Hello everybody, hope you are well. No shows on the horizon until the mid March Furthur shows, so it’s time for another installment of my super original named series, It Was 20 Years Ago Today. This chronicles the shows I went to 20 years ago, AKA my senior year in high school. Next up Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
I got introduced to the awesomeness that is Young Neil by Rolling Stone magazine. I can’t really emphisize how much of an influence this mag had on my musical tastes and exposure to what was good. You can take issue with some of the cover choices, (Brittany, Beiber, etc) but they do have to sell magazines. When Allen Ginsberg passed away, they had U2 on the cover. Let’s be honest, when the history of the 20th century is written, Ginsberg’s contributions to the culture will dwarf U2’s (although what Bono is doing with his debt relief programs and help for Africa is very good). When the fans buy it to read about U2, maybe a few would have their mind’s eye opened a little bit more by Mr. Ginsberg.
So its announced Neil Young is playing the Cap Centre on Feb. 27, 1991 with Sonic Youth and Social Distortion opening. Neil Young might have the greatest career in rock and roll. This guys had more peaks in his career that the Himalayas. You could argue his entire 70’s catalogue is better than most artist’s entire outputs. First, he was a folkie/rock and roller with his early solo and CSNY albums. Then in the mid 70’s, after turning his back on the commercial gold of the country rock of his hits such as Heart of Gold, he put some incredibly emotionally charged albums. These are known as the Ditch albums, partially inspired by the OD death of his close friend Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry. Neil was once quoted “If you want to put an album on Sunday morning, put on the Doobie Brothers, not Tonight’s the Night. “ These albums dealt with the failure of the 60’s dreams and the carnage that was laid out in its wake.
He returned to form by the late 70’s. How good was he? He was the only “hippie” rock and roller to escape the wrath of the new and exciting punk movement. The 80’s were marked by some really crazy experimental albums covering genres as diverse as electronic, rockabilly, and old school R&B. He was even sued by his record label for making albums that were “unrepresentative” of Neil Young. But as the decade grew long, the spark that burns so brightly in him was about to go nuclear.
In 1987, he released “This Note’s for You”. The accompanying video made fun of the current pop icons (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, etc) for selling out. MTV banned the video, which went on to win the MTV award for Video of the Year. He then released what I believe to be his best album ever, Freedom. Chronicling the state of the union by the end of the 80’s, (much like he did in the 70’s with his album Live Rust and Rust Never Sleeps), Neil declared all other forms of rock and roll irrelevant with his release of the single “Rocking in the Free World.” I really can’t put into words how much this song blew my mind. Below is a link for the performance from SNL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4Pug2cokaw
Here’s another link where Neil bestows his approval on a young up and coming band out of Seattle. This is how he earned the nickname “Godfather of Grunge” I was doing a balloon as this happened live on the TV, and I’m not sure I have yet to recover.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTTsyk-pyd8
Neil then kicks off the 90’s with the album Ragged Glory, which was drenched in feedback and loud distortion, giving everyone a preview of what early 90’s rock and roll was going to sound like. Ever the iconoclast, he had punk band Social Distortion and NYC noise assassins Sonic Youth open on his tour. I can’t remember everyone I went down with, but I do remember they were all from the class of ’92. (Myself I was the class of ’91. Drugs are legal, sex is fun, we’re the class of ’91)
Social D had one hit, Ball and Chain from the album they were promoting and they played a short tight set. Sonic Youth came out and unleashed weird tunings of aural sculptures of noise designed to make you ask, WTF? I bought Goo when I found out they were opening but it really did do much for me. Finally, Mr. Young came out to show us what it was all about.
Neil Young, 2/27/91, Cap Centre, Landover, MD
Intro/Star Spangled Banner, Crime in the City, Blowing in the Wind, Love to Burn, Cinnamon Girl, Mansion on the Hill, Fucking Up, Cortez the Killer, Powderfinger, Love and Only Love, Rockin’ in the Free World, Welfare Mothers, Like a Hurricane
This whole tour was taking place during the first Gulf War, so the atmosphere was rather charged. Huge Marshall amps adorned the stage and Neil took no prisoners. Using the distortion and feedback as another member of the band, Neil laid waste to the audience and the arena. Having only been to 2 shows before this, I was blown away by his energy. He’s a guy in his 50’s singing a song called Fucking Up, which would have deflated the pouffy hairdos of the 80’s hair metal bands. Playing the best of his new release along with some Crazy Horse classics, it was just an amazing show from start to end. I bought a pin that said, “Stop the War” at the Greenpeace table. On the ride home, we heard over the radio that the Iraqi forces and the coalition troops had reached a cease-fire. So as soon as I bought the pin, the war was over. Pretty impressive results for a 5 dollar donation.
I actually have an audience recording of this show. I found it on the etree bit torrent page within the last year. Amazing the things you can find on the Internet.
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD in Rock and Roll
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
2/14/70 The Greatest Day in Live Music History
Greetings. Feb. is almost over which means that spring is just around the corner. I’ve got a full slate of shows coming up in the spring, including 3 Furthur shows, the York County Food Bank benefit, and Redwud’s debut at Kclinger’s. But now it’s time for a something else, mainly the idea that Feb 14, 1970 was one of the best days ever for live music.
What a bold statement from a guy with such a bold beard. Well, don’t worry, I’ve written a check that my brain can cash. This is also a great post because it also takes care of another entry in the award waiting series, My First 20 Tapes. The 3 performances I’ll be focusing on are by the Allman Brothers Band, The Dead and the Who.
The Dead were in the midst of a 3 night stand at the Fillmore East with Love and the Allman Brothers Band opening. Love was a band that came out of LA and made one amazing album, Changes. I’ve only read about said album and don’t have any live stuff so I’m not even gonna talk about them. The ABB had been slowly making a name for themselves but were still relatively unknown outside the South. Their seminal live album, Live At the Fillmore East, was still a year away. Using the blues as a jumping off point, the Allmans just attack the crowd with the opening of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. While their sound isn’t as dense as it would be in a year, the only way to describe it is an assault. The Hoochie Coochie Man and Statesboro Blues deliver a one two punch. Whipping Post doesn’t have the bloat that would categorize it come 1971. Even the Mountain Jam, coming in a relatively short 30 minutes flows like a southern river snaking among the kudzu on a lazy summer afternoon. All of this is based on a recording, ABB, Live at the Fillmore East, Feb 70, which is out of print. Too bad because it shows an amazing band right before they broke big.
While the opening acts were good, nobody could touch what the Dead were throwing down. On Feb 11, the highlight of the show is a 45 minute run of Dark Star>Spanish Jam>Lovelight with members of the ABB sitting in. On the 13, it was Dark Star (30 min)>The Other One (including Cryptical, 30 min)>Lovelight (30 min). Wow 90 minutes of the Dead at the best at what they do. How on Earth could they top that??
2/14/70 Fillmore East, New York, NY
Electric-1: Casey Jones**, Mama Tried, Hard To Handle*
Acoustic: Monkey & Engineer, Dark Hollow*, All Around This World*, Wake Up Little Susie> Black Peter, Uncle John, Katie Mae
Electric-2: Dancin**, China Cat**> I Know You Rider**> High Time**, Dire Wolf**, Alligator**> Drums**> Me & My Uncle**> NFA**> Mason's Children**> Caution**> Feedback**> We Bid You Goodnight**
*appears on "Bear's Choice" **appears on "Dick's Picks Vol 4"11:30 show - first "Dark Hollow"- Bear's Choice shows - billing: GD; Allman Brothers Band; Love
For sake of sanity, I’m just going to talk about the late show on this date. There is still some debate as to whether or not the Dead played early and late shows on this run. As you can see, if you get Dick’s Picks Vol 4 (which also includes the best from 2/13) and Bear’s Choice, you’ll have most of the show. The acoustic portion of the show is fun and loose, clearly showing the band still has something left in the tank on the third night. But the meat of the show is when they plug back in.
The band is introduced by Zacherle, a local tv host of late night horror movies. Opening with a raging Dancing in the Streets, the boys kick things off right. The China Cat> Rider (still a new pairing at the time) flow into the gentle landing of High Time. The Pigpen classic Alligator opens and charges into Drums. Me and My Uncle jumps out of Drums followed by Not Fade Away exploding out of the ending jam. This goes into my favorite Dead tune of them all, Mason’s Children. As I said before, this show was one of my first 20, and my then barely enlightened teenage mind was just agog at this song. I found out later it was about the Dead’s and Ken Kesey’s relationship at the time. This leads to another Pig highlight, Caution. The chaos and fury had no where to go but into a Feedback collage and then a delicate Bid You Good Night to send the weary but delighted and blissed out Heads on their way into the New York night.
So while it’s obvious that the above was the best music being thrown down on the North American continent, across the Atlantic four hooligans where the former colonies were showing them how it’s done.
The Who. Leeds University, Leeds England, available on the official release Live at Leeds
Disc 1: Heaven and Hell, I Can’t Explain, Fortune Teller, Tattoo, Young Man Blues, Substitute, Happy Jack, I’m A Boy, A Quick One, Summertime Blues, Shakin’ All Over, My Generation, Magic Bus
Disc 2: Overture, It’s A Boy, 1921, Amazing Journey, Sparks, Eyesight to the Blind, Christmas, The Acid Queen, Pinball Wizard, Do You Think It’s Alright?, Fiddle About, Tommy Can You Hear Me?, There’s a Doctor, Go to the Mirror, Smash the Mirror, Miracle Cure, Sally Simpson, I’m Free, Tommy’s Holiday Camp, We’re Not Gonna Take It
This is when the Who were at their peak. It was just the 4 of them with no extra musicians. Please try to wipe away everything you know or think about the Who based on anything they have done since Keith Moon died in 1978. The Sound and The Fury that these four would unleash is almost terrifying. When I first heard this as a 16 year old, I thought it was the purest definition of rock and roll outside of Chuck Berry I’d ever heard.
The first disc is almost like a greatest hits album. Young Man Blues stretches out what the blues can be, as filtered through the Mods of England. A Quick One is a mini opera and Summertime Blues is like a sledgehammer to your skull. The highlight of the first disc is the 18 minute My Generation. After the verses, the song veers off into Sparks and We’re Not Gonna Take it (I have no idea why they would do part of Tommy that they would repeat it later in the set but it works, almost better than the whole Tommy opera itself.)
The second set is their performance of Tommy in its entirety, which is rather impressive considering it’s just the four of them. The highlights include the Overture, Sparks, and Pinball Wizard. A writer described seeing Townsend strumming the opening to Pinball Wizard like seeing John Hancock signing his name. The closing We’re Not Gonna Take It is almost anticlimactic after the version ending the monster My Generation,
So now you can see why 2/14/70 will go down in history as one of the great dates in live music. I want to close with a plug for an upcoming show. On Saturday March 26, at the American Legion Hall at 221 Carlisle St. in lovely downtown Hanover, Eyedeal Productions presents a benefit for the York County Food Bank. The lineup includes Jim Grinnen, Frank Miller’s Beard, Wandering Root, and Boxcar Social. It goes from 7 until 2. 10 bucks or 5 bucks with two nonperishable food items. So come on out and support local music and the local scene.
Dave Kemp
BA in American Studies
PhD in Rock and Roll
What a bold statement from a guy with such a bold beard. Well, don’t worry, I’ve written a check that my brain can cash. This is also a great post because it also takes care of another entry in the award waiting series, My First 20 Tapes. The 3 performances I’ll be focusing on are by the Allman Brothers Band, The Dead and the Who.
The Dead were in the midst of a 3 night stand at the Fillmore East with Love and the Allman Brothers Band opening. Love was a band that came out of LA and made one amazing album, Changes. I’ve only read about said album and don’t have any live stuff so I’m not even gonna talk about them. The ABB had been slowly making a name for themselves but were still relatively unknown outside the South. Their seminal live album, Live At the Fillmore East, was still a year away. Using the blues as a jumping off point, the Allmans just attack the crowd with the opening of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. While their sound isn’t as dense as it would be in a year, the only way to describe it is an assault. The Hoochie Coochie Man and Statesboro Blues deliver a one two punch. Whipping Post doesn’t have the bloat that would categorize it come 1971. Even the Mountain Jam, coming in a relatively short 30 minutes flows like a southern river snaking among the kudzu on a lazy summer afternoon. All of this is based on a recording, ABB, Live at the Fillmore East, Feb 70, which is out of print. Too bad because it shows an amazing band right before they broke big.
While the opening acts were good, nobody could touch what the Dead were throwing down. On Feb 11, the highlight of the show is a 45 minute run of Dark Star>Spanish Jam>Lovelight with members of the ABB sitting in. On the 13, it was Dark Star (30 min)>The Other One (including Cryptical, 30 min)>Lovelight (30 min). Wow 90 minutes of the Dead at the best at what they do. How on Earth could they top that??
2/14/70 Fillmore East, New York, NY
Electric-1: Casey Jones**, Mama Tried, Hard To Handle*
Acoustic: Monkey & Engineer, Dark Hollow*, All Around This World*, Wake Up Little Susie> Black Peter, Uncle John, Katie Mae
Electric-2: Dancin**, China Cat**> I Know You Rider**> High Time**, Dire Wolf**, Alligator**> Drums**> Me & My Uncle**> NFA**> Mason's Children**> Caution**> Feedback**> We Bid You Goodnight**
*appears on "Bear's Choice" **appears on "Dick's Picks Vol 4"11:30 show - first "Dark Hollow"- Bear's Choice shows - billing: GD; Allman Brothers Band; Love
For sake of sanity, I’m just going to talk about the late show on this date. There is still some debate as to whether or not the Dead played early and late shows on this run. As you can see, if you get Dick’s Picks Vol 4 (which also includes the best from 2/13) and Bear’s Choice, you’ll have most of the show. The acoustic portion of the show is fun and loose, clearly showing the band still has something left in the tank on the third night. But the meat of the show is when they plug back in.
The band is introduced by Zacherle, a local tv host of late night horror movies. Opening with a raging Dancing in the Streets, the boys kick things off right. The China Cat> Rider (still a new pairing at the time) flow into the gentle landing of High Time. The Pigpen classic Alligator opens and charges into Drums. Me and My Uncle jumps out of Drums followed by Not Fade Away exploding out of the ending jam. This goes into my favorite Dead tune of them all, Mason’s Children. As I said before, this show was one of my first 20, and my then barely enlightened teenage mind was just agog at this song. I found out later it was about the Dead’s and Ken Kesey’s relationship at the time. This leads to another Pig highlight, Caution. The chaos and fury had no where to go but into a Feedback collage and then a delicate Bid You Good Night to send the weary but delighted and blissed out Heads on their way into the New York night.
So while it’s obvious that the above was the best music being thrown down on the North American continent, across the Atlantic four hooligans where the former colonies were showing them how it’s done.
The Who. Leeds University, Leeds England, available on the official release Live at Leeds
Disc 1: Heaven and Hell, I Can’t Explain, Fortune Teller, Tattoo, Young Man Blues, Substitute, Happy Jack, I’m A Boy, A Quick One, Summertime Blues, Shakin’ All Over, My Generation, Magic Bus
Disc 2: Overture, It’s A Boy, 1921, Amazing Journey, Sparks, Eyesight to the Blind, Christmas, The Acid Queen, Pinball Wizard, Do You Think It’s Alright?, Fiddle About, Tommy Can You Hear Me?, There’s a Doctor, Go to the Mirror, Smash the Mirror, Miracle Cure, Sally Simpson, I’m Free, Tommy’s Holiday Camp, We’re Not Gonna Take It
This is when the Who were at their peak. It was just the 4 of them with no extra musicians. Please try to wipe away everything you know or think about the Who based on anything they have done since Keith Moon died in 1978. The Sound and The Fury that these four would unleash is almost terrifying. When I first heard this as a 16 year old, I thought it was the purest definition of rock and roll outside of Chuck Berry I’d ever heard.
The first disc is almost like a greatest hits album. Young Man Blues stretches out what the blues can be, as filtered through the Mods of England. A Quick One is a mini opera and Summertime Blues is like a sledgehammer to your skull. The highlight of the first disc is the 18 minute My Generation. After the verses, the song veers off into Sparks and We’re Not Gonna Take it (I have no idea why they would do part of Tommy that they would repeat it later in the set but it works, almost better than the whole Tommy opera itself.)
The second set is their performance of Tommy in its entirety, which is rather impressive considering it’s just the four of them. The highlights include the Overture, Sparks, and Pinball Wizard. A writer described seeing Townsend strumming the opening to Pinball Wizard like seeing John Hancock signing his name. The closing We’re Not Gonna Take It is almost anticlimactic after the version ending the monster My Generation,
So now you can see why 2/14/70 will go down in history as one of the great dates in live music. I want to close with a plug for an upcoming show. On Saturday March 26, at the American Legion Hall at 221 Carlisle St. in lovely downtown Hanover, Eyedeal Productions presents a benefit for the York County Food Bank. The lineup includes Jim Grinnen, Frank Miller’s Beard, Wandering Root, and Boxcar Social. It goes from 7 until 2. 10 bucks or 5 bucks with two nonperishable food items. So come on out and support local music and the local scene.
Dave Kemp
BA in American Studies
PhD in Rock and Roll
Sunday, February 13, 2011
It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Grateful Dead, Spring 1991 Cap Centre
Sorry no post last week but between prep for the Super Bowl and family obligations, I just didn’t have time to get anything down. So I’m gonna use this opportunity to start a new series, It Was 20 Years ago Today. This will be a tribute to all the shows I saw when I really got serious about making music my life, 1991. It was also my senior year of high school which somehow didn’t really hinder my ability to get to shows. The first shows I’ll be writing about are the Grateful Dead at the good old Cap Centre, March 18, 20, and 21st. Would just like to take a moment and crow here. While I was figuring out how to swing Dead shows on a school night, some of my friends (who would later see the light), were busy going to see the New Kids at the York Fair, the MC Hammer/ Vanilla Ice tour, and even Milli Vanilli. My friend’s logic for attending this show was all the chicks that were there. Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess.
I had one whole show under my belt but ready to embrace the lifestyle of being a Deadhead and all that came with it. The boys announced their Spring Tour and the closest shows were a 4 night run at the Cap Centre in Landover, MD, right outside of DC. It started on St. Patty’s Day and ended on the 21st with the 19th off. All the shows were on school nights but I was a well-behaved student and had good grades so for some reason my parents said I could go to the shows as long as I made it to school the next day. Wow. Tried to get tixs for all four nights through mail order but was denied the 17th. The group of people that went down had their car blow a hose on the radiator and didn’t get back until right before classes started so I’m kinda glad I missed that.
Time never moves as slowly as when you are sitting in the last period of the day waiting to get out of class so you can go to a Dead show. The last period was known as RWL, or Reading, Writing and Listening. Teachers would rotate through the classes and some treated it differently than others. It was kind of like a study hall except that one teacher, Mr. Bruce Lee (actual name, coached track but not the cool martial artist icon nor was he even Asian.) He liked to engage us on the listening part. And what would he read to us? Paul Harvey. I’m about to go to the last stand of modern American bohemian and I’ve got to listen to boring stories from one of the most uptight white Americans ever minted. Ken Kesey, please rescue me from this black and white America and throw some day glo on my brain!!
I attended the shows with different people every night. All of them are now respectable adults and have kids. For those who may have engaged in some questionable activities, I shall mask your identities. Those that didn’t, I will include your names.
First night, the 18th, myself, Andy Kindon, and Matt Bankert headed down after school, I was friends with these guys because we were all members of the Bulimic Cannibals, Hanover’s best band of 1991. It was a rather uneventful journey and lot scene, a nice way to start off a run of shows.
03-18-91 Capital Centre, Landover, Md. (Mon)
1: Touch, Minglewood, Ramble On, Me & My Uncle> Maggie's Farm, Row Jimmy, Picasso Moon, Don't Ease
2: Playin> Uncle John> Playin> Terrapin> Drumz> Miracle> Stella Blue> Lovelight
E: Baby Blue
Here’s link where you can stream or download this show.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1991-03-18.nak.cohen.107155.flac16
The highlight was the first half of the second set. Playin Uncle John’s sandwich, Hell Yes! Got back safe and sound and made it to school the next day with a night off to recharge my batteries.
For the 20th, I went down with KM, J and JF. We met at J’s house. When her mom found out JF was going, she was pissed. Evidently, JF had a reputation for being a troublemaker and an all around badass. We headed down in J’s BMW. While on I-95, someone broke out a bowl and puffing commenced. While I had chilled out a few times by this point in my life, I was worried about grades and more specifically a test I had at the end of the week. I hadn’t told my parents about the test because I knew they wouldn’t let me go to the 21st show if they knew I had a test the next day (Got a C on said test, ended up with a B for the quarter.)
So while they’re puffing, we roll by a phalanx of police cruisers, sitting on the side of the interstate, looking for Heads misbehaving. Back in the early 90’s, a lot of profiling went on if you were driving a car with a bunch of Dead stickers on it. But luckily, we were in a BMW, not a bus covered in stickers. It still freaked me out but we got to the lot. As soon as we get out of the car, this woman comes up and says she wants to write us up a ticket. I still have the adrenaline flowing through my body because of the close call, and she informs us it’s for not partying hard enough and wants a donation for the local food bank. Thus began my life long dislike of those people who seem to be at every show collecting money for some charity. I go to shows to get away from hard sells, and have also witnessed these people get a lot of money from highly intoxicated people for a cheap ass sticker.
Get inside and Wed was even better than Monday night.
03-20-91 Capital Centre, Landover, Md. (Wed)
1: Stranger, Cold Rain, Rooster, Althea, B. T. Wind, Tennessee Jed, Music> Might As Well
2: Eyes> Foolish Heart> Estimated> He's Gone> Drumz> Other One> Wharf Rat> Sugar Magnolia
E: The Weight
last "Might As Well": 04-05-88 [216]
Here’s a link where you can stream or download this show
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1991-03-20.nak.cohen.107168.flac16
I never even heard the song Might As Well, but when the Bobby ran over to Jerry at the end of Music, everyone knew something big was about to happen. The whole venue was rocking to the tribute to the Festival Express 1970 tour. Rest of the show was solid. Made it back and had one more show on the run. Let’s finish strong people!
I went down to this show with a chick I had a huge crush on. To protect her identity, I’ll just call her AD. She was supposed to go with me to my first show ever, Steve Miller with Lou Gramm from Foreigner opening. My second show was the Dead at RFK stadium on 7/12/90. Don’t worry, my street cred is safe. She had to bail because it was the same week as her swim camp. Thus, at my first show, a life long pattern of any attempts to go to a show with a woman blowing up in my face by every means available. You can read more about this when I go on Dr. Phil’s show and pour my heart out on his couch. Hmm, better make that Dr. Phil Lesh. Anyway, went to the show without a hitch. Actually turned down the opportunity to puff because of that pesky old test the next day. Overall, a pretty solid show.
03-21-91 Capital Centre, Landover, Md. (Thu)
1: Half Step, Mexicali> Big River, Candyman, Memphis Blues, Bird Song
2: Victim> Scarlet> Fire> Stir It Up Jam> Drumz> GDTRFB> Throwing Stones> NFA E: Box Of Rain
first "Stir It Up Jam"
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1991-03-21.nak550.cohen.109365.sbeok.flac16
First set was rather short, setting up a trend for the 90’s. Everyone went bonkers for the Stir It Up jam, but not being familiar with Bob Marley at the time, I didn’t know what it was. Yeah sorry I wasn’t into Brother Bob in high school but I was into the Dead in middle school so again, my street cred is safe.
So with an actual run of shows under my belt, I really felt like I had found what I wanted to do with the rest of my existence. Thanks to all those who went on that first run with me, and shall we go, you and I, while we can?
Furthur
Dave Kemp
BA in American Studies
PhD. In Rock and Roll
I had one whole show under my belt but ready to embrace the lifestyle of being a Deadhead and all that came with it. The boys announced their Spring Tour and the closest shows were a 4 night run at the Cap Centre in Landover, MD, right outside of DC. It started on St. Patty’s Day and ended on the 21st with the 19th off. All the shows were on school nights but I was a well-behaved student and had good grades so for some reason my parents said I could go to the shows as long as I made it to school the next day. Wow. Tried to get tixs for all four nights through mail order but was denied the 17th. The group of people that went down had their car blow a hose on the radiator and didn’t get back until right before classes started so I’m kinda glad I missed that.
Time never moves as slowly as when you are sitting in the last period of the day waiting to get out of class so you can go to a Dead show. The last period was known as RWL, or Reading, Writing and Listening. Teachers would rotate through the classes and some treated it differently than others. It was kind of like a study hall except that one teacher, Mr. Bruce Lee (actual name, coached track but not the cool martial artist icon nor was he even Asian.) He liked to engage us on the listening part. And what would he read to us? Paul Harvey. I’m about to go to the last stand of modern American bohemian and I’ve got to listen to boring stories from one of the most uptight white Americans ever minted. Ken Kesey, please rescue me from this black and white America and throw some day glo on my brain!!
I attended the shows with different people every night. All of them are now respectable adults and have kids. For those who may have engaged in some questionable activities, I shall mask your identities. Those that didn’t, I will include your names.
First night, the 18th, myself, Andy Kindon, and Matt Bankert headed down after school, I was friends with these guys because we were all members of the Bulimic Cannibals, Hanover’s best band of 1991. It was a rather uneventful journey and lot scene, a nice way to start off a run of shows.
03-18-91 Capital Centre, Landover, Md. (Mon)
1: Touch, Minglewood, Ramble On, Me & My Uncle> Maggie's Farm, Row Jimmy, Picasso Moon, Don't Ease
2: Playin> Uncle John> Playin> Terrapin> Drumz> Miracle> Stella Blue> Lovelight
E: Baby Blue
Here’s link where you can stream or download this show.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1991-03-18.nak.cohen.107155.flac16
The highlight was the first half of the second set. Playin Uncle John’s sandwich, Hell Yes! Got back safe and sound and made it to school the next day with a night off to recharge my batteries.
For the 20th, I went down with KM, J and JF. We met at J’s house. When her mom found out JF was going, she was pissed. Evidently, JF had a reputation for being a troublemaker and an all around badass. We headed down in J’s BMW. While on I-95, someone broke out a bowl and puffing commenced. While I had chilled out a few times by this point in my life, I was worried about grades and more specifically a test I had at the end of the week. I hadn’t told my parents about the test because I knew they wouldn’t let me go to the 21st show if they knew I had a test the next day (Got a C on said test, ended up with a B for the quarter.)
So while they’re puffing, we roll by a phalanx of police cruisers, sitting on the side of the interstate, looking for Heads misbehaving. Back in the early 90’s, a lot of profiling went on if you were driving a car with a bunch of Dead stickers on it. But luckily, we were in a BMW, not a bus covered in stickers. It still freaked me out but we got to the lot. As soon as we get out of the car, this woman comes up and says she wants to write us up a ticket. I still have the adrenaline flowing through my body because of the close call, and she informs us it’s for not partying hard enough and wants a donation for the local food bank. Thus began my life long dislike of those people who seem to be at every show collecting money for some charity. I go to shows to get away from hard sells, and have also witnessed these people get a lot of money from highly intoxicated people for a cheap ass sticker.
Get inside and Wed was even better than Monday night.
03-20-91 Capital Centre, Landover, Md. (Wed)
1: Stranger, Cold Rain, Rooster, Althea, B. T. Wind, Tennessee Jed, Music> Might As Well
2: Eyes> Foolish Heart> Estimated> He's Gone> Drumz> Other One> Wharf Rat> Sugar Magnolia
E: The Weight
last "Might As Well": 04-05-88 [216]
Here’s a link where you can stream or download this show
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1991-03-20.nak.cohen.107168.flac16
I never even heard the song Might As Well, but when the Bobby ran over to Jerry at the end of Music, everyone knew something big was about to happen. The whole venue was rocking to the tribute to the Festival Express 1970 tour. Rest of the show was solid. Made it back and had one more show on the run. Let’s finish strong people!
I went down to this show with a chick I had a huge crush on. To protect her identity, I’ll just call her AD. She was supposed to go with me to my first show ever, Steve Miller with Lou Gramm from Foreigner opening. My second show was the Dead at RFK stadium on 7/12/90. Don’t worry, my street cred is safe. She had to bail because it was the same week as her swim camp. Thus, at my first show, a life long pattern of any attempts to go to a show with a woman blowing up in my face by every means available. You can read more about this when I go on Dr. Phil’s show and pour my heart out on his couch. Hmm, better make that Dr. Phil Lesh. Anyway, went to the show without a hitch. Actually turned down the opportunity to puff because of that pesky old test the next day. Overall, a pretty solid show.
03-21-91 Capital Centre, Landover, Md. (Thu)
1: Half Step, Mexicali> Big River, Candyman, Memphis Blues, Bird Song
2: Victim> Scarlet> Fire> Stir It Up Jam> Drumz> GDTRFB> Throwing Stones> NFA E: Box Of Rain
first "Stir It Up Jam"
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1991-03-21.nak550.cohen.109365.sbeok.flac16
First set was rather short, setting up a trend for the 90’s. Everyone went bonkers for the Stir It Up jam, but not being familiar with Bob Marley at the time, I didn’t know what it was. Yeah sorry I wasn’t into Brother Bob in high school but I was into the Dead in middle school so again, my street cred is safe.
So with an actual run of shows under my belt, I really felt like I had found what I wanted to do with the rest of my existence. Thanks to all those who went on that first run with me, and shall we go, you and I, while we can?
Furthur
Dave Kemp
BA in American Studies
PhD. In Rock and Roll
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