There is nothing like a Grateful Dead show. The music, the feeling that you experience at their concerts is the most original cosmic force existent.
This magazine does an incredible job in 100 pages of capturing and documenting the 48 years of America’s greatest band. It’s a tremendous value at $11.99 to have a well curated, cross-functional collection of excerpted articles from the original pages of Rolling Stone Magazine.
I urge you to buy a copy of this special collectors edition for your very own. The photographs by Jay Blakesberg, Herb Greene, Baron Wolman, Jim Marshall and others beautifully articulate the halcyon era of Rock’s Longest Strangest Trip.
Take a journey over to the just launched Jerry Garcia Web site . You’ll find it more than a long strange trip its been
The Jerry Garcia Web site accomplishes two main objectives on behalf of its visitors, 1) Rich content about Jerry Garcia’s life, friends and accomplishments, 2) A creative, engaging shopping experience.
The site is designed by Third Door, Inc. I am surprised to learn how many popular music artist sites have been designed by Third Door’s David Maier. David’s choice of tools as a graphics and Web designer map to the Web software I plan to become more skilled in using in 2013 and beyond. The site was constructed with WordPress for content management, Adobe PhotoShop for images and Adobe Dreamweaver for HTML/HTML5 coding.
The Web site has a product tie-in promotion with the first release from the newly launched Garcia Live series which features a recording from the historic Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey on March 1, 1980.
My first assessment of the jerrygarcia.com Web site is based upon the following viewpoint/criteria.
Fan Viewpoint
Shopping Experience – A+
The Jerry Garcia Store is a standout section. It is tightly coupled with the Garcia official merchandise offered through their exclusive arrangement with MusicToday for ordering/fulfillment. Products were easy to view with the Zoom feature available for closer articulation.
Fan level information – B+
The Timeline section has 97 posts but lacks an evolutionary dated timeline for context and correlation (suggestion…). The content offers in depth reading and visual images that drive the reading experience well.
My favorite image is the black and white photograph of Jerry Garcia playing the pedal steel guitar. The Bio is nicely summarized. I would have liked to have seen a Web link to Wikipedia or another more substantive biography about Jerry.
The News section is very initial with just 4 posts. But it is only Day 1 for the site .
Multimedia content – A+
The Music, Artwork and Video sections meld together in cohesive fashion. The Music section offers a cover art jump point to a second page with music vendors, song listings and just the right level of social network icons for now.
The Artwork area is a gem and it is a good first level representation of an evolving Gallery area. I suggest an Amazon link on this page to the coffee table book, Jerry Garcia: The Collected Artwork for visitors (I just love leafing through that book!)
The Video section knocked me out. The highlight for me was Jerry Garcia’s 70th Birthday. I was unable to watch Move Me Brightly on TRIStudios this past August. I am pumped to see the 17:47 video highlight featured on the Video page.
Technology Viewpoint
Usability – A
The Web site fully leverages responsive design and WordPress content management effortlessly. The images are compelling and never oversized or stretched. Navigation is straight forward and relaxing. It represents a landscape book with a menu as table of contents off to the left side, unobtrusive but accessible.
Design- A+
The page design varies between various postings or single Photoshop images of Jerry that are warm testimonies of him.
Responsive design is available throughout the Web site, which makes this a technology appealing visual, audio, video experience.
I have anticipated the Jerry Garcia Web site for sometime now and I wasn’t disappointed one iota!
Great work team! I look forward to the content evolution from here on out.
Fortunately for us Jimi Hendrix spent a tremendous amount of time working in the recording studio. Thankfully with Eddie Kramer at the dials he has restored a stellar set of unreleased studio recordings by Jimi Hendrix from 1968 to 1969. Eddie Kramer is our connection to Jimi Hendrix as his original studio engineer from Are You Experienced to The Cry of Love and later recordings after that.
Eddie Kramer states, ”In ’68 and ’69, Jimi was in the studio constantly,” recalls Kramer. “His whole life was in the studio.”
The latest undertaking from the Hendrix vault is People, Hell and Angels. The legendary guitarist was considering these new sounds for First Rays of the New Rising Sun, the planned double-album follow-up to Electric Ladyland.The album is slated to be released on Tuesday March 5, 2013.
I was recently asked, “What’s your favorite R&B act?” You might be surprised to learn that act is none other than Sly & the Family Stone. Why this act instead of the associated R&B artists you might be wondering? The answer to that question is that Sly & the Family Stone evolved from R&B, through funk to become the pioneers of “psychedelic soul“.
A Whole New Thing (Sly and the Family Stone album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I learned from reading Rolling Stone Magazine my primary source of music journalism in the late 60′s, Sly Stone was at one time the San Francisco Bay Area’s top rated rhythm and blues disc jockey. In the late Sixties and early Seventies, Sly & the Family Stone fused R&B rhythms, radio-ready hooks and psychedelia to create a new pop/soul/rock hybrid.
Being an East Coast suburban I didn’t catch on to Sly & the Family Stone until their 1968 radio hit “Dance to the Music“. They were a positive explosion for my consciousness. I just heard that song today and it still makes me move my feet
My favorite member of Sly & the Family Stone was Larry Graham. Between that deep voice and his wild, funky bass I became more hooked than ever.
I think I will dig into some Sly & the Family Stone along with Larry Graham and Graham Central Station this evening and beyond
If you need a miracle every day then you should feel jazzed that the annual tradition for Dead fans is here again.
The tradition is called 30 Days of Dead . Dead.net will be giving away a high-quality 320Kbps MP3 download every day this month. That’s 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, selected by Dead archivist and producer David Lemieux. There will also be a put your knowledge to the test contest where you will have the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.
Each day they will post a free download from one of the Dead’s coveted shows. Guess the venue and date correctly and you’ll be automatically entered to win the prize of the day. Each day a winner will be selected at random, so take your time and make your best guess! Answer correctly, and you will also be automatically entered in the Grand Prize – a copy of the SOLD OUT Spring 1990 box set.
This month’s issue has a centerpiece story about The Byrds and their 1968 recording The Notorious Byrd Brothers. We learn how the original group transformed, well actually imploded during the recording sessions at the end of 1967. It begins with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman firing David Crosby at his home (October 1967). Michael Clarke (drummer) and Gene Clark (singer-songwriter) leaving during mid-recording.
The Notorious Byrd Brothers ended the period of psychedelic experimentation and pushed The Byrds to develop the ground breaking country-rock album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Gram Parsons joins The Byrds and the next phase of their evolution takes flight.
Bootleg concert t-shirt logo, now sold as official Pink Floyd merchandise
One of the most historic concerts I have seen over the decades was the original Pink Floyd performing Dark Side of the Moon on tour. The date for that concert was March 18th, 1973. The venue was the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Dark Side of the Moon was released on March 17, 1973. The album gathered momentum quickly but was not yet being played in its entirety on progressive FM radio stations. The song “Money” was an immediate hit and the crowd that night cheered loudly when it was performed.
We were fortunate to catch Pink Floyd before the updraft of chart success took them to the next level of fame in rock and roll. They were soon playing arenas and stadiums versus lesser sized concert halls like the Palace Theater where we saw them play (2,500+ seats) It was a mere two weeks later on April 1st, 1973 that Dark Side of the Moon reached No. 1 on It then remained in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. It is estimated that 50 million copies have been sold. It is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide.
I have several specific memories of that night. The first memory is that the event was over sold. We had real numbered seat balcony tickets but Koplik & Finkel who booked this event sold way too many tickets. We ended up sitting on the carpeted stairs in the balcony. It was a definite fire code violation situation. We did end up with a great line of sight to see the band.
My second memory was that they played my favorite Pink Floyd song, “Echoes” from Meddle. I love how that song builds to a crescendo force. They used a light display behind them that gave the impression of a darkened sun as it rose in the sky as they played. I always found “Echoes” powerful in its presentation. I became enraptured with the opus when I first saw Pink Floyd on the silver screen in Live at Pompeii.
My third memory was when they performed “Great Gig In the Sky“, the female singers stood in the opera boxes on the sides of the theater and spotlights reflected on their flowing white dresses. That section of the performance reverberates strongly in me even now, 39+ years later.
I am thankful that I had the insight to buy tickets to this concert at the Nimbus Water Bed Shop in New Haven, they were a ticket outlet in those days. It was a historic event that my wife and I were able to witness live.
Neil Young launched his Official Twitter Account yesterday. It’s great to see Neil Young on Twitter and to know he will be interacting with us soon through the social networking medium. It is smart for him to set up a Twitter presence as this coincides with the release of his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace. I received my audio CD edition narrated by Keith Carradine yesterday too . I am enchanted to no end with what Neil Young shares through the passages of the book. More to say about this in a future blog post…
Very cool to know Neil Young will be holding a Q&A session with us soon. I have my question ready for him now
My anticipation is building for the Neil Young & Crazy Horse recording Psychedelic Pill.
Yesterday was also the Web première for “Walk Like A Giant”. It’s the first official video from Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Psyche!
Last week I received an invite from Steve Katz on Facebook to join The Blues Project Facebook Page. This piqued my interest as I have a gap in my knowledge to be filled when it comes to their musical legacy. I am enjoying getting back in step with this seminal band from the late 60s. It’s cool to have a founding member create a Facebook Page and share out their personal scrapbook with us.
The last time I saw Steve Katz was several years ago at Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, Ct. Sikorsky held a concert on the company front lawn and Blood, Sweat and Tears/The Young Rascals (Gene Cornish, Dino Danelli) performed for us. Steve Katz drove down in his van to play and sing, “Sometime in Winter” with BS & T and then drove right home. It turns out that Steve Katz and his wife, Alison Palmer have a ceramics shop, Alison Palmer Studio in South Kent, Connecticut.
I plan to make it a point for my wife and I to visit, Steve Katz, the Alison Palmer Studio and the Kent arts/music scene soon. I love discovering new avenues of art and music in my Connecticut backyard
The video trailer for Steven Wilson‘s Get All You Deserve, a high-definition 4 disc (blu-ray, dvd, 2cd) audio-visual set that becomes available on September 24th, 2012. The limited deluxe edition is packaged in a DVD sized hard-back 40 page book. Pre-order here: https://www.burningshed.com/store/stevenwilson/collection/65/
Take a journey over to the just launched 
Being an East Coast suburban I didn’t catch on to Sly & the Family Stone until their 1968 radio hit “
