Sunday, September 21, 2008

GD Blog - Manifesto ~ Who am I and Why I do this ~

I recently read a book about music and media in which the writer criticized the plethora of music blogs on the web for being more about the relationship of the blogger to the music than about the music.  I am completely and utterly guilty of this exact thing, so forgive a Deadhead for being so wrapped up in himself... I really just can't escape my Deadhead experience from all those years ago, and I do this to relive it.

I am a Southern California born and raised Deadhead (also lived in SF for a few years too) who saw his first Dead show in 1993 in Las Vegas.

I saw the Dead 17 times and JGB 4 times.  I will be posting a review of every show that I saw. I will also post my take on the many shows I hear and eras, and I think I'll review all of the songs too.

I am an avid listener of the Dead and I read all the books, I love to play the music too.  

I find myself with a different set of preferences than most when it comes to the Dead.  I prefer later ('90s) Dead much more than the 70's "golden years" and I most definitely am a Jerry fanatic much more than the other members.

...The Finest Ever Seen...


I think the Grateful Dead as a whole was the most amazing musical project I've ever witnessed because of the entire experience that sprung up around the events.  Also I am very proud of our (Northern) California history of the hippie/civil rights era that the Dead were a part of.

I want to write in this blog about the Dead in hopes of finding like minded souls who might appreciate a bit of it and also  maybe I'll meet some new cool people.

Also, in a lot of the song reviews keep in mind that I only saw a sliver of the repertoire so I'm working off of tapes (and more recently youtube videos) to get to know the songs.  A lot of the songs were probably great in the moment at the concert  but don't seem that exciting on tape (ie Bertha, Tennessee Jed). So probably, I judge a lot of the songs a little harshly without ever having seen them performed live.

7 comments:

jimbo said...

Mike, I have a cd that my brother gave me that he labled The Pizza Tapes with Garcia, Grisman and Rice. It sounds like a private get together and I was wondering if you ever heard of it. It is one of my favorite recordings of Jerry Garcia with a lot of comments mixed in as they were playing together. Jimbo

GDmike said...

Jimbo - YES, I have heard the Pizza Tapes, but your comment is making me look it up again for another listen. Shady Grove is probably the song that sticks out to me as my favorite from that session - that song is just a wicked jam with a bit of that Jerry Garcia dark humor as he sings about celebrating the adulterous side of life. Sorry for the late reply, I was 'locked out' of the blog for close to 3 years for some gmail/google issues (due to user error!),

Unknown said...

Check out pics of Grateful Dead http://gratefuldead.jimdo.com/

GDmike said...

NICE PICS!!

Justin said...

Awesome! I also think Jerry is the best. Love the JGB. Live 90’s - definitely the best, but then again that all I know so I may be biased. Anyway I moved to Marin County in 1995 and have fond memories of seeing Weir, and Lesh but Jerry is still the best. R.I.P.

GDmike said...

Glad you brought up JGB, really in a way were the highlights for me.... I can't (and probably wouldn't if I could) say it was "better" than the Dead, but I will say they were some of my best show memories... just Jerry for 2+ hours - can't beat it.

Jamie Breslow said...

Hey Mike good luck and great idea. I went to my 1st show in Nov. 1987 and eneded up seeing the Dead around 85 times and solo Jerry another 25 or so. Happy to help you out if you have any questions, particularly about the late '89 to '91 shows, which was my most productive deadhead era. Lucky me.