This was a follow up response to another post regarding the Grateful Dead and ya know, I just spent so much time on it, I figured I should go ahead and post it.
My post goes like this:
OMG! I can't believe you said this! "The Dead weren't a rock band, they were a really wimpy imitation-country band."
Now I am offended. Maybe you're joking? How can you justify belittling the careers of some of the hardest working, influential artists of all time? What they have accomplished over the more than 30 years of music is incredible and has not been topped by any band before or since!
Every player in this band is phenomenal in his own right with a wealth of projects and accomplishments of their own apart from being in a band that became HUGELY popular in a world before the internet even existed!
The Grateful Dead included jazz, rock, folk, old-timey and bluegrass in their many, may different projects and phases, if you will. These guys gre up musically over 30 years, along with the fans. These guys toured pretty constantly for 30 years, nationally and internationally, playing 3-5 nights a week FOR YEARS! No two shows the same.
The music of the Grateful Dead is something special. Wasn't always pretty, and Lord knows that everyone can have an off night, especially when you're out touring like that, playing completely different sets each night of a three day set of shows.
I learned the songs by heart, not by buying the albums, but by being a part of this music family, by seeing the music performed live on stage, by dancing with my skirt in the wind at the top of Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View with 22,000 other people that were there for the band.
Deadheads are a community, above everything else, and the band was the glue that found a doctor, next to a drifter, sittin by a schoolteacher, to the left of some college students, a row over from a politician, by a family. Need I go on? People say I'm a "hippie" chick because I tour in a schoolbus and make hemp dog leashes, but I'm really not a "hippie", I'm a deadhead
Not everyone will be able or even interested in "knowing" the music of the Grateful Dead. That's fine. I don't really "get" electronica, but I know some very talented people that have explained to me what is special about it. We talked about the beats and actually, the math involved. I seriously still ain't too interested but I can have some respect, even though what they do is a world away from my taste.
I am so proud to see so many of you putting your two cents in and telling your Grateful Dead stories. To me, being a part of this family is a huge part of who I have become in so many ways and I am so GRATEFUL that I was able to be a part of it to the extent that I did. I especially wanna say that Berkley Hart's song "Scarlet" captures the magic of a Dead show in a really perfect way and had me in tears as I sang along behind the wheel of my old schoolbus leaving FAR West in Irvine last Nov. pointing east.
I think that the simplified description was a gross injustice. Show a little respect and learn about who we are talking about:
Jerry Garcia - One of its original founders, Garcia performed with The Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band with longtime friend Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, and Legion of Mary. Garcia co-founded the New Riders of the Purple Sage with John Dawson and David Nelson. He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Garcia
Phil Lesh - Although Lesh started out as a violin player, in high school he switched to trumpet. Studying under Bob Hansen, he had a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, and future Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten). Lesh had never played bass before joining the band, which meant he learned "on the job", but it also meant he had no preconceived attitudes about the instrument's traditional "rhythm section" role. Indeed, he has said that his playing style was influenced more by Bach counterpoint than by rock or soul bass players (although one can also hear the fluidity and power of a jazz bassist such as Charles Mingus or Jimmy Garrison in Lesh's work, along with stylistic allusions to fellow San Francisco psychedelic-era bassist Jack Casady).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lesh
Bob Weir - In the late 1970s, he began to experiment with slide guitar techniques and perform certain songs during Dead shows using the slide. His unique guitar style is strongly influenced by the hard bop pianist McCoy Tyner and he has cited artists as diverse as John Coltrane, the Rev. Gary Davis, and Igor Stravinsky as influences.[2] Weir was known for using periodic guitar moves during various times at Grateful Dead concerts to invigorate the crowd and to create musical momentum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Weir
Mickey Hart - Hart was influential in recording global musical traditions on the verge of possible extinction, working with archivists and ethnomusicologists at both the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution. He is on the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center and has been a spokesperson for the Save Our Sounds audio preservation initiative. He also serves on the Library of Congress National Recorded Sound Preservation Board and is known for reissues and other recordings with historical and cultural value.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Hart
Bill Kreutzmann - Kreutzmann started playing drums at the age of 13, despite having been told by his sixth grade music teacher that he couldn't keep a beat. As a teenager, he met Aldous Huxley at his high school, who encouraged him in his drumming. At the end of 1964 he co-founded the band The Warlocks, along with Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Kreutzmann
Yep. I gotta go, but again, couldn't help it.
Phew!
Rachel
--
Rachel Sedacca http://www.rachelsedacca.com
Soulful, Bluesy Americana
Award winning songwriter & Luna Guitars Artist
Ventura County, CA
805-512-2620
My post goes like this:
OMG! I can't believe you said this! "The Dead weren't a rock band, they were a really wimpy imitation-country band."
Now I am offended. Maybe you're joking? How can you justify belittling the careers of some of the hardest working, influential artists of all time? What they have accomplished over the more than 30 years of music is incredible and has not been topped by any band before or since!
Every player in this band is phenomenal in his own right with a wealth of projects and accomplishments of their own apart from being in a band that became HUGELY popular in a world before the internet even existed!
The Grateful Dead included jazz, rock, folk, old-timey and bluegrass in their many, may different projects and phases, if you will. These guys gre up musically over 30 years, along with the fans. These guys toured pretty constantly for 30 years, nationally and internationally, playing 3-5 nights a week FOR YEARS! No two shows the same.
The music of the Grateful Dead is something special. Wasn't always pretty, and Lord knows that everyone can have an off night, especially when you're out touring like that, playing completely different sets each night of a three day set of shows.
I learned the songs by heart, not by buying the albums, but by being a part of this music family, by seeing the music performed live on stage, by dancing with my skirt in the wind at the top of Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View with 22,000 other people that were there for the band.
Deadheads are a community, above everything else, and the band was the glue that found a doctor, next to a drifter, sittin by a schoolteacher, to the left of some college students, a row over from a politician, by a family. Need I go on? People say I'm a "hippie" chick because I tour in a schoolbus and make hemp dog leashes, but I'm really not a "hippie", I'm a deadhead
Not everyone will be able or even interested in "knowing" the music of the Grateful Dead. That's fine. I don't really "get" electronica, but I know some very talented people that have explained to me what is special about it. We talked about the beats and actually, the math involved. I seriously still ain't too interested but I can have some respect, even though what they do is a world away from my taste.
I am so proud to see so many of you putting your two cents in and telling your Grateful Dead stories. To me, being a part of this family is a huge part of who I have become in so many ways and I am so GRATEFUL that I was able to be a part of it to the extent that I did. I especially wanna say that Berkley Hart's song "Scarlet" captures the magic of a Dead show in a really perfect way and had me in tears as I sang along behind the wheel of my old schoolbus leaving FAR West in Irvine last Nov. pointing east.
I think that the simplified description was a gross injustice. Show a little respect and learn about who we are talking about:
Jerry Garcia - One of its original founders, Garcia performed with The Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band with longtime friend Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, and Legion of Mary. Garcia co-founded the New Riders of the Purple Sage with John Dawson and David Nelson. He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Garcia
Phil Lesh - Although Lesh started out as a violin player, in high school he switched to trumpet. Studying under Bob Hansen, he had a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, and future Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten). Lesh had never played bass before joining the band, which meant he learned "on the job", but it also meant he had no preconceived attitudes about the instrument's traditional "rhythm section" role. Indeed, he has said that his playing style was influenced more by Bach counterpoint than by rock or soul bass players (although one can also hear the fluidity and power of a jazz bassist such as Charles Mingus or Jimmy Garrison in Lesh's work, along with stylistic allusions to fellow San Francisco psychedelic-era bassist Jack Casady).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lesh
Bob Weir - In the late 1970s, he began to experiment with slide guitar techniques and perform certain songs during Dead shows using the slide. His unique guitar style is strongly influenced by the hard bop pianist McCoy Tyner and he has cited artists as diverse as John Coltrane, the Rev. Gary Davis, and Igor Stravinsky as influences.[2] Weir was known for using periodic guitar moves during various times at Grateful Dead concerts to invigorate the crowd and to create musical momentum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Weir
Mickey Hart - Hart was influential in recording global musical traditions on the verge of possible extinction, working with archivists and ethnomusicologists at both the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution. He is on the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center and has been a spokesperson for the Save Our Sounds audio preservation initiative. He also serves on the Library of Congress National Recorded Sound Preservation Board and is known for reissues and other recordings with historical and cultural value.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Hart
Bill Kreutzmann - Kreutzmann started playing drums at the age of 13, despite having been told by his sixth grade music teacher that he couldn't keep a beat. As a teenager, he met Aldous Huxley at his high school, who encouraged him in his drumming. At the end of 1964 he co-founded the band The Warlocks, along with Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Kreutzmann
Yep. I gotta go, but again, couldn't help it.
Phew!
Rachel
--
Rachel Sedacca http://www.rachelsedacca.com
Soulful, Bluesy Americana
Award winning songwriter & Luna Guitars Artist
Ventura County, CA
805-512-2620