Scottyskis2
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- Joined
- Dec 17, 2022
- Messages
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The magnificent Grateful Dead played their final great concert on the first day of summer — June 21, 1995 — at the beloved Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, NY.
.
They played only 14 songs.
.
The Dead got their game on early with a charged “Hell in a Bucket” opener from Weir, looking buff in a black muscle shirt and grey shorts. There’s a two-minute break before Jerry drops the opening notes to the sinister “Loser”:
.
.
His vocals are clear and strong with each note pronounced. Garcia’s hair is shoulder-length and beautifully styled, his beard thick and full, both one hundred percent white. His new eyeglasses complement his face and his brown trousers are a step up in style from the sweatpants he had been wearing.
.
Garcia has been carrying a burden — the incessant touring and demands on his life — he can no longer bear. At the Albany show, Jerry is diminutive in stature. Like a pencil that has been sharpened to a nub, he’s a shell of his former-self, just seven weeks from death.
.
Jerry may have been his own worst enemy, but he deserved a far better fate than the one cast for him by those around him. The band and the organization both gave up on him. To his shame, Weir became his self-admitted "bagman" as if that was something to be proud of.
.
"They bring out the babies, the kids, the hospital bills. 'We’ve all got families !' Big wringing of the hands and weeping," noted one scribe of this period. "There’s a huge jones there for the money. Everyone who works for the Dead has been so well paid for so long they can’t let [Garcia], the cash cow, go to pasture.
.
"They have mortgages and car payments and all this has swamped the original ideals of the band. In the old days, adventure and infinite possibility were [their] missions. For a long time, anarchic mischief propelled [them]. It was a magic force. But [then] the Dead became engulfed and paralyzed by the forces of chaos they once rode. It seemed as the years went by, it got harder to do anything other than go the same old places."
.
Such as the Knick, great as it was.
.
Weir knocks it out of the park on “Take Me to the River,” co-written by Al Green and Mabon “Teenie” Hodges in 1974 and popularized by the Talking Heads four years later. Garcia’s solos are fluid and perky; at one point, he even shows a little flash, running his left hand up and down the fretboard Eddie Van Halen-style.
.
Behind him, Mickey, in an orange T-shirt, is thumping away.
.
After the song, Jerry stands isolated from the band, his back to the audience, fiddling with his amp. Unless he was smoking a cigarette, this was not typical on-stage behavior for Garcia. The turning point of the concert comes next, with a beautiful but melancholy 15-minute rendition of “Row, Jimmy.”
.
It’s here Garcia begins to wield his power.
.
It’s been his band since Pigpen’s death and tonight he has decided to remind everyone, including his bandmates, of that. He looks to his right, one of the few times he gazes at the other members of the Dead, but looks at no one in particular. Garcia controls the tempo and timing of the song, drawing it out where he pleases, emphasizing certain vocal and instrumental passages as he sees fit. He is deliberate and the song as delicate as a spring sheet of ice on a New England pond.
.
Not only does Jerry minimally interact with the rest of the Dead, he hardly looks up from his guitar, as if unwilling to acknowledge his bandmates. He plays hunched over, inspecting each note, his neck craned, his chin pinned to his chest and his hair hanging down.
.
On “Row, Jimmy,” he uses the MIDI on his first solo, eliciting a flute sound. During the second instrumental passage, he freestyles on guitar, independent of the band, as if playing by and for himself. The result is a wonderful but blue four-and-a-half-minute solo, tenderly developed and nurtured by Garcia. Vince, on electric piano, does a gorgeous two-step with Jerry, who ends his solo by stepping to the mic to gingerly sing: “Broken heart, don’t feel so bad ...”
.
The audience, recognizing the poignancy of Jerry’s extended soloing and the emotional resonance in his voice, responds with cascades of applause. Phil, tall and thin, his hair dyed a brownish blonde, looks fantastic. He interrupts the Weir-Garcia back-and-forth with “Broken Arrow.” Intuition was one of the qualities that made the Grateful Dead great and Lesh knows Garcia has set out on his own tonight. Phil complements the emotional tenor of the evening with a sublime take on the Robbie Robertson song.
.
To his credit, Vince shines here — and throughout the night — on the electric piano.
.
A tight, powerhouse version of “The Promised Land” closes the set. Jerry rips it up on Chuck Berry’s licks and Vince contributes a red-hot solo.
.
The second set begins with a jaw-dropping 28-minute “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain.” The audience reaction to Jerry’s soloing in “Scarlet Begonias” is loud and approving; buoyed, he stands more erect. At several points during the song, he’s forced to look down to his left at the teleprompter to regain his place.
.
During the bridge jam to “Fire on the Mountain,” Garcia adds a little fuzz to his sound and then turns to the band, again without looking at anyone in particular, to remind them: This is still my classroom, and I am still the teacher.
.
Garcia plays another lengthy solo in “Fire,” dictating the timing and pace of the music as he did earlier during “Row, Jimmy.” He extends the jam, mostly with his chin pressed to his chest; at one point, he briefly stops playing altogether and walks back to his amps to mess with something. Vince fills the empty space with a sparkling solo. As with “Row, Jimmy,” there is a transcendent moment here which lasts almost a minute: It occurs when Jerry stops playing and just sings the chorus, adding several plaintive, sorrow-filled wails.
.
Late in the second set, he looks over at the band, again making eye contact with no one, but this time he’s saying — This has all been fun, but now it’s time for me to say goodbye.
.
He strums the opening chords to the Grateful Dead’s final performance of “Morning Dew.”
.
Garcia is as powerful as he can be in his compromised state of health, summoning all his strength and greatness for one final and riveting “Dew.”
.
Like Babe Ruth at the end of his career, he is broken and beat up. Jerry and the Babe, two great American immortals crushed by the albatross of fame, both giving their all until there was no more to give.
.
On May 25, 1935 in the second-to-last game of Ruth’s Hall of Fame career, the Sultan of Swat, as a Boston Brave, went 4-for-4 and blasted three home runs.
.
Tonight is Garcia’s three-homer, farewell game.
.
— Scott
June 21, 2023
.
Happy Summer ! Happy Wednesday !! I can never thank you enough for your help and input. Have a fabulous and safe time at Dead & Company these next two evenings at CitiField !! I am so excited. Please say hello. I look like Scott. Don't support the nitrous oxide balloon people at CitiField. Remember, you are buying auto-grade nitrous used in Funny Cars which cuts off the oxygen to your brain. Which is why you face plant. You are not inhaling dentist-quality nitrous. A 24-year-old man was arrested in the SPAC parking lot as Dead & Company were playing inside after stomping on and smashing 18 cars. He faces 18 felonies in an upstate New York court. Good luck with that mess, knucklehead.
.
I appreciate and value your support. Thank you for reading my essays and responding to them. It's not easy to print today's essay, but the video speaks for itself. Take care of yourself and be strong. Remember, sometimes you are the only person who is going to look out for you. I hope my writing and tales bring each of you some measure of happiness every day.
.
Love to you.
.
May God bless, protect, provide for and guide every Deadhead.
.
.
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
.
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
.
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation, Aquarius
Aquarius
.
When the moon (when the moon) is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter (Jupiter) aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
.
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
.
Let the sunshine, let the sun shine in
The sun shine in
Let the sunshine, let the sun shine in
The sun shine in
.
.
— "Aquarius (The Flesh Failures),"
Fifth Dimension
1969
.
⚡️ ..
.. ⚡️ .. 
.. ⚡️ .. 
.. ⚡️
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
They played only 14 songs.
.
The Dead got their game on early with a charged “Hell in a Bucket” opener from Weir, looking buff in a black muscle shirt and grey shorts. There’s a two-minute break before Jerry drops the opening notes to the sinister “Loser”:
.
His vocals are clear and strong with each note pronounced. Garcia’s hair is shoulder-length and beautifully styled, his beard thick and full, both one hundred percent white. His new eyeglasses complement his face and his brown trousers are a step up in style from the sweatpants he had been wearing.
.
Garcia has been carrying a burden — the incessant touring and demands on his life — he can no longer bear. At the Albany show, Jerry is diminutive in stature. Like a pencil that has been sharpened to a nub, he’s a shell of his former-self, just seven weeks from death.
.
Jerry may have been his own worst enemy, but he deserved a far better fate than the one cast for him by those around him. The band and the organization both gave up on him. To his shame, Weir became his self-admitted "bagman" as if that was something to be proud of.
.
"They bring out the babies, the kids, the hospital bills. 'We’ve all got families !' Big wringing of the hands and weeping," noted one scribe of this period. "There’s a huge jones there for the money. Everyone who works for the Dead has been so well paid for so long they can’t let [Garcia], the cash cow, go to pasture.
.
"They have mortgages and car payments and all this has swamped the original ideals of the band. In the old days, adventure and infinite possibility were [their] missions. For a long time, anarchic mischief propelled [them]. It was a magic force. But [then] the Dead became engulfed and paralyzed by the forces of chaos they once rode. It seemed as the years went by, it got harder to do anything other than go the same old places."
.
Such as the Knick, great as it was.
.
Weir knocks it out of the park on “Take Me to the River,” co-written by Al Green and Mabon “Teenie” Hodges in 1974 and popularized by the Talking Heads four years later. Garcia’s solos are fluid and perky; at one point, he even shows a little flash, running his left hand up and down the fretboard Eddie Van Halen-style.
.
Behind him, Mickey, in an orange T-shirt, is thumping away.
.
After the song, Jerry stands isolated from the band, his back to the audience, fiddling with his amp. Unless he was smoking a cigarette, this was not typical on-stage behavior for Garcia. The turning point of the concert comes next, with a beautiful but melancholy 15-minute rendition of “Row, Jimmy.”
.
It’s here Garcia begins to wield his power.
.
It’s been his band since Pigpen’s death and tonight he has decided to remind everyone, including his bandmates, of that. He looks to his right, one of the few times he gazes at the other members of the Dead, but looks at no one in particular. Garcia controls the tempo and timing of the song, drawing it out where he pleases, emphasizing certain vocal and instrumental passages as he sees fit. He is deliberate and the song as delicate as a spring sheet of ice on a New England pond.
.
Not only does Jerry minimally interact with the rest of the Dead, he hardly looks up from his guitar, as if unwilling to acknowledge his bandmates. He plays hunched over, inspecting each note, his neck craned, his chin pinned to his chest and his hair hanging down.
.
On “Row, Jimmy,” he uses the MIDI on his first solo, eliciting a flute sound. During the second instrumental passage, he freestyles on guitar, independent of the band, as if playing by and for himself. The result is a wonderful but blue four-and-a-half-minute solo, tenderly developed and nurtured by Garcia. Vince, on electric piano, does a gorgeous two-step with Jerry, who ends his solo by stepping to the mic to gingerly sing: “Broken heart, don’t feel so bad ...”
.
The audience, recognizing the poignancy of Jerry’s extended soloing and the emotional resonance in his voice, responds with cascades of applause. Phil, tall and thin, his hair dyed a brownish blonde, looks fantastic. He interrupts the Weir-Garcia back-and-forth with “Broken Arrow.” Intuition was one of the qualities that made the Grateful Dead great and Lesh knows Garcia has set out on his own tonight. Phil complements the emotional tenor of the evening with a sublime take on the Robbie Robertson song.
.
To his credit, Vince shines here — and throughout the night — on the electric piano.
.
A tight, powerhouse version of “The Promised Land” closes the set. Jerry rips it up on Chuck Berry’s licks and Vince contributes a red-hot solo.
.
The second set begins with a jaw-dropping 28-minute “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain.” The audience reaction to Jerry’s soloing in “Scarlet Begonias” is loud and approving; buoyed, he stands more erect. At several points during the song, he’s forced to look down to his left at the teleprompter to regain his place.
.
During the bridge jam to “Fire on the Mountain,” Garcia adds a little fuzz to his sound and then turns to the band, again without looking at anyone in particular, to remind them: This is still my classroom, and I am still the teacher.
.
Garcia plays another lengthy solo in “Fire,” dictating the timing and pace of the music as he did earlier during “Row, Jimmy.” He extends the jam, mostly with his chin pressed to his chest; at one point, he briefly stops playing altogether and walks back to his amps to mess with something. Vince fills the empty space with a sparkling solo. As with “Row, Jimmy,” there is a transcendent moment here which lasts almost a minute: It occurs when Jerry stops playing and just sings the chorus, adding several plaintive, sorrow-filled wails.
.
Late in the second set, he looks over at the band, again making eye contact with no one, but this time he’s saying — This has all been fun, but now it’s time for me to say goodbye.
.
He strums the opening chords to the Grateful Dead’s final performance of “Morning Dew.”
.
Garcia is as powerful as he can be in his compromised state of health, summoning all his strength and greatness for one final and riveting “Dew.”
.
Like Babe Ruth at the end of his career, he is broken and beat up. Jerry and the Babe, two great American immortals crushed by the albatross of fame, both giving their all until there was no more to give.
.
On May 25, 1935 in the second-to-last game of Ruth’s Hall of Fame career, the Sultan of Swat, as a Boston Brave, went 4-for-4 and blasted three home runs.
.
Tonight is Garcia’s three-homer, farewell game.
.
— Scott
June 21, 2023
.
Happy Summer ! Happy Wednesday !! I can never thank you enough for your help and input. Have a fabulous and safe time at Dead & Company these next two evenings at CitiField !! I am so excited. Please say hello. I look like Scott. Don't support the nitrous oxide balloon people at CitiField. Remember, you are buying auto-grade nitrous used in Funny Cars which cuts off the oxygen to your brain. Which is why you face plant. You are not inhaling dentist-quality nitrous. A 24-year-old man was arrested in the SPAC parking lot as Dead & Company were playing inside after stomping on and smashing 18 cars. He faces 18 felonies in an upstate New York court. Good luck with that mess, knucklehead.
.
I appreciate and value your support. Thank you for reading my essays and responding to them. It's not easy to print today's essay, but the video speaks for itself. Take care of yourself and be strong. Remember, sometimes you are the only person who is going to look out for you. I hope my writing and tales bring each of you some measure of happiness every day.
.
Love to you.
.
May God bless, protect, provide for and guide every Deadhead.
.
.
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
.
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
.
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation, Aquarius
Aquarius
.
When the moon (when the moon) is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter (Jupiter) aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
.
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
.
Let the sunshine, let the sun shine in
The sun shine in
Let the sunshine, let the sun shine in
The sun shine in
.
— "Aquarius (The Flesh Failures),"
Fifth Dimension
1969
.
⚡️ ..
.. ⚡️ .. .. ⚡️ .. .. ⚡️.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
