /><br />'In an atypically cranky interview in 1970, Garcia had been asked his opinion of Warner Bros. and had griped, "Shitty. They have terrible distribution and they don't sell records. That's the only thing a record company is good for... They like to think they're far out, but they're not... A record company is a vampire. It's really no fucking good. It's an evil trip. It's like bleeding musicians." Later he calmed down and admitted, "I'm not really that far down on Warner Bros. because they've been OK to us. We've been a pretty weird band of fellows as far as relationships with artists and record companies. Warner Bros. has got some good people but I really don't think that they know how to do it."' (McNally p.495)Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com