tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post4350100723387783899..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: June 22, 1968: Travelodge Theater, Phoenix AZLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-5273712314880723352017-03-24T16:29:57.289-07:002017-03-24T16:29:57.289-07:00I wish Sargent had written more about the show, bu...I wish Sargent had written more about the show, but his announcement is pretty interesting. He was clearly a Dead fan and had seen them live (though they hadn't played in Arizona before), and liked them more than the Airplane. He says their shows are "something else" and "a smash," but admits that they're "unappreciated" and not very popular - they're "musicians' musicians," non-commercial but still "a tremendous influence on the modern rock scene." (I wonder who in particular he thought they'd influenced?)<br /><br />The theater was actually called the Star Theatre, but when rock shows were presented there it was called the Travelodge Theater in the Round. (It had a rotating circular stage in the middle of the audience.) Cream also played there in March 1968. But the promoter who ran the theater generally put on musicals, popular singers, and comics, and did not like rock music - in 1971 hard rock shows were banned there. (But "folk music, soft rock or western music" were still OK.)<br />http://phoenixtheaterhistory.com/companies/star-theatre-celebrity-theatre/<br />http://funsetstrip.blogspot.com/2012/09/phoenix-star-theater_27.html <br /><br />In the '68 photos, the theater looks like a soulless place to play, with the house lights turned on during the show, giving it the charm of a school cafeteria! Notice the seats in back are empty, too - the Dead must not have been big in Phoenix yet, so the stage probably wasn't rotating for this show. (As the reporter says, people weren't too anxious to see them, and were leaving during the show!) For their return to the theater in 1970, the place would be a lot more packed and wild, with the audience surging over the stage by the end.<br />I couldn't find a review of the 3/8/70 show.<br /><br />Ten Years After had one album out at the time and, as the article says, were "unknown in the States." A couple months later they'd release a live album, Undead.<br /><br />As for the Maharishi....an article from October 1, 1966 (I don't know what paper) reported: <br />"Maharishi Yogi has advised the Grateful Dead to change their name - in a hurry. The Maharishi says that all grateful people are already in heaven and, therefore, suggests the Dead switch their name to the Eternal Lives. So far, the Dead are remaining noncommittal." <br />McNally (p.231) places the meeting in the Dead's November '67 trip to Los Angeles: "The band lost all respect when the time came for them to be given the secret mantra and the Maharishi spoke only to the band, relegating the rest of the entourage to an assistant."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com