tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post5142959945335502690..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: February 1968: Jefferson AirplaneLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-72899965746014456262015-04-01T12:43:04.632-07:002015-04-01T12:43:04.632-07:00Rakow was one of the organizers of the tour, and h...Rakow was one of the organizers of the tour, and he was in charge of running the Carousel (insofar as anyone was "in charge," and also somewhat by default as the other Dead managers let him take over that task). At this point, though, Scully was still the "public face" of the Dead, the one giving quotes to papers.<br /><br />Rhoney may be right that they didn't get the idea to lease the Carousel on a permanent basis til their second show there on 2/14 - Blair Jackson suggests that Headstone Productions had already been formed by that show. <br /><br />Incidentally, here's a page where poster artist Rick Shubb writes about his relations with Rakow & Headstone Productions: <br />http://shubb.com/art/index.html Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-35445579230970348072015-03-31T19:36:26.075-07:002015-03-31T19:36:26.075-07:00Rakow apparently organized the Quick and the Dead ...Rakow apparently organized the Quick and the Dead tour. Rhoney Stanley's book talks about the conception of the Carousel idea happening the night of the 2/14/68 show.Fate Musichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648291938690043423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-12946573072903332792015-03-31T16:22:50.790-07:002015-03-31T16:22:50.790-07:00The Airplane had been arguing with RCA executives ...The Airplane had been arguing with RCA executives and unhappy with their producers ever since their first album, and the Dead took note. The Airplane took several months to record After Bathing at Baxter's - by now they wanted total control over the studio process. As the article notes, they "are notoriously unhappy with the RCA Los Angeles studios...want to be able to name their own engineers and production people, choose their own studios to record in - in San Francisco, if they like...and even start their own studios." <br />The Dead started working on Anthem of the Sun just as the Airplane were finishing Baxter's, and became even more indulgent - abandoning the Warners studio in LA, going through several studios across the country, dismissing their producer, and in the end producing it themselves over a period of 8 months or so. The ability to start their own studio, though, wouldn't be possible for years to come; til then, some new studios were starting in the Bay Area that both bands could make use of, independent of the RCA and Warners facilities.<br /><br />Here the Airplane complain that their albums are "terribly mishandled and underpromoted by RCA," and that the record label is incompetent - exactly what Garcia would say of Warners in later years. Both bands felt they could sell their albums better themselves than leaving it to the hands of the 'straights' - so here we find the Airplane wanting to spend their promotional budget themselves.<br />At this point, the idea of starting their own independent record label isn't even a fantasy. Jefferson Airplane were first, forming Grunt in 1971; however it was still a subsidiary of RCA - Garcia pointed out in '71, "Grunt Records is still RCA...it's not truly independent. And our fantasy is to be completely independent if we can do it." The Dead formed their own label in 1973, which collapsed in three years. (Grunt lasted 16 years, but then it had much more successful albums, as well as the protection & distribution of RCA.)<br /><br />In short, the two bands took somewhat parallel paths, with the Dead learning from the Airplane's challenges and trying to avoid the same mistakes. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-79502670747240043462015-03-31T16:22:30.584-07:002015-03-31T16:22:30.584-07:00That idea was in the air with the Airplane, though...That idea was in the air with the Airplane, though, particularly when it came to the Dead, since the two bands played together so often. Spencer Dryden said around that time, "We'd like to mix it up a little bit: you know, let's play some of the Dead's material; let's have the Dead play some of ours; let's have Grace sing with them; let's have Pigpen sing with us. Let's have some fun! It doesn't have to be that rigid format."<br />And Paul Kantner said, "We're thinking about getting with the Doors and the Grateful Dead and Big Brother, or some combination of those four...and doing a grand theatrical concert with everybody on stage at the same time... Like a three-ring circus, sort of. Where, like a group will do a song, and then maybe two people from this group come out and do something with two people in that group, while somebody else sings. There's just endless possibilities of variations you could do." <br />They'd done something like that with 'Midnight Hour' on 7/16/66, and there had been the big Winterland multi-band jam on 12/31/67 (not involving the Dead), and the Dead had also jammed with the Airplane in Toronto in August '67. When the Dead ran the Carousel in spring '68, they made room for "Tuesday night jams" in which multiple bands could interact like this (Garcia playing on 'Good Shepherd' and so on), though probably trading songs was still a very rare event.<br /><br />There are some other parallels between the Dead & the Airplane here too. The Airplane have just started their own publishing company (Ice Bag), printing songbooks. Ralph Gleason said in March '68 that the Dead were also to form their own publishing group. As far as I know, Ice Nine wasn't formed til late 1970 (or at least, it was pretty inactive), though by '72 the Dead started printing their own songbooks. The resemblance in name seems to be coincidental - Ice Bag referred to a strong brand of pot, Ice Nine to a Kurt Vonnegut book.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-61011838330119042022015-03-31T16:21:16.409-07:002015-03-31T16:21:16.409-07:00Ostensibly an article about Jefferson Airplane'...Ostensibly an article about Jefferson Airplane's plans, there's actually quite a lot of info here about their interaction with the Dead, and some quotes about the Dead's recent Northwest tour. (In fact, the article starts off with the Airplane but quickly detours into several paragraphs on the Dead/Quicksilver tour.) <br /><br />There's a glowing report of the tour - the Dead's management had organized & promoted it (instead of having another promoter or booking agency do it, as customary), and they're surprised it went so well. Scully mentions that he'd made calls to local college papers to build some buzz about the bands, and a couple of those calls are quoted in my posts on the tour announcements. <br />What's surprising is that the Dead, Quicksilver & the Airplane had just formed "Headstone Productions" in order to run their own shows at the Carousel Ballroom, yet it's not mentioned here. The article says that the Dead's Carousel shows on 1/17 and 2/14/68 were "immensely successful," but maybe it was written a little too early to mention the bands' preparations for their own ballroom. That experiment only lasted about three months, and was not so successful. (I think the Airplane only played two runs at the Carousel with the Dead, since they were often off on their own tours; and Quicksilver only appeared there a couple times, though playing a run at the Fillmore while the Carousel was on its last legs.) <br />The idea was to free themselves from the other promoters in town, the "establishment" - Chet Helms & especially Bill Graham. (Remember what the Dead sang in 'Alligator': "Burn down the Fillmore, gas the Avalon.") Here Scully says that "the promoters have just been putting out pap" and proudly says the Dead haven't played those places in months - which was true; the Dead had avoided the Avalon & Fillmore since spring '67. <br />This particular bid for independence was short-lived; the Dead would start playing the Avalon & Graham's Fillmore West again in August '68. (They also joined Graham's booking agency, and he even briefly became their manager at the end of the year - only to find, as with the Airplane, that they were unmanageable.) <br />Jefferson Airplane would play at the Fillmore West in October '68.<br /><br />As reported in the accompanying article, the Dead had announced that they would be touring Europe in April/May '68. This article claims that the shows there were "already booked" and that the Airplane might go too - and Ralph Gleason also reported in March '68 that "it is hoped to organize a European tour later this year with some of the San Francisco groups" (using the Carousel owner's European ballrooms). But of course, the tour never happened. <br />The 12/14/67 issue of Rolling Stone had anticipated an even earlier Dead appearance in Europe: "the Grateful Dead may appear at a 'Christmas On Earth' rock bash at London's huge Olympia Stadium December 22... It will be the first time that a San Francisco rock group has appeared in Europe. The Dead will be in New York recording in early December and will have time only to make a one-night trip." (As it happened, the Dead didn't go - Country Joe & the Fish went instead, playing at the Roundhouse.)<br />The Dead would try again in October '68 (plans got far enough that ads were printed for London Roundhouse shows in October), but again canceled the trip: <br />http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/october-1968-grateful-dead-european.html <br />By then, the Airplane did get to tour Europe with the Doors in September '68 - though I don't think the two groups ever swapped songs as suggested here! Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com