tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post5449255307603903518..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: March 21-22, 1969: Rose Palace, Pasadena, CALight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-641460081651501712022-08-31T11:57:10.528-07:002022-08-31T11:57:10.528-07:00was at this show, and remember Pig Pen's "...was at this show, and remember Pig Pen's "fireworks show".. it was at the climax point of "turn on your Love Light, and was more of an exploding exclamation point, coming from the backstage behind the organ... saw many Dead shows before and after, but this is the only time I remember "fireworks".. and it was great!<br />Tull was fantastic as well, with Ian Anderson flying around and suddnly striking his one-legged pose as he played his flute furiously... <br />Butterfield was Butterfield; solid Chicago blues, but nothing mind-blowing... JKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-41094484289875909462020-07-03T22:59:53.273-07:002020-07-03T22:59:53.273-07:00...then again, pillows could have other uses too. ......then again, pillows could have other uses too. <br /><br />An April '67 LA Times article on the Avalon Ballroom quoted Bob Cohen: <br />"Everybody's high when they come in, some have trouble getting up the stairs. We've had a few acid freak-outs. See, there's these pillows and rugs in front of the bandstand where the kids can lie down if they don't want to dance. Well, when the dance is over at 2 a.m., some of the kids won't leave. We have to go around and wake 'em up. A few are so turned on we have to bring them down with tranquilizers." Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-8304703356734845292020-07-03T20:52:11.284-07:002020-07-03T20:52:11.284-07:00....but, on a more mundane level, pillows were for.......but, on a more mundane level, pillows were for sitting on the floor. <br /><br />In May '70, there was a Pop Pillow Concert in the Montclair high school gym, in which "students attending may bring a pillow from home to sit on." <br />In Feb '68, one visual arts gallery in Hanford requested that people "bring a pillow, be prepared for a light show among other things." <br />In Jan '68, La Monte Young appeared at the Pasadena Art Museum along with a light show. "Those who wish may bring a pillow for sitting on the floor during his program." <br />In April '67, there was a Folk Club Hootenanny in a Chula Vista cafeteria: "The audience should bring a pillow for everyone will be sitting on the floor!" <br />In March '67, there was a small Pillow Theater in Los Angeles "where playgoers are asked to bring a pillow and sit on the floor." <br />In May '66, members of a potluck banquet in Gustine "are asked to bring a pillow for sitting."<br />In Dec '65, there was a Christmas party in the Santa Maria high school cafeteria: "the committee suggests that all who attend dress informally and bring a pillow or blanket to sit on as there will be no chairs in the cafeteria." <br /><br />And so on. People going to outdoors events were often given the same advice too. "Bring a pillow" was probably just code for "no chairs." <br />All the same, it conjures up a very cozy environment, in which concertgoers are expected to be lounging quietly on the floor rather than dancing with abandon. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-63664337825693703592020-07-03T20:28:19.450-07:002020-07-03T20:28:19.450-07:00I forgot to mention some of the audience memories ...I forgot to mention some of the audience memories of these shows... <br />One 3/21 attendee on dead.net "idolized Garcia... Seeing him live did not disappoint... They started off with a rowdy Good Morning Little School and slipped into space jam and then were out. Short set, or so it seemed." <br />In another person's somewhat jumbled memory, "Ian Anderson and Tull impressed, Ian whirling around stage and striking his one-legged pose... Butterfield was great, blowing his harp... Dead were the definite climax...just kicked ass, culminating with Pig's fireworks show!"<br />And from the Archive: "The crowd liked the opening act, Jethro Tull, and the Dead, a lot more than Butterfield." Another attendee remembers Owsley mixing in stereo, switching guitars from one side to another in "the concrete cavern." <br />One person remembers Feedback and We Bid You Goodnight (possibly from the 21st). It was also his first show; he went in stoned and was impressed: "I had no idea stuff like this went on. Walking into that place that night, peaking on Purple OZ, seeing this strange looking dude with long frizzy hair hopping around on stage on one leg, playing a long silver flute, and with that light show going on, and the music, and all these good looking topless girls dancing, and wow, the acid, and Betty Boop and Flash Gordon and the strobes...if you weren't there, no way to describe that night. I swear I buzzed for a week after that." <br />No one else took any note of the light show, though. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-66811374402665371412020-07-03T19:43:52.399-07:002020-07-03T19:43:52.399-07:00Could be! The review does mention the "very a...Could be! The review does mention the "very apropos" layer of grass on the floor, and the clouds of cannabis that appeared along with the Dead. <br /><br />On the other hand, the 3/21/69 Sundial had this interesting note: "Two Valley State drop-ins...who are responsible for originating the giant pillow, are now attempting to perfect 'the swing' for this weekend's Rose Palace concerts. The pillow idea has now been incorporated into Scenic Sounds' radio spots." <br />A giant pillow?? 1969 shows must have been relaxed events... <br /><br />A quick newspaper search didn't turn up other requests to bring pillows to concerts that year. However a Meadow Vista church had a Youth Songfest with a Pillow and Sock party ("bring a pillow or cushion and wear socks"), and in May '69, a Sacramento high school "is sponsoring a pillow fight at 7:30 p.m. in the girls' gym. Everyone is encouraged to bring a feather pillow and relieve his frustrations." <br /><br />Now I'm imagining pillow fights at Dead concerts! Don't laugh, it could have happened. In April '69 the Purdue campus newspaper reported that there was "a marshmallow fight" at the Dead concert there. And at the Detroit show in December '68, the Hog Farm arranged games such as paper-plate tossing and balloon-bouncing for the audience. One girl wrote, "it was so beautiful I couldn't believe it...I never had so much good clean uninhibited fun in my life."<br /><br />Did you think people went to Dead shows for the music? Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-87622161406183141672020-07-03T19:13:46.146-07:002020-07-03T19:13:46.146-07:00By the way, a brief show announcement in the 3/21/...By the way, a brief show announcement in the 3/21/69 Sundial noted, "This weekend at the Rose Palace finds Paul Butterfield, the local debut of Jethro Tull, and the beautiful jams of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead." <br />Someone at the paper was clearly already a fan! <br /><br />And if anyone has access to the Pasadena Star News archives, that paper also had an article on recent Rose Palace shows in their 3/22/69 issue.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-25447297457703830052020-07-03T18:57:11.565-07:002020-07-03T18:57:11.565-07:00I added a short bit on the March 21 show from the ...I added a short bit on the March 21 show from the LA Times. Pete Johnson had reviewed previous Dead shows in '67-68, with mixed feelings but usually with praise for Garcia. This time, though, he felt the Dead weren't as good as they'd been at the Shrine, and Garcia "lacked both enthusiasm and polish." Either that or Johnson was just in a crabby mood, complaining that it's hard to keep doing reviews and anyway today's rock bands can't compare to the bluesmen and rock & rollers of the past.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-58899283410593787862020-07-03T17:15:56.109-07:002020-07-03T17:15:56.109-07:00Prospective attendees of the 1/17/69 show were als...Prospective attendees of the 1/17/69 show were also advised to bring their own pillow. Was that some kind of early 1969 head code? <a href="http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2016/11/dropping-in-robertson-gym-gd1969-01-17.html%22" rel="nofollow">http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2016/11/dropping-in-robertson-gym-gd1969-01-17.html</a>Fate Musichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648291938690043423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-20849726717202427852020-07-03T16:53:32.373-07:002020-07-03T16:53:32.373-07:00Music researcher Ron Fritts found this show review...Music researcher Ron Fritts found this show review in the campus newspaper of the San Fernando Valley State College (now CSUN). <br />The reviewer praises the new Rose Palace, complete with its grass-covered floor. (Posters advised attendees to "bring a pillow.") But in only a year the venue would soon follow the other mentioned Los Angeles rock halls to extinction - in May 1970 rock concerts would be banned there due to neighbors' complaints. The Dead would play there again in May '69. <br />The reviewer covers all the acts equally, paying even more attention to the openers Jethro Tull & the Dead than to the headliner, the Butterfield Blues Band. He suggests that the Dead probably drew most of the crowd, and it's funny to find them regarded as a 'drug band,' the audience apparently lighting up as the Dead came out. But he seems to like their music okay, emphasizing the "long, long" jazz-like improvisations with "constantly-moving crescendos of sound." Although vocals are claimed to be rare and inaudible, the Dead "kept most of the audience on their feet." (Pigpen is referred to as a "conga bopper," though he did much of the singing.) <br />The caption snarkily says the Dead "specialize in tunes lasting at least an hour apiece" - but their entire set was only an hour! <br /><br />A page crease obscured some words in the Jethro Tull paragraphs. Generally I don't include newspaper photos which tend to be small, dark & blurry, but this was an unusually good newspaper shot. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com