March 8th, 2018 marks the 45th anniversary of Ron “Pigpen” McKernan’s death at age 27. Like so many of his 1960s peers, Pigpen was only here briefly and then he was gone. Gone but never forgotten. So this week on the Golden Road we are celebrating the Grateful Dead’s original front man’s oh so brief life and musical career with hand-selected tunes spanning Pig’s performing years from Mother McCree’s to the Grateful Dead. “Pigpen was and is now forever one of the Grateful Dead”
My first show with the brand new audio board, so some of the levels may be a touch hot.
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“High green chilly winds and windy vines in loops around the twining shafts of lavender, they’re crawling to the sun….William Tell has stretched his bow till won’t stretch no furthermore and/or it may require a change that hasn’t come before”
This week on the Golden Road, we have lightning captured in a bottle or more specifically on sixteen track tape. This could only mean one thing; that we have Grateful Dead music from their legendary Fillmore West shows played February 27&28 and March 1&2, 1969. All four nights were recorded and the tapes were used to make the record LiveDead. These shows are High Holy Days for many Deadheads, yours truly included. This music is mind blowing and from beyond the pale.
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We love to celebrate anniversaries here on the Golden Road, and this week we have a big one! This week we are celebrating the 50th that’s right the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s Be Mine Carousel Ballroom show from February 14th, 1968. Fifty years! Wow! And we also must take note that Neal Cassady aka Dean Moriarty checked out fifty years ago too this past February 4th. The Dead dedicated their second set from their February 14th show to the memory of Cowboy Neal and we too respectfully dedicate the second set to his memory as well.
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This week the Golden Road takes us back to the Sweet Sunny South with cherry-picked music by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman from their February 2nd, 1991 performance recorded live at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. Rounding out this week’s show is music from Tim O’Brien’s wonderful new release “Where the River Meets the Road,” an album inspired by the music and musicians of his native state of West Virginia.
Unfortunately this show was not captured for replay. Our crack KDRT station engineers immediately jumped in to determine the source of the problem but concluded "While the reason remains a mystery, spurious electrical activity is suspected."
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This week the Golden Road takes us to the East Bay and the campus of UC Berkeley for Grateful Dead music recorded live May 22nd, 1982 at the Greek Theatre. The magical Greek Theatre was the scene of many fine Grateful Dead shows dating back to 1967, and these May 1982 shows were especially good! Peaking at the Greek with the Dead! It doesn’t get any better than that!
Oops! Brent's song is actually Good Time Blues, not Never Trust A Woman as I stated. My bad!
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This week on the Golden Road, we are pleased to present the second most famous Grateful Dead concert of all time! That’s right! You guessed it! The infamous Barton Hall show. On Sunday May 8th, 1977, the Grateful Dead and Dead Heads from all over invaded the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York. That night, Barton (as they call it) was packed. The crowd was way past amped up and the band was on fire. And the rest is history!
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Because last week’s show was such a blast, we thought it would be really cool to continue in the 1970 vibe on this week’s Golden Road with the New Riders of the Purple Sage. This week we have the NRPS’s set from the Grateful Dead’s infamous May 2nd, 1970 Harpur College show (the best GD concert ever!) with additional NRPS music from their September 18th, 1970 performance at the Fillmore East. Finishing out the show is some live acoustic Pigpen from April 18th, 1970 at the Family Dog at the Great Highway. And there will be a little Acoustic Dead thrown in for good measure!
Oops! Bill Browning not Bill Brown wrote Dark Hallow. My bad!
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This week on the Golden Road we have some good old Primal Grateful Dead with music recorded live January 16th, 1970 at Springer’s Inn in Gresham, Oregon. If you like Pigpen (and DJ Lee does), then you’ll love this week’s show! And remember: Pass the word, the monitors are coming….
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This week on the Golden Road, we are going for the trifecta of Grateful Dead New Years shows with a trip to Daly City, California and its famed Cow Palace for Grateful Dead music recorded live on New Year’s Eve 1976. After hitting their stride in the fall, December 31st, 1976 found the band in fine form, having fun on stage, and setting the table for 1977, one of the most memorable Grateful Dead years, ever. This was a very good show with many highlights as you shall hear.
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Replay of July 28th, 2017
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