"The Tragic Consequences of Strict Drug Policies: Remembering Lee Sun-kyun" Larry Michigan, starts off by wishing everyone a happy new year and reminiscing about the Grateful Dead's legendary New Year's Eve shows. He decides to feature songs from the Grateful Dead's New Year's Eve show in 1981 at the Oakland Coliseum. Larry describes the chaotic countdown and the band's energetic performance at midnight. He also pays tribute to John Cutler, a Grateful Dead sound technician and producer who recently passed away.
"The Tragic Consequences of Strict Drug Policies: Remembering Lee Sun-kyun"
Larry Michigan, starts off by wishing everyone a happy new year and reminiscing about the Grateful Dead's legendary New Year's Eve shows. He decides to feature songs from the Grateful Dead's New Year's Eve show in 1981 at the Oakland Coliseum. Larry describes the chaotic countdown and the band's energetic performance at midnight. He also pays tribute to John Cutler, a Grateful Dead sound technician and producer who recently passed away. Larry discusses the strict anti-drug policies in South Korea and the tragic death of Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, who was subjected to relentless media scrutiny for his alleged marijuana use. He criticizes the punitive approach to drug abuse and emphasizes the need for rehabilitation rather than punishment. Larry also predicts that the University of Michigan's football team will win their game against the University of Alabama in the Rose Bowl based on his "Deadhead Cannabis System." The episode concludes with a discussion of the Grateful Dead's performance of "Dark Star" at the New Year's Eve show and the significance of the song's rarity.
00:00:36 - Introduction and New Year's Eve celebration
00:04:22 - Featuring songs from the Grateful Dead's New Year's Eve show of 1981
00:05:52 - Discussion on the song "Iko Iko" and the energy of a Dead New Year's Eve show
00:33:48 - Tragic story of Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun and the strict anti-drug policies in South Korea
00:38:00 - Predicting the winner of the Michigan vs. Alabama football game using the Deadhead Cannabis System
00:42:00 - The encore set featuring Dark Star and other songs
Note: The timestamps are approximate and may vary slightly when listening to the actual podcast episode.
Grateful Dead
December 31, 1981
Oakland Coliseum
Grateful Dead Live at Oakland Auditorium on 1981-12-31 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive
INTRO: NYE Countdown
Track No. 20
6:35 – 7:35
SHOW No. 1: Iko Iko
Track No. 21
:26 – 2:00
SHOW No. 2: The Boxer (with Joan Baez)
Track No. 3
0:00 – 1:35
SHOW No. 3: Bye Bye Love (with Joan Baez)
Track No. 6
0:00 – 1:14
SHOW No. 4: Dark Star
Track No. 31
4:20 – 6:00
OUTRO: It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
Track No. 34
1:41 – 3:45
Talk about the dead show/NYE shows in general
Korean Actor who committed suicide because he was being investigated for MJ use
Dead U. at Stanford with David Gans
RIP John Cutler
And more
[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show. I'm Larry Michigan of Michigan Law in Chicago, and let me start off by wishing a Happy New Year to everybody. I hope you guys all had a great time last night and enjoyed your New Year celebration in an enjoyable and safe fashion.
If you were out here in live music, I hope the music was great, the crowd was nice. And you had no troubles getting home. Uh, New Year's Eve is a [00:01:00] great, great time for live music, as we all know. And few bands captured the spirit of New Year's Eve better than The Grateful Dead. Um, I, there's so many wonderful Grateful Dead New Year's Eve shows, I wasn't really quite sure.
Uh, which one to focus on. So I was kind of defaulting to maybe just pulling one or two tunes from a variety of shows and, you know, kind of doing it that way. Uh, but the other night driving home, I caught a, uh, this particular show that we're about to feature was being played as the, you know, one of the shows, the featured shows of the day.
Uh, by Rob Bleakstein of, um, uh, who does all of that stuff for, uh, uh, Grateful Dead Sirius XM radio and listening to him describe the show and what was going on and what was playing. And whenever Rob puts on a show that I like, I get in trouble because instead of coming straight home, I drive around for another hour so I can listen to all the great tunes that I know are coming down the line.
And uh, The more I listen to this show, the more I realized that, you know what, this is a great [00:02:00] show, uh, to feature here today. And so we are, in fact, going to be featuring songs from the Grateful Dead's New Year's Eve show of 1981, uh, live from the, uh, Oakland Coliseum 42 years ago last night. And, uh, like every one of these shows, really the most important is what they do at midnight.
So let's check in here.[00:03:00]
That is a prime example of a traditional, if not total chaotic countdown by the dead crew. Imagine in that one minute clip, we had them telling us it's going to be New Year's. In two minutes, 30 seconds later, they start the countdown. Then after they said, happy new year's, they come back five or 10 seconds later and say, no, no, they started too soon.
And as you can tell, eventually the band just gets tired of waiting and just starts playing. Although it's not made clear by the announcers, Bill Graham came in [00:04:00] dressed as father time, uh, writing in on a lit joint, which always seemed to be a favorite way for, uh, for, uh, uncle bill to come in and, uh, or uncle Bobo, I guess is the band called him, uh, and, and a great way.
And so the, once they got all that. Nonsense cleaned up and the boys just said enough is enough. They dived right into their first song of the new year and here it is. Hey now, hey now, hey now, Aiko, aiko ane, Jakamaukino anane, Jakamaukino ane, Hey now, hey now, hey now, Aiko, aiko ane, Dragon won't be no on our neck.
Dragon won't be no name. My grandpa say your grandpa said it by the bio. My grandpa say your grandpa gonna say don't steal the bio. Hey now, hey now, [00:05:00] hey now, hey now, I go, I go on there. Dracomorphine on, on me. Dracomorphine on me. Hey now! Hey now! Hey now! I ain't no, I ain't no undead. Dracomorphine on, on me.
Dracomorphine on me. Yo, Sparadope, say my Sparadope. Sitting by the fire. Hey now, hey now, hey now, I ain't go, I ain't go all day. I can move me no fuckin body, I can move me none day. Hey now, hey now, hey now, I ain't go, I ain't go all day. Well, if the Dead aren't going to rock in the new year with Sugar Mag, my personal favorite, as well as Bill Graham's favorite musical [00:06:00] start to a new year, then I would certainly vote for Ico.
And that's just what they do here. We've talked a lot about Ico this year. It's history, the Dixie Cups, Stephen Sills unique verse. And more. It's a great tune, very celebratorial, and one jury really likes to play and sing. He gives it his all here. Anyone who doubts the power of a dead New Year's Eve, you'd only ask yourself this question.
When the clock, when the clock hits midnight, where else could you possibly imagine being at that moment where you would be any higher in energy and spirit? In a giant room full of deadheads, popping balloons, and jerry belting out the call for the crowd and the band to respond. With all due respect to Tennessee Jed, ain't no place I'd rather be, uh, right here.
When the boys were rocking it in and you have to understand it, we need to stop and just talk for a minute about the whole energy and idea behind a Grateful Dead New Year's show. And, you know, Fish has done a very good job of, uh, of jumping in on New Year's Eve and coming up with themes and, [00:07:00] uh, you know, different ideas that they want to project and with wildly created sets and all of this stuff and great, great music.
You know, for the dead, you know, this was back at a time, you know, through the seventies and the eighties when, uh, the demand was there for more and more crazy stuff, but technology just hadn't quite caught up and certainly not at the level, uh, where it was at now. But one of the ways that Bill Graham would account for that for his annual New Year's Eve shows out in San Francisco is he would just make them big, huge, giant spectacles with so many people coming in and so much music being played and, uh, getting so much out of the dead and, uh, you know, that the crowds would, would come flack in early and, you know, be there well into the, you know, the new hours of the new year.
Um. Just because there was so much going on in this particular night, for instance, uh, right there at the show, uh, if you got there early enough, uh, you got to start with a wonderful showing of Animal House, which was a relatively new [00:08:00] film at the time. Um, you know, and not something that we've all seen 50 times, but imagine being in a room with people who were all high.
Uh, tripping or getting ready to be tripping and, you know, checking out animal house for the first time or the second time when the jokes were still, you know, so funny and so new and so fresh. Um, and, uh, yeah, that's what they started everybody out with. Then, uh, the new writers of the purple sage came out without Jerry and, uh, played some music for a little while.
The blues brothers came out after that and they played some music for a while. Finally, the boys sit at the stage, uh, but their set one is a set with Joan Baez covering not exclusively Joan Baez tunes, uh, but other than me and Bobby McGee, which they played that night for the last time, uh, not tunes Uh, the dead themselves had ever played, or maybe only played once or so.
Uh, we'll focus more on the specifics of that in a minute. Then they came back with what they call set two, which was the first all dead set that, uh, [00:09:00] featuring 10 songs. And they came back for set three, which had eight more songs as well as a drum solos. And then finally the encore, uh, which was just as incredible as could be with dark star, uh, into Bertha into good love and finally closing it out with it's all over now, baby blue, um, This is what a dead New Year's Eve show is really supposed to be about.
And, uh, you know, there's just, you just get it with all of this crazy action going on, um, and, and, and everything else that was happening in the, uh, in the, in the Oakland, uh, auditorium at. That time, you know, that night and, you know, like you say, you know, for New Year's, it's just, it's crazy. You always have loud balloon popping.
And in fact, you can hear towards the end of that music clip of, uh, the, the ICO. It sounded like Bobby screaming like, nah, these damn balloons, because the balloons are falling everywhere, all over the guys on the stage. And I don't personally play guitar. Or any of those instruments. So I can't really speak from any personal experience as to [00:10:00] whether that would impact me or not.
But I'm sure if you know the dad, they, they, they, they do a lot of their communication by looking at each other and by sending musical signals. And there's so much popping and loud noise being made on so much commotion that. Who knows, but it is, I have to say, a very, very cool thing if you're sitting in the audience and at midnight, you know, you see the, the, the, the, the roof open up with all the balloons pouring in and all the confetti falling and being shot out over the crowd and, uh, you know, the dead standing up and roaring in, uh, you know, to a sugar mag or to Ico or to in the midnight hour.
Um, one year, they even opened up with going to hell in a bucket, which wasn't the tune I was really looking for. Um, but quite frankly, it was very well played and ultimately much appreciated. And, um, you know, it was just a dad rocking it out with something new instead of something a little more traditional or something old.
Um, But, you know, this, this is ICO and this is already, you know, really the start of set three, which is kind of, I guess, for all intents and purposes, be the [00:11:00] official second set, although the third set of the evening with the debt, if you count the first set with Joan and, uh, let's, we're going to touch on that set with Joan, um, in about a minute here, because, uh, That's just unbelievable, too, what they wind up doing with Joan and, uh, the fact that Joan Baez is welcomed in, um, for the Grateful Dead show.
However, before we get to that, um, some other things that I'd like to talk about today, uh, one of the most notable is that Um, unfortunately, uh, we recently had another loss of the Grateful Dead family. And we've talked about how, uh, as the years go by now, um, you know, obviously losing Jerry and, and, uh, Vince and Brent long before that and Pigpen even longer before that, but, um, you know, we, we, uh, Robert Hunter has died and, uh, Dick Lavatla, although that was already a few years ago, but, you know, it's just, [00:12:00] it.
It's hard to see, uh, and you see these names and sometimes you know who they are and sometimes who you don't, but we learned that on December 24th, Grateful Dead sound technician, producer, producer, and archivist John Cutler died at the age of 73 after a long illness confirmed by his brother. Cutler's first role Uh, with the dead was to oversee arrangements for the band's trip to Egypt in 1978.
Afterwards, he played a key role in recording their shows and producing several studio albums, including the last two in the dark in 1987 and built to last in 1989. He also worked with the Jerry Garcia band, became the dead's chief sound tech and continue to work on archive releases. Through the nineties and beyond my brother, John died on Christmas Eve.
After a long illness said Bill Cutler, who also worked with the grateful dead. I know he was loved by many of you. And in the coming days, I will share some stories about his life. But right now [00:13:00] our family needs time to process this and to grieve. In a personal tribute, Ban Archivist David Lemieux called Cutler, the man who hired Lemieux in the first place, a friend and a mentor and hailed him for having more integrity than anyone I've ever known and being a very kind person, one of the best.
Uh, Lemieux said, I was saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and mentor John Cutler. John had more integrity than anyone I've known. Uh, Jambase went on to report on a 2015 interview in which Bill Cutler spoke of his brother's Egypt experience, which secured him a full time role with the debt after several years of association and temporary positions.
That was an incredible undertaking because Israel and Egypt were still at war. He said, so there was all this tension in the middle East to begin with. When John went in with all that gear, the Egyptian authorities were very suspicious. They didn't want any drugs in the country. So John had to disassemble all of the amps right there at the airport.
It. Put them all back together and get all these permits done. Then he needed permission to get them to the great [00:14:00] pyramid because they wanted to use it as an echo chamber. Can you imagine going over to Egypt in that environment and say, we want to use the pyramid as an echo chamber. You're talking about a society that's never even had a rock and roll band.
And, uh, um. The story just goes on and on. And there's so many great stories about John Cutler, um, and, and all of the key roles that he did play with the dead in the late seventies and, uh, through the end of the Grateful Dead into some of the years thereafter, um, but, but, but just another guy, just another guy who happened to be there in the right place at the right time, worked for the band on a temporary basis till he, you know, really proved his invaluable worth to them, if you will, uh, vis a vis their, Trip to Europe, uh, to Egypt in September of, uh, 1978.
And, um, Those are the kind of stories that I love about, you know, people in the Grateful Dead, uh, you know, Steve Parrish talks about how he just showed up and, you know, eventually was there so much and talked to so many of the guys and they got to [00:15:00] know him that finally they said, you're in, uh, and then once you're in, you're on the inside and you're talking with everybody about who else gets to come in, um, you know, and John Cutler, uh, just a great guy, a great producer.
A great visionary for the dead and, uh, someone who all of us in the dead community will miss. We, we didn't really know John Cutler all that well. We knew who he was certainly, and we were familiar with his name, but, you know, he wasn't out on stage with the band and he wasn't doing a lot of speaking or promoting on the band's behalf.
He was just in the back making sure that the sound was great. And we just accepted that for, you know. As a matter of fact, night after night, without always stopping to give proper recognition to guys like John and the rest of the crew, uh, who really made sure that it was also wonderful for us. So, uh, rest in peace, John Cutler.
We will miss you, our thoughts and prayers out to, uh, John's whole family, his friends, and to those members of the band, uh, and, uh, the crew who are still around, who remember and worked with John and really all of [00:16:00] us, all of the deadheads, because it's losing another member of our family and, you know. Uh, a guy who's an important part of our family.
We're all important. We all, all of us, and you know, the dead used to say the band members used to say without the audience, we wouldn't, you know, we wouldn't be a unit either. And that's one of the reasons why we love them so much because they recognize the role that all of us played in it. But, you know, for every dad who was out there looking for his miracle ticket, maybe for every 10 of us or 100 of us, there was a guy like John Culler in the back, making sure that it all got done.
So we had shows to worry about. Yeah. Getting our tickets for so that is a huge loss to the community and we are certainly sorry to see John go. Um, another thing that I thought. I saw a pop up that I thought was really, really fun. And thanks to my buddy Mitch in St. Louis for tuning me on to this. Um, but it seems like our good buddy, David Gans, a former guest on our show, and now somebody who it looks like we're going to have to get back on because the news out of [00:17:00] Stanford's continuing studies program is that, uh, beginning this year in January, uh, the week of January 22nd through the week of March 4th.
Excluding the week of February 19th, there's a course called Psychedelia and Groove, The Music and Culture of the Grateful Dead, being taught by David Gans. Uh, it has a fee of just around 400. Uh, good news for all of us is there's no letter grades. Um, and that, uh, he's going to get up and he's going to talk about all sorts of things.
Um, the course book describes as the counter as the Grateful Dead's groundbreaking fusion of music, counterculture and community engagement forged an enduring legacy that transcends generations while shaping the evolution of music and cultural expression. Fresh off the farewell performance of debt and company in San Francisco in July.
students to delve into the phenomenon that is the Grateful Dead through a captivating exploration of the band's history, music, and cultural [00:18:00] impact. Um, it describes David Ganz as someone who's been curating Grateful Dead music on the radio since 1985, as the producer and host of the nationally syndicated Grateful Dead Hour.
Since 2008, he has been a co host of Tales from the Golden Road with Gary Lambert, a two hour weekly podcast. on SiriusXM's Grateful Dead station. Uh, David's an author of five books about the Grateful Dead. He has also produced several box sets and compilation albums of Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia music.
There are some textbooks that are recommended for the course, and you can really find all of it, um, Uh, by going online and, uh, just Googling, uh, David Gann's Grateful Dead course at Stanford. So, you know, I gotta tell you, I'm seriously thinking about this. Good buddy, Mitch, who turned me on to it has already signed up for the course.
And I see no reason not to, um, you know, I was a, uh, you know, uh, Decent student at best more motivated, you know, by a Jewish father who always wanted to see his kids succeed. And, [00:19:00] you know, if I can understand that we all do. Um, and, you know, was able to get myself through the University of Michigan without too much danger, but, you know, not the kind of guy who really pursued a lot of other educational endeavors.
But this one certainly seems like one that is worthwhile and. You know, if I want to be able to continue to host a podcast like this kind of got to be on the cutting edge of what's going out there with the Grateful Dead and who better to teach it than David Gans. So, uh, for anyone looking for, uh, you know, a late, but interesting holiday gift or, uh, somebody who, uh, you think might be, uh, um, you know, available to, uh, want to see something like this, I would strongly recommend it because I think it's going to be a tremendous opportunity.
And, uh, something that, uh, deadheads are not going to want to miss. And, you know, you don't get this kind of thing coming around very often. Um, really briefly, and this just is aging me more than anything else, but I think it's important for us [00:20:00] to also note, uh, that just the other day we lost Tommy Smothers, one half of the famed Smothers Brothers comedy duo, Tommy with his brother, Dick, uh, were really, uh, the hip cool coming of age.
Uh, comedians addressing all the social issues of the day on, you know, national network television, um, really kind of freaking out the suits as they say. But for those of us, you know, who in 68, 69, we're seven or eight years old. Um, you know, we just knew them as these goofy guys who got up there and made silly jokes.
And, uh, Tommy played the guitar and Dick played the stand up bass. Uh, and, uh, you know, they were, they were just really, um, They're just really a big sign. I think for a lot of us who grew up in that era, a real memory bank of life in the late sixties, when things were going a little crazy so much so that it was leaking into a regular network television, [00:21:00] but yet, you know, they still came out every night in their coats and ties and, you know, very well dressed, uh, young men, short hair, you know, this, this wasn't the Rolling Stones coming out and yelling and screaming, although memorably one night.
The Smothers Brothers did have on their show, The Who, and The Who played My Generation. And at the very end of the song, there was an explosive device that they had put inside Keith Moon's drum that they exploded. And you can actually see a clip of it in the, uh, Who kind of, I guess it is a documentary of The Who.
The kids are all right. Uh, and there was also a, uh, an album release. I think it's a two or three disc album, uh, with just tremendous recordings of various who songs. If you're a big fan of the who, uh, but they, they have the recording of it. Right. It opens the entire album and the, uh, entire, uh, video. Um, and, uh, as a result, Tommy claimed that he lost some of the hearing.
One of his ears, supposedly Keith Moon lost a lot of hearing in his ears. Uh, supposedly the networks were furious and [00:22:00] wanted to shut everybody down. Um, but just more of the, uh, you know, slap happy kind of crazy fun. Uh, you know, you would find watching the Smothers Brothers comedy hour, which ran from 1916 to seven, uh, 1969, uh, after which CBS, uh, famously yanked the show from the air after they ran a follow of the network for their political critique, defense of civil rights and their opposition to the Vietnam war.
And they were very outspoken about their opposition to the Vietnam war. Um, and, uh, Uh, you know, for those of us who are very young and impressionable and just, you know, kind of figuring out the ways of the world, uh, you know, it was somewhat influential to see something like that on national network television, because otherwise the, the diet that was all being fed rather steadily in the news and.
You know, and all the political commentary was that, you know, although we're always said to be at war, this was not necessary to prevent the domino effect of communism in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world and blah, blah, blah. That other crap that we now know they [00:23:00] fed, which was crap, uh, to get American youths over there so that 50, 000 of them, uh, could be killed.
Uh, fighting a war that the government was never able to quite explain, uh, the purpose of or what they were really hoping to achieve. Um, you know, it's wonderful. I think that nowadays, uh, Americans can travel through Vietnam. Uh, there's a positive relationship between the countries. And it's, you know, really incredible to see what can happen when a country like the United States, instead of using bombs and war decides to go in and become an economic partner of a country like Vietnam, um, you know, and, and kind of work with them that way.
And again, I think it just puts a. An emphasis on, uh, just how tragic the loss of, of life's and the damage done to so many, uh, young Americans, uh, who, who were called to fight in that war. And I'm going to get away from that, but I felt that was necessary to say in the, in the spirit of Tommy Smothers and, and his, uh, show with his brother and all the good things that they did.
[00:24:00] Um, yeah. And, uh, sorry to see him go as well. Uh, just another talented person, another talented musician and someone who really added so much, uh, not just to the musical side, but to the political side of the coming of age of, uh, politics in America, where, where the questioning of authority really began in earnest, um, you know, and continues forward to this day.
So Tommy will be missed and, uh. Uh, we are really sorry to see you go and our condolences also to Dick and to all of the other, uh, uh, family members and, uh, friends and coworkers and everybody who had an opportunity to, uh, work with Tommy and Dick and the Smothers brothers, uh, when performing, um, So with that, let's roll back into our concert for a minute here, and we're going to dip into set one, the very first set for two songs that they did with Joan Baez, kind [00:25:00] of because, you know, every song, every song by the Grateful Dead in this show are songs that we've featured at one point or another.
There's a few that we're going to pull out still. Um, but you know, we'd like to feature when they were playing with Stephen Stills and other famous musicians and, you know, they venture off into other tunes. And this is a cover of a cover that we're going to play you here with, uh, the dead and joined by as playing the boxer,
the boxer, as many of you may know, is the song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo, Simon and Garfunkel from their fifth studio [00:26:00] album. Bridge Over Troubled Water, uh, from 1970, produced by the duo and Roy Haley. It was released as a standalone single on March 21st, 1969, but included on the album nine months later.
At the time, songs that had been released this far ahead were very rarely included on the next studio album. The song is a folk rock ballad that variously takes the form of a first person lament as well as a third person sketch of a boxer. The lyrics are largely autobiographical and partially inspired by the Bible and were written during a time when Simon felt he was being unfairly criticized.
The song's lyrics discuss poverty and loneliness. It is particularly known for its plaintive refrain in which they sing la la la accompanied by a heavily reverberated snare drum. The boxer was the followup to one of the duo's most successful singles, Mrs. Robinson. It peaked at number seven on the billboard hot 100.
It performed well internationally charting within the top 109 countries, peaking highest in the [00:27:00] Netherlands, Austria, South Africa, and Canada. Rolling Stone ranked the song number 106 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Cover versions of the song have been recorded by numerous artists, including Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Demi Lue Harris, The Samples, Leonardo E.
Leonardo, Paula Fernandez, Tommy Fleming, Heller Highwater, The Celtic Tenors, Bruce Hornsby, Cake, Joanne Jarvala. Waylon Jennings and others. Joan Baez has also made the song a staple of her live concert performances from the late 1970s to the present. This is the only time that the dead, uh, ever played this song.
So it's, um, uh, fun to hear it, uh, a really, really interesting tune. Um, and then a couple of songs later, um, actually, uh, just a few songs later, uh, while they're still out there with Joan Baez, uh, they pull this tune out, which I. Love and think is [00:28:00] also fun.
Bye bye. Love is a popular song written by Felice and Baudelaire Bryant and published in 1957. It is best known in a debut recording by the Everly brothers issued by cadence records as catalog number 1315. The song reached number two on the U S billboard pop charts and number one on the cashback bestselling record charts.
The Everly brothers version also enjoyed major success as a country song reaching number one in the spring of 1957. The Everly's Bye Bye Love is ranked 210th on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. George Harrison reinterpreted it for his 1974 album Dark Horse, changing the words to reference his wife Patty Boyd, leaving him for his friend [00:29:00] Eric Clapton.
Bye Bye Love has also been covered by Simon and Garfunkel. Uh, so again, we have a, uh, cover of a cover of a cover, it looks like. Um, interestingly, The Dead first played the song on December 12th, 1981, so just a few weeks earlier, at, uh, Fiesta Hall in San Mateo, California. This show is the second and last time, uh, that The Dead ever played this tune.
You know, really just so much fun to hear that the way, uh, uh, that they slipped into tunes here with Joan Baez. And, you know, just to kind of quickly walk you through the concert. So you have a really have a better idea of what we were dealing with here on that night for the folks who were there. Um, so the first set was with, was with Joan Baez and they opened with me and Bobby McGee, which was in fact, uh, the last time it's ever played by the Grateful Dead sad because.
Bobby Weir loved it and played it so much, especially in the early seventies. And what a great tune. I would have always loved to have heard him play that. Uh, so they played me and [00:30:00] Mobby McGee into, uh, Bye Bye Love, and, uh, then into The Boxer, Lucifer's Eyes, Children of the 80s, and Banks of Ohio. All fun tunes, uh, and that tunes you would typically hear at a Grateful Dead show.
But of course, by this time, don't forget, Uh, they were already already following, uh, the, the, the viewing of the Blues Brothers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, uh, excuse me, Animal House, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Blues Brothers, uh, and then this set with, um, Joan Baez. But, you know, really just what an interesting way to start.
And, you know, uh, Joan was a Kind of a folk rock legend and nice for the dead to include her in one of their New Year's shows and make sure that all of their fans either got exposed or re exposed to Joan, uh, who really helped carry the torch in the mid 60s with the anti war movement and, um, the protest songs and, [00:31:00] and all sorts of stuff like that.
Uh, they then slide over after a break into set two, which for you and I would seem like a normal, More or less a normal first set 10 songs. So although kind of common for 1981, not nearly as common by the time I started seeing him in 82 and certainly not the norm as we got into the late eighties and nineties, when it was not uncommon to see the dead putting out a seven song first set, sometimes even a six song first set and every now and then reaching out for that eighth song.
And we'd all get really excited, but shakedown street. And then a fairly standard stuff. Me and my uncle makes the Cali cold. And it's no CC writer must've been the roses beaded on down the line. Big boss, man, new mingle with blues and don't ease me in very solid. If unspectacular song selection, but very well played.
Uh, and I've listened to this show a bunch of times and recommended as great listening, uh, uh, for any new year's Eve, uh, set three, which is the midnight set, right when they come out and do the, uh. Countdown and all the, the chaos and balloon [00:32:00] popping that goes along with it, uh, with Ico and then into a really, really strong playing in the band, uh, Terrapin Station, uh, play and play and reprise.
So you get that Terrapin Station sandwich with a plane in the band, uh, just a long, long, long stretch of. Wonderfully played music, some great lyrics from some great tunes. And then the play pry, uh, which I've said in the past, I'll take, uh, you know, with or over a tweet pry any day of the week. Uh, when the boys come rushing back in like a wave upon the sand and, uh, and really get that mood going into their drums and, uh, space as it were coming out with a strong version of the other one.
Into that, one of their favorites, not fade away into going down the road, feeling bad, uh, not slipping back into not fade away, but rather segwaying off into a really, really strong morning do. And by the time they get done with this morning, do it's got to be close to two o'clock in the morning out there because this set started at midnight.
Uh, and Jerry still manages to really give a strong [00:33:00] showing. Both in voice and in, uh, uh, his guitar playing and, uh, really, you know, just really makes it, uh, special for everyone, uh, by, by how good he is. Um, and then we get into the encore set and, uh, we're going to get into the encore set in one minute and we'll talk about it.
And we've got a little music still to go from there. Um, but there are one or two other things that I want to talk about today. And one of them, uh, is certainly on the marijuana side. So as we slide into that. Uh, I will wait for my producer to drop yet another, uh, offbeat reference that he finds in American popular culture, uh, with respect to marijuana.
What do you got for us, Dan?
It was YouTube, um, New Year's Day. You too. New Year's Day. Excellent.[00:34:00]
So even a guy like me knows you too when I hear it. New Year's Day. A nod out to the fact that we are sitting here on January 1st today, Dan demonstrating that unlike the Grateful Dead, he is spatially aware of the events that are going on around him at any one time. And that's always nice to see.
Unfortunately, the story that we're about to talk about is not so nice to see, uh, and it's very disturbing on a number of different levels, um, and it all kind of started off in the last few days, or I guess, uh, maybe just about a week ago, uh, with reports regarding the death of Korean actor, you know, Lee Sun kyun, um, American audiences know Lee Sun kyun as one of the lead actors in the movie Parasite, which was so popular here just a couple of years ago [00:35:00] and wound up winning a boatload of Academy Awards and, uh, really making a name for Korean theater and the Korean actors and directors and writers and everyone who brought that film to life for us.
Uh, and Lee Sun kyun, uh, really rose to a lot of popularity, um, in South Korea and in many parts of the world because of his strong acting abilities, um, his very likable personality, um, and, uh, there's a word for it in Korean, and unfortunately I don't know it, but it describes someone who's well known, but Doesn't live their life as though they're someone well known as a lot more, um, respectful and, uh, just more self aware.
Uh, and he certainly seemed to fit that bill. So, you know, really not a whole lot anyone could say negative about him. And yet Lee became the [00:36:00] subject. Of a brutal and relentless campaign by the South Korean media, who had determined, uh, that Lee was a regular user of drugs, uh, drugs in this case, being primarily marijuana, but, you know, I won't lie.
There were other, uh, tranquilizer type drugs and opiates. And, uh, the reports that, you know, even cocaine may have been involved, but primarily we're talking about marijuana and, um, the recent accusations against him and other high profile Korean entertainers, and I'm getting this, uh, thank you very much from the New York Times, uh, have highlighted the continuation of a strict anti drug policy and attitudes of South Korea that have drawn a hard line against anything other than total abstinence.
from drug abuse. Some officials hail the toughness is critical, uh, to keeping drug use under control. Policies have also come under criticism from treatment experts who say that authorities focus [00:37:00] too much on punishment rather than on rehabilitation. When you look at the data and you look at the harsh penalties that have been in place for decades now, they haven't worked, said Gloria Ley.
A regional director for the international drug policy consortium, an organization that promotes evident based drug policies around the world and the cost on people's lives is huge since Mr. Lee's death, the police in Incheon, a city West of Seoul, who had questioned him on suspicions of Marijuana use, uh, and ketamine have been criticized for their treatment of Mr.
Lee during the investigation, saying it was disproportionate to the severity of the allegations against him. The result, of course, as we all learned and heard, is that Mr. Lee committed suicide. Uh, and this is just, you know, tragic beyond tragic. Um, No one should ever be ostracized, uh, by the officials of a country or a state or the media to the point where they feel they have no option or choice left other than to kill themselves.
None of us can really imagine what life as a [00:38:00] international movie star must be, be like, and it would seem hard, if not inconceivable for us to imagine somebody who broke, had broken through and was successful in that role to find a point in life where they felt they had no other option. Other than to end it, but apparently, uh, due to the, the, the, uh, nature of, uh, honorable reputations and in Asian countries and in Korea, um, as well as the, uh, very, very strict anti no tolerance views of many Asian governments and, uh, Places like Singapore and other countries have long been, uh, red flagged for people as destinations where trying to bring drugs in or out of the country could result in very serious penalties, including the death penalty.
And there have been instances of, uh, Singapore and other Asian governments, uh, detaining foreigners for Drug related offenses and executing them or subjecting them to very long prison terms in, uh, not very, uh, [00:39:00] pleasant circumstances or conditions. And so, you know, look, it's not for, for me or for you or, uh, any of us here in the United States to tell the government of South Korea how they should run their country.
And if, if that's the way they want to do it, that's fine. Uh, you know, as we've talked about numerous times on the shows that they rely on many of the old, uh, negative tropes about marijuana that have been passed around forever by people, uh, Korea is a country that is very well known for its drinking beer and, and other drinks that are consumed in large quantities, uh, at business gatherings and social affairs.
So this is not a, uh, uh, a prohibitionist country per se, um. You know, we're not talking about tea sippers here. We're talking about people who, you know, enjoy their liquor and like going out and, you know, getting lit up and, and, and celebrating and having fun and great. You know, every country should have that.
Citizens should have that right. But again, why are we talking about citizens having one right? Not the other. Why are we talking about a country that's supposed to be so [00:40:00] strict about potential abuse for substance, welcoming and mythologizing substance like alcohol, which we know is bad for the person, bad for society, bad for just about everything, as opposed to marijuana, which we've seen produces very positive results in very positive circumstances, not just for the individuals that consume it, but for the communities in which those individuals reside.
Um, yeah. And, uh, so, so this is, it's a personal tragedy and, you know, in that respect, I feel very comfortable being critical of the policies, uh, because they have resulted in the loss of life and again, there should never be laws of this nature, which results in someone, uh, who, who enjoys and, uh, uses cannabis as we know in the United States now, at least those of us who have it.
Take the time and effort to to actually look into it and learn about it. Uh, not only is cannabis safe, but it has a large number of well known medical uses, whether it be topical, whether it be ingested either through smoking or vaping or [00:41:00] Or through, uh, Rick Simpson oil or through edibles or however it might be.
It helps with nausea. It helps with anxiety. It helps, uh, people who are, uh, alcoholic and looking for a way to break free of the grip of alcohol. It looks, it's works for people who are looking to break free from the grip of opioid addiction. Uh, it works for people, uh, with all sorts of, of mental and physical ailments and, uh, and issues.
And, um. It's been known as all of this, uh, for so long that. The fact that people out there still believe, or still make it a matter of national policy to suggest that marijuana be so dangerous, or considered to be so dangerous, or so bad for society, that it's a very strict no use drug, and such that a famous actor would feel such a level of shame and embarrassment [00:42:00] over being exposed for having used the drug, That it would lead him or her or anyone else in that situation, uh, to commit suicide.
And I think that any community needs to look at itself and, you know, take a very strong look at whether this type of stigma, stigmatization is appropriate. Or what we really want to do. And then even in this country, because yeah, we have legal marijuana, but we've talked all about the efforts to do things on a federal basis and to get banking services and to do other things, and even just to, to reschedule, which is barely doing nothing, taking it from schedule one to schedule three.
And last week we talked about all the bullshit arguments from all of the former attorney generals. Uh, you know, who can't stop lying to us years after they're out of office. about the true benefits of marijuana instead peddling their tired old claptrap about how it's so bad for society and our good columnist, uh, um, Ross Dothat from the New York Times, uh, and his brilliant [00:43:00] suggestion.
Nope, it's all been a total failure. We just need to make it illegal again. So we can go around and continue to ostracize people for using something that's demonstrably safer than alcohol than the caffeine levels. We get out of, uh, drinking coffee or the nicotine levels we get out of smoking cigarettes or any of the other substances that go on our body.
When we take opioids or psychotropic drugs or any of that, uh, we talked about the Republican senators who demanded. Demanded that before, uh, the department of health, uh, and health and human services reschedule, uh, and the DEA, the drug enforcement agency reschedule marijuana, that they must be consulted on this because this is a serious matter.
Uh, especially that they think that there's more evidence and proves how dangerous it is. And of course, uh, the very real concerns where we should all just really be concerned that one of our lovely senators from the Midwest decided that. She just didn't like the smell. And isn't that enough to make something illegal?
You know, when you deal with that type of mindset, [00:44:00] these are the results that you can wind up with. And I think that, you know, as society as a whole, it's something that we need to take a look at. Why was such a successful, happy actor who brought. Uh, uh, you know, entertainment to so many people around the world find himself in a position that merely because it was going to be disclosed that he used marijuana and yes, apparently ketamine, uh, that he lives in a society where the shame that would be heaped upon him would be of such a nature and such a degree that he would have no choice but to kill himself.
Um, it's all very unfortunate. I think that, you know, we here in the United States should learn a lesson, uh, from this unfortunate incident. And we need to be very, very careful about the criticisms we choose to launch on people who make personal decisions based on what they would prefer to do to help relax or for enjoyment or for recreational purposes, or even for health and medical benefits, which our friend Raphael [00:45:00] Mishulam a long time ago, 60 years ago in Israel, um, Uh, was able to tell us about it and yet here we are today with all these politicians and, and, uh, uh, attorney generals and attorneys general, excuse me, and, um, uh, Congress people who don't know anything still shouting out the same canard that, oh, it's dangerous.
It's bad. It's this, it's that, uh, it's disrespectful. We're not going to, uh, uh, allow it on any level. Uh, yeah. South Koreans, it's so bad that they can even be prosecuted upon returning home for using drugs outside the country. Once convicted of using illicit drugs, a person can be required to complete a mandatory education program run by the justice ministry or be imprisoned.
Prison sentences can range from six months to four years, depending on the type of drug for trafficking. The sentences can be up to 14. Years or longer. This is exactly the wrong approach. Drug treatment experts say because it's too narrowly focused [00:46:00] on punishment. The mandatory education program, the defenders take is not individually is not individualized individualized enough.
To each person's needs and does not provide a sustainable plan to overcome addiction. While the government has called for more rehab clinics for drug users, they remain far fewer than those for alcoholics. Um, and so, you know, again, I'm not Korean. I'm sure that nobody in Korea is particularly interested in what Larry Mishkin has to say about any of this and that's fine.
They don't have to be. Um, But we can all just take a stop, stop for a moment and take a look and admit that a strict authoritarianism approach to things like marijuana is never going to work. And it's something that we need to be particularly careful about and thoughtful about as we move forward into this new era of marijuana, whereas a society.
We're beginning to become open to it and welcoming it into our communities and into our lives. We as the people who use [00:47:00] and promote marijuana use also have to be careful that it's not used in a way, uh, that causes problems, whether damage or a physical injury or disrepute or, uh, you know, any actions that make the people in the communities in which we live and where we like to partake of marijuana feel uncomfortable.
And as long as both sides work reasonably and communicate with one another. There's no reason for this not to be able to, uh, continue on, uh, without the blessings of, you know, whatever us senators feel it's, it's their God given right to be the final arbiters on something, uh, that they know so little about.
And it's actually, um. I think somewhat degrading when they try to make these assumptions and their paternalistic attitudes when they really know nothing about marijuana and this would apply to a South Korean government and any government out there that thinks it knows what it's doing and thinks that the keys to its success is banning the [00:48:00] illicit drug use of, of marijuana while openly encouraging the very heavily consumption of, uh, of alcohol.
So, uh, that's my soapbox for New Year's Day. And, you know, my hope, uh, certainly as far as the marijuana industry is concerned that going forward into 2024, uh, not only will we see programs begin to run more smoothly, uh, and successfully as more states open up and get more Programs online of it, but also hopefully we will see a greater acceptance and awareness and understanding a normalization of marijuana use.
So, the people who use marijuana don't have to walk around stigmatized or the beliefs that they're being stigmatized or worry about how to fill out a form for a new job or worry about what are they going to do if somebody comes around and says, we need a sample of your urine. Right. It's just not it's not the way that our society should be run.
It's not the way that any society, in my opinion, should be run. Uh, and although people are free to disagree, nobody's going to be able to give me any scientific based reason or [00:49:00] policy based reason like I can give you. So, um, you know, I'm here. People can reach me when I make mistakes. So you can reach me if you, if you want to disagree with me and argue about any of that, I'm, I'm happy to have the conversations.
Um, but in the meantime, uh, you know, let's go marijuana and let's make sure that we can, uh, we can get this out there and that we don't have to suffer further tragedies like that of a lease on Q and his family again, to whom we would send our deepest condolences and prayers for their loss and hope that they can face the new year, uh, and move forward without their.
Um, before we dive back into the music, there's one other thing that I want to throw out to the timing of everything is such that, uh, today is New Year's Day, January 1st, Monday, and I am taping this show, uh, the Friday before, uh, On December 29th, which is what we do to give Dan time, uh, and his son, Jamie, to sit down and edit the shows [00:50:00] and, uh, put them, uh, from whatever garbage we deliver them into something that's done somewhat professional and good for our viewers to listen to.
Um, and so that's why sometimes, even though we're, we're, we're talking to you on a Monday, um, I can't tell you what songs the band played the night before in concert or Saturday night because we've already taped the show. So even though we know that on Monday. We will be talking about those shows. We don't know what happens, but this, this happens in other live events too, including the world of sports.
And it's not uncommon, especially in the world of college football for all the games that we played on Saturdays, sometimes during the week, but Saturday is a big day and this show has nothing to do with sports and it has nothing to do with college football, but you'll all forgive me for today having everything to do with the Michigan Wolverines.
They are my team. That is my school, a proud alum for a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Back when a man named Bo Schembeckler ruled the landscape in Ann Arbor and was hailed for being the epitome of the Michigan man, even though, uh, later post, uh, post death, [00:51:00] uh, he ran into some image problems too, including Hansi doctors, uh, who worked with, uh, Michigan athletes, which is unfortunate, um, but it doesn't, Erase the memories and, uh, all the proud moments that we always had, uh, watching Michigan.
And then, of course, Michigan went deep dark into the valley, uh, from about 2007, uh, through the pandemic year of 2020. And even with the return of prodigal son, Jim Harbaugh, uh, to be the head coach. Uh, and with Jim racking up a lot of wins, he could never get past Ohio state. He could never win a bowl game, but lo and behold, the last three years, including this season, uh, the Wolverines have, uh, like the Phoenix, if you will, risen from the ashes of college football, don't mean to get so melodramatic about it, but it is Michigan after all, and winning games at a wonderful rate, uh, winning the big 10 title three years in a row, beating Ohio state three years in a row, but the last losing the last two years.
In the semifinals of the college football playoffs and this afternoon, um, or right now, or 10 minutes [00:52:00] ago, depending on what time of day on Monday, you actually listen to this, but at, uh, I think three or four o'clock central time, uh, the Wolverines in the first round will be facing off against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl, a traditional venue for the big 10 champ to play in.
This will be Michigan's first trip to the Rose Bowl in a very long time, probably close to 20 years, which is almost unheard of in Ann Arbor. Um, and, uh, now it's in the scope of the, uh, playoffs, which is great. So, uh, if you're listening to this before the game, then great. Bear along with me. If the game has already been played and you don't want to listen to this, just skip ahead three minutes and you'll miss all of it, but everybody asks me who I think is going to win.
And here's the truth. I have no freaking idea and nobody who really follows football does either because Alabama is just a tremendous, tremendous team. And even though they lost the game this year and for them to lose one game, it's like for most teams, you know, to finish under 500 and have to, you know, limp home from the stadium because Alabama just doesn't lose, but Texas took care of them pretty good this year in Tuscaloosa, um, which [00:53:00] is one of the reasons why people were very surprised to see Alabama get in and head of it in ahead of an undefeated.
Uh, Florida state team, but nevertheless, here they are. And this is who the Wolverines have to play. So it's easy for me to make arguments about Alabama kind of coming out and just kind of crushing Michigan, because I imagine that that's what a lot of people expect and nobody's really taken Michigan success all that seriously.
Maybe fairly not because they haven't won in the playoffs and without a win in the playoffs, all of your victories up to that point don't mean much unless you live in Columbus, Ohio, in which case you're still pulling your hair out of. Too bad. That's what I had to do for 15 out of 16 years previously.
So I don't care if you have to do it three years in a row, man up and deal with it. Um, so, you know, I, I can give you a ton of football reasons why Michigan can win, why Alabama could win a lot of all sorts of other reasons, but damn it, this is a deadhead cannabis show. Is it not? So we're going to go to a special secret formula that I've developed just a few minutes ago.
Where I'm going to pick the winner of this year's Michigan, Alabama game. And it comes down to a certain number set of criteria. The first [00:54:00] criteria is very simple. It should be obvious to anyone who loves the Grateful Dead. What is the total number of shows that the Grateful Dead played in each state?
Well, we start with Alabama and they played, uh, let me check, do my math again. Yes, that would be. So all of the figures on one hand, that's the number of times they played in Alabama. And, you know, look, fair enough, they went there five times. They get credit for that. Fish has gone to Alabama a lot more. Um, but you know, uh, there's Deadheads everywhere.
There's Deadheads in Alabama. And, um, you know, but Alabama's had its issues too. And may not have always been as welcoming to a band like the Grateful Dead. Um And, uh, it's, it's Legion of Deadheads and their individual preferences for what they like to do during concerts. So that's a fiver for Alabama.
And then we look at Michigan, and Michigan has actually hosted 32. Grateful Dead shows. So that's about six times more, almost six and a half times more Grateful Dead shows played in Michigan. So if we are going to trust the vibes of Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, we are now [00:55:00] leaning heavily, heavily, heavily in the direction of Michigan.
But now let's break this down and let's look at the other side of the equation and part of this overall analysis, which I feel is really important here. And that is which state has more. Dispensaries, right? I mean, what, what, what good is a state if you can't find your favorite product and be able to enjoy it, whether during a football game or in the evening or for a party or whatever it is that you like to sit down and imbibe with your favorite type of cannabis.
Um, and so I look at this and I say, well, as of November of 23, the state of Michigan has 660 operating or licensed products. adult use dispensaries. 660. Okay. You know, state of Michigan, that size, that sounds like a fairly decent number. A couple of major university campuses. So that seems right. Alabama of course has a lot of campuses to Alabama, Auburn, um, a whole bunch of them.
And when we look at their number, [00:56:00] that would be, uh, zero. So that's 660 to zero. on the adult use dispensary side in favor of Michigan, but both states do have a medical program. So let's take a look at that. And on the Michigan side, the number immediately gets cut in half and drops down to just below 330, a little bit more than 300 medical dispensary.
So by God, look at Alabama's hurdle there. It's just been cut in half and Alabama, ladies and gentlemen has a total of. Four medical dispensaries in the state. And let's even be clearer about that. It's only four licenses that have been awarded. And let's be even clearer about that. The licenses are not yet operating.
And based on a new order entered by the court late last week, It may still be a while an order was entered blocking the licenses from being issued to the Final four declared licensed winners. Uh, again, there's issues regarding how the Secretary of State, not the secretary of State, but their, the, the state through their [00:57:00] designated program selected the winning companies.
And yes, look, that's no different than, uh, what happened in Illinois, but we've already gone through that in Illinois, and even though we haven't had a whole lot of new ones online yet. We sure as hell have more than zero adult use and four medical dispensaries, but Michigan blows them away. So we look at all of this and Michigan wins on the number of dead shows.
32 to five wins on the combined dispensary side, uh, basically 1000 to four with an asterisk because the four aren't open yet now. Many of you who aren't from Chicago or who are too young have probably never heard of the greatest newspaper journalist of all time, and that would be Mike Royko. Mike Royko wrote for the Chicago Daily News, then he wrote for the Chicago Sun Times, uh, and then he ultimately wrote and finished up his career, uh, with the Chicago Tribune.
Mike was kind of a curmudgeonly guy. But he was the guy, you know, who would write about, uh, and call out the mayor of Chicago for pretending like every new pothole needed, uh, you know, a, uh, 1, 000 payment to the mayor's brother, [00:58:00] and this is how the city works, and, you know, all of that kind of stuff, and, and he called people out for who they were, and if you've never heard of Mike Royko, R O Y K O, Do yourself a favor, there's, there's books out there that are compilations of some of his best columns.
They are timeless. They are hysterical. They are dead on in terms of his, his take on American society and American politics. Um, and it's not even so much a Democrat versus Republican. It's, it's kind of an attitude that I think anyone should be able to appreciate. Right. The government works for us. Don't be corrupt and just help the people out instead of going out of your way to screw them just for a few extra bucks in your pocket, but Mike Royko was.
Infamous for being a fan of the Chicago Cubs, because of course, uh, the Cubs sucked and did for most of Roy Coe's lifetime. And, uh, certainly all of his career writing with, uh, all of the various newspapers, uh, and, and being associated with all these Chicago, uh, media outlets. [00:59:00] So Mike Roy Coe, uh, every year when the world series would start, since he couldn't write anything about the Cubs being in the world series, would drop a column that we would all wait to see.
Because especially those of us who are not Cubs fans, we give us a great. Insight into what was going to happen, uh, in the upcoming world series. And Mike Roy could have acted, invented something called the X cub factor. And what the X cub factor said was, which ever team playing in the world series had fewer X cubs.
Was going to win the series. And, you know, I have to tell you, he had quite a run for a while with this, where in fact, the X cub factor held up for a number of years. Uh, I didn't take the time to do all the research to find out, uh, what years it finally didn't, uh, because it certainly wasn't foolproof. And then of course the cubs themselves won the world series, which kind of defeated the whole purpose of the X cub factor, but this is, this is what I likened to, to my, my system here, which I.
Haven't quite given a name to yet, but, uh, maybe the Deadhead Cannabis [01:00:00] System or something. We'll see if it holds up and, and we come up with a clever name. So under my system, I see Michigan beating Alabama later today in the Rose Bowl. Uh, by this time next week, folks, when we meet again, uh, we'll all know if I'm right, or if I jinxed my team into purgatory, in which case all my Michigan buddies will be mad at me for not just keeping my mouth shut, but I figure, you know, you got to take advantage of a show like this and use it for what it's worth, and these numbers are just too.
Two widespread apart to not jump all over them. And if I was a betting man, my money would be going down heavily on Michigan because of that, but I'm not a betting man, but if you are, feel free to go right ahead and cite me if you win and forget about me if you lose. Um, so that's that let's just swing back really quickly here because we are, are running out of time.
And, um, uh, What we're going to do today, um, is dive into, uh, uh, one final tune here from the band. And, uh, this is, I think, a throwback and, you know, [01:01:00] uh, they've been playing all of these fun songs, some of the Joan Baez songs, some pretty traditional Grateful Dead songs for the time. But damn it, it is the Grateful Dead.
It is New Year's Eve. There has to be a surprise or two up their sleeve. And as we enter into the fourth set of the night, the encore set, as I would call it, just as everybody's getting settled into their seats. Uh, the boys came out and dropped this,
Dark Star. We all know it. We all love it. If you're a true Deadhead, uh, it's something that you kind of Jones for because once the boys hit a Dark Star, they really take off, whether it's a 15 minute one like this one or a 30 minute one or a 45 minute one, like the one in Paris in 1972, You can just let yourself get lost in a dark star.
Dark star is by definition a type two jam. It's just a jam that's, that's more about the jam than the song itself. Um, even more so than a song [01:02:00] like you enjoy myself, which from fish, right? Which is just pretty much all musical. Uh, but, but that song has more of a structure dark star, you know, other than right around the, the, when they sing the two verses of the song, uh, doesn't even sound the same version diversion.
And so, um, It's just great, uh, uh, really listening to it. And what's particularly cool about this one and what made it special for this night in 1981 is that this is the first dark star in over 232 shows since January 20th, 1979 at Shea's theater in. Buffalo, New York. Thank you, Dan Humiston, home of his favorite Buffalo Bills.
Um, and after this performance, uh, the dead would not play the song again until July 13th, 1984 at the Greek theater in Berkeley, California. Uh, like I said, this is a great one. It opens the encore set of the show. The folks are a bit tired looking for the energy for the third set of really the fourth set, if you count Joe.
Bias in the fifth set. If you count new writers in the purple sage [01:03:00] and that's after they saw animal house, but the boys throw down a great dark star, perfect for New Year's Eve. After a lengthy absence in the crowd, really loves it. Jerry is very strong in the lyrics, a nice segue into Bertha, then into good loving and then into the final show, the song it's all over now, baby blue that we're going to go into in one minute here on our way out the door.
But this is really, really a good dark star. And if you have the time to go back to listen to this show, uh, in addition to really jamming on the, uh, on the Joan Baez sets, I would make a point of listening to this dark star. Uh, what a great thing on New Year's Eve, you know, on New Year's Eve, that's probably the night that so many people are dosed and out there in the audience, having fun and really looking for something like a great dark.
Start a latch on to for a little while and really get lost in all of it. And then imagine you come rushing out of that into a great Bertha, a really strong, good loving. And, uh, you know, by this point, you know, it's like three or four in the morning, you know, you don't even know what the hell is going on anymore.
You forgot what day it is. You don't care. All you know, is that you're, you know, [01:04:00] with 10, of your best friends, uh, listening to the greatest music ever played in the world. And, uh, It can never end, but when it does, and it always has to, unfortunately, uh, it's all over now. Baby blue is a pretty nice way to go.
It's a song written and performed by Bob Dylan featured on his bringing it all back home album released on March 22nd, 1965 by Columbia records. The song was recorded on January 15th, 1965 with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass guitar, the only instrumentation. The lyrics were heavily influenced by symbolist poetry and bid farewell to the titular Baby Blue.
There's been much speculation about the real identity of Baby Blue with possibilities, including Joan Baez, boy, she's getting around all night. Uh, David Blue, Paul Clayton, uh, Dylan's folk music audience, and even Dylan himself. Dylan most likely wrote it's all over now, baby blue in January 65. The master take of the song was [01:05:00] recorded on January 15th.
Again, during the sessions for the bringing it all back home album and was produced by Tom Williams. Uh, the track was recorded on the same day that Dylan recorded three other songs on side two of his album. Uh, the songs being Mr. Tambourine Man, Gates of Eden, and It's All Right, Ma, I'm Only Bleeding. Uh, Dylan had been playing those songs live for some time, allowing them to evolve into something, uh, before recording the album.
For It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, however, Dylan wanted to record this song before he became too familiar with it. Uh, there were at least two studio recordings prior to the one that was released on the album. Dylan recorded a solo acoustic version on January 13th, 1965, and a semi electric version on January 14th.
Uh, now The Dead, uh, did play this song about 148 times. Almost always as an encore, uh, there were some late sixties, early seventies shows that featured it as part of one of being played in one of the main sets, but, uh, certainly by the even early to mid seventies, uh, if there [01:06:00] was going to be an it's all over now, baby blue, you were most likely to hear it as an encore as it's played here.
The very first show I ever went to, uh, that was the encore that they played. And, uh, loved it then as well. Um, it's a fan favorite to close out a show. It's perfect for setting the mood for after the lights go on after New Year's show, you're walking around looking for your shoes, your stuff, your jacket, you're meeting up with your crowd of folks somewhere you're looking to head towards the doors, uh, and, you know, get ready for your promised breakfast at dawn, uh, usually a bagel with some cream cheese and a small container of OJ.
But after a long show like this one, it seemed like a whole meal. Uh, and we'd all come tumbling out. Side note, when it was at the San Francisco Civic Center, uh, up through, I think, 1984, well, not, not through because this one wasn't, but when I saw it in 84. You were in the middle of downtown San Francisco and how cool was that?
It was a little bit different when you're out at the Oakland auditorium. Coliseum, uh, you know, it's [01:07:00] shares a big, huge parking lot with the baseball stadium and, uh, the highway runs right by it. So, I mean, literally right up against it. So you're not really anywhere where you can walk to or anything like that, but we all would just kind of stumble out and through the parking lot looking for.
For our cars, nobody wanting to be the first one to leave. And, you know, finding ourselves hanging out there until inevitably security would come along and say, Hey man, you know, happy new year to you, but you got to get out of here. And we'd all drive off from Mount Tam for sunrise or, uh, down to one of the beaches or back to somebody's house for a more late night partying and more great music, but, uh, nothing like a grateful dead New Year's Eve show.
Um, and, uh, just a wonderful thing to see and to be a part of. I hope everyone had a great and wonderful. Celebration last night. I hope you all have a very happy and healthy 2024. As we march on into the new year here. Thank you as always for listening to the deadhead cannabis show. We all appreciate you very much and can't tell you how much we enjoy doing this show and how important it [01:08:00] is for us to be able to have it as an outlet for all things grateful dead slash jam band as well as marijuana related.
Um, so with that, I will say goodbye to you for the week. We'll be back next week. We're getting new guests lined up. Uh, we're very excited, uh, EMGO Blue, don't let me down boys. We need a big win, uh, be safe, have fun and enjoy your cannabis responsibly. Thank you everyone.