1970's intense. T.C. leaves the band in late January. The band's 'busted down on Bourbon Street' on January 31st. In March they discover their manager, Mickey Hart's father Lenny, has been stealing them blind (they're already hugely in debt to the record company). Only the music is sane; they enter the studio in March and in three weeks record Workingman's Dead, fulfilling Garcia and Hunter's work of the past year. It comes out in June. They add a regular opening act, the New Riders of the Purple Sage (Garcia plays pedal steel in it), and their shows stretch ever longer. Late that month they cross Canada on the Festival Express. In September they have some spare time, and go back into the studio, producing another gem, American Beauty. In the fall they begin a long series of college concerts that will establish them (along with the two albums) in a long-term way as a touring band.
“Finally I have the quality I’ve been looking for on this famous date. There are so many outrageous things that stand out on this date, that I hesitate to list them all. There are a few places where the quality “garbles” of fades in & out, during the “Anthem” & “Viola Lee Blues”, but outside of this everything is excellent. In “Cold Rain & Snow”, Garcia tunes up several times & really gets into singing with gusto, like I’ve never heard this tune. There is a really nice riff from “Dark Star” that they do during the end of “Dancing in the Streets”. During the Acoustic Set, there is one point where Garcia & Weir lecture the noisy audience about being a more “respectable audience.”
Dick Latvala
THE 40th ANNIVERSARY of the Grateful Dead at HARPUR COLLEGE
May 2, 1970
The Zen Tricksters Will perform the entire show forty years to the day on May 2, 2010 at Brooklyn Bowl
Tickets: $5.00
Venue phone: 718-963-3369
Doors: 7:00pm | Show: 8:00pm
Brooklyn Bowl Website
