tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post5410769671038459751..comments2024-03-16T06:44:23.745-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: May 1968: Band InterviewLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-59504371141236226342018-03-22T19:04:07.355-07:002018-03-22T19:04:07.355-07:00A recent interview with Patricia Kennealy, where s...A recent interview with Patricia Kennealy, where she says a few words about being a female rock journalist in the '60s: <br />http://rocknwomen.avidnoise.com/2017/08/04/a-rock-n-roll-history-lesson-an-interview-with-patricia-kennealy-morrison/ <br />And the article she mentions on the status of women in rock: <br />https://newtopiamagazine.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/pop-talk-rock-around-the-cock/ Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-47590917043379146242015-07-08T12:03:58.799-07:002015-07-08T12:03:58.799-07:00Some interesting background. Kennely was one of ra...Some interesting background. Kennely was one of rather few female rock journalists at the time, and would become the editor of Jazz & Pop later in 1968. Her favorite groups were the Doors & Jefferson Airplane. She met Jim Morrison in January 1969.<br /><br />She's published a book called Rock Chick: A Girl and Her Music: The Jazz & Pop Writings 1968-1971, which compiles many of her articles from the magazine - <br />http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Chick-Girl-Her-Music-ebook/dp/B00E55D2HO Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-70974934515449746262015-07-08T07:41:00.721-07:002015-07-08T07:41:00.721-07:00Patricia Kennely/Kennealy is the "witch"...Patricia Kennely/Kennealy is the "witch" who was "married" to Jim Morrison<br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Kennealy-Morrison<br />Currently authoring this series:<br /><br />The Rennie Stride Mysteries<br />The Rock & Roll Murders<br /><br /> Ungrateful Dead: Murder at the Fillmore (2007)<br /> California Screamin': Murder at Monterey Pop (2009)<br /> Love Him Madly: Murder at the Whisky (2010)<br /> A Hard Slay's Night: Murder at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)<br /> Go Ask Malice: Murder at Woodstock (2012)<br /> Scareway to Heaven: Murder at the Fillmore East (2014)<br /> Daydream Bereaver: Murder on the Good Ship Rock&Roll (2015)<br /><br />I read the 1st. It was meh.<br /><br />Love ya'<br />Oloj.s.c.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12448126423107499410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-33496318056266107442015-07-06T19:46:18.741-07:002015-07-06T19:46:18.741-07:00The article also mentions the free Central Park sh...The article also mentions the free Central Park show on May 5, organized by Bill Graham and Howard Solomon, who apparently got the park permit and saw a free show as effective promotion. (However, none of these bands were playing at the Cafe au Go Go.) The other review notes that Graham was at the park show keeping things under control.<br /><br />A short article in the May 18, 1968 issue of Billboard also covered the show, and it seems to be partly the source of Kennely's information: <br />"10,000 SEE FREE CONCERT IN PARK<br />An estimated 10,000 persons heard a free concert at Central Park's Mall on Sunday, given by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Grateful Dead, and the Jefferson Airplane. The show was set up by William Graham of Fillmore East and Howard Solomon of the Cafe au Go Go, who probably will set up more such concerts in the future."<br /><br />The same page on Billboard has a rave review of the Airplane's Fillmore shows by Fred Kirby, titled "Jefferson Airplane Makes A Perfect Musical Landing": "one of the top performances of the season. The four-concert stand on May 3 and 4 drew an estimated 38,000 persons with both of Saturday's concerts completely sold out... The group sang and played excitingly. This RCA group is one of the best at using crescendos and climaxes to build the intensity of a number. A perfect example was 'White Rabbit,' one of their best selections... It was a real show stopper." 'Fat Angel' is also singled out for the guitar playing. "Kaukonen, one of the top lead guitarists around, was a standout throughout the program as was Cassady on bass. The group was called back for four encores, all of which were excellent, including Freddy Neil's 'Other Side of This Life,' a powerful selection." <br /><br />Selections from these shows were released on the "Live at the Fillmore East" CD. Sadly, no one was taping the Dead that week! <br /><br />(From the Pop Talk column, I omitted a section of brief news notes on other bands: Al Kooper has left Blood Sweat & Tears - Eric Burdon & the Animals have started their 12th American tour - Hendrix ended his tour at the Fillmore East, may be back this summer - Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends won a Gold Record before release - Frank Zappa has moved back to Los Angeles - etc.) Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-33729859210105363942015-07-06T19:45:59.423-07:002015-07-06T19:45:59.423-07:00This is one of the more perceptive Dead articles o...This is one of the more perceptive Dead articles of the period, emphasizing the jazz influence on the Dead, and citing Django and Coltrane. Like many other writers, Kennely mentions that their first record (over a year old and still the only one available) is "singularly unrepresentative of either their live sound or their present work." <br />Unfortunately the interview is quite brief - Kennely apologizes and explains the hassled backstage situation. But we still get quotes from Garcia, Weir, Kreutzmann, and Scully. <br /><br />Kennely was at the May 9 Electric Circus show, it seems - a "spectacular closing set." The Dead started with "a solid, rock-oriented first set," then their second set at midnight had "a virtuoso rock-jazz improvisation that must have lasted an hour or more." This was perhaps an Alligator>Caution, or one (or several) of the medleys they were doing on the Anthem tour, several songs & jams running together. (The other review also mentions "one epic number that lasted over an hour" at Stony Brook, along with some description of their Electric Circus sets.)<br />Scully explains how such a improvisational set can only happen if "they're all together in their heads. All of them have to be moving the same way, feeling the same way." Scully gives an interesting little depiction of how the band work together: "If somebody starts slipping, the other guys yell at him or hold him up musically until he gets back. If he can't, then they all go back to the song's original framework." (This sounds much like how the Dead would operate in later years too.) <br />Kreutzmann has one of the earliest Dead statements on their new '68 compositions: "what we do, it's jazz, it's rock, it's symphonic progressions...movements, they're programmed and they relate and interact." <br />It's rare to hear from Kreutzmann in an early interview (he's still called Sommers). The interviewer says the Dead are perceived as a blues-rock band, and Kreutzmann says they started out that way, but "we don't do it anymore...we don't play it, and some people who try to play blues today - man, you have to be born into it." <br />This is a rather deceptive statement, considering the Dead were steadily playing Schoolgirl, Death Don't Have No Mercy, and It Hurts Me Too in their sets. <br />Weir is also less than truthful when he claims, "we don't remember those songs on our old record, and that's the living truth." (That would always be his stock explanation of why the Dead didn't play such-and-such a song anymore.) Actually four of the songs on the album had been dropped long ago (two originals, two covers), but five were still in the repertoire.<br />Garcia is most succinct about the band's ambition: "We like to leave people speechless." Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com