tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post6116717503217391774..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: October 17, 1970: Cleveland Music HallLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-71542289482114825102015-12-23T17:47:32.851-08:002015-12-23T17:47:32.851-08:00As a small aside, this writer and other students i...As a small aside, this writer and other students in Erie may have been used to traveling a long way to see bands. Thornbloom mentioned in the 4/17/70 issue of the Nittany Cub that he'd seen CSNY in Cleveland ("one of the tightest acts touring now...one of the best"), so he may have made regular trips there. (Perhaps he also had family or friends there.) <br />In the same 4/17/70 issue, there's an interesting little piece announcing an upcoming Jefferson Airplane concert in Erie: <br />"For years Erie has been a cultural backwater as far as rock was concerned. An occasional appearance by bigger groups was all that lightened the bleak rock concert stage in Erie. For a while it seemed that Erie was to remain forever in isolation, with the nearest quality rock in Cleveland or Buffalo. All is not lost though. At last the skies have brightened and concerts are no longer unknown to the Erie area... With the arrival of the Airplane, Erie will fully emerge from the dark ages. Perhaps at last Erie will arrive as a power on the concert scene and save a lot of gasoline for people who want to hear good music." <br />("Airplane To Fly At Gannon Aud," by Chuck Varesko, 4/17/70 Nittany Cub)Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-9245310802725654512015-12-23T11:43:18.121-08:002015-12-23T11:43:18.121-08:00The Nittany Cub was the student newspaper of Penn ...The Nittany Cub was the student newspaper of Penn State Erie, the Behrend College - Thornbloom was a student and an editor of the paper.<br />At first I thought it odd that a Penn State paper would write about the 10/17 show in Cleveland, rather than the 10/16 show at the U of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. But Erie is far closer to Cleveland than it is to Philadelphia, though still a couple hours' drive. The writer was late to the show - perhaps he was used to making weekend trips to Cleveland, but this still illustrates that by 1970, some students in the northeast were already willing to go out of their way to see the Dead. (The Dead definitely were aware of this, one reason they played so many colleges in 1970-71.)<br /><br />Thornbloom is familiar with the Dead's earlier albums - except, oddly enough, for Live/Dead. He doesn't recognize Dark Star, describing it only as a strange Owsley-influenced "gong song," and seems taken aback by Pigpen's "unique" vocals in Lovelight and Good Lovin'. <br />He's very positive about the Dead, complimenting each member - in fact he has no complaints except that "they only played four hours!" He also obliquely criticizes other bands in comparison (especially Chicago, it seems). He describes the show nicely - how the band is calm, "so tight and so attuned," while the audience lights up in a "frenzied electrical charge." <br />Even if this wasn't a student paper, it would be easy to tell the writer's age by his casual smoking, his identification with the audience, his statements that "the vibes were good...things were really cool...things were beautiful" - this is a reviewer on the "inside." Older 'straight' reviewers at the time wouldn't seriously "wonder if it is the acid that's got [the Dead] to a unified consciousness point." <br /><br />Workingman's Dead had been out a few months, and this writer shares the general opinion that it's the Dead's best album so far, every song good: "this is the first time the Dead have really got their stuff together." Casey Jones is the standout song for him - it was an immediate audience favorite.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com