11/1/69
NO DOUBT: THE DOG
This is a pitifully inadequate space, both aesthetically and dimensionally, in which to attempt this communication, but here it unfolds:
Tomorrow night, the fourth of November, Workshop: Family Circus, Rainbow Jam, Tracy Hite, free-form ballet - "Circus of the Stars," music by the Family of Mu.
Wednesday night, the Family of Man, the Family of God.
Thursday night, acoustic string night, Tup Fisher, "All God's Children."
This last Saturday night I found myself at the Dog, listening to three artists. The first was the Golden Toad, a preettty strange assemblage of musicians performing on instruments like conch shells, bagpipes, Swiss mountain horns, double reed flutes, an endless array of percussion, and on and on. They're fairly difficult to comment on at all.
Next was a man whom I've heard nothing about - ever - I still don't know how old he is, where he's from, or how he learned to sing and play. All I can say is that he is a magic being on stage and emits energies warmer and stronger than any solo performer I've ever seen. His name is Danny Cox.
The Grateful Dead ended the night, deflated my body, and nearly orbited the ballroom with an achingly powerful, energetic set that ran through tunes new and old. Man, this band has endurance.
Stop by the Dog soon, if you're willing to be part of it instead of merely looking at it.
(from the Daily Californian, November 4, 1969)
See also:
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2/28/70
DILBERT'S CHOICE (excerpt)
The Grateful Dead are amazing. All I know for certain is that last Saturday, at Family Dog, they completely blew my mind with an energy explosion the likes of which I have never experienced.
They opened with "Love Light," and everyone was jumping... But then Garcia and Weir left everybody hanging by doing three numbers on acoustic guitars. I mean it was O.K., but so what? All it did was rip off everyone's (including their own) energy. It took about a half-hour of Country & Western songs before they could get it together again. They've changed a bit from the old days, they now do individual songs in a C&W vein; I find it boring.
"Good Lovin" then exploded and I completely forgot my boredom... It was like an elusive acid trip...a transcendental vision. It was unbelievable.
(by Frederick Chase, from the Daily Californian, March 4, 1970)
See also:
Two brief reviews of Family Dog shows that are pretty short in themselves but make an interesting pair.
ReplyDeleteThe first piece from November '69 shows the kind of weekly goings-on the Family Dog hosted as part of "the Common." (As the Berkeley Tribe described it on 8/22/69, "The Common is a new form. It is all the people who want to do a trip out on the Great Highway: musicians, light artists, impresarios, auctioneers, media people. And most important, the people in the streets who come to goof, and dance, and get high.") I can't imagine stuff like "freeform ballet" and "the Children of Mu" was a big draw, but hey, they were weeknights where you could hang out at the Family Dog community for a dollar - as the article says, a chance to "be part of it."
The reviewer missed the Halloween party by "the Hells Angels Own Band," but gives a nice account of the next night's show.
The February '70 review shows how the Dead's acoustic sets were not all that well-received at first. Garcia introduced the acoustic portion that night: "We're gonna take everybody back about sixty billion notches, man, and play some acoustic guitars for a little spell, if it's all the same to you." This reviewer, at least, finds the acoustic country songs boring, sucking the energy out of the show. (There are reports in May '70 of disappointed audiences leaving in droves after the acoustic sets.)
But happily, the Dead get back to good ol' rock & roll and blow his mind. These two reviewers are in complete agreement about the effect the Dead had on the audience with their transcendent energy.