DEAD LIVE AND WELL IN PORTCHESTER, NEW YORK
Recently Howie Stein has attempted to make the Capitol Theater in suburban Portchester, N.Y., the Westchester version of the Fillmore. The Capitol is a converted movie theater too. But it is really a better place to hear music.
It is much smaller than the Fillmore, so it is hard to get a bad seat. The staff seems a little less uptight about dancing and milling around, so you can almost dance. The sound system is excellent, and rarely did technical difficulties impair the music. The stage crew, like the Fillmore's, seems to know what they're doing. And no ugly light show, either.
So if you live in Westchester, it is a good place to go. If you live in the city, you have to figure on about $2.00 for the round trip ticket on the Penn Central (formerly New Haven) added to the ticket prices of $5.50 and $4.50. The Capitol, by the way, is right across the street from the train station.
The only drawback I could see was in the audience, even more teenbopper and cretin than the Fillmore's, if possible. This was apparent in the thunderous reaction to the first group, Catfish, at the Saturday late show.
Catfish is one of the most atrocious groups I have ever heard in any musical idiom. The obnoxious lead singer started by going through every nigger cliche that was popular at 135th and Lenox about 15 years ago. Their act is mostly pseudo-blues. The musicianship is shoddy, solos consisting of single notes repeated over and over or simple scales. No inventiveness. Not even a good copy of the real thing. The audience loved it, especially one part which bordered on musical fascism. The obnoxious singer told the audience to "look at the guy next to you," if he wasn't digging them, then "you know where he's at." It would be laughable if not for visions of Altamont which kept flashing in my mind.
But the real reason I was there was to hear the Grateful Dead, and they were beautiful, washing away the bad feelings brought on by the first group. They played for over 2 hours, and did many of their old favorites. Jerry Garcia played some beautiful, lengthy, melodic guitar solos. Garcia and Bob Weir, a very under-rated player, along with bassist Phil Lesh form a cohesive unit which exudes the fact that they like playing. An enjoyment of music seems to be the motivating factor behind the Dead, a fine cloth, woven of the vocal and instrumental lines which neatly overlap and interact.
They did a long sub-set of acoustic songs, particularly Garcia and Weir, and it was an entirely different group, but on the same high musical level. Unfortunately, the audience couldn't appreciate any subtlety at all and bothered them, but the Dead would not compromise with teen appeal and went right on until they were ready to go back to the amps.
In the grand finale, everybody was up and moving, Pigpen did his medley of "Midnight Hour," "Love Light," and their a capella encore was the Pindar Family's "I Bid You Goodnight."
The audience is becoming the major problem with rock concerts, and it has been the mob of punks that has ruined many an evening for me. But last Saturday they couldn't bring me down out of the ecstasy to which the Dead had lifted me.
(by David Reitman, from Rock, April 15 1970)
http://archive.org/details/gd1970-03-21.late.aud.lee.pcrp.21779.shnf (the late show)
Jul 16, 2012
March 1970: Bob Weir Interview
'THE GRATEFUL DEAD' - NO CONFORMISTS THERE
NEW YORK - There's not a conformist among the seven fellas who make up The Grateful Dead. Rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, 22, reveals that each of the group's members is married unofficially.
"None of us believe in marriage licenses," says Weir. "We've seen too many marriages go wrong to have much faith in the institution. Our old ladies don't object to the arrangement. The chicks accept the idea of living with us without being officially wed."
What about children born of these "marriages?"
"Oh, several of the guys have fathered kids," says Weir. "They have wonderful family situations. They live with the chicks and are very good with the children. There isn't any more promiscuity with this setup than with the old marriage arrangement."
According to Weir, the Grateful Dead are just as happy on stage as they are off. "We are soul brothers," he says. "We've known each other for six years. I think our brand of music reflects our close relationship."
The Grateful Dead is composed of Jerry Garcia (lead guitar), Phil Lesh (bass), Ron (Pigpen) McKernan (vocals), William Kreutzman and Mickey Hart (drums), Tom Constanten (keyboard) and Weir.
They're all from San Francisco and still make their homes not far from the Bay City. "We live on ranches," says Weir, "and we see quite a bit of each other socially."
When The Grateful Dead started, they didn't cash in on their fine, driving acid-rock sound. They kept giving free concerts, especially in the "love" center of Haight-Ashbury. Eventually, they were talked into signing with a record company. Today, The Grateful Dead are with Warner Bros. Records, and their latest album - which is their fifth - is called "Working Man's Dead."
The Grateful Dead's first two LPs, "The Grateful Dead" and "Anthem of The Sun," immediately established them as one of the grooviest groups in the country. The outfit encountered quite a bit of trouble finding a name for itself at the start. They began in 1964 as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, but soon discarded the title.
"We liked the name, The Warlocks, but some other group had attached themselves to it," says Weir. "For an entire week, we threw names around, mostly funny ones. Finally, Jerry Garcia scrounged around in a dictionary or encyclopedia and found 'the grateful dead.' It supposedly was an ethno-musicological term which meant a genre of ballads that were sung in Ireland many years ago."
Weir claims they've had no regrets regarding the choice of the name. "Oh, once in a while," he says, "a person will tell us he shudders at the word 'dead.'"
The Grateful Dead's major appeal is to college kids and dance hall crowds. "But we get some teenyboppers and a few grandparents, too," says Weir. "The day where gals ripped clothes off musicians is over. I became convinced of that at the recent Rolling Stones concert. The girls didn't chase anybody. When the gig was over, they went home quietly."
(by Bob Lardine, from the Rockland County Journal-News (White Plains, NY), 20 March 1970)
(also run by the Allentown Chronicle (PA), 19 March 1970, as "Grateful Dead Non-Conformists", and by the Baltimore Sun, 31 March 1970, as "Not One Conformist in Group")
NEW YORK - There's not a conformist among the seven fellas who make up The Grateful Dead. Rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, 22, reveals that each of the group's members is married unofficially.
"None of us believe in marriage licenses," says Weir. "We've seen too many marriages go wrong to have much faith in the institution. Our old ladies don't object to the arrangement. The chicks accept the idea of living with us without being officially wed."
What about children born of these "marriages?"
"Oh, several of the guys have fathered kids," says Weir. "They have wonderful family situations. They live with the chicks and are very good with the children. There isn't any more promiscuity with this setup than with the old marriage arrangement."
According to Weir, the Grateful Dead are just as happy on stage as they are off. "We are soul brothers," he says. "We've known each other for six years. I think our brand of music reflects our close relationship."
The Grateful Dead is composed of Jerry Garcia (lead guitar), Phil Lesh (bass), Ron (Pigpen) McKernan (vocals), William Kreutzman and Mickey Hart (drums), Tom Constanten (keyboard) and Weir.
They're all from San Francisco and still make their homes not far from the Bay City. "We live on ranches," says Weir, "and we see quite a bit of each other socially."
When The Grateful Dead started, they didn't cash in on their fine, driving acid-rock sound. They kept giving free concerts, especially in the "love" center of Haight-Ashbury. Eventually, they were talked into signing with a record company. Today, The Grateful Dead are with Warner Bros. Records, and their latest album - which is their fifth - is called "Working Man's Dead."
The Grateful Dead's first two LPs, "The Grateful Dead" and "Anthem of The Sun," immediately established them as one of the grooviest groups in the country. The outfit encountered quite a bit of trouble finding a name for itself at the start. They began in 1964 as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, but soon discarded the title.
"We liked the name, The Warlocks, but some other group had attached themselves to it," says Weir. "For an entire week, we threw names around, mostly funny ones. Finally, Jerry Garcia scrounged around in a dictionary or encyclopedia and found 'the grateful dead.' It supposedly was an ethno-musicological term which meant a genre of ballads that were sung in Ireland many years ago."
Weir claims they've had no regrets regarding the choice of the name. "Oh, once in a while," he says, "a person will tell us he shudders at the word 'dead.'"
The Grateful Dead's major appeal is to college kids and dance hall crowds. "But we get some teenyboppers and a few grandparents, too," says Weir. "The day where gals ripped clothes off musicians is over. I became convinced of that at the recent Rolling Stones concert. The girls didn't chase anybody. When the gig was over, they went home quietly."
(by Bob Lardine, from the Rockland County Journal-News (White Plains, NY), 20 March 1970)
(also run by the Allentown Chronicle (PA), 19 March 1970, as "Grateful Dead Non-Conformists", and by the Baltimore Sun, 31 March 1970, as "Not One Conformist in Group")
March 17, 1970: Buffalo
WEST COAST ROCK GROUP WILL PLAY HERE TUESDAY
The Grateful Dead, a rock group from the West Coast, will appear with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on the Marathon concert from 7 pm. to 11 p.m. Tuesday in Kleinhans Music Hall.
The group will replace two rock groups that had been scheduled originally - The Byrds and Raven.
It is the first appearance here by the Dead. Members of the rock group are Jerry Garcia, lead guitar; Phil Lesh, bass guitar; Bob Weir, rhythm guitar; Mike Constanten, piano and organ; Billy Kreutzman and Mickey Hart, drums; and Pigpen, conga drums.
The group with the "San Francisco Sound" has recently released a live double album, "Live Dead." The group's songs include "Dark Star" and "St. Stephen."
The Marathon program will begin with Lukas Foss and the Grateful Dead performing "Non-Improvisation," a Bach Destruction with the music of Bach played against and within a wall of rock sound.
The Grateful Dead will perform two 45-minute sets - before and after Foss's "Geod," scheduled at 8:30 p.m.
John Cage's Variations III and IV will be played simultaneously, possibly involving the Grateful Dead along with the symphony orchestra.
Rock band and symphony orchestra will conclude the program with a confrontation beginning at 10:15 p.m.
The program will benefit the orchestra. Tickets are $4.50.
(from the Buffalo Courier Express, March 14 1970)
See also:
http://www.thedeadblog.com
http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2010/04/buffalo-31770.html
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/02/march-17-1970-kleinhans-music-hall.html
The Grateful Dead, a rock group from the West Coast, will appear with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on the Marathon concert from 7 pm. to 11 p.m. Tuesday in Kleinhans Music Hall.
The group will replace two rock groups that had been scheduled originally - The Byrds and Raven.
It is the first appearance here by the Dead. Members of the rock group are Jerry Garcia, lead guitar; Phil Lesh, bass guitar; Bob Weir, rhythm guitar; Mike Constanten, piano and organ; Billy Kreutzman and Mickey Hart, drums; and Pigpen, conga drums.
The group with the "San Francisco Sound" has recently released a live double album, "Live Dead." The group's songs include "Dark Star" and "St. Stephen."
The Marathon program will begin with Lukas Foss and the Grateful Dead performing "Non-Improvisation," a Bach Destruction with the music of Bach played against and within a wall of rock sound.
The Grateful Dead will perform two 45-minute sets - before and after Foss's "Geod," scheduled at 8:30 p.m.
John Cage's Variations III and IV will be played simultaneously, possibly involving the Grateful Dead along with the symphony orchestra.
Rock band and symphony orchestra will conclude the program with a confrontation beginning at 10:15 p.m.
The program will benefit the orchestra. Tickets are $4.50.
(from the Buffalo Courier Express, March 14 1970)
See also:
http://www.thedeadblog.com
http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2010/04/buffalo-31770.html
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/02/march-17-1970-kleinhans-music-hall.html
March 7, 1970: Santa Monica
GRATEFUL DEAD REALLY CHANGE SANTA MONICA
The quiet little town of Santa Monica will never be the same as over five thousand people watched the beautiful resurrection of San Francisco's Grateful Dead.
Yessiree, motorists driving down Highway One witnessed one of the strangest experiences as Frisco's big and beautiful heart made its way down the highway carrying with it five golden coffins waiting to be placed on the stage of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
Sharply at nine thirty, all five coffins opened and out came the ghostly figures of the "Dead."
The Grateful Dead are one of the first creators of the San Francisco sound and around the early 60s were known as the "Warlocks."
Following them and contributing to this new sound was Big Brother and the Holding Company, a minor hit before Janis Joplin joined them, and the Jefferson Airplane.
Because of the fantastic sound system, one could hear them anywhere in the auditorium and were continuously sending out good vibrations.
Along with the numerous solos done by each of the members of the "Dead," Bob Wher also did a few of his "put on" jokes to tickle the audience's funny bone.
Along with the Grateful Dead was a relatively new group called Cold Blood. Unlike the book or the film, this group doesn't send chills up your back but, like the "Dead," sends out a lot of good sounds.
Perhaps the only other group that can successfully accomplish this feat is John Heisman's Coliseum.
(by Ellen Michaels, from the LA State College Times, March 10 1970)
http://archive.org/details/gd70-03-07.aud.hanno.6156.sbeok.shnf
The quiet little town of Santa Monica will never be the same as over five thousand people watched the beautiful resurrection of San Francisco's Grateful Dead.
Yessiree, motorists driving down Highway One witnessed one of the strangest experiences as Frisco's big and beautiful heart made its way down the highway carrying with it five golden coffins waiting to be placed on the stage of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
Sharply at nine thirty, all five coffins opened and out came the ghostly figures of the "Dead."
The Grateful Dead are one of the first creators of the San Francisco sound and around the early 60s were known as the "Warlocks."
Following them and contributing to this new sound was Big Brother and the Holding Company, a minor hit before Janis Joplin joined them, and the Jefferson Airplane.
Because of the fantastic sound system, one could hear them anywhere in the auditorium and were continuously sending out good vibrations.
Along with the numerous solos done by each of the members of the "Dead," Bob Wher also did a few of his "put on" jokes to tickle the audience's funny bone.
Along with the Grateful Dead was a relatively new group called Cold Blood. Unlike the book or the film, this group doesn't send chills up your back but, like the "Dead," sends out a lot of good sounds.
Perhaps the only other group that can successfully accomplish this feat is John Heisman's Coliseum.
(by Ellen Michaels, from the LA State College Times, March 10 1970)
http://archive.org/details/gd70-03-07.aud.hanno.6156.sbeok.shnf
Jul 15, 2012
February 4, 1970: Family Dog
A BIG ROCK PARTY FOR THE CAMERAS
"Do you have a set schedule for what's going to happen?" the technician asked Bob Zagone of KQED. "We don't have a set schedule for anything," Zagone said, "we have a loose schedule."
They were in the KQED mobile video tape recording truck outside the Family Dog. Several other trucks and a generator, roaring away like a power drill, were set up in the parking lot. Zagone and the KQED crew were getting ready to videotape a Jefferson Airplane party at the Family Dog for National Educational Television.
"There's a young band called 'Kimberly' going to start playing in a few minutes," Zagone said. "Then it will be Santana. After that I don't know what's going to happen."
* * *
The cables were strung all along the sidewalk and into the hall and the huge TV cameras on dollies were rolling back and forth in front of the stage through the wild assembly of San Francisco hip society.
On stage the musicians were plugging in their guitars and tuning. In a little while Kimberly, a neat, melodic band, began. Light men experimented with different combinations. Rock critics wandered through the hall. "It has the right feeling tonight," Mike Goodwin of Rolling Stone said. And poet Lew Welch pointed out that it was one of the few times in recent memory that you could actually get close to a band and not be jammed by the press of the crowd.
After Kimberly, Santana took over and the rhythms of the drums and the bass melded with the guitar and the conga drum and rose to an incredible tension. It ended with Santana almost leaning over backwards hitting the guitar strings and bassist David Brown, his eyes squeezed shut, flailing away at the guitar. The crowd screamed. Out in the truck Bob Zagone complained, "We're not getting that audience noise," and Bob Matthews, who was doing the sound, whipped out a mike and set it up facing the audience.
* * *
"We'll go dark as they start their set and bring the lights up gradually," Zagone said, and the Grateful Dead began. In the truck the multiple images on the little screens made a fascinating montage. Jerry Garcia's face, silhouetted but still clear, approached the mike on the screen and he began to sing. The little screens which showed the pictures the various cameras were registering flicked from one to another. "Gimme a two shot," Zagone said, "let's see both of those guitars."
Out in the crowd, which was dancing or sitting on the floor and around the sides of the stage, John Carpenter of the L.A. Free Press said, "When is it going to be aired?" and hoped a definite date could be set. The man from N.E.T. said probably in April. "It's a good night," Carpenter said. "I had forgotten what San Francisco was really like. I've seen people here I haven't seen in years."
On stage the band was into those rhythmic phrases that make the Dead such groovy dance music, and several girls were dancing behind the band and on one side. Still photographers leaped up from the audience and shot pictures like the paparazzi in 'Z'.
* * *
Then the Airplane came on and Grace smiled and Marty sang "Do you want to know a secret, just between you and me?" and the lights flickered off the sweat on his forehead as he sang and Spencer dove into the drums with a fierce concentration and Jorma sang "Good Shepherd" and the crowd screamed and the cameras rolled back forth.
It was a great evening. San Francisco within a week had two TV specials shot here. Both on rock. There will be more, and if they end up on the screen as good as they are in person, the rest of the country will see something unique.
(by Ralph Gleason, from the On The Town Column, SF Chronicle, Feb 6 1970)
-- -- -- -- --
A SAN FRANCISCO FAMILY AFFAIR
It was a beautiful bash, courtesy of National Educational Television, with Jefferson Airplane and the Family Dog as co-hosts. And you'll be able to watch it in your homes next Fall.
For the first time ever, television will present rock and roll as an artistic endeavor. Members of the Jefferson Airplane will control what goes into the TV show and what doesn't. The aesthetic decisions are to be made by them and co-producers Ralph J. Gleason and Bob Zagone, director of KQED, San Francisco's non-commercial educational TV station.
The program is to be centered mainly on the Airplane, but for good measure they invited the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Kimberly. Quicksilver Messenger Service will also be included, but they missed this gig and will be filmed later. Sort of a San Francisco family affair.
And there's no better place in all of the City for such an affair than the Family Dog on the Great Highway, where the vibes are always good. The KQED cameras recorded the whole party in color for either two one-hour specials or one 90-minute special to be aired next fall. The NET laid out $80,000 for the project, which was the brainchild of KQED and the National Center for Experiments in Television.
Dog manager Jim Hay said he couldn't tell how many people were there, but it was packed and so was the parking lot outside. Most were pretty surprised at the turnout, because it was one of those things that nobody was supposed to know about. Although it was theoretically an invitation-only affair, everybody that showed up was assumed to have been invited by somebody.
Zagone said the whole thing was being put on 16-track tape, and that when it is aired, there hopefully will be simultaneous hook-ups with stereo FM radio stations around the country for better sound. This was only the first step, he said, and added that he's not sure which direction the film will finally take. "We don't know and we're trying to get away from the preconceived notions about filming for television, and so I can't say yet what it will be like," he declared. But it's sure to be the first of its kind. Future filming is planned to include recording sessions with both the Airplane and Quicksilver.
Zagone was outside the Dog most of the night in an equipment truck, monitoring and directing. "All I heard from people though was that they said it was beautiful," he beamed. Which was putting it mildly.
The joint started rocking at 9 PM, and didn't end until around 5 AM, after everybody had gotten together for a long jam. Before then, each band had played its own set, then stepped down to dig the audience and the next group.
Refreshments included Chinese pastries and pork drums, ice cream, and some Koolaid that seemed to be of Trips Festival vintage. "Hey, was that Koolaid 'electric'?" somebody asked. He was answered with kind of a funny smile. The ever-observant Grace Slick also noted a little extra whacko in the drink, and made some crack about the "ooze" in the big garbage can.
(from Rolling Stone, March 7 1970)
-- -- -- -- --
AIRPLANE HAD A GREAT PARTY AND EVERYONE WILL BE INVITED
The Jefferson Airplane has been given artistic control of its own television special - a first for the Airplane and a dream for most rock performers.
One of the finest rock bands ever, the Airplane was allowed to present its music in the manner it desired. To do so, the Airplane threw a party for its friends at San Francisco's Family Dog ballroom. The rest of the country will be able to relive the party this spring, when it is aired over the nearly 200 stations belonging to the National Educational Television (NET) network.
It was a far cry from the typical commercial television venture, with the accompanying poor lighting and sound quality that drives away many of the more discriminating rock groups. Gone were the middle-aged directors and cameramen with little interest in rock. Replacing them were a camera crew ranging in age from the early to mid-twenties, and a 31-year-old producer-director.
"Taping the Airplane's party means we had to create a new visual experience," said Bob Zagone, the youthful director and coproducer with Ralph J. Gleason. "That night of the party is gone forever, with its smells, sounds, and sheer mass of people. It can't be recreated, so we created a television experience in its place.
"The Airplane was crucial to the proper production of this special. Therefore its own light show man supervised the TV lighting, and its sound man coordinated the audio with us. The finished program will be approved by the Airplane before it is released to NET, even though NET footed the bill ($80,000)."
Bill Thompson, manager of the Airplane, is succinct in stating the goals for this venture:
"We were simply aiming for the best quality sound and lighting ever shown on national television."
Listeners in major cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C., may hear the sound broadcast simultaneously by the local educational television station and an FM radio station, creating a stereo effect.
The sound quality which comes through a TV set should be better than usual, according to Zagone, even though most sets have poor speakers. Usually a program is recorded on a one or two-channel audio recorder. The Airplane's party, however, is recorded on a massive 16-channel Ampex audio recorder.
"A variety of visual effects are being added to the tape," said Zagone.
Light shows behind the stage and at the far end of the ballroom provided a bubbling, flashing orgy of lush hues ranging from scarlet to lime and fuchsia. The overall lighting is dimmer than customary for television, at the insistence of the Airplane. "A more comfortable and realistic atmosphere," Thompson explains.
The rest of the two-hour special centered about a recording studio session, and conversations with various members of the group. But for the party, the Airpane invited Santana and the Grateful Dead, two fine San Francisco groups, to play with them, and both cheerfully agreed. Both groups will have artistic control over their performances, Thompson said.
Whether or not the TV special lives up to its potentiality is a matter for viewers to decide when the program is aired. But the vibrations were right the evening of the taping, and Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner considered the event a fine party and said the Airplane enjoyed playing for it.
Before the taping took place, however, the television producers were subjected to a variety of hassles from police, landlords, the musicians' union, fire marshals, and tax collectors. Although it presented a new and frustrating experience for Zagone and his crew, the harassment is commonplace for the hirsute proprietors of the Family Dog.
But once the taping started, about 500 self-proclaimed "freaks" danced, swayed, jumped about and sat transfixed in the smallest of San Francisco's emporiums of rock. The ballroom is at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and the sound of crashing waves is evident outside. But once indoors, the hundreds of long-hairs heard nothing but the roar of rock and roll music.
Free food was cooked and served by friends of the Airplane, typifying the hip community's sharing ethic. Plastic garbage pails were filled with red and green soft drinks, and vats of meat-filled pastries and rice with vegetables were wheeled into the Dog for the hungry horde.
While food simmered in the kitchen, Santana was cooking in the ballroom. Its heavily Latin-influenced beat filled the intimate setting with staccato pounding rhythms. Leader Carlos Santana, resplendent in a purple and white football jersey and a modified natural, punctuated the hammering congas with fine guitar runs.
Then the Grateful Dead joined the party. Still uptight from a weekend in New Orleans that saw several of its members busted for alleged possession of narcotics, the Dead started off slowly. But it swung into its usual mellow rock beat with a version of "St. Stephen" that wove into the old Rolling Stones hit, "Don't Fade Away," and back again to "St. Stephen."
With the audience firmly behind them, the Dead's musicians moved into "Dance in the Midnight Hour" without pause. Pigpen, confidently funky with his goatee, pigtail and cowboy hat, shouted and growled the lyrics before a bobbing mass of fans.
No party is complete without its host, so when the Jefferson Airplane finally took the stage, the audience gladly paid its respects.
After the Airplane's two sets and a short break, performers from each group crowded the stage for an hour-long jam session. The last several minutes were climaxed by a thundering, soaring blast of percussion and electric guitars. By the time Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia brought the jam to a triumphant halt, members of the audience were straining on tiptoes toward the shattering wall of sound. When the jam ended, most of the crowd was emotionally and physically exhausted.
While the Airplane is living a musician's dream with control over its own nationally televised party, the group is continuing into other areas beyond the production of singles and albums.
Manager Thompson is negotiating for the Airplane to appear in either a taped or filmed version of Shakespeare's "Richard III," with the Airplane providing music and some acting. If details are worked out, actor Rip Torn would serve as director and Geraldine Page would be his costar.
(by Robert W. Neubert, from the Yonkers Herald Statesman, April 3 1970)
-- -- -- --
SAN FRANCISCO ROCK!
When the pop music renaissance coalesced in San Francisco in 1966, it was my good fortune to be there and to witness it.
When the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and the Quicksilver Messenger Service began their first public appearances at the Family Dog dances, they ushered in a new life style as well as a new style of music, and both are now internationally known.
At that time I was working with the film crew of KQED-TV making the two Duke Ellington programs which NET later presented and which were nominated for an Emmy award. We spent much time during the filming discussing the importance of the New Rock Music, so it was like a reunion when we assembled the crews to do the two NET programs on San Francisco Rock.
The originals were all still there, still vital, important parts of the American music scene - the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, the Quicksilver Messenger Service. And added to them now was a new, exciting unit, Santana.
After a series of meetings at the Jefferson Airplane's Victorian mansion in San Francisco, Bob Zagone (who directed both shows and is co-producer with me) and I decided to take over the Family Dog ballroom for one night, do a video tape remote event there recreating the atmosphere of the early days, and then later to film at other locations.
So we did. The Family Dog ballroom (only a stone's throw from the beach; you could hear the surf pounding the city itself) became a TV production center for two nights - one rehearsal and one live party at which many of the original people from the San Francisco rock scene reassembled. The Grateful Dead, the Airplane, and Santana staged a marvelous evening which was like a dream come true for many rock fans, some of whom came from out of state just to see the classic bands together again.
The jam session which ended the night included such players as the guitarists Jerry Garcia and Jorma Kaukonen, stars of the Dead and the Airplane, as well as Gary Duncan from the Quicksilver, and Santana.
Then we went to work on the film show. The Airplane hosted a party for their friends at Pacific Hi studio in San Francisco. David Crosby, almost all of the Dead, and the Quicksilver were there, but only the Airplane played that night. Shortly thereafter we had the chance to film backstage at Winterland on a night when the San Francisco bands were running their own dance for 7,000 people. There we chanced on Dino Valenti teaching his new song, "Baby, Baby," to David Freiberg in the dressing room. We later filmed the song in performance at an outdoor free concert at Sonoma State College, north of San Francisco.
The San Francisco rock music is one of the most important strains in contemporary rock 'n' roll, combining poetry and protest and pure music in almost equal proportions. In both programs this is reflected in the singing of Grace Slick and Marty Balin and Paul Kantner, in the poetic performance of Jerry Garcia, and in the exuberant singing of Dino Valenti. Dino, who wrote the classic "Get Together," is the musician Norman Mailer quotes on the feeling of the new electric music.
(by Ralph Gleason, from the Portland Oregonian, 6 December 1970)
See also:
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/09/february-4-1970-family-dog.html
http://archive.org/details/gd1970-02-04.sbd.cotsman.12601.shnf
(This is the portion of the Dead's show that's long been in circulation. Their full show was released as part of the Download Series; and the Night at the Family Dog was of course released on video. Note that it ended up as a one-hour show; the Airplane's studio session and the Quicksilver segments, taped separately, were used in the Go Ride The Music special.)
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-4-1970-family-dog-on-great.html
(An informative post based on the Gleason article.)
"Do you have a set schedule for what's going to happen?" the technician asked Bob Zagone of KQED. "We don't have a set schedule for anything," Zagone said, "we have a loose schedule."
They were in the KQED mobile video tape recording truck outside the Family Dog. Several other trucks and a generator, roaring away like a power drill, were set up in the parking lot. Zagone and the KQED crew were getting ready to videotape a Jefferson Airplane party at the Family Dog for National Educational Television.
"There's a young band called 'Kimberly' going to start playing in a few minutes," Zagone said. "Then it will be Santana. After that I don't know what's going to happen."
* * *
The cables were strung all along the sidewalk and into the hall and the huge TV cameras on dollies were rolling back and forth in front of the stage through the wild assembly of San Francisco hip society.
On stage the musicians were plugging in their guitars and tuning. In a little while Kimberly, a neat, melodic band, began. Light men experimented with different combinations. Rock critics wandered through the hall. "It has the right feeling tonight," Mike Goodwin of Rolling Stone said. And poet Lew Welch pointed out that it was one of the few times in recent memory that you could actually get close to a band and not be jammed by the press of the crowd.
After Kimberly, Santana took over and the rhythms of the drums and the bass melded with the guitar and the conga drum and rose to an incredible tension. It ended with Santana almost leaning over backwards hitting the guitar strings and bassist David Brown, his eyes squeezed shut, flailing away at the guitar. The crowd screamed. Out in the truck Bob Zagone complained, "We're not getting that audience noise," and Bob Matthews, who was doing the sound, whipped out a mike and set it up facing the audience.
* * *
"We'll go dark as they start their set and bring the lights up gradually," Zagone said, and the Grateful Dead began. In the truck the multiple images on the little screens made a fascinating montage. Jerry Garcia's face, silhouetted but still clear, approached the mike on the screen and he began to sing. The little screens which showed the pictures the various cameras were registering flicked from one to another. "Gimme a two shot," Zagone said, "let's see both of those guitars."
Out in the crowd, which was dancing or sitting on the floor and around the sides of the stage, John Carpenter of the L.A. Free Press said, "When is it going to be aired?" and hoped a definite date could be set. The man from N.E.T. said probably in April. "It's a good night," Carpenter said. "I had forgotten what San Francisco was really like. I've seen people here I haven't seen in years."
On stage the band was into those rhythmic phrases that make the Dead such groovy dance music, and several girls were dancing behind the band and on one side. Still photographers leaped up from the audience and shot pictures like the paparazzi in 'Z'.
* * *
Then the Airplane came on and Grace smiled and Marty sang "Do you want to know a secret, just between you and me?" and the lights flickered off the sweat on his forehead as he sang and Spencer dove into the drums with a fierce concentration and Jorma sang "Good Shepherd" and the crowd screamed and the cameras rolled back forth.
It was a great evening. San Francisco within a week had two TV specials shot here. Both on rock. There will be more, and if they end up on the screen as good as they are in person, the rest of the country will see something unique.
(by Ralph Gleason, from the On The Town Column, SF Chronicle, Feb 6 1970)
-- -- -- -- --
A SAN FRANCISCO FAMILY AFFAIR
It was a beautiful bash, courtesy of National Educational Television, with Jefferson Airplane and the Family Dog as co-hosts. And you'll be able to watch it in your homes next Fall.
For the first time ever, television will present rock and roll as an artistic endeavor. Members of the Jefferson Airplane will control what goes into the TV show and what doesn't. The aesthetic decisions are to be made by them and co-producers Ralph J. Gleason and Bob Zagone, director of KQED, San Francisco's non-commercial educational TV station.
The program is to be centered mainly on the Airplane, but for good measure they invited the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Kimberly. Quicksilver Messenger Service will also be included, but they missed this gig and will be filmed later. Sort of a San Francisco family affair.
And there's no better place in all of the City for such an affair than the Family Dog on the Great Highway, where the vibes are always good. The KQED cameras recorded the whole party in color for either two one-hour specials or one 90-minute special to be aired next fall. The NET laid out $80,000 for the project, which was the brainchild of KQED and the National Center for Experiments in Television.
Dog manager Jim Hay said he couldn't tell how many people were there, but it was packed and so was the parking lot outside. Most were pretty surprised at the turnout, because it was one of those things that nobody was supposed to know about. Although it was theoretically an invitation-only affair, everybody that showed up was assumed to have been invited by somebody.
Zagone said the whole thing was being put on 16-track tape, and that when it is aired, there hopefully will be simultaneous hook-ups with stereo FM radio stations around the country for better sound. This was only the first step, he said, and added that he's not sure which direction the film will finally take. "We don't know and we're trying to get away from the preconceived notions about filming for television, and so I can't say yet what it will be like," he declared. But it's sure to be the first of its kind. Future filming is planned to include recording sessions with both the Airplane and Quicksilver.
Zagone was outside the Dog most of the night in an equipment truck, monitoring and directing. "All I heard from people though was that they said it was beautiful," he beamed. Which was putting it mildly.
The joint started rocking at 9 PM, and didn't end until around 5 AM, after everybody had gotten together for a long jam. Before then, each band had played its own set, then stepped down to dig the audience and the next group.
Refreshments included Chinese pastries and pork drums, ice cream, and some Koolaid that seemed to be of Trips Festival vintage. "Hey, was that Koolaid 'electric'?" somebody asked. He was answered with kind of a funny smile. The ever-observant Grace Slick also noted a little extra whacko in the drink, and made some crack about the "ooze" in the big garbage can.
(from Rolling Stone, March 7 1970)
-- -- -- -- --
AIRPLANE HAD A GREAT PARTY AND EVERYONE WILL BE INVITED
The Jefferson Airplane has been given artistic control of its own television special - a first for the Airplane and a dream for most rock performers.
One of the finest rock bands ever, the Airplane was allowed to present its music in the manner it desired. To do so, the Airplane threw a party for its friends at San Francisco's Family Dog ballroom. The rest of the country will be able to relive the party this spring, when it is aired over the nearly 200 stations belonging to the National Educational Television (NET) network.
It was a far cry from the typical commercial television venture, with the accompanying poor lighting and sound quality that drives away many of the more discriminating rock groups. Gone were the middle-aged directors and cameramen with little interest in rock. Replacing them were a camera crew ranging in age from the early to mid-twenties, and a 31-year-old producer-director.
"Taping the Airplane's party means we had to create a new visual experience," said Bob Zagone, the youthful director and coproducer with Ralph J. Gleason. "That night of the party is gone forever, with its smells, sounds, and sheer mass of people. It can't be recreated, so we created a television experience in its place.
"The Airplane was crucial to the proper production of this special. Therefore its own light show man supervised the TV lighting, and its sound man coordinated the audio with us. The finished program will be approved by the Airplane before it is released to NET, even though NET footed the bill ($80,000)."
Bill Thompson, manager of the Airplane, is succinct in stating the goals for this venture:
"We were simply aiming for the best quality sound and lighting ever shown on national television."
Listeners in major cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C., may hear the sound broadcast simultaneously by the local educational television station and an FM radio station, creating a stereo effect.
The sound quality which comes through a TV set should be better than usual, according to Zagone, even though most sets have poor speakers. Usually a program is recorded on a one or two-channel audio recorder. The Airplane's party, however, is recorded on a massive 16-channel Ampex audio recorder.
"A variety of visual effects are being added to the tape," said Zagone.
Light shows behind the stage and at the far end of the ballroom provided a bubbling, flashing orgy of lush hues ranging from scarlet to lime and fuchsia. The overall lighting is dimmer than customary for television, at the insistence of the Airplane. "A more comfortable and realistic atmosphere," Thompson explains.
The rest of the two-hour special centered about a recording studio session, and conversations with various members of the group. But for the party, the Airpane invited Santana and the Grateful Dead, two fine San Francisco groups, to play with them, and both cheerfully agreed. Both groups will have artistic control over their performances, Thompson said.
Whether or not the TV special lives up to its potentiality is a matter for viewers to decide when the program is aired. But the vibrations were right the evening of the taping, and Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner considered the event a fine party and said the Airplane enjoyed playing for it.
Before the taping took place, however, the television producers were subjected to a variety of hassles from police, landlords, the musicians' union, fire marshals, and tax collectors. Although it presented a new and frustrating experience for Zagone and his crew, the harassment is commonplace for the hirsute proprietors of the Family Dog.
But once the taping started, about 500 self-proclaimed "freaks" danced, swayed, jumped about and sat transfixed in the smallest of San Francisco's emporiums of rock. The ballroom is at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and the sound of crashing waves is evident outside. But once indoors, the hundreds of long-hairs heard nothing but the roar of rock and roll music.
Free food was cooked and served by friends of the Airplane, typifying the hip community's sharing ethic. Plastic garbage pails were filled with red and green soft drinks, and vats of meat-filled pastries and rice with vegetables were wheeled into the Dog for the hungry horde.
While food simmered in the kitchen, Santana was cooking in the ballroom. Its heavily Latin-influenced beat filled the intimate setting with staccato pounding rhythms. Leader Carlos Santana, resplendent in a purple and white football jersey and a modified natural, punctuated the hammering congas with fine guitar runs.
Then the Grateful Dead joined the party. Still uptight from a weekend in New Orleans that saw several of its members busted for alleged possession of narcotics, the Dead started off slowly. But it swung into its usual mellow rock beat with a version of "St. Stephen" that wove into the old Rolling Stones hit, "Don't Fade Away," and back again to "St. Stephen."
With the audience firmly behind them, the Dead's musicians moved into "Dance in the Midnight Hour" without pause. Pigpen, confidently funky with his goatee, pigtail and cowboy hat, shouted and growled the lyrics before a bobbing mass of fans.
No party is complete without its host, so when the Jefferson Airplane finally took the stage, the audience gladly paid its respects.
After the Airplane's two sets and a short break, performers from each group crowded the stage for an hour-long jam session. The last several minutes were climaxed by a thundering, soaring blast of percussion and electric guitars. By the time Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia brought the jam to a triumphant halt, members of the audience were straining on tiptoes toward the shattering wall of sound. When the jam ended, most of the crowd was emotionally and physically exhausted.
While the Airplane is living a musician's dream with control over its own nationally televised party, the group is continuing into other areas beyond the production of singles and albums.
Manager Thompson is negotiating for the Airplane to appear in either a taped or filmed version of Shakespeare's "Richard III," with the Airplane providing music and some acting. If details are worked out, actor Rip Torn would serve as director and Geraldine Page would be his costar.
(by Robert W. Neubert, from the Yonkers Herald Statesman, April 3 1970)
-- -- -- --
SAN FRANCISCO ROCK!
When the pop music renaissance coalesced in San Francisco in 1966, it was my good fortune to be there and to witness it.
When the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and the Quicksilver Messenger Service began their first public appearances at the Family Dog dances, they ushered in a new life style as well as a new style of music, and both are now internationally known.
At that time I was working with the film crew of KQED-TV making the two Duke Ellington programs which NET later presented and which were nominated for an Emmy award. We spent much time during the filming discussing the importance of the New Rock Music, so it was like a reunion when we assembled the crews to do the two NET programs on San Francisco Rock.
The originals were all still there, still vital, important parts of the American music scene - the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, the Quicksilver Messenger Service. And added to them now was a new, exciting unit, Santana.
After a series of meetings at the Jefferson Airplane's Victorian mansion in San Francisco, Bob Zagone (who directed both shows and is co-producer with me) and I decided to take over the Family Dog ballroom for one night, do a video tape remote event there recreating the atmosphere of the early days, and then later to film at other locations.
So we did. The Family Dog ballroom (only a stone's throw from the beach; you could hear the surf pounding the city itself) became a TV production center for two nights - one rehearsal and one live party at which many of the original people from the San Francisco rock scene reassembled. The Grateful Dead, the Airplane, and Santana staged a marvelous evening which was like a dream come true for many rock fans, some of whom came from out of state just to see the classic bands together again.
The jam session which ended the night included such players as the guitarists Jerry Garcia and Jorma Kaukonen, stars of the Dead and the Airplane, as well as Gary Duncan from the Quicksilver, and Santana.
Then we went to work on the film show. The Airplane hosted a party for their friends at Pacific Hi studio in San Francisco. David Crosby, almost all of the Dead, and the Quicksilver were there, but only the Airplane played that night. Shortly thereafter we had the chance to film backstage at Winterland on a night when the San Francisco bands were running their own dance for 7,000 people. There we chanced on Dino Valenti teaching his new song, "Baby, Baby," to David Freiberg in the dressing room. We later filmed the song in performance at an outdoor free concert at Sonoma State College, north of San Francisco.
The San Francisco rock music is one of the most important strains in contemporary rock 'n' roll, combining poetry and protest and pure music in almost equal proportions. In both programs this is reflected in the singing of Grace Slick and Marty Balin and Paul Kantner, in the poetic performance of Jerry Garcia, and in the exuberant singing of Dino Valenti. Dino, who wrote the classic "Get Together," is the musician Norman Mailer quotes on the feeling of the new electric music.
(by Ralph Gleason, from the Portland Oregonian, 6 December 1970)
See also:
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/09/february-4-1970-family-dog.html
http://archive.org/details/gd1970-02-04.sbd.cotsman.12601.shnf
(This is the portion of the Dead's show that's long been in circulation. Their full show was released as part of the Download Series; and the Night at the Family Dog was of course released on video. Note that it ended up as a one-hour show; the Airplane's studio session and the Quicksilver segments, taped separately, were used in the Go Ride The Music special.)
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-4-1970-family-dog-on-great.html
(An informative post based on the Gleason article.)
May 29, 2012
January 30, 1970: New Orleans Bust & Benefit
NEW ORLEANS COPS & THE DEAD BUST
NEW ORLEANS - Warning to musicians coming into this town for a gig: stay clean and stay cool.
"Tell them not just to be cool, but to be exceptionally cool. New Orleans police just aren't welcoming rock bands," cautions Lenny Hart, manager of the Grateful Dead. "Any group that goes there should be awfully careful."
Hart speaks from experience. In New Orleans to open up a new ballroom, locally known as "the Warehouse," most of the Dead and their road crew were nailed in a dope raid in the same French Quarters hotel where members of the Jefferson Airplane were busted just weeks before. State and federal narcs rounded up 19 people in the Dead raid, and were none too polite about it, either.
"It was very peculiar, and it seems like they set them up," says Hart, who was not with the band, but arranged for their bail over the phone. "They were waiting when they got back from their concert. They had a warrant and had already searched the room when the band got back. So they called them into their own room, one by one, and busted them. Nothing was found on any of the people except stuff they had prescriptions for. Everything they claim to have found was in the room, they said. But nobody in the band knows where any of it came from. It wasn't their stuff. The Grateful Dead are normally very cool and cautious."
Everybody in the band, except Pigpen and Tom Constanten, was included in the bust, along with several members of their retinue and some local people. An added bonus for the New Orleans heat was a man listed as Owsley Stanley, 35, of Alexandria, Virginia, a technician for the band, booked with illegal possession of narcotics, dangerous nan-narcotics, LSD, and barbiturates. "King of Acid Arrested," the local press bubbled.
When they were picked up at the airport Thursday they were warned of New Orleans heat and given the name of an attorney just in case. Later that afternoon, the house detective at the Dead hotel stopped guitarist Jerry Garcia in the lobby and asked him if he was with the Flock, another band on the bill at the Warehouse. When Garcia replied that he was with the Dead, the house dick supposedly told him, "Look, you better be clean, because you're going to be busted."
When the Dead got back from their gig sometime after 3 AM, January 31st, their room had already been searched and the narcs were just sitting around waiting for them. All of the 19 people caught in the raid were booked for possession of some combination of marijuana, LSD, barbiturates, amphetamines, or other dangerous, non-narcotic drugs. Mere possession in Louisiana is 5 to 15 years.
Bail is usually $5,000 to $15,000 per person, and that's what they tried to stick each of the 19 with at first. But earlier in the week, the son of a Navy admiral had been busted there, and was let out on $2,000. So, after countless hassles, Hart finally managed to get all 19 out on total of $37,500 - or $3,750 in non-refundable premium. It was the Dead's earnings for the gig that night.
"The cops made it extra heavy for us, too," Hart said. "They detained the band, handcuffed them all together and lined them up in front of the building for press photos. The cops were enjoying it, just getting their own thing on. They ended up having to spend eight hours in jail; even though the bail was ready right away, they hassled them that long. I don't think that's the way police are supposed to handle it."
Two weeks later, nobody still knows the specific charges. According to Hart, "We keep asking them and they say all the information is sealed. So there's still no word on anything."
The Dead responded to their bust by playing a beautiful set Saturday night after a so-so Friday debut. Sunday, they joined Fleetwood Mac in playing a benefit for a bust fund for both themselves and other out-of-town bands. It was a shitty wet day in New Orleans, and with such short notice, only about 850 showed up anyway. But the bands blew the lid off the house.
New Orleans police seem to fear that their good town will become the next Haight-Ashbury, and maybe they feel that way with some reason. The fact is, New Orleans is starting to burst out. Head shops and boutiques are springing up all over, and there's a lot of long hair walking the streets.
What makes this so amazing is that the straight citizens of New Orleans view the phenomena more with curiosity than with contempt. While a long-hair might run into an Easy Rider scene in the country, he's as safe in New Orleans as any other big city in this country. And in the deep South, that's saying something.
Many say the police chose the Warehouse as their target, and that they figure they can shut down the entire scene just by picking off bands as they come into town. Their tactics seem to justify this fear. Besides busting the Dead and the Airplane earlier, they were out in force for the opening of the Warehouse - customers complained of harassment, cars were towed away, and the usual riff.
And the Warehouse is very important to the hip movement in New Orleans. It's an old brick building, formerly used for storing cotton and coffee, located just a few yards from the Mississippi River. It held 6,000 on opening night. Like many of the older buildings here, it has magical vibes. Or, as Peter Green put it: "This place - wow, you know - come down to New Orleans and find this - wow, you know?"
The Dead go back to New Orleans late in February for their day in court. The band will handle the legal defense for all 19 people "just because we feel it's the right thing to do," according to Hart. They need about $50,000 dollars for their legal defense, and Bill Graham's giving them a benefit at Winterland February 23rd, with Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, and It's a Beautiful Day playing for free.
(from Rolling Stone, March 7 1970)
http://archive.org/details/gd70-01-31.sbd.cotsman.7045.sbefail.shnf - the "beautiful set" (check out the banter after Mama Tried)
http://archive.org/details/gd70-02-01.sbd.kaplan.9629.sbeok.shnf - the bust-fund benefit with Fleetwood Mac
* * * * *
RAISE THE DEAD!
Lennie Hart, manager of the Dead, laid the following rap on BARB, this week:
Federal Narcotics Agents arrested nineteen people in a hotel raid in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 31. Five band members of the Grateful Dead, their road manager, sound man, and three equipment men were held. The charges included possession of marijuana, barbiturates, amphetamines, dangerous drugs, LSD, non-narcotic drugs, etc., etc., etc.
The Federal Officers entered the different hotel rooms occupied by the Grateful Dead people WITH KEYS and busted them all, one by one. No evidence was found on any of the people personally. They were then lined up in front of TV cameras which were waiting outside of the hotel and they were photographed repeatedly.
They all spent twelve hours in jail and were finally released on $37,000 bail. Our legal fees so far have reached $10,000 and we expect them to rise quite substantially.
Some of our friends in the rock community have offered to help us out with our legal fees by playing a benefit which will be held on Monday, February 23. Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, It's A Beautiful Day, and Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks along with Glenn McKays Headlights have offered their talents and Bill Graham has offered the use of Winterland.
Unfortunately, the Dead will be on the road in Austin, Texas, and will not be able to be in attendance, but have really been pleased with the response people have shown to help them.
Tickets will be priced at $3.50 (available at all ticket outlets and at the door) and I'm sure it will be a night of great music and good cheer.
(from the Berkeley Barb, 20 February 1970)
* * *
BANDS RALLY 'ROUND THE BUSTED DEAD
Tonight there is a big dance-concert scheduled for Winterland. It will present some of the top bands in San Francisco and, because they all believe in the cause for which this affair is raising money, experience indicates they will play with a particular kind of feeling that makes these San Francisco nights magical.
The Jefferson Airplane, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, It's a Beautiful Day, and Dan Hicks and his wild Hot Licks will play and the tickets are $3.50.
The Winterland dance-concert is being held for the defense fund of the Grateful Dead who cannot even be there, since they are already booked out of town.
The Dead were busted in New Orleans recently, and bail for all the 19 people involved plus legal fees has already cost a bundle of money.
San Francisco bands, like the constituency they represent, are straight out against the marijuana laws in the US, believing, as do many non-long hair authorities, that it is harmless.
The reality gap between the marijuana laws and the empirical experience of what by now must be a majority of the young people in this country is one of the reasons, and a very important one, for the skepticism with which they view the whole established system of law and order.
The gap is really like the Grand Canyon. Michael Lydon's excellent report on the Rolling Stones' tour in the current Ramparts offhand refers to joints being passed around, "tokes" taken by business figures as well as rock 'n roll bands. What he describes is not unusual.
As has been remarked before in this space, if all the people in this country who smoked pot were to be jailed, there would simply not be enough cells for them. Louisiana, which is struggling just a little less violently than a turtle to come up into the 20th Century, has incredible drug penalties and the Dead got hit with a wild bust in which no drugs were found on any of the band personally.
One of the things which lowering the voting age is going to result in will be revision of these laws and the legalization of marijuana, which even the tobacco industry trade paper, US Tobacco Journal, thinks is a good idea....
(by Ralph Gleason, "On the Town" column from the SF Chronicle, Feb 23 1970)
* * * * *
Winterland was jammed to the roof - literally - Monday night for the Grateful Dead benefit. The audience was parked on the floor, in the aisles, perched high in the balcony peering down through the red and blue spots at the stage. It was a long, hot, tough show with all the performers really doing their best.
For one thing, they had - almost all of them - been working all weekend and were in excellent shape. I have never heard "It's a Beautiful Day" sound as good as Monday night, and Santana really wrapped it up. By the time the Airplane and Quicksilver capped the night, it was 3 a.m.
The turn-out was so heavy that the doors were closed by 9:30 and no more tickets were sold. After expenses (the bands all played free), there was approximately $15,000 for the Grateful Dead defense fund on their New Orleans drug bust.
(by Ralph Gleason, from the SF Chronicle, Feb 25 1970, courtesy of Lost Live Dead)
NEW ORLEANS - Warning to musicians coming into this town for a gig: stay clean and stay cool.
"Tell them not just to be cool, but to be exceptionally cool. New Orleans police just aren't welcoming rock bands," cautions Lenny Hart, manager of the Grateful Dead. "Any group that goes there should be awfully careful."
Hart speaks from experience. In New Orleans to open up a new ballroom, locally known as "the Warehouse," most of the Dead and their road crew were nailed in a dope raid in the same French Quarters hotel where members of the Jefferson Airplane were busted just weeks before. State and federal narcs rounded up 19 people in the Dead raid, and were none too polite about it, either.
"It was very peculiar, and it seems like they set them up," says Hart, who was not with the band, but arranged for their bail over the phone. "They were waiting when they got back from their concert. They had a warrant and had already searched the room when the band got back. So they called them into their own room, one by one, and busted them. Nothing was found on any of the people except stuff they had prescriptions for. Everything they claim to have found was in the room, they said. But nobody in the band knows where any of it came from. It wasn't their stuff. The Grateful Dead are normally very cool and cautious."
Everybody in the band, except Pigpen and Tom Constanten, was included in the bust, along with several members of their retinue and some local people. An added bonus for the New Orleans heat was a man listed as Owsley Stanley, 35, of Alexandria, Virginia, a technician for the band, booked with illegal possession of narcotics, dangerous nan-narcotics, LSD, and barbiturates. "King of Acid Arrested," the local press bubbled.
When they were picked up at the airport Thursday they were warned of New Orleans heat and given the name of an attorney just in case. Later that afternoon, the house detective at the Dead hotel stopped guitarist Jerry Garcia in the lobby and asked him if he was with the Flock, another band on the bill at the Warehouse. When Garcia replied that he was with the Dead, the house dick supposedly told him, "Look, you better be clean, because you're going to be busted."
When the Dead got back from their gig sometime after 3 AM, January 31st, their room had already been searched and the narcs were just sitting around waiting for them. All of the 19 people caught in the raid were booked for possession of some combination of marijuana, LSD, barbiturates, amphetamines, or other dangerous, non-narcotic drugs. Mere possession in Louisiana is 5 to 15 years.
Bail is usually $5,000 to $15,000 per person, and that's what they tried to stick each of the 19 with at first. But earlier in the week, the son of a Navy admiral had been busted there, and was let out on $2,000. So, after countless hassles, Hart finally managed to get all 19 out on total of $37,500 - or $3,750 in non-refundable premium. It was the Dead's earnings for the gig that night.
"The cops made it extra heavy for us, too," Hart said. "They detained the band, handcuffed them all together and lined them up in front of the building for press photos. The cops were enjoying it, just getting their own thing on. They ended up having to spend eight hours in jail; even though the bail was ready right away, they hassled them that long. I don't think that's the way police are supposed to handle it."
Two weeks later, nobody still knows the specific charges. According to Hart, "We keep asking them and they say all the information is sealed. So there's still no word on anything."
The Dead responded to their bust by playing a beautiful set Saturday night after a so-so Friday debut. Sunday, they joined Fleetwood Mac in playing a benefit for a bust fund for both themselves and other out-of-town bands. It was a shitty wet day in New Orleans, and with such short notice, only about 850 showed up anyway. But the bands blew the lid off the house.
New Orleans police seem to fear that their good town will become the next Haight-Ashbury, and maybe they feel that way with some reason. The fact is, New Orleans is starting to burst out. Head shops and boutiques are springing up all over, and there's a lot of long hair walking the streets.
What makes this so amazing is that the straight citizens of New Orleans view the phenomena more with curiosity than with contempt. While a long-hair might run into an Easy Rider scene in the country, he's as safe in New Orleans as any other big city in this country. And in the deep South, that's saying something.
Many say the police chose the Warehouse as their target, and that they figure they can shut down the entire scene just by picking off bands as they come into town. Their tactics seem to justify this fear. Besides busting the Dead and the Airplane earlier, they were out in force for the opening of the Warehouse - customers complained of harassment, cars were towed away, and the usual riff.
And the Warehouse is very important to the hip movement in New Orleans. It's an old brick building, formerly used for storing cotton and coffee, located just a few yards from the Mississippi River. It held 6,000 on opening night. Like many of the older buildings here, it has magical vibes. Or, as Peter Green put it: "This place - wow, you know - come down to New Orleans and find this - wow, you know?"
The Dead go back to New Orleans late in February for their day in court. The band will handle the legal defense for all 19 people "just because we feel it's the right thing to do," according to Hart. They need about $50,000 dollars for their legal defense, and Bill Graham's giving them a benefit at Winterland February 23rd, with Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, and It's a Beautiful Day playing for free.
(from Rolling Stone, March 7 1970)
http://archive.org/details/gd70-01-31.sbd.cotsman.7045.sbefail.shnf - the "beautiful set" (check out the banter after Mama Tried)
http://archive.org/details/gd70-02-01.sbd.kaplan.9629.sbeok.shnf - the bust-fund benefit with Fleetwood Mac
* * * * *
RAISE THE DEAD!
Lennie Hart, manager of the Dead, laid the following rap on BARB, this week:
Federal Narcotics Agents arrested nineteen people in a hotel raid in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 31. Five band members of the Grateful Dead, their road manager, sound man, and three equipment men were held. The charges included possession of marijuana, barbiturates, amphetamines, dangerous drugs, LSD, non-narcotic drugs, etc., etc., etc.
The Federal Officers entered the different hotel rooms occupied by the Grateful Dead people WITH KEYS and busted them all, one by one. No evidence was found on any of the people personally. They were then lined up in front of TV cameras which were waiting outside of the hotel and they were photographed repeatedly.
They all spent twelve hours in jail and were finally released on $37,000 bail. Our legal fees so far have reached $10,000 and we expect them to rise quite substantially.
Some of our friends in the rock community have offered to help us out with our legal fees by playing a benefit which will be held on Monday, February 23. Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, It's A Beautiful Day, and Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks along with Glenn McKays Headlights have offered their talents and Bill Graham has offered the use of Winterland.
Unfortunately, the Dead will be on the road in Austin, Texas, and will not be able to be in attendance, but have really been pleased with the response people have shown to help them.
Tickets will be priced at $3.50 (available at all ticket outlets and at the door) and I'm sure it will be a night of great music and good cheer.
(from the Berkeley Barb, 20 February 1970)
* * *
BANDS RALLY 'ROUND THE BUSTED DEAD
Tonight there is a big dance-concert scheduled for Winterland. It will present some of the top bands in San Francisco and, because they all believe in the cause for which this affair is raising money, experience indicates they will play with a particular kind of feeling that makes these San Francisco nights magical.
The Jefferson Airplane, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, It's a Beautiful Day, and Dan Hicks and his wild Hot Licks will play and the tickets are $3.50.
The Winterland dance-concert is being held for the defense fund of the Grateful Dead who cannot even be there, since they are already booked out of town.
The Dead were busted in New Orleans recently, and bail for all the 19 people involved plus legal fees has already cost a bundle of money.
San Francisco bands, like the constituency they represent, are straight out against the marijuana laws in the US, believing, as do many non-long hair authorities, that it is harmless.
The reality gap between the marijuana laws and the empirical experience of what by now must be a majority of the young people in this country is one of the reasons, and a very important one, for the skepticism with which they view the whole established system of law and order.
The gap is really like the Grand Canyon. Michael Lydon's excellent report on the Rolling Stones' tour in the current Ramparts offhand refers to joints being passed around, "tokes" taken by business figures as well as rock 'n roll bands. What he describes is not unusual.
As has been remarked before in this space, if all the people in this country who smoked pot were to be jailed, there would simply not be enough cells for them. Louisiana, which is struggling just a little less violently than a turtle to come up into the 20th Century, has incredible drug penalties and the Dead got hit with a wild bust in which no drugs were found on any of the band personally.
One of the things which lowering the voting age is going to result in will be revision of these laws and the legalization of marijuana, which even the tobacco industry trade paper, US Tobacco Journal, thinks is a good idea....
(by Ralph Gleason, "On the Town" column from the SF Chronicle, Feb 23 1970)
* * * * *
Winterland was jammed to the roof - literally - Monday night for the Grateful Dead benefit. The audience was parked on the floor, in the aisles, perched high in the balcony peering down through the red and blue spots at the stage. It was a long, hot, tough show with all the performers really doing their best.
For one thing, they had - almost all of them - been working all weekend and were in excellent shape. I have never heard "It's a Beautiful Day" sound as good as Monday night, and Santana really wrapped it up. By the time the Airplane and Quicksilver capped the night, it was 3 a.m.
The turn-out was so heavy that the doors were closed by 9:30 and no more tickets were sold. After expenses (the bands all played free), there was approximately $15,000 for the Grateful Dead defense fund on their New Orleans drug bust.
(by Ralph Gleason, from the SF Chronicle, Feb 25 1970, courtesy of Lost Live Dead)
February 11-14, 1970: Fillmore East
The Grateful Dead demonstrated this past holiday weekend (11, 13-14) that they have arrived as a top draw act. Following its New Years' weekend sellout, the Dead returned to headline the six-show holiday concert at the Fillmore East, NY. Playing to a near-capacity house, the shows grossed $55,000. The all-California bill included Love and the Allman Bros.
The Grateful Dead's approach to rock is based upon their inventive explorations of driving blues, country & western, hard rock and well conceived eerie atonal passages. With Jerry Garcia's crystal clear guitar serving as a starting point, the sextet has a spontaneity that finds all the members sharing equally in the final product. Phil Lesh's imaginative bass lines combine with the stereo drumming of Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart for a unique rhythm section, while Bob Weir's smooth guitar fills the gaps. The Grateful Dead have attracted one of rock's most dedicated followings with their no-gimmick music.
One of the earliest of the Los Angeles rock groups, Love has undergone extensive personnel changes since 1965 with leader Arthur Lee the lone holdover. Whether belting away or projecting a sensitive vocal, Lee is a unique singer whose lyrical vocals mellow the quartet's hard rock emphasis.
Like the Dead, the Allman Bros. are a hard blues band whose emphasis is on extended instrumentals. The sextet has the ability to drive each other and motivate the audience, but at times get hung up with repetitive chord patterns.
(by Jeff, from Variety, Feb 18 1970)
* * *
GRATEFUL DEAD, LOVE, ALLMAN BROTHERS
Fillmore East, New York
Love, with only Arthur Lee still around from the original group, were strong in the second show at Fillmore East, Feb. 11. The West Coast group, in its first Fillmore East appearance, was sandwiched between two acts returning after brief absences, Atco Records' Alllman Brothers, who opened, and Warner Bros. Records' Grateful Dead, who headlined.
The Dead, one of the pillars of the underground, were in good, untheatrical form, while the Allman Brothers, stressing instrumental over vocal material, also were good. The Wednesday shows were added to the regular Friday-Saturday schedule because of the next day's Lincoln's Birthday observance.
Lee's distinctive voice is Love's key, whether singing in blues style or high folk style. Lee also played a strong rhythm guitar. Lead guitarist Gary Rowles also [shone], while bass guitarist Frank Fayad and drummer George Surinach contributed importantly to the Blue Thumbs Records' quartet's sound.
(by Fred Kirby, from Billboard, 21 February 1970)
* * *
LOVE FILLMORE HIGHLIGHT
NEW YORK - Blue Thumb's legendary Love highlighted a friendly and entertaining weekend at the Fillmore recently.
Love was formerly an Elektra group, but the only remaining member of that group is the leader and lead singer Arthur Lee. The group, entertaining, different and pretty together, received a well deserved ovation. Also on the bill were the Allman Brothers.
The Grateful Dead headlined the bill and, as always, were excitedly applauded by their fans who view them as the world's greatest rock band. They have their ups and downs, but they are generally extraordinary.
(by Dan Goldberg, from Record World, 28 February 1970)
The Grateful Dead's approach to rock is based upon their inventive explorations of driving blues, country & western, hard rock and well conceived eerie atonal passages. With Jerry Garcia's crystal clear guitar serving as a starting point, the sextet has a spontaneity that finds all the members sharing equally in the final product. Phil Lesh's imaginative bass lines combine with the stereo drumming of Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart for a unique rhythm section, while Bob Weir's smooth guitar fills the gaps. The Grateful Dead have attracted one of rock's most dedicated followings with their no-gimmick music.
One of the earliest of the Los Angeles rock groups, Love has undergone extensive personnel changes since 1965 with leader Arthur Lee the lone holdover. Whether belting away or projecting a sensitive vocal, Lee is a unique singer whose lyrical vocals mellow the quartet's hard rock emphasis.
Like the Dead, the Allman Bros. are a hard blues band whose emphasis is on extended instrumentals. The sextet has the ability to drive each other and motivate the audience, but at times get hung up with repetitive chord patterns.
(by Jeff, from Variety, Feb 18 1970)
* * *
GRATEFUL DEAD, LOVE, ALLMAN BROTHERS
Fillmore East, New York
Love, with only Arthur Lee still around from the original group, were strong in the second show at Fillmore East, Feb. 11. The West Coast group, in its first Fillmore East appearance, was sandwiched between two acts returning after brief absences, Atco Records' Alllman Brothers, who opened, and Warner Bros. Records' Grateful Dead, who headlined.
The Dead, one of the pillars of the underground, were in good, untheatrical form, while the Allman Brothers, stressing instrumental over vocal material, also were good. The Wednesday shows were added to the regular Friday-Saturday schedule because of the next day's Lincoln's Birthday observance.
Lee's distinctive voice is Love's key, whether singing in blues style or high folk style. Lee also played a strong rhythm guitar. Lead guitarist Gary Rowles also [shone], while bass guitarist Frank Fayad and drummer George Surinach contributed importantly to the Blue Thumbs Records' quartet's sound.
(by Fred Kirby, from Billboard, 21 February 1970)
* * *
LOVE FILLMORE HIGHLIGHT
NEW YORK - Blue Thumb's legendary Love highlighted a friendly and entertaining weekend at the Fillmore recently.
Love was formerly an Elektra group, but the only remaining member of that group is the leader and lead singer Arthur Lee. The group, entertaining, different and pretty together, received a well deserved ovation. Also on the bill were the Allman Brothers.
The Grateful Dead headlined the bill and, as always, were excitedly applauded by their fans who view them as the world's greatest rock band. They have their ups and downs, but they are generally extraordinary.
(by Dan Goldberg, from Record World, 28 February 1970)
Mar 1, 2012
February 2, 1970: Fox Theater, St Louis
GRATEFUL DEAD MAKE ROCK FANS COME ALIVE
The Grateful Dead were a long time getting started last night, but they made up for it with a powerful performance that had rock fans dancing in the aisles of the Fox Theater.
Owsley Stanley, the well-known alchemist, prowled about the stage for an hour after the concert had been scheduled to begin, twisting knobs, cursing microphones, and scowling at the loudspeakers. Stanley built most of the Grateful Dead's massive array of sound equipment, but he was unhappy with the theater's public-address system.
He must have adjusted everything properly because the sound was just fine, blasting clearly into the far reaches of the second balcony.
CROWD MILLS AROUND
The concert, which was part of the homecoming festivities of St Louis University, got underway with a middling performance by a Chicago group, Aorta. It was not until 10:15 that the Grateful Dead began to play. While waiting, many in the crowd of about 2000 milled around in the neo-Babylonian lobby of the theater.
The crowd was about half clean-cut students and about half the sort of group one would expect for a concert by the original San Francisco acid rock band - explosions of hair, clothes from the Salvation Army and Goodwill stores. There were few of the boutique bohemians who haunt the more polite rock concerts.
The Dead opened their set with several songs of a heavy country flavor, including a rollicking version of Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried." At times, Jerry Garcia was twanging away as if he were playing a pedal steel guitar rather than a simple electric one.
BOY STARTS IT
The crowd was pleased but fairly subdued at first. Then, the six-man band began a long, slow blues that featured some electronic games with feedback and tape loops. In the middle of the blues, they broke into the heavy rock spiritual sound of "St. Stephen." A boy near the front leaped to his feet and yelped in approval, and soon most of the rest of the crowd followed suit.
For the rest of the concert, perhaps another half-hour, the crowd was on its feet, shaking and twisting. Many hands were raised high with the victory sign.
After a slower number, the Dead came on stronger than ever with a pounding rendition of "Turn On Your Lovelight." Ron (Pigpen) McKernan, a cowboy hat pulled low over his eyes, drove the crowd into a frenzy with his gutsy vocal. The two drummers kept the beat rolling, and Garcia threw in snappy blues asides.
SCREAMS FOR MORE
At the end, in a crescendo of cymbals and screeching guitars, a tall girl in an Afro hair style jumped up on the stage and hugged and kissed "Pigpen." The crowd cheered and screamed for more.
For an encore the Dead did an a cappella version of "Goodnight." They seemed as happy as everyone else about the way the evening turned out.
The Fox, which seldom has live performers, seems to be a fine setting for rock concerts. The acoustics are good and the elegantly gaudy decor is perfect.
The delay was not the fault of the theater staff or the band. Several members of the Grateful Dead were among 19 persons arrested early Saturday at what reportedly was a marijuana party in a New Orleans motel. They and their equipment did not arrive in St Louis until nearly 7 p.m.
(by Harper Barnes, from the St Louis Post-Dispatch, February 3 1970)
See also Harper Barnes' 1973 article on Pigpen: https://deadsources.blogspot.com/2021/09/placeholder-ii.html
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-02-02.sbd.cotsman.17809.sbeok.shnf (partial show)
February 1970: Fillmore West announcement
THE GRATEFUL DEAD TO PLAY FILLMORE
The Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, and Bigfoot will appear at Fillmore West, 1545 Market, Thursday through Sunday, February 5 through 8. Lights will be by Brotherhood of Light.
The Fillmore West dance-concerts begin at 8:30 p.m., end at 2 a.m. Admission is $3 Thursday and Sunday; $3.50 Friday and Saturday.
The Grateful Dead, since 1966 one of San Francisco's best and best-loved bands, are on the charts with their fourth Warner Brothers LP, "Live Dead". The new album, according to Ralph J. Gleason, "far and away the best thing the Dead have offered," includes live tracks which display the spontaneity, improvisational and musical brilliance which characterize the group's in-person performances.
On national tour during much of 1969, the Dead have steadily grown in both popularity and musicianship. And, as Fusion Magazine recently noted, "this is their year. Whether it be from a growing musical acumen on the part of their audience, a starring role in Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", or simply that they are one of the only living reminders of the Summer of Love," Fusion said, "suddenly great gobs of people have turned on the group, giving them a series of packed houses, screaming audiences, and fans whose devotion borders on the mystical."
Prior album releases by the Grateful Dead include: "Grateful Dead", "Anthem of the Sun", and "Aoxomoxoa".
Also on the charts with his third Columbia LP, "Giant Step", is blues specialist Taj Mahal. "Giant Step", a double record set, displays many facets of Taj's musical abilities: as a writer, arranger, singer and musician, a master of both urban and country blues styles. Previously released LPs include "Taj Mahal" and "Nach'l Blues".
Taj's engaging vocals, relaxed stage manner and warm personality have established him as one of rock music's most enjoyable and entertaining performers. A natural musician, he sings and plays guitar, piano, harmonica, bass and several other instruments.
Besides Taj, the group also includes Cherokee Indian Jesse Edwin Davis on lead guitar and keyboards; Gary Gilmore, bass; and Chuck Blackwell, drums.
(from the Fremont News-Register, January 29 1970)
The Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, and Bigfoot will appear at Fillmore West, 1545 Market, Thursday through Sunday, February 5 through 8. Lights will be by Brotherhood of Light.
The Fillmore West dance-concerts begin at 8:30 p.m., end at 2 a.m. Admission is $3 Thursday and Sunday; $3.50 Friday and Saturday.
The Grateful Dead, since 1966 one of San Francisco's best and best-loved bands, are on the charts with their fourth Warner Brothers LP, "Live Dead". The new album, according to Ralph J. Gleason, "far and away the best thing the Dead have offered," includes live tracks which display the spontaneity, improvisational and musical brilliance which characterize the group's in-person performances.
On national tour during much of 1969, the Dead have steadily grown in both popularity and musicianship. And, as Fusion Magazine recently noted, "this is their year. Whether it be from a growing musical acumen on the part of their audience, a starring role in Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", or simply that they are one of the only living reminders of the Summer of Love," Fusion said, "suddenly great gobs of people have turned on the group, giving them a series of packed houses, screaming audiences, and fans whose devotion borders on the mystical."
Prior album releases by the Grateful Dead include: "Grateful Dead", "Anthem of the Sun", and "Aoxomoxoa".
Also on the charts with his third Columbia LP, "Giant Step", is blues specialist Taj Mahal. "Giant Step", a double record set, displays many facets of Taj's musical abilities: as a writer, arranger, singer and musician, a master of both urban and country blues styles. Previously released LPs include "Taj Mahal" and "Nach'l Blues".
Taj's engaging vocals, relaxed stage manner and warm personality have established him as one of rock music's most enjoyable and entertaining performers. A natural musician, he sings and plays guitar, piano, harmonica, bass and several other instruments.
Besides Taj, the group also includes Cherokee Indian Jesse Edwin Davis on lead guitar and keyboards; Gary Gilmore, bass; and Chuck Blackwell, drums.
(from the Fremont News-Register, January 29 1970)
1969: Live/Dead Reviews #2
FOUR EXPLOSIONS: THE GRATEFUL DEAD
This flight did not begin on earth, no: Dark Star is an opening poem to the colors from the void. Side one of a total of four begins to this most beautiful of melodic explorations. Even as the band shuffles into position they have departed planet limitations. Phil is propelling even as he prepares to soar, imparting visuals of silent space, probing here, thrusting there, threatening to connect and depart, but first for a moment of self-inspection, yes I is right, Jerry are you there???
The guitar murmurs in sleepy reply as the rhythm flows from in behind the theme and all is motion. Yes, I am here, the sun is always sleepy at dawn, but it is singing in eight minutes. Like a cat awakening, energy is half-scale but a moment before it becomes full-tone. On, then, and the plane is not just one: it is a boggling quantity on an ever-ascending series of plateaus.
Outer space has an infinity of wonders. Like the silken gold flow that must be the passing, in an inaudible distance, of molten fire - the stream of a comet, no a family of comets - the organ is this. And more. It is the color of space, the pure seeingness of purples and scarlets that we see but rarely only because there is so much else to drink.
And there is a terrible vocal, but that is all right, the instrumental voyage is so stunningly beautiful that nothing can obstruct it. The band leads you into constantly unfolding worlds of magic, dark and light, there is no distance, that has lapsed long since, all is within your reach, and all that remains is for you to touch...
The Grateful Dead are a family of diverse powers, but ecstasy is their chief calling. Their fourth album is entitled Live-Dead, a two-record set that collects in one package all the essence of their various beauties. The first side is a boiling radiance of almost excessive melodic joy that furrows the mind for 23 minutes. Jerry wrote Dark Star, and for me it is the ultimate expression of classical aesthetics and balance, fused miraculously into a climbing and darting structure of dynamics that somehow imparts the fervor of rock, while sacrificing none of its exquisite loveliness.
We greet the band's new organist, Tom Constanten, in clearer light than ever before. His involvement has grown and spiraled, at least to my ear, very subtly. Maybe a strange, maybe a wholly mistaken flash, but he appears a magnificently patient man and musician both. His first appearances in the group with public performance were times of patient learning and adjustment (to be sure, still true, but then more so than now). Until the present, when we hear him as an understated energy level, perhaps such because the ensemble emphasis of the Dead is and has always been the guitars. But in Dark Star, when Bob and Jerry retreat to quiet for periodic spells, there is Tom, in easy, airy flow, as tasteful on his instrument as anyone in the band.
Physical presence comes two steps more immediate as everyone wanders into Saint Stephen, gathering its breath within itself only to lose it in a great gasp of power, the magnificent drums marching the path to release from borderlines, tumbling like maverick children down an endless hillside, the guitars singing like sunlight down on them, but yes, quiet again as energies again gather, and the cycle repeats again, then launches itself into full-blown odyssey that is suddenly become The Eleven, which ends the side, but not before you can hear welling up, and then away, the drive of the band into Lovelight.
The flow of these first two sides is like a river that is running up its banks, but almost too slowly to perceive with the eyes, or the ears. You are borne aloft from all-in-harmony softness and color in Dark Star to poetic mischief and underpinned strengths and lulls in St. Stephen to the unceasing waves of The Eleven and its velver hammerheading from both instrumental and vocal perspectives, with the voices in ragged outpourings of earthy masculine ebullience so typical of these incredible human beings, to the first traces of the 15-minute Lovelight excursion.
Which occupies the entire third side, as monstrous as we all expected, with its tidal-strong punctuations and phenomenally eclectic yet individual soloing by Jerry, each musician turning, molding, shaping the directions to travel. Phil hinting at the theme in the middle of some weird digression, almost as though to scold in his freaky way that things are getting loose boys, let's bring it on up, the drummers doing the same when the rhythm tends to lax, tightening things together, everybody caring for everybody and the whole being as pure and as strong as imaginable.
The fourth side I won't speak of. The rest is enough. Death Don't Have No Mercy, Feedback, and Goodnight are the titles, but the other three sides to this gift have drained me dry. There is nothing left to say, it is all too sacred.
(by Raymond Lang, from the "Viola" column in the Daily Californian, January 20 1970)
* * *
LIVE/DEAD - THE GRATEFUL DEAD
WARNER BROS. 2 W.S. 1830 (IMPORT)
This album is truly beautiful. It consists of a non stop, four side, live set by the Grateful Dead; excellently packaged and presented. In all ways it is the definitive Dead album, in which the Dead prove themselves to be one of those groups, who, in common with the Jefferson Airplane and The Band, are able to play together with almost supernatural rapport and empathy.
In terms of material, the album contains a fifteen minute version of 'Turn on your Love Light' (an amazing piece of rock and roll improvisation), a twenty-three minute version of 'Dark Star', a Rev. Gary Davis blues, 'Death don't have no Mercy', 'Saint Stephen', 'The Eleven', 'We bid you Goodnight', and 'Feedback', an eight minute track which is exactly what the title claims.
(by Mick Farren, from the International Times (London), 27 February 1970)
* * *
LIVE DEAD
I wasn't expecting too much from this, having been bored silly by the Dead on their previous three albums. But all the fuss is clarified on this double-album, recorded in person, which allows them to stretch out and take their time layin' the licks down.
'Dark Star' is almost worth the price of the album, as Phil Lesh brings his bass guitar up to join the guitars of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir in the front line for some surprisingly delicate and inventive interplay.
Pigpen gets off some nice backup organ behind the stunning Garcia on 'Death Don't Have No Mercy', while the unusual choice of 'Turn On Your Lovelight' works well. Listening to this, you can glimpse what all the fuss has been about.
( by Richard Williams, from Melody Maker, 14 March 1970)
This flight did not begin on earth, no: Dark Star is an opening poem to the colors from the void. Side one of a total of four begins to this most beautiful of melodic explorations. Even as the band shuffles into position they have departed planet limitations. Phil is propelling even as he prepares to soar, imparting visuals of silent space, probing here, thrusting there, threatening to connect and depart, but first for a moment of self-inspection, yes I is right, Jerry are you there???
The guitar murmurs in sleepy reply as the rhythm flows from in behind the theme and all is motion. Yes, I am here, the sun is always sleepy at dawn, but it is singing in eight minutes. Like a cat awakening, energy is half-scale but a moment before it becomes full-tone. On, then, and the plane is not just one: it is a boggling quantity on an ever-ascending series of plateaus.
Outer space has an infinity of wonders. Like the silken gold flow that must be the passing, in an inaudible distance, of molten fire - the stream of a comet, no a family of comets - the organ is this. And more. It is the color of space, the pure seeingness of purples and scarlets that we see but rarely only because there is so much else to drink.
And there is a terrible vocal, but that is all right, the instrumental voyage is so stunningly beautiful that nothing can obstruct it. The band leads you into constantly unfolding worlds of magic, dark and light, there is no distance, that has lapsed long since, all is within your reach, and all that remains is for you to touch...
The Grateful Dead are a family of diverse powers, but ecstasy is their chief calling. Their fourth album is entitled Live-Dead, a two-record set that collects in one package all the essence of their various beauties. The first side is a boiling radiance of almost excessive melodic joy that furrows the mind for 23 minutes. Jerry wrote Dark Star, and for me it is the ultimate expression of classical aesthetics and balance, fused miraculously into a climbing and darting structure of dynamics that somehow imparts the fervor of rock, while sacrificing none of its exquisite loveliness.
We greet the band's new organist, Tom Constanten, in clearer light than ever before. His involvement has grown and spiraled, at least to my ear, very subtly. Maybe a strange, maybe a wholly mistaken flash, but he appears a magnificently patient man and musician both. His first appearances in the group with public performance were times of patient learning and adjustment (to be sure, still true, but then more so than now). Until the present, when we hear him as an understated energy level, perhaps such because the ensemble emphasis of the Dead is and has always been the guitars. But in Dark Star, when Bob and Jerry retreat to quiet for periodic spells, there is Tom, in easy, airy flow, as tasteful on his instrument as anyone in the band.
Physical presence comes two steps more immediate as everyone wanders into Saint Stephen, gathering its breath within itself only to lose it in a great gasp of power, the magnificent drums marching the path to release from borderlines, tumbling like maverick children down an endless hillside, the guitars singing like sunlight down on them, but yes, quiet again as energies again gather, and the cycle repeats again, then launches itself into full-blown odyssey that is suddenly become The Eleven, which ends the side, but not before you can hear welling up, and then away, the drive of the band into Lovelight.
The flow of these first two sides is like a river that is running up its banks, but almost too slowly to perceive with the eyes, or the ears. You are borne aloft from all-in-harmony softness and color in Dark Star to poetic mischief and underpinned strengths and lulls in St. Stephen to the unceasing waves of The Eleven and its velver hammerheading from both instrumental and vocal perspectives, with the voices in ragged outpourings of earthy masculine ebullience so typical of these incredible human beings, to the first traces of the 15-minute Lovelight excursion.
Which occupies the entire third side, as monstrous as we all expected, with its tidal-strong punctuations and phenomenally eclectic yet individual soloing by Jerry, each musician turning, molding, shaping the directions to travel. Phil hinting at the theme in the middle of some weird digression, almost as though to scold in his freaky way that things are getting loose boys, let's bring it on up, the drummers doing the same when the rhythm tends to lax, tightening things together, everybody caring for everybody and the whole being as pure and as strong as imaginable.
The fourth side I won't speak of. The rest is enough. Death Don't Have No Mercy, Feedback, and Goodnight are the titles, but the other three sides to this gift have drained me dry. There is nothing left to say, it is all too sacred.
(by Raymond Lang, from the "Viola" column in the Daily Californian, January 20 1970)
* * *
LIVE/DEAD - THE GRATEFUL DEAD
WARNER BROS. 2 W.S. 1830 (IMPORT)
This album is truly beautiful. It consists of a non stop, four side, live set by the Grateful Dead; excellently packaged and presented. In all ways it is the definitive Dead album, in which the Dead prove themselves to be one of those groups, who, in common with the Jefferson Airplane and The Band, are able to play together with almost supernatural rapport and empathy.
In terms of material, the album contains a fifteen minute version of 'Turn on your Love Light' (an amazing piece of rock and roll improvisation), a twenty-three minute version of 'Dark Star', a Rev. Gary Davis blues, 'Death don't have no Mercy', 'Saint Stephen', 'The Eleven', 'We bid you Goodnight', and 'Feedback', an eight minute track which is exactly what the title claims.
(by Mick Farren, from the International Times (London), 27 February 1970)
* * *
LIVE DEAD
I wasn't expecting too much from this, having been bored silly by the Dead on their previous three albums. But all the fuss is clarified on this double-album, recorded in person, which allows them to stretch out and take their time layin' the licks down.
'Dark Star' is almost worth the price of the album, as Phil Lesh brings his bass guitar up to join the guitars of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir in the front line for some surprisingly delicate and inventive interplay.
Pigpen gets off some nice backup organ behind the stunning Garcia on 'Death Don't Have No Mercy', while the unusual choice of 'Turn On Your Lovelight' works well. Listening to this, you can glimpse what all the fuss has been about.
( by Richard Williams, from Melody Maker, 14 March 1970)
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