Go Gators*

All of this, whatever it is, is supposed to be about the Grateful Dead–that’s what it says in the header, at least, so I’m gonna recommend a show. That’s what Grateful Dead blogs do.

Go listen to 4/15/71 from Allegheny State College in Meadville, PA; this was one of the Second Great Quintet shows, just the five original boys playing all growly-like and real loud, too. Also out-of-tune–Garcia spent almost the entirety of 1971 out-of-tune–but what does that matter? It’s a Dead show, yay.

Have you even listened to this particular performance?

Maybe. I see no reason why I wouldn’t have, but I cannot attest in the positive. There’s a Second That Emotion on there, and I love the version from 4/29/71, so I might have noticed that and thrown the show on. If it were a ’93, I could state without prejudice I had not heard it. What I’m saying here is this: could you repeat the question?

You just picked a show at random, didn’t you?

Not random. I wanted one from the ’71 five-piece.

Semi-random.

I don’t think you can modify the word random. It’s like unique or ultimate.

And you are not currently listening to this show? Because sometimes you recommend shows that you’re only two or three songs into.

I am listening to the ’73 Portland show from the new box set for the seventh time.

Acceptable excuse.

Gonna throw that rugged ’71 rodeo on directly after my silky-smooth ’73 massage, though.

Ew.

I stand by the sentence.

I stand by my “ew.”

Shush. Sharp-eyed Enthusiasts will note that Garcia is playing the proto-Alembic that he called Peanut; this photo purports to be from the Manhattan Center shows of earlier in the month, so it is possible that he’s still using the guitar for this gig.  (He would soon switch over to a blond ’57 Strat. I’ve always relied on the long-since abandoned Dozin.com’s guitar timeline, but it’s a bit vague.) Sharper-eyed Enthusiasts will note Pig’s potato salad.

“Hey! Get yer eyes offa there!”

Oh, hey, Pig.

“Don’t be peepin’ and peerin’ at my potatoes, now! The ol’ Pig swings hard, but he don’t swing that way!”

I didn’t intend any offense, Pig.

“An’ I didn’t take none! Can’t help it if I’m beautiful!

True.

“The ol’ Pig is used to male attention. Sometimes my woman is givin’ me troubles. She’s tryin’ me! I gotta get out, take a walk, maybe find a friend. So, I go walkin’.”

Yeah.

“I go here and there, troubles on my mind.”

Take your time.

“And here they come! This one wanna know if I got the time. That one wanna know I got a match. The men all wanna know, y’know?”

Sing your song, Pig.

“And I tell ’em, ‘Boys, these field ain’t yours for plowing, but you c’n watch the sun set over ’em!’ An’ I keep on walkin’!”

That’s a very on-brand way of rejecting an advance, Pig.

“I got a way o’ talkin’.”

You do.

*The mascot of Allegheny State College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, is the Gator, and that’s just wrong. There are no alligators in Pennsylvania, and if there were, Pennsylvanians would kill and skin and eat them all immediately; they’d probably squirt cheez wiz all over the place and call them cheezgators and make Presidential candidates eat them. Everyone in Pennsylvania is a monster.

I’m not lying. Look:

Fuck you for calling me a liar, jackass.

HEY!

No, it’s Go Time.

Don’t capitalize shit like that.

Fuck you, too, prick-dick. I’m gonna fight the Enthusiasts.

That makes less than no sense.

I wanted to do the press conference bit.

So go write that.

Okay.