maff

Birdwatching with Junie

Over the past couple weeks, I have been stalked by this ad for a free webinar on how to actively manage semi-arid rangeland. I get it 1-3x per day. Twice in the last 10 minutes. The picture looks nice but active management isn’t my preferred approach to semi-arid rangeland

Well they were also bad live after they got famous

The stats say their run game was efficient but not explosive (like, the lowest explosive run rate in modern history) which basically means the OL is getting you 3 yards and the RBs are getting you nothing else

That was the generation you couldn’t lose too, as I think Spencer has said, because that was when people really started to build their digital console game libraries

Dying at this excerpt from Long Strange Trip wherein Miles Davis torches Steve Miller in passing

Typing “Bam Adebayo??” in every app one by one

Vol 18: 2/3/78 (Madison, WI) & 2/5/78 (Cedar Falls, IA)
a series highlight so far. they find that extra gear early and often here. Jerry is on a heater. great first sets great Estimated > Eyes. great jazzy Playing jam bookending Wheel. insane Scarlet > Fire. Other One hits like a freight train. 5/5

Vol 17 Part 2:
Space is very silly. sounds like they're trying to invent hold music. but, you know, give them credit for being 26 years in and still Trying Stuff. also this one is mixed so much better than DP9 (the other 90s show so far). I think I underrated this tbh, probably more like a 4/5

Vol 17: 9/25/91 (Boston Garden) (ft. 3/31/91 Greensboro)
Very keys-forward but I like what Bruce and Vince bring. Great Help > Slip > Frank opening. lovely McCartney jam coming out of Space. The bonus Eyes of the World from March 91 is stunning; the 9/25 show is an odd choice by comparison. 3.5/5

Vol 16: 11/8/69 (Fillmore Auditorium, SF)
no disrespect to Pigpen but I’m skipping the opener (a 13 minute Good Morning Little Schoolgirl). Audio gremlins again, mostly in set 1. Set 2 is peak Chaotic Dead. Fun Uncle John’s Band detour in Dark Star. Noisy, unpredictable, singular. 4.5/5

Vol 15: 9/3/77 (Englishtown, NJ)
great show front to back. can't imagine a better Mississippi Half-Step. great Peggy-O. everything sounds good. insane Not Fade Away jam. 5/5

Vol 14: 11/30/73 and 12/2/73 (Boston Music Hall)
the final Dick Latvala pick is a cool one, bookended by Morning Dews. the disc 4 Playin melts into noise and a jam that sounds like GY!BE's more melodic moments. a languid Eyes of the World also a highlight. audio gremlins; avoid headphones. 4.5/5

man, i don’t know matt at all irl but ive read his stuff for years and let me just say that he’s not someone you lay off he’s someone you get in a bidding war over

Vol 13: 5/6/81 (Nassau Coliseum, NY)
audio mix and band get off to a rocky start but it comes together mid set 1 on Deal. Saint of Circumstances hides an excellent 30 minute Scarlet > Fire from 79 as a bonus track. Wharf Rat the show highlight. not an 80s showcase volume though. 3/5

Vol 12: 6/26/74 (Providence Civic Center) and 6/28/74 (Boston Garden)
an all-jams highlight reel. opens with a great China Cat > Rider sequence. finally a Seastones appearance (the experimental synth&bass noise intermission). every track takes a detour. 5/5

Vol 11: 9/27//72 (Stanley Theater, NJ)
great show, start to finish. even the stuff I don't normally care about sounds great. good Bird Song, good Breakdown. massive Dark Star. 5/5

Vol 10: 12/29/77 (Winterland, SF)
I'm usually fine with two drummer Dead but you really notice them this volume. it still won me over though. really good setlists + 4 good bonus tracks from 12/30. the long stretch bookended by Playing in the Band is the highlight. 4/5

Vol 9: 9/16/90 (MSG, NY)
this is pretty rough at times but the jam in the heart of set 2 He's Gone > No MSG Jam > Drums > Space > Standing on the Moon > Lunatic Preserve goes some pretty weird places. at least they're Trying Stuff. 2.5/5

Vol 8: 5/2/70 (Harpur College, Binghamton)
fascinating show. a rare acoustic set 1 workshopping mostly unreleased material in front of an unruly crowd. a terrific fun set 2 of garage psych rock jams. an all-timer if you skip the ill-advised cover of James Brown's "It's a Man's World." 4.5/5

Vol 7: 9/9/74 - 9/11/74 (Alexandra Palace, London)
good curation of these shows - lots of jams, not much bloat. great freeform jazz jam on Playing in the Band. a pleasantly vibey Dark Star > Morning Dew ends in fireworks. 4/5

Vol 6: 10/14/83 (Hartford Civic Center)
Skip set 1 and skip the DP release for a better audio version on Relisten or Archive. Set 2 won me back over with a Scarlet > Fire + Estimated > Eyes combo but beware Brent’s midi marimba experiments. Not sure Dick could pick 80s shows like the 70s. 3/5

Incidentally this is a phenomenon everyone who has spent time on a hobbyist forum/subreddit/discord will recognize

Vol 5: 12/26/79 (Oakland Coliseum, CA)
First Brent show of DP and he spends a lot of it playing this shitty sounding plink-plunk electric piano. Set 1 is pretty skippable. Set 2 is great, bookended by Uncle John’s Band. Brent works better on Prophet and Shakedown. 3.5/5

Vol. 4: 2/13/70-2/14/70 (Fillmore East, NY)
If you're listening to Dick's Picks in order, this is the point by which you'll know if this is for you. the whole thing rules but the 90 minute stretch of Dark Star > Other One > Love Light is as good as it gets. 5/5

Detour: 5/8/77 (Barton Hall, Cornell)
not a DP release but obviously mandatory listening. if not the best Dead show, it's maybe the best sounding; about as tight a performance and professional a recording as the Dead get. makes them seem downright accessible. A- versions of every track. 5/5

Btw, my GF’s dad was one of those people who lived in NY in the late 70s and got to see the Dead a dozen+ times, including Cornell 77 and Englishtown 77 (DP 15). Sent him some of my thoughts on DP15 along with the 36FTV episode and got some fun feedback from him

I am an L&E lawyer and was just at a conference where many L&E lawyers discussed (among other things) LLM applications and basically everyone agreed that the application you should not trust it to do is pull and cite cases

worst case scenario: you fall asleep

Vol 3: 5/22/77 (Hollywood Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines FL)
time for two drummer Dead (I lived). not breaking any news to say that the Dead sounded fucking great in May 77. this is still the platonic ideal Sugaree to me; I go back to it all the time. 4.5/5