"Everybody say primate"

You ever wonder why the hell certain unwelcome people won't just go the darn heck away!? Unhealthy obsessions really should come to an end.
It's what's best for all involved parties. Ya know?

Anyway...

100 Days of the Dead

Day # whatever this is

My selection for today comes partially from me not being able to Upload in time the show that I had wanted to post today -- a Ratdog show from 1997, which wouldn't have gotten much love, but I dig it.

So... a long time ago I listened to today's Grateful Dead "show" but I wasn't doing mp3 at the time... all I did was a little research and write some comments.

And then ever since I started the mp3 thing, I've wanted to add a download for that show for whoever wants it. Today's the perfect time.

Back in March of last year, here's what I wrote for:

5/5/67 - Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco

Pretty good little (portion of a?) show! Apparently it's not known what the whole setlist consisted of. Luckily four songs, almost 40 years later, exist for us to groove on and enjoy today.

He Was A Friend Of Mine opens this recording on a nice, mellow note. If this was somehow the first song in the show and someone was seeing the Dead for their first time, wow, they'd have no clue what they were in for! Friend Of Mine cuts off near the end and cuts into the band in between numbers, bantering probably under the influence of, well . . . items of interest to those seeking hallucinogenic enlightenment. That fun couple of minutes goes into a nearly lightning fast but sweet Golden Road.

The first notes of New Potato kick in as Golden Road comes to a close and we soon hear Bobby yell out, "This number's for Laughlin!"

Now, after a little internet research, I found nothing to tell me definitively who this Laughlin person is. Closest I can figure the name refers possibly to a 60's Bay Area guy named Chandler A. Laughlin a.k.a. Travus T. Hipp.

Back in that era Laughlin helped open the Cabale Creamery on San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley. In early '66 the Dead had a show scheduled there but it was canceled. Later the Cabale became the Questing Beast where the Dead may or may not have rehearsed. Once upon a time a tape was in circulation labeled "Questing Beast" but it's since been determined that those sessions are from another date and location. Interestingly, The Beast closed down on May 9, right about the time the May 5th Fillmore show was thought (but not definitively known) to have taken place . . . uh, except The Beast is said to have closed in '66 (according to http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com) and this show is from '67. Hmmm.

Okay, so perhaps Bobby's shout out to Laughlin is for the following (which appears on http://www.fatchance.org) -- "Chased across the Mexican border twice by the FBI for subversive associations and drugs, and back once by the Federales of that noble nation for somewhat the same reasons, Hipp finally fell afoul the law and was doing a short term of county time when he was bailed out by the legendary Tom Donahue to go to work for KMPX, America's premier FM rock station in 1967."

Until I ask around some more and maybe find out from someone who knows, the true meaning of Laughlin will remain a mystery to me.

In any case, the Golden Road segue into New Potato Caboose is almost as quiet and mellow as He Was a Friend of Mine, really not at all indicative of what's to come. On a down side, the vocals in the mix are almost lost behind the music, almost a little muddy. Thankfully, it's not the vocals that I'm listening for! Once the lyrics are done with, at about the three minute mark, the song quickly picks up a ton of steam and blasts so well into a cataclysmic atomic shebang. While the vocals aren't all there, the smile on my face along with the feeling I had made me fully aware the music is all there!!!

Alligator rolls forward in a very similar fashion. Once the seemingly half-hidden vocals are out of the way after the first few minutes of the song, the music picks up some intense primitive Dead strength cranking into the final screams of "Allligatorrrrrrrrrrr . . . Alligatorrrrrrr," it's clear what a contrast the last two songs are in comparison to the first.

Great audio quality for the era and seeing as how there's so little '67 Dead to listen to, this is 31 minutes to be nothing less than treasured.

Source: Soundboard > (can't be worse than 1 or 2 Reel gens) > DAT> SHN

Audio Quality:
sorry, it ain't sweet by any means... but due to lack of a lot of '67, it's welcome!!!!

5/5/67 @ Archive.org -- For Listening Only

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Download It Right Here Grateful Dead ~ 5/5/67 ~ Fillmore Auditorium