E72 post 07

It's fun listening to these things in such a way that I can't note times or what have you. I retain a lot less information, but maybe I enjoy the music more than I would if I were taking notes.

4/29/72 con't
I really liked the Dark Star > Sugar Mag > Caution - what's not to like? The Star has a huge, focused, "feelin' groovy" piece that I like, but that more cynical Deadheads love to hate. I think it's good clean fun. This is really the only era during which I can listen to Sugar Magnolia. My vague sense is that I found the Caution less compelling than some of others on the tour, but I dunno.

5/3/72 in Paris
Context here is that, a) I am a raving Francophile, and b) I spent a lot of time with this show in the late 1990s, when it came to CD traders as a Honeymoon Tape.

This show is just amazing on every level. The band just comes at the crowd in waves and waves and waves, and inexorably the crowd is swept long. The tape sounds incredible, somehow better than the rest, and the band seems especially focused and tight, vocals all really clean. Bertha is a good example. China > Rider is very near perfection here, quite distinct from an earlier one on the tour, or maybe more than one (can't remember which), which didn't quite click, wanting to get to the big '73'74 transition jam, which wouldn't fully materialize for another 11 months, but not quite there. This one, by contrast - sharp as a razor.

"He's Gone" has verses mostly in correct order, as I understand it. A few of these iterations (all?), he sings that he "lost two rounds", rather than one. Since Hunter has said this tune is about Lenny, I wonder if there was another ripoff in reference? It's also possible Jerry just forgot or preferred it this way for singing purposes. They are also putting a little meander on the end that will, before long, for the trunk of long explorations that would especially connect to Truckin' and The Other One in some huge jams in the pre-hiatus Golden Era.

On this night, Truckin' -> Other One is one for the ages, some absolutely incredible interplaying throughout. As I have described it in some of these posts, all six players are playing as well as they ever would, and even Pig's organ work is engaged and inventive. They all throw all kinds of stuff at each other, break off into pairs, reform, etc. Weir hits a few Spanish Jam chords here (he has done so in some of the other jams I have heard on E72), and when he lopes it into Bobby McGee we have just traveled from the edge of the universe to a California highway.

Even after a huge jam, the band has the energy to show off sparkling versions of the new tunes, and to keep pushing each other through a high energy version of the NFA > GDTRFB > NFA medley. Outstanding.

Random question, not sure during what show it came up: why no "Hard To Handle" on this tour? During one of the Pig numbers of these last few shows, I think 4/29/72, Bobby is doing some of the great stuff he used to do in the jammy middle of Hard to Handle, and it reminded me. They stopped doing it in 8/71 when Pig got sick, and never picked it back up again. I would much rather hear it than "It Hurts Me Too", but then it's been said that I don't really get the blues.

Can't wait for the next few shows!

Best no. 47 (June 1972)

Ségo v. Sarko

Not terribly surprising. It was definitely the safest bet, though of course "safe" is not a word one generally uses in connection with predicting French election outcomes.

The FT characterizes this as a return to the classic Left-Right confrontation, which is hard to disagree with. But my sense is that things are more concentrated around the Center, with Le Pen's poor showing and a paltry 1.9% for the PCF candidate.

CNN.com's lead story is, perhaps predictably, a little weird. In particular, there is a strongly gendered dichotomy on offer here. First, this:

The choice is now between two starkly different visions for France -- the pro-American hardline ex-interior minister promising swift change or the first woman with an honest chance at becoming the country's leader, a candidate who is promising a gentler approach to reform.

So, the man is "hard" (or some derivation thereof) and the woman is "gentle"? Hm. Then, this:

Royal, a lawmaker and feminist who says she makes political decisions based on what she would do for her children

Feminism of a sort, I guess.

Anyway, should be an interesting two weeks. If I had to go out on a limb I'd guess Sarkozy takes it on May 6th, but I don't feel particularly confident about it.

GD 19710621 Chateau d'Hérouville

edited 20110903
In January 2007, Hanno Bunjes made a post at his now defunct blog at yurk.net describing the joy of discovering some almost-unseen video footage of the Grateful Dead playing at Chateau d'Hérouville near Paris, France, on June 21, 1971, from the French government's archival copy (Vive la bureaucracie!).

I had a link to that post here, made in February 2007, but linky-no-worky for the defunct blog. So, with Hanno's permission, I am just reposting his post, for posterity, Hanno's original post to posting to yurk.net from January 16, 2007:

I feel like I'm one of the first deadheads in the world to watch this.

The film footage from the legendary Grateful Dead concert in Hérouville (6/21/71) has finally surfaced. For decades it has existed only as a rumor, nobody in deadland claimed to have seen the footage.

How did this come to light now, 35 years after the fact? The French Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA) keeps archives of everything (more or less) ever broadcast on French television and radio. They have started to sell the contents of their archives online. Among them are three editions of "Pop Deux" from 1971 that contain footage from the Hérouville concert*. It's that simple.

You can watch short snippets online, but only € 18 will get you the real thing: high-quality, copy-protected DivX video downloads. You'll only be able to watch them with special players and "authenticated" DVD players. The files are watermarked so that INA will be able to trace any copies to your credit card. I don't think we will see this footage on bt.etree.org anytime soon.

It is worth the hassle though. The footage is a deadhead's wet dream coming true. There are several full-length songs** shot with two cameras in colour, with an interview with Jerry Garcia in between. The stage in Hérouville is set up in what looks to be the inner courtyard of the Chateau d'Hérouville. The small audience seems to consist of French villagers who very likely have no idea of who is playing (the gig was never advertised). They do the right thing and dance - probably not least to fight the cold nighttime air that makes the singers' breath condensate. In short, the film is very well done and captures a unique atmosphere. The finding of this footage is a major event in the dead's long history of taping. The footage should be somehow "liberated" and distributed for everyone to see. For now, unfortunately, it looks like that's not going to happen.

[note 2011- I was obviously wrong about that part]

(Wait until the lawyers find about this one - Pop Deux had some really big names on their show.)

* July 24, October 9, November 27 are the relevant dates that come up when you search for "grateful dead". The other search results do not contain Hérouville footage as far as I can determine from the description.

** Loser, China Rider, Hard to Handle, Deal, Sugar Magnolia and Sing Me Back Home, and others

P.S. After I finished the post I found "http://paris70.free.fr/auvers71.htm">this excellent account of the events at Château d'Hérouville. Read it. Garcia calls it "the group's most exotic gig".

I will be making a full-on post about this gig at some point. In the meantime, thanks Hanno!

Plaidoyer pour la France

Thank you, Rob.