Old News

[zero]

This is old news but I found these comments from a Hornsby intimate revealing.

I may have an advantage, being a bit more closely in touch with the reality of Bruce's references. I caught 4 shows on the 2000 TOO Tour & when I say I caught shows, I mean in the dressing rooms etc...

Hornby's feelings, while not stated as eloquently as he may have, really hit the nail on the head, concerning all of the dis-harmony that existed on that last tour!

Put in perspective, that Bruce had become friends with all the guys & more specifically Phil. When he signed up for the TOO's it was pretty damned close to being a representation of the remaining Dead, sans Billy, who at the time was grooving in Kauai & needed to be there for his soul.....

Then over the next 2 1/2 years everything within the remaining Dead Fraternal Order had disintegrated into "brother bashing", unspirited playing & a sense that they were just generally going through the motions!

Alphonso Johnson is an old friend of mine, going back to his days in Weather Report & his read halfway through that 2000 tour was "how did this band get so big in it's heyday?? At the Shoreline Amphitheatre I had that very question possed to me by Alphonso & I responded with one word, Garcia!!!!

Also, I dare say, that none of you were in those rooms listening to the nasty things that were said to Bruce, when he decided that he wouldn't be performing with TOO again!

One thing I shouldn't need to remind you guys, is that whenever you get "The Word" on certain issues concerning the GDP Family, you are only receiving the periphery of what actually went down!

The truth is that TOO's had disintegrated into a weak & disinfranchised band, that by Tour's end had no inkling of the spirit, the magic, that WAS the Grateful Dead!

As far as Hornby's playing goes. He's a gifted Piano Player & Song Writer, period! He's not a great Keyboard Player, that's why there was a need for Welnick in the lineup. In terms of musical fluency, Brent was the most gifted all around Keyboard Player the Dead ever had. You can't put Keith in that comparrison, because once again Keith was a Pianist & not a keyboard player! Besides Keith's drug problems (that inhibited his playing) the other reason that Keith was opted out of the band was that he had a massive resistence to playing any other keyboard instrument than the Piano.

While Jerry was still alive & Bruce was guesting in the band, he did the band proud with his playing, his obvious sense of reverence for the band & his love for the individual characters.

It has been the remaining members of the band that has incited the reaction that seems to be of a consistant nature, since Jerry's passing! It seems that every time a musician departs & or turns their backs on anything Dead, that the fans immediately want to burn the person in effigy (sic)!

As well as I knew Jerry, I can guarantee you that he would have turned his back entirely on the crap that has played out in the last 7 years also!!!

In closing, before you start throwing stones at Hornsby, remember, that each & every surviving member of the Dead has said & done things since Garcia's Death, that have been much more critical & damning of the Dead Scene!!!!!!!

If the thunder don't get ya', then the lightning will!!!!!!!!!!!

[Del]

Thanks kung!

[zero]

Brent was a return to the roll that Pigpen had in the band. Certainly delivered with a different bent, but none-the-less, at the time that the Band was looking for a replacement for Keith, they decided that their new Keyboard Player would be more musically fluent, both as a Keyboard Player, but also as a Vocalist & Showman!

Keith, God Bless Him, was neither a vocalist, nor a showman & it was the Band's desire to make that role more dynamically involved & evolved than it had for the prior 9, 10 years....

There was also a concerted effort not to try and replicate Pigpen, because quite frankly it couldn't be done & that's not where the Band was going in direction. Ironically, as beloved as Pigpen was, the Band was phasing him out by committee, long before he got sick. It had gotten to the point that nothing was being written with Pigpen in mind any longer. Everything that was being written was for Garcia & Weir to perform & Pigpen was left with having to pick from the Blues Sandards that he loved so much.

I truly believe that had Ron not gotten sick, that after the 75 hiatus that the Band would have returned without him in the lineup. I know that I had conversations with Ron & he felt like an occassional feature in the scheme of things by 1971. He understood more clearly than anyone, that if the Dead were to grow as a band that he would have to step aside.

The awful truth about the Deaths in the Grateful Dead, is that it spared us from having to see many ugly scenarios play out over the years, as the Band's personal growth would have dictated personnel changes during the 30 years.

As Dewit so aptly put it, when Family & Business mix, the probable outcome is generally going to be discerned with a lot more angst than sheer business relationships........

To tell the truth, the unspoken consensus was always that the only unreplaceble members of the Band were probably Garcia & Lesh. The reason I say this is that the very fabric of what made them the Grateful Dead & distinguised their sound as theirs, was the unique styles of playing that Garcia & Lesh brought to the table. That fabric has been sorely tested since Garcia's death & my summation has been equally indentified.

Alphonso Johnson is one of the Premier Fusion Jazz Bass Players alive & to question his virtuosity would be ludicrious & at the same time, when Alphonso was the Bass Player on the 2000 Tour, it sounded like a completely different band! The texture, the locomotion was not there!

I am listening to 02-19-78, JGB, as I type this & the one thing that strikes me, is that even though I am listening to Garcia in a different band, playing Moonlight Midnight (a non-dead tune), that the groove, the essence, the melodic identity, the magic that is the Grateful Dead, is just oozing out of this performance!

When I listen to certain P&F's performances, I get the same experience I just described above. I think at one point that Weir was in that groove also, especially with Kingfish, songs like "Jump for Joy" was so much the essence of the Grateful Dead. In the here & now though, you only really hear that coming from P&F's & it's totally due to Phil's trademark texturing. It is certainly the reason that Phil won't entirely abandon his desire to do Crusader Rabbit gigs on occassion, because he knows that's it's important for him to tap into that essence once in awhile! It's like musical nutrition & these guys have been eating out of that same bowl for going on 40 years....

Well, obviously, this rambling diatribe covered a lot of ground, but I felt compelled to share some of my personal read on the Dead......

[paisley]

right on, nice read

definately felt a few "Grateful Dead" moments last year at the Indiana "The Dead" show... more than I'd felt at a show since '92 actually

[Booche]

I am voting for Phil with my ballot.

[paisley]

Phil is the center

[Del]

Jerry just rolled over in his grave...

[paisley]

which is why

[MoMack]

Does Diesel Dog still do Jump for Joy? They used to nail that one.. it sounded great. I vote for them to bust it out again with my vote!

ewww ya jump for joy!