The latest ...

Here is a list of different links to news stories regarding  the Grateful Dead world as well as the latest music releases. Believe it or not, but there continues to be lots to report about.

• The Rhythm Devils in the New York Times. 
•  The freshest Road Trips release.
•  The band formerly known as the Warlocks.
•  Grateful Dead Poster Art: Time magazine.

Stay tuned for the Shakedown Stream for next week. September has always been a memorable month for Grateful Dead shows. Peace - Jer Bear 

from North Carolina

Jer Bear,

Hey now, hope you are well. I'm a few weeks behind on the stream(7/10/90), but I'm enjoying the NC theme and thought I'd share a story:

In 1992 I was a young Marine stationed at Camp LeJeune, NC. When the boys announced they were playin' Charlotte, I immediately got myself some tix.
As luck would have it, my unit scheduled a Dress Blues Inspection the dayafter the show. ( All you need to know is that a Dress Blues Inspection in a major pain in the ass.) My Lieutenant told me there was no way he was going to let me leave to drive across the state to see the Dead and that if I did I would be considered AWOL. Needless to say, I left anyway, risking big trouble. I had spent the entire week before the show/inspection squaring away my shit so I'd be ready.

I drove 2 hours to Raleigh to pick up a buddy who was flying in from AZ for the show. We then drove 4 plus hours to Charlotte, arriving just in time for the First Set. It was a great show (6/18/92) with lots of moments. After the show, we drove for 6 non stop hours back across NC to get me back just in time for my 8am inspection. Peeled off a tie-dye and put on a
fresh uniform. Passed with flying colors despite absolutely no sleep. Best of all, I don't think my Lt ever knew I was gone, or if he did he was very cool about it.

Anyway, it was to be the last time I saw old Jer' play with the Dead ( I saw JGB once in '93). It was made even more meaningful because he sang Morning
Dew which was the tune that first got me hooked back when I was in 7th grade (Europe '72 version).

Thanks, as always for the stream and for letting me wander for a while again on those highways and back roads of North Carolina.

Rob M.  

Dark Star: an oxymoron

An oxymoron: the brightest of objects, seen as the absence of brightness.

“The phrase seems to have come to the English language by way of the astronomers who spoke Middle High German, who in turn borrowed it from Latin, translating the phrase "stella obscura", used by Roman astronomers to describe a faint star.” 

Prosody

“Each haiku-like verse of "Dark Star" captures an image in transition, and does so in very economical language. The star crashes; reason tatters; searchlights seek; the mirror shatters; a hand turns to a flower; a mysterious lady disappears. There are a total of six verses, three preceding each chorus.

Rhyme and assonance are used sparingly: "crashes/ashes"; "tatters/axis/shatters/matter"; "dissolving/revolving."

The rhythm breaks into five strong beats per verse, to go with the melody; the verses contain differing numbers of syllables, but revolve around a mean of 13: 12, 13, 13, 13, 14, 13.

The "chorus" offers a transition. (See "readers comments") into the lengthy stretches of instrumental improvisation. It is broken into two melodic lines of four strong beats per line, with a grand total of 19 syllables.” (http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/darkstar.html)

Dark Star

Shakedown Stream this Tuesday on mvyradio.com is featuring a show from the Paramount Theatre, Portland, Oregon. It's a doozy of a dose.


We are continuing with the Dark Star thematic essay of some of the great ones.


Dark Star !!!
What:   Shakedown Stream
where:  mvyradio.com & iTunes
when:   Tuesady at 5pm ET
why:     backwards is the same as frontwards

Sugaree - The LeadHeads

Check this out - these kids are just kids. The are the next, next, next generation of dead heads - the all new, new deadheads. He even has the Jerry guitar down and the Fan on Sugaree. Most of all, I think she is great - so poised and cool while playing the drums. Peace - Jer Bear

"I wanna thank ya for a real good time"

Thank you all for joining me for the 2^nd Part of our Jerry Tribute show “Days Between”. I think we all know we could easily go on forever with just Jerry tunes, but I think it is best to go back to our traditional format. That being said, our featured show this week is a classic 1972 show from Berkeley. I chose this show because of its' Dark Star. The focus for the remaining August shows will be ones' that contain a Dark Star. (click image for complete set list)

"There are many different kinds of Dark Stars: lyrical, spacey, hot, cold, fast, inspired, dull, and transcendent. This 8/21/72 Dark Star is a pretty old and unique specimen. I'm not especially crazy about the rest of this BCT show, although the band is in pretty fine form, Garcia plays with a great Europe '72 Stratocaster guitar tone and Keith plays his best." (Henry Kaiser - DeadBase)

What is it? Shakedown Stream

When is it? Tuesday @ 5pm eastern time

Where is it? mvyradio.com & iTunes

Why is it? ...because we are too old play Twister

The 40th Anniversary on Vinyl !

The Grateful Dead are re-releasing a beautiful new package of music from two of their best albums. Yes, believe it or not, they are on vinyl - time to dust of that old turntable and let it shine! Click here. 

"Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty with THE WARNER BROS. STUDIO ALBUMS, a five-LP boxed set. The collection contains The Grateful Dead (1967),Workingman’s Dead, the original mix of Aoxomoxoa (1969), and American Beauty (1970), plus the original mix for Anthem Of The Sun (1968), available on vinyl for the first time in nearly 40 years."

Phil & Bobby Sing: AT&T Park, 8-9-10

Billy, Mickey & Bill's Kazoo Band, take me out to the ballgame, AT&T Par...

Baseball fans and Deadheads alike may have set a world record last night in San Francisco in honor of Jerry Garcia.

Jerry Garcia - 15 years ago ...

On August 9, 1995, at 4:23 AM, Garcia's body was discovered in his room at the rehabilitation clinic. The cause of death was a heart attack. Garcia had long struggled with drug addiction, weight problems, and sleep apnea, all of which contributed to his physical decline. Phil Lesh remarked in his autobiography that, upon hearing of Garcia's death, "I was struck numb; I had lost my oldest surviving friend, my brother."

On the morning of August 10, Garcia was rested at a funeral home in San Rafael, California. On August 12, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, Garcia's funeral was held. It was attended by his family, the remaining Grateful Dead and their friends, including former basketball player Bill Walton and musician Bob Dylan, and his widow Deborah Koons,who barred Garcia's other two wives from the ceremony.

On August 13, a municipally-sanctioned public memorial took place in the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and was attended by about twenty-five thousand people.The crowds produced hundreds of flowers, gifts, images, and even a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" in remembrance.

On April 4, 1996, Bob Weir and Deborah Koons spread half of Garcia's cremated ashes into the Ganges River at the holy city of Rishikesh, India, a site sacred to the Hindus. Then, according to Garcia's last wishes, the other half of his ashes were poured into the San Francisco Bay. Deborah Koons disallowed one of Garcia's ex-wives, Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia, from attending the spreading of the ashes. (Wikipedia)

Jerry Tribute Set-List

I totally enjoyed hosting this week's Shakedown Stream. The 1st part of our "The Days Between" tribute show for Jerry Garcia focused on the original songs that Jerry co-wrote with Robert Hunter and the boys from the Grateful Dead. I could have streamed for hours and hours, but a "Brokedown Palace" on the end was good. Now on to next week.

The 2nd part of the Jerry Tribute will focus on cover tunes, a mini Jerry Band set, some interviews, CD giveaways and long jamming. In addition, we'll hear some tunes that jammed with other musicians.  Click image to enlarge.