"One Way or Another, This Darkness Got to Give"

"Do we keep on coming or stand and wait with the sun so dark and the hour so late?" 

Hey now, Unbroken Jane here, guest blogging at Jer Bear's invitation. He asked a little while ago what song I think would be appropriate for the month of December and without hesitation I said "New Speedway Boogie".  In more ways than one, darker days are upon us. Each year the first three weeks of December mean less and less sunlight until the Winter Solstice. This year it happens at 4:44 AM Eastern Time on Wednesday, December 21, so if you start listening to that week's stream at midnight, you'll probably be awake when it happens! 

To welcome the light and keep away the dark, I'd like you to keep these folks in your heart in the weeks and months to come...our Native American brothers and sisters at Standing Rock...our LGBTQ brothers and sisters...our immigrant brothers and sisters...our Muslim brothers and sisters...and anyone that is afraid of the dark. Light a candle, curse the glare and remember...

"One way or another, this darkness got to give..."

NorthWest 1977 & The Wolf

On September 28, 1977, the Grateful Dead returned to the road beginning with four shows in the Northwest - Seattle, Washington & Portland, Oregon. I have to admit, in preparing for this month's theme, I unwittingly discovered that the song "Dire Wolf" was performed at this show for the first time since 10/19/74. I also discovered why they broke out "Dire Wolf" on this night -- it was the same night Jerry Garcia brought out the famous Wolf guitar. I was so stoked to learn these synchronistic Dead facts that I decided to devote September to both the song and guitar. I even heard a difference in the music between the guitars Garcia played during the shows of September 1977. Jump into Shakedown Stream and enjoy the sounds of the Wolf guitar in the upper NorthWest Fall Tour 1977 shows. 

Jerry Time

My Apologies

I apologize for the glitche of last week's Shakedown Stream™. Quite frankly, I can't explain it. Hopefully, it will get fixed so we can keep on streaming live Grateful Dead week after week. Ergo, this week's stream will be a repeat of some sort, maybe a 1978 show from the archives. You may have noticed that the archives has been limited too. I apologize again for anybody who donated money friendsofmvyradio.org so as to support the archives. That too will hopefully be resolved as well. Please be patient as we work to get the alignment with the earth's magnetic grid re-aligned. "If I Told You All That Went Down, It'll Burn off both of your little Ears, (Hunter/Garcia)"

July in the Stream

Stay Tuned for more live Grateful Dead shows to play on your back porch in July. Last week's featured show on Shakedown Stream™ of the July 5th, 1978 show from Omaha, Nebraska was quite perfect. It was the first time I ever listened to the show and the Looks Like Rain is my new favorite version. I am so glad that it was finally made available for us DeadHeads to finally listened to it in all it's glory in perfect quality resonance. You can check it out for yourself CLICK HERE

New Grateful Dead songs from 1975

Join us on Shakedown Stream™ this week as we explore some of the Grateful Dead songs that came of out of 1975; Franklin's Tower, Crazy Fingers & The Music Never Stopped. Click on mvyradio.com this week and for the rest of the month as we track the evolutions of these Dead tunes that sprang out of Ace's Mill Valley studio during the Dead's hiatus in '75. 

Attics of My Life

Please join us again for this week's episode of Shakedown Stream™ on mvyradio.com. We are continuing our focus of "Attics of My Life" this month with a featured LIVE DEAD show from the Fillmore West, SF - 1970. Plus, we will begin our review of the new DAY OF THE DEAD release of various artists doing their take on the sacred tomb of Grateful Dead songs. 

"You Know It's True" - 1973 Grateful Dead

"They Love Each Other" (Garcia/Hunter) was performed live 46 times by the Grateful Dead in 1973. A long time listener of mvyradio.com's Shakedown Stream™ suggested we use this song as our theme this month ; a Streamer's Choice. Join us for a special St Patrick's Day presentation of Live Dead from Utica, NY from March of '73.    

"They Love Each Other" (Hunter/Garcia)

We endeavor to theme on our Shakedown Stream this month of March. The conversation is focused on the Grateful Dead's song "THEY LOVE EACH OTHER" (TLEO). Last week, we started our theme with the very first live performance of TLEO from 2/9/73 - Palo Alto, CA. This week, we stream ahead a little bit further "like a diesel train" to 3/28/73 - Springfield, MA. Join us this week and every week as we listen to various versions of the Dead songs we all love on mvyradio.com.  

Mind Left Body jam

We are finishing our month long fundraising drive for Shakedown Stream™ on MVYRadio  this week. Go to friendofmvyradio.org and make a $100 donation or more and we'll enter you in the "Grateful Dead Sweepstakes" to win one of 14 different Grateful Dead prizes. We have CDs, blu-rays and coffee mugs from the Fare Thee Well shows plus more and more. 

The last installment of the "Mind Left Body" jam will feature Portland, Oregon from May of 1974 on http://www.mvyradio.com. 

"Your Mind Has Left Your Body"

"Your Mind Has Left Your Body" is a song that is said to have come out of the January 1971 sessions at Wally Heider's studio in San Francisco, CA. Musicians such as Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, Jack Cassady & Jorma of Jefferson Airplane and Phil Lesh, Billy Kreutzman, Mickey Hart and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and David Freiberg of QuickSilver Messenger Service come together with David Crosby & Graham Nash of CSN&Y to play some fine music. Please join me this week on Shakedown Stream™ to hear the Planet Earth Rock n Roll Orchrestra (PERRO) session from Jan. 1971. We'll hear the earliest versions of Garcia's "Loser" and most notably "Mountain Song" which was later brought back to life by Phil Lesh with Further. Check out this week's Stream @ CLICK HERE 

Blizzard Delay

This week's Shakedown Stream will by delayed due to the Blizzard on Martha's Vineyard. No worries though. We are continuing to make the connections between the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane in honor of Paul Kantner. In addition, we'll hear Kantner's original version of "Your Mind Has Left Your Body" with Jerry Garcia and friends. Then we'll check out some of the Dead's first live performances of Mind Left Body starting with 1972 and furthur into 1973. 

Check out last week's episode where we enjoyed Ground Hog Day with some of Kantner's songs with the Airplane and his solo stuff with Grace Slick and Jerry Garcia & the Boys on EPISODE #417.

Althea - this space is getting Hot!

Happy New Years ! By popular demand, the fans of Shakedown Stream have asked for more of Grateful Dead themes every month. Well, well, well ... the 2016 year starts off with a "theme stream" of the song Althea. It is a symbolic tune for me because I got on the Bus during the "Go To Heaven" time period. Join us next week as we explore ALTHEA and how it evolved throughout the Dead's 30 year run, plus recent versions. Right On - let's have a sweet year. Peace, Jer Bear