Calling all Grateful Dead fans - 'Festival Express'..
Posted by: Jim Ashton on 11 July 2004
..which I just saw at the Auckland Film Festival is required viewing. Back in 1970 some inspired dude hired a train to transport the Dead, the Band, the Flying Burritos, Janis Joplin and a few lesser lights from the East coast of Canada to the West, playing sell-out gigs along the way.
Party train! The Dead footage is magnificent.
Jim
Party train! The Dead footage is magnificent.
Jim
Posted on: 11 July 2004 by bdnyc
Jim-
Not only is this film a time capsule from a golden era in the Dead's history, they wrote about it in the song "Might As Well", which was recorded on Garcia's solo album "Reflections". The Dead played it frequently from the mid 70's on up until Garcia's death in 1995.
It has long been rumored to be one of a very few great documents of the hippie era that have never really been widely seen. The other film that is much discussed in the fanatical Deadhead world is a documentary, filmed by a professional team, but never completed in the editing phase, at least to date. This film was shot at the Dead's legendary summer of '72 show up at Ken Kesey's farm in Eugene, Oregon from 8/27/72. The entire show was filmed, and as was typical for the era, the Dead played a marathon show, of three sets ranging freely over many, many hours. Like The Festival Express, this movie has been long rumored to be in development for some form of release, DVD would seem to be the logical medium.
More definate plans are afoot to see the DVD release of the Garcia directed "Grateful Dead Movie" with over an hour of unrealised concert footage from those shows, taken from the fall of 1974 in San Francisco. This DVD release is scheduled for this fall.
Enough to keep an old Deadhead glued to his sofa, enjoying a Naim system playing DVDs...
All the best,
Bruce
Not only is this film a time capsule from a golden era in the Dead's history, they wrote about it in the song "Might As Well", which was recorded on Garcia's solo album "Reflections". The Dead played it frequently from the mid 70's on up until Garcia's death in 1995.
It has long been rumored to be one of a very few great documents of the hippie era that have never really been widely seen. The other film that is much discussed in the fanatical Deadhead world is a documentary, filmed by a professional team, but never completed in the editing phase, at least to date. This film was shot at the Dead's legendary summer of '72 show up at Ken Kesey's farm in Eugene, Oregon from 8/27/72. The entire show was filmed, and as was typical for the era, the Dead played a marathon show, of three sets ranging freely over many, many hours. Like The Festival Express, this movie has been long rumored to be in development for some form of release, DVD would seem to be the logical medium.
More definate plans are afoot to see the DVD release of the Garcia directed "Grateful Dead Movie" with over an hour of unrealised concert footage from those shows, taken from the fall of 1974 in San Francisco. This DVD release is scheduled for this fall.
Enough to keep an old Deadhead glued to his sofa, enjoying a Naim system playing DVDs...
All the best,
Bruce
Posted on: 12 July 2004 by Jim Ashton
Hey Bruce
Many thanks for a fascinating reply. I've had a copy of 'Reflections' ever since its UK release date but hadn't made that connection.
I guess I consider myself a part-time Deadhead (bit difficult to do any better if you don't live in the US!) and the early 70s was indeed a golden era. I was lucky enough to see them live twice, at the Bickershaw Festival in the Summer of '72, and again at London's Alexandra Palace in '74, the latter as partially documented on Dick's Picks Vol.7. Memories...
It's great to know that the 'Grateful Dead Movie' will finally see the light of day - it's mentioned if memory serves in the Penguin Garcia biog.
Matter of fact I'm off to see Festival Express again tonight - this time with my 19-year-old son. Can't wait!
Jim
Many thanks for a fascinating reply. I've had a copy of 'Reflections' ever since its UK release date but hadn't made that connection.
I guess I consider myself a part-time Deadhead (bit difficult to do any better if you don't live in the US!) and the early 70s was indeed a golden era. I was lucky enough to see them live twice, at the Bickershaw Festival in the Summer of '72, and again at London's Alexandra Palace in '74, the latter as partially documented on Dick's Picks Vol.7. Memories...
It's great to know that the 'Grateful Dead Movie' will finally see the light of day - it's mentioned if memory serves in the Penguin Garcia biog.
Matter of fact I'm off to see Festival Express again tonight - this time with my 19-year-old son. Can't wait!
Jim
Posted on: 13 July 2004 by bdnyc
Jim-
I am jealous, I would love to have seen the Dead in the era you did. I started to see them in 1977, but being a New Yorker, living in what Garcia once called "the heart of the Deadbelt", I was able to see them many, many times through the years.
The London '74 show that you saw was just prior to the week of shows that were filmed in October of '74 that made up the concert footage from "The Grateful Dead Movie". These shows do figure in the better books on the Dead and Garcia. This was billed as their "retirement" at the time, thankfully they came back in full force for nearly another twenty years of concerts.
If you haven't read it, I would recommend Blair Jackson's biography of Garcia.
If you enjoy the Garcia solo material, Rhino has just released a beautifully done box set that offers remastered samples of all of Jerry's solo albums, augmented by a ton of bonus material. They are all in HDCD if you have an upper level Naim CD player, they will be a great upgrade from earlier CD issues.
All the best,
Bruce
I am jealous, I would love to have seen the Dead in the era you did. I started to see them in 1977, but being a New Yorker, living in what Garcia once called "the heart of the Deadbelt", I was able to see them many, many times through the years.
The London '74 show that you saw was just prior to the week of shows that were filmed in October of '74 that made up the concert footage from "The Grateful Dead Movie". These shows do figure in the better books on the Dead and Garcia. This was billed as their "retirement" at the time, thankfully they came back in full force for nearly another twenty years of concerts.
If you haven't read it, I would recommend Blair Jackson's biography of Garcia.
If you enjoy the Garcia solo material, Rhino has just released a beautifully done box set that offers remastered samples of all of Jerry's solo albums, augmented by a ton of bonus material. They are all in HDCD if you have an upper level Naim CD player, they will be a great upgrade from earlier CD issues.
All the best,
Bruce
Posted on: 14 July 2004 by Jim Ashton
Thanks for another interesting post Bruce.
The new box set looks like a winner though I do have most of the already-released stuff. I'm just hoping Django's stock it soon so I can score it at a sharp price AND post free!
Jim
The new box set looks like a winner though I do have most of the already-released stuff. I'm just hoping Django's stock it soon so I can score it at a sharp price AND post free!
Jim
Posted on: 12 November 2004 by dsteady
Jim,
My wife and I checked out Festival Express this summer. I loved that the film played the entirety of each tune. The included 'New Speedway Boogy' is one of the best I've ever heard. And what about Buddy Guy?
Glad finally to find a GD thread on the forum. I'm new here. But when I brought home a naim demo kit a few years ago to see what it was all about I laid out a bunch of audiophile recordings in preparation for some 'serious testing.' For laughs I started things off with a Dick's Pick Oklahoma City Dark Star '72(?)(HDCD), and well, I never even touched the audiophile stuff.
Have you heard any Steve Kimock?
daniel
My wife and I checked out Festival Express this summer. I loved that the film played the entirety of each tune. The included 'New Speedway Boogy' is one of the best I've ever heard. And what about Buddy Guy?
Glad finally to find a GD thread on the forum. I'm new here. But when I brought home a naim demo kit a few years ago to see what it was all about I laid out a bunch of audiophile recordings in preparation for some 'serious testing.' For laughs I started things off with a Dick's Pick Oklahoma City Dark Star '72(?)(HDCD), and well, I never even touched the audiophile stuff.
Have you heard any Steve Kimock?
daniel
Posted on: 13 November 2004 by bdnyc
For anyone who can tolerate more temptation, the wizards at the Grateful Dead's archival release headquarters have outdone themselves with the just released DVD and 5 CD soundtrack of the Dead Movie. The DVD is a two disc affair, with the full movie as Garcia edited it, substantially restored on the video side, with a full major film style treatment, and greatly improved in the surround sound sonics. The second disc is filled with extras, most notably, almost 90 minutes of live concert footage filmed at the October 1974 shows that made up the musical material for the Dead Movie. These segments are just music, with performances of many of the band's most beloved material, including "Uncle John's Band", "Scarlet Begonias", a long involved jam segment linking "The Other One" with a few thematic jams the Dead used to play with in the 70's, and perhaps most impressively, a complete "Dark Star". This footage alone makes the release worthwhile for fans of the Dead, or anyone interested in the 60's and 70's era.
The companion release of a five CD set of the Soundtrack music is an unexpected boon. The Dead had released an unusually bad sounding live album in the 70's called "Steal Your Face", which was taken from these shows, although the songs selected did not overlap with the movie songs to any great degree. At the time, it was said that the master tapes were nearly useless, as the band was experimenting with recording for the then current Quad system, which made the stereo mix a poor stepson, and the sonics of "Steal Your Face" were abmissmal, especially when compared to the excellent sound of other Dead releases from that era. So, I did not hold out high expectations for the sound quality on the new Dead Movie Soundtrack. Instead, it is spectacular. They have put enormous effort into this, and it pays off in spades. Now the music fan can hear the uncut performances of most of the songs that appear in the movie, and a variety of other performances that did not get used in the orginal movie, but have long been prized by Dead tape collectors. So if you enjoy this more jazzy side of the Dead's work, these two releases are amoung their finest ever offered. The music is in HDCD, as are most of their releases, and the sound is both incredibly clear, yet very warm and full bodied.
The movie and music are both available at www.gdstore.com
Good listening!
The companion release of a five CD set of the Soundtrack music is an unexpected boon. The Dead had released an unusually bad sounding live album in the 70's called "Steal Your Face", which was taken from these shows, although the songs selected did not overlap with the movie songs to any great degree. At the time, it was said that the master tapes were nearly useless, as the band was experimenting with recording for the then current Quad system, which made the stereo mix a poor stepson, and the sonics of "Steal Your Face" were abmissmal, especially when compared to the excellent sound of other Dead releases from that era. So, I did not hold out high expectations for the sound quality on the new Dead Movie Soundtrack. Instead, it is spectacular. They have put enormous effort into this, and it pays off in spades. Now the music fan can hear the uncut performances of most of the songs that appear in the movie, and a variety of other performances that did not get used in the orginal movie, but have long been prized by Dead tape collectors. So if you enjoy this more jazzy side of the Dead's work, these two releases are amoung their finest ever offered. The music is in HDCD, as are most of their releases, and the sound is both incredibly clear, yet very warm and full bodied.
The movie and music are both available at www.gdstore.com
Good listening!
Posted on: 13 November 2004 by dsteady
Bruce,Nick, Jim et al,
My wallet and the GDSstore have had a preternatural psychic awareness of one another for some time now, and methinks that dvd and its accompanying cds will alight at my doorstep before too long. Nick, I think I know what you mean about that point point of critical absorption. I let most of my old tapes wander-off after such a phase, but with the advent of Dick's Picks, and then the Phil and Friends shows to pique new interest, I've again become a button-pushing lab-rat to Grateful Dead Productions.
I've been to a fair number of the Phil and Friends gigs over the past few years. They were great, and really fresh for awhile too. I was hesitant about too much greatest hits jamming, but in fact Phil was dusting off so many of the pre-76 or so jams and giving them such good energy that I was sucked right in. (At 34 I haven't been around long enough to have seen many elevens, alligators, masons children etc... so that was great for me.) I have to say, I got a little exausted by Warren Haynes. I'm not sure that Southern balladeering is the right mix for what Phil's going after -- presumptuous, I know, but it gets a bit thick. In that vein, I think The Derek Trucks Band is doing much more interesting stuff. His band is quite good, and I would urge any of you to go see him. He's young enough to be bringing something truly fresh to the table, and besides he's got an unbeatable tone -- very naimworthy. I reccommend "Joyful Noise" and "Out of the Madness" I haven't heard the latest yet.
Okay, so Ive got to mention Steve Kimock one more time, and then I'll shut up about it. Kimock, who was with Zero, has also got incredible tone, and really understands his gear. I don't think I've ever seen him use pedals or other effects. He just lets his amp-guitar combos speak for each respective tune. In a typical night he'll go through 5-6 guitars, sometimes more. And, here's something I really like, he seems to realize that good twenty minute jams don't need to be burdened with sloppy, psuedo-psychedilc lyrics. His shows are all instrumental. Check out his sight if this sounds interesting. kimock.com. Go to the 'Gear' tab for insights into his amps, etc. There are also alot of downloads.
well, I've said enough, I think.
Cheers all,
dan'l
My wallet and the GDSstore have had a preternatural psychic awareness of one another for some time now, and methinks that dvd and its accompanying cds will alight at my doorstep before too long. Nick, I think I know what you mean about that point point of critical absorption. I let most of my old tapes wander-off after such a phase, but with the advent of Dick's Picks, and then the Phil and Friends shows to pique new interest, I've again become a button-pushing lab-rat to Grateful Dead Productions.
I've been to a fair number of the Phil and Friends gigs over the past few years. They were great, and really fresh for awhile too. I was hesitant about too much greatest hits jamming, but in fact Phil was dusting off so many of the pre-76 or so jams and giving them such good energy that I was sucked right in. (At 34 I haven't been around long enough to have seen many elevens, alligators, masons children etc... so that was great for me.) I have to say, I got a little exausted by Warren Haynes. I'm not sure that Southern balladeering is the right mix for what Phil's going after -- presumptuous, I know, but it gets a bit thick. In that vein, I think The Derek Trucks Band is doing much more interesting stuff. His band is quite good, and I would urge any of you to go see him. He's young enough to be bringing something truly fresh to the table, and besides he's got an unbeatable tone -- very naimworthy. I reccommend "Joyful Noise" and "Out of the Madness" I haven't heard the latest yet.
Okay, so Ive got to mention Steve Kimock one more time, and then I'll shut up about it. Kimock, who was with Zero, has also got incredible tone, and really understands his gear. I don't think I've ever seen him use pedals or other effects. He just lets his amp-guitar combos speak for each respective tune. In a typical night he'll go through 5-6 guitars, sometimes more. And, here's something I really like, he seems to realize that good twenty minute jams don't need to be burdened with sloppy, psuedo-psychedilc lyrics. His shows are all instrumental. Check out his sight if this sounds interesting. kimock.com. Go to the 'Gear' tab for insights into his amps, etc. There are also alot of downloads.
well, I've said enough, I think.
Cheers all,
dan'l
Posted on: 14 November 2004 by bdnyc
Daniel-
Steve Kimock is an interesting player. Of all of the post Garcia "Dead" bands, I always thought that the first incarnation of "The Other Ones" with Steve on lead guitar was the best in many ways. His work in the early Phil and Friends was also quite nice. Too bad that they could not work things out for him to have stayed in the fold, but I think there might have been the feeling that he was too clearly influenced by Garcia's playing style, in addition to whatever issues of pay or credit might have played a role in him leaving their scene.
I have seen a fair number of Phil and Friends shows, and Warren is capable of adding a great deal, although I would agree with you that his style often pushed them towards an Allman Brothers feel.
The other great guitarist Phil briefly played with is studio ace Robben Ford, who might have been the best of all them.
Good listening,
Bruce
Steve Kimock is an interesting player. Of all of the post Garcia "Dead" bands, I always thought that the first incarnation of "The Other Ones" with Steve on lead guitar was the best in many ways. His work in the early Phil and Friends was also quite nice. Too bad that they could not work things out for him to have stayed in the fold, but I think there might have been the feeling that he was too clearly influenced by Garcia's playing style, in addition to whatever issues of pay or credit might have played a role in him leaving their scene.
I have seen a fair number of Phil and Friends shows, and Warren is capable of adding a great deal, although I would agree with you that his style often pushed them towards an Allman Brothers feel.
The other great guitarist Phil briefly played with is studio ace Robben Ford, who might have been the best of all them.
Good listening,
Bruce
Posted on: 15 November 2004 by dsteady
Bruce,
Warren Haynes has certainly led me through some fantastic shows. I was very fortunate to be the guy standing in front of his monitor during his brithday show in 2002. This was at a small hockey arena in Vail,CO. Maybe fortunate's not quite the right word, I think my left ear has suffered ever since. He came out after the set break, just all lit up, and stomped out a 'Hard to Handle' that I thought was going to knock me over. I like a couple of his ballads too, "Beautifuly Broken" has a nice hook and "Arcadian Driftwood." But others just seeem to suck the life from me. I've not made up my mind on this I guess.
About Kimock, I had heard that he would not accept "and Friends" status with Phil and Friends, that he wanted "w/Steve Kimock" and that could not be resolved. But who the hell knows, really. I do think that his style has moved well beyond merely a Garcia influence. He's probably better off doing his own thing. But the last time I saw him I was wanting for newer material. I go through phases with him, sometimes its on all of the time, and at others it just lacks substance. This is often influenced by the season. Summer: Kimock. Fall/Winter: more serious stuff, and lots of Jazz. Maybe that's a good thread? Our seasonal listening habits.
adios,
dn'l
Warren Haynes has certainly led me through some fantastic shows. I was very fortunate to be the guy standing in front of his monitor during his brithday show in 2002. This was at a small hockey arena in Vail,CO. Maybe fortunate's not quite the right word, I think my left ear has suffered ever since. He came out after the set break, just all lit up, and stomped out a 'Hard to Handle' that I thought was going to knock me over. I like a couple of his ballads too, "Beautifuly Broken" has a nice hook and "Arcadian Driftwood." But others just seeem to suck the life from me. I've not made up my mind on this I guess.
About Kimock, I had heard that he would not accept "and Friends" status with Phil and Friends, that he wanted "w/Steve Kimock" and that could not be resolved. But who the hell knows, really. I do think that his style has moved well beyond merely a Garcia influence. He's probably better off doing his own thing. But the last time I saw him I was wanting for newer material. I go through phases with him, sometimes its on all of the time, and at others it just lacks substance. This is often influenced by the season. Summer: Kimock. Fall/Winter: more serious stuff, and lots of Jazz. Maybe that's a good thread? Our seasonal listening habits.
adios,
dn'l
Posted on: 15 November 2004 by dsteady
Nick,
I've never seen Gov't Mule either -- or even listened to much -- and maybe that's my problem with Warren. It would probably do me good to get some context of what he did before Phil and Friends. I'm trying too hard to fit Warren into Phil and Fiends, maybe I should begin to make Phil and Friends fit more into Warren.
I happened to check the web site of another band I like, Kings of Leon, and they will be touring pretty extensively in the U.K.from first wk of december until the 23rd. You might like to check them out. They're not in the same vein as Mule or Phil etc, but they seem promising - I have not seen live them myself.
best,
dan'l
I've never seen Gov't Mule either -- or even listened to much -- and maybe that's my problem with Warren. It would probably do me good to get some context of what he did before Phil and Friends. I'm trying too hard to fit Warren into Phil and Fiends, maybe I should begin to make Phil and Friends fit more into Warren.
I happened to check the web site of another band I like, Kings of Leon, and they will be touring pretty extensively in the U.K.from first wk of december until the 23rd. You might like to check them out. They're not in the same vein as Mule or Phil etc, but they seem promising - I have not seen live them myself.
best,
dan'l