Meanwhile, in this week’s LA CityBeat, I re-discover MAD magazine. And wandering YouTube, I re-discovered the Grateful Dead, which is always tricky. Middle-aged punks stare at you like you were a puppy molester caught en flagrante. (Or maybe OJ) “Farren is a closet Deadhead!” Which is actually not true. As Boss Goodman used to put it. “You like the songs and the singing, not the solos.” Whatever fashion might dictate, though, I am unashamedly fond of New Speedway Boogie.
The secret word is Tromp
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6 comments:
Oh yuck. I am, yes, a middle aged punk. I swear, I've tried to like the Dead. I have two Dead CD's, the two that Dead Heads sneer at you for having. I really did like some of their recorded output back when I was a little teenager with a lot of hair. What really put me off the Dead was the Deadheads. I live in the middle of Grateful Deadville. Complete strangers have approached me to tell me how much they miss Jerry. Every sleazeball hanging around the Mill Valley 7-11 at 3:00 AM is waiting to tell you about his days as a Grateful Dead roadie. It is horrible to go to a club and find a crowd of them doing that arhythmic flopping thing they call dancing. They don't seem to like music very much. I've met Deadheads with trunk loads of show tapes who have no other music in their house. Any time you try to talk to them about anything remotely serious, they get this faraway look and mumble, "Right, right, Jerry knew all about that man."
Q: How do you know that Deadheads have been in your house?
A: They're still there.
Q: What did the Deadhead say when he ran out of drugs?
A: Wow... this music...like...sucks.
Despite Deadheads, the Dead had a pretty much punk rock take on the music biz. They were really successful at staking out a little piece of turf that was self supporting and not controlled by the media corps.
Also, back in the day, they were as revolutionary as the MC5. They played dozens of benefits for the Black Panther party.
So I don't like their music. So what? All but finally, I have a close friend who was there for the Acid Tests and all of that shit. He was a digger. He knew Emmett Grogan man. He swears that old time Dead shows were the greatest thing in the world. He's a good man. I believe him.
And finally, One name: Pig Pen. That guy could rock. If you had to post a link to a GD performance, at least you had the decency to spotlight Pig Pen.
I'm sure I've exceeded my limits and broken all known rules of comment posting, but Mick, I hate to think of you and those creeps from under the bridge in Guerneville, going on about "Jerry, dude." Peace, love, oh and Anarchy and all of that punk rock horseshit.
Jon, my brother, you have totally summed up the duality of really liking the record "Working Man's Dead" but without becoming embroiled in the Deadhead ethos and condemned accordingly. On the other hand, you should have seen some of The Deviants fans back in the day. Talk about Hittite as a second language. Boss Goodman, the roadie, once found one passed out on Mandies (Quaaludes) in a PA bin.
And with these comments, there are no rules and no limits. Copy out all of War & Peace if you feel so inclined.
Could I copy out Das Kapital?
No. Sorry. It's War & Peace or nothing.
I'm a middled-aged punk/one-time teeny-bopper (caught between generations) & their first two albums were pretty good. Saw 'em play on the back of a flatbed truck in a park in Seattle in '68, danced so hard my love beads broke. And Pigpen was damn good.
Deadheads, on the other paw...
Your MAD mag story got linked today on the Romenesko media news site.
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