There was nothing the Grateful Dead couldn’t make more complicated.
Also: this picture confuses me. Those aren’t stage lights in the upper righthand corner: they’re film lights. Rock and roll lighting hangs from a truss; it certainly doesn’t go in front of the band with gels gaffer-taped over the bulbs.
And since we know that the Dead’s road crew would never do more work than required (and sometimes not even that), then we must infer that this show was captured on film.
…
It is here, Enthusiasts that I can either be honest or simply delete the whole post; for both our sakes, I choose honesty: this photo is from 7/12/76 at the Orpheum in San Francisco, which we do in fact know was filmed. You can watch the soundcheck, courtesy of the legendary and mysterious Voodoonola:
Now, here’s where I turn into a complete slapdick: I had a whole theory about how the photo was not from 7/12, but instead from a different night in the run, which means another night was recorded and that there was a pro-shot film from ’76 being kept from us. My thesis relied heavily on the fact that Mrs. Donna Jean is wearing a different blouse in the photo than in the soundcheck video.
And then I remembered that people change their clothes.
The number of pictures taken of the Grateful Dead can be mathematically expressed as ∞-1. However, there weren’t that many actual photo shoots, where the whole band (whomever that applied to at the time) congregated and maybe even showered for the occasion.
Using the principles and practices of Without Research, let’s see how many I can get. Point out my mistakes, omissions, and character flaws in the Comment Section.
The one from ’77 where Phil wears a tie that I just posted about.
In front of the Holiday Inn where Brent wears the doofus hat.
’76 in the park: Mickey in cocaine hat, Phil in headband.
Outside on the deck in 1971 or ’72 with Keith and Pig, but no Mrs. Donna Jean.
With Dylan.
Baron Wolman inside with the big flag.
First (?) photo shoot in the street with the light bouncing off their faces.
Phil with Fu Manchu, Garcia in pigtails; at the Portero and thereabouts in black and white.
Also ’67 or ’68: old-fashioned barber’s/dentist’s chair.
Cover shot for Go To Heaven (which there must be more pictures from besides the two floating around the innertubes, and I demand that someone send to me).
The one with Vince where Phil wears a tie-dyed Izod shirt.
Sometime in the 80’s and Bobby has a rose for some reason.
The one from around In the Dark that split up into duet photos.
Wow, that is actually not a lot. Every other band–literally every single other band in the history of bands–submits to full group photo shoots for every new project.
I’ve seen other shots from this photo shoot (Phil Wears a Tie in ’77), but not this particular picture. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good group shot, and we shall get back to basics by going left to right.
Mickey wins.
That is the most fuckable Mickey’s hair has ever been.
Plus the hockey jersey/mustache combo: he looks like a the left-winger on the fighting line.
Sure, there’s a bit of coke-face going one, but still: Mickey wins.
What happened to the guy who used to own that tie?
Did Phil take it as a prize?
Phil’s hair also looks good, but not as good as Mickey’s; also, Phil has no mustache.
And he needs to stop looking at Mrs. Donna Jean like that.
And Mrs. Donna Jean needs to stop looking at Phil like that.
Garcia sees it.
Look at Garcia’s face.
I’ll wait.
…
Right?
There’s no culture in the world in which that expression doesn’t translate to “Goddammit, man.”
(Although neither Phil nor Garcia is wearing his glasses, so they might think they’re looking at each other.)
A rare L for Bobby.
Bobby usually wins the picture, but his starter beard can’t stand up to Mickey’s Doug Henning-style.
If Bobby’s ’77 beard used the Time Sheath to meet Bobby’s current beard, it would be in awe.
The real-life Billy has the liberal views you might expect from a Grateful Dead, but Billy’s face in this picture is voting for Trump.
Also, if Billy and Mickey tilted their heads to opposing sides, their mustaches would form parentheses around the Grateful Dead.
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