9/28/75 is one of those shows I can always listen to always. Most Dead shows, I can always listen to, but sometimes I don’t want to hear this show or that right now. I can always listen to Lindley Meadows always. It’s good morning music, driving music, humping music; 9/28/75 is an excellent choice for corpse disposal or babysitting. (Corpse disposal and babysitting are more related activities than the media will tell you.) 9/28/75 slices, dices, chops, hops, skips, jumps, and knows where you left your keys. 9/28/75 has a corkscrew, scissors, bottle-opener, and even the little toothpick in the slot. Many Dead shows have lost the little toothpick in the slot, but not Lindley Meadows.
Is it the baby that’s born during the first half of the set?
Is it the first Help>Slip>Frank that’s not really a Help>Slip>Frank?
Is it Bobby calling his pooch on Truckin’?
Is it The Eleven jam that’s only kinda a The Eleven jam?
Is it the fact that it’s September, yet all of the Grateful Deads are dressed like it’s July in Antarctica?
(Remember: Southern Hemisphere; shit’s reversed down there.)
It’s something. 9/28/75 isn’t my favorite show; it’s the one I can always listen to. It’s the Fig Newtons of Dead shows: I might not ask for it by name, but if you put one in front of me, I will eat it every single time.
True story: on September 28, 1975, I moved into the dorms at UC Berkeley, beginning my Freshman year. There was no intertoobz or anything in those days. so it wasn’t until the next morning that I discovered that the Dead had played Golden Gate Park while I was moving in.
Now, realistically, had I known, I think I couldn’t have gone to the show, anyway, but it doesn’t matter. When I read something like this, all I can think is, I was moving into the dorms and meeting my dweeby roommate, and about 10 miles away, all this was going on.
Another footnote to this event: the Jefferson Starship opened the show. They had put on a show in May (May 31), it had even been advertised, and while Jer had dropped in to perform with the opening act (Diga Rhythm Band), it had been a manageable event. So the Starship booked another show, the SF Parks Dept said ok, and to Kantner’s undying credit, he facilitated the Dead’s appearance and pissed off the Parks Dept.
Does the Starship tape even circulate? Would any of us even listen to it if it did?
One of a handful of AUDs I think sound better than the SBD.
I love that I can punch this date into the Google box and the first 10 hits are all recordings of the show.
leather-jacketed, Puma-shod, transitioning to Mummenschanz Jerry
If you were a guy, seems the only way backstage was to hold a camera. Girls had other means
Hard to overemphasize how chilly it often is in Golden Gate Park; Lindley Meadows is not too far from the Park’s bison enclosure. Was it 10 degrees warmer in Berkeley where Corry was moving in, or 15?
oh probably 15 degrees warmer. GGP Park ‘effin freezin in the Fall. I recall a warm sunny day in Berkeley, so it would have been chilly indeed in the Park.
I should point out, however, that there are no “Seasons” in Golden Gate Park. So on January 14, 1967, the temp was probably about 68 degrees with a breeze, just as it would have been in September. For those watching ABC-TV news, freezing to death in Peoria or Poughkeepsie, Golden Gate Park must have looked pretty inviting.
As I type (937pm ET Friday), this show is in my ears courtesy of SiriusXM. Franklins.
The baby born that day is now 42 and probably a Contributing Editor or Research Scientist or Project Manager or Futbol Commentator.
Either way, she or he had an interesting birth.
Jerry’s Pumas and Phil’s plaid-under-the-sweater were VERY much the exact kinds of sartorial choices I made four years later in grade 7.
Happy Festivus, Y’all!