Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
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I'm gettign stuff done today - feeling good and enjoying a soundboard recording - happy monday y'all.
One kind of interesting thing as someone gettign into GD in my late 30s is that I spent most of my life as pretty anti-jam band. I read an interesting article about this phenemenon: After complaining about the Grateful Dead for decades, outing myself as a midlife Deadhead wasn’t easy
The author talks about a number of things but also emphasizes that people's tastes change as we age. When I was growing up, sort of paralelling the author, everything needed to be quick, cool, edgy - now I just want to enjoy some music. Especially given the enormous backcatalog of live sets, I feel like I can really dig into this interest. It is also funny because I would have thought this was very lame even up to just a few years ago - anyways - here I am, at least i'm having a good time!
Happy trails 8/18/2025
Promised land
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Feeling good this afternoon, a little groggy in the AM but my kids wanted smoothies so at least I had a healthy breakfast.
FInished the june show and on to another audience recording today from July 72. Have been trying to get through some of the 80s studio stuff and it is such atreat to hear this gritty, loose version compared to the adult-contempo sleeze of late-era dead.
Also having fun watching people do listicles of grateful dead studio records on youtube. I watched this one of some wannabe anthony fantanos refusing to listen to the live stuff and ranking all of their studio records only. What a tedious project. Like even bob weir says they never made great records. Further, they talk about how gimmicky a lot of the production sounds, which makes sense because they were trying to sell records. A bunch of hippies trying to get one over on the record-buying general public. Glad these dweebs checked them out at least 😅
Happy trails 8/15/2025
Help on the way
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I'm on the treadmill again! I stayed up too late watching vertigo, so feeling a little run down this morning.
There is an ebb an flow to life and I feel like things are currently on an upswing. I'm not sure if you believe in karma or God, but something is out there and things are working out!
I branched out an listened to some non-dead last night which was kind of exciting, but working throught the june 72 show right now. It is an audience recording as opposed to a soundboard tape, and it is super fun. I was initially bummed about the audio quality, but it is actually great to hear the audience and some of the hiss and crackle of an amateur recording. I probably won't come back to the show but enjoying the ride
Happy trails 8/14/2025
Wait until that deal come round
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I have been exercising! I am really enjoying it. I have a treadmill at my desk so I walked 2 miles while I caught up on email. Had meatloaf for lunch with fig newtons and coffee for dessert.
I finished the Academy of Music shows from March 72. Having already listented to the european tour for that year, I am now 6 months into 1972! THe crazy part is that means I'm only like a ~40% of the way through shows for 1972. THere is just so much to listen to. I am honestly astounded by how much recorded dead there is - a real embarrassment of riches.
ANyways, I have also been playing a lot of balatro - love that game. I am also getting some academic stuff done. I got a paper back with minor revisions and now I am also pushing some older projects forward. Academics can feel overwhelming sometimes, but really it's just about getting a little done everyday because in time it does add up.
Happy trails 8/13/2025
Cumberland blues
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One thing that is weird about getting older is how serious things can get. Like sometimes a situation could be life or death or really important or meaningful.
THat's one thing I kind of love about the grateful dead. As a group who's output is mostly complete and more happy than sad, I don't have to take the grateful dead too seriously. That isn't to say there isn't depth in the music, the writing, or the things they accomplished but me getting to geek out about the grateful dead doesn't have to be seroius at all. Also they were delightfully silly. Like when they didn't want to play the song "Alligator" anymore, they would just tell audience members who requested the song that they had just forgotten how to play it. Love getting to hear snippets of banter in these live shows and enjoy how free-spirited the group and the fans were throughout the years, really stands in contrast with a lot of today's stan culture stuff - this is despite the fact they had equivalently diehard fanbases.
ANyways, I have gotten to work out every day for the past week. I;m still trying to fix my diet, but I am feeling better just getting some exercise in.
Happy trails 8/12/2025
You win again
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Typing this while rocking the little one to bed.
I’ve been trying to wrap up the March Academy of music shows over the past couple of days. My daughter didn’t have daycare today and my son only had a half day at school so I have been on duty. It is kind of surprsing how much more music I get to listen to when I am working and commuting. Also my family revealed to me that they are all tired of listening to dead shows. So it goes!
Happy trails
8/11/2025
Turn on your love light
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I'm feeling pretty good today. I had to go out and pick up a script for my son last night around 1030 and it wasn't ready until 11, so instead of being grouchy in a CVS for half an hour I went to the whattaburger next store and got a spicy chicken sandwich. He has a skin infection so we had to motivate him to take a pill at 1130, which he didn't love. ANyways after that everybody crased so I stayed up and finished the 03/25/72 show with Bo Diddley and played some balatro. Pretty good night overall.
One interesting thing about the show is that it sounds like Jerry uses an envelope filter on the 22 minute rendition of "Turn on your love light." The Mu-Tron was released in 1972 so this may be one of the first shows where Jerry uses it. It's the the classic funky "wah wah wah" sound he is known for.
This morning I am onto the 3/36/72 show, still at the Academy of music. It is still very exciting to hear the group gearing up for the Europe tour and it still sounds like peak GD. Also I love Pigpen, I have really grown to enjoy his songs a lot - what a loss he passed so young.
Happy trails 8/8/2025
Playing in the band
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Wouldn't it be wild if the grateful dead met the rizzler?
TOday I am listening to the 3/25/1972 show where the grateful dead is the backing band for Bo Diddley. THis is a really fun show. THis is kind of a unique scenario where the group is playing with one of their heroes, someone who probably got them into playing rock n' roll. Also, it is fun to hear something more akin to the source material - rock and R&B as opposed to hearing something more like what the influenced - jam music. Also where they play not fade away all the time, the buddy holly song that rips off the bo diddley riff, they seem primed to play bo diddley songs. Anyways, tons of fun - looking forward to listening to the beach boys collabo (my friend tyler recommended this). Collaboration between artists these days seems so common but early grateful dead collobration is crazy. That being said - nothing would be as crazy as Dead and Co playing Not fade away featuring the rizzler. 8/7/2025
Bloggin down the road feeling bad
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I'm kind of dragging this morninng, but I made it to work and have already gotten a few things done. One tough thing about getting older and having kids is how tired you get! Now I am trying to get in shape! Anyways, Listening to the Academy of music GD shows from 1972, before they went on their European tour. The band sounds loose and excited. It is interesting to contrast these shows with the recent Dead and Co. 6oth anniversary shows from last weekend. Obviously the setlists differ but even peak 72 dead - the vocals were never the focus. I think people, myself included, sometimes get too hung up on the group sounding old or feeling like they jumped the shark - I'm just glad someone is still here doing it. Happy trails 8/6/2025
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