I'm thinking of getting on the wingnut welfare bandwagon. If Not-Joe the Not-Plumber can get a stash, so should I. It's not like it takes brains, talent, or a working knowledge of the English language. If the Dems won't gimme money, the 'pukes just might. And they just love them some turncoats, don't they?
Posted by iamcoyote at November 18, 2008 12:37 PMas much as i loved the mats, the grateful dead was still the best band playing, during the reagan era...
Posted by Turkana at November 18, 2008 12:44 PMBob Mould is da man.
Posted by Simp at November 18, 2008 12:50 PMI'm sorry, but when I take Axl Rose as a serious renewed artistic force, someone should shoot me.
Posted by idiosynchronic at November 18, 2008 01:08 PMI'm sorry, but when I take Axl Rose as a serious renewed artistic force, someone should shoot me.
Thank god I'm not the only one!
Posted by snark at November 18, 2008 01:12 PMSomeone remind me why the Obama Administration is already being deemed a failure before it even exists.
Posted by joel dan walls at November 18, 2008 01:17 PMYou have to be able to read, joel. If you wish to comment, please have someone read the post to you first next time.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 18, 2008 01:23 PMthe grateful dead was still the best band playing,
Bwahahaha! Riiiiight. They had one generic song they played over and over, faster and slower, and the audience was so fucked up, they didn't even realize it.
Thank god I'm not the only one!
Me three! We used Sweet Child o' Mine as an aerobics song.
Posted by iamcoyote at November 18, 2008 01:30 PMThey had one generic song they played over and over, faster and slower, and the audience was so fucked up, they didn't even realize it.
A little harsh I would say... from variations of rock, blues, country, psychedelic, folk, bluegrass, jazz... The Grateful Dead covered it... their improvisation was unmatched. They had one of the largest followings of any artist, while other bands seemed to fade away. Some nights they could bomb, sure, but on a good night, they were the best ever.
Of course, if you were expecting Led Zeppelin, well then, you were in for a disappointment.
Of course, if you were expecting Led Zeppelin,
Uh, if I'd been expecting Led Zep and got what sounds to me like elevator music in their place, I'da been pretty pissed off. But no, I understand people liked Grateful Dead. I just never saw the draw, other than a soundtrack for a nice trippin' experience. Nobody ever mentioned musicianship in conjunction with the Dead. It was always about the drugs.
Posted by iamcoyote at November 18, 2008 02:27 PMUh, if I'd been expecting Led Zep and got what sounds to me like elevator music in their place, I'da been pretty pissed off.
And to think Led Zeppelin copied their sound from Chicago Bluesmen and other English rockers of the day. While the Dead were putting the "acid" in acid rock.
Nobody ever mentioned musicianship in conjunction with the Dead.
Some people paid attention... even through the haze.
Jerry Garcia grew up playing guitar, banjo and taught himself pedal steel. One of his first inspirations was French Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt who like himself was missing some digits... Phil Lesh was a classically trained musician... Bill Kreutzmann was a jazz drummer. The only rookie musician was Bob Weir.
And technically they were innovators as well. They were the first to have their own huge sound system. I think it was called the Wall of Sound.
Not like I can sway you but to give you a fans perspective.
Posted by Seven of Six at November 18, 2008 03:14 PMThanks, SoS, for your perspective! Very helpful. And of course, there's no right or wrong, just what you know and like. And I probably missed the Dead boat only because of the people I hung with and the state (CT of all places) I was in when I finally started rockin' and rollin' and when I started and stopped doin' the drugs. My older siblings did the shrooms and the Dead, so, like when we were talkin' Beatles, they weren't on my list. I swear I really did try to listen, but it just didn't hit me in the gut like it did so many others. I even bought the Wake of the Flood (?) album to try to be cool, but never listened to it. I think I gave it away finally, or else it's in the garage with the Frampton Comes Alive album.
Posted by iamcoyote at November 18, 2008 03:31 PMBob Mould has a terrific blog here -
http://modulate.blogspot.com/
Definitely worth reading.
Posted by Realspear at November 18, 2008 03:47 PMCrap, break that puppy out and listen to "Eyes of the World". Of course the live version was better. ;)
Bob Mould played a show at my college in a large, open hall with a 12-string acoustic guitar and a chair and it was one of the best AND loudest shows I've ever seen.
Loved Sugar too. Wish Sugar would reunite. Or Du.
Last I heard he was writing scripts for the WWF or some fucking thing, but I haven't been reading his blog.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 18, 2008 03:58 PMWe're doomed, we're doomed! Obama is not a progressive! We're doomed! He'll just do all of the stuff Bush did over again!
Oh. Wait.
Release From the American Constitution Society on Eric Holder, Obama's Attorney General Nominee
...the United States must reverse “the disastrous course” set by the Bush administration in the struggle against terrorism by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, declaring without qualification that the U.S. does not torture people, ending the practice of transferring individuals involuntarily to countries that engage in torture and ceasing warrantless domestic surveillance.
“Our needlessly abusive and unlawful practices in the ‘War on Terror' have diminished our standing in the world community and made us less, rather than more, safe,” Holder told a packed room at the ACS 2008 Convention on Friday evening. “For the sake of our safety and security, and because it is the right thing to do, the next president must move immediately to reclaim America's standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.”
For Christ's sake, people, the man is still 2 months away from being sworn in and you are already having canniption fits over what you think he will and won't do.
This isn't your progressive fantasy (or mine either). This is reality. New Presidents generally screw up in their early years. Carter, Clinton, and GWB all got virtually nothing done at first even though their party controlled both houses of Congress. Hell -- GWB actually lost the Senate and was only able to get anythign passed after 9/11.
Obama is a student of history. He knows this. He's focused on RESULTS. He knows he's got to get buy-in from blue dogs in the House and both blue dogs and RINOs in the Senate. Plus he's got a reactionary Supreme Court, at least until one of the Scalia 5 retires or dies. It's a hell of a high wire act. No way in hell can he just march in and turn the U.S. government into a copy of Sweden or Switzerland.
Give the man a f*cking chance.
Posted by Anonny at November 18, 2008 04:31 PMJesus, Anonny. Don't have kittens. We're mostly just talking music.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 18, 2008 04:35 PMJesus, Anonny. Don't have kittens.
Mew. Mew.
Okay, I admit I am mostly responding to the tone of this blog and comments for the past couple days, not just this one post.
Posted by Anonny at November 18, 2008 04:44 PMTo be honest, I haven't even been back here since the election cuz I figured that's what the tone would be.
Let the man make his transition and relax.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 18, 2008 04:57 PMThe musical duo that actually brought tears to my eyes was back in our heavy drinking days when Mick Jagger and David Bowie sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" in 4 part harmony on The Lawrence Welk Show.
Posted by TIKI AL at November 18, 2008 05:45 PMYeah Anonny, they were real pumped up here after the 2006 vote too! All these things that were NOW going to get done....nope
Posted by peter at November 18, 2008 08:41 PMYeah Anonny, they were real pumped up here after the 2006 vote too! All these things that were NOW going to get done....nope
Sigh. You're right. Our dreams will be crushed. Just like after 2006 the Republicans will stop any Democratic attempts at progress with excessive use of the filibuster and the veto.
Oh.
Wait.
Posted by Anonny at November 18, 2008 09:03 PMAnd speaking of Paul Simon, he sang a song on Stephen Colbert tonight, and was great.
An "old friend", indeed.
Posted by TIKI AL at November 18, 2008 10:05 PMStill waiting on that congratulations petie... you still thought Obama was going to lose... he won by a larger margin than anyone could have predicted against you cheating fucks.
Posted by Seven of Six at November 19, 2008 05:54 AMStill waiting on that congratulations petie
Well, at least he does still show up. Unlike some.
Oh where, oh where, has our jj gone?
Oh where, oh where, can he be?
With his ego bruised and his forecast wrong.
Oh where, oh where, can he be?
In 85 the dead were unparalleled in musical talent. Jerry was at his peak Pre coma level, the Phil lesh, the team of drummers, at their peaks as well. Bobby, while he is an acquired taste, was singing quite well without the later forced nature to his voice.
The similarity of sound is simply from the tone of the notes that jerry preferred his guitars designed to. The melodies are different, and the albums had considerable variety. From Workingmans's dead to Blues for Allah, the dead had quite a selection.
I can think of no other band who's set list over an entire summer season was as varied. The fact that radio only plays "truckin", 'sugar magnolia", and a few other with the signature sound should be no indictment of The Dead.
The last two concerts before jerry died really sucked. I met my wife at the third to last show, had 10th row center tickets to the second to the last show (which was cancelled because of crowd idiots trashing the venue wall), and my wife was at the last show which she described as "weak"
Posted by ltgesq at November 19, 2008 02:07 PM