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Dead Heads? (Grateful Dead Fans)

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by bluerider, Aug 6, 2012.

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  1. bluerider

    bluerider Low-Roller

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    Any other Vegas loving Dead Heads around here?

    I wasn't quite able to catch the Silverbowl shows, but I did catch Ratdog at the Joint in '99.
     
  2. TuneinTokyo

    TuneinTokyo High-Roller

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    Big time.

    Never saw them in Vegas but I remember them playing with Sting there in like 93.

    I always thought a GD theme hotel casino would be raging. Kinda like Hard Rock but with Dead Head slots table games and great music venues. The Robert Hunter songs were full of gambling imagery and Americana. Seems like a perfect fit. A theme hotel unlike any other.

    They were never "Vegas" and they keep opening places up here in Marin County, but I thought with the right management a Dead casino would bring it in.

    Happy Birthday Jerry, we miss you.
     
  3. Camp Rusty

    Camp Rusty VIP Whale

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    Heynow Gamblers

    Lucky me, I was able to see all the shows at the Silver Bowl. Even some of the 94 and 95 shows were pretty darn good. The year with Traffic was so hot, temperature wise that is, it was only a couple days before the Solstice and the Heads were dropping like flies in the heat, some of the tour rats had never been in heat like that.

    So many fun memories, not sure Vegas liked us all that much, but that is a fairly slow time of year and it filled the hotels, albeit Im sure a few rooms with more than the two alotted people crammed in to them. I remember the drum circles that would form on the sidewalk outside of Slots O' Fun for the fifty cent Heinekens after the shows. I felt sort of bad for all the non-Heads stepping over and around all the pie eyed brothers and sisters on the sidewalk, gotta' love all those flashing lights and neon after a good Terrapin !

    The year with Sting was so funny, he did his set to a rather unimpressed crowd, he sort of waited for us to all cheer him back on for an encore and no one even really clapped. Anywhere but warm up for the Dead he would have been the headliner but no one really cared with that crowd, I felt bad for him.

    Those shows were part of my "back on the bus" shows after having not seen them since 74, going to university, gettting married, that kind of foolish stuff. Jumped back on in 89 in Eugene, stayed on until the end.

    I missed my Spring Vegas jaunts to see the Dead and substituted going to the NASCAR races in March to ease the no sun in Seattle withdrawls after Jerry died, not quite the same, no dancing, and other stuff :goofy:

    So many great stories.........

    A couple of my favorite Vegas ones, a young kid I knew rented a car for his crew for the shows, went to get the car and they were all sold out of the sub compact class so they gave him a damn near brand new Cadillac, a big white four door with less than 300 miles on it. He drove that thing EVERYWHERE, even around the parking lot at his hotel for hours at a time. I'm not sure he even stepped out of it except for the shows and to sleep.

    Another one, after the Traffic shows we were waiting for the bus to come by out on the Boulder Hiway, there was supposed to be a midnight bus and we waited and waited, close to 1:AM a CAT rep drove by in his car and said the bus was on it's way, they never have anyone out there and the driver had called in sick.....blah blah blah.......so we watied some more. Finally the bus showed up and we collected ourselves and ambled on to the bus.

    A substitute driver just called in , maybe in her late 60's, sat behind the wheel looking scared to death as the motley crew of sun burned dry wind whipped semi inebriated hippies filed past her to find their seats. I'm sure she thought she was seeing the devils children pass by her. We were all so tired that hardly anyone spoke on the bus, lot's of people falling asleep even as the bus filled. We pull out, now around 2:AM to head back to the old CAT terminal east of Fremont.

    We are rumbling along not paying any attention and somehow we start up a hill, I didn't think there really shouldn't be any hills to go up on the way back but what did I know.......and as we left the glow of downtown we headed up and in to the desert, higher and higher in to one of those undeveloped cul de sac neighborhoods where there is nothing but the roads blacktopped, the curbs layed out and the power/cable boxes next to where the driveways would eventually be. Total desolation row.

    It's pitch black and she is completely lost, and finally comes to the end of the end of the road, nothing but the turn around at the very top of the road. That poor little woman just started to cry, and sob........surely this was the end, she would never see her grand children again, these weirdos would be the end of her. People began to wake, pay attention, get ready to get out since the bus had stopped but we were definitely not back to downtown.

    I was close to the front of the bus and wandered up front to ask her if we could help.......she said she was lost and didn't how to find her way backing down the hills. More sobbing.......she said she was going to lose her job, her radio didn't work, there was nothing she could do. So..........being a part time truck driver I knew what I would do so I asked anybody with a lighter to get off the bus and start walking down the hill behind the bus on either side of the street so she could back down until we found her a place to turn around.

    Sure enough, we lead her down a few blcoks like this, a serpentine row of Bics held high to light the way and she turned that big ol' bus around. Everybody awake now watching, the lighter holders getting back on and high fiving the driver who is now almost giddy, smiling, and very much relieved, to be both turned around and alive.

    So what happens next..........it starts slowly, almost inaudibly, from the back of the bus........"the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round".......until the whole bus is singing, and we sang that song all the way back to the CAT station. Everyone thanked the nice bus driver lady as we jumped off, she was thanking us just as much and telling us it was her best bus driving experience ever and she had a great story to tell. Still brings a smile to me as I know what we looked like getting on that bus, and the friend we made that night.

    Nothin' left to do but :) :) :)

    PS........if you ever are down in Vegas a great Dead band from LA, Cubensis, plays there once a year, this year they played Cinco D' Mayo downtown at the Cal. They really are a great band.
     
  4. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    I don't consider myself a Deadhead. I like Grateful Dead (I still remember the summer I found their albums in my uncle's lp collection - same corrupting uncle who introduced me to Jimmy Buffett:thumbsup:) and I'm really glad I saw them play before Jerry died (RIP) but I don't have a stash of bootlegs or anything like that. But every time I turn on the Grateful Dead channel on satellite radio, I can sing pretty much every song that's on. So maybe I'm a deadhead and don't know it?:ssst:
     
  5. LV_Bound

    LV_Bound VIP Whale

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    Never been to a concert, but really enjoy their music.
     
  6. Camp Rusty

    Camp Rusty VIP Whale

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    Hey HH.......

    ...... if you can sing them all they could have used you, collectively they couldn't sing so very good......

    An old joke........

    What has 59 fingers and can't sing ?

    The Grateful Dead !
     
  7. zamboni

    zamboni VIP Whale

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    I once worked with Bob Weirs cousin, he once told me had a Gibson SG autographed by Jerry. Wonder what thats worth
     
  8. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    That's probably why I'm not a Deadhead:eek: The endless musical jams bore me. (all types of music - not just the Dead) I am drawn to lyrics - and the Dead does have great songs - but that's just not their focus:peace:
     
  9. mike mc

    mike mc High-Roller

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    Another Greatful Dead Joke :

    What did the Deadhead's say when they ran out of pot ?

    Boy this music sucks :eek:
     
  10. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    OK, much like Ketel One vodka, you are not allowed to post about it if you cannot spell it properly:poke:

    GRATEFUL. As in, giving thanks for......
     
  11. craps1

    craps1 Low-Roller

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    Absolutely! Have almost all the Dick Picks and numerous other shows. Love the band. Started enjoying them when I was in college and had the pleasure of seeing them in concert before Jerry died. Best concert I've attended. What a party! Circus doesn't describe it correctly.

    Who cares about the singing? The endless jams and interconnectedness of the band members is what makes the music so special.
     
  12. TuneinTokyo

    TuneinTokyo High-Roller

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    I've always been fond of Jerry's voice through all it's permutations throughout the years. Phil not so much.

    Another joke:

    So I went and saw the Dead last night. They played for almost four hours, it was a great song.
     
  13. bluerider

    bluerider Low-Roller

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    Agreed on the GD themed hotel/casino. The only problem is that they aren't quite mainstream enough (like the Beatles). However, I have learned over the years, that there are Dead Heads everywhere you go. 'Weir Everywhere!'

    The first time I saw Love, all I could think of is how awesome a Dead-based Cirque show could be. There is just so much music and history to choose from, the possibilities are endless!

    As far as the old Americana tunes and gambling references, I can't get enough! In fact, I have a few shows that I choose from as my "on the way to Vegas" music. Nothing like settling into my plane seat, putting on the noise cancellation headphones, and listening to 6-30-74 in its entirety! Other Vegas travel show favs include 8-6-71 and 10-11-77.

    It seems all of my non-Dead Head friends can't understand how I can listen to the same band all the time. But with 30 years of constant touring and endless hours of unique live recordings, there isn't a chance in hell that I'll ever get through it all in my lifetime. That's how vast the Dead are. Those who "get it" know exactly what I'm talking about. Its more than music. I can't quite describe it, but there is "something else" to it all. And I'm glad to have found it! :beer::peace:
     
  14. NickyDim

    NickyDim Hockey is life

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    Big Deadhead here. My first show was 1977 Englishtown (I was 17) and I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen the Dead, Jerry, Kingfish, Ratdog, Bobby and the midnights, Phil and friends, Robert Hunter. I have 300+ soundboard shows. I'll go thru phases of listening to Pigpen era, Keith/Donna era, Brent era (current).

    And now for those serious Deadhead. Every show they've ever did at your fingertips. http://db.etree.org/db/shows/browse/artist_key/2/year/1976 Enjoy..Just select a year and click a download show. If you hover over a choice you'll see the link and any that has the lettering sbd within it will be a soundboard show with impeccable sound. Have fun, go and explore.
     
  15. NickyDim

    NickyDim Hockey is life

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    Their cowboy ballards and gambling reference always make me think of being out west so it's a perfect fit with Vegas. Any photo CDs I make of our trips to Vegas always have a '72/'73(real country) version of Deal or Jack Straw playing in the background. But I never use the song Loser for obvious reasons.

    And just tell your friends who can't understand how you can listen to them over and over what I tell them. With the Grateful Dead, it's not the song your listening to, it's the performance. When you go to a symphony you know what songs they'll play, but you enjoy the performance. It's no different, especially when the same song can be played 25 years apart and never sound the same.
     
  16. bluerider

    bluerider Low-Roller

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    Heading out in a few weeks. I've been thinking about a return trip, and once I saw that Bob Weir is playing a solo-acoustic show at the Palms on March 1st, I locked down the flight and hotel.

    Anyone else checking out the show on 3/1?

    :peace:
     
  17. flysrb

    flysrb Hey Now!

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    Hey Now!
    I too saw my first show in '77-
    the Merry Pranksters were there, it was magic!
    I saw them 13 times in Hampton.
    22 times total.
    " I'm on the road- and I'm feelin' fine!"
     
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