Grateful Dead - Fillmore East 2.27.69 Set 2

Grateful Dead, Live at the Fillmore West February 27, 1969
Set 2

Dupree's Diamond Blues (YSI link)

Mountains of the Moon

Dark Star (YSI link) --->

St. Stephen --->

The Eleven --->

Turn On Your Lovelight (YSI link)

Cosmic Charlie

Here's the conclusion to the first night of the epic four-night run, the late show from February 27, 1969. This is classic 1969 Dead, the classic tunes from that year, when the band was playing right on the line of psychedelia and the blues, when Jerry Garcia began to take the reins of the band and made them into one of the most amazing improvisational acts around.

One of the things that has always interested me in the Dead's live music has been that tension between form and chaos. "Dark Star" is the perfect example, with its distinct opening bass melody and two verses which descends into an improvised jam that could go anywhere, oftentimes into a deep, space-y, tune-less music, which is eventually reined back in with the return of the final verse. It should appeal immediately to anyone who likes jazz, that world where standards become vehicles for free jazz debauchery. Like jazz, there's always a chance for these jams to become awful, noodling garbage, but that's the fun part. You never know what could happen, which is incredibly rare in music, especially today in the world of over-production and lip-synching.

I want to dedicate this post to MC, a.k.a. RV. That's right, the return of the prodigal daughter (or ex-girlfriend, whatever). She was the main reason this blog took in the way it did, as I pretty much wrote it so that she would think I was cool. She was the first muse, before Scarlett Johansson, Merilyn, Christy Marks, JH-B or anyone else. She bought the boxed set that features this music for me and so these posts would not happen without her. It's nice to come full circle and get back to a good place. Yeah!

Grateful Dead - Fillmore East 2.27.69

Grateful Dead, Live at the Fillmore East February 27, 1969

Good Morning, Little School Girl (YSI link)

Doin' That Rag (YSI link)

The Other One (Cryptical>Drums>The Other One>Cryptical) (YSI link)

Over the coming months, I want to start adding a more psychedelic edge to the blog, take things back to the late 60s and early 70s to those weirdo sounds that sound so good today. I can't think of a better way to get started than commemorating one of the greatest weeks in the history of live music by the greatest of psychedelic warriors, the Grateful Dead's run at the Fillmore West from February 27 to March 2 1969. I know that the Dead's music is not what we call psychedelic today, but let's not get lost in semantics. This was music written and performed in the midst of the acid wave in San Francisco in the 1960s; these guys took rock, blues and folk, splashed LSD on it and made some of the best music ever.

I'm going to put up more discs from this limited edition 10CD boxed set over the next few days and will discuss the music more then. But, I want to first deal with the whole Deadhead thing and the hate these guys generate from people. Simply, get over yourself. Yes, some people only liked the band because of the drug association; some were annoying people who listened to nothing but the Dead; blah blah blah. These dudes created an entire alternate world, which had its own values, values like sharing, love and fun. Sound familiar? Does it sound similar to a lot of the same inspirations for the dance music that we love? There's a very straight line imo between the spinners at a Dead show to the ones who took over lofts of NYC in the 70s and the beaches of Ibiza in the 80s. Give it a chance and I promise you that this music will melt your face.

Suicide - Live At Club Europa December 11, 2008

I was fortunate enough to attend that rarest of rare occurences, a live Suicide show, last Thursday night. It was my second time seeing them, as I also caught their free show at the South Street Seaport last summer; nothing quite as weird as seeing the darkest of bands playing outdoor in the sunshine to a crowd full of drunk yuppies.

This time, they chose the odd venue of Club Europa in Greenpoint, a two-floor club that mostly hosts local acts, not seminal ones that have influenced everything that has come since. It's actually a nice venue, as the upstairs as a nice bar in the back, a stage in the front with plenty of room to either stand or you can grab a seat on the couches that surround the dancefloor. I arrived in time to catch the A.R.E. Weapons setting up, after a typically long wait for the cursed G train. I've seen the A.R.E. Weapons before, but have never really found them to be very compelling. I hear descriptions of noise rock, electro rock, confrontational, etc., but that wasn't what I heard that night. It just sounds like blah glam-y punk or something; the tunes didn't grip me, they definitely didn't venture into noise territory and generally made me wish I had come an hour later.



The main event began around 11:2o, I believe, as Mr. Alan Vega and Mr. Martin Rev walked through the crowd and up onto the stage. By the time they did, the room was packed, a nice surprise considering it was a Thursday night in Greenpoint and it was still pouring rain at showtime. Vega (real name: Alan Bernowitz) wore a black hooded sweatshirt and lit a cigarette about a song in. I know it'll make me sound like a fan boy, but who gives a shit? Dude is just cool personfied, all attitude, sneering, punk despite the fact that he's twice as old as anyone in the room. They opened with two classics, "Ghost Rider" and "Rocket USA," killing it with both, you would have no idea that these two dudes never really play live (I believe that I've caught their last two shows in NYC) Vega's still got that voice, that jittery, paranoid one that sucks you in and demands you listen.



To be honest, this night was all about Martin Rev, as he killed it the entire night. On the new track they introduced, Rev went off on a 4 or 5 minute Korg solo that had Vega sitting down to let the man shine. At times, the sinister shit Rev played completely overwhelmed Vega's vocals, which was a little frustrating as Suicide isn't the same without Vega's crazed Elvis-y vocals. But, honestly, I wouldn't want Rev to be lower in the mix, as that minimal ruckus he raises is perfect,



The band played for a little more than an hour, then walked off the stage and headed back to the dressing room area. They ignored the encore calls, as the lights went up after about 5 minutes. They came, kicked ass and left. I headed out and shockingly the G came for the first time ever just as I was getting to the platform. I like to think that Suicide's music scared the shit out of the MTA and forced them to hook up the exiting fans.



All of these terrible photos were taken by me with the aid of the lovely Miss LS's camera. Let me leave you with a parting shot of the machines that made it all happen. We'll have more Suicide live music coming up, some real goodies people. Yeah yeah yeah!