"Tunes of the Season: Phish, Grateful Dead, and Merry Jams" Larry Mishkin discusses Christmas-themed songs performed by various artists, including The Who and Grateful Dead. Larry delves into The Who's rock opera "Tommy," particularly focusing on the song "Christmas" and its critical reception. He transitions to discussing Grateful Dead's rendition of Chuck Berry's "Run, Rudolph, Run" performed at the Felt Forum in 1971 and analyzes its significance in the band's repertoire.
"Tunes of the Season: Phish, Grateful Dead, and Merry Jams"
Larry Mishkin discusses Christmas-themed songs performed by various artists, including The Who and Grateful Dead. Larry delves into The Who's rock opera "Tommy," particularly focusing on the song "Christmas" and its critical reception. He transitions to discussing Grateful Dead's rendition of Chuck Berry's "Run, Rudolph, Run" performed at the Felt Forum in 1971 and analyzes its significance in the band's repertoire.
Larry further explores the potential residency of bands like Dead & Company at the Sphere in Las Vegas, following U2's shows there. He touches on Phish's upcoming performances at the same venue and discusses the difficulty in acquiring tickets for these highly anticipated shows.
Later, Larry reminisces about New Year's Eve shows by various bands, specifically mentioning Grateful Dead's memorable performances during the countdown. He also features unconventional Christmas renditions by Phish and Jerry Garcia with David Grisman.
Theme – Rock n Roll Christmas
If you were in the Mishkin household earlier this morning, you might have heard this blasting out of the speakers:
INTRO: Christmas
The Who
February 14, 1970
University of Leeds, Leeds, England aka “Live At Leeds”
The Who - Christmas - Live At Leeds (with Footage) (youtube.com)
2:00 – 3:17
"Christmas" is a song written by Pete Townshend and is the seventh song on The Who's rock opera Tommy. On the original LP, it opens the second side of the album. Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Who, first released on 19 May 1969.[2] Primarily written by guitarist Pete Townshend, Tommy is a double album and an early rock opera that tells the story of Tommy Walker and his experiences through life.
The song tells how on Christmas morning, Tommy's father is worried about Tommy's future, and soul. His future is jeopardized due to being deaf, dumb, and blind.[2] The lyrics contrast religious themes such as Christmas and Jesus Christ with Tommy's ignorance of such matters. The rhetorical question, "How can he be saved from the eternal grave?" is asked about Tommy's condition and adds speculation as to the nature of original sin and eternal salvation. In the middle of the song, "Tommy can you hear me?" is repeated, with Tommy responding, "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me."
"Christmas" was praised by critics. Richie Unterberger of AllMusic called it an "excellent song."[5]Rolling Stone's Mac Randall said it was one of several "prime Pete Townshend songs" on the album.[6] A review in Life by Albert Goldman considered it beautiful and highlighted the song's "croaking chorus".[7] James Perone said it was "perhaps one of the best sleeper tracks of the collection."
Townshend came up with the concept of Tommy after being introduced to the work of Meher Baba, and he attempted to translate Baba's teachings into music. Recording on the album began in September 1968, but took six months to complete as material needed to be arranged and re-recorded in the studio. Tommy was acclaimed upon its release by critics, who hailed it as the Who's breakthrough. Its critical standing diminished slightly in later years; nonetheless, several writers view it as an important and influential album in the history of rock music. The Who promoted the album's release with an extensive tour, including a live version of Tommy, which lasted throughout 1969 and 1970. Key gigs from the tour included appearances at Woodstock, the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the University of Leeds, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The live performances of Tommy drew critical praise and revitalised the band's career.
Live at Leeds is the first live album by English rock band the Who. It was recorded at the University of Leeds Refectory on 14 February 1970, and is their only live album that was released while the group were still actively recording and performing with their best-known line-up of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.
The album was released on 11 May 1970 by Decca and MCA in the United States,[2] and by Track and Polydor in the United Kingdom. It has been reissued on several occasions and in several different formats. Since its release, Live at Leeds has been ranked by several music critics as the best live rock recording of all time
SHOW No. 1: Run Rudolph Run
Grateful Dead
Felt Forum at MSG, NYC
December 7, 1971
Track No. 10
0:11 – 1:54
Run Rudolph Run"[2][3][4] is a Christmas song written by Chuck Berry but credited to Johnny Marks and M. Brodie due to Marks' trademark on the character of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.[5][note 1] It was published by St. Nicholas Music (ASCAP) and was first recorded by Berry in 1958, released as a single on Chess Records.
It has since been covered by numerous other artists, sometimes with the title "Run Run Rudolph".[16] The song is a 12-bar blues, musically similar to Berry's popular and recognizable song "Johnny B. Goode", and melodically similar to his song "Little Queenie", the latter of which was released shortly after, in 1959.
During its initial chart run, Berry's 1958 recording peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1958.[22] Sixty years later, the single re-entered the Hot 100 chart at number 45 (on the week ending January 5, 2019), reaching an overall peak position of number 10 on the week ending January 2, 2021, following its third chart re-entry, becoming Berry's third top-ten hit and his first since 1972's "My Ding-a-Ling". In doing so, it broke the record for the longest climb to the top 10 since its first entry in December 1958, at 62 years and two weeks.
This Ciip:
SHOW No. 2: Little Drummer Boy
Phish
July 3, 1999
Coca Cola Lakewood Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA
Phish - The Little Drummer Boy - 7/3/1999 - Atlanta, GA (youtube.com)
Start to 1:30
Out of Contact to close the second set. Played it again as the first encore (into, Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailery starring Page’s dad, Jack, on vocals and kazoo.
"The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a Czechoslovakian popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941.[1] First recorded in 1951 by the Austrian Trapp Family, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years, and the song has been recorded many times since.[2] In the lyrics, the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the Infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with approval from Jesus' mother, Mary, recalling, "I played my best for him" and "He smiled at me".
Phish has only performed the song three times during the month of December – the debut performance segueing out of “Mike’s Song” and into “Whipping Post,” a tease during the 12/28/94 “Weekapaug Groove,” and jammed out of the “YEM” vocal jam (12/2/99) (which melted down until Jon was left singing it to close the set). But the song was jammed out of season during “My Friend, My Friend” (3/18/93) and “Stash” (7/15/93), and teased during “Weekapaug Groove” and “Big Ball Jam” (4/9/94), “Wilson” (8/13/97), “Silent in the Morning” (7/4/99), and "Wilson" (4/16/04).
This version is generally considered to be Fishman’s most memorable version.
SHOW No. 3: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman
November 9, 1991
Warfield Theater, S.F.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Jerry Garcia - Bing video
Start – 1:37
Out of The Two Sisters to close second set
"God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is in the Roxburghe Collection (iii. 452), and is listed as no. 394 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It is also known as "Tidings of Comfort and Joy", and by other variant incipits.
An early version of this carol is found in an anonymous manuscript, dating from the 1650s
it appeared in a parody published in 1820 by William Hone.
Story here is the way Jerry and David play so tight, trading off leads and filling in gaps. A great sound for a traditional tune. There are many sides of Jerry and we don’t get to see all of them. Nice to take a break from the traditional Dead stuff and take a look in at what else Garcia was doing during that creative period of his life.
SHOW No. 4: Stagger Lee
Grateful Dead
December 30, 1985
Track No. 6
Grateful Dead Live at Oakland Coliseum on 1985-12-30 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive
Start – 1:32
As is made clear by the opening lyrics, this is a tale about events that unfolded and played out on Christmas: “1940 Xmas Eve with a full moon over town”. On some occasions, Jerry was known to substitute in “Christmas” Eve.
"Stagger Lee", also known as "Stagolee" and other variants, is a popular American folk song about the murder of Billy Lyons by "Stag" Lee Shelton, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Christmas 1895. The song was first published in 1911 and first recorded in 1923, by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians, titled "Stack O' Lee Blues". A version by Lloyd Price reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959.
The historical Stagger Lee was Lee Shelton, an African-American pimp living in St. Louis, Missouri, in the late 19th century. He was nicknamed Stag Lee or Stack Lee, with a variety of explanations being given: he was given the nickname because he "went stag" (went to social events unaccompanied by a person of the opposite sex); he took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called Stack Lee; or, according to John and Alan Lomax, he took the name from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of Memphis called the Stack Lee, which was known for its on-board prostitution.[2] Shelton was well known locally as one of the Macks, a group of pimps who demanded attention through their flashy clothing and appearance.[3] In addition to those activities, he was the captain of a black Four Hundred Club, a social club with a dubious reputation.
On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton and his acquaintance William "Billy" Lyons were drinking in the Bill Curtis Saloon. Lyons was also a member of St. Louis' underworld, and may have been a political and business rival to Shelton. Eventually, the two men got into a dispute, during which Lyons took Shelton's Stetson hat.[5]Subsequently, Shelton shot Lyons, recovered his hat, and left.[6] Lyons died of his injuries, and Shelton was charged, tried, and convicted of the murder in 1897. He was paroled in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery. He died in incarceration in 1912.
The Grateful Dead frequently played and eventually recorded a version of the tale which focuses on the fictionalized hours after the death of "Billy DeLyon", when Billy's wife Delia tracks down Stagger Lee in a local saloon and "she shot him in the balls" in revenge for Billy's death.
Based on the traditional song "Stagger Lee", "Stagolee" or "Stack O'Lee." Robert Hunter wrote a version that he performed solo, and Jerry Garcia subsequently re-ordered the lyrics and rewrote the music for the Grateful Dead's version. More recently Bob Weir has also been performing some of the older traditional versions with Ratdog.
Dead released it on Shakedown Street, Nov. 8, 1978
Played 146 times by the Dead
1st: August 30, 1978
Last: June 18, 1995 Giants Stadium
OUTRO: Santa Clause Is Coming To Town
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
CW Post University, Greenvale, NY
December, 19756
2:15 - 4:00
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus, written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie and first recorded by Harry Reser and His Band.[1] When it was covered by Eddie Cantor on his radio show in November 1934 it became a hit; within 24 hours, 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records were sold.[2][3] The version for Bluebird Records by George Hall and His Orchestra (vocal by Sonny Schuyler) was very popular in 1934 and reached the various charts of the day.[4] The song has been recorded by over 200 artists including Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, the Crystals, Neil Diamond, Fred Astaire, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Chris Isaak, the Temptations, The Pointer Sisters, the Carpenters, Michael Bublé, Luis Miguel, and the Jackson 5
A rock version by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band was recorded on December 12, 1975, at C. W. Post College in Brookville, New York, by Record Plant engineers Jimmy Iovine and Thom Panunzio.[14][15] This version borrows the chorus refrain from the 1963 recording by the Crystals.[16] It was first released as a track on the 1981 Sesame Street compilation album, In Harmony 2, as well as on a 1981 promotional, radio-only, 7-inch single (Columbia AE7 1332).[17][18] Four years later, it was released as the B-side to "My Hometown," a single off the Born in the U.S.A. album.[19] Springsteen's rendition of the song has received radio airplay perennially at Christmastime for years; it appeared on Billboard magazine's Hot Singles Recurrents chart each year from 2002 to 2009 due to seasonal air play. Live performances of the song often saw the band encouraging the audience to sing some of the lyrics with—or in place of—the band's vocalists (usually the line "you'd better be good for goodness sake", and occasionally the key line "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" as well). Sometimes, concert crowds would sing along with the entire song, and the band, who were known to encourage this behavior for the song, would do nothing to dissuade those audiences from doing so, instead welcoming the crowds' enthusiasm. This version remains a Springsteen concert favorite during the months of November and December (often concluding the show), and the band is among the few that keep it in their roster of songs during the holidays.
Dead & Co at the Sphere?
Phish – sold out fast
Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays
Larry (00:37.742)
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show. I'm Larry Mishkin of Mishkin Law in Chicago, wishing everyone out there a Merry Christmas today being Christmas 2023. For those of you who celebrated and for those of you who don't, it's still a fun day for the rest of us. So, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. Um, we feature Grateful Dead all the time, but I just thought that with today being Christmas and everything, it might not be so bad to, uh,
dive into some Christmas theme songs from some of our favorite musicians, many of whom we featured throughout the year. So if you're at the Michigan household earlier this morning, you might've heard this blasting out of the speakers.
Larry (01:32.854)
So Christmas, it's a song written by Pete Townsend. It's the seventh song on The Who's rock opera Tommy. On the original LP, it opens the second side of the album. Tommy is the fourth studio album by The Who, first released on May 19th, 1969, primarily written by guitarist Pete Townsend. Tommy is a double album and an early rock opera that tells the story of Tommy Walker and his experiences through life. The song tells on a Christmas morning, Tommy's father is worried about Tommy's future and soul.
His future is jeopardized due to having been deaf, dumb, and becoming deaf, dumb, and blind. And I won't ruin the story for you, for those of you who haven't ever listened to it. But Tommy's father is pretty complicit in all of that, let's just say. The lyrics contrast religious themes such as Christmas and Jesus Christ with Tommy's ignorance about such matters. The rhetorical question, how can he be saved from the eternal grave, is asked about Tommy's condition and adds speculation as to the nature of original sin.
and eternal salvation in the middle of the song. Tommy, can you hear me is repeated with Tommy responding, see me, feel me, touch me, heal me, the theme that goes throughout the whole opera. Christmas was praised by critics. Rich Unterberger of All Music called it an excellent song. Rolling Stones' Mack Randall said it was one of several prime Pete Townsend songs on the album. A review in Life by Albert Goldman considered it beautiful and highlighted the song's croaking chorus. James Perrone said it was perhaps one of the best
of the collection and I would agree with that. I really like it. It's one of my favorite songs on the album and coming out of the rock opera. Tommy was acclaimed upon its release by critics who held it as the who's breakthrough. Its critical standing diminished slightly in later years. Nonetheless, several writers view it as an important and influential album in the history of rock music.
The Who promoted the album's release with an extensive tour, including a live version of Tommy, which lasted throughout 1969 and 1970. Key gigs from the tour included appearances at Woodstock, the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the University of Leeds, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The live performances of Tommy drew critical praise and revitalized the band's career.
Larry (03:54.43)
Live at Leeds commemorating the show at the University of Leeds is the live album by the Rock Band The Who. It was recorded at the University of Leeds refectory on February 14th, 1970 and it is their only live album that was released while the group was still actively recording and performing with their original lineup of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townsend, Johnette Whistle on bass and Keith Moon on the drums. The album was released on May 11th, 1970 by DECA and MCA in the United States.
and by track and paladar in the United Kingdom. It has been reissued on several occasions and in several different formats. Since its release, Live at Leeds has been ranked by several critics as the best live rock recording of all time. And other than also throwing in Live Dead, I think I would agree with that. Long before I knew Live Dead, Live at Leeds was very far up on the list, if not the top of list of my favorite live albums out there. Obviously, Get Your Yah Yahs Out from the Rolling Stones has to be considered in there.
and a few others along the way. But Tommy is just really something special. And while the interestingly the album itself is very good and I like it, it sounds almost still you know a little in-studio and formulaic and they have all sorts of guest people coming in and singing all the different parts of the song, most notably Elton John on Pinball Wizard.
coming in and doing his thing and for many people that was the only version of pinball wizard they knew for years and years and Never realized that it was a who tune. It was such a popular song when it was all completely associated with Elton John, but It's a great album. But what I really loved was finding these Other collections of live versions of the album so live at Leeds the Isle of Wight these are all
Live at Leeds is an actual, as we said, recording released by the band. The Isle of Wight Festival was kind of one of these bootleg recordings that was released and eventually became an official release by the band. And on both of those shows from right around the same time, they have an entire set of the Who playing all the way through Tommy. And those are the versions that I really liked the most. Woodstock one was okay, but they didn't really do the entire Tommy, they didn't have enough time. They did parts of it and certainly at the end, when they,
Larry (06:16.962)
really just keep building up the crescendo over and over. It's fantastic and you can only get that feeling when you're listening to it live. So this is the version that we play every year on Christmas Day in our house. Being Jewish, we like to have something to look forward to on Christmas Day and the Who's story of the life of Christ or however you wanna call it, for me is pretty easy to listen to and very, very enjoyable, especially it played with the volume very loud.
So that's the first of our songs today to celebrate the fact that today is Christmas day. And for our next song, we wouldn't be fair to all of our listeners if we didn't throw out a tune from our very own beloved Grateful Dead. And believe it or not, this is about the most Christmasy tune that we get from the dead.
Larry (07:26.146)
That's the Grateful Dead performing at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden, New York City on December 7th, 1971, singing Run, Rudolph or Run, Rudolph, Run. It's a Christmas song written by Chuck Berry, but credited to Johnny Marks and M. Brody due to Marks trademark of the character of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. So understand that Marks didn't have anything to do with writing the song, but because he owned the trademark for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
probably from the TV version that we all used to watch as kids. He got writing credit for the song, even though it's a Chuck Berry tune. It was published by St. Nicholas Music and was first recorded by Berry in 1958. It was released as a single on Chef's Records. It's been covered by numerous other artists, sometimes with the title Run, Rudolph, as opposed to Run, Rudolph, Run.
The song is a 12 bar blues musically similar to Barry's popular and recognizable song, Johnny B. Good, and melodically similar to his song, Little Queenie, the latter of which was released shortly after in 1959. During its initial chart run, Barry's 1958 recording peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1958. Sixty years later, the single re-entered the Hot 100 chart at number 45 on the week ending January 5th, 2019.
reaching an overall peak position of number 10 on the week, ending January 2nd, 2021. Following its third chart re-entry, becoming Barry's third top 10 hit, and his first since 72's My Dingling in doing so, it broke the record for the longest climb to the top 10 since its first entry in December 1958, at 62 years and two weeks. Now this clip that we're listening to from the Feld Forum, located in Madison Square Garden, they're the kind of the theater portion.
of the venue. Came out of Broke Down Palace and into you went again. The Dead only played the song live a total of seven times. This was the first time ever played on December 7th, 1971. And the last time was barely a week later on December 15th, 1971 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, which by the way is a absolutely epic show that we didn't get to this year, but hopefully we will next year, depending on what day of the week it falls on.
Larry (09:50.346)
because that's one of my all-time favorite shows, not just because I am a Michigan alum, but because it happens to be a great show and an amazing venue. But I digress. So, Run Rudolph Run, this is Pigpen belting it out and having a good time with it. And it's just a great tune, very enjoyable to hear. And it's a shame that they couldn't find a way to keep it into the lineup and have somebody else take over.
uh, after pig pen left this, uh, left this mortal coil and, uh, went off into the great here after, but we never got it again and you just have to go back and listen to it on these live versions that are out there, but it is a lot of fun and this happens to be a particularly good version, I think. So I would strongly recommend if you're in the holiday spirit and looking for a little grateful debt action, uh, to kind of buoy you along, uh, this might be a very good thing.
Though on the Deadhead Cannabis Show, we are nothing if not diligent in our efforts to try to be factually accurate and telling you things that are correct and true and not just alternate facts or things that we made up or things that we thought were true and were just too lazy to go online and double check. But alas, even the best of us sometimes can fall victim to these types of things. And so that's why I want to give a shout out to a listener, Rob Schwartz.
uh... who was kind enough uh... to send in an email pointing out that on our episode about steven stills a week ago or two weeks ago from the uh... thelma uh... venue in uh... los angeles and we talked about the whiskey a go-go and london fog and thelma and all of those and i kept repeating over and over hollywood boulevard but thank you to rob for reminding me that was actually sunset boulevard not hollywood boulevard
And of course, that is important if you're out there saying, hey, I'm going to go through LA and I'd like to go find the whiskey or go-go or wherever London fog used to be. Uh, Michigan told me it was on Hollywood Boulevard and you drive around for a few hours and you don't find it. Um, then you're upset, but since Rob was kind enough to let me know, so I can let all of you know. Now, if you're out there, please only direct your attention to sunset Boulevard when looking for those and other famous venues from that time period. So thank you, Rob. I appreciate you being on that.
Larry (12:14.266)
and being very diligent for me, that's very nice. Another thing that's happening on the music side that I think is worth noting, I don't know about the rest of you, I was not lucky at trying to get tickets from the Phish sign up for their shows that are announced for the third week of April this year at the Sphere in Las Vegas. It's looking right now as though those tickets may become some of the hardest tickets to get, some of the most expensive tickets.
in a long time, uh, because the sphere is so brand new, uh, that even people who aren't necessarily big fish fans or even jam band fans have heard of fish and understand that there's a big buzz and understand that one of the reasons why there's a big buzz, uh, is because fish will actually take the time to come in and make full advantage of their use of this space, both in the light shows that they're going to put together, the sound shows that they're going to put together. And it's really going to be a four nights of
almost performance art, but everybody I know, friends, family, acquaintances out there who I've met on the tours or who I've gotten to know, or like I say, you know, who are already members of the family. Nobody seems to have been successful. My son's buddy, Kevin, I think actually got his four day pass, but he was diligent enough to have, you know, 15 different people send in, sign up for him for a
four day passes, which I guess was a calculated risk, because if he'd hit on all of them, he would have owed the money to all of those people for 14 different passes, but I'm sure he would have had no trouble getting rid of them, and probably for significantly more than he would have paid for them. And then it's a free trip all the way around. But very disappointing that we weren't able to get those. And for some of us that weren't, we say, well, too bad, I guess it wasn't our band. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. However,
We have now come to learn that debting companies is being considered as the new house band, if you will, the residency band as U2's replacement at the Sphere. U2 has been doing that now for, I guess, the better part of a month. We had good friend Alex Wellens on the show recently to give us firsthand information on what the Sphere was like and what the U2 show in the Sphere was like.
Larry (14:35.85)
You should go back and listen to that episode because Alex is nothing, if not detailed in the way he breaks these things down and that's why we love him and have him on the show. Cause he's good like that. And, uh, you know, it's a very exciting thing. And the idea, uh, that dad and co might show up there is also very exciting. Apparently, um,
U2 extended their number of shows once again due to an incredibly high demand, but now there's another group being floated as a possible replacement for the Irish Rockers after they're finally done with their residency, the U2-UV-Octoom Baby Live at the Sphere show. The New York Post has reported that Denning Company is in talks to set up at the Sphere. The article states that nothing is certain, merely the conversations are happening, which is always exciting. That's better than conversations not happening.
The fact that the team behind booking the sphere and talks with dad and company isn't shocking. Even if they might not have landed at the top of a list of potential next headliners for the high tech venue. Following you to the only other act that has been booked to take the stage is fish as we've talked about the jam rockers are heading over there for a four night run in a few months, uh, at least to begin with, right? There's always some talk that maybe if they're comfortable with it and the sphere is comfortable with fish, uh, that it might be an opportunity.
uh... to extend their run there and offer more tickets but i think that while the tickets will certainly sell out quickly no matter how they sold them uh... it's always advantage if you have them sold in advance uh... especially trying to book hotel rooms in las vegas anytime you never know what other conferences are going to be there or what's going to be going on so you always like to have heads up but maybe they say after the first four yeah these were great fish has a spring tour but afterwards you know we're three more times this year when they have a week or two available they're going to pop in to continue this
ongoing residency. That would be cool. Certainly create more opportunities for those of us that would like to go there, both to see the sphere and to see fish in the sphere. And hopefully that would happen. Now this article points out that Dedin Company shares a similar space in fan basis fish. Maybe they have that backwards. The fish shares a similar space in fan basis Dedin Co. Although at this point in time, fish may actually have the upper hand on that. Nothing wrong with that.
Larry (16:54.042)
Uh, and they're also by the same man who manages you too. So that the debt and company, so they've already met with the spheres team and they're familiar with them. The article states that if debt and company were to say yes to a sphere residency, it likely wouldn't happen for quite some time. A source told the paper that a string of concerts from the jam rockers wouldn't take place until at least next summer. So talking about the summer of 2025, uh, which of course we know in this world happens very quickly and if they approve it this coming August.
for next June, then the tickets will go on sale and they'll want to be holding our money you know for 10 months instead of waiting until the last minute and then having a scramble for tickets, but hey either way It's all good And then they talk here about who dead and companies, but we all know that so we don't really have to Get into that much other than the article notes that after touring for nearly a decade They've stated that they'll never tour again Though that doesn't mean that they aren't open to shows or even residency. So it all makes it
you know, kind of a loose threat when people say, you know, this could be the last time and then it just isn't, but you know, that's okay. They can keep saying it. We'll keep going to see them and everybody has a good time anyway. There have been several other names discussed as possible next headliners for the sphere. Since you two inaugurated the space, in addition to fish, the only confirmed acts stars like Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, and Lady Gaga, have been rumored to be in talks for the spot. Beyonce has also reportedly been considering the opportunity.
and both her husband and her mother have apparently toured the venue. So, uh, it looks like one way or another, there's going to be some good music to see at the sphere over time. Uh, other shows and other opportunities. Uh, I think that, uh, anyone who likes the grateful dad and has ventured out to see dead and company, you know, oftentimes we get the response that, Hey, yeah, dead and company was cool. And they were a lot of fun. Not necessarily a band that I would go travel to see, but you know, if they're in my region or if I happen to be a place where they're playing,
Then sure, that's as good a way as any to spend a night and go out and hear some good old classical Grateful Dead. But certainly putting them into a venue like the Sphere would be very awesome and that would be very exciting. So we'll keep our fingers crossed on that and see if something doesn't come from that a little bit more solid here. And for all of you who wanted to see fish at the Sphere and got shut out...
Larry (19:11.35)
Well, you know, we'll all have the same chance on the secondary mortgage, which will probably require us to mortgage our houses. Or you guys can all just call Kevin. He lives in Skokie and you know, if you get ahold of him, maybe he'll agree to see if he can find an extra ticket to give you or something. So he wouldn't mind. He loves talking to people about fish. Um, but that's what's going on in our musical world with fish and with that and co there's all sorts of new year shows. Bobby's doing a five night run down in South Florida, which I think begins, I want to say the day after Christmas baby.
maybe or the day after that and then culminates with the New Year's Eve show. Fish of course is doing their New Year's Eve gig in New York this year as they always do at Madison Square Garden and you know there's all sorts of bands. Umphrey's McGee is doing a big show at the Riviera Nightclub here in Chicago for New Year's Eve. I haven't specifically heard about Goose but I'm sure that they are too. Now our next show is going to come to you a week from today.
So it'll actually be on January 1st, New Year's Day. And all of these shows will have happened. So we will hopefully be able to give you some sort of a review if we can find out what's transpired into that relatively short period of time from end of show time for them to tape recording, show time for us. But I think we're gonna be taping a few days before. So we can talk about what shows are gonna be out there. But by the time you hear about them.
They will have already happened. Sorry, that's just the way it goes when you do a podcast and you do it like this. If you have any questions, just send them to Dan. He loves responding to fan mail and looks forward to that kind of thing. It gives him something to do, a sense of purpose, which we all need, you know. But yeah, we will be back on next Monday. As you can imagine, we'll probably be featuring a lot of New Year's Eve stuff, primarily from the Grateful Dead, but we might make our way over to one or two.
live New Year's Eve fish moments or maybe a widespread or some of the other bands that are out there that play on New Year's Eve and really throw down legendary musical performances when they do. Now speaking of legendary performances, let's go back to our Christmas music celebration and the next tune that we have here is going to come from
Larry (21:36.074)
from July 3rd, 1999. So it's not even seasonal, but, uh, here's what they heard at the Coca-Cola liquid amphitheater just outside Atlanta.
Larry (21:54.782)
Yes, you heard correctly. That is the little drummer boy, a very, very famous Christmas tune that Fish decided to jam out on a little bit here, um, to close the second set, second set coming out of the song, contact out of the jam into the little drummer boy. Uh, and then they jumped into it again as the first encore. And then into won't you come home, Bill Bailey starring Paige's dad, Jack, who happened to be at the show on both vocals and kazoo.
So it sounds like a wacky fish show no matter what. I was just focused on it for the little drummer boy. That's a song that was originally known as Carol of the Drum. It's a Czechoslovakian popular Christmas song written by American composer, Catherine Kennecott Davis in 1941. It was first recorded in 1951 by the Austrian Trop family. That's the same Trop family from the Sound of Music. The song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeon.
Larry (22:56.224)
The song has been recorded many times since. In the lyrics, the singer relates how as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the magi to the nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with the approval from Jesus' mother, Mary recalling, I played my best for him, and he smiled at me. Now Fish has only performed this song for the first time in his life.
actually three times during the month of September. That you know, we said this was from July the debut performance came out of Mike song and into whip and post a tease during the 1228 94. Show the week of Poggroove and jammed out of the you enjoy myself vocal jam on 122 99 which melted down until John was left singing it to close the set but the song was jammed out of season.
during My Friend, My Friend on March 18th, 1993, and Stash July 15th, 1993, and Tease during Wicapaw Groove, and Big Ball Jam on April 9th, 1994, Wilson on 8th, 13, 97, Silent in the Morning on 7, 4, 99, and Wilson on 4, 16, 04. So this was July 3rd, 99, so yeah, Silent in the Morning on July 4th, 99, the Tease. So obviously a tune that
But for periods of time there, it looks like in the early 90s and then right just a little bit again at the late 90s, Fish enjoyed it and they played it. There's no rule that says they have to play it over the Christmas season in order for us to be able to play it on our Christmas show. We checked the rules on that. We're covered here. So, yep, the little drummer boy. Really too funny. Just one of those things where you log on to Google and you type in.
uh... fish songs about christmas or fish playing christmas songs just on kind of a lark and then boom this pops up and you say to yourself wow of course i should have known not necessarily the song but sure they would have done something and it is very fish like to think that a number of those times they were playing the song out of season uh... just because they felt like playing it uh... so hats off to them and uh... for those of you going to the fish new year shows at madison square garden or the run of shows leading up to it
Larry (25:18.326)
have a great time and enjoy. I'm sure they will be fun as they always are. I've never been to a fish New Year show, but was lucky enough to catch three Grateful Dead New Year shows, and assuming that it's the same fun loving stuff where early in the evening you fret for a minute about what's with me and all these crazy habits of running off to see live musical shows on New Year's Eve. But when New Year's Eve moment comes and they're dropping the balloons and fireworks are going off and back of the dead shows, Bill would be riding in on
Bill Graham on whatever device he had up to the stage to welcome in the new year. Of course, you know, we have the burning ember of marijuana from closing out the winter land, uh, new year show, which is a very famous one. I'm sure we'll have a clip off of that for next week. Um, you know, and then the big countdown is the countdown is going down and getting, you know, three, two, one, zero, happy new year and the bands, whichever band it is just immediately kicks in.
to a tremendous high energy tune and you look at the people around you and you're like, where else would I rather be to start a new year? Where else? Now, I will answer that question and say that my life has changed a little bit, so I have an answer. And the answer, where else would I rather be on New Year's Eve? I'd be very happy to be in Atlanta with my granddaughter. And I think that would be something that I would be very happy to do, even if I was gonna miss a live, magical, musical moment, because that's what granddaughters will do to you, I've discovered. And for those of you that have them, you know what I mean, and those of you that don't.
God bless and hopefully someday you will. And then you'll know what I mean. But yeah, Fish is coming up for their big shows. Enjoy, enjoy and have a great time. Now keeping in this kind of more traditional musical theme, again, we don't like to blow off our buddies with the Grateful Dead and especially our, the leader of that band and.
the guy that's attracted so many of us to the band and kept us in their sway for so long. Mr. Jerry Garcia, and here with one of his famous musical partnerships with David Grisman, as they take a shot at God rest ye merry gentlemen, on November 9th, 1991 at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. So let's hit it.
Larry (27:48.942)
God rest ye merry gentlemen. And how do you love that? What a great tune. Coming out of the Two Sisters to close out the second set for this really great show at the Warfield Theater. It's a wonderful show. These guys just compliment each other so well. And when Grissman really gets that mandolin flying and Garcia's right there keeping up with him with the guitar and the sound is just so wonderful. Anything they do is great, but the fact that
they chose to play a song like this and it wasn't quite Christmas season yet. We're still pre-Thanksgiving on November 9th of 1991. But the song itself, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, is an English traditional Christmas carol. It's in the Roxburgh collection from 452 and is listed as number 394 in the Rude Folk Song Index. It's also known as Tidings of Comfort and Joy.
and by other variant names. An early version of this carol is found in an anonymous manuscript dating from the 1650s, and it also appeared in another version published in 1820 by William Hone. For me, the story here is the way that Jerry and David play this so tight. They're trading off their leads, they're filling in gaps when the other one has the lead. It's a great, great sound and a great tempo for a very traditional tune.
There are many sides of Jerry I think that we didn't always get to see and some of them, you know, those of us, certainly some of us didn't get to see all of them. My case just a factor of not being old enough when a lot of this was going down or having access to the shows because not a whole lot of them were going down in St. Louis at the time. But it's nice to take a break from traditional Grateful Dead music or the traditional music of any of these bands and take a look in this case at what else Garcia was doing.
during that very creative period of his life, when he and Grisman stepped out on stage together. There's a whole bunch of great albums out there with those guys. Grisman has his Grateful Dog album out there. They have the pizza box tapes and a few others. They're just such naturals, right? When they do Friend of the Devil, you swear you're listening to American Beauty for the first time all over again. It's just such a nice sound. The fact that
Larry (30:14.838)
They almost look exactly alike, both slightly overweight gentlemen dressed in black with white hair and white full facial beards, both sitting there playing their stringed instruments. It's a really special site to see. A lot of this is available on YouTube, as well as archive.org. And on YouTube, you can actually see them up there. And it's a great site. They're having a lot of fun. The audience is loving it. And we've got a lot of fun.
We miss Jerry for all sorts of reasons, and this is certainly one of them. And even though David Grisman came around from time to time and is wonderful, it's still not the same without his intrepid partner, Garcia, up there jamming away and doing their thing. So, God rest ye merry gentlemen, a great tune for the day. A lot of fun to listen to Jerry and David jam on that. Remember from November 9th, 91 at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco.
Check it out and really enjoy the full show and the full version of this song Because it's something that's in my opinion Really really great And even on Christmas Day my friends the world of cannabis does not stop Swirling around and round and this Christmas Day is no different and We're gonna dive right into it. But first this little musical interlude from producer dance
Larry (31:46.142)
So I guess you could kind of guess that the song was called Christmas Time in Boulder, a song that I will confess I was not familiar with, nor am I familiar with the artist who performed it, the one and only Smooch McGee and the perfectly whelmed, W-H-E-L-M-E-D. Christmas Time in Boulder, very, very available on Google, highly recommend it. It's a song that will put a smile on the face.
of all of your attendees at any of your Christmas or other holiday parties. And thank you to Dan for once again uncovering these little cannabis gems that we can throw out there that just goes to show folks that cannabis has been a very strong part of our creative culture for a very long time. And everybody likes to throw little cannabis mentions into their tunes from time to time. And well, they should because it just leads to more fun.
in music and we like that. So what is going on in the world of cannabis that we want to talk about? It's the end of the year. Hopefully there's good news out there, right? That's what we want. Nobody wants to go walking off into the sunset of 2023 and the sunrise of 2024 with heavy cannabis news hanging over their heads. So we won't really do the heavy cannabis news so much.
But we will say that a letter from California Attorney General Rob Bonta to state regulators all but ended the marijuana industry hopes of interstate cannabis commerce. In a 36 page letter sent December 19th to the Department of Cannabis Control, the state's chief cannabis regulator, Bonta wrote that marijuana activity between legal out of state businesses and California licensees could result in significant legal risk to the state of California under the federal
Controlled Substances Act. The warning, first reported by Marijuana Moment, this article that I'm reading is from MJ Biz Daily. Thank you to both of them, as always, for being such great providers of relevant cannabis news. The warning is not a surprise, considering federal prohibition of the plant, which cast long odds, state allowing such sales would be put to the test. California hopes for interstate cannabis sales rose in September, 2022, when Governor Gavin Newsom
Larry (34:12.034)
signed Senate Bill 1326 to create interstate commerce packs overriding a longstanding prohibition on the transportation and distribution of marijuana products across state lines, something we reported on at the time. Enactment of the law, however, was contingent on several triggers, including federal legalization, approvals from the Department of Justice, and other major US marijuana policy shifts. Senate Bill 1326 went into effect on January 1, 2023.
And shortly thereafter, the Department of Cannabis Control asked Bonta, a longtime industry advocate as an assembly member, to provide some guidance on interstate sales. In a statement sent to MJ Biz Daily and other news outlets, the DCC said that we appreciate the Attorney General's conclusion that the arguments supporting interstate agreements are strong. Unfortunately, even strong arguments cannot put novel questions beyond all debate.
Bonta's response also made a passing reference to protecting state employees who might be open to legal risks by green lighting interstate cannabis commerce. Courts have disagreed about the scope of federal preemption in the cannabis context, and no court has ever considered a preemption challenge to a state law authorizing interstate cannabis sales, the letter noted. The law is also unsettled as to whether the state officials could be federally prosecuted for implementing state law in this area. In Washington, May,
Washington state became the third state to create an interstate cannabis commerce law, though the statute was also contingent on the U.S. government legalizing marijuana or allowing such transactions between states. Oregon became the first state with an interstate marijuana commerce provision in June 2019 when its governor signed such activity into law. Now, when we talked about this back at the time when the question came up with California
their Senate bill on this. One of the things that we noted was it wasn't likely that any of these new laws that these states were trying to enact were going to become active and implemented. We talked about the fact that surely the governors and the various state legislators all knew that. The federal prohibition remains the federal prohibition.
Larry (36:37.526)
going back to the Cole memorandum was a highlighted point on which would automatically result in the feds coming into a state and doing a legal investigation and possible prosecution because interstate sales are considered an enforcement priority.
And without the ability to change federal law, the states find themselves where they find themselves. But one of the things that we were saying was that we were hoping that it would send a strong signal to Washington, D.C. and let people know that there are states out there that are interested in doing this. And it also raises the potential question of whether anybody really wants to put to it the test a challenge to the federal government on what it can and cannot do.
with regard to agreements between consenting states that have similar laws, so it's not introducing something from one state into another state that doesn't already exist there. Full faith and credit, and of course, the Interstate Commerce Clause comes into play, and if we can finagle Rob back on the show one day, we'll throw that issue out there, because Rob, more than any other human I know, enjoys talking about the Commerce Clause.
really has it down pat and I forgot most of it five minutes after I took the Illinois bar exam when I didn't really need to know very much about it anymore. However, I can go back and look at it and sound like I know what I'm talking about, but Rob does. But yeah, you know, so I think it's important for states to continue to think about these rules and to press forward with them if for no other reason than because if the feds do eventually...
say yes we're making this legal and that includes interstate sales between states that are consenting to do so it would be nice to have a leg up it would be nice not to be starting from scratch you have a commission you have rules that you've already been contemplating getting ready to put into place you already have sister states out there that you've spoken with and say hey you know can we come up with rules that will govern between our two states doing business together if we reach a point where the feds greenlight this or where we as states decide
Larry (38:46.754)
we're ready to challenge it. We're gonna go ahead with it and let the feds come in and try and stop us if they want. Would that be a federal enforcement priority in reality? And we know it is one pursuant to what the feds say, but in terms of what they really mean and what they would really wanna go out and enforce, can't really say for sure. So it's interesting that even in the face of what looks like very certain federal law on the issue, at least the way it's being reported, there are governors who still
want to try and push this envelope a little bit. And I say good for them. And I wished that more states would be cooperative in this effort in this regard, because any certain number of states, over 50% becomes kind of a tipping point, I think. Not that I'm a Supreme Court expert, but I've reviewed my share of Supreme Court cases over the years, both as a law student and as a law practitioner. And you know, it would be nice
to be able to see the Supreme Court and others recognize that interstate sales of marijuana should be up to the states. And if the states say yes, that should really be the end of it. Now we've talked about whether that would cause disruption to the rest of the industry. If all of a sudden, living in Illinois, you could get California strains grown in California and being shipped from there to here, that might cause a bit of a problem for Illinois-based cultivation centers.
It might not. I'm not prepared to write them off as being unable to equal that challenge. I would just like to see them start doing it now and not wait until the door opens and all of a sudden the California cannabis companies are making deals with everybody, all the small players in Illinois, which may be the way they go. If the Crest goes and Cure Leafs and all of them, I'm not second guessing them. Those guys are very successful business people.
We'll see what happens, but I think that interstate sales would be great and would like to see people be in a position to be able to move on that or at least be able to take proposals to state legislatures to see if they're being willing to move on that. Of course, if people in the state don't like it, that's what the democratic process is all about. You lobby your leaders, the industry lobbies their leaders, and then we see what happens. Like any other major industries in this country.
Larry (41:15.774)
interstate sales I think are vital and important in keeping commerce alive and moving into all different parts of the country. And given the fact that cannabis has grown in some pretty dust-lit locations, that could be a real lifesaver for people like that who all of a sudden have the ability to market their product from wherever little locale they're located to whichever shipping giant they can get to agree to come out and pick up their stuff for them is willing to take it.
And there'd be nothing wrong with having not just a national, but maybe even an international cannabis market. We have it with wine right now. You can go into any great wine store and you can find tremendous wines from the United States and from everywhere in the United States, obviously, from Napa and Sonoma and Paso Robles and some of the great vineyard areas of California, but from almost every state in the union has some part of the state that grows wine and makes grapes.
You know, and it's out there and you can buy them from different places. You can buy alcohol, you can buy straight Kentucky bourbon whiskey. And you know, that's a great thing to be able to buy it anywhere because it's, it's good stuff. And you know, here in Illinois, we were only limited to Illinois produced whiskey. That might not be as much fun. I'm not saying it wouldn't be, but I certainly know what I enjoy that comes out of Kentucky and I'm happy to be able to, to sample that from time to time as I so desire. So why should it be any different for marijuana? Right. I mean, that's just the way it is.
States can try as hard as they want, but they're never going to be able to fully replicate the growing conditions that exist in the Emerald Triangle out along the California coast up to Oregon.
And there's a reason why great grapes grow there and why great marijuana grows there. And I'm not the one to give you that reason. But you don't need to turn out.
Larry (43:09.902)
About 43 minute mark.
Larry (43:28.002)
And it would be no surprise that people are looking to buy their product from growers out in the Emerald Triangle, right from just north of San Francisco, all the way up to coast and a little bit inland, right up to the Oregon border. The conditions there are unique in terms of the strains and the quality and the types of marijuana that can be produced and cultivated out there.
just like with grape wine. There's a reason why some of the most expensive wines and some of the most sought after wines come out of Napa or Sonoma or any of the other wine regions dotting the West Coast up and down that area. And the same thing here. It gives marijuana manufacturers in Illinois and other states motivation, I think, and goals that they can set.
uh... to try to balance that business so that people are just as happy to buy the flower that's grown right here in good old Illinois or in Missouri or anywhere else you might find yourself Colorado or all of these places and it may be that other states will come forward and demonstrate through the products that come from their states that when it comes to cannabis that they should be considered right up there with northern california uh... and points out west in terms of the quality of cannabis that they can produce
from their cultivation centers and grow rooms. So we'll see what we wind up on this, but I think that interstate sales would be a good thing. I would hope to see it go forward. And if we can just legalize marijuana, and as we say, stop all of this silly nonsense about whether it's schedule one or schedule two or should be schedule three and just take it off the damn list.
all of these conversations we're having would be a lot more than just conversations. And I think that would be a great thing. Certainly something to which the industry could aspire and hopefully they will. And now just starting today, and I'll probably carry this into next week a little bit too, I'd like to just touch on some of the good news and some of the good things that we see right now that are going on in various states around the country.
Larry (45:52.01)
various things that are happening with marijuana. And yeah, for every one of these, you can find a story that has a negative slant or that talks about another worry in the industry. But screw that, we're in the industry and we love the industry. And as far as we're concerned, the fact that we can buy legal marijuana is already the victory that so many of us were looking for so long. And it's a wonderful thing. And we cheer on every state and we want to see every state succeed and be able to grow its own businesses. And so that's why...
it's wonderful to see that it's been announced that in Connecticut that alcohol sales on the holidays will be strictly limited and in some cases completely prevented, but marijuana sales are going to be allowed. So on Christmas Day, assuming the dispensary wants to be open, the state of Connecticut will not stop you from going and buying marijuana, although it might stop you from being able to go and buy beer or champagne or...
whatever kind of wine you like to drink on Christmas Day. So how about that, right? That's already good news that in this case, people are looking at the marijuana as being a much more essential item and a much better item. Probably the idea that it's not as likely to lead to violent encounters among family members or friends or whoever at holiday parties or get togethers. You won't have people driving and careening down the road like they're all petitioning to be in Fast and the Furious. You know.
And instead people will just be very nicely buzzed and sitting back and having thirds or fourths on whatever dessert is being served and watching whatever parade is on TV while they fall asleep. So, uh, hats off to Connecticut, Rhode Island, marijuana sales have topped $100 million in the first year of their recreational sales. So this is another state. It's not a very big state, Rhode Island. Uh, it's not a very populous state. Um, and, uh, you know, uh,
here they are generating $100 million of sales. I think that's tremendous. And I think it speaks once again to the overall popular demand of cannabis everywhere. East coast, west coast, south, north, it doesn't matter. It's just, it's huge. Even up in Canada, there's stories now telling us that rec sales are rising in October to $448.6 million Canadian dollars. You know.
Larry (48:17.002)
which would seem like a good number maybe for a single state or one or two companies down here. And while that may be the entire country of Canada for the month of October, nevertheless, sales going in a positive direction and good for them, good for the Canadians. We want to see them obviously be able to continue to succeed and do well. We've been to Canada before and they have a very nice industry up there and very nice dispensaries owned by very nice people who all...
showed a great proclivity to being able to take care of us and our needs when we found ourselves up in that part of the world. In Maryland, adult marijuana use sales have hit 56 million dollars in sales in the month of November. Maryland's also not a big state with a huge population and came online a little bit later than others, but here they are cranking away on their sales and showing positive returns and
really kind of living out the truth of the idea that these sales do generate money for the governments, both local and statewide. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers recently approved a bill to protect medical marijuana patients from DUI charges. Now this is wonderful. This is wonderful. So what you have to understand what they're really saying here is this. If you get pulled over and the cops suspect that you've smoked marijuana or they ask if you have.
And you say yes, but you say yes, but I smoked it two or three days ago. Basically what they're saying is that won't be enough to hit you up with a DUI. They will have to be able to show that you are actually incapacitated. And if they can make that showing, if you can't walk a straight line, if you can't recite the ABCs or whatever other tests they're using to see people who are getting high, uh, then theoretically, um, you can, uh, still be, uh,
arrested or ticketed, which is the way it should be. Because again, we do not advocate people getting really, really high and going out and driving any more than we advocate people getting really, really drunk and going out and driving. You're always gonna be much better off driving if you're not intoxicated at all. And so, you know, but this is good. And it's nice to see a state focused on the needs of the medical marijuana patients and making laws that protect them.
Larry (50:40.914)
instead of having them bump up against laws that were designed primarily for alcohol abuse and trying to get us square peg in a round hole by making it now fit into a framework for marijuana consumption. And so this is a welcome sign from Pennsylvania. We've already talked about it and another study just came out. This time in the
monitoring the future study from 2022 funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, something we've already heard and we know teen marijuana use has not increased or been impacted in a negative way, meaning more people smoking by state marijuana legalization. We don't even have to get into that one very deeply because we know that that's the case. That's no longer considered an outlier opinion. That's an opinion that's been found repeatedly across this country.
over the last few years, as people have tried to replicate that result and have been able to do so, because it's the truth. So prohibitionists who want to scream, we're just going to start introducing kids to marijuana, sorry that's not the way it works. You're going to have to find a new soapbox to stand on if you want to try and stop marijuana from coming into your state. And as we tell everybody all the time, if your kids like to smoke marijuana or are so inclined, they're already smoking it. They're not waiting for it to show up. It's been that way.
forever and you know, in fact, you know, these kids are the first kids ever live in a period of time and come of age when there is a legal marijuana available for, for people. And the fact that we don't see it increasing in their usage of it, um, speaks very well to the idea that kids make up their own mind and they decide what they want to use and they decide what's rebellious or they decide what works for them. And in these instances, uh, they're not making a push for it to be marijuana. So, uh,
Let's all just be happy that this report keeps getting, this finding keeps getting reaffirmed over and over again. But here's another one that shouldn't come as a shock to anybody. States that legalize marijuana see enhanced basketball recruiting by the colleges located in those states. In other words, when they can go out and tell a recruit, come here and play basketball at the University of Illinois, by the way, Illinois has recreational marijuana use.
Larry (53:02.494)
not surprising that colleges in those states see enhanced recruiting results. This is important to people. It's important to high school players. It's important to young college players. It's very important to a lot of people. And the idea that they may be able to do that is great. And even the NCAA has been kicking around the idea that players will not be disqualified or penalized for positive marijuana results, like they might be for results of other performance enhancing drugs.
Um, and that's great too, because you're sticking kids who are at an age when they really want to smoke marijuana in a location, a college campus where everybody's smoking marijuana and having a great time doing it and telling them, sorry, you can't do it too, even though you might otherwise legally be allowed to do it, certainly if they're over whatever the minimum age is in that state, um, but, uh, you know, it should be left up to the state legal enforcement and it should not be a disqualifying factor for college students.
I'm glad to see that statistic and I'm glad to know that people are finding this kind of thing out and publishing it because that's very important for people to know. And again, it helps kind of tamp down some of the hysteria that immediately comes to the surface when marijuana makes its appearance in some public society out there that's never really had real experience with it. And once people calm down a little bit and get through all the noise and nonsense and
what's real, then it's a good thing. And nothing screams better than that than tax revenue money. And so the national marijuana legalization, a study recently discovered, would grow tax revenue to $8.5 billion for all of the states combined. $8.5 billion. That's a lot of tax revenue.
You're going to be collecting tax on something that people are already doing and you're not collecting tax on it. So you have two choices, three choices. You can tell them you can't do it anymore and really mean it. You can tell them you can't do it anymore and they're going to keep doing it. So it's still, they're doing it and you're not getting anything for it. In fact, it's a negative because every dollar you spent on police enforcement is one less dollar. You're not getting money from them and you're spending money on them to try to shut them down. Right. But if you.
Larry (55:29.758)
say, nope, we're going to legalize, and we're going to tax it, and we're going to collect that tax.
Larry (55:40.674)
So keep smoking, folks. We're not telling you to stop. We're not telling you that anymore. We don't have to say we like it for the reasons you like it. But we certainly can say, just like with cigarettes, states take the tax money from cigarette sales. They take the tax money from alcohol sales. They take the tax money from strip clubs. They take the tax money from every vice that's operated out there, legal or in some cases not. They've been taking tax from marijuana sales forever. There's always been states that have said.
even when marijuana sales were illegal, that if you were selling marijuana, you had to come to the Department of Revenue, you had to pay for tax stamps, you had to put the tax stamps on your product, you had to report tax revenue, and they couldn't use that information to arrest you or prosecute you for your sales because it would be a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights if they wanted, but people have been collecting tax money on this forever, but if you do it like this and you legitimize it so that people go to dispensaries and people spend money.
And that money results in tax revenue. Think of all the good things we could be doing with that tax revenue.
schools, the homeless, immigrants. The list goes on and on and on. So why would anybody ever be against marijuana? The positives are so positive. The negatives are so minimal. But yet again, there are states that are. And there's just nothing we can do about that right now.
with respect to our story last week about cruises and how don't plan on going on a cruise anytime soon if you like to bring marijuana aboard because you could be kicked off. And one of the big parts of that was that the cruises were doing that because they don't want to hamper alcohol sales which make up such a large part of their revenue. Not surprisingly, the cruises have all come back now. It said, no, it's not at all about trying to increase our alcohol sales. We just need to be respectful of local laws.
Larry (57:36.33)
Yon, yon, yeah, sure, of course. We all know what you're doing, we know why you're doing it. Nobody's talking about bringing marijuana off of the ship and into any of the ports or countries that don't allow marijuana. And if people do, then they're subjecting themselves to the laws and jurisdictions of those countries. But there's plenty of things that go on board cruise ships that aren't allowed in other places. Open gambling, all sorts of stuff. So, I don't buy that for a minute.
I think that they are trying to protect their alcohol sales. And it creates a potentially unpleasant experience for the baby boomer generation of people who are now at a point in life where cruises make a lot of sense to them as a way to go and enjoy themselves. And they've either continued to enjoy or rediscovered the joys of cannabis. And these cruise ships build their boats bigger and bigger and bigger to the point where if you're in your room or you're in your balcony doing something,
These things are so enormous, in practice, almost impossible for anybody else to even know what you're doing. So it would be nice for the cruises to just take a step back and acknowledge that maybe they got this one wrong and that they're gonna keep up their strong sales business and that they're not gonna punish people for this. So that's all. There's other good stories out there and more that we could tap into. But the truth is, we've been trying to bring them all to you this year.
And we will continue to do it next year. And we hope that as the years go on, that the good stories will outnumber the bad stories. And we will move to a point where we can always be looking at ways to enjoy the industry better, improve the industry more. But you know, I gotta tell you, it's just, it's a great way, it's a relaxing way to kick back Christmas Day coming up. If you're not traveling, if you're enjoying the holidays or not enjoying the holidays, and we might as well take advantage of this.
lovely climate changed environment we live in where, you know, in Chicago, at the end of December, it's 45 degrees. So I can be outside and not much more than a simple, uh, you know, jacket and do my thing, you know, rather easily. Um, you know, just end of the year. It's a good time. Everybody kind of wants to mellow down, ramp down a little bit, get ready for big blowout on new year's Eve and then, you know, tackle 2024 head on and my friend's cannabis is a wonderful way to do it as long as you do it right.
Larry (59:58.334)
And you're mindful of your laws and your health and all of that. So, um, we love talking about it and, uh, there's always great stories to talk about and we will continue to explore them in the upcoming year, uh, turning back to our music, I do want to swing back to our friends, the good old grateful debt for a minute here. And this next song, if you're just listening to it without really paying attention, uh, you might say, uh, Larry, yeah, we all know staggerly great story, but why the hell are you playing it? Well,
take a listen and see if we can't all figure it out.
Larry (01:00:37.934)
So this is the Grateful Dead playing Staggerleaf December 30th, 1995 at the Oakland Coliseum. Why this song was made clear by the opening lyrics, this is a tale about events that unfolded and played out on Christmas, right? 1940 Xmas Eve with a full moon over town. On some occasions, Jerry was known to actually substitute in Christmas Eve for Xmas Eve. So you can't get any more Christmas than that. This is going down on the day, on this very day.
We're hearing the story about Stagger Lee, also known as Stag-O-Lee, Stag-Lee, and other variants as a popular American folk song about the murder of Billy Lyons by Stag Lee Shelton in St. Louis, Missouri on Christmas 1895. The song was first published in 1911 and first recorded in 1923 by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians titled Stag-O-Lee Blues, a version by Lloyd Price, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100s in 1959.
The historical stagger Lee was Lee Shelton, an African-American pimp living in St. Louis in the late 19th century. He was nicknamed Stag Lee or Stag Lee with a variety of explanations being given. He was given the nickname because he went stag, went to social events unaccompanied by a person of the opposite sex. He took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called Stag Lee, or according to John and Alan Lomax, he took the name from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of Memphis called.
the stack Lee, which was known for its onboard prostitution. Shelton was well known locally, excuse me, as a Mac, a group of pimps who demanded attention through their flashy clothing and appearance. In addition to those activities, who was captain of a black 400 club, a social club with a dubious reputation on Christmas night in 1895, Shelton, his acquaintance, William Billy lions were drinking in the bill Curtis saloon.
Lyons was a member of St. Louis's underworld and may have been a political and business rival to Shelton. The two men got into a dispute during which Lyons took Shelton's Stuttson hat. Subsequently, Shelton Stott Lyons recovered his hat and left. Lyons died of his injuries and so it was charged, tried convicted of murder in 1897. He was paroled in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery. He died while incarcerated in 1912. The Grateful Dead frequently played and eventually recorded a version of the tale.
Larry (01:03:00.514)
which focuses on the fictionalized hours after the death of Billy DeLion, when Billy's wife Delia tracks down Stagger Lee in a local saloon and she shoots him in the balls in revenge for Billy's death. Based on the traditional song Stagger Lee, Stag-o-lee or Stack-o-lee, Robert Hunter wrote a version that he performed solo and Jerry Garcia subsequently reordered the lyrics and rewrote the music for the Grateful Dead's version. More recently, Bob Weir has also been performing at
on some of the older traditional versions when touring with Rat Dog or Wolf Brothers. The song was actually released by the Grateful Dead on Shakedown Street, which came out on November 8th, 1979. It was played 146 times by the Dead, first on August 30th, 1978, the last on June 18th, 1995 at Giant Stadium, just outside of New York City. Also a tune played without any real consideration to the time of year that they were dealing with.
But it is a Christmas tune, maybe not the story that we want to share at a sit-down family dinner, but a Christmas tune and a Christmas story nonetheless. So we're coming to the end of our hour here. It's all Christmas day. You guys have probably far better things to do than listen to a Jewish guy ramble on about the meaning of Christmas and lots of great Christmas rock and roll tunes. But on the way out the door, there's a tune that we're gonna play for you. And this might be my all time favorite.
holiday tune. It's Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band's version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. This particular version is from a show they did at CW Post University in Greenvale, New York on December of 1975. Santa Claus is Coming to Town is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Kutz and Haven Gillespie and first recorded by Harry Reiser and his band. When it was covered by Eddie Cantor on his radio show in November 1934, it became a hit.
Within 24 hours, 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records were sold. The version for Bluebird Records by George Hall and his orchestra, vocal by Sonny Schuyler, was very popular in 1934 and reached the various charts of the day. The song has been recorded by over 200 artists, including Bing Crosby, the Andrew Sisters, the Crystals, Neil Diamond, Fred Astaire, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Chris Isaac, The Temptations, The Pointer Sisters, The Carpenters, Michael Bublé, Louis Miguel.
Larry (01:05:27.89)
and the Jackson Five, just to name a few. Springsteen's version was recorded, this version on December 12th, 1995, we said at CW Post College in Brookville, New York, by record plant engineers, Jimmy Iovine and Thomas Pinnunzio. This version borrows the chorus refrain from the 1963 recording by The Crystals. It was first released as a track on the 1981 Sesame Seek compilation album, In Harmony 2, as well as on a 1981 promotional,
radio only seven inch single from Columbia. Four years later, it was released on the B side to My Hometown, a single off the Born in the USA album. Springsteen's rendition of the song has received radio airplay perennially at Christmas time for years. It appeared on Billboard magazine's Hot Singles Recurrence chart each year from 2002 to 2009 due to seasonal airplay. Live performance of the song often saw the band encouraging the audience to sing some of the lyrics with or in place of the band's vocalists, usually the line,
You better be good for goodness sake. And occasionally the key line, Santa Claus is coming to town. Sometimes concert crowds would sing along with the entire song and the band who were known to encourage this behavior for the song would do nothing to dissuade those audience members from doing so instead, welcoming the crowds and suit. Enthusiasm. This version remains a Springsteen concert favorite during the months of November and December, uh, many times concluding the show. And the band is among the few that keeps it in their roster of songs during the holidays. I said, it's a favorite mine.
I think it's a great way to send ourselves out tonight and say good night and Merry Christmas to everyone. Thank you all. I hope you enjoy your holiday. Please enjoy your New Year celebration. I'll talk to you next Monday. Be safe, be fun, and enjoy your cannabis responsibly. Thanks, everybody.