Conference rdvax::grateful

Cuz he has a frog in his throat?

Phil can sing, he just doesn't do it well!  ;^)

    Box of Rain from the Denver run sure sounded like Phil can sing
    when he wants to! In fact, in my state of mind I thought Box was
    being sung by CSNand Y!!! 
                          rfb ;&)

    
    I have heard a couple of version where Phil rilly gets into Gimme Some
    Lovin' and produces a voice that sounds like Brent's.  I think instead
    of "We want Phil"  how about "We want Bill and Mickey".  Now that would
    be interesting...

    RE .4
    
    >> We want Bill and Mickey ...
    
    Reminds me of a T-shirt I saw at Foxboro last year ... a picture of
    Bill the Cat in a tie-dye, and it said "Let Bill Sing"
    
    ... Bob
    

    remember at Oxford (I think) when Bobby said 'Let Steve (king of the
    roadies) sing...why don't ya'll call for STeve???'   
    Is that where I was  when I heard that?
    
    carol

        Phil has problems singing cause his bass is 
        just so damn RIPPING!!!! PHIL IS THE GOD OF SHAKING STADIUMS
                                                 
                                                DINO
                                                

    Re .6
    
      I just listened to that Oxford tape yesterday...when the crowd was
    yelling for Phil, he told them "Why not yell for Mickey or Brent?"
     
    Also, when Bob says to yell for Steve, Jerry tells us not to listen to
    Weir, he's been crazy for years...So, IMHO, there's truly only one
    thing we can do...yell "Unbroken Chain, Unbroken Chain, ... :-)
    
               DaveB.

                     <<< Note 119.8 by DECXPS::BENJAMIN >>>
                               -< Lesh is More >-
    
>      I just listened to that Oxford tape yesterday...when the crowd was
>    yelling for Phil, he told them "Why not yell for Mickey or Brent?"

    As they work their way thru the road crew...
    We want "Steve"...
    Then Jerry asks for volunteers from the audience.  Great bit 'o banter, eh?

    
        Was it just me or was Phil a little disturbed at that festive show
     
        We want.....SSTTEEEVVE!!!

RE:                      <<< Note 119.10 by EBBV03::SMITH >>>

    
   >     Was it just me or was Phil a little disturbed at that festive show
     
   >     We want.....SSTTEEEVVE!!!




  I don't think he was disturbed...it looked to me like he was having
fun...



Jim

    
    I think that Phil was ejoying himself that weekend -- especailly when
    he turned his bass up to full blast during the Jack Straw
    
    
    I still get goosebumbs from that song every time, I think it was the
    second song the first night.
    
    Juicey memories....
    
    
    -scott
    
    

That was a nice show...my first Dead show in 14 years, and another big
thanks to Bob White for the ticket and Mike Rogers for the tape!





Jim

    
    re:  .few 
    
    whew - thanks for helping me remember.   What a great weekend that was 
    - we had 3 people with us for whom is was their first show on saturday!
    Imagine getting a Morning Dew for an enocre at your 1st show!!!! And
    they did Aiko AND Woman are Smarter back to back .... *sigh* 
    I need a show.  Oh yeah - and EBBV03::smith - don't worry about it -
    we all get a bit changed when the bus is rolling
    
    carol

          Remember the 2nd night with the hang glider during birdsong?
          I remember phil twangin during Straw, the crowd was riled!
           I was very major for that one and was way in back
           must'v got the wrong impression, I wish I was
           one of the volunteers from the audience
    
                                                   DINO

	when the ultralight came over the back of the stage
	the crowd started cheering - it seemed to me that it
	really thru off the band - they couldn't figure out
	what the cheering was about at that point - and it
	seemed to me that Birdsong was cut short :-(

	but it WAS a grate sight and I won't forget ever forget it...

	Debess

	ps. this is probably common knowledge but I just learned
	it recently that Birdsong was written about Janis after
	she died... 

	Debess

    
    wow, I didn't know that at all.  Thanks, Debess.
    
    I think the band was sorta pissed at the hanglider thing too.. and yes,
    Birdsong was cut short.
    
    

    re.17 that's grate trivia! I love finding out what the songs are
    about (other than what's obvious) like Bertha being about a fan!!!
                                                                      rfb

    The Birdsong for Janis trivia comes from Robert Hunter's lyric
    book, "A Box of Rain".  Robert has notes about lots of the songs.
    On the "Birdsong" page (p. 16) the note is simply "...for Janis"
    
    tms

    grate...I'll look for that one 
                                   rfb

	For another really good tune about Janis Joplin, check out
	Country Joe McDonald's "Janis", on either "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die"
	or "Electric Music For the Mind & Body".

	Ken

    "Janis" is on two Country Joe albums: "I Feel Like I'm Fixin To Die"
    and "Into the Fray". He also wrote the liner notes on the back of the
    Janis album "Farewell Song".
    
    Strange thing this morning: I grabbed a tape at random from a pile of
    stuff I hadn't listened to yet, and it was Neil Young from exactly 8
    years ago today.
    
    Also today, one of my favorite Dead shows is old enough to drink:
    2-14-70.
    
    Scott
    

    
    yeah - the ultraglider - I was in such a state that I thought it was 
    part of the show ..   I thought 'whooooaaa, nice special effects...'
    
    Are you all aure it wasn't part of the act?  It was a really spacey
    weekend ... 
    
    c

    OK Carol,..
    
    	Grab hold of your desk,.. and count to ten
    
    Then repeat to yourself 10000000 times
    
    	The show is over,.. I'm at work now
    
    
    	Soon,.. everythng will come back into focus,.. I promise
    
    
    					/
    
    	PS many :-)'s
    

    ahhh thanks / .... maybe I did too much too fast  :-)   
    
    maybe this weekend I can invoke some more show memories by chanting a
    few special phrases at the moon. 
    
    c
    

    :-)

    odjhlasjdsajdkl'aD'D'KDAJs'kdj
    
    
    

    It seems our boy Phil showed up to help out at a recent David Crosby
    show at the Maritime Hall on 1-27-97. Phil joined for the encore which
    consisted of:
    
    Laughing, Box of Rain, Wooden Ships

    in here already....Patty and I were invited to go to that show while we
    were in Calif, but didn't want to drive from Monteray back to Santa
    Cruz area...it wasn't known (or announced) that Phil would play until 
    later that evening.
    
    rfb

    >>in here already
    
    shows ya how much I pay attention - maybe it's just my diminishing
    short term memory ;^)

    
    
                          Phil Grudgingly Answers FAQs
                          ****************************
    
           Why did you finally do Unbroken Chain?
    
           After years of considering the backstage Kids Room the highlight
    of the show, Grahame suddenly became a raging Deadhead. He actually
    became a Jerryhead, and would sit on Jerry's side listening through
    headphones; he put most of his requests to Jerry but discovered Unbroken 
    Chain on Mars Hotel and asked me to play it - what could I do? I was 
    thrilled to be the focus for a time.
    
           What are you doing now, Phil ?
    
           Composing a Song-Symphony based on tunes, rhythms, and
    riffs from about 22 G.D. songs. Working title: Keys to the Rain Studying 
    Anthroposophy (literally: the wisdom of mankind), the philosophy of Rudolf
    Steiner. Enjoying a wonderful time with my kids - Grahame is 10 and Brian
    is 7 and I have incredible conversations with them. The whole family is 
    now skiing together; I starte lessons last year so I could at least keep 
    up with my flying sons, and found out I loved it... 
    Grahame and I are performing in a play together called The Sacred
    Drama of Eleusis, based on the myth of Demeter and Persephone; I
    play Pluton , Lord of the Underworld (in my most stentorian voice).
    Performances are in April and tickets are available from
    (415)892-9755 or 897-0891. 
    Hiking around my favorite lake with the dogs most mornings. 
    
           Will the band play one more show?
    
           I certainly wouldn't rule out our playing more than one show, if
    everything was done for all the right reasons...
    
           Are you ever going to release the last show?
    
           It's been broadcast on KPFA-FM in Berkeley recently, and tapes
    should be circulating shortly. We didn't want to release it
    commercially for several reasons, and it was too expensive to put it out 
    on free CDs (another possibility)
    
           Is it true that you thought all the shows of the Nineties sucked?
    
           It's a lie! I never thought that and I never said it! What I
    said was: The frequency of those shows that had special magic in them all 
    the way through started to diminish in the early nineties, and by the
    time '95 rolled around, I could count on one hand the number of those 
    shows in a year. That's not to say that your average GD show in that 
    period was bad, either;we'd been playing together for so long that it took
    a whole lot of messin' up to make a show suck.

>    Anthroposophy (literally: the wisdom of mankind), the philosophy of Rudolf
>    Steiner. 

	just an aside - Anthroposophy is the philosophy around which
	the Waldorf schools are built - my kids attend a Waldorf school
	in Wilton.  Wonder if Phil's kids go to one in CA?  It seems
	that Hunter's kids did too - I noticed that in one of his stories 
	and asked him about it, cause although I see alot of similarities in
	the communities (the Deadheads and the Waldorks - as my kids call
	them!), like ferinstance - alot of natural fiber clothing, alternative 
	communal lifestyles, organic/vegetarian meals, reverence for the earth, 
	different holistic approaches to health care, artists and other people
	living from their own resources...and colors! - even though I see these
	similarities, I have found that there has been a certain amount of
	"criticism" of my musical taste ;-) and my lifestyle that centers 
	around it from the Waldorf community.  Hunter's comment back to
	me was something along the lines of "more than a bit of spiritual
	facism about it"!!!  Yikes!  (although I know exactly what he's
	referring to).  Anyhoo, the Hunters are now homeschooling their
	youngest daughter.


    
>           Will the band play one more show?
    
>           I certainly wouldn't rule out our playing more than one show, if
>    everything was done for all the right reasons...
    

	YaHOOO!  Just hope they let us know enough in advance to get
	plane tickets out west!!!

Phil sounds like one happy guy. Good for him!

jeff

	btw - what's the URL of the Phil Zone?

	found it myself:

	www.dead.net/cavenWeb/philzone/index.html

    thanks for clearin that 90's thang up Phil....

    phil on skis
    
    
    now that i gotta see

I have been asked many times if I will ever go back on the road. Part of 
the answer is that I miss playing very much and have been dropping in to 
play with friends who come to town. The road is a more complicated story 
- I miss the chance to see Deadheads from faraway places; I miss the 
energy of the east coast fans; I miss New York City; I miss the Art 
Institute in Chicago and all the other great repositories of art I've 
found on the road; I miss my favorite book and music stores in different 
cities; I miss Ellie, Norman and Alan at the Ritz; but I miss Jerry most 
of all. 
I have never needed or wanted to play in another band - the Grateful 
Dead was it for me. Being in the Grateful Dead was like a heavenly 
marriage - it got me off, it pissed me off, it had highs and lows, it 
stimulated me, it was never boring, it even came with a transcendental 
extended family and I loved it with my whole heart. I feel like a 
widower who can't imagine being with anyone else. But - I am a musician 
who needs to make music, and so - 
I am currently composing a 45-minute song-symphony for full orchestra 
based on GD song themes, chord sequences, and rhythmic riffs. It will be 
in seven movements, based on a key scheme from "the other one" - 
"comin', comin', comin around - in a circle" (E, D, C, A, G, D) - each 
of which will treat three or four GD songs in a "symphonic" manner - 
combining the tune of one song with the rhythms of another, setting song 
melodies in combination with original countermelodies, extending chord 
sequences, morphing one song into another, etc. This project is dear to 
me because it will finally allow me to interpret all these songs in a 
"particular way of my own" - after all, I do know this material 
literally upside down and backwards - as well as providing closure 
musically and emotionally. Even if nothing concrete (performances, 
recordings) comes of it, the doing of it - the process - is what gives 
it meaning for me. 
For a while now I have been pondering the importance of the arts to 
human beings. Painting and drawing, music, poetry, drama, literature, 
dance - all have the capability of awakening the higher faculties of the 
soul. To hear great music or see great art is a wonderful thing, but to 
create of oneself can truly transform and heal. The time we spend 
driving in cars, watching TV, and doing endless mechanically repetitive 
tasks needs to be balanced by a connection with the realms of existence 
that inspire spiritual growth. I believe that if everyone cultivated 
creativity in their lives - whether it be painting with watercolor; 
singing old familiar songs at holiday seasons with one's family; writing 
little poems to one's children - there would not only be much less 
stress in our lives, but we would all be more aware of the spiritually 
oriented levels of our existence. 
(April 8, 1997)

	Nice!  
>  The time we spend
> driving in cars, watching TV, and doing endless mechanically repetitive
> tasks needs to be balanced by a connection with the realms of existence
> that inspire spiritual growth.

	Hear hear!

	/Ken

    I think Phil is talking about fishing, there....
    
    I liked Phil's response to someone who had sent him mail asking what he
    thought about Scullys book..."I found it to be mostly fiction."
    
    caught some of the VH1 stuff last nite after Lindsey's 17th Birthday
    dinner at teh Imperial Wok....loved it...
    
    rfb

    re: the VH-1 stuff
    
    the Hippie Peril (or whatever it was called) was a gas! I can
    remember my dad when he was in the Air Force using those same
    lines of reasoning about hippies.
    
    The American Beauty thing was exquisitely good, I thought. At
    times poignant and at times hilarious ... the bit about how all
    the Warner Brothers staff would leave the area when the Dead were
    in the studio because they were afraid their food or water would
    get dosed :-) cracked me up.

    Mickey Hart shoule be Institutionalized!

re:  VH1 show.

I tuned in to the credit's rolling on and Brokedown Palace :^/

Also,  these "famous album" series shows are all 60 minute shows
which are hacked to 45 + commercials by VH1.  Anyone know how/where
we can see the 60 minute version?

thx
bob

�             <<< Note 119.44 by SMURF::HAPGOOD "Java Java HEY!" >>>
�                               -< I blew it... >-
    
    American Beauty will be broadcast again on Saturday at 1pm,
    and Sunday at 3pm.
    
    biiyni/b

    anyone that criticizes Phil's voice should listen to the isolated
    recording of his voice on Box of Rain 
    
    
    then come talk to me

    
    oh, Phil has a wonderful voice....  he truly does...  most eloquent
    too...  
    
    still, singing, he can't carry a tune in a basket, bucket, pail,
    food grade plastic fermenter, shopping cart, pickup truck, dump truck,
    or boeing 747 cargo hold...
    
    Phil...  i love him...  could listen to him for hours...  :^)
    
    anything else you wanna talk about?  :^)
    
    
    						da ve
    

    C'MON!
    :^)

    c'mon???  where are we going??  :^)
    
    a lot my favorite performing artists are pretty lousy singers... 
    doesnt mean i enjoy them any less...  consider, if you will:
    	- Jerry Garcia...  most of the time, his voice had more
    		gravel than 10 miles of country dirt road...  safe
    		bet no one will ever liken him to "the velvet fog"...
    	- Bob Dylan...  if the man were any more nasal he wouldn't need
    		a mouth at all...  'cept maybe for eating...  i don't
    		imagine a burrito would taste very good stuffed up his
    		nose...
    	- Neil Young...  more whiny than than the combined kindergarten
    		classes of the Berlin-Boylston Regional School District...
    		come on Neil!  a little 3 in 1 oil will do wonders for 
    		that squeak...
    
    
    these people are all HUGE...  big stars... cultural icons... 
    incredible creative geniuses...  i've shelled out big bux over the
    years for their recorded works...  i still listen to them all
    frequently...  i cover their stuff in my own band...  some of my
    favorite artists...
    
    but let's face it... Mariah Carey will mop the floor with them
    in the "best vocalist" category at the Grammys until the day when 
    a comet hits the earth and rearranges our social structure...  :^)
    
    go ahead...  i'm sporting my asbestos boxers today...  :^)  
    
    					da ve_in_a_psuedo_rant

C'mon da ve,  quit holding back :)

I agree with da ve though....and LeBlanc's right too....in a studio
with 1000 chances to get it right....he did sound good. But then
I like Dylan, Garcia, Zappa, Young, Cohen, Geddy Lee, Bobby Bland,
and whole host of others who aren't perfect...

bob

ps.  Maybe Neil whinned but at least he didn't write whinny lyrics
a la Waters (Waters sang about whiny things in a whiny voice :)
there is a difference...).

Thanks Bruce,

I'll try and set the vcr.

bob

    agreed on all accounts  da ve
    
    
    phil's a person too!
    

> Also,  these "famous album" series shows are all 60 minute shows
> which are hacked to 45 + commercials by VH1.  Anyone know how/where
> we can see the 60 minute version?

  I read somewhere that some entity is negotiating to show the 60 minute
  originals.  Maybe PBS?
  
  Read it either in here or rec.music.gdead.   - JayC.

	I missed the vh1 special - it was Timmy's 7th birthday (WOW!)
	and I was busy playing with the kids.  
	
	I did catch Hippie Temptation @ 10:30 - I love that dead scene.	
	Phil looks soooo _toasted_ !    Weir could barely speak ;)
	
	The album special was rebroadcast and taped @ 11, so I'll be able to 
	catch it later.

	That VH1 dog is a cool dog eh ?  

	/Ken	

    
    I listened to "Mars Hotel" for the first time in a while yesterday
    and I'd have to say Phil's vocals on "Unbroken Chain" and "Pride
    of Cucamonga" are a big plus. God, I hope that's him singing. If
    not, it sort of screws up the whole point. But anyway . . .
    
    I've also heard more recent live tapes of him struggling through
    "Box of Rain" that are just painful to listen to. So, the question 
    I have is, did he just completely lose his vocal chops at some point, 
    or did they piece those "Mars.." takes together from hundreds of
    attempts.
    
    Oh, and I'm pretty sure those VH1 shows were produced for VH1, 
    which would mean that they never existed in sixty minute versions.
    Of course, I could be wrong about that too. 

Mariah Carey cleans up on more than just
vocals, frankly.  Too bad she has such
mediocre taste in tunes....;-)

    Steve B...  yep, that's Phil, and yep, it's a case of "do it til you
    get it right"...  :^)
    
    frankly, i'm surprised the mention of Mariah Carey didn't get me a tube
    full of vomit...  :^)  
    
    and Chris, Weir may be cheesy, but he has the best voice in the
    bunch...  :^)  then again, i kinda like cheese... sometimes...  :^)
    fever...  misty...
    
    					da ve

	Misty?  here's your vomit you were expecting :-P

    
    	:^)  :^)  :^)  
    
    	thanks Debess...  you never seem to disappoint...  :^)			
    
    
    				da ve_trolling_for_reactions

    
    I like Moria's voice...

    weir
    BBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARFFFFFFFFFFFFF
    
    nice big pile for you too da ve from me

	re: last

	all I gots ta say is C'MON!

    
    Last night I listened to a wonderful 
    
    "Brother Essau->Lost Sailor->St of Circum->" which helped restore 
    my faith in Bobby.  Of course, the "She Belongs to me" Jerry belted 
    out prior to the Bobby set put me in the correct mindset.... :-)

    Phil has said before that he lost his range during the 70's, that;s why
    he "quit" singing for awhile....