Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Once in a While You Get Shown the Light

    "Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been."
"Truckin'," Grateful Dead, 1970

    "I may be goin' to hell in a bucket, baby, but at least I'm enjoyin' the ride."
            "Hell in a Bucket," Grateful Dead, 1983

Those two lyrics became my senior quotes, appearing in my yearbook beside a baby picture and the fully-coiffed, tuxedoed, 1988 version of myself.  Okay, fine, they wouldn't let me print the first clause of the second quote, so I shortened it.  Full text implied.

Have You Seen Me?
Jerry Lesh Garcia circa 1988
The first concert I ever attended was The Monkees at Scope in Norfolk in 1985.  In the same space where Dr. J used to light it up for the Virginia Squires, Davy, Micky, and Peter (Mike wasn't in need of the cash, as he was an heir to the Liquid Paper fortune) made us all daydream believers once again. Some months later, I enjoyed another act begat in the Sixties, the Grateful Dead.  Same vintage, different band.  Different venue. Different crowd. Different worlds. Different daydreams.

I never saw the Monkees again. The Dead, however, became a relative fixation that competed for my aural enjoyment with R.E.M., The Cure, Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC.  I saw multiple shows of theirs at Hampton Coliseum each of the next few years, saw the Jerry Garcia Band at Merriweather, and caught the notorious Warlocks shows in Hampton in the fall of 1989.  Worth reading about here. Saw those shows with Scoop Edwards, RIP.

At the same time, though, college is a great place to absorb a ton of different music.  Just on my freshman hall, I had a metalhead roommate, a guy across the hall who went to Boathouse shows with me like Living Colour and UB40, a nextdoor neighbor who introduced me to The Cult, and a little squirrel down the hall who taught me that The Smiths and They Might Be Giants were actually really good bands. Soon enough, my headlong affinity for The Clash and punk rock began in earnest.  (Not in Ernest.) And along the way the Beasties released Paul's Boutique.

By the time I was (finally) graduating from college, the Dead, Deadheads, tie-dyes, and tapestries all quietly faded into the rearview.

Jerry died in 1995 while I was in New Orleans. Slight uptick in old tapes unearthed, then back to my regularly scheduled dipshittery (like Ween, Weezer, other bands starting with wee...).

Fast forward 20 years.  In Norfolk, the clowns with whom I now revel lean jammy, just as they did back when.  I didn't really fall back into that groove right away.  Saw my first Phish show in 2011. My first Widespread Panic show a few years later.  And at the Lockn' Festival in 2015, I saw Bob, Phil, Bill, Mickey, and a host of other performers resurrect the Dead. I streamed the Santa Clara and then all three nights of the Fare Thee Well hoopla from Soldier Field last summer.

All that boring backstory said, nothing catapulted me back into JerryLand nearly so much as watching the Scorsese-produced, four-hour documentary I saw last week. On Thursday night, Long Strange Trip: The Untold Story of the Grateful Dead was shown on a couple dozen screens across the country for one night only.

In Norfolk, it was the beloved Naro Cinema in Ghent, a few blocks from my place.  Well-attended but not packed to the gills, I saw dozens of friends old and older pouring beverages into beverages and letting there be songs and what-not to fill the air.  Management shrugged and smiled.

Four hours is a long time in a movie theater, even with an intermission (trip to the bar nextdoor for shots).  It flew by.  The director, Amir Bar-Lev, known for the Tillman Story (must-see) and other works, gave us the story/backstory, showed the shows, played the songs, and blew me away.

There's a whole lot in it; of course there's more to every story; the same Deadheads who have argued for decades about Barton Hall '77 vs Port Chester '70 or, as Al Franken amusingly discusses in the film, the best version of "Althea" ever performed (he says Nassau '80), will undoubtedly gripe that there's no post-Jerry scenes or that Tom Constanten is hardly mentioned or that Mountain Girl gets short shrift or whatever.  Shut it.  It's fantastic, it's art, and I had zero complaints, except that it eventually had to end, and the music stopped.

I always had a sense of kinship with Jerry Garcia, but then most people who like the music do.  I... ahem, a guy who looked like me in high school... had a state-issued driver's permit with the name Jerry Lesh Garcia that aided my... his... fun from ages 16-21.  Bearded and beefy as I sat in the Naro Thursday night, watching the greatest story ever told (at least that night), that feeling hit me again. The picture painted of a goofy character who always carried a little bit of mischief and anarchy, a little bit of leadership and ingenuity, a lot of love for those around him, and a firm philosophy of "Have fun!" that ensured good times galore but also incurred plenty of detriment... well, I know people like that.

Anyway, I now can't stop playing the old shows.  God bless Deadheads, there's almost as much music and material written about the Grateful Dead on the Internet as there is pornography and links to Alfonso Ribeiro shirtless.  I can hear most every show I attended.  (What I wouldn't give for that to be true of every band I saw.)  "Brown-Eyed Women" and "Morning Dew" on repeat; Jesus, I used to be a guy who mostly liked the 4-minute rock songs GD occasionally issued that Deadheads hated. Now, the longer the meandering, the better.

Anyway, pardon my own meandering down Shakedown Street.  Watch the trailer below, and if you have any interest whatsoever, as of this Friday you can use Amazon to stream the full documentary of Long Strange Trip.  Enjoy the Ride.


28 comments:

TR said...

This post deserves a compliment. Or two or three. But Whit's prose, like that of Frank DeFord, needs some time to marinate.

In the meantime, let's digest the Journey HoF event. Steve Perry attends and does a shit-ton of talking as the band gets the award. And the. He disappears for their performance. A tiny Asian in a suit and sneakers is singing. WTF is that? How is he not on that stage? Perry was the frontman w/ the butt part hair. Just a terrible scene.

TR said...

Eddie Vedder's wife looks nice.

Whitney said...

Thank you, TR.

And I have to agree with you about Journey, even as I get some of the backstory. That Asian, a Filipino kid named Arnel who speaks English as a second language, was selected off YouTube by the band when Perry quit for good like 15 years ago. And the dude can hit the notes. I think it's inspirational and a cool, multicultural FU to the bigots that might inhabit the lawns at Journey shows across the US.

THAT SAID, this was the shining moment for Steve Perry and the band to mend whatever fences for the sake of the RnRHoF and music lovers everywhere and get him the hell on that stage to belt out "DSB" or "Lights." Totally awkward, even as this has been the lineup for a decade and a half. If his brain processes emotion like a normal person, he will likely regret that for all his days.

rootsminer said...

Wow. My first concert was the Monkees in 1985 too. My real uncle Bill took me. Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and Grassroots were also on the bill.

I'm hoping someone around my area will show this, but I'm working on a contingency plan to get my 'adopted hippie uncle' Chuck's giant TV hooked up to stream it.

I go through phases where I get back into the Dead - their willingness to hang it all out and risk abject disaster is compelling.

The aforementioned hippie uncle recently brought me a CD of highlight of a June 1973 RFK show w/ Dicky Betts and Butch Trucks sitting in - it's pretty damn hot!

Squeaky said...

I was fortunate enough to see the Dead a bunch of times, mostly at RFK in DC. Never got into them as much as Widespread but I love a meandering long ass jam.

Danimal said...

Got sucked into that HOF presentation a couple of Saturday nights ago. My thoughts mirror those here, and in fact could swear I left a comment stating as much. Apparently not. I assumed, incorrectly (http://ultimateclassicrock.com/steve-perry-leaves-journey-again/), that Steve's not performing was Neil Schon's decision.

Mark said...

Those RRHOF ceremonies never do much for me. I always end up underwhelmed by the performances. Maybe it's just my disdain for Cleveland.

Mark said...

We're breaking ground on a pool at my house today. I say this so you're all prepared for 2 months of me bitching about contractors, delays, etc.

T.J. said...

Congrats, sir - I know that has been a long time in the works.

TR said...

You going above-ground pool? Those are sweet.

mayhugh said...

I'm guessing he's putting gators in it.

Mark said...

Above ground like a true redneck.

I wish. It certainly would be a lot fucking cheaper. Never believe your wife when she gives the original figure on how much one of these projects will cost. You'd think I'd have figured that out by now.

Dave said...

amir bar lev also did "my kid could paint that," one of my favorite docs. i will check this post out in more detail later, have to take a kid to the dentist, but i'm assuming this doc is good too . . .

rob said...

we're in the process of hiring a contractor to finish our basement. we settled on a budget a long time ago. now that we have a few quotes, my wife has entered the 'can we spend a few thousand more?' phase of the negotiation. and i'm the asshole.

zman said...

That's a classic contracting situation. You should've married a transactional lawyer.

Squeaky said...

Thankfully, my wife is the opposite. She gets to reel in my crazy ass project ideas.

rootsminer said...

I had a guy at lowes last night incredulous that we opted to spend $160 each on three 20" x 30" windows, when we could have filled the same space with two 30" x 30" windows for the same $160 each. I finally had to be like 'look dude, we want three windows in the dormer and I don't care if it costs and extra buck sixty.' He said he understood, then kept arguing with me.

And Rob you should just pony up. Nobody likes an asshole who says no all the time.

zman said...

Rootsy is an asthete.

rootsminer said...

Actually i didn't care. I just wasn't being a killjoy. My wife wanted three windows.

mayhugh said...

Rob - I have the same struggles with my wife around home improvements. She always wants more flare/options than I do. I want functional; she wants 'pretty'. I tend to put up a fight only where the upgrades are not adding equity. If she wants a nicer shower stall or sink, we'll get that back some day. If she wants fancy blinds - that shit does not convey and I think it appropriate to draw the line.

zman said...

You need a Toto toilet. Best flair ever.

mayhugh said...

Does it play Africa, Hold the Line or Rosanna?

TR said...

God damn. Sonia Curry has got it going on. She's about to bump Hannah's storm from the top spot in my 50+ cougar list.

zman said...

Halle Berry is 50. Demi Moore is 54. You need to recalibrate your cougarometer.

zman said...

My Toto doesn't play music, those are the next rung up in the Toto pricing hierarchy (but they really exist).

Dave said...

hello gheorghies--

rob, your wife wants you to man up-- either spend the cash or (recommended) try to do some of it yourself and reap the concupiscent benefits . . .

zman said...

Are you speaking from experience?

mayhugh said...

I will try to DIY it if there is 5 minute or less tutorial on youtube for how to do it. Otherwise I call a professional.