STATE OF THE CHANGES
How the Dragon Urobouros (Giga Exponentia) Makes Us Go Round and Round
We've received 25,000 letters to date from Dead Heads, telling us your trips, and ideas and questions and comments about ours. Whatever the voyage, the current concerns are at least real, and this newsletter is a report on the state of the ship.
The pursuit of quality presentation of our music, with more and more people wanting to hear it, has led us into larger and larger halls with an ever-increasing array of equipment. St. Dilbert calls this process 'Urobouros':
Configurations of speakers and amplifiers change almost as rapidly as we move from gig to gig. The equipment diagram shown overleaf is a schematic of the set-up at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, 26 May 1973 (auxiliary PA's and mid-field delay towers to reinforce the sound at the back against wind, are not shown).
You are one million Dead Heads who attend the concerts. In the New York City area, given the space, we will draw some 50,000 people. As your numbers increase in each area, we play larger and larger halls. The apparent alternative to this is a kind of riot. We are musicians.
The physics of sound projection dictate that any given increase in the size of a hall requires an exponential rate of increase in equipment capability to reach everyone in the hall with quality-at-volume.
YEAR - WEIGHT - TRANSPORT
1965 -- 800 lbs ---- Bill's station wagon
1967 -- 1300 lbs --- Barney's van
1968 -- 6000 lbs --- Metro van
1970 -- 10,000 lbs - 18 ft truck
1973 -- 30,000 lbs - 40 ft semi
We're growing! - some 30 people now on payroll. We're affiliated with Alembic in San Francisco on design, research and development of equipment and recording. Our rehearsal hall in San Rafael is the center of acoustic enquiry and equipment maintenance/development. Our office here manages, controls finance, accounting, insurance and the like, and Ice Nine Publishing Company (copyrights, licenses, songbooks) and Dead Heads. Out of Town booking agency and Fly By Night travel agency, two outgrowths of our scene, are in the building.
By the nature of the beast, the energies of over a hundred directly enter our endeavor. Urobouros turns his circles. St. Dilbert is a bombast. Let's surface the moon with an electrostatic spherical tidal spatial counter-entropic sound system. Energy spoken here.
On earth, our overhead expense is $100,000 a month. In 1972 we grossed $1,424,543. Here's who ate the pie:
The Grateful Dead Dollar (1972)
Salaries 27%
Road 27% (22% Road Expenses, 5% Agency)
Equipment 18% (14% Purchase & Maintenance, 4% Support)
Office 17% (2% Overhead, 2% Dead Heads)
Tax 8%
Operating Profit 3%
70% of this income came from gigs, and 30% from record royalties. Gigs offer the only means to earn more money when it is needed to maintain our operation in all its particulars. We cannot sell more records at will, but we can go on the road, within the limits of energy: so that we must play larger halls, with more equipment, and a bigger organization, requiring more gigs.....
St. Dilbert calls this fellow 'Urobouros', and he's a good trip, but he has a mind of his own:
Greater Demand --> Larger Halls --> More Equipment --> Bigger Organization --> Larger Overhead --> More Gigs --> [repeat]
We like a variety of concert situations. Ambiance comes in different sizes. We like a small hall, and so do you, and an outdoor gig in the sun, and a large hall when it can be made to sound good (few halls over 6000 capacity aren't sports arenas with novel acoustic and environmental puzzles).
Urobouros is hungry. How do we control him? We've planned for a year to form our own record manufacturing and distributing company so as to be more on top of the marketing process, package and promote our product in an honest and human manner, and possibly stand aside from the retail list-price inflation spiral while retaining more of the net dollar (keep a tight ship). If the records cover a larger share of the overhead, then the concert situation becomes more flexible. This is the working future - possible, in the direction we see to go, now. We want this freedom to achieve gig variety, to experiment. We are musicians.
What else might do? Write and suggest it. Magic ideas welcome. Dead Heads altogether, too - what might we do with it? What might you do with it?
Your mail is an energy input, 400 letters a week that we tack on bulletin boards and read aloud and pass back and forth. The drawings ('DH') in this issue are yours. This flow enters the common pool of plans and theories and ideas and speculations and fantasties and hopes and fears and futures and galaxies and stuff.
To hear from you, furthers.
"Having been born into a world of rather curious values, values apparently unrelated to the direct experience of human truths, the Bozos and Bolos hypnocratically pursue a direction of self-determination in as many ways as interestingly possible, believing that this course will best aid a continuation of integrity and meaning in their music and other life spaces. This has meant that their business activity seeks to be in control of as many areas as become possible, employing their own people to do the work that would otherwise be farmed out to straight business. Thus there is the possibility that the message in the music can be reflected in the manner and purpose of conducting the business necessary to get the music heard."
- St. Dilbert, Bombast
Next Release:
'History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. 1: Bear's Choice.' Live recordings of 1970 vintage. Warner Bros. July Release.
Hunter Album:
Robert Hunter has written the material for his own album and recorded it with Liberty, a Bay Area band. To be released.
(from the May 1973 Dead Heads newsletter)
Sep 30, 2012
July 1973: The Dead's Gear
GRATEFUL DEAD: WIRED FOR SOUND
A concert artist today performs at the center of an incredible tangle of wires connecting components of a thousand kinds. But even if he knows what they all are, the performer is not likely to discuss graphic equalizers and pink noise during an interview.
Anybody who has seen the Grateful Dead has marvelled at the mysterious mountains of gear they use at their concerts. Because of the sheer amount of this equipment, because of its high quality, and because it is privately owned by the group rather than rented from a sound contractor, GP decided to investigate.
In order to examine the technical side of the Dead's performances, we talked with Rick Turner of Alembic in San Francisco. Besides building sophisticated electronic guitars (see "Casady's Bass," GP, August '72), the craftsmen at Alembic have done extensive work on all the Dead's equipment. Without needing to consult any notes, Turner was able to provide the following information.
What equipment does Jerry Garcia use on stage?
Jerry uses an extensively re-worked Stratocaster, and also one of our Alembic guitars. He plays into a Fender Twin Reverb amp with preamp outpouts going to a McIntosh 2300 amp. This powers three Alembic B-12 speaker cabinets which are stacked on their sides, so that he has a vertical column of speakers extending about eight feet into the air. They're stacked like this because we found that it gives a much wider horizontal spread to the sound, with less spill going up into the rafters.
What about rhythm guitarist Bob Weir?
Bob alternates between a Les Paul, an SG, an ES-335 (all Gibson), and an Alembic. He plays into two rebuilt Twins, one of which powers a pair of Alembic B-12 cabinets, each having two D-120 JBL's in it. He drives his extension speakers with McIntosh 2300 amps.
And bassist Phil Lesh?
Phil has been phasing out his Fender equipment in favor of our preamps and McIntosh 2300 power amps. His bass has two ordinary low-impedance Alembic pickups and one quadraphonic pickup, which puts out a separate signal for each string. Each pickup goes into a separate Alembic preamp module, and from there each of the three signals goes into a 2300. He has six or eight Alembic B-15 cabinets, each containing two D-140 JBL's. Perhaps I should explain that our cabinets are numbered so that A means a cabinet with one speaker, B means two speakers, and so on, and the number indicates the diameter of the speaker. I should also explain that all the equipment I'm discussing is continually being revised as we re-examine what the various components are being used for, and question whether some other hookup can be devised that will do the same thing better.
What is the Dead's P.A. system like?
It varies from month to month, but basically it looks like this: Each of the four singers has a pair of Sennheisen microphones, mounted one above the other about three inches apart. They're hooked up out of phase, and this has the effect of cancelling out the background noise. Any sound that goes equally into both mikes disappears when the two signals are added together, so that all you have left is the sound of the voice, since the singer is only singing into one of them. This eliminates most of the feedback problem, and it also cleans up the sound a great deal. In addition, there are four or five Electra-Voice RE-15's on the drums. Each of the mike signals, and the output from Keith Godchaux's piano, is then split, with half the signal going to the monitor system and half to the P.A.
How is the monitor system set up?
We have an Ampex MX-10 mixer, followed by an Altec Acoustivoicette graphic equalizer. The graphic equalizer has about twenty-five sliding controls, one for each third of an octave all the way up the scale. What we do is feed pink noise into the system from a Hewlett-Packard spectrum analyzer.
What's pink noise?
It's artificially generated sound that has the same audible loudness at all frequencies. This is different from the better-known white noise in that white noise is sound that's generated with equal power all the way up the frequency spectrum, and as a result it gets louder as it gets higher, at the rate of 3 db per octave. Pink noise, on the other hand, has the same volume all the way up. We feed this into the P.A., and then check it with the graphic equalizer to see what kind of peaks and valleys we have in the frequency spectrum of the system. We then adjust the sound with the sliders until it's all equalized. By doing this in every hall they play in, the Dead eliminate any audibility or tone quality problems that might crop up. The power amps for the monitor system are four McIntosh 3500 tube amps, and their output goes to about a dozen A-12 footlight-type monitor speaker cabinets, and as well to some speaker columns on the sides of the stage.
What about the part of the P.A. the audience hears?
This is all controlled from a booth at the back of the hall. It's a stereo system; the speakers on the left and the right sides of the stage are handled completely separately. In the booth there are Ampex mixers, two more Acoustivoicette equalizers, and a Nagra two-track tape machine for recording the concert. Each side of the P.A. has a crossover network for feeding different amps. The crossover has an 18 db per octave slope dropoff, and it splits the signal into four parts. The first is everything below 350 cycles, the second from 350 to 1000 cycles, the third from 1000 to 4000, and the fourth from 4000 up. Each of these then goes to a couple of McIntosh 2300's, and from there as follows: For woofers (below 350 cycles) there are sixteen JBL 2215's on each side of the stage. The low midrange is run through sixteen JBL 120's on each side. The high midrange goes into thirty-two JBL 2105's, which are 5" speakers. And for the highs we have sixteen Electra-Voice T-350 horns.
Who's responsible for all this?
Ram Rod, Dan Healy, and Sparky Razine head the actual equipment crew. It takes them, and about eight other people, four hours or so to set it up. A lot of the original designing was done by Bear. And there's a kind of consulting committee made up of Ron Rickersham, Bob Matthews, John Curl, Peter Quaintence, Bear, and myself. All of us work on it from time to time.
Why use so much gear?
It's not just for volume. Most groups could get three times the volume out of this equipment that the Dead does, but that would be a distorted sound. Not that the Dead are quiet; the sound pressure on stage has been measured at 127 db, and that's loud. But it's all clean sound, not noise. Most independent sound contractors, whose equipment you'll see at a typical rock concert, are much more concerned with economics than with high fidelity. They charge so much to fill a given-sized room with music, and the cheaper they can do it, the more profit they make. The philosophy of the Dead's system, on the other hand, is that since we have the technology to produce a very high quality of sound, we ought to use it. If you care about music, you've got to care about what the audience hears.
(by Jim Aikin, from Guitar Player, July 1973)
A concert artist today performs at the center of an incredible tangle of wires connecting components of a thousand kinds. But even if he knows what they all are, the performer is not likely to discuss graphic equalizers and pink noise during an interview.
Anybody who has seen the Grateful Dead has marvelled at the mysterious mountains of gear they use at their concerts. Because of the sheer amount of this equipment, because of its high quality, and because it is privately owned by the group rather than rented from a sound contractor, GP decided to investigate.
In order to examine the technical side of the Dead's performances, we talked with Rick Turner of Alembic in San Francisco. Besides building sophisticated electronic guitars (see "Casady's Bass," GP, August '72), the craftsmen at Alembic have done extensive work on all the Dead's equipment. Without needing to consult any notes, Turner was able to provide the following information.
What equipment does Jerry Garcia use on stage?
Jerry uses an extensively re-worked Stratocaster, and also one of our Alembic guitars. He plays into a Fender Twin Reverb amp with preamp outpouts going to a McIntosh 2300 amp. This powers three Alembic B-12 speaker cabinets which are stacked on their sides, so that he has a vertical column of speakers extending about eight feet into the air. They're stacked like this because we found that it gives a much wider horizontal spread to the sound, with less spill going up into the rafters.
What about rhythm guitarist Bob Weir?
Bob alternates between a Les Paul, an SG, an ES-335 (all Gibson), and an Alembic. He plays into two rebuilt Twins, one of which powers a pair of Alembic B-12 cabinets, each having two D-120 JBL's in it. He drives his extension speakers with McIntosh 2300 amps.
And bassist Phil Lesh?
Phil has been phasing out his Fender equipment in favor of our preamps and McIntosh 2300 power amps. His bass has two ordinary low-impedance Alembic pickups and one quadraphonic pickup, which puts out a separate signal for each string. Each pickup goes into a separate Alembic preamp module, and from there each of the three signals goes into a 2300. He has six or eight Alembic B-15 cabinets, each containing two D-140 JBL's. Perhaps I should explain that our cabinets are numbered so that A means a cabinet with one speaker, B means two speakers, and so on, and the number indicates the diameter of the speaker. I should also explain that all the equipment I'm discussing is continually being revised as we re-examine what the various components are being used for, and question whether some other hookup can be devised that will do the same thing better.
What is the Dead's P.A. system like?
It varies from month to month, but basically it looks like this: Each of the four singers has a pair of Sennheisen microphones, mounted one above the other about three inches apart. They're hooked up out of phase, and this has the effect of cancelling out the background noise. Any sound that goes equally into both mikes disappears when the two signals are added together, so that all you have left is the sound of the voice, since the singer is only singing into one of them. This eliminates most of the feedback problem, and it also cleans up the sound a great deal. In addition, there are four or five Electra-Voice RE-15's on the drums. Each of the mike signals, and the output from Keith Godchaux's piano, is then split, with half the signal going to the monitor system and half to the P.A.
How is the monitor system set up?
We have an Ampex MX-10 mixer, followed by an Altec Acoustivoicette graphic equalizer. The graphic equalizer has about twenty-five sliding controls, one for each third of an octave all the way up the scale. What we do is feed pink noise into the system from a Hewlett-Packard spectrum analyzer.
What's pink noise?
It's artificially generated sound that has the same audible loudness at all frequencies. This is different from the better-known white noise in that white noise is sound that's generated with equal power all the way up the frequency spectrum, and as a result it gets louder as it gets higher, at the rate of 3 db per octave. Pink noise, on the other hand, has the same volume all the way up. We feed this into the P.A., and then check it with the graphic equalizer to see what kind of peaks and valleys we have in the frequency spectrum of the system. We then adjust the sound with the sliders until it's all equalized. By doing this in every hall they play in, the Dead eliminate any audibility or tone quality problems that might crop up. The power amps for the monitor system are four McIntosh 3500 tube amps, and their output goes to about a dozen A-12 footlight-type monitor speaker cabinets, and as well to some speaker columns on the sides of the stage.
What about the part of the P.A. the audience hears?
This is all controlled from a booth at the back of the hall. It's a stereo system; the speakers on the left and the right sides of the stage are handled completely separately. In the booth there are Ampex mixers, two more Acoustivoicette equalizers, and a Nagra two-track tape machine for recording the concert. Each side of the P.A. has a crossover network for feeding different amps. The crossover has an 18 db per octave slope dropoff, and it splits the signal into four parts. The first is everything below 350 cycles, the second from 350 to 1000 cycles, the third from 1000 to 4000, and the fourth from 4000 up. Each of these then goes to a couple of McIntosh 2300's, and from there as follows: For woofers (below 350 cycles) there are sixteen JBL 2215's on each side of the stage. The low midrange is run through sixteen JBL 120's on each side. The high midrange goes into thirty-two JBL 2105's, which are 5" speakers. And for the highs we have sixteen Electra-Voice T-350 horns.
Who's responsible for all this?
Ram Rod, Dan Healy, and Sparky Razine head the actual equipment crew. It takes them, and about eight other people, four hours or so to set it up. A lot of the original designing was done by Bear. And there's a kind of consulting committee made up of Ron Rickersham, Bob Matthews, John Curl, Peter Quaintence, Bear, and myself. All of us work on it from time to time.
Why use so much gear?
It's not just for volume. Most groups could get three times the volume out of this equipment that the Dead does, but that would be a distorted sound. Not that the Dead are quiet; the sound pressure on stage has been measured at 127 db, and that's loud. But it's all clean sound, not noise. Most independent sound contractors, whose equipment you'll see at a typical rock concert, are much more concerned with economics than with high fidelity. They charge so much to fill a given-sized room with music, and the cheaper they can do it, the more profit they make. The philosophy of the Dead's system, on the other hand, is that since we have the technology to produce a very high quality of sound, we ought to use it. If you care about music, you've got to care about what the audience hears.
(by Jim Aikin, from Guitar Player, July 1973)
May 1973: Garcia's Guitar Tips
PRO'S REPLY
JERRY GARCIA
Questions submitted by Gary Lambert, Lenox, Massachusetts.
After playing Gibsons ever since the Dead's first album, why the switch to a Fender Stratocaster?
The characteristic sound of a Fender is texturally different from the sound of the other instruments in the band. Two Gibsons get muddy-sounding.
What gauge strings do you use and how often do you change them?
I use .011, .013, .016, .026, .036, and .046. I change them every couple of performances.
Where do you normally set up the controls on both your guitar and amp?
There really isn't any "normal" setting. I change guitar settings all the time, and I change amp settings depending on the room I'm playing in. I never turn the Fender Twin Reverb amps up past seven.
Did you feel that the Dead's huge rise in popularity posed the threat of forcing you to compromise your musical integrity?
No!
Now that you've left the New Riders of the Purple Sage, is there any chance we might see you play pedal steel with the Dead occasionally? Also, who are some of your favorite pedal steel players?
I'll probably not play pedal steel with the Dead. Some of my favorite pedal steel players are Buddy Emmons and Lloyd Green.
One of my main problems in playing is damping. What do you do, either in your picking or left hand technique, to keep the wrong strings from sounding?
On pedal steel guitar, blocking (or damping) is done with the right hand and is one of the most difficult techniques to pick up on the steel. Try a local music instructor in pedal steel, or have someone show you, as it's really a little hard to explain by writing.
_________________________________________
The Dead's Equipment Detailed Next Issue!
(from Guitar Player, May 1973)
JERRY GARCIA
Questions submitted by Gary Lambert, Lenox, Massachusetts.
After playing Gibsons ever since the Dead's first album, why the switch to a Fender Stratocaster?
The characteristic sound of a Fender is texturally different from the sound of the other instruments in the band. Two Gibsons get muddy-sounding.
What gauge strings do you use and how often do you change them?
I use .011, .013, .016, .026, .036, and .046. I change them every couple of performances.
Where do you normally set up the controls on both your guitar and amp?
There really isn't any "normal" setting. I change guitar settings all the time, and I change amp settings depending on the room I'm playing in. I never turn the Fender Twin Reverb amps up past seven.
Did you feel that the Dead's huge rise in popularity posed the threat of forcing you to compromise your musical integrity?
No!
Now that you've left the New Riders of the Purple Sage, is there any chance we might see you play pedal steel with the Dead occasionally? Also, who are some of your favorite pedal steel players?
I'll probably not play pedal steel with the Dead. Some of my favorite pedal steel players are Buddy Emmons and Lloyd Green.
One of my main problems in playing is damping. What do you do, either in your picking or left hand technique, to keep the wrong strings from sounding?
On pedal steel guitar, blocking (or damping) is done with the right hand and is one of the most difficult techniques to pick up on the steel. Try a local music instructor in pedal steel, or have someone show you, as it's really a little hard to explain by writing.
_________________________________________
The Dead's Equipment Detailed Next Issue!
(from Guitar Player, May 1973)
Sep 27, 2012
March 2, 1973: Old and In the Way
GARCIA RETURNS TO BANJO:
SPLENDOR IN THE BLUEGRASS
Marin County's newest bluegrass band, Old and In the Way, was playing at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo, California, and smoothly moving into "The Hit Parade of Love" when Jerry Garcia gave it away: It was their first time out. He had gone into his banjo solo before he realized he wasn't plugged into an amplifier. He grinned and quickly took a long step up to the microphone so the folks in the back could hear. The goof was understandable, because Garcia, along with the rest of the Grateful Dead, had only the day before returned from a two-week tour of the Midwest.
Playing mandolin was Dave Grisman, an old sidekick from Garcia's Menlo Park days; guitarist Peter Rowan, who'd previously played with Bill Monroe; and all-around bassist John Kahn, plunking away on a vintage acoustic upright. The four picked and sang close harmony through more than a dozen fast-paced numbers, including Bill Monroe's "The Old Crossroads," "White House Blues," and "Panama Red," a Rowan tune.
"God, it's been eight years since I've played banjo," Garcia recalled later. "Playing music isn't hard or anything, but playing bluegrass is kind of a sweat, though. I'd forgot how physical it is. But it sure is fun."
Garcia, Grisman, and Rowan live within a few blocks of one another in Marin County. "We all used to be heavily into bluegrass, so we got together a little over a month ago, started playing and then decided, Shit, why don't we play a few bars and see what happens? And John Kahn is working out beautifully on bass, because a lot of bluegrass is really stiff, and with his R&B background he gives us a great boogie-woogie bottom. We're developing a rhythmic feel that's kind of groovy.
"We're thinking about finding a fiddle player and then doing some of the bluegrass festivals this summer. It's a whole different world from the rock & roll scene - really mellow and nice. People bring their families and kids and grandmas and dogs and lunch. And they're all aficionados who really get off behind the licks. That'd be a lot of fun."
Finding the time for the summer festivals may be a problem, however, in view of the new immense popularity of the Dead. During its Midwestern tour the group played major halls (seventy-five hundred seats and up), selling out most concerts (including Chicago for the first time) and coming surprisingly close to it in Salt Lake City.
The Dead may sell out handily in any of a score of cities but nowhere else quite like in New York. A few years back the group played six nights in Port Chester, New York, selling out all six performances within a day. One night a bomb threat was received, presumably from irate Dead fans without tickets. Three thousand filed out while police searched the hall, and six thousand filed back in after the all-clear. That same year, the Dead headlined Fillmore East for five nights, all the tickets for which were likewise snapped up within hours.
The Dead's two concerts last week at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island were sold out by word of mouth within two and a half hours after going on sale at Ticketron outlets. At one point six thousand tickets were sold within thirty-one minutes. Bill Graham then took out an ad in the Village Voice to announce the sellout and the addition of a third concert, bringing the total Dead audience to sixty thousand for the three dates.
Jerry Garcia laughed at the sellout news: "I don't know what to think about it. Basically, I try to keep my attention focused on whether I can play or not. It's like more unrealness, more Grateful Dead fever."
(by John Grissim, from Rolling Stone, April 26 1973)
SPLENDOR IN THE BLUEGRASS
Marin County's newest bluegrass band, Old and In the Way, was playing at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo, California, and smoothly moving into "The Hit Parade of Love" when Jerry Garcia gave it away: It was their first time out. He had gone into his banjo solo before he realized he wasn't plugged into an amplifier. He grinned and quickly took a long step up to the microphone so the folks in the back could hear. The goof was understandable, because Garcia, along with the rest of the Grateful Dead, had only the day before returned from a two-week tour of the Midwest.
Playing mandolin was Dave Grisman, an old sidekick from Garcia's Menlo Park days; guitarist Peter Rowan, who'd previously played with Bill Monroe; and all-around bassist John Kahn, plunking away on a vintage acoustic upright. The four picked and sang close harmony through more than a dozen fast-paced numbers, including Bill Monroe's "The Old Crossroads," "White House Blues," and "Panama Red," a Rowan tune.
"God, it's been eight years since I've played banjo," Garcia recalled later. "Playing music isn't hard or anything, but playing bluegrass is kind of a sweat, though. I'd forgot how physical it is. But it sure is fun."
Garcia, Grisman, and Rowan live within a few blocks of one another in Marin County. "We all used to be heavily into bluegrass, so we got together a little over a month ago, started playing and then decided, Shit, why don't we play a few bars and see what happens? And John Kahn is working out beautifully on bass, because a lot of bluegrass is really stiff, and with his R&B background he gives us a great boogie-woogie bottom. We're developing a rhythmic feel that's kind of groovy.
"We're thinking about finding a fiddle player and then doing some of the bluegrass festivals this summer. It's a whole different world from the rock & roll scene - really mellow and nice. People bring their families and kids and grandmas and dogs and lunch. And they're all aficionados who really get off behind the licks. That'd be a lot of fun."
Finding the time for the summer festivals may be a problem, however, in view of the new immense popularity of the Dead. During its Midwestern tour the group played major halls (seventy-five hundred seats and up), selling out most concerts (including Chicago for the first time) and coming surprisingly close to it in Salt Lake City.
The Dead may sell out handily in any of a score of cities but nowhere else quite like in New York. A few years back the group played six nights in Port Chester, New York, selling out all six performances within a day. One night a bomb threat was received, presumably from irate Dead fans without tickets. Three thousand filed out while police searched the hall, and six thousand filed back in after the all-clear. That same year, the Dead headlined Fillmore East for five nights, all the tickets for which were likewise snapped up within hours.
The Dead's two concerts last week at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island were sold out by word of mouth within two and a half hours after going on sale at Ticketron outlets. At one point six thousand tickets were sold within thirty-one minutes. Bill Graham then took out an ad in the Village Voice to announce the sellout and the addition of a third concert, bringing the total Dead audience to sixty thousand for the three dates.
Jerry Garcia laughed at the sellout news: "I don't know what to think about it. Basically, I try to keep my attention focused on whether I can play or not. It's like more unrealness, more Grateful Dead fever."
(by John Grissim, from Rolling Stone, April 26 1973)
Sep 26, 2012
March 19, 1973: Nassau Coliseum
GRATEFUL DEAD, NASSAU COLISEUM
It had to happen: even the Dead have gone glitter. Resplendently suave in Nudie-type sequined suits, the group appeared on the stage of this comfortably-sized Long Island arena as formal gentlemen, playing before a sold-out and devoutly clamoring Monday crowd who nonetheless held true to their flannel shirt and dungaree colors. The music was consistently superb and was delivered with a professionalism and class that might even be taken for granted were it not so historically precarious, caught as it is in the double bind of massive anticipations and internal complexities, good nights mixing inevitably over the bad.
Still, instead of wrestling with the hyper-reactions of their audience - as was once the case - the Dead have resigned themselves to that unquenchable factor, even to the point of enjoying it, learning ways in which it might be manipulated and controlled. Their technique here involved pacing - stretching out the four hours of their pair of sets so that the crowd moved with, rather than against them. The long breaks between songs served the dual purpose of relaxing the audience as well as the band.
The audience had been warmed early in the evening by the pedal steel dominated sound of the New Riders (replacing the Sons of Champlin who opened the first two nights of the stand), high-pointing with "Willie and the Hand-Jive" and a lovely country version of Billy Joe Royal's "Down in the Boondocks." Producer Bill Graham also was on hand, nostalgically tussling with the crowd. "I know this is Long Island," he said at one point, attempting to gain breathing room for those unlucky souls piled up in front of the stage, "but let's try it anyway." No one budged and, of course, Graham threw up his arms and stalked out.
The Dead came on to the usual mass eruptions, played a quick western shuffle and closed it off before Garcia took even the glimmerings of an extended lead. They moved deliberately into "He's Gone," Jerry leaning to the microphone in the evening's only apparent reference to the recent death of Ron (Pigpen) McKernan, reeling out the final chorus: "Ooooh, nothin's gonna bring him back..."
The improvement and strength of the group's vocal harmonies was readily apparent; no more do their voices quaver up and down the scale trying to find the right series of notes. Joined by Donna Godchaux, the blend registered chorally near-perfect, if a shade eccentric.
The group then opened into their repertoire, which has become so large as to be in the main unrecognizable. Alternating between Bob Weir and Garcia, the band offered such things as a sharp clicking rendition of "Mexicali Blues," matched by "Looks Like Rain" (perhaps Weir's finest composition), "The Race Is On," Marty Robbins' "El Paso," and finally, the first semi-oldie of the night, "Box Of Rain." Instrumentally, they were in high form, Phil Lesh bottoming well, Bill Kreutzmann hale and hearty, Keith Godchaux wrapping piano fills around Weir's and Garcia's tone-perfect guitars.
It was the longer songs that got them into trouble, but not by much. "China Cat Sunflower" began the launch into what has become the Dead's extended trademark, and as they took it in a roundabout way to "I Know You Rider," it seemed as if the night was sure to be tinged golden. But later, over the hump of "Around and Around" and "Tennessee Jed"'s sing-a-long chorus, it proved to be a false start. The big song of the set, "Playin' in the Band," never quite caught the handle they were searching for, gears touching but never completely in mesh.
The rest of the night belonged to Garcia. Returning from a short intermission and several filial descendants of "Cumberland Blues," he forcibly led the band through a combination of old and new material, capped by a beauteous ode to a woman named Stella Green. A long jam around "Truckin'" was successful in parts, as was a follow-up slice from "The Other One," and with the band now beginning to group around Kreutzmann in a semicircle, concentrating on making contact, they finally got what they wanted in a long, jazz-oriented piece I'd never heard before, the sound very free, gunning and spooking each other in a continuous upchurned spiral.
They left the stage after "Johnny B. Goode," all those hours of playing not diminishing its strength. To call them back, the audience set off a few matches in the orchestra, a few more responding along the balconies, expanding outward until the whole inside of the arena was lit by matchpower. The Dead returned with "Casey Jones," responsive puffs of smoke rising from the banks of amplifiers, the band chugging along as a revolving mirror-ball refracted minispots around the audience, all ridin' that train.
(by Lenny Kaye, from Rolling Stone, April 26 1973)
Reprinted in Rolling Stone's Garcia book, and on this site:
http://obie1.homesite.net/deadcd/articlesrs.htm
http://archive.org/details/gd73-03-19.sbd.elliot.9987.sbeok.shnf
It had to happen: even the Dead have gone glitter. Resplendently suave in Nudie-type sequined suits, the group appeared on the stage of this comfortably-sized Long Island arena as formal gentlemen, playing before a sold-out and devoutly clamoring Monday crowd who nonetheless held true to their flannel shirt and dungaree colors. The music was consistently superb and was delivered with a professionalism and class that might even be taken for granted were it not so historically precarious, caught as it is in the double bind of massive anticipations and internal complexities, good nights mixing inevitably over the bad.
Still, instead of wrestling with the hyper-reactions of their audience - as was once the case - the Dead have resigned themselves to that unquenchable factor, even to the point of enjoying it, learning ways in which it might be manipulated and controlled. Their technique here involved pacing - stretching out the four hours of their pair of sets so that the crowd moved with, rather than against them. The long breaks between songs served the dual purpose of relaxing the audience as well as the band.
The audience had been warmed early in the evening by the pedal steel dominated sound of the New Riders (replacing the Sons of Champlin who opened the first two nights of the stand), high-pointing with "Willie and the Hand-Jive" and a lovely country version of Billy Joe Royal's "Down in the Boondocks." Producer Bill Graham also was on hand, nostalgically tussling with the crowd. "I know this is Long Island," he said at one point, attempting to gain breathing room for those unlucky souls piled up in front of the stage, "but let's try it anyway." No one budged and, of course, Graham threw up his arms and stalked out.
The Dead came on to the usual mass eruptions, played a quick western shuffle and closed it off before Garcia took even the glimmerings of an extended lead. They moved deliberately into "He's Gone," Jerry leaning to the microphone in the evening's only apparent reference to the recent death of Ron (Pigpen) McKernan, reeling out the final chorus: "Ooooh, nothin's gonna bring him back..."
The improvement and strength of the group's vocal harmonies was readily apparent; no more do their voices quaver up and down the scale trying to find the right series of notes. Joined by Donna Godchaux, the blend registered chorally near-perfect, if a shade eccentric.
The group then opened into their repertoire, which has become so large as to be in the main unrecognizable. Alternating between Bob Weir and Garcia, the band offered such things as a sharp clicking rendition of "Mexicali Blues," matched by "Looks Like Rain" (perhaps Weir's finest composition), "The Race Is On," Marty Robbins' "El Paso," and finally, the first semi-oldie of the night, "Box Of Rain." Instrumentally, they were in high form, Phil Lesh bottoming well, Bill Kreutzmann hale and hearty, Keith Godchaux wrapping piano fills around Weir's and Garcia's tone-perfect guitars.
It was the longer songs that got them into trouble, but not by much. "China Cat Sunflower" began the launch into what has become the Dead's extended trademark, and as they took it in a roundabout way to "I Know You Rider," it seemed as if the night was sure to be tinged golden. But later, over the hump of "Around and Around" and "Tennessee Jed"'s sing-a-long chorus, it proved to be a false start. The big song of the set, "Playin' in the Band," never quite caught the handle they were searching for, gears touching but never completely in mesh.
The rest of the night belonged to Garcia. Returning from a short intermission and several filial descendants of "Cumberland Blues," he forcibly led the band through a combination of old and new material, capped by a beauteous ode to a woman named Stella Green. A long jam around "Truckin'" was successful in parts, as was a follow-up slice from "The Other One," and with the band now beginning to group around Kreutzmann in a semicircle, concentrating on making contact, they finally got what they wanted in a long, jazz-oriented piece I'd never heard before, the sound very free, gunning and spooking each other in a continuous upchurned spiral.
They left the stage after "Johnny B. Goode," all those hours of playing not diminishing its strength. To call them back, the audience set off a few matches in the orchestra, a few more responding along the balconies, expanding outward until the whole inside of the arena was lit by matchpower. The Dead returned with "Casey Jones," responsive puffs of smoke rising from the banks of amplifiers, the band chugging along as a revolving mirror-ball refracted minispots around the audience, all ridin' that train.
(by Lenny Kaye, from Rolling Stone, April 26 1973)
Reprinted in Rolling Stone's Garcia book, and on this site:
http://obie1.homesite.net/deadcd/articlesrs.htm
http://archive.org/details/gd73-03-19.sbd.elliot.9987.sbeok.shnf
March 26, 1973: Baltimore Civic Center
THE GRATEFUL DEAD GONE ASTRAY
The Grateful Dead, a San Francisco rock group that once served as houseband for Ken Kesey’s acid test, played last night before a soldout crowd of 12,000 at Baltimore’s Civic Center.
Promoters pegged the average age of the audience at about 17 - too young to have heard the Dead in the heydays of the mythical Summer of Love, the Human Be-In, the Trips Festival, and other psychedelic goings-on.
For the young people, the Dead were total enjoyment: everyone on their feet from the opening notes of the concert, swaying to the basic boogey shuffle of the band.
But to some veteran Dead watchers, it was hearing a once-great band gone astray in the musical cosmos - one more case of rock music's popularity-breeds-contempt syndrome.
In 1967, the Grateful Dead epitomized the music and manners of the burgeoning so-called youth drug culture. They would arrive late for shows, play through homemade equipment (they still do), and then perform all night long - often for free. Some of their most memorable appearances began at midnight and lasted until dawn.
But in spite of their outrageous concert procedures, it was their music that made them the early champions of the psychedelic culture. They would play songs that often lasted an hour each, with leader Jerry Garcia spinning out intricate soaring guitar solos that invariably mesmerized audiences.
Like much of the drug culture, the Dead, too, went through changes. They ventured into country-tinged music and came up with probably their two finest albums, “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty.”
After a brief disappearance from the concert scene, the group returned – this time in a much more organized, slicker fashion. Shows started on time and brought in plenty of money, often in excess of $25,000 a night. Like many others, they realized that the counter-culture could be highly profitable.
In fact, it wasn't until last year that the Dead's popularity really took off. Their first album, recorded in 1966, finally became a million-dollar seller, along with several more recent ones. The reason was simple: Younger and younger audiences were discovering their music and buying it as if it were brand new.
But the music these days isn't what it once was. Gone is Garcia's graceful fluid style of playing. Gone are the times when two drummers pounded out the band's rhythms. Gone are the concerts that started with acoustical instruments and gradually built into an overwhelming electrical wave. Gone are the magical ways the Dead could make the ambience of a rock concert more like a religious service. Gone is colorful vocalist Pig Pen (Ron McKernan), who died several weeks ago of hepatitis.
Instead, the group now uses a loud, dull piano as its basic instrument. The vocals don't sound as self-assured, and the band as a whole seems more like a contrived aggregate than a flowing ensemble.
Perhaps this is just one more instance of rock’s time telescope: Yesterday’s superstar is today’s rock ‘n’ roll revival performer. To new listeners, the group may personify the ultimate height of rock, but to older ears the Dead seem somehow to have outlived their usefulness.
(by Tom Zito, from the Washington Post, March 27 1973)
Thanks to snow&rain at the Transitive Axis forum.
See also this Archive thread where this review was posted:
http://archive.org/post/329201/1973-the-dead-on-a-downhill-slide
http://archive.org/details/gd1973-03-26.sbd.miller.34787.sbeok.flac16
The Grateful Dead, a San Francisco rock group that once served as houseband for Ken Kesey’s acid test, played last night before a soldout crowd of 12,000 at Baltimore’s Civic Center.
Promoters pegged the average age of the audience at about 17 - too young to have heard the Dead in the heydays of the mythical Summer of Love, the Human Be-In, the Trips Festival, and other psychedelic goings-on.
For the young people, the Dead were total enjoyment: everyone on their feet from the opening notes of the concert, swaying to the basic boogey shuffle of the band.
But to some veteran Dead watchers, it was hearing a once-great band gone astray in the musical cosmos - one more case of rock music's popularity-breeds-contempt syndrome.
In 1967, the Grateful Dead epitomized the music and manners of the burgeoning so-called youth drug culture. They would arrive late for shows, play through homemade equipment (they still do), and then perform all night long - often for free. Some of their most memorable appearances began at midnight and lasted until dawn.
But in spite of their outrageous concert procedures, it was their music that made them the early champions of the psychedelic culture. They would play songs that often lasted an hour each, with leader Jerry Garcia spinning out intricate soaring guitar solos that invariably mesmerized audiences.
Like much of the drug culture, the Dead, too, went through changes. They ventured into country-tinged music and came up with probably their two finest albums, “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty.”
After a brief disappearance from the concert scene, the group returned – this time in a much more organized, slicker fashion. Shows started on time and brought in plenty of money, often in excess of $25,000 a night. Like many others, they realized that the counter-culture could be highly profitable.
In fact, it wasn't until last year that the Dead's popularity really took off. Their first album, recorded in 1966, finally became a million-dollar seller, along with several more recent ones. The reason was simple: Younger and younger audiences were discovering their music and buying it as if it were brand new.
But the music these days isn't what it once was. Gone is Garcia's graceful fluid style of playing. Gone are the times when two drummers pounded out the band's rhythms. Gone are the concerts that started with acoustical instruments and gradually built into an overwhelming electrical wave. Gone are the magical ways the Dead could make the ambience of a rock concert more like a religious service. Gone is colorful vocalist Pig Pen (Ron McKernan), who died several weeks ago of hepatitis.
Instead, the group now uses a loud, dull piano as its basic instrument. The vocals don't sound as self-assured, and the band as a whole seems more like a contrived aggregate than a flowing ensemble.
Perhaps this is just one more instance of rock’s time telescope: Yesterday’s superstar is today’s rock ‘n’ roll revival performer. To new listeners, the group may personify the ultimate height of rock, but to older ears the Dead seem somehow to have outlived their usefulness.
(by Tom Zito, from the Washington Post, March 27 1973)
Thanks to snow&rain at the Transitive Axis forum.
See also this Archive thread where this review was posted:
http://archive.org/post/329201/1973-the-dead-on-a-downhill-slide
http://archive.org/details/gd1973-03-26.sbd.miller.34787.sbeok.flac16
February 28, 1973: Salt Lake City
ROCK SHOW ROLLS 'EM INTO AISLES
It has been written more than once that the Grateful Dead were put on earth to play in concert, not in the recording studio. Wednesday night at the Salt Palace they did their thing once more and upheld their reputation as one of the best concert bands that rock has ever produced.
From start to finish the show was first cabin. The sound system was elaborate, the light show by Heavy Water was super, and the warm up band, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, was magnificent.
The Dead have a tendency to play very long sets, so the show time was moved up to 7 p.m. to allow for it. The New Riders were greeted by a happy, dancing crowd. They mixed country sounds like "Louisiana Lady" and rock and roll like "Willy and the Hand Jive" and the Salt Palace floor looked like a party was taking place.
The Dead, led by wooly-bear lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, eased into a long and relaxing set of mostly sit and listen music. But that didn't deter the audience.
There was dancing in the aisles, hand clapping, and singing along with the familiar songs. The band, in fact, seemed to go out of their way to keep things calm by taking extra long breaks between songs. But the music they played was great. It was soft, rhythmic, and highlighted by Garcia's clean, spare lead guitar lines.
(by David Proctor, from the Salt Lake Tribune, March 1 1973)
This was included in the Dick's Picks 28 booklet.
It has been written more than once that the Grateful Dead were put on earth to play in concert, not in the recording studio. Wednesday night at the Salt Palace they did their thing once more and upheld their reputation as one of the best concert bands that rock has ever produced.
From start to finish the show was first cabin. The sound system was elaborate, the light show by Heavy Water was super, and the warm up band, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, was magnificent.
The Dead have a tendency to play very long sets, so the show time was moved up to 7 p.m. to allow for it. The New Riders were greeted by a happy, dancing crowd. They mixed country sounds like "Louisiana Lady" and rock and roll like "Willy and the Hand Jive" and the Salt Palace floor looked like a party was taking place.
The Dead, led by wooly-bear lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, eased into a long and relaxing set of mostly sit and listen music. But that didn't deter the audience.
There was dancing in the aisles, hand clapping, and singing along with the familiar songs. The band, in fact, seemed to go out of their way to keep things calm by taking extra long breaks between songs. But the music they played was great. It was soft, rhythmic, and highlighted by Garcia's clean, spare lead guitar lines.
(by David Proctor, from the Salt Lake Tribune, March 1 1973)
This was included in the Dick's Picks 28 booklet.
September 17, 1972: Baltimore Civic Center
GRATEFUL DEAD: WHISTLING THROUGH THE FOG
It seemed, for a while, like San Francisco.
It’s been about two years since I left California and a lot of the old feeling has gone. It’s just not as foggy and wild in Baltimore as it is in San Francisco. You can whistle here but the sound doesn’t echo back from hundreds of miles of cold Pacific like it does in San Francisco or up on the Tamalpais Mountains a few miles north of San Francisco where Jerry Garcia lives.
There’s nowhere in Baltimore like that. But somehow, listening to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead in the Civic Center last week brought the feeling back, for a few days at least, and maybe communicated some of it to Baltimore people who have never been to San Francisco or the Tamalpais Mountains, where the ocean wind has an unbroken shot at the land.
I mention whistling because legend has it that the first hippie settled in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, just east of Golden Gate Park, because that was the best place to go whistling in the fog.
That was in the early Sixties, when the Dead were just beginning to gear up, playing in coffee houses around Palo Alto, meeting people like Ken Kesey and Stewart Brand, and discovering that LSD could be had for free at a Stanford University testing center. And learning how to whistle.
Eventually they all moved into the foggy Haight-Ashbury and that was the start of the great San Francisco thing: the be-ins in the park where the Dead played for free, Ken Kesey’s Cool Aid Acid Tests where the Dead also played for free, the all-night sessions in the Dead’s apartment at 710 Ashbury street among people like Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and Neal Casady, where policy for the movement would be debated and planned.
But the Haight-Ashbury fell apart, Ken Kesey moved to Oregon, Timothy Leary fled the country, and Neal Casady’s body was found lifeless on a railroad track in Mexico. That was the real milestone. For Casady had been sparking the movement, or whatever it was, ever since the Fifties when he drove Jack Kerouac’s frantic car back and forth across the country more times than anyone could count.
He’s gone, he’s gone
Walking down the track
He’s gone
And nothing’s going to bring him back
The Dead sang that requiem last week at the Civic Center. They were uniquely qualified to do it, having rubbed head and shoulders with Casady at countless acid tests, and after he became the bus driver on Ken Kesey’s Kerouac sequel, the cross-country Day-Glo bus “Further.”
But it was obvious last week at the Civic Center that the Dead’s own trip is far from over. They were still whistling in the fog and for about four straight hours the fog rolled into the Civic Center as thick and heavy as it ever was on the Tamalpais Mountains.
I had worried some about it before I went to the concert. I wasn’t sure it would be the same for me here as it was, say, in the old Fillmore West or in Winterland, where everybody used to sit on the floor and get as close to the stage as he wanted. Or in Sproul Hall, Berkeley, where the Dead once gave a small and cozy concert inside a giant plastic pillow. Or in Golden Gate park, at the first big be-ins. But those were before my time anyway.
I was even more worried when the Dead came out on the stage and saw a line of police keeping the crowd in their seats about a hundred feet off. There was nothing free or friendly about that, and there was nothing free or friendly about the Dead’s first couple of numbers, even though they looked the same and Jerry Garcia was wearing a fine new workshirt over his friendly stomach and his hands moved as capably as ever.
But then they moved into one of those expanded renditions of a familiar piece that moves from a couple of sung verses way out into something entirely new, even for them, and it seemed as if I was back home again.
“I’ve always thought that the Grateful Dead should be sponsored by the government or something,” Jerry Garcia said recently in a celebrated interview with Charles Reich, author of “The Greening of America.” “It should be a public service, you know, and they should set us up to play at places that need to get high. That’s the kind of thing we should be doing; we shouldn’t be business – it shouldn’t be any of that stuff – it should be a thing like that and that’s the direction I’m looking to go into.”
It is high music. It travels and you travel with it, and finally last week in the Civic Center the police moved away from in front of the stage and the people left their seats and moved up through the fog to get closer to the band.
(by Gordon Chaplin, from the Baltimore Sun, 9/24/72)
* * *
ROCK SHOW
More than 8,000 young adults packed the Civic Center on Sunday for the cosmic concert starring Grateful Dead. In the aspect of digging the music, or just wanting to make the scene, young people from all over emerged on the Civic Center.
Grateful Dead’s cosmic rock sound, of course, should be put at the top of the list of reasons for attending the concert.
Grateful Dead, an exposed but not over-exposed group, has the reputation of cosmic, country sounding. They, like most rock or hard rock groups, use a basic “c” blues note, which gives them that Muddy Waters sound with a bit more rhythm. With their whining guitars and ever so heavy drums, the group makes a psychic dust of music flow, whenever they play.
Their concert at the Civic Center was better than the last one, and may have surpassed the others. Once Gerry Garcia – lead guitarists and vocals; Bob Weir – rhythm guitar and voals; Phil Lesh – bass guitar and vocals; Bill Kreutzmann – drums; and Ron McKernan – organ, piano, and harmonica started to play, happiness struck the audience.
Such tunes as “Mr. Kelly Blues,” “A Friend in the Jungle,” “Cosmic Charlie,” and Feedback were the foods that soothed the music hungry crowd.
From their album “Grateful Dead” came “Bertha,” “Big Railroad Blues,” “Wharf Rat,” and “Men and My Uncle.” This music made the audience want to rock dance, stand up and cheer…grew and grew as the concert went on. And just as a book has a climax, so did the concert.
The group had played their last number and left the stage, but the audience was not ready for the music to be stopped. The shouts started for “More, more,” and you could hear hands clapping and feet stomping. Suddenly the darkened stage became lit again and music was coming from the huge speakers covering the stage. The spotlights began to move and reflect beams off the glass ball, which hangs from the ceiling of the Civic Center.
In seeing these beautiful rays reflecting all over the hall, the crowd let out expressions of pleasure. Though their names may be Grateful Dead, this group is very much alive.
(by Angie Thornton, from the Afro-American, 9/23/72)
These reviews were included in the Dick's Picks 23 booklet.
It seemed, for a while, like San Francisco.
It’s been about two years since I left California and a lot of the old feeling has gone. It’s just not as foggy and wild in Baltimore as it is in San Francisco. You can whistle here but the sound doesn’t echo back from hundreds of miles of cold Pacific like it does in San Francisco or up on the Tamalpais Mountains a few miles north of San Francisco where Jerry Garcia lives.
There’s nowhere in Baltimore like that. But somehow, listening to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead in the Civic Center last week brought the feeling back, for a few days at least, and maybe communicated some of it to Baltimore people who have never been to San Francisco or the Tamalpais Mountains, where the ocean wind has an unbroken shot at the land.
I mention whistling because legend has it that the first hippie settled in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, just east of Golden Gate Park, because that was the best place to go whistling in the fog.
That was in the early Sixties, when the Dead were just beginning to gear up, playing in coffee houses around Palo Alto, meeting people like Ken Kesey and Stewart Brand, and discovering that LSD could be had for free at a Stanford University testing center. And learning how to whistle.
Eventually they all moved into the foggy Haight-Ashbury and that was the start of the great San Francisco thing: the be-ins in the park where the Dead played for free, Ken Kesey’s Cool Aid Acid Tests where the Dead also played for free, the all-night sessions in the Dead’s apartment at 710 Ashbury street among people like Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and Neal Casady, where policy for the movement would be debated and planned.
But the Haight-Ashbury fell apart, Ken Kesey moved to Oregon, Timothy Leary fled the country, and Neal Casady’s body was found lifeless on a railroad track in Mexico. That was the real milestone. For Casady had been sparking the movement, or whatever it was, ever since the Fifties when he drove Jack Kerouac’s frantic car back and forth across the country more times than anyone could count.
He’s gone, he’s gone
Walking down the track
He’s gone
And nothing’s going to bring him back
The Dead sang that requiem last week at the Civic Center. They were uniquely qualified to do it, having rubbed head and shoulders with Casady at countless acid tests, and after he became the bus driver on Ken Kesey’s Kerouac sequel, the cross-country Day-Glo bus “Further.”
But it was obvious last week at the Civic Center that the Dead’s own trip is far from over. They were still whistling in the fog and for about four straight hours the fog rolled into the Civic Center as thick and heavy as it ever was on the Tamalpais Mountains.
I had worried some about it before I went to the concert. I wasn’t sure it would be the same for me here as it was, say, in the old Fillmore West or in Winterland, where everybody used to sit on the floor and get as close to the stage as he wanted. Or in Sproul Hall, Berkeley, where the Dead once gave a small and cozy concert inside a giant plastic pillow. Or in Golden Gate park, at the first big be-ins. But those were before my time anyway.
I was even more worried when the Dead came out on the stage and saw a line of police keeping the crowd in their seats about a hundred feet off. There was nothing free or friendly about that, and there was nothing free or friendly about the Dead’s first couple of numbers, even though they looked the same and Jerry Garcia was wearing a fine new workshirt over his friendly stomach and his hands moved as capably as ever.
But then they moved into one of those expanded renditions of a familiar piece that moves from a couple of sung verses way out into something entirely new, even for them, and it seemed as if I was back home again.
“I’ve always thought that the Grateful Dead should be sponsored by the government or something,” Jerry Garcia said recently in a celebrated interview with Charles Reich, author of “The Greening of America.” “It should be a public service, you know, and they should set us up to play at places that need to get high. That’s the kind of thing we should be doing; we shouldn’t be business – it shouldn’t be any of that stuff – it should be a thing like that and that’s the direction I’m looking to go into.”
It is high music. It travels and you travel with it, and finally last week in the Civic Center the police moved away from in front of the stage and the people left their seats and moved up through the fog to get closer to the band.
(by Gordon Chaplin, from the Baltimore Sun, 9/24/72)
* * *
ROCK SHOW
More than 8,000 young adults packed the Civic Center on Sunday for the cosmic concert starring Grateful Dead. In the aspect of digging the music, or just wanting to make the scene, young people from all over emerged on the Civic Center.
Grateful Dead’s cosmic rock sound, of course, should be put at the top of the list of reasons for attending the concert.
Grateful Dead, an exposed but not over-exposed group, has the reputation of cosmic, country sounding. They, like most rock or hard rock groups, use a basic “c” blues note, which gives them that Muddy Waters sound with a bit more rhythm. With their whining guitars and ever so heavy drums, the group makes a psychic dust of music flow, whenever they play.
Their concert at the Civic Center was better than the last one, and may have surpassed the others. Once Gerry Garcia – lead guitarists and vocals; Bob Weir – rhythm guitar and voals; Phil Lesh – bass guitar and vocals; Bill Kreutzmann – drums; and Ron McKernan – organ, piano, and harmonica started to play, happiness struck the audience.
Such tunes as “Mr. Kelly Blues,” “A Friend in the Jungle,” “Cosmic Charlie,” and Feedback were the foods that soothed the music hungry crowd.
From their album “Grateful Dead” came “Bertha,” “Big Railroad Blues,” “Wharf Rat,” and “Men and My Uncle.” This music made the audience want to rock dance, stand up and cheer…grew and grew as the concert went on. And just as a book has a climax, so did the concert.
The group had played their last number and left the stage, but the audience was not ready for the music to be stopped. The shouts started for “More, more,” and you could hear hands clapping and feet stomping. Suddenly the darkened stage became lit again and music was coming from the huge speakers covering the stage. The spotlights began to move and reflect beams off the glass ball, which hangs from the ceiling of the Civic Center.
In seeing these beautiful rays reflecting all over the hall, the crowd let out expressions of pleasure. Though their names may be Grateful Dead, this group is very much alive.
(by Angie Thornton, from the Afro-American, 9/23/72)
These reviews were included in the Dick's Picks 23 booklet.
Sep 18, 2012
1972 Newsletters (excerpts)
The Dead released six newsletters in 1972. Most of these repeat the same information about forthcoming Dead merchandise - tracklists for the Europe '72 album, order information for t-shirts, etc - along with the monthly tour itineraries. These selections show how things progressed through the year...
MARCH
1972 has begun incredibly with the live double album GRATEFUL DEAD becoming the Dead's first gold record and a two month European tour scheduled for April and May. The European performances will be recorded in 16-track with hopes of material for a new live album to be mixed in the United States. . . .
We are virtually moving the office from San Rafael to the road while we're in Europe; a lot of work is in store to keep it all together, but we also anticipate a lot of great music and fun, especially since we'll be traveling with about fifty people from the Grateful Dead family.
By the time we return from Europe around June 6th we hope our Grateful Dead Songbook will be well underway and will be available to you sometime late this summer. It will include all the music and lyrics from our last three albums -- WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, AMERICAN BEAUTY, and GRATEFUL DEAD. Kelly will be doing the art work -- full color as well as black and white. There will be a full page illustration for each of the twenty-one songs. If you're not aware of who Kelly is -- check out the album covers of AMERICAN BEAUTY and GRATEFUL DEAD in particular...he did them!!! It should be a beautiful songbook; we're all looking forward to it with great anticipation.
And speaking of art work - - - we have all enjoyed the art work and letters you have sent us. We would have liked to have compiled a book of some kind with the most far out letters, drawings, and illustrations that we have received and send it back to you, but once again we have to admit to a lack of money to be able to do that. We have even received a personal letter written by a computer - - - we almost attempted to write a letter back but no one was versed well enough in computer language to carry it off.
We have also received a great deal of correspondence from those of you who are interested in Grateful Dead t-shirts. We had originally thought about having them printed to sell - - with the idea in mind of possibly being able to cover some of the expenses that the whole Dead Head trip has brought upon us - - but we changed our minds because of the commercial association it had with our trip, which was not what we wanted at all. We would like to be able to give everyone a free t-shirt but again there's no way possible for us to afford it. It is possible that if enough of you are interested in purchasing t-shirts in the future we might be able to get something together and happening. For now however, if you desperately need one, you might contact Kumquat Mae - the Deads' old ladies' store at: 1218 San Anselmo Avenue, San Anselmo, California, 94960 - and maybe they can help you.
We have also received numerous requests for itineraries for the band's tour schedule. We understand that you would like to know when the Dead are playing and where - - - however, so often dates and schedules are not confirmed until almost the last minute, consequently giving us no time to let you know when the band is playing and where much before they're on the stage. Sending out itineraries does not solve your problem of getting tickets either, as we're sure you're aware of. Some performances have been known to sell out the first day tickets were available, leaving many of you very disappointed. We regret the lack of more tickets, but the band is not into playing 18,000 seat arenas very often, if ever . . . consequently the number of tickets is very limited and they're on a 'first-come first-serve' basis. We are not directly involved in the actual selling of tickets; our main concern regarding the ticket scene is that the price be kept as low as possible and that no one gets burned in any way. We try to play in halls that hold no more than 5,000 people - - - preferably closer to a 3,000 seat capacity because of the problems with the sound that we encounter in the halls that are any larger. Our sound system really isn't capable of handling a bigger hall without sacrificing the quality of our music and the whole experience for everyone. We don't want the show to be a burn for our audience or for ourselves. We are into a quality trip, and we're not going to sacrifice it if we can possibly avoid it . . . so try and bear with us.
Because the halls we play in are as small as they are and we know you're out there trying to reach us, we have tried to reach more of you by doing radio simulcast broadcasts of our live concert performances - - - some of you might have heard a broadcast from one of our last three tours in October, November, or December of '71. [ . . . ]
Although the Dead have not been on the road performing the last few months, individual members of the band have been directing their musical energy and talents towards recording and writing new music.
Garcia's solo album was released in early January --- a very unique and beautifully spacey album.
Bobby has recorded an album - it's called ACE. It's Grateful Dead family and friends, augmented by Tower of Power's brass section and features the fine songwriting talents of a prep school friend of Bobby's, John Barlow. . . .
The album is due to be released sometime this summer, late May or early June most likely, and the single will be out by the time you receive this circular. The single is One More Saturday Night with Cassidy as the B side.
Pigpen also has plans to do his own album - sometime this year possibly.
For those of you who are curious about what happened to Mickey Hart, he's still in Marin County working on what he hopes to be the final stages of his own album; he's been working on it for about a year now and some of the finest musicians have played on it - it's called ROLLING THUNDER.
You might also be interested in knowing what other albums Jerry has played on: SURREALISTIC PILLOW - Jefferson Airplane, VOLUNTEERS - Jefferson Airplane, Lamb's album, BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE - Paul Kantner, FEED YOUR CHILDREN WELL [sic!] - Crosby, Stills & Nash, SONGS FOR BEGINNERS - Graham Nash, Crosby's album, Steve Stills' second album, Brewer & Shipley's album, Papa John Creach's album, HOOTEROLL - Howard Wales, HEAVY TURBULENCE - Merl Saunders, ACE - Bob Weir, and GARCIA - Jerry's solo album.
* * *
August 2, 1972
Dear Dead Heads:
We've formed "OUT OF TOWN TOURS" to handle all our tour business. They comprise Sam Cutler, Gail Hellund, Frances Carr and Bill "the kid" Candelario. Gail looks after the whole office scene; Sam and Frances work on the road and arrange all the business affairs of touring. Bill Candelario goes out to check on halls for acoustical properties and to make sure it's the kind of facility we'd dig to play in. We need your help.
The Grateful Dead enjoy playing in a specific kind of theatre - it's usually an older building (perhaps it's now used as a movie house) with anything from 3000 to 5000 seats. Examples of the kind of theatres we dig are The Stanley Theatre, Jersey City - The Fox Theatre, St. Louis - The Paramount Theatre, Seattle - and the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles.
If you know of a theatre in your area, let us know about it. Please write to us - don't telephone. We'll look into your lead and if the theatre is what we're looking for, maybe we'll be able to do a concert there.
At this moment, we are unable to accept any free concerts, benefits, or concerts in football stadiums or the like. . . . .
Thank you,
SAM CUTLER
* * *
AUGUST
DEAD HEADS UNITE! .......AND COME HEAR THE DEAD!
The enclosed dates refer to our upcoming Western tour dates for the month of August and September that we have booked at the present time. Hopefully this will have reached you in time for you to still make a gig nearby, even though for some people it may mean driving a couple of hundred miles.
A new album is in the process of being finished, mixed, and mastered; it was recorded on our recent April and May tour of Europe . . . .
It was an incredible trip for all 43 1/2 of us (1/2 = Rudso, who was a real gem on the trip); a real experience in working, traveling, fighting, and playing together. And despite the fatigue and discomfort of riding on two large coach-like buses for what sometimes seemed like an eternity (actually only about 1 1/2 months...but that's plenty long enough), we all managed to survive - although some of us were a little worse for wear - and we were all really glad to get home!
At this moment we don't know whether we'll be putting out a double album or a three-record-set package. Warner Brothers objects to three disks in one package because of expected difficulty in marketing it, and being that we are near the end of our contract with Warner Brothers, we may find ourselves having to put out first a double album and later a single disk of just "space music." The newest release date for the album is now somewhere around the middle of October.
Speaking of albums, Mickey Hart's album "ROLLING THUNDER" is finally finished after a year and half's work and is due to be released in the first part of September. It features Mickey as well as at least thirty of the heaviest musicians around these days...really a fine album!
Kelly and Mouse (Grateful Dead album cover artists and two of the finest poster artists the San Francisco scene has ever had) are now into a mail-order T-shirt trip called "The Monster Company" and in the near future it will be possible to obtain high quality short sleeve (long sleeve may come later) t-shirts with art work from the new Dead album and from Bob Weir's album "ACE", and who knows what else in the days thereafter. There will be a mail-order coupon for these in the new album and any order should be accompanied by a check or money order for the amount of purchase - $3.95 per shirt . . . In many cases it may take up to four weeks for delivery.
We also now have a booking agency happening called Out Of Town Tours, as mentioned in the enclosed letter, with the hopes that it will make our whole road scene much tighter and more efficient. If you have any information that might be of help regarding halls and places to play, please let them know.
For those of you that are able to attend any of the upcoming gigs, you may notice that Pig Pen isn't on stage. He's still with us for sure, but he's home resting and recovering from another bout with illness, but we expect he'll be back on the road by the beginning of next year and probably working on his own album as well.
A songbook is still on its way but the release date seems to get pushed back more and more...but we'll let you know when it's out.
Take care, stay high, and we hope to see you soon,
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
* * *
SEPTEMBER
DEAD HEADS UNITE! .......AND COME HEAR THE DEAD!
The enclosed dates refer to our approaching East Coast Tour during the month of September, 1972. Hopefully none of these dates will be canceled at the last minute due to unfavorable circumstances; although it might be wise for you to check and make sure the gig is still happening on the appointed date -- as last minute changes do occasionally occur, and it would definitely be a drag to travel a long way and find a concert had been canceled.
The final touches on our new album -- a triple record set -- are almost completed, and the album is due to be released around October 15. . . . .
A Grateful Dead Songbook is still on its way; the publishing date is estimated sometime late in November. A mail-order coupon for the songbook will be included in the newsletter at the end of the year. It's sure to be a very beautiful and original songbook, complete with hand-written music and full page color illustrations.
It's almost time for us to hit the road again and with that in mind, take care, stay high, and we hope to see you soon.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
* * *
NOVEMBER
DEAD HEADS UNITE! .........WE'RE COMING YOUR WAY!
High again and greetings from sometimes sunny California! We have enclosed an itinerary of our approaching November tour of the South and Midwest in hopes that you might get a chance to hear some 'Good Ole Grateful Dead.' Hopefully this information will reach you before we've already come and gone. We regret that we can't send them earlier but last minute changes keep us changing the schedule up until it's almost time to leave on tour. Before driving any long distance for a gig it's a good idea to always check to make sure the gig's still happening...otherwise you may find yourself the center of attraction in an empty parking lot in some town miles away from home!
Our new album "GRATEFUL DEAD EUROPE '72" is finally due to be released on November 5. It's a three-record-set with a photographic booklet of candid shots from our whirlwind European tour in April and May of this year. . . .
Pigpen is still in the band, but he's at home resting and getting his health back together; we expect to see him back on the road with us sometime in the beginning of next year. In the meantime he's been working on material for his own album which we hope to hear sometime later next year...maybe!
For those of you who sent money for T-shirts to Kumquat Mae and never received one...no one's trying to burn you! Your order will be filled. There were unexpected problems with the people printing the shirts in Oregon, and consequently they were asked to stop their production. The Monster Company (Kelly and Mouse) are now handling the printing and distribution of Grateful Dead T-shirts...the Europe '72 album designs and soon the old skull and roses design. From now on there shouldn't be any more problems with deliveries, so please be as patient as you can.
We'll be in touch again, so take care and by all means stay high, and we hope to see you soon.
Have a happy Thanksgiving
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
* * *
DECEMBER
GREETINGS
from all of us to all of you
The Grateful Dead are home for awhile playing for the San Francisco scene, which includes another incredible New Years celebration scheduled for Winterland in San Francisco; however all of the tickets were sold within an hour after they went on sale.
A definite tour schedule for next year is still sketchy, but this much information we can relay: in January the band is taking time off from being on the road; in February a Midwest tour is planned; for March there is energy directed towards an East-coast tour; April has foreshadowings of work in the studio on a new album; and in July there are very vague plans for a possible European tour, but there are no details available at this time regarding tour dates.
Our Dead Heads operation may seem grossly inefficient and slow for those of you sending in your name expecting something back immediately. We have about 20,000 names on our list to keep in touch with and it's financially impossible for us to send out more than two newsletters a year to everyone and maybe one or two itineraries depending on where you live and if we're heading in your direction. We are able to only send itineraries to the states and surrounding states of the scheduled gigs. Due to a lack of complete and correct information very far in advance of the gigs, we send the itineraries late rather than not at all, with the hopes that if you miss a gig in your own city or state, you still might be able to make a show close by.
We've received many requests for information regarding tickets for Dead gigs; information should be sought through the promoter or the hall where the show is being staged. We are in no way involved with the sale of tickets.
We've also received numerous letters requesting information about where to get t-shirts . . . For those who ordered shirts from Kumquat Mae sometime ago...your orders will be filled, probably in late January or early February. There were unexpected problems with the printing of the shirts and consequently The Monster Company had to take over the operation...please be a little more patient.
A Grateful Dead songbook (American Beauty and Workingman's Dead sheet music, lyrics, and illustrations) is in the final stages of being completed, and we expect it to be published in late January or early February. All orders that have been received will be processed once the book is finally in print. For those of you that are interested you can order one from Ice-Nine Publishing Co. . . . Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.
Pigpen is still recovering from his extended illness but we hope to see him back on the road the first of the year. He's been writing and working on new material for an album of his own, but there are no definite plans regarding this potential album. We have one more album to give Warner Brothers to complete our record contract. Although a definite decision has not been made regarding the contents of this album, there is talk of an archives album from old live tapes.
We hope you're all enjoying the new album as much as us...keep on boogying and we'll be back with you before long...and by all means stay high!
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
MARCH
1972 has begun incredibly with the live double album GRATEFUL DEAD becoming the Dead's first gold record and a two month European tour scheduled for April and May. The European performances will be recorded in 16-track with hopes of material for a new live album to be mixed in the United States. . . .
We are virtually moving the office from San Rafael to the road while we're in Europe; a lot of work is in store to keep it all together, but we also anticipate a lot of great music and fun, especially since we'll be traveling with about fifty people from the Grateful Dead family.
By the time we return from Europe around June 6th we hope our Grateful Dead Songbook will be well underway and will be available to you sometime late this summer. It will include all the music and lyrics from our last three albums -- WORKINGMAN'S DEAD, AMERICAN BEAUTY, and GRATEFUL DEAD. Kelly will be doing the art work -- full color as well as black and white. There will be a full page illustration for each of the twenty-one songs. If you're not aware of who Kelly is -- check out the album covers of AMERICAN BEAUTY and GRATEFUL DEAD in particular...he did them!!! It should be a beautiful songbook; we're all looking forward to it with great anticipation.
And speaking of art work - - - we have all enjoyed the art work and letters you have sent us. We would have liked to have compiled a book of some kind with the most far out letters, drawings, and illustrations that we have received and send it back to you, but once again we have to admit to a lack of money to be able to do that. We have even received a personal letter written by a computer - - - we almost attempted to write a letter back but no one was versed well enough in computer language to carry it off.
We have also received a great deal of correspondence from those of you who are interested in Grateful Dead t-shirts. We had originally thought about having them printed to sell - - with the idea in mind of possibly being able to cover some of the expenses that the whole Dead Head trip has brought upon us - - but we changed our minds because of the commercial association it had with our trip, which was not what we wanted at all. We would like to be able to give everyone a free t-shirt but again there's no way possible for us to afford it. It is possible that if enough of you are interested in purchasing t-shirts in the future we might be able to get something together and happening. For now however, if you desperately need one, you might contact Kumquat Mae - the Deads' old ladies' store at: 1218 San Anselmo Avenue, San Anselmo, California, 94960 - and maybe they can help you.
We have also received numerous requests for itineraries for the band's tour schedule. We understand that you would like to know when the Dead are playing and where - - - however, so often dates and schedules are not confirmed until almost the last minute, consequently giving us no time to let you know when the band is playing and where much before they're on the stage. Sending out itineraries does not solve your problem of getting tickets either, as we're sure you're aware of. Some performances have been known to sell out the first day tickets were available, leaving many of you very disappointed. We regret the lack of more tickets, but the band is not into playing 18,000 seat arenas very often, if ever . . . consequently the number of tickets is very limited and they're on a 'first-come first-serve' basis. We are not directly involved in the actual selling of tickets; our main concern regarding the ticket scene is that the price be kept as low as possible and that no one gets burned in any way. We try to play in halls that hold no more than 5,000 people - - - preferably closer to a 3,000 seat capacity because of the problems with the sound that we encounter in the halls that are any larger. Our sound system really isn't capable of handling a bigger hall without sacrificing the quality of our music and the whole experience for everyone. We don't want the show to be a burn for our audience or for ourselves. We are into a quality trip, and we're not going to sacrifice it if we can possibly avoid it . . . so try and bear with us.
Because the halls we play in are as small as they are and we know you're out there trying to reach us, we have tried to reach more of you by doing radio simulcast broadcasts of our live concert performances - - - some of you might have heard a broadcast from one of our last three tours in October, November, or December of '71. [ . . . ]
Although the Dead have not been on the road performing the last few months, individual members of the band have been directing their musical energy and talents towards recording and writing new music.
Garcia's solo album was released in early January --- a very unique and beautifully spacey album.
Bobby has recorded an album - it's called ACE. It's Grateful Dead family and friends, augmented by Tower of Power's brass section and features the fine songwriting talents of a prep school friend of Bobby's, John Barlow. . . .
The album is due to be released sometime this summer, late May or early June most likely, and the single will be out by the time you receive this circular. The single is One More Saturday Night with Cassidy as the B side.
Pigpen also has plans to do his own album - sometime this year possibly.
For those of you who are curious about what happened to Mickey Hart, he's still in Marin County working on what he hopes to be the final stages of his own album; he's been working on it for about a year now and some of the finest musicians have played on it - it's called ROLLING THUNDER.
You might also be interested in knowing what other albums Jerry has played on: SURREALISTIC PILLOW - Jefferson Airplane, VOLUNTEERS - Jefferson Airplane, Lamb's album, BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE - Paul Kantner, FEED YOUR CHILDREN WELL [sic!] - Crosby, Stills & Nash, SONGS FOR BEGINNERS - Graham Nash, Crosby's album, Steve Stills' second album, Brewer & Shipley's album, Papa John Creach's album, HOOTEROLL - Howard Wales, HEAVY TURBULENCE - Merl Saunders, ACE - Bob Weir, and GARCIA - Jerry's solo album.
* * *
August 2, 1972
Dear Dead Heads:
We've formed "OUT OF TOWN TOURS" to handle all our tour business. They comprise Sam Cutler, Gail Hellund, Frances Carr and Bill "the kid" Candelario. Gail looks after the whole office scene; Sam and Frances work on the road and arrange all the business affairs of touring. Bill Candelario goes out to check on halls for acoustical properties and to make sure it's the kind of facility we'd dig to play in. We need your help.
The Grateful Dead enjoy playing in a specific kind of theatre - it's usually an older building (perhaps it's now used as a movie house) with anything from 3000 to 5000 seats. Examples of the kind of theatres we dig are The Stanley Theatre, Jersey City - The Fox Theatre, St. Louis - The Paramount Theatre, Seattle - and the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles.
If you know of a theatre in your area, let us know about it. Please write to us - don't telephone. We'll look into your lead and if the theatre is what we're looking for, maybe we'll be able to do a concert there.
At this moment, we are unable to accept any free concerts, benefits, or concerts in football stadiums or the like. . . . .
Thank you,
SAM CUTLER
* * *
AUGUST
DEAD HEADS UNITE! .......AND COME HEAR THE DEAD!
The enclosed dates refer to our upcoming Western tour dates for the month of August and September that we have booked at the present time. Hopefully this will have reached you in time for you to still make a gig nearby, even though for some people it may mean driving a couple of hundred miles.
A new album is in the process of being finished, mixed, and mastered; it was recorded on our recent April and May tour of Europe . . . .
It was an incredible trip for all 43 1/2 of us (1/2 = Rudso, who was a real gem on the trip); a real experience in working, traveling, fighting, and playing together. And despite the fatigue and discomfort of riding on two large coach-like buses for what sometimes seemed like an eternity (actually only about 1 1/2 months...but that's plenty long enough), we all managed to survive - although some of us were a little worse for wear - and we were all really glad to get home!
At this moment we don't know whether we'll be putting out a double album or a three-record-set package. Warner Brothers objects to three disks in one package because of expected difficulty in marketing it, and being that we are near the end of our contract with Warner Brothers, we may find ourselves having to put out first a double album and later a single disk of just "space music." The newest release date for the album is now somewhere around the middle of October.
Speaking of albums, Mickey Hart's album "ROLLING THUNDER" is finally finished after a year and half's work and is due to be released in the first part of September. It features Mickey as well as at least thirty of the heaviest musicians around these days...really a fine album!
Kelly and Mouse (Grateful Dead album cover artists and two of the finest poster artists the San Francisco scene has ever had) are now into a mail-order T-shirt trip called "The Monster Company" and in the near future it will be possible to obtain high quality short sleeve (long sleeve may come later) t-shirts with art work from the new Dead album and from Bob Weir's album "ACE", and who knows what else in the days thereafter. There will be a mail-order coupon for these in the new album and any order should be accompanied by a check or money order for the amount of purchase - $3.95 per shirt . . . In many cases it may take up to four weeks for delivery.
We also now have a booking agency happening called Out Of Town Tours, as mentioned in the enclosed letter, with the hopes that it will make our whole road scene much tighter and more efficient. If you have any information that might be of help regarding halls and places to play, please let them know.
For those of you that are able to attend any of the upcoming gigs, you may notice that Pig Pen isn't on stage. He's still with us for sure, but he's home resting and recovering from another bout with illness, but we expect he'll be back on the road by the beginning of next year and probably working on his own album as well.
A songbook is still on its way but the release date seems to get pushed back more and more...but we'll let you know when it's out.
Take care, stay high, and we hope to see you soon,
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
* * *
SEPTEMBER
DEAD HEADS UNITE! .......AND COME HEAR THE DEAD!
The enclosed dates refer to our approaching East Coast Tour during the month of September, 1972. Hopefully none of these dates will be canceled at the last minute due to unfavorable circumstances; although it might be wise for you to check and make sure the gig is still happening on the appointed date -- as last minute changes do occasionally occur, and it would definitely be a drag to travel a long way and find a concert had been canceled.
The final touches on our new album -- a triple record set -- are almost completed, and the album is due to be released around October 15. . . . .
A Grateful Dead Songbook is still on its way; the publishing date is estimated sometime late in November. A mail-order coupon for the songbook will be included in the newsletter at the end of the year. It's sure to be a very beautiful and original songbook, complete with hand-written music and full page color illustrations.
It's almost time for us to hit the road again and with that in mind, take care, stay high, and we hope to see you soon.
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
* * *
NOVEMBER
DEAD HEADS UNITE! .........WE'RE COMING YOUR WAY!
High again and greetings from sometimes sunny California! We have enclosed an itinerary of our approaching November tour of the South and Midwest in hopes that you might get a chance to hear some 'Good Ole Grateful Dead.' Hopefully this information will reach you before we've already come and gone. We regret that we can't send them earlier but last minute changes keep us changing the schedule up until it's almost time to leave on tour. Before driving any long distance for a gig it's a good idea to always check to make sure the gig's still happening...otherwise you may find yourself the center of attraction in an empty parking lot in some town miles away from home!
Our new album "GRATEFUL DEAD EUROPE '72" is finally due to be released on November 5. It's a three-record-set with a photographic booklet of candid shots from our whirlwind European tour in April and May of this year. . . .
Pigpen is still in the band, but he's at home resting and getting his health back together; we expect to see him back on the road with us sometime in the beginning of next year. In the meantime he's been working on material for his own album which we hope to hear sometime later next year...maybe!
For those of you who sent money for T-shirts to Kumquat Mae and never received one...no one's trying to burn you! Your order will be filled. There were unexpected problems with the people printing the shirts in Oregon, and consequently they were asked to stop their production. The Monster Company (Kelly and Mouse) are now handling the printing and distribution of Grateful Dead T-shirts...the Europe '72 album designs and soon the old skull and roses design. From now on there shouldn't be any more problems with deliveries, so please be as patient as you can.
We'll be in touch again, so take care and by all means stay high, and we hope to see you soon.
Have a happy Thanksgiving
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
* * *
DECEMBER
GREETINGS
from all of us to all of you
The Grateful Dead are home for awhile playing for the San Francisco scene, which includes another incredible New Years celebration scheduled for Winterland in San Francisco; however all of the tickets were sold within an hour after they went on sale.
A definite tour schedule for next year is still sketchy, but this much information we can relay: in January the band is taking time off from being on the road; in February a Midwest tour is planned; for March there is energy directed towards an East-coast tour; April has foreshadowings of work in the studio on a new album; and in July there are very vague plans for a possible European tour, but there are no details available at this time regarding tour dates.
Our Dead Heads operation may seem grossly inefficient and slow for those of you sending in your name expecting something back immediately. We have about 20,000 names on our list to keep in touch with and it's financially impossible for us to send out more than two newsletters a year to everyone and maybe one or two itineraries depending on where you live and if we're heading in your direction. We are able to only send itineraries to the states and surrounding states of the scheduled gigs. Due to a lack of complete and correct information very far in advance of the gigs, we send the itineraries late rather than not at all, with the hopes that if you miss a gig in your own city or state, you still might be able to make a show close by.
We've received many requests for information regarding tickets for Dead gigs; information should be sought through the promoter or the hall where the show is being staged. We are in no way involved with the sale of tickets.
We've also received numerous letters requesting information about where to get t-shirts . . . For those who ordered shirts from Kumquat Mae sometime ago...your orders will be filled, probably in late January or early February. There were unexpected problems with the printing of the shirts and consequently The Monster Company had to take over the operation...please be a little more patient.
A Grateful Dead songbook (American Beauty and Workingman's Dead sheet music, lyrics, and illustrations) is in the final stages of being completed, and we expect it to be published in late January or early February. All orders that have been received will be processed once the book is finally in print. For those of you that are interested you can order one from Ice-Nine Publishing Co. . . . Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.
Pigpen is still recovering from his extended illness but we hope to see him back on the road the first of the year. He's been writing and working on new material for an album of his own, but there are no definite plans regarding this potential album. We have one more album to give Warner Brothers to complete our record contract. Although a definite decision has not been made regarding the contents of this album, there is talk of an archives album from old live tapes.
We hope you're all enjoying the new album as much as us...keep on boogying and we'll be back with you before long...and by all means stay high!
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
Sep 17, 2012
March 1972 Newsletter (excerpt)
The first issue of the Dead Head newsletter came out shortly before the Europe tour. Most of it recounted the history of the band, which I'll skip - but here I include the beginning & end of the newsletter.
? ? ! ! DEAD HEADS UNITE ! ! ? ?
You probably have been wondering what it's all about...just as much as we have at times. We originally had hopes of establishing some sort of communication system between all of you out there. However, our own lack of money has prevented us from doing what we had originally intended.
"We can't afford to do what 'Dead Heads' was supposed to have done, but what we can do is let everybody know we got their letter. The way it could have worked out for example, if we had it really super together, if we had a lot of money, what we could have done was to organize like rough lists of members of the Grateful Dead weirdness scene or whatever, and have them get together in their town and put on some trips or something...to provide a communication system of some loose sort. But we're limited economically because the Dead Head trip doesn't have any income, and the Grateful Dead doesn't make all that much money." -- Garcia
'Dead Heads' is not a fan club as such; we don't really think of it that way at any rate. We had hoped to be able to keep in contact with all of you, but the number of all of you seems to multiply far faster than we can accomodate your questions and requests. Hopefully in the future you will be able to visualize our situation a little better and understand our difficulties in trying to respond to the thousands of you that are out there all over the world. There are relatively a small number of family members and friends here who are trying to somehow keep track of who you are and where you are and respond to some of the requests and questions you have. As we are far from being mechanized or computerized, (all manual labor as it were) you may find us slow in returning your letter. We regret the delay, but we're moving as fast as we can and you'll just have to 'hang loose' as far as hearing from us goes. We really are making an effort to keep in touch.
Since we are asked time and time again some of the same questions regarding the band's history, where the name came from, etcetera, we would like to try and fill you in on certain things. If you're really interested in reading about the Dead try getting a hold of the following issues of ROLLING STONE : issue #40 - August 23, 1969, #100 - January 20, 1972, #101 - February 3, 1972, and the March issue of PLAYBOY magazine.
. . . .
This whole 'Dead Heads Unite' idea started with hopes of being able to bring you people together, but as it stands we are able to do little more than enjoy your letters, keep your name and address on file, and occasionally (maybe only twice a year) send you a newsletter, circular, or an itinerary of the Dead's tour plans.
Please let us know when you write to us whether you've written before; it's to help us so that we don't duplicate our energy and waste time recording and filing your name and address when it's already in our files.
"Since we can't provide any way for you people to get together and since we haven't got any money to do that, everybody ought to think of ways to get together with other Dead freaks. Don't hold your breath waiting for replies -- that's the whole thing in this matter...don't hold your breath. At any rate, we know where you all are, we have all your addresses, and WE HAVE YOUR NAME." -- Garcia
We hope you will continue to turn us on to what's happening where you are and where you're at. Thank you all for all the far out letters and drawings you've sent us; we've all really enjoyed them, and we hope to hear from you again. Don't give up on us; we will be in touch with you again, but we can't promise when.
Take care, have fun, and stay high,
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
? ? ! ! DEAD HEADS UNITE ! ! ? ?
You probably have been wondering what it's all about...just as much as we have at times. We originally had hopes of establishing some sort of communication system between all of you out there. However, our own lack of money has prevented us from doing what we had originally intended.
"We can't afford to do what 'Dead Heads' was supposed to have done, but what we can do is let everybody know we got their letter. The way it could have worked out for example, if we had it really super together, if we had a lot of money, what we could have done was to organize like rough lists of members of the Grateful Dead weirdness scene or whatever, and have them get together in their town and put on some trips or something...to provide a communication system of some loose sort. But we're limited economically because the Dead Head trip doesn't have any income, and the Grateful Dead doesn't make all that much money." -- Garcia
'Dead Heads' is not a fan club as such; we don't really think of it that way at any rate. We had hoped to be able to keep in contact with all of you, but the number of all of you seems to multiply far faster than we can accomodate your questions and requests. Hopefully in the future you will be able to visualize our situation a little better and understand our difficulties in trying to respond to the thousands of you that are out there all over the world. There are relatively a small number of family members and friends here who are trying to somehow keep track of who you are and where you are and respond to some of the requests and questions you have. As we are far from being mechanized or computerized, (all manual labor as it were) you may find us slow in returning your letter. We regret the delay, but we're moving as fast as we can and you'll just have to 'hang loose' as far as hearing from us goes. We really are making an effort to keep in touch.
Since we are asked time and time again some of the same questions regarding the band's history, where the name came from, etcetera, we would like to try and fill you in on certain things. If you're really interested in reading about the Dead try getting a hold of the following issues of ROLLING STONE : issue #40 - August 23, 1969, #100 - January 20, 1972, #101 - February 3, 1972, and the March issue of PLAYBOY magazine.
. . . .
This whole 'Dead Heads Unite' idea started with hopes of being able to bring you people together, but as it stands we are able to do little more than enjoy your letters, keep your name and address on file, and occasionally (maybe only twice a year) send you a newsletter, circular, or an itinerary of the Dead's tour plans.
Please let us know when you write to us whether you've written before; it's to help us so that we don't duplicate our energy and waste time recording and filing your name and address when it's already in our files.
"Since we can't provide any way for you people to get together and since we haven't got any money to do that, everybody ought to think of ways to get together with other Dead freaks. Don't hold your breath waiting for replies -- that's the whole thing in this matter...don't hold your breath. At any rate, we know where you all are, we have all your addresses, and WE HAVE YOUR NAME." -- Garcia
We hope you will continue to turn us on to what's happening where you are and where you're at. Thank you all for all the far out letters and drawings you've sent us; we've all really enjoyed them, and we hope to hear from you again. Don't give up on us; we will be in touch with you again, but we can't promise when.
Take care, have fun, and stay high,
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
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