GD 5/15/77 & 5/17/77

The shows for today are a continuation are the Spring Tour of 1977.  This tour is considered one of the best.  The first show (5/15/77) features the very first Iko Iko.  The next show (5/17/77) has the finest version of  Jack-A-Roe ever performed.  In a year that has so many great performances, it truly is hard to pick out the shiny examples.  This is what I would like to focus on instead of my shortcomings.  After all, it really is about the music.  This is my lifeblood.


Music for today:

Grateful Dead
May 15, 1977
St. Louis Arena
St. Louis, MO
listen here
The copy that I have is a Charlie Miller remaster.  Since it is not available at LMA, this recording will come close to the sonic quality.

Grateful Dead
May 17, 1977
Coliseum
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL
listen here

The Time Has Come

A major change will take place as of today.  It is high time that I no longer bother you with my personal (or lack of a personal) life. I will continue to tell you about the shows that I am listening to though.  I do want to share the following poem that summarizes my life as I leave it on the sidelines.

The Men That Don't Fit In by Robert William Service

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.

These songs should tell you where its at: "Turn Out The Lights."  The next is "The Song is Over."  And lastly, the song to finish it all up "When the Music is Over." 

Music for today:

Grateful Dead
 May 9, 1977
War Memorial Auditorium
Buffalo, NY
listen here

Grateful Dead
May 13, 1977
Auditorium Theater
Chicago, IL
listen here

The Bridge

Last November when I started this project, I was not in my right mind.  I had a real bad thought go through my mind that could have been fatal.  It consisted of going out in a blaze of glory.  I was to go on the trip to great beyond.  My goal was San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.  The sense of being grandiose is something that I didn't think I had until this came along to bother my mind.  I had heard of a documentary that a film make had made about this phenomenon.  It is called The Bridge.  The fact that I have bipolar disorder is the key to all this misery.  Here is another that has this kind as well.  Yeah, I know I am beating a dead horse with all this morbid talk.  This is the "why" people don't like to deal with us.  This includes major religions as well.  We are the scourge of the world.  The hungry of the world can be fed, but the mentally ill will always be ill. There is no real cure.  Patients wears extremely thin when dealing with us.  How many telethons or major fundraisers have you ever heard of for the mentally Ill? Zero!  There are no major concerts scheduled anytime soon either.  I am not asking for vibes or prayers, because that would be asking too much of any one.  We are just on the edge.  It is like the old question that is asked often, "Am I threat to my self or others?"  At this point  the answer is "No." So it is onward and upward out of one abyss and on to the next.  The song that comes to mind is "China Doll."  Here are the annotated lyrics for the song.  The other song that comes to mind is one that actually helps through the bad times.  It is called "Stone Blue" by Foghat.  Then of course, we have the the quintessential song by The Beatles "Help."

Music for today:

Grateful Dead
May 8, 1977
Barton Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
listen here

'Tis Darkest Before The Dawn

Having ventured into uncharted waters of life, it is a bitter pill to swallow alone.  I would like to claim for the record that besides the help that I get at the VA, my family and the part time job I am pretty much alone most of the time.  I thought about being a monk once, but I really couldn't get my head around a religion that doesn't want me.  I thought about friends in the self-help groups that I had belonged to for so many years, but all they were interested in was themselves.  Women wouldn't want a fat, jobless man, so why would they want me?  My health has gone south.  I am not happening nor am I hip.  I am just here counting time before it strikes midnight.  There was once a story about a guy who gets chased by a ferocious animal over a cliff to a waiting branch.  Below the man are a pile of razor sharp rocks.  This man is trapped between the rocks and the ferocious beast.  On the branch is the prettiest flower that he has ever seen. He scoots himself over and breathes in the wonderful aroma.  It is the best thing that he has ever smelled in his life. This is the perfect analogy of my life. The tunes that I would like to share can be seen through a different perspective.  The first is "Wish You Were Here."  The next is "Fearless."  At the end of the this song, the throng are singing a particular song "You Will Never Walk Alone";  here is the same song done with the full weight of the crowd behind it.  I just wish our crowds were that enthused at our football games.

Music for today:

Grateful Dead
May 7, 1977
Boston Garden
Boston, MA
listen here

Just Another Day

I had a huge rant that I wanted to post, but at the risk of alienating some readers, I deleted it all.  Negativity breeds all sorts of real bad feelings.  This was one of those.  You don't need to witness a complete meltdown.  It isn't very pretty.  Suffice it to say that there is a forum that I had belonged that ignores my posts.  I am doing the most humane thing by leaving it completely.  The bookmark is now gone.  I will leave it with the following "Positively 4th Street" by Bob Dylan.

Music for today:

Grateful Dead
May 4, 1977
The Palladium
New York City, NY
listen here

Grateful Dead
May 5, 1977
Veterans Memorial Coliseum
New Haven, CT
listen here