tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post9115996750108218340..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: October 1974: Sunshine DaydreamLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-29573212584553336412019-12-25T21:47:00.756-08:002019-12-25T21:47:00.756-08:00I can't remember at the moment if any earlier ...I can't remember at the moment if any earlier interviews with the Dead mention the movie; but the earliest must be a June '72 KSAN interview with Garcia. <br />KSAN: When will there be a good movie about the Dead? ... <br />JERRY: There are some guys who wanna do a movie on us. They've been sort of setting it up for a long time. What they wanna do is make a movie that would be just a movie of one of our live gigs, you know, just three hours long or four hours, just a record of that thing. <br /><br />The filmmakers had followed the Dead around on the Europe '72 tour to prepare for the movie, so it had already been months in planning. Two months later, they got their chance.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-70084165619736571382016-03-01T14:07:28.579-08:002016-03-01T14:07:28.579-08:00They say " There is nothing that compares to ...They say " There is nothing that compares to seeing the Dead in concert" and as having attended their live shows this rings so true! For some reason in my mind, seeing a film or documentary similar to the "Grateful Dead Movie" just is not the same as actually being at that performance!Then again, the Dead hold something special for everyone whom cares to embrace!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938073403673404689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-24764475121022437052015-07-07T16:05:15.563-07:002015-07-07T16:05:15.563-07:00I found a review of the film in the Stanford Daily...I found a review of the film in the Stanford Daily and added it. Quite detailed and fascinating - probably the earliest review of this film. It even mentions the naked pole man! <br /><br />The reviewer admires how well the film depicts the Dead crowd and the show's atmosphere. He feels the Dark Star sequence is excessive - "overly long...tends to get boring" - and wishes there was a greater variety of songs. He likes the way the China>Rider sequence links the Dead back to the Neal Cassady days. The numerous topless women draw comment (and they would be mostly edited out of the official release, decades later). <br />These were test screenings, apparently to raise funds and judge audience reaction. The film editing was still being worked on - the producer here says that "technically and aesthetically the film is not yet the way its makers want it to be." The animation sequences were a work in progress (and never quite finished) - one filmmaker said that they were "patched in pretty much willy-nilly from an old work print...due to lack of band footage." Since the Dead never approved release, the filmmakers never really got to a "final cut" of the film, but set it aside. <br /><br />The producer laments that "the Dead have refused to sign a release authorizing commercial distribution of the movie." According to him, when they saw it "they were freaked out by the accuracy of the cinematic portrayal, and are consequently unsure of what action to take toward the film." <br />I don't know whether anyone knew that the Dead would be filming their own shows just a couple weeks later - there's no sign of it here. But that was probably the nail in the coffin for Sunshine Daydream, since that was a project the Dead had complete control over. <br /><br />The theater was full, and audience questions and comments were encouraged during the screenings - it would be interesting to know how the original audience reacted. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-60534759960229602072013-01-03T12:57:33.570-08:002013-01-03T12:57:33.570-08:00Hmm, I guess in 1974 you were not yet a student of...Hmm, I guess in 1974 you were not yet a student of the Dead!Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-76545331284034282112013-01-02T23:56:20.259-08:002013-01-02T23:56:20.259-08:00i lived a mile away. I could have walked. I rememb...i lived a mile away. I could have walked. I remember this being advertised. I was a high school smartass, and thought "there aren't any movies of the Dead I haven't seen," so I didn't go. This sums up me in high school in a nutshell.<br /><br />Several months later, my friend and I were at a Journey concert--don't ask--and I asked this girl if she liked the Grateful Dead. She told me about seeing the Sunshine Daydream movie, and I was totally stunned to find out what I had missed. Corry342https://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-1601457726228169882012-12-23T23:52:29.036-08:002012-12-23T23:52:29.036-08:00The film, of course, is the 8/27/72 Veneta film we...The film, of course, is the 8/27/72 Veneta film we're all familiar with, which after 40 years has yet to be released by the Dead.<br /><br />Coincidentally, the Dead filmed their own farewell shows later that month. While that would result in the "official" Dead film, this piece shows the underground Dead collectors' scene starting to come to the surface.<br />Note the "many unreleased Dead tapes" being played on the radio show...<br /><br />It's interesting that this brief article focuses so much more on the Kesey/Merry Prankster angle than on the show itself. By this time, the story of the early Dead has started receding into history - "the middle 1960s." And the film is already a time capsule: "The film should give students of the Dead in 1974 some idea of the way it was in the beginning." <br />STUDENTS of the Dead in 1974! Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com