The “1978” in that credit is superfluous: like all pictures of 1978, this picture is blatantly from 1978.
Also:
“What should I do with all these patch cords?”
“Leave ’em exposed and at neck level.”
“So…the usual?”
“Yeah.”
Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To
Tag: 1978 (Page 7 of 13)
Today will most likely not be another Bruce Day, though who can tell the future? I will, however, share this with you and encourage all right-thinking Enthusiasts to give it a spin: Bruce in Cleveland at the Agora Theater, broadcast* over the mighty WMMS, the rock station that broke Rush and Zep and KISS and basically created the soundtrack for guys in blue jeans forevermore.
*Not simulcast: apparently, there wasn’t a truck or a hookup available, so the engineers at the station recorded the show an hour at a time and had an intern drive the tapes to the station.
When this year gets you down–and it should have by now–remember that people are still delightful on occasion, and that though there is evil and strife, there is also a guy in Japan who makes Lego dioramas of of a semi-defunct choogly-type band from two continents over.
Also: as stated, that is the 1978 band with Keith and Mrs. Donna Jean, and Maria Muldaur with the curly plastic hair; the inevitable John Kahn on bass, and the wonderfully-named Buzz Buchanan on drums.
It would be wrong to say that the Maria Muldaur Lego looks like Whora the Explora.
Also also: Garcia’s long-lost twin from the Sub-Continent, Curry Garcia.
A lesson in technology for the younger Enthusiasts: the large, flat boxes up top are laserdiscs, which is how high-quality recordings were captured back in the 70’s. Occasionally, when tapers were broke, they would record a Dead show over a disc from the Criterion Collection.
On the bottom are cassette tapes, which were like iPods that only played one album, and also required another iPod to work.
As usual, Enthusiasts, what should be a joyous occasion ends with TotD in a murderous funk. (Murderous Funk is a wideout from Auburn, and fantasy players should look for a big rookie year out of him.) It’s my fault: no one forced me to scroll down on the announcement page for the new July ’78 set. I knew the Dead.net comment section was there. That’s where it’s kept; it would be weird to find it anywhere else.
Did you know that people accuse David Lemieuxnicipalbonds of things? Like, honestly and sincerely think he’s a scandalous scoundrel? Now, I know I do that, but you know the way I do it? They do it the other way.
(Also, let me take a moment to wish DL a happy birthday. The best to him, his wife Regina, and their seven children, Gordie, Girl Gordie, Northstar, Jean-Luc, Fleece, and the twins, Mickie and Billie. I hope those children know how hard their father works down in the choogle mines to provide for them.)
Anyway, in addition to the Box Set, which’ll run you $130, there will also be a single-serving release of the well-known 7/8 Red Rocks show that you can grab for $30; I listened to it in between shooting the videos that will assuredly be used at the competency hearing in the near future.
The show is morphistic, and it thrumps and enprances the part of your heart where you store the spare boners. (That was the first sentence of my e-mail asking if I could write the liner notes; the e-mail was not returned.) It is also a perfect ’78, which brings me to my point.
I do have a point.
1978 is the best year of the Grateful Dead. Not musically, obviously, and they looked weird that year, too; probably smelled funny. Financially, 1978 was one of the recurring near-bankruptcies. Most of the band were junkies that year, as well. Still: the best.
Therefore, TotD now presents Reasons 1978 Was The Greatest Year EVAR:
Is this because your Twitter friends were being mean to 1978?
Please don’t cockblock the bullet points, Brodysseus.
You’re a petty man.
I felt attacked, and like I was tour-shamed.
Not a thing.
#FREEHAMZA.
Don’t do that.
You’re coming at me with a lot of ’73 Privilege right now.
Shut up.
You need to get woke.
Just do whatever you’re going to do.
Thank you. 1978 Is The Best EVAR:
- Cuz it is, shut up, you’re not my dad.
- If you went choose a random ’77 show, you know that it’s going to be good, and that’s boring; if you choose a random ’78, you get to be surprised.
- Sometimes, the whole band will leave the stage while Garcia solos for a while.
- And other times, the whole band will not leave the stage while the drummers solo.
- No one had any idea where to be.
- 1978 was the year the Dead started playing football stadiums regularly, and every time I have seen the Dead (or What’s Left of ‘Em), it has been in a football stadium: point TotD.
- There is an astounding amount of arithromancy and sacred numeralizing one can do with the number 1978.
- If you asked a Grateful Dead about his or her favorite experience, they would surely say Egypt, so why don’t you stop being so selfish and listen to the people who should know?
- No Transformers films were released in 1978.
- For the first time in many years, the Dead toured extensively in the Deep South, so I hear a lot of classism implicit in many of these critiques.
- IN 1972, the Boys went to Europe; in ’78, Egypt: foreign is foreign, so I declare 1978 the winner because it just is, man.
- How many shows did Keith play well at in 1978?
- Almost many.
- A solid plurality.
- But how many did he play well at in 1968?
- None at all.
- The facts make my case for me.
- Some people believe that there are years in the 80’s better than ’78.
- Some people just wanna be wrong.
- Judging from the evidence, David Lemieucinex believes–correctly–that 1978 is a sterling and under-rated year and, you know: he likes the Dead so much he gets paid for it, so I’ll go with his opinion.
- Although he has stated a preference for ’69.
- Grateful Dead Archivist David Lemieux enjoys ’69.
- Sometimes, friends will comment, “All you want is ’69!” and DL will say “I gotta have ’69 all day and twice during the hockey game.”
- Stop this.
- GET OUT OF THE BULLET POINTS.
- You’ve been weird all day and it’s getting weirder, weirdo.
- …
- Yeah.
- All right, champ.
BIG NEWS! David Lemiuexsicaltheatre has gotten a haircut!
That’s not the big news.
Yeah? Tell that to Big-Dicked Sheila.
Please keep the actual world and your silly skitches separate.
No.
Fine. Then at least tell the nice people the actual news.
July ’78 Box Set. Three uncirculated shows from Kansas City, St. Paul, and Omaha; plus the two Red Rock shows.
Wait. Those are the part of the long-lost Betty Board cache.
Yup. Spider-Man’s back at Marvel, Bettys are back in the Vault, God’s in His Heaven, and all’s right with the world.
All?
Oh, no: not all. But those two things are cool.
Sure.
1978 was a self-actualized year, as far as pictures go. Sometimes you’ll see a Baby Dead photo and think, “’69? ’70?” or one from the 90’s and not care, but when you see a picture from 1978, you say, “That picture is from 1978.” 1978 was more 1978 than, say, 1984 was 1984, if that makes any sense.
Also: this picture is Texas Hold ‘Em, but with Dead shirt-wearin’. Three cards up, and the drummers are down. There could potentially be three humans in the same band wearing the shirt of the band that they’re in. (I am not including the Godchauxes because they have never clicked the Donate Button.)
A question for the researchers: what is the greatest number of Grateful Deads Dead shirt-wearin’ at one show?
Issues to consider:
- Are we asking about raw numbers, or are we concerned with ratio? If every Grateful Dead wore a Dead shirt to a show in the summer of ’70, that would be fewer than most of the band donning stolen merch in ’77.
- What counts as a Dead shirt? Billy wore a shirt with a big Garcia face on it one time: does that count?
- Speaking of Garcia: does the black t-shirt count as a Dead shirt?
The answer to this question is within our grasps, Enthusiasts.
Garcia almost never wore Dead shirts–he respected the drummers’ turf–but when he did, he wore the best one.
I am not vouching for this product, or the person selling it; however, you can try your luck for the next three days for $19.99 plus shipping & handling. (Did you know that I was a Men’s Large?)
Hey!
You, in the middle. Long-hair.
Put that damn tongue back where it belongs.
Also: this picture is a stark reminder of what a hairy time, men’s face-wise, we are living through. Dead shows used to be considered remarkably bearded, along with blacksmith conventions and Ren Faires, but by today’s standards this is a clean-cut group. Any random group of white guys off the street would have more beard, both collectively and individually, than these Deadheads.
Also also: Phil’s BMW shirt. (Here’s a fun database for the ultimate Rock Nerd archivist to put together: searchable index of clothing worn by date. But, that’s a trouser too far, isn’t it? You should get mandated to therapy if you do that, but I wish it existed and would bookmark it.)
Grateful Dead Fun Fact: sometimes during set break, Billy and Mickey would trade mustaches. The crowd never realized.
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