Author: Stuart Constantine Date: 09/25 11:43 AM
ZZZZZZZZZZZ
All of these reviews for different shows sound exactly the same, as I'm sure all of the shows themselves were. Maybe I'm a bad guy but I'll sure be happy when they finally (if ever!) leave town.
Author: Stuart Constantine Date: 09/26 11:24 AM
Not Wrong
I have experienced them. 6 times, from Saratoga to Madison Square Garden to North Carolina. Thank God I finally woke up and got myself out of there, back to the world of NEW music and NEW styles. I've got nothing against the band themselves, they are actually OK sometimes. Its the Deadhead fans whose lives revolve around getting tickets, selling tofu, giving out free hugs and trading tapes that I can do without. The young kids who think they are being so radical by following the Dead, when its actually the most conformist type of behavior and thinking you can get. I also don't like the articles in the newspaper - its a waste of space.
From: David Weinstein
Date: 09/26/91 12:46:51 AM
Subject: The Dead Weds
What IT is...
You could call this a review of Weds nights show or any show for that matter or just my impressions from having seen them twice now and also wanting to explain what IT is to the Nonbelievers!
What is it about The Dead? The music they play is varied and could be described given the names of a variety of musical genres.1 But that doesn't really say anything about the Dead. What IS it about the Dead? Someone came up to me today and said they kindof agreed with Stuart. That the Dead are dead. Boring. She asked how could so many people get into it? Why would anyone go to a concert where the music was as boring as it was on record?2 I asked if she had ever been to a Dead concert. She said no. And we didn't believe Stuart had ever been either. (Until reading his response later in the DB.) To be honest, I was first exposed to The Dead in high school at age 15. I thought the whole thing was boring and how could people like it?!?!? Now. in my late 20's, I am grateful that The Grateful Dead is still around so that when my frame of reference changed to a certain degree, I could go and hear, experience, and appreciate them.
So I can understand how people can think what they do about the Dead never having gone to a concert (or having gone and still not liking it). Either under any influence or not. While enhancing your perceptions probably helps initially, even straight they can be grokked and enjoyed. Because, I think, the Dead have the ability to reach out to people on the subtlest level of awareness and take them beyond the material realm. And it's not for just a few minutes, it is for several hours at a time. The whole culture that follows them around has discovered this realm, and attempts to perpetuate it beyond the concert with a lifestyle and attitude in the here and now and everywhere.
While many analogies may be useful, I prefer to think of the whole thing as Western Musical Yoga. The idea behind Yoga is, through meditation, exercise (hatha yoga), or devotion and service (and other variations), to reach into one's inner being and discover the bliss and oneness of the Self and the Universe. To live in accordance with nature and people and be fulfilled without always relying on things of the material world (for that). Sure, there are many people who find Yoga or the idea of it boring or useless. But that often changes once they experience the results. And also, I think, these people engage in different forms of Yoga without even realizing that that is what they are doing. It's just described by another name.
When the Dead play their music, it sets up a vibration from the subtlest level of awareness, from the underlying field of unity that binds and is the source of all things, and allows people to transcend to another realm that enlivens the most basic level and quality of life .
Now, sure, you could say, well any band does that in other forms within other genres of music like rock and reggae and funk etc. They are all expressions of the diversity from that one underlying unified field of being. However, the difference between the Dead and these other groups is that the Dead reaches into the subtlest level of awareness and thus from there the transcending is accomplished.
Think of the Yin Yang symbol which expresses unity through diversity. Each side expresses a different aspect of life such as light/dark, heavy/soft etc. Though separate, each side contains an aspect of the other and combines to form wholeness. Musically, for example, Heavy Metal can be considered to come from the heavier, darker aspects of this whole. The Dead come from the lighter side of this symbol.3 They embody and express this aspect in its fullness. This is what the people who come and see the Dead are experiencing and attempt to live.
Let me try to describe it: When they go on stage and begin playing it is as if the heavens4 opened up and came down to earth. People transcend to a place where there is only bliss and harmony with everyone and the universe. (Im trying to avoid the cliche'd 60's terms of Peace. Love, Friendship, and Happiness...) Its like the 60's but its now, its the 90's. But it never really WAS the 60's or IS the 90's because what their music expresses is what has always been there. It was only in the 60's that it came out this way. The Dead radiate the oneness of the universe with all beings and by the variety of music they show the diversity of expression that arises from the source of all Being. And people who say the Dead are New every night, sure they play new songs every night, but one could also say this expresses the unlimited ocean of creativity from the unified field that is the source of their music. (Who can get bored with that?)
I do not mean to make the Dead or the whole Deadhead culture sound perfect or anything. Its probably as far from it as anything else is. However the experience of approaching perfection is the experience of a Dead concert.
I explained this is less technical terms to the person who came in my cube this morning. She said yea she understands about different people liking different kinds of music. But what WAS it about the Dead and why people liked them? Was it the EXPERIENCE or the MUSIC? Or both? Were they good musicians? I said it was all of that.
So while someone may not necessarily experience what I have described if they do go see them, this is more an explanation of what it is that people who go and enjoy it DO experience and get out of it.
Now I've opened up a can of worms, haven't I? Is this the Big Flame the music db has been waiting for (next to Stuart's that is...)? Given the variety of music and musical taste expressed in this db? And given some DeadHead(s) may not agree with what I've said? Well, go ahead. The floodgates are open. Flame away...
Notes:
1: The music has its influences in jazz, folk, country, pop, psychedelic
(?), and whatever else. It's mellow and laid back but also energetic at
times. Sometimes it's lightly flowing stream of consciousness and other
times the notes and chords are sharp points of focus in an ocean of
unbounded awareness.
2: One also needs to keep in mind that the concert experience differs greatly from the recording. Its better. You know what I mean. In fact, the Dead employ many different and colorful systems of lighting to change the mood and ambiance. And the sound system is very crisp and lear so you can enjoy what you are hearing. (I like Heavy Metal and loud music but if the sound is muddled and distorted no matter how loud or soft I do not enjoy it.)
3: With regards to Stuart's comments about conformity: Buddha said there are many paths but they are all narrow. In most things even those considered rebellious, there is a certain amount of conformity. Heavy metal which is considered rebellious can be considered conformity because all the metalheads wear leather and other stuff to create the metal look. But conformity to itself and not the mainstream. So it is with Deadheads, and so it is with New Music and New Fashion. On GMA this week they went over the new fashions. Some of it is supposed to be rebellious from mainstream fashion, but really it just incorporates elements of the mainstream in different ways. The only way to be truly rebellious is to go live in a cave! But even that it is not unique cause I think there are plenty of people who do that anyway. How can any New Music be considered rebellious or new when so much of it is a synthesis and outgrowth of what's already gone before? I think its "new" cause someone is doing it in a way that someone hasn't necessarily put together in that exact way. But it and any music is also new to anyone who has not heard or experienced it before. And they say the Dead is new everynight cause they play different stuff.
Now, as to Yin and Yang and The Dead and others with respect to conformity. Metal, the Yang, is the dark side and its followers wear black and leather. The Dead, the Yin, is the lighter side and its followers wear brightly colored shirts and other apparel. While I may like metal and have been to many concerts, I can certainly say that ,while some people make fun of the Dead's followers, it is vastly refreshing change to feel the warmth and friendliness of these people and the music than to feel like a wolf among a pack of hungry wolves and the cool, savage edge they radiate.
I think the way the people of these different groups dress and act and the music reflects the tenor of their lives. Most of the heavy metal people are the angry working class (aside from middle class teens in the throes of hormones etc which is also expressing this same frustration and anger with the world and society etc) distressed with their lot in life and what has prevailed upon them and the subsequent social order it has engendered. I'm not going into detail about that. The Deadheads are quite the opposite. Their dress and attitude and music reflects an understanding of the inner bliss and happiness from knowledge of the Self and the Universe and its unity despite a cold, harsh, cruel world. Individually they decided to be rebellious against mainstream society and came together in a community of outsiders. They are insiders within their own community. But as I said before, within any social order whatever it happens to be, there is a certain amount of conformity.
4: When I mention heaven or the heavens, I do not mean to invoke any Biblical connotations associated with heaven or hell or any related dogma thereof or pertaining to such forthwith. I mean it simply as that which is light etc.
5: I also like plenty of different kinds of music, i.e. not just HM or TD!
-----------------------------------------
Weds night -- aside from all that above, I especially enjoyed Not Fade Away having never experienced it before. It was tremendous! We did not sit in our assigned seats but got there early to subvert security and sat in the lower section next to the floor on Jerry's side. After the first set I had to leave. The security guy would not let me back in. So I had to scheme and subvert security and climb over walls and chairs to get back to where I was. I think I was back there in 5 or ten minutes. I haven't done anything silly like that in years. It was fun.
At halftime I went to the bathroom. There were plenty of girls/women IN the men's room on line. As I waited in line there was a guy behind me with a scottish accent talking to the girls in line. They asked where he was from and he said Scottland. They didn't believe him so he showed them his passport and detailed with the stamps in it where he had seen the Dead. They asked what he did for living and he said he folowed the Dead. This got into a bigger and livlier discussion and soon I and a bunch of people were interjecting comments and laughing hysterically. (This doesn't happen at metal concerts so its new to me!)
Happy Stuart?
Author: Eric Schaub Date: 04:09 PM Today
Far %&$#@! Out!
David,
What a trip! I can't stop laughing! You've grasped more of the Dead scene in two shows than some people will ever grasp in a lifetime! (But then some people would say, "Who gives a shit?!") Anyway, it was indeed a real treat and an honor to 'turn you on' to the Dead (I don't mean to presume that I turned you on - the Dead and the scene obviously did.) I had a great time with you on Saturday and Wednesday when we went to your first shows. I don't care what negative stuff people have to say about the scene - if people can't understand the comradery outside, then I feel sorry that they have never opened themselves up enough to see these people beyond the tie-dyes, the vegetarian burritos, the hugs (though I can't understand why that would be so offensive or why some people have hangups about it), and the gypsy style of living many of these people have chosen.
It takes a hell of a lot of guts to live on the road, and most of these people don't even get into the shows. But when the chips are down, I've found that these people are right there to help you out - because they have been there before! Plus, let me just say, New England and New York City are not exactly the healthiest environments for this type of festival. Go see the Dead out West - go to Alpine Valley, Teluride, or even Oakland and you'll see a completely different scene and completely different mood. In the mean time, I'm just thankful that this kind of thing has managed to survive no matter how much oppresive pressure has been put upon it. What is keeping this alive is not easily snuffed out - even though there are many that see no redeeming value in it, I think they are the ones that don't know what they are missing whether they ever see a show or not.
Author: Jim Flynn Date: 09/27 02:34 PM
The bus came by and he got on...
Now lets see how long it takes for him to start suffering from St. Stephen's Syndrome. That's where if they play twelve nights within 200 miles of where you live, you go to every night because you just KNOW that the night you don't go is the night that they're finally going to play St. Stephen again. Its the number chronic disease of DeadHeads everywhere, followed closely by Cosmic Charlie Syndrome.
This is what your "friend" Eric has gotten you into, David. Think about it... cryptic mail order instructions, two day long ticket lines for box office, the agony of getting shut out, the cost of air fare to the Greek's, Shoreline, Red Rocks, Telluride, Alpine Valley, New Year's, those days when you really need a miracle, and on and on. Stuart may have managed to get off the bus but I think there's no hope for you from the sounds of your responses. At least you'll be among friends.
Author: David Weinstein Date: 10:21 AM Today
Cult
I know. I'm lost in a cult. I never thought it would happen to me.
Pray for me...
:-)
Author: Jim Flynn Date: 09/27 01:10 PM
Thursday's second set...
was definitely an all-time for song selection. I've been to over 200 shows and this one ranked right up there for the material they played. It seems like Thursday was American Beauty night and Wednesday was Blues for Allah night. Still waiting for a repeat of a Live Dead night, though (seen them do Dark Star -> St. Stephen -> Eleven five or six times). That St. Stephen tease they did before Attics was nasty. Although they did come close enough to doing it that I think they probably will re-introduce it to their play lists some time this year. Oh well, I can always hope.
###