Remembering Bill Walton: Basketball Star and Grateful Dead Superfan In this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, Larry Mishkin covers various topics, including a historic Grateful Dead show, personal concert experiences, and music news. Larry starts with a deep dive into the Grateful Dead's June 3, 1976, concert at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. This show marked the band's return after a year-long hiatus, featuring five new songs and a revived tune from a four-year break. He highlights the opening track, written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, which nostalgically reflects on the band's Festival Express tour, a legendary 1970 train journey across Canada with prominent rock bands.
Remembering Bill Walton: Basketball Star and Grateful Dead Superfan
In this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, Larry Mishkin covers various topics, including a historic Grateful Dead show, personal concert experiences, and music news. Larry starts with a deep dive into the Grateful Dead's June 3, 1976, concert at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. This show marked the band's return after a year-long hiatus, featuring five new songs and a revived tune from a four-year break. He highlights the opening track, written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, which nostalgically reflects on the band's Festival Express tour, a legendary 1970 train journey across Canada with prominent rock bands.
Larry then discusses the song "Lazy Lightning," introduced at the same 1976 concert. Written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow, it became a fan favorite for its melody and message of living in the moment, though it was retired from the Grateful Dead's repertoire by 1984. He transitions into music news by honoring Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly, who recently passed away. Larry reminisces about the band's iconic 1968 track "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" and its influence on the late 60s music scene.
The podcast also pays tribute to Bill Walton, the legendary basketball player and devoted Deadhead who passed away at 71.
Larry shares stories of Walton's deep connection with the Grateful Dead, including his record of attending 869 concerts, significantly more than his total basketball games played. Larry recounts Walton's influence on fellow athletes and his unique presence at Dead shows.
Finally, Larry describes his recent experience at a Dead & Company concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas. He marvels at the venue's immersive visual technology, which enhanced the concert experience, likening it to a planetarium. Despite the advanced visuals sometimes overshadowing the music, Larry enjoyed the performance and the unique atmosphere. He also mentions a mini-exhibition featuring Dave Lemieux's tape collection and the significance of tape trading in Grateful Dead fandom.
In summary, this episode covers a blend of Grateful Dead history, personal concert experiences, tributes to influential music figures, and the latest in concert technology, providing a rich narrative for Deadheads and music enthusiasts alike.
Grateful Dead
June 3, 1976 (48 Years Ago)
Paramount Theater
Portland, OR
Grateful Dead Live at Paramount Theatre on 1976-06-03 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive
First show back after 1975 year off
Prior show: Sept. 28, 1975 – last of the four shows in 1975, this show is 9 months later. Long wait for Deadheads.
Dead did not disappoint with five new songs and a breakout after a 4 year hiatus.
INTRO: Might As Well
Track #1
1:15 – 2:50
“Take that ride again”
Might as Well” is a song written by Jerry Garcia with lyrics penned by Robert Hunter. Released on Garcia’s 3d solo album, Reflections, in February, 1976. It’s one of the tracks from Garcia’s solo career, showcasing his musical versatility and unique ability to transform personal experiences into joyful music. The song takes a nostalgic look back at the Grateful Dead’s time on the Festival Express Tour, a memorable rail trip that brought together prominent artists of the '60s for a raucous, whisky-fueled journey across America.
Festival Express is the 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito Bros, Ian & Sylvia's Great Speckled Bird, Mountain and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Later made into a movie
Festival Express was staged in three Canadian cities: Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary (Montreal and Vancouver were also originally scheduled but both dropped) during the summer of 1970. Rather than flying into each city, the musicians traveled by chartered Canadian National Railwaystrain, in a total of 14 cars (two engines, one diner, five sleepers, two lounge cars, two flat cars, one baggage car, and one staff car).[5] The train journey between cities ultimately became a combination of non-stop jam sessions and partying fueled by alcohol. One highlight of the documentary is a drunken jam session featuring The Band's Rick Danko, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, New Riders of the Purple Sage's John Dawson, as well as Janis Joplin.
Here, it is played as the show opener. Ultimately, became more of a first set closer, a popular one along with Deal, another Garcia solo tune.
Played 111 times
First: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW 19 times that year
Last: March 23, 1994 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, USA – only time played that year, 6 times in ‘91
SHOW No. 1: Lazy Lightning
Track #6
0:00 – 1:46
Written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow, paired with Supplication in concert and released with Supplication as the opening tracks on the album, Kingfish, released in March, 1976.
Lazy Lightning is often interpreted as a metaphorical representation of the pursuit of a carefree and leisurely lifestyle amidst the chaos and hardships of reality. The lyrics depict a whimsical scenario where the protagonist encounters a bolt of lightning that transforms into a woman, symbolizing the allure and transitory nature of fleeting pleasures. The song encourages listeners to embrace the present moment and let go of the rigid expectations and responsibilities that burden their lives. It is a celebration of spontaneity, freedom, and the pursuit of personal bliss.
Lazy Lightning became a fan favorite due to its infectious melody, poetic lyrics, and the sense of liberation it evoked. Grateful Dead fans often resonated with the song’s message of embracing the present moment and shedding societal expectations. It became a rallying cry for those seeking to live life on their own terms, igniting a sense of camaraderie and freedom among concert-goers.
Usually, a late first set number. Unfortunately, dropped from the repertoire in 1984. I got to hear it three or four times. A fun number.
Played: also played 111 times
First: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW!!
Last: October 31, 1984 at Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA, USA
MUSIC NEWS – Intro music: In A Gadda Da Vida: IRON BUTTERFLY - IN A GADDA DA VIDA - 1968 (ORIGINAL FULL VERSION) CD SOUND & 3D VIDEO (youtube.com)
Start - :45
is a song recorded by Iron Butterfly, written by band member Doug Ingle and released on their 1968 album of the same name.
At slightly over 17 minutes, it occupies the entire second side of the album. The lyrics, a love song from the biblical Adam to his mate Eve, are simple and are heard only at the beginning and the end. The middle of the song features a two-and-a-half-minute Ron Bushy drum solo. Famously featured on a Simpson’s episode when Bart switches the organist’s regular music for this tune and hands out the words to the congregation who sing along. The older organ player plays the entire organ solo (although they only feature a part of it) and then at the end promptly slumps over at the keyboard.
SHOW No. 2: Supplication
Track #7
2:00 – 3:30
Written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow, paired with Lazy Lightning in concert and released with Lazy Lightning as the opening tracks on the album, Kingfish, released in March, 1976.
The song delves into the universal theme of the human experience, specifically emphasizing the concept of surrender and humility. It explores the idea of surrendering oneself to a higher power, relinquishing control, and embracing the unknown. The lyrics touch upon the vulnerability and humility required to let go and trust in something beyond our comprehension. Supplication encourages listeners to reflect upon their own lives, urging them to question their beliefs, values, and the significance of surrendering to a greater force.
Played: 111 times (a good number for the lottery, keeps coming up), always paired with Lazy Lightning
First: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW!!
Last: October 31, 1984 at Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA, USA
SHOW No. 3: Dancin In the Streets
Track #11
0:00 – 1:42
"Dancing in the Street" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson, and Ivy Jo Hunter. It first became popular in 1964 when recorded by Martha and the Vandellas whose version was released on July 31, 1964 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks, behind "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann and it also peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.
A 1966 cover by the Mamas & the Papas was a minor hit on the Hot 100 reaching No. 73. In 1982, the rock group Van Halen took their cover of "Dancing in the Street" to No. 38 on the Hot 100 chart and No. 15 in Canada on the RPM chart. A 1985 duet cover by David Bowie and Mick Jagger charted at No. 1 in the UK and reached No. 7 in the US. The song has been covered by many other artists, including The Kinks, Tages, Black Oak Arkansas, Grateful Dead, Little Richard, Myra and Karen Carpenter.
I saw it as the first night show opener on June 14, 1985 at the Greek Theater as part of the band’s 20 Anniversary celebration. A really fun concert tune. The 1970’s versions always had strong Donna support backing up Bobby’s lead vocals.
This show was the first time the band had played the song since Dec. 31, 1971 (203 shows)
Played: 131 times
First: July 3, 1966 at Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA
Last: April 6, 1987 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
MJ NEWS
SHOW No. 4: Samson and Delilah
Track #12
0:00 – 1:45
"Samson and Delilah" is a traditional song based on the Biblical tale of Samson and his betrayal by Delilah. Its best known performer is perhaps the Grateful Dead, who first performed the song live in 1976, with Bobby singing lead vocals and in the ‘70’s with Donna joining in. It was frequently played on Sundays due to the biblical reference. Released by the band in 1977 on their album Terrapin Station.
Although Weir learned the song from Reverend Gary Davis, several earlier versions had been recorded under various titles, including "If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down"/"Oh Lord If I Had My Way" by Blind Willie Johnson in 1927.[1] The song has since been performed by a wide variety of artists ranging from Dave van Ronk, Bob Dylan, Charlie Parr, The Staple Singers, Ike and Tina Turner, Clara Ward, Dorothy Love Coates & The Gospel Harmonettes, to Peter, Paul and Mary, The Washington Squares, The Blasters, Willie Watson, Elizabeth Cook, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band (in Verona, Italy 2006).
Guest star Simon Oakland sings the song with the drovers around a campfire in the Rawhide episode "Incident of the Travellin' Man", aired in season six on October 17, 1963.
A long time favorite tune with a distinctive drummers intro that tipped off the song and got the crowd fired up.
Settled into a set opener, more frequently a second set opener and often played on Sundays due to its biblical reference with Bobby’s “This being Sunday . .”
Played: 365 times
First: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW
Last: July 9, 1995 at Soldier Field
OUTRO: The Wheel
Track #22
2:48 – 4:30
One of their most beloved songs, “The Wheel,” holds a special place in the hearts of fans worldwide. Written by Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, and Bill Kreutzmann, this folk-rock anthem has captivated listeners with its enigmatic lyrics and catchy melody. The song’s meaning has been widely debated among enthusiasts, and its cryptic nature has allowed for multiple interpretations.
“The Wheel” reflects the transient nature of life, offering a philosophical perspective on the cycles we all experience. The lyrics suggest that life is like a wheel, constantly turning and repeating itself. The song evokes a sense of impermanence and reminds us of the cyclical patterns we encounter throughout our existence. This theme resonates strongly with the band’s philosophy and their connection to the spiritual and psychedelic culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
“The Wheel” was released on the Grateful Dead’s album “Garcia” in 1972.
“The Wheel” is characterized by its infectious melody and intricate guitar work. The song showcases the Grateful Dead’s ability to seamlessly blend folk, rock, and improvisational elements into a cohesive piece of music.
Normally, a second set tune, into or out of drums/space although it moved around a bit in the second set. Here it is the encore which is more of a rarity.
Played 259 times
First: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW
Last: May 25, 1995 at Memorial Stadium, Seattle, WA
Larry (01:07.617)
Hey everyone, Larry Mishkin here. Welcome to another episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show. Glad you could join me today. We've got a ton of stuff we're gonna go on. We've got a great, grateful Dead Show from 48 years ago today, June 3rd, 1976 at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon, which is a historic show for them. On the music side, we're gonna be talking about my experience at Denimco in the Sphere two nights ago on June 1st, and some marijuana news as well.
So please stick around and enjoy because we've got a lot that we're going to be doing today. We're starting off with the show, as I say, June 3rd, 1976. The Paramount Theatre, the significance of this show is that this was the Grateful Dead's first show after their 1975 year off. Prior to this, they had played a show on September 28th, 1975, which was the last of the four shows that they kind of popped up with during their 1975 hiatus year.
And this show is nine months later. This has been a long, long wait for the Deadheads, who are used to traveling around and seeing the band all the time. But here they are finally coming back, and the Dead did not disappoint. They broke out five new songs that would become parts of their repertoire for years to come, and they broke out a tune after a four -year hiatus. So we're gonna dive right in here with the opening track, the opening tune of the show from 48 years ago today.
Larry (02:44.641)
Mine as well, a song written by Jerry Garcia and the lyrics penned by Robert Hunter. It was released on Garcia's third solo album, Reflections, in February 1976. It's one of the tracks from Garcia's solo career, showcasing his musical versatility and unique ability to transform personal experiences into joyful music. The song takes this nostalgic look back at the Grateful Dead's time on the Festival Express tour.
memorable rail trip that brought together prominent artists in the 60s for a raucous, whiskey -fueled journey across America. Festival Express, for those of you who don't know, is a 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada, taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including The Dead, Janis Joplin, the band, Buddy Guy, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Ian and Sylvia's great Speckled Bird, Mountain, and Delaney and Bonnie, and Friends, ultimately made into a movie.
The Festival Express was staged in three Canadian cities, Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. Montreal and Vancouver were also originally scheduled. Both were dropped for various reasons. During the summer of 1970, rather than flying into each city, the musicians traveled by charter Canadian national railway trains in a total of 14 cars, two engines, one diner, five sleepers, two lounge cars, two flat cars, a baggage car. The train journey between cities ultimately became a combination of nonstop jam sessions.
and partying fueled by alcohol, which is interesting because it wasn't so much of a psychedelic experience as it was just a good old alcohol experience. One highlight of the documentary is a drunken jam session featuring the band's Rick Danko, Garcia and Weir, new writers of the Purple Sage, John Dawson of New Riders, and Janis Joplin. So we're playing it here as the show opener. And how good is that, right? Take that ride again. They're welcoming back the audience, welcoming them back onto the bus.
And it ultimately became more of a first set closer, a popular one along with another dead solo Garcia tune deal. And there was a while there where you could get either one of them and always be happy, you get a good solid Garcia jamming tune to end the first set. And this was a great one. It was played 111 times, first of course at this show on June 3rd, 1976, and was last played on March 23rd, 1994 at the NASA.
Larry (05:02.721)
Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. It was only a time played that year and following only having been played six times in 91. So towards the second half, second half of my dead career, I guess, but you know, in the later 80s and 90s, the tune kind of dropped out of the repertoire until that one show in 94. And really too bad because it's just such a fantastic tune. And one I always loved on.
the Garcia album and just a great, great tune. And here it was the first time out. Everybody had a great experience with it and absolutely wonderful. But as we say, that was not the only first tune that the dead broke out that day. And here's the second track that we're gonna play that was also played for the first time 48 years ago today.
Larry (06:00.385)
That's Lazy Lightning, written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow. It's paired with the tune Supplication in Concert, and it was released with Supplication as the opening tracks on the album Kingfish, released in March 1976. Lazy Lightning became a fan favorite due to its infectious melody, poetic lyrics, and the sense of liberation it'd evoke. Dead fans often resonated with the song's message of embracing the present moment and shedding social expectations. It became a rallying cry.
for those seeking to live life on their own terms, igniting a sense of camaraderie and freedom among concert goers. Usually a late first set number, ultimately dropped from the repertoire in 1984. I got to hear it three or four times and it was really, really a fun number. This one was also played 111 times. Interesting because this was also the first time this song was played on June 3rd, 1976 and the song was retired.
on August 31st, 1984 after a performance at the Berklee Community Theater in Berklee, California, USA. Lazy Lightning was just one of those tunes that was in the repertoire for such a short period of time while I was seeing them that it was hard to, it felt more like an exception than, you know.
any regular tune that they just played and that's reflected in the relatively fewer number of times that they played it. But it just is, it was fun, it was always paired up with another tune which we're gonna get to in a few minutes. But before we do that, I'm gonna dive into some of this music news that we have today because we really do. So here we go into music news. Dan, I'm sure you got a tune for us.
Larry (07:53.121)
Yes, anyone who's been around and listened to the radio, and especially those of us who are a few years older, instantly recognize that organ introduction and the vocals coming out as the song In a Gata da Vida by the band Iron Butterfly written by band member Doug Ingle and released on their 1968 album of the same name. It's slightly over 17 minutes. It occupies the entire second side.
of the album. The lyrics, a love song from the biblical Adam to his mate Eve, are simple and are heard only at the beginning and the end. The middle of the song features a two and a half minute drum solo. The song, of course, was famously featured on a Simpsons episode when Bart switches out the organist's regular music for this tune and then he hands out the words to the congregation who, dutifully, sing along. And the joke is that the older organ player plays the entire organ solo, although they only feature a couple of parts at the beginning.
and then at the end promptly slumps over the keyboard. And it really is a great tune, really defined, I think the late 60s, so recognizable and a name that was obviously a little bit of a plan in the Garden of Eden, but given a rock psychedelic swing to it. And it's a great way to jump into our music today, especially because we are paying tribute today to Doug Ingle.
the songwriter, keyboard player, and vocalist for the song, who passed away on May 24th, so just a week or so ago at the age of 78. He was the last surviving member of the original band lineup, and I guess it's just another sign that time marches on as the young, youthful, psychedelic musicians who gave birth to this tune and presented it to all of us, he's the last one to go. And so...
Obviously we've sent our condolences to Doug's family, friends, and anyone else out there. And I think it's a good reminder that we can never take any of this music that we listen to for granted. We can never take for granted the fact who are the musicians that are actually performing and the great music that they have put out into the world. That for those of us who love music,
Larry (10:16.929)
And even for those of us that you know tend to spin a little bit more towards the Grateful Dead or Fish or whoever our jam band of choice is, 17 -minute tune is a pretty good jam band. You know that was rivaling you know some of the Grateful Dead's. That was probably you know like another version of Darkstar almost, except without the improvisation really. But it's a it's just such a notable tune and it's really a shame to lose Doug who was such an important part.
of that period of time and bringing music to everyone. So rest in peace to Doug Engel. And we move on and as we move on, the second thing we're going to feature today, and I don't know if you want to call this music news because it's really more sports news, I suppose. ESPN carried it for three days. But it becomes music news in this context because Bill Walton passed away last Monday, May 27th at the all too young age of 71. Now, Bill Walton was a very, very unique character. He was...
perhaps one of the greatest college basketball players to ever live starring at UCLA with John Wooden's teams in the early 1970s. He became an NBA star with the Portland Trail Blazers leading them to I believe their only NBA championship ever. He subsequently went on to play for the Boston Celtics and although became a bench player on that team was a key contributor to some of their success in the late 1980s mid to late 1980s.
And so, you know, I would say that of the people that know Bill Walton in this world, an overwhelming majority of them know him as a basketball player, as well they should. And perhaps not many other people outside of the deadhead community, and now a few others because it's all they talked about on the reports of his death, understand what a huge deadhead Bill Walton was. So let's put it in terms we can all understand.
He played 604 total basketball games in college and the NBA over the course of his Hall of Fame career. However, he saw 869 concerts by the Grateful Dead. So you could say he spent more time in basketball arenas seeing the Grateful Dead than he did in basketball arenas actually playing basketball. Now Bill was quite a character, very loquacious.
Larry (12:41.985)
funny stories, kind of like an inspirational kind of guy. You didn't very often hear him say negative things and he became a very well -known basketball commentator who could really bring his knowledge to the game and was never afraid to slip in some references to The Grateful Dead. And the band understood that. Mickey Hart said that Bill loved The Grateful Dead. I believe as much as we in The Grateful Dead love The Grateful Dead.
He wasn't like he was a fan, and at heart, who's of course playing with the dead at the sphere, he was part of our family. And what's interesting is there was a couple of times later on when Bill was on stage or nearby and actually would go up and play with Mickey on the drums, more notably during the dead and co -era, but he also did it sometimes in the Grateful Dead era. He went with the band to Egypt and just everywhere. And he was such a...
Noticable figure you really couldn't miss him at a Dead Show right a guy who was head and shoulders taller Than anybody near him with red hair And just you know moving around doing his thing he turned the Boston Celtics on to the to the band and there's actually a very funny story That's kind of long, but you can find a clip of it somewhere on YouTube with Bill talking about the time the Grateful Dead came to Boston and Larry Bird led a group who wanted to go see them and ask Bill and
Bill got them all tickets and they got to sit in a little special place they built for them up on the stage so they wouldn't be blocking the fans or being pestered for autographs the whole time. And the story goes that they were all back there, all just, you know, kind of anxious to see what was going to happen because most of them had never seen the Grateful Dead before. And then Bill talks about how the dead walked out to thunderous applause and Jerry stepped up to the microphone and right before he started, he turns and he looks at them and is actually making eye contact with Larry Bird and says, this is what I do, winks at Bird and then...
tears into an opening number and the way Bill tells it, the guys that he was there with from the Celtics just loved it and couldn't get enough of it. He talks about taking his UCLA teammates to games and how John Wooden, who was a wonderful coach but very, very rigid in the rules he put down for his players, famously ultimately allowed Bill to go to those shows because he determined that it helped relax Bill and made him a better overall player and a better person and all of that good kind of stuff. And...
Larry (15:05.665)
He did it. His first dead show was in 1971, which was even before he actually started being before he became a starter for UCLA, which of course also had Kareem Abdul -Jabbar, then known as Llew Al -Sinder. And so this was all part of their historic 88 game winning streak and winning 10 national titles over a very short period of time. And certainly Walton was instrumental in all of that. And just in case anybody
out there doesn't know Bill Walton wants to know his bona fides on the basketball court. All you need to know is that the 1972 NCAA national championship game against Memphis played incidentally in St. Louis, which my father attended, but I guess I was a little too young at the time. All Bill did that day was go 21 of 22 from the floor to score 44 points and lead his team to the victory. So go and do the math on what, you know, shooting percentage that is because nobody's ever had a game where they shot 20 of 20, 21 of 22.
in a championship game when they were clearly the biggest target for the other team to defend. But Bill was just that good of a player, that good of a deadhead, and really that good of a person. The band clearly misses him as this past week, the Thursday night, which was the first of the three night run for this week, they did a big tribute to Bill Walton. His number 32 was displayed on the wall behind the band. Both John Mayer.
And Bobby had the same style of number 32 with little, you know, listening colors in there, stickers on their guitars, and just a lot of love and a lot of outpouring for a guy who was so central to the Grateful Dead. And the fans loved him because notwithstanding all of his connections and his superstar status and all of that, he was just another deadhead. He would talk to people at concerts. He would joke around with people. They would even set up a basketball hoop for him up on stage on the side.
if he wanted to shoot. And then when Bruce Hornsby joined after Brent passed away, the stories were that he and Bill would hoop it up because Bruce is a pretty tall guy and apparently had played some high school ball. And so that's just part of the fun of the Grateful Dad, right? They took their biggest fan and they incorporated what he liked to do into just part of their scene to make him feel welcome. You know, another great reason, of course, why we all love the Grateful Dad. So rest in peace, Bill Walton. Very sorry to see you go. You will be missed both by basketball.
Larry (17:33.121)
basketball fans, by dead fans and no doubt by the by the band members themselves. And then finally for today on the music news and I say finally, hardly, this may be the story of the day. Two nights ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Dead in Company at the Sphere. I was only able to get out there for the Saturday night show. I had my whole big huge group of friends there. Alex, Andy, Mike, his girlfriend Lynn, Eric from
the San Francisco area. Phil and Tammy from Minneapolis. Suzanne and Lori from the San Francisco area. It was just a great show with a lot of friends and a lot of good people there. And really indescribable. The best I can tell you when you're sitting inside the sphere is that it's like being inside a planetarium, for those of you who have been inside planetariums, where the vision that you're looking at is moving and it makes you feel...
Like you're moving to, not in a roller coaster way that's gonna make you sick or throw up or anything, but it just looks like the stage is rising, it looks like the stage is lowering, it looks like the entire room is slowly rotating. And then these visuals that you see that come literally raining down from the very top of the roof once you're inside the sphere. And as you're looking at these walls, you never know for sure, am I actually looking at the structure itself, am I looking at something that they're projecting on the screen? It's that good.
I don't want to tell you everything that they do because for those of you who are going to go see it, part of the fun is the surprise of all of a sudden something unexpected popping up on the screen. But they have a nice little thing where they show you the street at the Dead House at 710 Asbury in the Haight -Asbury district. And they just have all sorts of great graphics up on the screen. It's not unlike the animated introduction to the Grateful Dead movie.
in some respects, although you're seeing it on such a large screen. And I don't mean this in a negative way at all, but the music almost becomes secondary. I was looking at Den & Company Saturday night as the perfect sound accompaniment for this absolutely amazing visual show that they were putting on for us. And at one point it definitely made me just a little bit sad that we never had a chance to see.
Larry (19:57.281)
Jerry and company in this environment doing this and of course, you know that technology just wasn't there And one can only imagine where this technology would be in a few years But don't get me wrong. I enjoyed that and co it was great to see them they certainly came out and put on a good performance in terms of setlist, but I was following the set lists for all three nights and they really You know they didn't
they didn't mess around here. They came to play and they did. And it was really, for me, a lot of fun, you know, to kind of hear old tunes that you haven't heard before, to hear some new tunes filtered in. They opened with a great Alabama getaway. The music never stopped. They love each other. Ramblin' Rose. And then for me, at least the first set highlight was a great version of It Hurts Me Too.
And let's give John Mayer his props because he is a blues guy and he just nailed that tune. He was so on it and watching him play was really a lot of fun, unlike watching him go into a blues bar in Chicago where the room is so small you can literally see the guitarist's fingers moving. And here, thanks to the wonderful screens that they have and they would keep focusing on the performers in the midst of all the other stuff they were showing, you could really see John and get a sense of him.
belting out this tune and it was just fantastic. They closed the set with one of my favorite Bobby mashups, Lost Sailor, Intersting of Circumstance, which in the late, well really I guess the mid -80s, and into the later 80s and then not quite as much afterwards, but always a great, great combination for Bobby to play.
and really a lot of fun to hear it again with amazing visuals on the wall. About an hour first set, give or take, although quite frankly, I had the sense that I was losing track of time and I was losing track of the music and it wasn't just the snacks we had before the show. It was just being in an experience that was so totally new, right? And what I loved about it was it put everybody in the arena.
Larry (22:17.985)
on the same page, right? It didn't matter if you had seen the Grateful Dead a thousand times. It didn't matter if this was the first time you were ever seeing a Grateful Dead event. We were all experiencing something much more than that. And other than the people who were there, who had been there the night before, two nights before, whatever, we were all being introduced to this technology and this amazing way to take in a dead show at the same time. And the crowd really enjoyed it. They were very loud and, you know,
vocal during the show. The band members really seem to be having a good time during the show and it was just an absolutely fantastic experience. Anyone who can get out to the Sphere, I would highly recommend it. It's something that has to be seen and should be experienced by music lovers and just, you know, fans of modern technology. Saw Jay Blakesburg wandering around in the building and had a chance to chat with him briefly as he was extolling.
the virtues of being able to shoot photos of this amazing experience. And they did have a little area set up in the Venetian Hotel, the stairs right behind the Venetian of Las Vegas Boulevard there. And they had what they called the Dead Forever Experience where you walked in and at first glance it seemed to me that it was just like a lot of places to buy dead -end company posters and t -shirts and stuff like that. But they did have other things to see. One of Jay's photo exhibits was there and people could walk through and see that.
One of the things I loved looking at was a big exhibit on a wall behind glass panels. They had, at least, if not the whole thing, the cases of cassette tapes from Dave Lemieux's tape collection. Now we all know Dave Lemieux as the guy who runs the dead vault and puts out all the wonderful live albums that we listen to and tells great stories about them when he's talking about them. But to actually see his tape collection, for those of us that had tape collections,
was pretty powerful. You know, the wide variety of shows he had. I could count the number of shows that he had that I also had on tape. And one of the things I loved about it was, you know, the unique ways he listed the songs on the back. And I think that's pretty much the same, you know, for all Deadheads. You know, sometimes you're just writing down the words of the songs. Sometimes you're in a more creative mood and you draw little designs on the back or you used to be able to buy cassette box covers with Grateful Dead images superimposed on them.
Larry (24:46.721)
and all that kind of stuff. It was really cool to see all of these tapes. And, you know, I don't know many people who, you know, still play their tapes. Some do, certainly. But with all the music available live with epic sound quality, there's not as much of a need to dive into it. But to me and to a lot of my friends who collected the tapes, that was such an integral part of, you know, getting into the Grateful Dead and really becoming...
a deadhead because by listening to tapes and collecting tapes, we had a chance early on in our dead careers to hear other versions of the dead, to hear them in the late 60s, the primal dead, to hear them, you know, in the early 70s as they switched over to Americana, to hear them in the late 70s post -vacation year. And you could just hear it all and all of a sudden everybody's like, I need the 1971 from the Fillmore East because...
Dwayne Allman comes out and plays Sugar Magnolia with Jerry, or quite frankly, the first time I ever really heard the St. Stephen, Dark Star St. Stephen 11 Love Light Suite was in really scratchy versions on tapes again from the late 60s, early 70s. And it really kind of opened my eyes to the idea that songs not only had changed over time, but the way they were played and the way they were approached and.
It was just a very, I remember the first time I heard, that's it for the other one on somebody's tape and was just blown away. Cause I only knew the other one. I didn't know it was part of this whole larger suite of tunes, which we've talked about previously on this show. And just so cool to be able to do that, you know, with all the tapes and everything that we had. And I still have a huge box of tapes somewhere in my basement that I just haven't gotten to very much lately. In fact, I don't even know if my tape.
that works anymore. But I haven't gotten rid of them despite my wife's request to create some room in the house. Because for me they really are a little bit of history. And not that anybody's gonna want Larry Michigan's tape collection to put up a wall in an exhibit. But for me it's like having a good book collection. You may not get to read them all, you may not even ever get to read some of them, but you have them. And you always know that hey, that's showy, I've got a tape of it, let's go listen to it. And it was just such a good.
Larry (27:10.337)
great way to meet deadheads, you know, guys who I would bump into at a concert who I just started talking to and they had tapes I want and I have tapes that they want, we exchange addresses and the next thing you know, it's like being a pen pal, you're sending tapes back and forth and commenting on them and really a wonderful thing. So that was a cool part of the exhibit, I thought. And you know, there were some dead celebrities, the guys from the Grateful Dead, Sirius Station were there, not at the time that I was there specifically.
but they were there a lot. Big Steve was showing up and making presentations and talking about stuff. And for older Deadheads, just kind of cool to be all being brought together again in this great environment. And those of us who had seen them in Las Vegas before always knew that it was a fun place to go and hang out as you were in between shows and during your quote unquote downtime. And this was no exception. So...
Just a great, great day with great friends, listening to the music that forms the most basic soundtrack for my life, and just seeing absolutely incredible visuals, again, independent of anything you might have consumed to help you get to that point. Just a great, great experience, really kind of cool to stumble out at the end of the show, and the outside of the...
the dome is all lit up as well. And when you're going in at the front end of the show, it's so bright out, you really can't see it so well. But when you come out, you can see it immediately. And when you're right up next to the seers you're walking out, you have the Steely logo that's so large, you can barely see beyond the teeth or something, looking up the curve of the building. But it was a great place. Everyone had a wonderful time. Kudos to those guys for being able to put this whole thing together and create this new experience.
and I'm a fan. I'll be going back at some point for somebody and maybe it'll be a chance to see Den & Co. there again in the future. But it really, really was a great experience. It's worth the hype. And yeah, get your Deadhead friends and go and taste it again for the first time. You just can't beat it. But yeah, so let's go back since we're loving on the Grateful Dead right now and talking about...
Larry (29:29.185)
all of their great music and we go back to 48 years ago today for another clip here and this is the back end of Lazy Lightning. So let's listen to supplication.
Larry (29:47.137)
Supplication was also written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow. It was paired with Lazy Lightning and Concert and it was released with Lazy Lightning as the opening tracks on the album Kingfish, released in March 1976. It's a very interesting tune. One of those kind of tunes that doesn't have a regular flow of lyrics all the way through, just a lot of really good jamming as you heard, and then Bobby coming in and kind of belting out some lyrics and then slipping right back into the jamming.
and coming on the heels of Lazy Lightning was fun because you knew you were getting supplication and you get a good jam at the end of Lazy Lightning into the great supplication jam and sometimes they would actually just play a supplication jam and they wouldn't even sing but this was a great great version as well of course the first time being played right was also coincidentally played 111 times which is not surprising because that's the number of Lazy Lightning but when you figure might as well was also played the same number of times.
Very, very interesting that they all lined up with that same number. And maybe if you like to go play the lotto in your state, 111 might be a good number to put down today, because it just keeps happening again. Today's show from June 3rd, 1976 was The Breakout for Supplication, coming on the heels of the first Lazy Lightning ever. And like Lazy Lightning, it was last played on October 31st, 1984 at the Berkley Community Theater.
in Berkeley, California. And it's just fun. The two make a great combination. They slip right from one into the other, very nice. And what was interesting about it, it's one of those tunes that's not known quite as well, both of them, Lazy Lightning and Supplication, hardly any radio play. They were released on a Kingfish album, and Dad had certainly knew about that and were listening to it.
but maybe not the casual Deadhead and not as many other people. And it wasn't uncommon for me to see the song being played in concert and people around us not quite sure what it was. In fact, the first time I saw it, I wasn't entirely sure what it was until a kind, more experienced Deadhead explained it all to me. But just Bobby going out there and nailing it. And we were just talking about Los Salar Sainte Circumstance.
Larry (32:14.465)
Lazy Lightning and Dissupplication is another Bob Weir extravaganza and always, always enjoyable to see. So we're getting just new shows, new shows, new songs, new songs, new songs. And then just to keep seeing things interesting because the dad are nothing if not interesting in the way they pick their tunes and how they play them, when they play them and all of that. But...
To close out the first set, the fans in the Paramount Theater were treated to a reawakening of a tune that the Dead did not write, but played a lot and kind of became known for, at least certainly among the Deadhead circles. So let's dive in for a minute to Dancing in the Street.
Larry (33:14.049)
Dancing in the Streets is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter. It first became popular in 1964 when recorded by Martha and the Vandals, whose version was released on July 31st, 1964 and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks behind Do Wa Diddy Diddy by Manfred Mann. And it also peaked at number four on the UK singles chart. It's one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier.
signature song. A 1966 cover by the Mamas and the Papas was a minor hit on the Hot 100 in 1982. Van Halen took their cover of Dancing in the Streets to number 38 on the Hot 100 chart, number 15 in Canada. A 1985 duet cover by David Bowie and Mick Jagger, which was part of, I believe that was part of the AIDS benefit, was charted number one in the UK and reached number seven in the US, and that was actually a version.
that came out in video with Dave and Mick, the two of them doing their thing. I looked at it and I saw it as very, very creative and a meeting of the minds of two exceptional, exceptional vocalists and musicians and performers ever. A lot of the women I know loved it because they think that Mick Jagger and David Bowie are probably two of the hottest guys around. And although I'm a guy, I certainly can say that I can...
see their appeal and the type of guys that they are and the images that they portray and to see the two of them performing together and kind of hamming it up a little bit and having a very good time shooting crazy looks at each other was really a lot of fun to see and a great way to kind of bring this tune back in to the forefront of everybody's minds. The song has been covered by other artists, The Kinks, Black Oak Arkansas, Besides the Dead and Little Richard.
Karen Carpenter even. I saw it as the first night show opener on June 14th, 1985 at the Greek Theater as part of the band's 20th anniversary celebration. And it's a really fun concert tune. You just can't beat it. The 1970s version always had strong Donna support backing up Bobby's lead vocals. And in some of the earlier versions, in the mid to late 60s, Bobby even kind of almost has that...
Larry (35:37.729)
distinctive 1960s pop rock voice when he sings it. And you know, actually, well, I know some people really love Donna, some people are cool on Donna, some people just don't have an opinion on it. This was one of the tunes I thought where she really shined while she was performing it with the band in the 1970s. And certainly a tune that I think she was more than welcome on and really contributed and added a lot to its sound.
but it's a great breach song. But here's the trick for the folks there on June 3rd, 1976, it was the first time the band had played the show, the song, since December 31st, 1971. So over 200 shows had elapsed. Now, of course, that also includes the time there includes the 1975 year off, but over 200 shows since the band had last played. And when you listen to the beginning of it, you can kind of even hear the crowd, some people in the crowd recognizing it.
and really, really cheering it on. So I was played 131 times by the band, first played on July 3rd, 1966 at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, California, and then last played by the band on April 6th, 1987 at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. But certainly I think it was a very distinctive part of the band sound in the late 1960s. And when it was played, it was always a...
showstopper I think, you know, one that everybody just loved, everybody knew the words, everybody could sing along and dance and have a great time if you were at the show and you weren't necessarily so much a fan of the dead but somebody was taking you. You know, it's like, good, this is nice, I don't recognize any of these other tunes, but this is a great tune and I think that certainly the people who knew it and who loved it really knew it and really loved it and like I say, for the rest of us, it was just a great tune to be able to hear.
And it was one of the tunes we all chased for a while as well. And I had been hearing it, of course, on tapes. I remember one from the Avalon Ballroom in 1966 or 67. And we would play it over and over a few times. Because quite frankly, when I was that age, in college and everything, was really beginning to discover music. We were really just, in some respects, discovering a song like Dancing in the Streets as well. So it was just a great way to hear the song and to learn about it. It was fun to hear the dad sing it.
Larry (38:00.257)
It was fun to chase the song and finally get to see it live in 1985 and really feel like, wow, you know, now I've seen it all. I've seen the dead play dancing in the streets at the Greek theater and just a lot of fun. So yeah, we're gonna move on again from the 1976 concert to go to the other side of things we have here. MJ News, of course, and as usual, I imagine that Dan has a little intro tune for us here, so.
Dan?
Larry (38:37.313)
We have a busy day on the MJ News side and rather than dive in and start with the...
marijuana related stories and trends and everything like that that we tend to focus on in this section, I have to stop for a minute and pay my respects to yet another person in my life who unfortunately passed away on May 27th, the same day as Bill Walton. And I can assure you that is no coincidence, my very dear friend Blake Schneider passed away at the age of 69. So he was just two years behind Bill Walton and Blake was a lover -hater of Bill Walton.
He loved Bill Walton because of Bill Walton's lifestyle, but he could tend to be a little bit critical of Bill's commentary and play -by -play, which some people were just because Bill originally in his life apparently was a big stutterer and really worked hard to overcome that and to be able to do his life, TV, things that he did. And so I always just gave him credit for doing it, whether I really liked what he said or not. But Blake used to be a little more critical.
as he could. The key to Blake, who lived an absolutely amazing life, just a crazy life that he couldn't write a book about, was a legendary cultivator who, in my opinion, created the best strain of marijuana I have ever smoked. We just called it Blakeweed and we put it up against any other strain, anywhere, anytime. Folks would say they had the best weed until I let them smoke some of the Blakeweed and they never failed to conceive that whatever they had certainly didn't measure up to what I was smoking. I remember being at a show once and
I forgot my pipe, but had my Blake weed and I asked the guy behind me if I could borrow his pipe and he gave me the old dead head, no man, I only smoke kind weed in my pipe and I grabbed the pipe out of his hand and said, dude, this will be the kindest blood you ever smoke. And by the end of the show, he wanted my name and address and everything so he could get some of it. I made up a name, I made up an address and I said, thanks, too bad you don't know Blake. And off I went, but that was just common. You meet people who had tried Blake, but you never knew.
Larry (40:46.177)
You never knew the people, but the minute you knew that they had tried Blakeweed, you had a bond that was strong as anybody could ever have. And it was just great stuff. He grew it in his condo on the, just outside of the loop in Chicago for a number of years until he decided that he didn't want to be doing it in a big apartment building anymore. Even though what he grew in those, first in his apartment and then his...
condo in one of the buildings he owned two condos one to live in one to grow in and It was a beautiful smell when you'd walk in and just the atmosphere was so relaxed and laid back And he was such a talent. He was one of these guys You know who talked to the plants who babied the plants who interacted with the plants now You know whether that's what made them so great and wonderful. I guess I can't entirely say But I don't think it was any coincidence that Blake Schneider was regularly cranking out
just really the best you could ever get. He was eccentric, temperamental, hospitable, a mentor to me and a very, very good friend. He called himself the best joint roller in the world and I don't have any reason to doubt him. He was one of the guys who was part of my Bulls season ticket partnership, also with our good friend John during the Jordan era. And every home game began with a pregame session at Blake's Loops residence.
including great wines, gourmet appetizers introducing me to all sorts of appetizers and meals and snacks and everything that I had never tried before, top shelf liquor. On the way out the door we always did our Go Bulls shots. Mine was Knob Creek. Blake would drink Rapa, John would drink whatever he wanted, and the one time that my son Matthew came with me, he got to do a shot of Coca -Cola, told Blake,
My mother doesn't let me drink Coca -Cola and in a line that probably sums Blake up as well as any I could ever think of, he turned to my seven -year -old son and said, your mom's not here, and handed him a shot glass full of Coca -Cola that Matthew appreciated so much that when we got home and Judy asked him how the game was, all he wanted to talk about was his shot of Coca -Cola at Blake's. It was just amazing. But the culmination of always meeting at Blake's before the game,
Larry (43:08.385)
Was he would have three or four joints? Circulating at all times and sometimes maybe was only you know three or four of us in the room and you know to try to keep up with it was was short of impossible and It was not uncommon for us to lose a little bit track of time and maybe not always make it exactly at the opening Although we certainly always strove to especially during the Jordan years because with Jordan you missed a little you miss a lot But Blake with his ever -present life partner Jeannie
there as well. An evening at Blake's was as much fun as the actual game itself. Now, a number of years ago Blake and Jeannie moved up to Argyle, Wisconsin to live a maybe a slightly more relaxed lifestyle, get out of the city. They moved onto a 120 acre that had been a dairy farm with a couple of farm structures and a beautiful house. And Blake just moved his business up there in this really, really cool stone cellar of the house.
No air conditioning down there, but it was always cool and comfortable. It was the first time I ever really saw a real grow room, not just somebody throwing seeds in a pot and watering and waiting to see what happened, but with a room for the seedlings and a room for the sprouts and a room for this and a budding room. We would always go down there and just look at it and see all of these plants growing and just how amazing it was and so cool.
But as people who grow on this scale sometimes do, Blake ran into a little bit of a problem with the Green County Sheriff, but ultimately gave them the middle finger when his lawyers were able to convince the feds to take over the case because Blake was living on a piece of property that was debt free and worth a good amount of money. And they went to the feds and said, why should Green County get the money for this, seize the property? Blake will buy it back from you and will be in the federal system, which the feds were only too happy to do.
And as a result, Blake only had to serve 11 months at a federal minimum risk prison up in Rochester, New York. Instead of the 20 years that the Green County Sheriff's Department was threatening us was a done deal given the number of plants he was growing at his farmhouse there in Argyle. They were not happy campers when the feds moved it to take over the case due to the value of the property. But that's just the way it was for them. And for Blake, somehow things just always seemed to work out. And in that instance, it did.
Larry (45:32.961)
The only downside of it was that after he got out of prison, he really wasn't in a position to be able to take up growing again because there was a concern that the Green County Sheriff's Office might continue to harass him going forward to see if they could catch him again and extract the punishment that they were deprived of the first time around. The good news is that Blake was never arrested again. There was never any reason for it. And Blake Weed, unfortunately, was resigned.
to a historical dustbin, but always beloved and remembered by those of us who got an opportunity to try it. And when we get together, we will all talk about it in glowing terms, in the same way that we talked about, you know, seeing Michael Jordan play basketball. We all talk about how much we miss it, and we all talk about strains that we've found out there that are good strains that we really like. And again, when we make our comparisons to the Blakeweed.
Somehow it just it just falls up short. So Blake was a true party legend he will be sorely missed by those of us that knew him loved him and tolerated him so Blake Schneider, please rest in peace and Know that you are loved and missed and there will never be another person like you in our lives Turning now to some more traditional cannabis stories
And thank you to Marijuana Moment today for providing us with wonderful marijuana content as they always do. And here's the news of the day. Marijuana terpenes have been found to be as effective as morphine for pain relief and have fewer side effects. A new federally funded study into the effects of cannabis terpenes suggests that the compounds could be potential therapeutics for chronic neuropathic pain, finding that an injected dose of the compounds produced a roughly equal
reduction in pain markers when compared to a smaller dose of morphine. Turpenes also appear to enhance the efficacy of morphine when given in combination. Unlike with morphine, however, none of the study turpenes produced a meaningful reward response, the research found, indicating that turpenes could be effective analgesics with no rewarding or dysphoric side effects. Notably, turpenes that were vaporized or administered orally seem to have little impact on pain.
Larry (47:57.825)
There's an interesting one for you. The paper Turpines from Cannabis Sativa induce, I can't even read that word. I'm not even gonna try, I'll just embarrass myself. Induced, I'm assuming some sort of pain relief in a mouse model of chronic neuropathic pain. Activation of Adenosine A2A receptors was published this month in Pain, the Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain.
The 2014 author team behind the report includes researchers from the University of Arizona's Comprehensive Center for Pain and Addiction as well as the National Institute of Health. A question that we've been very interested in is could terpenes be used to manage chronic pain? Lead researcher John Stryker, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Arizona's College of Medicine in Tucson said, what we found is that terpenes are really good at relieving a specific type of chronic pain with side effects that are low and manageable.
And another author's note that while the primary chemical components in marijuana like THC and CBD have been shown in studies to have be effective in managing chronic pain, their efficacy is generally moderate and THC is burdened by unwanted psychoactive side effects. These limits have focused attention on other potential therapeutic components of cannabis they wrote, including minor cannabinoids, flavonoids, and of course terpenes. So, you know, let's break down the story for what it is, right? 10 years ago or so, nobody...
Most people didn't even know what terpenes were. Now terpenes are the major buzzword anybody talks about with marijuana and you could say that those who know a little bit more about it are not nearly as focused solely on the THC number as they used to be but become very interested in the type of terpenes found in the strain, the strength of the terpenes and all of that. And it doesn't just contribute to a more pleasant taste or experience but it actually has a positive.
medical effect. Why is that significant? Because marijuana is a schedule one, which means it has no medical benefits, except that every time we have an episode of this show, we find new medical benefits that the federal government is recognizing. So what this also points us to is why the hell does this drug get knocked down to a schedule three instead of just being descheduled altogether? You know, we've talked about the politicians who don't know, you know,
Larry (50:19.649)
you know, they're asked from a hole in the ground when it comes to marijuana and, you know, make all sorts of stupid comments about how it's not really necessary and doesn't really do anything and is far more dangerous and blah, blah, blah, you know, when all they're really doing is just politicking and playing, you know, to a particular base of people who don't like marijuana because they're boring, right? There's just really no other way to say it. It doesn't mean that everybody has to like marijuana and enjoy it, but I'm talking about the people who vocally...
criticize marijuana and who vocally and actively move to prevent it from becoming a fully legal drug in the United States because they have their head up their ass and they just don't know what they're talking about. They make assumptions based on faulty information and faulty studies and reefer madness kind of nonsense and then tend to tune everything else out because they've made up their mind and they know that marijuana is bad and if they take a hit the next thing you know they'll be shooting heroin down at the local schoolyard.
But marijuana is an amazing drug with amazing properties that produce amazing health benefits. And we see this over and over and over again. And we really need the medical community to be focusing on this. And we really need the politicians of this world to be focusing on this. So that when they're making these decisions about what is good for the people or not good for the people,
that they keep these things in mind, that they actually look at these studies, that they actually understand what's going on here and don't just make off the cuff decisions that they think, you know, their own subjective values on this stuff. No, not just the THC, the terpenes work. There's so many parts of this plant that are just so good and so positive. And we've gone over and over that we really need...
people to understand that. And this takes us into our second story, again from Marijuana Moment, thank you. They have another study that now shows the potential anti -anxiety effects of cannabidiol or CBD. And they have found that an oral CBD solution effectively treated mild to moderate anxiety as well as associated depression and poor sleep quality with no serious adverse events observed. Our findings indicate...
Larry (52:43.265)
that administering 300 to 600 milligrams of nano -dispersible CBD oral solution for 12 weeks is effective in treating mild to moderate anxiety disorders and associated depression and sleep quality disturbances, the authors wrote. These findings align with the growing body of evidence indicating that CBD may have...
I gotta be a doctor. Anxiolytic effects, sorry for you medical people out there that I'm sounding like an idiot. If administered for a longer duration, ranging from four to 12 weeks, the report published in this month in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry was penned by a seven person research team from Hasha Hospital and Latest Pharmaceuticals, LLP, both in India, New Jersey based, Biofor Pharma Inc.
and others, all authors, the papers participated in as employees or consultants of a pharmaceutical company. So it is industry sponsored, but there's no reason to believe that the results that they're coming up with aren't accurate. Now, CBD is not marijuana, but it is cannabis. And once again, as we try to struggle through cannabis and all of its properties and what's going on with that.
You know, just like with marijuana, right? The government doesn't always know what's going on. They don't really pay attention when they legalized hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill. One of the things that they said in there is that hemp and all of its constituent cannabinoids are legal, but they didn't know what constituent cannabinoids meant because that's why we have issues that they raise with measurable amounts of THC being in hemp.
and the constituent cannabinoids like Delta -8 and THCA and all of these other great things that they're pulling out of as the constituent cannabinoids have the ability to cause or to affect, you know, a minor psychoactive effect, not certainly on the same level as marijuana, but some people don't want a psychoactive effect as heavy as the one you can get on marijuana. But when the government found out about this,
Larry (54:59.329)
They went into a tizzy and started trying to pass all sorts of rules all over the place. We talked about how the DEA, you know, a few years back, you know, tried to come in and just single -handedly wipe it out and say, that's not what it means. You can't do this. The court said, yes, this is exactly what it means when it says all constituent cannabinoids, these are cannabinoids that are found in hemp. So therefore they are legal. Well, you know, the government is trying to do something about that right now and to close that loophole in a new farm bill.
although they haven't yet, because what they're realizing is it's not just that simple to go back and to do that. There's a lot of people who invested a lot of money, a lot of energy in this industry. There's a lot of people who benefit from these constituent cannabinoids that you can find in the hemp plant that are sold. And to take that away from everybody is a major step backwards. And it's the government having to say, we passed a law not knowing what the heck we were passing. And now we've kind of gone back and done our homework.
And don't blame the cannabis industry. We were hoodwinked. They say, nobody told us about this. You know, if you're a congressman, if you're a senator, you have a staff of people that the government pays for. And you know what would be nice? If people did their freaking research before they voted on a topic of such importance to so many people. But they didn't. So don't turn around and blame the people because you didn't do it right. Now this gets more complicated though, because it's not just the government who's fighting against.
the hemp industry and its production of these various products from the constituent cannabinoids. Here we have the marijuana growers who are against it. So you have multi -state operators like Cresco Labs and Cureleaf and they don't like the hemp amendment. Everyone generally seems to agree that marijuana and hemp should be regulated under a federal framework, but there's disagreement over the measure adopted by the House.
Agricultural Committee which calls for a ban on intoxicating hemp -derived cannabinoids such as Delta A, THC, CBD, products containing any quantifiable amount of THC. Supporters of the amendment have described it as affixed to a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill. Others have recognized the need to adopt regulations to rein in the cannabinoid market but say re -prohibiting cannabinoids is not a solution. Excuse me.
Larry (57:24.065)
Our position is it's the same plant, it should be regulated the same way, period. Jason Erkes, who's the chief communications officer at Cresco Labs, told Marijuana, moment this week, especially when it comes to the synthetic products that aren't tested, and you don't know where they come from, and inherently in the past, they've been dangerous. Now I know Jason, and I like Jason, he's a very good guy, and he's done a tremendous job at Cresco Labs, but I have to strongly disagree with him and Cresco and all of the other MSOs on this. The bottom line is, they don't like it because people have a way.
to buy THC products without having to go into a dispensary, meaning it costs a significant amount less than it costs to go and buy marijuana to get your THC buzz going if you're walking into a regular dispensary and paying all the taxes and everything else that comes along with it. Or as you can just walk into a CBD store and buy these things. Now, is there a question that there might be quality control? Of course there is, but part of that I put on the consumer.
You know, if you're going to go into a truck stop on the middle of some rural highway, you know, where there's an inch of dust on the counter when you walk in, and among all the other condoms and sex lubes and Viagra pills and other stuff they sell there, you know, they sell bottles of CBD and call it, you know, the greatest thing in the world. I can't comment on the safety of those products. I can't comment on their effectiveness. I don't know. But it seems to me that instead of worrying about what the...
legitimate CBD manufacturers are doing or not doing. Maybe the focus should be on the people who put out the products that aren't safe. We saw it with some vape pens a year or so back. And I have no doubt that some of the products that are put out, you know, probably aren't effective, but people are capitalizing on the fact that CBD and its constituent cannabinoids are so big now and so popular now and like anything else seeking.
you know, let's dive in and let's try it. You know, so let's put out advertising campaigns. Let's do all of that. But the marijuana industry doesn't get to step in and say, my God, we're so concerned about everybody out there. And you know, it's not fair to us because, you know, we have to pay all of these taxes for getting, of course, for a moment, that if you buy equal amounts of THC of marijuana and equal amounts of CBD, you're going to pay a lot more for the marijuana. Now, true, part of that is...
Larry (59:46.337)
the tax. But you know, at the end of the day, what all of this cycles back to again, is that legislators don't look at what they're doing. They weren't knowledgeable enough on him. At the time, they were asked to make the decisions that they were making. And now there's a lot of political pressure on them because the marijuana guys say, we pay all these taxes, we have to have all the security, we have to have all of these rules, and it's not fair. To which I say, you guys are making so much more money than the CBD people if you're running your...
dispensaries and cultivation centers correctly. Then again, focus on your lane, focus on what you're doing, unless you're willing to come to the table in a cooperative fashion with the hemp growers and sit down and say, how can we all work together? Create your products that are constituent cannabinoid products where people can get an intoxicating effect from them. You know, and if you want to sell them in the CBD stores, that's your business. But if you want to sell them in our marijuana dispensaries, where a lot of people walk in,
and look around, this benefits everybody. I think that if people who walked into a dispensary were able to buy Delta 8 or any of these other hemp -derived THC products, that it would be a good thing because it would make the products more well -known and make the products more popular. And if I were running Cresco or Shearalief, I would be very heavily focused right now on how can I be the one?
to help bring this together, to make this a reality where the entire cannabis plant is being recognized by an industry that covers everybody's needs and covers all the various benefits of the plant, whether it's a 32 % THC with the best terpenes on the marijuana side, or whether it's a product that has THC from the temp derived on the other side. And there's no reason for this industry to be split like that.
given that everything derives from the same plant. And I think that it's just important that we recognize this. And again, with all due respect to Cresco and CureLeaf who do a very good job at what they do and have certainly established their market shares and don't appear to be going anywhere. There's no need for them to be. They serve a purpose in this industry too that's really important and that's also appreciated. But sometimes I think when you get down to this more microscopic level of things,
Larry (01:02:11.425)
My sense is that the big boys aren't really as interested in spending the time and money on it. They're doing very, very well selling their THC products, their marijuana products. And I think it's, well, rather than doing the work to join in, it's easier for us just to say, hey, they should be regulated in a way that doesn't cut into our business anymore. And I just think that that's very, very short -sighted and certainly hope that the industry will find a way to go in a different direction like that so that...
Again, as we say, we have everybody working together and just I think that makes it such a better place, you know, really all the way around. And yeah, that's gonna be very important. Thank you. Another medical study says that CBD is just as effective in treating anxiety, depression, and poor sleep, which we've talked about because we were just saying the same thing about terpenes. Okay, no surprise. These are both cannabis plants. But again, it's another push along the way.
to demonstrate even on the CBD side, the medical efficacy that exists so that when people try to talk schedule one, two, or three, they're full of shit, they don't know what they're saying, and it's damaging to everybody in this industry. It's damaging to the people who want to be able to access these products, and it's just not a good way when you're dealing with something and you're trying to paint it as evil, and all the studies keep coming back and saying it's not. So, you know, all of these stories come together and paint a picture for us.
that once again we're seeing benefit, benefit, benefit, benefit. All the reasons why marijuana and cannabinoid products that are hemp derived are so popular, are so effective. And of course, it's been that way for 5 ,000 years. So none of us should be surprised that this generation of people have done a little more research into this and discovered some of this because the ancients, maybe they couldn't explain it to you, but they knew what they were doing when they cultivated cannabis and when they...
used its various properties for whatever their purposes were. And we just have to recognize that, people. This is a plant. This isn't something that's made in a chem lab somewhere and we don't know what gets put into it and we don't know what it is or anything. It's a plant. It's marijuana. It's natural. Our bodies are internally wired for it in our endocannabinoid systems. We really need to start putting away all of this nonsense, all of this make -believe, and actually open our eyes, and as Jack Carrere pointed out, notice that the emperor...
Larry (01:04:37.665)
doesn't have any clothes on. In other words, all the talk about the dangers of these products and why we shouldn't be so quick to reschedule, let alone deschedule, is really just a lot of noise. And it's drowning out everything else. And it's ultimately, at the end of the day, part of this whole culture of people who are more concerned about what everybody else is doing. You don't like marijuana? Don't smoke it. Don't worry if I smoke marijuana, just like I don't worry if you have a drink.
Right? Everybody has to be left alone. Everybody has to be allowed to do the things that they want to do in life. And it's just really a shame that we run into this. And as more and more and more of these studies come out, hopefully the politicians that don't know what they're talking about, like Ted Cruz we talked about last week, of course Ted doesn't know anything, but it would be interesting, you know, to sit down with them and actually force them to go through all of this and find out why it is that even in the face of that,
They feel that they have to be the party pooper asshole who comes in and tries to scare everybody or talk in a very patronizing tone as though you're a senator and you're the expert and we're not, except you're the freaking experts that didn't know what you were doing when you passed the 2018 Farm Bill, so we'll pass on you. And I might just throw in to say that Blake himself would have some very choice words for these guys were he around. And he would certainly be giving them a piece of his mind because I just don't know anyone who loved the plant.
and respected the plant as much as Blake. So we start with Blake, we end with Blake, and now let's get back to our show from 48 years ago today at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. The Grateful Dead's welcome back show after their 1975 hiatus. The fans going wild and it was time for another first time ever, Samson and Delilah. Let's hear it.
Larry (01:06:35.137)
Samson and Delilah is a little bit tricky because Bobby played it all the time but he didn't write it. It's a traditional song obviously based on the biblical tale of Samson and his betrayal by Delilah. Its best known performer is perhaps the Grateful Dead who first performed the song live in 1976 at this concert with Bobby singing lead vocals and in the 70s certainly with Donna joining him on those vocals and really getting into it. It was frequently played on Sundays due to the biblical reference and Bobby would kind of ramble up to the microphone and
this being Sunday, and they break into it, was released by the band in 1977 on their album, Terrapin Station. Although we're learning the song from the Reverend Harry Davis of Death Don't Have No Mercy fame, several earlier versions had been recorded under various titles, including If I Had My Way, I Tear the Building Down, Lord, If I Had My Way by Blind Willie Johnson in 1927. The song has since been performed by a wide variety of artists ranging from Bob Dylan,
Charlie Parr, the staple singers, Ike and Tina Turner, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Washington Squares, the Blasters, Willie Watson, Robert Randolph and the family band, and even the boss, Bruce Springsteen has covered this tune.
Larry (01:07:51.233)
It was even featured on an episode of Rawhide, which many of you are probably too young to remember because I'm almost too young to remember it, from an episode called Incident of the Traveling Man, aired in season six on October 17th, 1963. The song Samson Delilah was played. It's a long time favorite with a very, very distinctive drummer's intro that always tips off the song and immediately gets the crowd fired up. They settled into it kind of as a set opener.
more frequently a second set opener and again often played on Sundays so you'd get one more Saturday night on Saturday nights. If you went the next day you got your biblical fill of songs and just part of the fun and not in a wink relationship that the Dead had with their audience and how they played tunes and when they played them. But Samson and Delilah was always a fun one. They played it 365 times in concert. Again this was the first time it was ever played on June 3rd, 1976.
And it was one of those tunes that made it to the final night of the Grateful Dead, July 9th, 1995 at Soldier Field, which of course was a Sunday. So it made perfect sense. But a great, great tune. And one that we all always enjoyed in concert. Well, we are getting to the end of our time today. We have really covered a lot. Sorry if I spoke a little too fast maybe, but this is all just great, great stuff. And...
can't let it go that easily. Again, a great, great weekend in Las Vegas at the Sphere with my very, very dear friends who, you know, the whole part about the Dead is you could go to the Sphere by yourself and you could watch it and it would just be an amazing time. But being able to chat with your friends and talk about it and point it out and they have one scene where the entire wall of the building on the inside there is just filled with photographs from Jay Blakesburg of various tickets and backstage passes to Dead shows over the years. And we were all sitting there trying desperately to find...
ticket stubs or passes from shows that we had attended and pointing them out here and pointing it out there and seeing the occasional pictures that were being flashed up there of friends of ours, people we knew, like Laurie Blakesburg or my buddy Alex, one of his old girlfriends, Abby was pictured up there. And you know, people you hadn't even thought of in a while, many of us were looking, wondering did we somehow wind up in the background of a photo and never know it. The answer was no, but at least not that we could see and there's no way we saw them all. But just...
Larry (01:10:15.905)
such a tremendous, tremendous experience like that. And half the fun is pre -show and then after the show and sitting up all night talking about it and stumbling out of bed the next day to make it down to the poolside to sit around and talk about it some more and just process the whole thing. And on my flight from Las Vegas back to Chicago last night, I would say that at least 50 % of the people on the plane, it seemed to me, maybe more, were returning from the show. And if you just stopped and listened to all the various conversations that were going on.
You know, you have the long time deadheads who were just blown away by the visuals and, you know, happy to hear some of the tunes that they played. And you had, you know, the newer deadheads who were so excited and rightfully so because for them, Debt & Company is their version of the Grateful Dead. And I love the fact that they love it. I love the fact that they're turning out in large numbers for these things. And it's great to hear, you know, younger couples sitting in the row behind you like, my God, it was so, you know, we got to hear Lost Sailor. I always wanted to hear that. And it's the same.
you know, joy and enthusiasm that we all had when we were hearing these songs for the first time. And it's just, that may be the best part about all of this is it's just, you know, for one day, at least the day you're there, but you know, obviously a period of time over a number of weeks when all the Deadheads get to come together as part of their big community and the old time Deadheads, the new Deadheads, the wannabe Deadheads, the I'm not sure I'll ever be Deadheads, and just everybody all coming together for this huge celebration.
And again, like I say, whether you knew any of the songs or not, nobody left that building unhappy. So let's all remember that. Let's all remember Bill Walton. Let's all please remember my good friend Blake Schneider. And this is the crazy world we live in. We're gonna go out today with yet another song that was, this was the first performance of the song ever. It opened up the second set of this show on June 3rd.
1976 from the Paramount Theatre in Portland, Oregon. And the Wheel is one of the Dead's really most beloved songs. It holds a special place in the hearts of the fans worldwide. It was written by Garcia Hunter and Kreutzman, gets writing credit on this one. It's a folk rock anthem that has captivated listeners with its enigmatic lyrics and catchy melody. The song's meaning has been widely debated among enthusiasts and its cryptic nature has allowed for multiple interpretations. But a lot of it seems to talk about...
Larry (01:12:39.009)
Life is like a wheel constantly turning and repeating itself. The song evokes a sense of impermanence, reminds us of the cyclical patterns we encounter throughout our existence. The theme resonates strongly with the band's philosophy and their connection to the spiritual and psychedelic culture of the late 60s and early 70s. Now interestingly, this was released on the Dead's album, not on the Dead's album, excuse me, on Jerry's album, Garcia, in 1972. And here we are four years later.
before the track actually makes the concert appearance, which is a little almost backward for the boys, where it always seemed like they were performing songs that they were about to put out on albums and stuff like this. But it really has very unique guitar work, and it's a showcase of the dead's ability to seamlessly blend folk rock and improvisational elements into a cohesive piece of music. It's normally a second set tune into a route of drums.
although it moved a bit around in the second set. In this instance, you know, it's the opener of a set, which is, you know, really kind of unique for it. And excuse me, I don't know why I'm saying it's the opener of the second set. The wheel was the Encore, so my apologies. I was getting confused with my tunes there for a minute. So even though it's normally a second set tune, here it was played as an Encore, which was more of a rarity, and I can't ever remember seeing it.
you know, being played as an encore. I will tell you that the wheel was one of the tunes that really put me over the edge of becoming a deadhead. My junior year of college, I had at that point maybe seen a total of three or four shows. And I was home from classes one day taking a nap upstairs. And one of my roommates put on a tape and I heard the wheel. But it was one of those moments where I said, my God, I know this tune and I've heard it a couple of times and I love it, but I've never been able to know the name. And I jumped out of bed and went running down the stairs.
to find my roommate and he was laughing, he goes, that's the wheel, we just saw it at this show, we were all just at recently. And I was like, wow, now I'm at that point where I'm recognizing their tunes and I'm so totally into them and it was such a great thing. And I remember coming out of Hampton Coliseum after a show and the Hampton Coliseum's a big round building, the fish heads call it the mother ship, it's a famous venue, well known, and it was projecting lights up into the sky which was a little.
Larry (01:15:00.833)
foggy and it created a perfect vision of a wheel and it's just played it that night. Everybody came out and saw the wheel and the sky and couldn't believe it and just absolutely amazing but a great tune that we all love and they can't play it enough for us. And in fact they played it 259 times in concert. It was first played on June 3rd, 76 at the Paramount Theater once again, our show here today and its final performance was on May 25th, 1995 at Memorial Stadium.
in Seattle, Washington. So I'm gonna leave you with the wheel to jam out to. Thank you so much for listening to our show today. Please come back next week. We just have great things coming up over the next few weeks here. We're lining up some more guests. There's some great, Grateful Dead shows that we will be featuring throughout the month of June. And it just promises to be fun, a great time to sit around, talk dead and marijuana with everybody. And quite frankly, there's nothing more I'd like to do on any given day, which is why I love doing this podcast.
and bringing it all to you guys once a week. So I hope everybody has a great week. Be safe if you're living in part of the country that's about to get super hot. Find a way to stay cool. And as always, enjoy your cannabis responsibly. Thanks everyone. Talk to you next week.