tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post4307574798547839263..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: March 19, 1966: Carthay Studios, Los AngelesLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-65452655925099702752017-01-16T03:51:40.604-08:002017-01-16T03:51:40.604-08:00Good one! To think, 51 years later..the legend,the...Good one! To think, 51 years later..the legend,the myth, the American reality... such an amazing story.j.s.c.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12448126423107499410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-64486484524771781952017-01-05T21:46:54.937-08:002017-01-05T21:46:54.937-08:00The LA Free Press was a hip underground paper - ki...The LA Free Press was a hip underground paper - kind of the Los Angeles equivalent of the Village Voice. It's remarkable to find any paper in early '66 devoting such a lengthy report & interview to a cancelled event and a completely unknown band - in fact this is the earliest known article on the Dead.<br /><br />The reporter probably didn't know much about the Pranksters or the Dead, besides their names. (Ken Kesey's never mentioned, only Babbs.) He doesn't mention San Francisco; he doesn't know Owsley's name or drug production (he just calls him "the Dead's engineer and electronic genius"). In fact, he never mentions LSD at all! Quite a feat for someone reporting on an Acid Test, which makes me wonder if he was really a total innocent, or if it was an editorial omission.<br />Garcia makes a brief appearance - the reporter learns he was formerly in bluegrass, and Garcia's anxious to introduce him to Pigpen. (When Pigpen does appear, belittling Sonny & Cher, the only comment is that he "looks like a bewigged Wallace Beery"! Not most people's first reaction.) <br />Garcia suspects the reporter is from the Stormtrooper (an actual magazine of the American Nazi party), which I assume was a running joke. It's interesting that Garcia asks which national magazine he might be from - this isn't so far-fetched, since the acid tests were getting some media attention. Life magazine was doing an LSD article at the same time, and the reporter spots them at Carthay Studios. Their article also ran on March 25: <br />http://www.psychedelic-library.org/magazines/lifelsd.htm <br /><br />Most of the conversation is with Rock Scully, who tirelessly promotes the Dead at every chance. Surprisingly, there's already a strong emphasis on their sound system and gear - loud but "crystal clear." The reporter's taken aback by the volume, but doesn't say much about what the Dead actually sound like, comparing them to Sonny & Cher!<br /><br />The Dead play him a tape of I Know You Rider & You Don't Have To Ask (which they then called Otis on a Shakedown Cruise) - one of Bear's demos, which has never circulated, but might possibly still be in the vault. (It wasn't included in the Rare Cuts & Oddities release.)<br />Scully says the Dead are releasing this as a single - was he making this up? Possibly; but just as likely he and the Dead had naive plans for an independent 45 release (similar to the Scorpio single release later that year), but ran into reality when they tried to get it pressed.<br />In 1972 Ron Rakow suggested that the Dead's independent label could distribute their records out of Good Humor trucks. Since one of these trucks is lurking outside the house here, I wonder if the idea went as far back as 1966! <br /><br />This issue of the Free Press also included an ad for the Dead's March 25 show at Trouper's Hall, which wasn't an acid test. Scully actually seems a lot more excited about that show than he does about this acid test. "You think this is something? Wait till next week."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-22621404794829610712017-01-05T20:53:25.328-08:002017-01-05T20:53:25.328-08:00JGMF discovered a preview for the Acid Test in the...JGMF discovered a preview for the Acid Test in the Daily Bruin (the UCLA paper). <br /><br />“Acid Test to Happen Here,” Daily Bruin, March 11, 1966, p.14<br /><br />"Barring the apocalypse, GSA ASUCLA, will allow the Merry Pranksters of Intrepid Trips, Inc. to let loose their version of interpersonal nuclear fission. The Acid Test, from 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. March 19 in The Student Union Grand Ballroom. What is The Acid Test? Well, it is a sort of a happening, a very total happening. There is no audience, no group of performers; everyone comes and the thing happens. There is music — The Grateful Dead will play genuine rock-'n-roll for dancing. But anyone can play music — there will be mikes and amplifiers available — and any person or group is urged to bring their equipment. There will be movies, three or four at a time, of the Pranksters and others doing whatever they do. But anyone can bring their own films and/or equipment. There will be people in strange clothes; come as you will. There will be strange lights, strobes and color wheels; bring more if need be. There will be Neal Cassady of On The Road doing battle with the fabled Thunder Machine, Roy's Audioptics, the Electric Man, the Psychedelic Symphonette, assorted miracles and marvels, more noise and yet more music. Tickets ($1.50 for students) are on sale at the Kerckhoff Hall Ticket Office or can be purchased at the door."<br /><br />http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2016/11/ucla-acid-test-cxl.html<br /><br />An ad for the Acid Test also ran on the 16th, but as Rock Scully mentions in this article, the Daily Bruin replaced it with a cancellation notice on Friday, March 18, p.13: <br /><br />"CANCELLED - The Program Manager's office late yesterday ordered tomorrow night's performance of The Acid Test cancelled on grounds that the troupe displayed a lack of talent and ticket sales were going slowly, making this production economically unfeasible. Students holding tickets to The Acid Test may obtain refunds at the Kerckhoff Hall Ticket Office." <br /><br />Scully gives a lengthy account of the university's suspicious withdrawal - all kinds of reasons were given, whether "lack of talent," slow ticket sales, or an invalid contract. <br />Deadlists gives the most likely reason: "As soon as UCLA caught wind what an Acid Test event was, they promptly cancelled it, figuring giving unsupervised college students hallucinogenics was probably not a good idea. Since the event had already been advertised...the event was moved at the last minute to Carthay Studios." <br />http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19660319.html Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com