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Yosemite under Orion's gaze
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Grateful Dead & Duane Allman - Dark Star / Spanish Jam 1970
This concert is from the infamous Fillmore East show 2.11.70, where the dead are joined first by Duane Allman, then Peter Green and Berry Oakley. Great story about this show in Robert Greenfield's Bill Graham biography, Mick Fleetwood tripped out of his gourd muttering...Phil's book breaks it down even further. Greg joins in, as does Butch Trucks and Danny Kerwin and Arthur Lee plays percussion. Love opened the show but Owsley didn't like them enough to record them.
I got to see Jerry play with so many people, from Cipolina and Carlos, to Winwood and Clarence White. Early on he played from time to time with both Duane and Jorma.
I love Peter Green on this, he takes it to a slightly different musical place.
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1 comment:
Take Two:
The Dead were playing the FE for the weekend. During Dark Star, the power shut down.
All of it.
Our lighting designer at the time was a clever and fast thinking guy named Arthur Max. (Arthur went on to larger and bigger and bolder
projects after the FE in Hollywood as a set designer.)
The stage went black. The sound and lights were controlled by two boxes house left and right, overlooking the stage, so Arthur leaned out with his flashlight and aimed it at Jerry, who in
a likewise state of mind, continued playing his solo-a solid bodied electric guitar generates virtually NO SOUND, yet you could hear him throughout the house….it was absolutely silent for
those few minutes while the techies worked out and corrected the malady. Meanwhile, the ushers, spread throughout the theater, followed suit and after a minute or so, were all lighting
Jerry.
It was beautiful and spontaneous. My guess is, the audience accepted it as a special effect. Next time the Dead came to the FE, Arthur handed the ushers gelled flashlights before the show, and on a simple cue,
during Jerry's extended solo on Dark Star, the sound and lights began to diminish until, with the power still on but very toned down, Jerry became aglow from dozens of blue and magenta flashlights
from throughout the house.
This was probably end of 69 early 70. The Dead played the FE a lot, so I cannot tell you offhand any more about this particular show.
The first time Traffic played the FE, we snuck out the evening before and 'Borrowed' a traffic light from Second Avenue, rewired it, and hung it from the fly system, so for the opening, the light was suspended over the drum kit and as they were being announced, the light went from red to yellow to green as it flew back up into the night. That was pretty funny and typical of what the general mood of 'us versus them,' at the FE.
Best,
Stan
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