Tag Archives: Mickey Hart

Hippie womannoteeth

Being that I have selective dyslexia as well as ADD whenever I just don’t feel like paying attention, along with the corporate names that have stolen the names of our favorite venues, at first sight I thought Dead & Company were playing The First Viagra Center in Buffalo. I figured the band should really be UP for this one! My immediate memories of The Buffalo area take me to Rich Stadium in the Summer of 89 and 90. I had my share of terrific moments in that neck of the woods. Speaking of memories, I couldn’t help but reflect on the 30th Anniversary of my first show yesterday. It took place at The Meadowlands on 11/11/85. The first memories from that experience are the Walking The Dog opener and the first thing that hit me like a ton of bricks was Garcia’s backup singing. His voice seemed to break through everything else and completely fill the arena in a way that was totally unlike any of the other voices I heard. The next thing that really hooked me, like John Mayer, was the opening licks of Althea which was played last night in Buffalo as well. It felt as though my entire being, along with all of its contents, hung on the fat string of Garcia’s guitar. As a 15 year old studying intensely for the Acid Test, I could hear my brains sautéing like garlic and onions in olive oil throughout the night. As Garcia took his solos it sounded like he would hit a string with his pick and drop a handful of notes that seemed to fall off of his guitar and onto the floor. He’d use the rest of the solo to systematically and sonically pick them all back up. It was the wildest thing I ever heard in my life. Well once again, that shit didn’t happen last night but Althea was good. By intermission I was talking with my friends about a plan to pay our way across the country to join the greatest musical transformation society that ever existed. It’s hard to believe 30 years have passed since my internal compass was directed to Terrapin and from that moment on I’ve been Forever Grateful, Forever Dead.

I don’t know about you but I’m really happy that our favorite musicians finally have a band that sounds better than the Dark Star Orchestra. While their current repertoire isn’t nearly as vast, the music is bringing the community to the places we’re accustomed to traveling and last night was no exception. The first set was good because of Althea, Here Comes Sunshine, El Paso and other songs that you really liked but I failed to mention. John and Oteil are keeping everyone else more interested in what’s going on and as long as they remain as plugged in as they are, the music will evolve and become better every day. One of the many interesting things that exist in Grateful Dead Land is the wide range of emotional characteristics on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, contained within US. Getting into the gang is no easy task but once you’re in we’ll love you forever! Just ask Hornsby! When the project with Mayer was announced, his name may as well have been Manson. There’s no cast of folks more judgmental than US(Totally judgmental statement). The shit that was thrown around about Mayer was almost as over the top as the praise being heaped on him now. There’s the interesting part that shows how extreme most of us are in our personality traits. Just as there’s no more judgmental of a bunch, in contrast there’s no more forgiving of a bunch. Every accusation that was previously brought up regarding Mayer has been completely forgotten as he’s officially become one of US. Once you’re one of US, there’s no escape. Regardless of what John creates in his future as far as music goes, there will always be a few people in tie dyes spinning up front at his future shows. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that in Terrapin Nation, we can’t stand you until we absolutely love you! Hilarious!

Since Blues has always been one of my favorite genres of music, I was pretty happy about Mayer coming on board from the beginning. How many times have I mentioned that my cousin, Bobby Messano, is a Blues Hall of Famer? Too many probably but it’s something to be proud about. He’s a tremendous guitarist and would be great with Dead & Company. He’s not pretty like John but he’s got crazy chops. Poor guy would be mutilated as soon as he was announced for every day of every month that preceded the shows. Then he would spin your mind on the first night and be hailed as King. That’s what has happened for John and with good reason. He’s an outstanding guitarist and he’s beginning to learn how to take it into mind melting mode. His voice is starting to find its way into the tunes as they start to become a part of him. He’s showing some signs of being able to get spacey and broken down a little as was evidenced in last night’s Dark Star. All he needs now is a few more broken hearts, a couple decades struggling with drugs, a near death experience or 2, children that he loves but can’t find the time to father as he’d like because of the demands put on him by a society of people that he feels somewhat responsible to and the death of a bunch of people he’s really connected with and he’ll have the depth through which Garcia’s sound emerged… I saw Rob Rennie mention that there was a review that said, “Mayer returns to “Lady With A Fan” beautifully, and with such ease that the tune almost feels like it could be a JM original.” He’s doing great but let’s pump the brakes a little. While I’m not afraid to admit that I actually like some of his mainstream tunes, John doesn’t have an original that even vaguely borders on the imagery and density and pure lyrical brilliance of Terrapin. Do the words flow from him like cosmic syrup from a psychedelic maple tree like they did from Garcia? Abso fuckin lutely not. Lets not get too carried away…

One thing I’m really looking forward to is John’s next album. This experience will go with him into the studio and I’m looking forward to seeing the continuation of this process through his own work. I think the song catalog he’s learning that was penned by the greatest teller of tales the world will ever know in Robert Hunter will be a key that unlocks a door to massive creativity in his own mind. Hunter’s songs have a relevance that is timeless and so much depth that songs we’ve been singing for decades still find new meaning within the changing stages of our lives and personal development. Your Body Is a Wonderland, not so much… Some of our bodies are more resembling Wastelands…

The second Set in the First Viagra Center was great! Viola Lee is a monstrosity of a song. It lends itself to amazing outcomes and is a platform for inspired jams to leap from. Wang Dang Doodle found a spot in the sandwich and New Speedway really fits this bunch. You remember that jam at the end of Truckin? The jam where the band keeps ratcheting up the tension as the tune spins on its axis. Garcia blasting a whirlwind of notes that get compressed over and over again into the vortex adding one straw at a time onto the camel’s back. Phil is pounding the center of the moment as it winds up like a coil reaching full mechanical tolerance as both drummers keep heaping coals into the furnace of enlightenment. The pressure builds and builds as your brain starts firing off neurological orgasms like the final 2 minutes of a Roman Orgy until at last the camel’s back is broken, the dam is opened and the release of all of that tension comes pouring out powerfully into the entirety of the universe with everyone hitting that money note all at the same time! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!! That shit didn’t happen either but it was good. Dark Start found some spacey air particularly after Drums and Space. China Doll was born through the experience and has always been a menacing yet beautiful Jerry tune. Once again, I recall many a night when Garcia stood firmly in the midst of the menacing haze of The China Doll as the story unraveled and you would have this feeling of powerful trepidation knowing every broken part of you was being brought to the light of self awareness to be dealt with once again. The tears built at times as Garcia reminded us that we were only fractured, just a little nervous from the fall… Relief and a sense of resolution followed as the beautiful harmonies took the prior feelings of internal fear and turned them into a overwhelming sense of inward accomplishment. Yet again, that shit didn’t happen but it was good! Sugar Mags has long been a great way to shake off the Spiritual Surgery of the night and get rejuvenated as we celebrate the journey we’ve been through during the course of an evening. It rained happiness from the stage and everyone in the building got soaked.

Since it was busted out again at RFK, Casey Jones always brings tense smiles to the faces of people that love cocaine. For people that have been strung out on white powders, Casey Jones has been music to board up your house from the inside while listening to. It sounded great and another fantastic party was put on by our friends at Dead & Company. The tour rolls on to Ohio which reminds me to wish Neil Young a Happy Birthday! Tickets are starting to tighten up a little bit since the stellar reviews have prompted the curiosity of many of the faithful. Folks that already got a dose are rearranging their lives to get another dose as our dysfunctional family reunion parties through its 50th year of music’s finest sounds. If you’re in the NJ area, my pal Scooter is putting on a great party in Morristown on November 13th featuring David Gans as well as The Rumpke Mountain Boys. Potluck Brunch, book signing and jam-with-the-band on
Saturday morning November 14, 2015 as well. To get tickets you can go here or call 908-229-1214 with any questions. I’m gonna check that out for sure! Maybe I’ll see ya there.

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)

@gd50th on Twitter
The Official Home of Unofficial grateful Dead News and Grateful Dean on Facebook

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I wonder how many people are having the conversation in their head rehearsing how they’re gonna break it to their employer and family that they’re quitting their job and leaving until January? Dead & Company’s show at MSG last night was the kind of experience that has caused US to do absolutely illogical things for 50 years now. The music was magic the Garden was electric and it was all totally free! Tickets were abundant and being handed out like “Cash For Gold” flyers on the streets of Manhattan. Surprisingly enough I didn’t hear shit about the Robin Hood Foundation all night. More people begged me for money on the walk to the Garden than when I got in. I don’t know how Robin Hood benefited from the show but if they were just sewing karmic seeds, that crop will be a real abundant motherfucker! I’d like to encourage everybody that enjoyed that masterpiece, absolutely free of charge, to make a donation to an organization you believe in. Maybe Robin Hood, maybe somewhere else but give it in total gratitude.

I had the misfortune of spending half of the first set with a couple of young female John Mayer fans next to me. They knew nothing about anything else but made really loud comments like, “OH MA GOD HE’S SOOOOOO CUTE!” every single time John was on the video screen. Mayer, who had a bandana around his head like Olivia Newton John in Grease, is apparently bringing sexy back to Dead Land. I wonder if his fans will be equally as aggravating to him once he spends the next couple of months with US. The crowd for tonight’s show was considerably different than what we’ve become accustomed to. I’m glad a new generation is getting a chance to experience a piece of the greatest musical voyage in history. I just wish they would shut the fuck up when the band is playing. We just have to love em all up as best we can I guess.

Continuing a tradition that goes back a long time with huge events broadcast to the whole world, Weir forget a healthy portion of the words to the first three songs. From the first blast signaling Shakedown the party was on and the Garden reverberated with decades of memories in that building that will continue to be experienced long after we’re all dead and gone. The Miracle that followed didn’t seem to suffer from the slowed down change of pace that many other tunes have. It was powerful and kept the waves rolling in the sea of joyous humanity that were all Miracled into the Garden. The lyrics in I Need a Miracle are a little different now coming from Weir. “I Need a woman ’bout twice my age”. A woman twice his age is a fuckin mummy. Regardless, it was great and the energy continued to build.

John did a great job with Cold Rain and Snow and that brother is gaining fans in a hurry. Every song he takes on, he does completely balls out with reckless abandon. After all, remember your first few shows? You absolutely loved every single song and danced as hard as you could from beginning to end. Every show was a tremendous experience. Find people that started in 94 or 95 and they’ll tell you they were great years. That’s all I’m gonna say about that… Once we got the first hundred or two shows under our belts, we became the Siskel and Ebert of Grateful Dead Land. Look, I’m doing it right now… What an asshole!

TLEO was good and gave old people a chance to rest a little. Jack Straw was moving much too sloooooow ooooh ooh ooh oooooh until it took off like a Mayer Fan during Space. It found its middle and finish in explosive form as the band was ripping through those old runs with complete command of the moment led by Oteil whose name has now been remembered by my phone when I write. Autocorrect officially declares every word that starts with an O should be Oteil and with good reason! Brother was plucking, thumping and laying it down like he has 8 fingers on each hand all night long! It seemed like there was supposed to be another tune after Jack Straw because the guys looked a little confused when Weir said, “We’ll be back in a little bit”. It appeared as though the rest of them expected to play at least one more. I guess Bob had to piss really bad or something…

The second set is a story that dreams are made of. The moments we’ve experienced for decades that contain the invisible and mystical ingredient that moves the songs passed music and into the realm of molecular transformation. The first notes of Help On The Way are like the gun fired to begin an Olympic Event. In seconds the venue moves from the hushed and confusing conversations of others to a full blown volcano of sound that begins to rip the unnecessary external husks from your being. I don’t know if it translated to those viewing at home but The jams were wicked and old school, decorated by just the right amount of new school. Slipknot turned round and round like a sonic tornado and sounds were heard deep within the jam that couldn’t even be attributed to any of the instruments. The magical invisible ingredient was playing the band from above-> down and from inside-> out. The music started dancing through me absolutely cleansing my thought world and removing unnecessary fragments of the ego as I danced like a hermit crab completely free of its shell. You’d look to the video screen and Mickey would be hitting shit with a couple plungers in his hands that were covered by gloves given to him by a famous mouse from Disney. Look on the screen a little while later and he’s hitting shit with tennis rackets… Look a little while later and he’s hitting shit with wrenches. That brother has all kinds of shit to hit his shit with! The jam was changing US dramatically and was as good as many I’ve heard throughout our illustrious history.

I’m pleased to report that the transition from Slipknot to Franklin’s was much improved and suddenly I was becoming the MC Hammer of Grateful Dead Land. The Franklin’s had all of US moving in a way that only Franklin’s can. Outsiders to the scene got sucked into the sonic stew as the rest of US created a vacuum of unbridled joy that nobody can escape. THIS is why we do what we do and go to the lengths we go to hoping to be in the building when THAT shit goes down!

He’s Gone was beautiful and I know we all think about one guy when we hear it and that guy is definitely not Mickey’s dad. It was powerful and beautiful and perfect for the moment and I was immersed in the energy and vibration of the experience. That’s when the St. Stephen notes emerged from the melted down pile of emotional debris that He’s Gone left behind. It turned every tear of reflection into a tear of absolute jubilation. It was massive and perfect. Every human within the distance of your sight became a treasured friend as we experienced this mind melting, face stealing moment together. Each verse and each jam pumped more and more happiness into the room. We all become dispensers of hope and clarity and transformation and the contents of our hearts were rearranged to their proper places as our life experience echoed throughout time and space overlapping with one another’s in perfect harmony. Ladies and gentlemen, that shit doesn’t happen at a John Mayer concert but John Mayer sure can help that shit happen around here! It was the moment of moments so far on this tour and will be remembered and talked about in all of our Dead & Company memories.

Drums and Space cleared out the tourists, Amex Hot Shots and people that only came to see John and left us with more room to complete our transformation together. The Other One came out of space like a meteor and suddenly I was dancing like hell trying to escape from the invisible web being weaved through the music. Bill was KILLIN it! Jeff was KILLIN it as he does EVERY night, John was KILLIN it, Mickey was KILLIN it, even if we can’t hear what the hell he’s doing while playing by that time with a pair of knotted up socks I think. It was fast and furious, potent and entirely consuming.

The meteor blazed through and as it departed left the fragments of Stella Blue behind. Beautiful… Tasteful… Rich with profound imagery and applying the final glaze on the pottery of our souls with the soothing qualities of cool water and aloe. Weir was tremendous and John was perfectly restrained throughout. Jeff is the unsung hero except for when I’m singing about him or my friends in the FOJC Facebook page. Regardless of where the jams wander or the potential of the players to get lost in the experience, Jeff’s command of the material as well as the moment is always a guide post that can be relied upon in any and all circumstances. If you get totally lost in the moment, listen for Jeff, that brother isn’t lost! He’ll get you back in the right direction.

Not Fade Away was a perfect way to end the set and left us all revitalized in our life experience and infused with new hope for our cumulative futures. Tremendous jams rolled over and over again as Dead & Company blasted another cover that was completely stolen and owned by our favorite musicians like so many others. I’m pleased to report that our chant at the end improved dramatically! I still think with some time and repetition WE can improve but this time around was much better than Albany.

In another chapter of “Go Fuck Yourself” here’s to the pathetic inhabitants and government leaders of Frown Town that cry “cash grab” or do nothing but complain about the current status of Grateful Dead Land. On behalf of everyone having the time of our lives, Go Fuck Yourself! I mean that in the kindest most loving and completely transformational way. You can hop off of the Asshole Wagon anytime you want and start enjoying the party. Our favorite musicians are absolutely as hot as they’ve been in a long, long time and are creating moments that stand up against many of the years of our past and even surpass a few of the moments from 93-95. That should cause a riot for some.

My reviews will be much more sporadic as the tour rolls on since this is basically a really time consuming hobby. Our favorite musicians probably should hire me to document the journey. I’m not sure they would appreciate my material as much as some of you do. I’ll be checking in when time permits but thanks for following the Official Home of Unofficial Grateful Dead and Music News and thanks for such an overwhelming amount of kindness and support along the way. We have an exciting future and I’ll continue putting stuff out as regularly as possible. The first few shows of Dead & Company have shown US that there’s a bunch more rabbits left in that hat! What’s happening in our community is pulsating with new life and incredible energy. Love you long time and Not Fade Away!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)
@gd50th Twitter
Grateful Dean and The Official Home of Unofficial Grateful Dead and Music News on Facebook