Post for Tony Hogan

The ungrateful living

This blog, having no formal direction, might well be the journal of a lost soul, living outside the box but trying to think inside the box as people who live inside but think outside do well for themselves but those who live outside are usually aliens like myself. Thinking inside the box does not come naturally but to live in an inside the box world means one needs to be able to think like insiders to be able to mesh. Jerry Garcia, one outsider who made it on his own terms until they eventually overcame him, is the subject of this blog entry.

Despite having a copy of Anthem of the Sun purchased around 1968-9 in Sydney and being a big fan of the Mars Hotel album I could hardly be considered a deadhead. Phil Gottenschick once gave me a Sam Cutler biz card which I dearly loved till I misplaced it somewhere, but I still thought of Jerry and the boys as somewhat untidy and a bit too loose at times, although Jerry's unique guitar sound was a personal signature second to almost none.

However, last evening or the one before a friend and I were YouTubing the hours away and he searched for Greatful Dead. Afer a couple of the usual dead style music tracks he said "What's this Terrapin Station?", I replied, "Grab it, I heard that once, somewhere and really liked it."

Well lo and behold, it turned out to be better than I remembered. If Stairway to Heaven was the best that Zeppelin could turn out (some would argue Kashmir) and if Goats Head Soup was the Stones best album, Concerto de Arunjez at Sydney Opera House was John Williams at his best, Astrakan Cafe Anour Brahem's best album, and Comfortably Numb was Floyd's best track, again others might argue Money, personally I like the sax in Us and Them, but I do digress and humbly offer profuse apologies.

So following this line of thought, I thunk to meself that this Terrapin Station would have to be the best that the Grateful Dead ever came up with (yes, despite Trucking and Casey Jones), and with over 55000 hours of Jerry Garcia recorded - yes that's true, the Dead almost never stopped touring for 30 years and just about every concert was recorded (Nice trivia?) - that's quite a big trump card to be the best in a deck of that size.

Anyhow I leave you to make up your own mind about this track, but I still like it heaps.




Dark Stars follow a dead course

Also I give full marks for this version by Dark Star Orchestra (with a name like that they gotta be deadheads)

They can't match the Dead, maybe they could be zombies if they tried, but I think that they might find a place in music history eventually despite that young rhythm guitarist's lack of confidence in the beginning.



AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON (read Hare Krishnas) said that as a man thinks he speaks. Well, it ain't hard to figure out what's been on my little biddy mind today.

Bless all souls
cha
Terrence