· Hiking Time --- 2 hours 17 minutes
· Temperature: 21ºF (-6ºC)
· Trail Time in November: 3 hours 21 minutes

____(starting Oct. 1)
· Weight Loss Goal -- 24 pounds (11 kg)
__________· So Far -- 7 lb.

Saturday again? For real? Or for fake? Is all of this life just a dream? This week has flown by. Spent last night out at Chena Hot Springs. I was the third wheel. Yay. It wasn't that bad, they're good friends o' mine. Mike, my former EMT partner, and his wife, Julie, went along. Actually I was the invited one so twas me who was doing the going along. And apparently there was supposed to be a fourth person but she cancelled. I've got the feeling they were setting me up with someone... and they'll keep trying. That's not something I particularly care for... but then again, if I knew who it was and she's on the hot side, then I could decide whether to make it easy for them. Unfortunately I have no clue so I've gotta play this hand carefully. Anyway, the swimming was nice. But I don't think I really did any swimming. In the pool at Chena, it's more like a lounging. Lazing and lounging. Loved it! Woulda been better if it was a cloudless and the Northern Lights danced overhead... but ya can't have everything. Oh well. It's a freakin' cool place to be when the lights are flashing across the Heaven. These great hot springs are right down the road, sort of... about 60 miles east of Fairbanks down a dead-end road into the wilderness. So accessable they are but I haven't been there in months. Should really get out there more often. Sooooooooo relaxing.

This morning the drive back to town was in near white-out conditions. The snow wasn't coming down at an enormous pace but holy cow, the wind blowin' it around like mad made the drive back sooooo long.

I had my mind made up that as soon as I got back, I'd gear up and hit the trail almost immediately. And a fan-freakin'-tastic hike it was. Okay, there wasn't anything really thatamazing about it. But how dang sweet, yet again, to be puttin' one foot in front of the other, gettin' some exercise on a snowy trail, through a snowy landscape, cool air on my face, warm fingers in gloves, warm head under fleece cap. For some of the hike, the peacefulness without music was so intense. In the falling snow, not a sound could be heard. At other times GD tunes filled my ears and made this stroll a slice of Heaven on Earth. Yeah... sweeeet!

Hiking Music...
actually just the 2nd set on the trail
but I've now listened to this show
three times in the past few days.

Grateful Dead -- 12/16/94
L.A. Sports Arena
Los Angeles, CA

1st Set

Hell In A Bucket, Cold Rain And Snow,
Minglewood Blues, So Many Roads,
Childhood's End, Eternity -> Don't Ease Me In

2nd Set

Eyes Of The World, Samba In The Rain,
Estimated Prophet -> He's Gone ->
Drums -> Space -> The Other One ->
Wharf Rat -> Good Lovin'

Encore

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

*Almost the whole show with Branford Marsalis!*

What a three week span,
from the end of November through mid-December:

Salt Lake-> Denver and back.
Salt Lake-> Oakland and back.
Salt Lake-> Los Angeles and back.

From what I remember of it, that was pretty tiring with a lot of gas money spent but a whole bunch of Dead shows seen. All worth it!

At the time I was not working -- slumming it, sort of. I was all set to start work right after Christmas up at Park City. My mailorder tickets were in hand and all I needed was to find some people to go to some shows. Somehow I convinced my faithful tour buddies Jennamarie and April to head down to LaLaLand for a few days. One problem for them was they were both enrolled at the U (the University of Utah) that semester. Usually it takes no effort to get them to go but this time I had to really really really twist their arms... but they gave in. The middle two L.A. shows were doable for them, on a Friday and a Sunday, provided we leave right after the Sunday show. That following Monday morning they had to get to class without fail -- finals were starting! For that, I commend them even to this day. What a tight squeeze but my girls said what the heck and off we were!

From Salt Lake City to the heart of Los Angeles it's about 700 miles if I remember correctly. In a normal vehicle that would be a fairly easy 10 hour trip. Going by old VW bus it took slightly longer, more like 12-13 hours... it was a haul! Sometime in the afternoon on Thursday we left and headed for I-15 -- Provo, Cedar City, Las Vegas, and the burning shores of California beyond. We didn't get quite that far before ending the first half of the journey about an hour south of Vegas. In the small casino town of Primm, Nevada we got a room for the night. Now if only memory recall was better this many years later. Not even the name of the casino where we stopped can I remember. My mind is just a blank on that night. The next morning I remember we got breakfast in the casino -- but not one of those $1.99 buffet deals, no, we sat down and ordered, a good yummy breakfast to hold us over until parking lot chow at the arena later on.

Cruisin' through the Mojave from Nevada to SoCal is always a breeze and I remember flyin' right down to the beach for our very first stop (other than gettin' gas somewhere along the four hour or so drive from Primm.) Cowboy Chris as the wheel had no idea where to go but I knew the ocean was west, yes west indeed. So west I went and we landed, I don't remember where, Hermosa or Redondo Beach, down that way, kinda south of the arena but hey, we had the afternoon to kill, no worries! I think I decided to find our way on up to Venice Beach where I'd been before but Jennamarie and April hadn't been -- a cooler spot to waste a few hours doin' basically nothing. As evening approached we busted out the Rand McNally road atlas and figured out how to get to the arena for the show.

So easy it was to get in and parked, I recall that clearly. Same ol' deal for the same ol' band -- same ol' parking lot scene! Ahhhhhhh.... home, in a way! The previous December I had made a similar trip down to SoCal which included San Diego shows, so this was my second time here at this joint. Eventually we made our way inside, probably soaking up the lot atmosphere as much as we could before closin' up the bus, gettin' tix in order, etc. I do remember where we sat for this one. The GD Mailorder folks gave me some pretty nice seats, about mid-court back from the stage and like, I dunno, seven or eight rows up from the floor. Jerry side.

And the show itself? I'm messed up because all these years later, without seein' a setlist it's really difficult for me to give details of a show I was at. Perhaps that's normal? I dunno, but what I do remember about this show -- Branford!!! When he walked out on stage I think my level of bliss just exploded. It hadn't even crossed my mind, I know that. The previous December he played with the Dead here, the SECOND time I got to see him up there with Jerry and the boys. Now a third time? Wow... just foolish to even try to put in words how great that was.

Bucket opened the proceedings on such a high note. This is the quintessential way to open a show in the 1990's, I tell ya what. The place was absolutely rockin'! Flawless and with Branford adding to the sound... YEAH! Jerry was right on with the whole band really kickin' the crap out of this nights opening song.

I don't necessarily like that they didn't go straight into the next tune, Cold Rain and Snow. Instead of segue and just a ton of non-stop dancin', we got a breather before those familiar notes started up a minute or so later. Not bad that was but the Minglewood that followed seemed to kick the show up a notch. Branford stepped up to the plate and belted that song out of the park, baby. The crowd was soooooo into it, so into his bein' up there; what a freakin' treat and a half! And according to Bobby, "these Southland Fillies start lookin' good" 'cause ya know it's "T right here in L.A. now, where the little girls know what to do."

What came next was... once again I'm at a loss for words. New tune So Many Roads wasn't exactly lyrically perfect by Jerry, it's really nice ... but oh my God, the emotion at the end, sittin' here now listening for the fourth time ....... I can't describe it. Unbelievable. Brought the crowd to its knees. Moments like that seem to multiply the impact of Jerry's early departure from our lives. He left way too soon when he still had so many So Many Roads to sing. Not many would be like this one, that's for sure. Without a doubt that was the high point of this show. Wow.

A couple more relatively new songs came next, the better of the two (with all due respect to Phil) being Eternity. At twelve minutes long, the band really gets to open up here and jam. It's a subdued jam and remains within the bounds of the song, but still, and especially with Branford, just gorgeous!

Don't Ease was lyrically a little sloppy but brought us to Halftime on a nice high note. It might have been brief but yet again, Branford shined!

I don't often listen to shows I was at but it really helps bring back the feelings I had when I was there!

Criminal that there's no SBD of this show.

Sound Quality: above average Audience recording.
No flaws to note. Crowd noise at a minimum.

12/16/94 L.A.
is over @ Archive.org
for listening & downloading.

day 18

Tibia stress fracture has gotten exponentially better.

I can position my leg in all sorts of ways with full pressure down upon it and there's no severe pain, no sharp pain, no burning pain.

Still a dull numbness exists and I can force horrible pain if I was sadomasochistic... which I'm not.

A lot better! Not good enough for a long hike yet, not even 30 minutes worth, but strolling into and around the grocery store, not so bad.

Getting Better!

Everyday has seemed hopeless,
as if this leg would never heal.

But over the past two or three days,
I do not believe I've felt a single sharp or burning pain.

With my bed only inches off the floor, I have a long way to go
each and every time I stand up.
At some point a while back I had to make it a point
to consciously plant my left leg first and make sure
I put absolutely as little pressure as possible on the injured right leg.
Additionally,
I've continued to always be aware of what that leg was doing.

Without a cast, I've had to be so careful.
But over the past few days,
I've actually been able to be less careful.
The danger for reinjury has decreased... significantly!

Zilch Day, no run, no hike, Day 18...

but Finally -- getting better.

17?

Without checking I don't know what day this in a row that I haven't been on the trail. I guess once I get beyond 4 or 5 days, it becomes lost to me when the treachery all began. Thankfully stretches like this are really rare, in fact, this is the only time this whole year so far that I've gone more than 5 days without being on a trail for a run or a hike. Some very able-bodied people go a whole month without good exercise. Some a whole year? Sad. For me, a few days is pathetic.

Zilch Days Continue...

Still recovering.

another Zilch Day yet again.

Day 16.

I'm missing summer.

Actually, I don't like summer too much,
I live for Fall and Winter!

I might not be watching many movies,
but I'm listening to a bunch of great music!

But no exercise?

Not good.

Capital Dead

Some tunes for Tuesday...

Man, I wish I was at this show! For the three nights in Albany on this 1990 Spring Tour, it was only the night before that I went to... with stoopid school the next morning and Albany being 3 hours away, dang it, just couldn't swing it... oh well. Still a great listen!

3-25-90 Grateful Dead
Knickerbocker Arena
Albany, New York

1st Set
Greatest Story Ever Told -» Touch of Grey,
Wang Dang Doodle, Never Trust A Woman, Jack-A-Roe,
When I Paint My Masterpiece, Bird Song, Let It Grow

2nd Set
Eyes Of The World -» Samson and Delilah, Crazy Fingers -»
Truckin' -» Spoonful -» Drums-»Space -»
Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad -» Black Peter -» Around and Around

Encore: The Mighty Quinn

How could the middle show of a three night stand be so sweet? That's not often the case. This night in Albany it most definitely was the case!

From May of '72 until the end, over a span of 23 years, only 8 times has Greatest Story Ever Told opened a show. Out of those eight, only tonight had the opening combo of Greatest Story-> Touch of Grey. What a fun way to get this show rollin'!

The boys were rockin' and the house was bouncin' and spinnin' and probably doing nothing less than enjoyin' the crap out of these first two tunes!! Up next was Wang Dang Doodle and the only complaint is that they didn't segue from Touch -> into Wang Dang but instead paused for a tuneup. Oh well. Most of the Deadhead boys and girls in attendance probably coulda danced right through a three song opener but I guess the boys on stage needed a breather.

Brent next delighted with Never Trust a Woman including a little hamming it up at the end which the crowd really seemed to appreciate. Ohhh, that Brent! And then what followed was just a flawless string of songs one after another right up until the end of the set. It almost seemed unreal how perfectly this night was going so far. Let It Grow, to close down Set 1 was actually a let down... ha ha, sort of. It wasn't quite a 10 on my scorecard, maybe only a 9.9. So still this night, up to this point, gets a solid A+! It didn't really rock after Wang Dang but was played basically note for note without error.

With a beautifully played Eyes, the second set picks up right where Set 1 left off... almost. Unfortunately, this one gets a few points deducted for a minor lyric flub by Jerry and then a second mess up when he sings one line too early which he surely realizes a moment later when he sings the same line again. Whoops. So two minor flaws which is just a shame because this Eyes was nearly 13 minutes of bliss from a band that is so tight and so right on.

It bein' Sunday and all, Bobby gives us Samson & Delilah to complete the Biblical two-fer. Another beautiful moment of bliss follows with Crazy Fingers. Brief but sweet it was and then it was time to rock again with Truckin'. Amazing how this song, arguably one of the Dead's three most popular ever, is so welcomed. The boys nailed every note and there probably wasn't an unhappy Head in the Knick on this night! Interestingly, though, as they jammed away at the end of the song, what potential there was to really launch this into 12 or 15 minute jamland. Instead we got a left turn into quick Spoonful and the boys decided to let Mickey & Billy take over.

After the lowpoint of the night -- a completely unspectacular Drums -- a short Space wound down into the quietest point in the night with Brent singing his ever-so-sweet I Will Take You Home. Ahhhh... but it was time to rock again!

Great as this show has been, it wasn't until GDTRFB that there was a truly mindblowing moment as Jerry momentarily lit it up. And one more Jerry plateau came in the next song, Black Peter. While this doesn't usually have the unbelievableness that it once did, it can still shine it's light on everyone with a ticket stub in pocket. On this night in New York's capital city, Jerry flipped that switch and hit that plateau and for one amazing moment, that light did indeed shine. Heaven achieved!

And finally, during the closing Around and Around, Bobby wasn't about to exit stage unnoticed... he yucked it up a little in his uniquely cheesy Bobby style, giving everyone a little laugh and a great big smile for sure! After a Mighty Quinn encore the night was complete.

This is 1990 at some it's finest. While not the most orgasmic of shows, it is so close to perfection and it has its moments to qualify it for maybe one of the best of the final years of the Grateful Dead. On top of that, this Soundboard recording SMOKES!!!

Source
24 Track Soundboard Master Reel > Healy 2 Track Mixdown >
Cassette > DAT > CDR
·
Sound Quality
A+!

3-25-90 @ Archive.org: you can listen to the SBD
plus there are two different audience sources
for listening and/or downloading.

-or-

Download The Show Right Here

3-25-90 aka 03-25-90 aka 3/25/90 aka 03/25/90 aka 90-03-25 setlist 320 kbps mp3 SBD download

Grateful Dead - 3/25/90 Knickerbocker Arena, Albany - 1st Set Set 2, Part 1 - Albany 3/25/90 · · · Albany 3/25/90 - Set 2, Part II

Two Weeks Eclipsed

Injury Zilch Day -- #15.

Over two weeks not on the trail?!?!?

It's extremely distressing to think about that.

Usually I don't like to go more than 2 days without hitting the trail.

Now I'm at over two weeks with any significant exercise whatsoever?!

Ugh.

I can basically feel myself getting unhealthier by the day.

Yay, bring on diabetes and heart disease!!! YAY!!!!!!

Useless Life (or so it seems)

Has it really been approximately 5 or 6 weeks
with this stress fracture in my right tibia?

Two months yet?

Feels like it.

Seems like I'm never going to be back on a trail again.

I'd almost not missing running 'cause I actually hate running...

but I do love the positive health effect it has on the body.

I'd certainly miss hiking.

Not exactly sure what I'd do if I couldn't walk.

Won't think about it.

For now I hold out hope that my leg will heal...

Im fairly sure it will but it just doesn't seem like it.

I feel useless.

My working legs are a huge part of who I am.

I'm just being impatient.

Injured Another Day

Still injured.

No change noticeable.

Another day down.

No hike.

No run.

No exercise.

Again.

But it's only just past noon, many hrs of sunlight left...

Yeah, many hours of depressingly horrible stationary existence.

Without getting OUTSIDE for exercise, life bites.

Bob's Bday

Happy Birthday today to Robert Hunter! How about a show of his!

Robert Hunter 4-5-03

Barrymore Theatre
Madison, WI

1st Set
Box of Rain, Over The Hills -»
So Many Roads -» Peggy-O -»
Dire Wolf -» Peggy-O -» Dire Wolf -»
Peggy-O -» So Many Roads,
Cruel White Water, Silvio, Loser,
Sugaree, Stagger Lee

2nd Set
Standing On The Moon,
I Used To Work In Chicago, The Wind Blows High,
Easy Wind -» Mr. Charlie -» Easy Wind,
Into The Blue, Mission In The Rain,
Tales Of The Great Rum Runners,
Wharf Rat, Aim At The Heart,
The Song Remains -» Scarlet Begonias

Encore: Deal, Ripple, Boys In The Barroom

I almost hate to lodge a complaint about such a fine show but I'll get that out of the way first -- Box of Rain is not a good opener. It's done beautifully here but Deadheads have become so used to somethin' rockin' to start things off! Oh well. It does set the tone for the evening. What follows is just a man and his guitar, a few comments here, some reflection there, a great evening of tunes!

The 1st Set seemed to fly by in nothing less than enjoyable fashion. Hunter cranks out each song in his own arrangement with his own vocal styling. We're treated to plenty of Dead but at the same time it's not the Dead. So Many Roads, for example, sounds nothing at all like what Jerry gave us. This is, in a way, the GD stripped down, all the way down, to its core, to its very heart and soul before the band got a hold of the words and turned them into part of an album and part of a show. If you're one who loves a full band sound, this isn't for you. Like I said, this is just a man and his guitar.

One funny moment came between songs late in the 1st Set where a few members of the audience tossed out a suggestion or three trying to get Bob to bite at one for what he should play next. Harking back a few years, one guy says an audibly enough, "Alligatorrrr." That wasn't to be and it had Bob saying, "Oh boy, we've got a lot of 'em tonight." Then after what seemed like a legit request from someone kind of up close and in a clear voice -- "Attics Of My Life" -- Bob commented, "That one tends to haunt me..." Wow. That one line about Attics helped bring a connection between this man, the music, and us. It was ever so momentary and the music kicked right back up again, but thanks to this recording it's there forever. We can so easily feel that this guy on that stage isn't just playing songs to help pay the mortgage and for his daughter's college education in a few years, he's not just singing for the love of playing music, he's up there holding together this whole post-Jerry thing that we don't want to end. Being that Attics tends to haunt Bob, as he told the crowd, we see the connection between him and Jerry and that almost eight years later, some things are still painful. But the music does goes on and Mr. Hunter closed out the 1st Set with a really nice Sugaree and Stagger Lee (and being that I don't believe they were ever played back to back like that by the Dead, it sounds weird saying them together -- Sugaree and Stagger Lee.)

Anyway, a spectacular Standing On The Moon kicked off the 2nd Set. Just a slice of Heaven on Earth, man. It might not even be the best version ever but still so great to hear! Another truly sentimental moment came after the amazing Easy Wind -> Mr. Charlie -> Easy Wind. That was without a doubt the highlight of the show for me and afterwards Bob gives a low, quick (reflective?) laugh and goes on to say, "That's one you don't hear all the time. Yeah... good old Pig." [some crowd applause...] and he goes on to say that Pig made his mistake when he put his guitar down and picked up that B-3 organ. "That's a boy who should've stuck to that guitar 'cause he had a lot of talent for it. He was, he was the best of us back then, back, back when we were first hanging out together. Pigpen was the most professional, you know; the rest of us were just, just learnin'. Pig, Pig always knew how to do that stuff, and he did it good. Yeah... [short inaudible semi-transitional mumble.] He was, he was the first of our, of our, uh, group to check out, and uh, ohhhhh, that hurt so bad," he said half under his breath and slower than the rest of the words that he'd been speaking, as if the words were emotionally painful to say... but he immediately continued, "that hurt so bad, it was so unbelievable, of all people." Wow. What a freakin' moment. I mean, for those of us who feel a deep connection to the band that was the Grateful Dead, that was... I just don't really have words for it. I'm sure what a moment for Bob, too, remembering his long ago dearly departed friend. What a ride it's been.

With still quite a ways to go, the 2nd Set cruised along to a fine ending some thirty or forty minutes later. Along the way, Mission In The Rain seemed to be for me the sweetest of them all, perhaps because it was primarily a Jerry Band song and the only song of the night that really means Jerry and not GD. Closing the set with Scarlet Begonias got the biggest cheer and the crowd was grateful. Three great encores later and Robert Hunter was on his way home to California, a short eight show tour done and in the books. I don't know if this was the best show of those eight but I do know this was a beauty. Without Jerry we get along and life goes on... but with Robert Hunter playing a show or two here or there, with these recordings, he helps, for sure, to fill in some of that big black hole, that ever-absent piece of life that so many of us miss so dearly. Robert misses Jer (and Pigpen, too) and he shares that with us while sharing these tunes and all we can and we should do is say to Mr. Hunter -- thank you.

Listen Here courtesy of Sugarmegs.org...
and/or: in one long .wma file,
Right Click to Dload: 4/5/03
(links no longer work)

Still Down...

I'm utterly distressed at not being on the trail for...

I think I've lost track... 12 days now?

11 or 12.

To not get moving with my legs for this long is just wrong.

I guess if I want my tibia to heal I have no choice.

healing? doesn't feel like it.

11th Zilch Day in a row.

No run.

No hike.

Pain persists. Not bad. Not almost gone. There.

Still hobbling. Doesn't feel like it's healing.

No patience.

Revenge is a Dish Best Served in a Maze

Buried Alive

1990 Made-for-TV

Shortly before Jennifer Jason Leigh became a famous Hollyweird actress, she was cast in this small screen story about a man who was, uhhh, take a guess. Leigh plays the unhappy wife of a small town contractor. She had met her husband Clint (played by Tim Matheson) when he lived in the big exciting New York City. Now that they're out in the sticks, she hates it and longs to be back in the city. One thing leads to another and Clint's dead. What follows is a yawning mix of coverup, paranoia and revenge. Hoyt Axton does a good job as local Sheriff but his role is too small and not that that important. William Atherton plays the scheming doctor. Unfortunately for the viewer, Atherton isn't an actor who can be taken seriously, especially in a role like this.

Frank Darabont, who was later a Best Writing Oscar nominee for the films Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile directs this TV movie... but it looks like he should have written also. The movie works but it's too slow and not written so well.

Rocky Mtn TOO

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... no, really it was just the best of times or at least a small slice of them that summer of '98, nine years ago.

Truckin' outta (or should I say VW Bussin' outta?) Maryland Heights, Mizzou westbound and down, the Interstate drive was long and hot across the wicked boring landscape that comprises the I-70 corridor from the St. Louis area, out of Missouri and through the Golden Waves of Kansas Grain, followed by an excited relatively short jaunt to the great Mile High City on the eastern edge of the mighty Rocky Mountains. We drove all night, we drove all day, still giddy from the sounds of Bobby & Phil, Bruce & Mickey and Co. that shook the Dead crowd alive back there at Riverport. After a quick stop to meet with some friends in Denver, twas time to make our way to another shed in the nearby 'burbs for some more swell sounds of summer, more bittersweet bliss...

The Other Ones 7/19/98

Fiddler's Green Amphitheater
Englewood, Colorado
Furthur Festival

Playing In The Band -» All Along The Watchtower,

Scarlet Begonias -» Fire On The Mountain,
Jack-A-Roe, Minglewood Blues,
Down The Road, White-Wheeled Limousine,
Bird Song -» Samson and Delilah-» Drums -» Space -»
Banyan Tree -» Playin' Reprise -»
Wharf Rat -» Throwing Stones -» Not Fade Away
Encore: Ripple

Before I downloaded this show, and just finished up a listen a few minutes ago, it had been quite awhile since I had the pleasure to hear these tunes... since they ended that night, actually. This band isn't the Grateful Dead and one example of how that's clear as day is the fact that the setlist fails to mostly conform to what became a fairly standard structure with Jerry at the helm. Playing In The Band kicking things off doesn't work so well, I think. When the song moves into jamming territory it does so in a way that is quite dissimiliar to a rockin' opening show Bertha or Shakedown or something like that. Playin' is definitely one for 2nd Set Land (or in the case of TOO, later in the show.) Even though this doesn't make the best opener, at the very same time, once again I had the biggest smile across my face, a smile that I can't get from any other music outside of something immediately Dead-related. These guys loved playing this song and they played it well!

In all good time Bobby kept the ball rollin' with a fine Watchtower. The band was sounding pretty tight, just an outstanding group of musical professionals playin' some of the best music on Earth!

Scarlet was bittersweet but here they let their un-Deadness show. I really like Bruce singing this (and any Jerry songs) but the song sort of suffers in that big jam area before going into Fire On The Mountain. With our beloved Jerry steering the ship, jams within songs can smoothly retain elements of the song and they can all bring it back down so perfectly to end the song or transition or launch into what's next. The Other Ones, on the otherhand, can hold together a jam and really work on it as a group, but it's loose and frayed around the edges, the coming back down all as one takes a lot more work. The Dead just did it; TOO needs to work at it but of course they get it done. They did exactly that with Scarlet -- they made it happen and wham into Fire which would soon have Mickey at the Mic rapping out his version of FOTM. This is something I may never get used to. I just laughed as I usually do 'cause it's funny, really, and not the straightforward song that everything else is and that everyone's used to.

A whole 'nother feeling came to me a few songs later -- the rawest emotion ever from a TOO show. It never happened when I was there seeing them. That was probably due to the fact that I was always way too (no pun intended) caught up in the moment to clearly make out the lyrics as I know them now...

"From the corner of my eye I saw the sun explode
I didn't look directly 'cause it would have burned my soul
When the smoke and thunder cleared enough to look around
I heard a sweet guitar lick, an old familiar sound
I heard a laugh I recognised come rolling from the earth
Saw it rise into the skies like lightning giving birth
It sounded like Garcia but I couldn't see the face
Just the beard and the glass and a smile on empty space"

Wow. Robert Hunter's Down The Road isn't a whole song about Jerry but that little bit sent tears from my eyes. There's very little else in the Dead or post-Jerry catalog that can do that but Down The Road has that capability and yes, I cried a little at that moment. Bittersweet indeedy so.

Another highlight that had me choked up some was Bird Song which has Bobby & Bruce trading lines of lyrics. Very nice.

Out of a pretty kickin' Drums from Mickey & Molo, the relatively short Space melded into a very Bobby smooth Banyan Tree. Out of that it was great hearin' Phil mess around a little with the Playin' Reprise and then thinking Dark Star... but back to Playin' Reprise but wait, here's some Dark Star-ish notes again... oooo, oooooooo! Amazing that was a week before at Alpine Valley, yes, Phil, keep hittin' those notes... come on... but no such luck as the Playin' Reprise firmly established itself. So close it came, just three or phour Phil base notes away from Dark Star. Oh well.

The end of the show drove forward in fine GD-style fashion. Hornsby sung a great Wharf Rat followed by a very Dead and Ratdogesque Throwin'->NFA. A fine show But Wait! For the whole tour I had been following setlists as best as I could that summer and I knew that they were giving an Encore about every other show or so. Tonight the crowd got one again, my first in three shows. Boom shahka lahka, Ripple, baby! Ahhhhhhhh. Sadly it wasn't the best I'd ever heard. Twas certainly the best for me from a band with Bobby, Phil, Mickey or Bruce... but Bob & Phil primarily on vocals weren't perfectly in synch. What a shame but despite the unperfectness of it, it was still was so great to hear. I couldn't have thunk up a more fantastic way to send the fans out into the cool Rocky Mountain night!!!

A great night in a nearby Denver suburb and a great rediscovering listen these few years later. This show is a very nice piece of The Ones Ones on the Furthur Festival that summer just three years after Jerry's passing. One thing kinda bugs me though and that's on the tunes that are commonly Dead, I don't really love the lead guitar. Steve Kimock is great and on the Hornsby songs, Banyan Tree, and Down The Road, I really dig his playing. But on the Dead numbers, as much as I like others singing Jerry, I don't care for the lead guitar replacing where Jerry should be. If those parts were filled in more with sax and piano, it would make this much, much more joyable for me. As it is now, I do love this music... but to replace Jerry's guitar work kinda puts me off just a bit. But that's just me and maybe it's the fact that this was a pretty sweet Soundboard where you're able to zoom in on one instrument so well and no Jerry really shows itself. I dunno. In any case, to not listen to TOO as often as I don't (does that make sense?!), well, that's a crime, or at least it should be! What I'm tryin' to say is -- listen to more TOO!!!

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The Band:
Phil, Bobby, Bruce, Mickey,
Steve Kimock, Mark Karan,
John Molo, Dave Ellis

Zero

What kinda sucks the worst is,
besides this being Zero Day #10 in a row,
this isn't the 10th overall day...

This weekend'll be 4 weeks? Maybe just 3.

I'll have to look back and see.

9 times....

9 times in a row that I am taking a the day off from the trail.

9 times in a row due to a stress fracture.

9 times angry.

9 times sad.

This sucks.

lost this one to some zzzz's

Maybe once or twice a year I put a movie on and then fall asleep. Before I even made popcorn I was wondering if I was really in the mood for a movie... I guess I wasn't as much as usual. Drifted in an out of the last 20 minutes or so. Dang it. No big loss, I'm sure someday within the next 40 or 50 years this'll show up on TCM again...

The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt

1939

B-westerns I am used to but catching a B-detective movie is almost an equal treat. Warren William stars here as Michael Lanyard a.k.a. The Lone Wolf. It would be his first in the Columbia Pictures Lone Wolf serial. He's supported by 24 year old Ida Lupino and almost 20 year old Rita Hayworth. It's quite interesting to me that she was only a couple months shy of 21 when this was filmed. She unbelievably displayed the sexuality of a woman at least ten years older than that. There was no doubt she'd be such a star! Lanyard is framed for a heist at the War Department -- plans for a new weapon were stolen. But only half the plans were actually taken and Lanyard is forced to steal the other half, also. This and that happens and shortly I was in and out of sleep and not really paying attention. Oh well. From what I remember, this is a nice hour+ of entertainment. One of the cops helps provide some comedy as does Lanyard's kid, played by child actor Virginia Weidler. Hayworth was my star, though. Va va voooom!!!

Zilch Day TOO MANY IN A ROW!!!

Not happy with not getting out for yet another day...

Finally Back On The Trail!

Actually, no, still stuck in this somewhat sedentary situation. Mostly, I mean, I can hobble 'round the house, down the short driveway to get the mail, perhaps out on the deck to grill up some dead animal for sustenance...

I wish I was finally out on the trail today.

Unfortunately, to venture forward on foot for any length of time
for more than just a few minutes,
whether it be a run or a hike, would be plain stoopid.
While I may not have a cast on my leg,
still the bone needs to heal.

This continues to suck ass.

Best Cops Ever?

Practically never in life am I in the mood for a certain movie genre. I'm really usually up for almost anything. Tonight I wanted a comedy, something completely insanely dumb that would make me do nothing but laugh my butt off. Luckily this was on...

Super Troopers

2001

Jay Chandrashekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske? Who are they? Broken Lizard? What's that?

It's clear that I'm not always up on what's now. And that's fine with me. If something is darn funny in 2002 then if it's still darn funny down the line, that's probably when I'm gonna find out about it. Super Troopers, from the group of guys that is the comedy group Broken Lizard, is definitely a darn funny movie and here we are years later and I'm just finding that out. Again, fine with me. Better now than never!

About a group of troublemaking prankster Vermont State Troopers who constantly battle the local Police Department for jurisdiction over nearby crime, this film does not fail to deliver laugh after laugh. Of course, in order to enhance the comedy written into and performed in movies like this, it probably helps to either be involved or formerly involved with American college-age marijuana culture. I simply cannot fathom laughing your butt off at this if you're a Christian who tends to top life off with PG-13 material. That ain't me. In my opinion, when you're a Christian who previously lived 20+ years in a Rated R sense of being, you've got to use your mind as a filter, able to absorb and enjoy the comedy but not let it negatively affect you. What generally passes for Christian comedy, to many of us, that's pretty much the equivalent of sleeping pills. So something like this is a blessing to the Christian who loves adult humor and who does not let it affect them in any bad way.

It was interesting for me finding out after the movie that it was filmed in Dutchess and Westchester counties in southeast New York, not too far from New York City. That is pretty much right about where I grew up, well, maybe 30-40 miles away but I used to go through those areas quite often -- Beacon, Fishkill, Ossining, Wappingers Falls. While watching the movie I was like, "Hey, gorgeous Vermont!" But low and behold "Upstate" New York played the part oh so nicely.

Anyway, what a freakin' funny movie! Could really have done without the full frontal fat guy nudity but as an EMT, I've seen it a thousand times in the flesh and up way too close. Still -- no need for it in a movie! Still, I am without a doubt looking forward to eventually seein' this one again. I can't say that about almost everything I sit down with popcorn to watch but this one -- absolutely!!

35 Years Ago Tonight...

A grand anniversary it is, of the Monterey International Pop Festival, which took place 40 Years Ago Right Now. Tomorrow the Dead would play amongst a whole slew of other great bands...

Just five years later would be Pigpen's last show...

Grateful Dead 6-17-72
Hollywood Bowl

Los Angeles

1st Set
The Promised Land, Sugaree,
Black-Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Me & My Uncle,
China Cat Sunflower -» I Know You Rider,
Playing In The Band, Loser,
Beat It On Down The Line, Stella Blue,
El Paso, Casey Jones

2nd Set (partial)
Truckin' -» Drums -» The Other One,
Ramble On Rose, Sugar Mags, Not Fade Away

After nearly two months spent in some weird foreign land (Europe) gaining a whole legion of Euroheads, the boys went to LaLaLand for their first American show in 2½ months and their first on the West Coast since the first week of March.

Whipped right along, they did, playing one lickety split number after another. A super sweet China->Rider is sadly interrupted by a tape flip, wiping out practically all of the Northbound Train->Colorado Rain verse. Ouch. The non-invention of DAT yet really hurt right there but a nice 10 minute or so Playin' followed which almost made up for the suffering in my soul from a few minutes before.

A few songs later came another highlight for the 1st Set -- a brand new song, a ballad type of tune sung by Jerry and oh so nice it was! Most of the crowd seemed to give Stella Blue a very nice reception and deservedly so!!

What would the rest of this night at the foot of the Hollywood hills have in store? Impossible to assess from this recording made those so many years ago. Set 2 brought a change in quality of the recording, a bad change, like a hurricane blew through and Set 1 was the peaceful calm before the storm. Not only do we only have a partial setlist but it's not the most pleasant to listen to. The 1st Set was maybe, in general, overall, about A- quality which sometimes wasn't too bad for an Aud of any era. Perhaps at times it even held very nicely with a solid grade of A ... but other times it dropped momentarily to a measely C+/B- due to microphone jostling, crowd voices, and dropouts here and there. Set 2 on the otherhand, well, it doesn't make sense to listen to the 2nd Set first but if you did with this show, you'd Love the quality of the 1st Set. I stuck with the whole almost hourlong of exisiting Set 2 but sadly I probably never will again, it stinks that much. That's terribly unfortunate because the 22 minute Other One is pretty sweet. Oh well.

It's really a shame that this (mostly pathetic) Audience recording is all that circulates for this somewhat historic date in the Dead's history. Pigpen's last show, and the very first playing of Stella Blue, should be given more importance. Does a Soundboard even exist in the vault? Why would it be stashed away all these years? Maybe this is it.

Pigpen was a One of a Kind and it's sad that even though he was on stage here this night in Southern California, you can't even tell. In a way it's okay because the body of music that we are left with where Pigpen absolutely shines is sufficient enough considering the period of time when he was with the band. Not a whole lot in superior quality survived from those years so we should be thankful for what we do have. He may have gone out with a wimper but there's no doubt he was missed each and every day right up until this very moment in time. Thanks, Ron. Without you the Grateful Dead may never even have existed!

This show is available for streaming and downloading at Archive.org.

6

Zilch Day numero seis... i think that's how you spell 6 in spanish.

could write this en francais -- six.

or in english -- six.

6

Sixth day in a row without a run or a hike.

I do believe this is the longest for me all frickin' year.

no exercise for 6 days.

very bad.

Z

The Mark of Zorro

1974 Made-for-TV

So often... so so so often a TV Movie can in no way come close to achieving a level of quality worthy of being shown to mass audiences on the big screen in a theater. That's the case here.

Bayonne, New Jersey native Frank Langella, a future Tony Award winner, gives a decent performance as Don Diego. After returning to southern Arizona... oh wait, that's supposed to be old Los Angeles, he finds his family is no longer in control of the region. The ruling party, with Captain Esteban (Ricardo Montalban) partially at the helm is vicious to the citizenry, taxing the crap out of them and treating them like pondschum. But in comes a masked bandit/hero to save the day. All the while Don Diego, in his peaceful and pompous ways, tries to fit in as best he can.

Yada yada yawn.

There were only two swordfights to capture the crowd's attention and neither one could really come close to the swashbuckling greatness of Errol Flynn or Douglas Fairbanks, the original Zorro on film. A young Anne Archer plays Don Diego's (sort of) arranged love interest and Mrs. Munster a.k.a. Yvonne DeCarlo is Don Diego's mother. Other than the two mediocre action scenes there's really not much else to give this Made-for-TV movie any real substance. While far from being in the ranks of the most horrible movies ever made, it's not even close to being memorable by any means.

Zilch Day AGAIN -- #5

injured.

no run. no hike. trying not to be on my two feet at all...

at least as little as possible.

hating life.

Friday Night Fun Tunes

Back in the later days of tape trading, as CDR and shows available on the internet was just becoming popular, right before I went on a major indefinite hiatus from new music, and all through that hiatus, never did I imagine myself as a music downloader.

We're all entitled to change our minds. I sure did. Tonight's listening adventure is something I would 99.9999999% more than likely never have listened to if it weren't for downloading... and then again, that's true for most everything I listen to nowadays.

Mickey Hart Band
5-14-00
Electric Factory
Philadelphia, PA

Iko Iko, Dire Wolf, Down The Road,
Ripple, Good Lovin', La Montana,
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, Endless Skies,
Who Stole The Show?, Jack-a-Roe,
Strange World, Bagua Osi,
Scarlet Begonias -» Fire On The Mountain
·
Encore 1: Friend Of The Devil -» Not Fade Away
Encore 2: The Other One

Esta muy Spectacularmundo!! (If I've been studying mí español as I do Turkish and French and Russian, I'd be able to appropriately say in Spanish the correct words to describe this show... and probably most of the shows on Mickey's Summer Tour in 2000.) But since I haven't cracked open a Spanish book in well over a couple years or so and my Spanish is a little rusty, esta muy Spectacularmundo will have to do for now....

Upon pressing play on this show, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Well, lots of percussion, I did know that! Iko starting things off was a good tune to get me used to this. Clearly this ain't the Dead or even Ratdog or Phil & Friends... wow, this is the Mickey Hart Band? Right on! A huge and very appreciative smile donned my face, lit up in joy for hearing Mickey bringing the fans these sounds in his very own style.

And talk about his very own style -- during the first minute of the next song you would never ever guess this was the start of a much-loved Jerry-sung tune. Collectively heard about a trillion and a half times by Deadheads, Dire Wolf is noticeable right from the start... not here. The beat was pure Caribbean, mon, a total island sound almost straight outta some tropical beach region with crystal blue waters and umbrellas in your drink. Dire Wolf? Pretty neat to say the least. The crowd musta just been lovin' every second of this!

A couple tunes later it was back to the beach with Caribbean Ripple. An island arrangement for Ripple? Ripple?! Again, I was astounded. This coulda very easily been the encore even in this style but also in this style (sung by Humberto "Nengue" Hernandez) it worked well just thrown into the early part o' the setlist like this. And towards the end of the song the sound seemed to drift west with the setting sun taking us to the Pacific coast of Mexico with sort of a mariachi feel almost as if we were kickin' back in Guadalajara or Manzanillo. Very interesting.

Hernandez sung the next song as well -- La Montana. The lyrics in Spanish helped add such a Latin feel to most of this this show to this point.

Good Lovin' was the last highlight for me until the end of the set. It's kinda strange to not be hearing Bobby on this one but still even with Vince it's fun to hear. He doesn't do a bad job and we were brought back to a sound a little closer to that of the GD or Ratdog. And this is for certain -- Vinny was either channeling Pigpen or he had previously consulted Bobby on how to really cheese it up 'cause that's what he did and on this occasion it was all devoted to dear old mom on this Mother's Day Sunday night.

To close out the show, before the encores, the band really enjoyed treating us to such a sweet Scarlet Begonias. This was pure post-Dead. I'd really truly rate this up there with the best versions by P&F, RD, The Other Ones, and "The Dead." For me, even if there were no highlights to this point, the show would be worth listening to for this Scarlet alone! The Fire that follows, on the otherhand, uh, well, it's Mickey's "rap" version which is despised by some and tolerated by the rest. (Sorry, Mickey.) Lyrical style aside, it's not a bad Scarlet follow-up.

Friend of The Devil for the encore wasn't much to my liking, unfortunately. Some might even think it horrible but I won't go that far. I just didn't really dig Mickey singing it. But no, that wasn't it for the night, a lickety-split segue led into NFA with Vince on lead vocals. Definitely not bad. Can you go wrong with NFA so close to the end of the show or as the encore? I'm not sure that's possible, at least I've never heard it fail to please and that includes those late GD years that some folks don't think too highly of. Perhaps on this night it could've had a more fuller rockin' sound but the crowd added their "Love is Real, Not Fade Away" chanting and clapping and the night was complete. Or was it? We Deadheads know that sometimes persistence can pay off and it did here when out came the band for one last number -- The Other One. Really? For an encore? With Vince singing? I've gotta say, it gave me the biggest smile of the night. Even after reading the setlist beforehand sometimes songs can still have a way of sneaking up and wowing you and this did for me. It wasn't the smokinest O1 ever by any means plus the ending came rather abruptly but it was a treat indeed.

Once again this overall was a pretty good show. I can only imagine the crowd spilling out onto the streets of Philly afterwards with quite a blissful feeling, meandering into local bars or back to their cars, walking amongst a thousand or two pretty happy souls who were just treated to some really nice tunes courtesy of one of those two drummers we enjoyed for so many years sittin' back there behind Phil & Bob & Jerry.

Excellent stuff, Mickey. Thanks!

the band:
Mickey, Vince,
Gladys "Bobi" Cespedes
Rahsaan Fredericks
Humberto "Nengue" Hernandez
Rick Shlosser, Barney Doyle

both pics from www.mickeyhart.net

Mickey doing his best Phil impersonation!

Courtesy of SugarMegs.org
(it's all in one long .wma file)

Listen to 5/14/00 Here
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