About Last Night

Hell may freeze over, but here I am. A new man. (Call it my epitaph for JGMF.) But I am going to post about the Post-Jerry-Garcia-Grateful-Dead-Cinematic-Universe (PJGGDCU). Just read Selvin 2018 for a sense of things. I think Thoughts On The Dead coined an acronym for this which is of course canon. I am just goofin'.

I have been mostly lukewarm, and so not paid much attention, to all of the members' doings since 1995. Phil in April 2000 from the 3rd row was utterly antiseptic, all brain and no soul. Ratdog in whatever year I went to the Tower Theater, we left at setbreak. Man needs his sleep. I never saw any of the others, I don't think, until Dead & Co., which I have seen a number of times because they come to me at Folsom Field. I have enjoyed those days in Colorado and grooving around, but the music was mostly incidental.

All that said, last night at Folsom Field was the first time I have felt the magic since I was in the same space as Jerry, that being:

GD August 14, 1991 at Cal Expo in Sacramento; and
GD December 28, 1991 in the Coliseum Arena in Oakland

Both were good, though I am not a fan of Vince's sound. The main thing was that I had to shift my energy to new things.

32 years later, I felt just a little bit, a flash, of that same ol' magic. I did the whole weekend volunteering with campus Guest Relations to wristband folks with floor seats for the first set, then free to roam in the second.

It was absolutely wonderful. If you have talked to me for 1 minute, you know I love Colorado with all my heard. I love Boulder. You know I love the University of Colorado Boulder. You know I love My People: Scholars, Students, Staff, Heads and Other! And you know I LOVE music.

It was all that! I think I may now be up to the mountains for some backpacking.

So He Goes Nowhere

https://archive.org/details/gd1980-06-08.SonyECM250.walker-scotton.miller.88452.sbeok.flac16

This fileset is great - awesome tape by Joani Walker. It also includes a few great tracks from the Warren Zevon set and a post-show interview with Bob Weir. Here's an interesting little exchange, 24 minutes into the interview, or thereabouts.

Bob: "Garcia, who's really visible for miles ... he can't go anywhere. He gets absolutely no peace anywhere. So he goes nowhere. He stays with his friends, and that's about it."
Interviewer: "And people are still 'Captain Trips'ing him."
Bob: "Yeah."
Interviewer: "That must be, in a way, a kind of Hell, the times that that happens that he doesn't want it."
Weir: "Well, on the other hand he's sort of architected his life around that, and lives quite comfortably within the confines of the existence that he's more or less constructed for himself. He practices a lot, he writes. He hangs out with his close friends."

Weir sounds full of regret that this is Jerry's circumstance. I note that and note that this was Garcia's reality, part of the Burden of Being Jerry as observed by Bob, already by 1980.

GD September 3, 1972, Folsom Field, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO

I have posted on this show once, but only to link these breathtaking photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34917706@N07/sets/72157622061027813

Photos, I gather, by Joe Calvin.

I have always thought there's a dissertation or book to do about music at colleges and universities. Corry has hipped me to their importance in economy, among other things. The Dead in Boulder is a great case study. But, no time!

Links:
http://www.dead.net/show/september-3-1972

GD: September 3, 1972, Folsom Field, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34917706@N07/sets/72157622061027813

8/28/77 update

updated--see below

In an earlier post I had asked about a show scheduled for Folsom Field at CU-Boulder on August 28, 1977. Turns out it was for a festival known as "Sun Day" (this being Sun Day 3), with the following on the bill: Willie Nelson; Emmylou Harris; Dave Mason; Jerry Jeff Walker; Stillwater; Jerry Garcia. This was going to be co-organized by Feyline and the CU Program Council. I originally became aware of this through a Calendar listing in Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, August 27, 1977, p. 22D.

The Boulder Daily Camera had one earlier mention that I found, regarding a hassle about the provision of emergency medical services (Linda Cornett, "Ambulance Debate Rises in Plans for CU Concert," Boulder Daily Camera, August 14, 1977, p. ??)

This didn't sink the gig, though, at least not according to published reports. It turns out that an illness in the Willie Nelson group and "personnel issues" in the JGB led to the cancellation. The notice speculates that these latter are in connection with Tutt and Elvis, the latter of whom died a bit before the scheduled gig. It also notes, however, that ticket sales had been slow. May have been win-win-win all around to cancel it. For the skinny, see "Big Concert Canceled; Borrow Some Records," Boulder Daily Camera, August 19, 1977, p. 17.

I plan on poking through the Program Council archives to see if there's more to the story, just for giggles.

update--here is the article

8/28/77?

NB: question resolved, update in separate post.

A calendar listing in Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, August 27, 1977, p. 22D, indicates a show on Sunday, August 28, 1977 at Folsom Field in Boulder featuring Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Dave Mason, Jerry Jeff Walker, Stillwater and Jerry Garcia.



I am going to check the Denver/Boulder papers for this. Stay tuned.

CU as "public authority"

From the Colorado Daily:

CU may take yet another step to free itself from controls imposed by the state of Colorado. The university may file to become a “public authority,” a public corporation contracted by the state to fulfill a public benefit or service. CU is currently an “enterprise,” a governmental organization that executes state power and responsibility. Moving from an enterprise to a public authority would loosen CU from limits imposed by the state.

Also found this little tidbit interesting:

"Colorado is ranked 48th in the nation for higher-education funding as a share of personal income, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities."