tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post5479241467315513727..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: September 17, 1972: Baltimore Civic CenterLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-68816390782449285742018-12-01T15:19:06.197-08:002018-12-01T15:19:06.197-08:00Angie Thorton's review is laughable but she na...Angie Thorton's review is laughable but she nails it with her last line.Stagger Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04382918353830061936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-18883527371618885832012-09-26T21:45:20.957-07:002012-09-26T21:45:20.957-07:00More musings -
There probably wasn't a line ...More musings - <br /><br />There probably wasn't a line of police at every rock show back then (as the first reviewer's dismay shows). If, say, Kenny Loggins played the Civic Center, I doubt the riot squad would be brought out to control the crowd! The cops probably just targeted what were considered the "dangerous" bands, like the Doors or the Dead. (Since I've listened to so many Hendrix & Zeppelin shows, where cops often roughed up the crowds, sometimes stopping shows or even tear-gassing audiences while the performers pleaded for calm, I tend to assume cops were surrounding the stage on a regular basis in those days...) <br /><br />For a sad example of one 1971 show where the cops were manhandling the audience, check this out: <br />http://archive.org/details/gd71-11-11.sbd.yubah-dodd.8326.sbeok.shnf <br />After the first song, the crowd is booing the cops who were yanking people off the stage & keeping people in their seats. Phil says "That's not really necessary!... There ain't gonna be no music as long as there's cops on this stage." The crowd chants, "Pigs offstage!" Then Sam Cutler has to come on & tell the audience to quiet down & they need to have the stage clear before they're allowed to play any more... <br />Fortunately, Baltimore '72 wasn't as bad as Atlanta! <br />But it's worth remembering that some old Dead shows were played to a wall of cops.<br /><br />As for the second reviewer - it's possible she really was at the show and, not knowing or liking the band at all, simply couldn't name any of the songs played, let alone identify the piano player. <br />It strikes me that "Mr Kelly's Blues" and "Friend in the Jungle" may well be mishearings of "Mexicali Blues" and "Friend of the Devil," which were played.<br />It still seems gratuitous to claim that Cosmic Charlie and Feedback were played... And the review is still a shameless piece of lazy non-reporting.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-39528374118591549392012-09-26T13:10:27.585-07:002012-09-26T13:10:27.585-07:00These reviews are mostly worthless, but I thought ...These reviews are mostly worthless, but I thought they'd be worth including as examples of the worst type of Dead reporting.<br /><br />The first review is OK - the reporter uses his time in San Francisco, not to give any personal memories of the band, but to give a brief & somewhat inaccurate summary of the band's history. <br />The police presence at this show is noteworthy. Unfortunately it was common in many places in the late 60s/early 70s to go to a show & find the stage surrounded by police. The Dead weren't thrilled about this either, and sometimes it led to confrontations. <br />Lesh comments after Sugaree, "Here's what it seems like from up here, folks. It seems like as long as you all don't try to approach the stage, or should I say the no-man's land there bordered by the strip of concrete in front of the stage, everything will be pretty cool. If you don't push them, they won't push you."<br /><br />I wonder when the Dead played Sproul Hall in Berkeley?<br />The reference to Garcia's "friendly stomach" cracked me up.<br /><br />The second review is, I hope, the most pitifully bad review I'll ever include here. Just terribly written. I don't know why the Afro-American paper assigned this writer to this show, but I doubt she even went, and her complete unfamiliarity with the band shines through.<br />There is no end of hilarity to be found in this brief review, with its parade of cliches, inept writing, and blatant falsehoods.<br /><br />While the band did indeed have a "cosmic, country sound," the whole description of the Muddy Waters-style "blues note" and the "whining guitars and ever so heavy drums" sounds made-up to me.<br />Ron McKernan, of course, wasn’t there. <br />The Dead had never played the Civic Center before (they'd only been in Baltimore once back in ’69). <br />And, wouldn’t you know, they played none of the songs listed in the review (even the made-up songs!) – except for Me & My Uncle, which was a lucky guess. The reviewer probably just glanced at the backs of some old Dead albums for song titles!<br />There was indeed an encore, One More Saturday Night. (It was left off the Dick's Picks, which Bear complained about.) No doubt the audience did "let out expressions of pleasure"...Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com