Dead and the Neville Brothers Do The Crazy Hand Jive Celebrating 1986 Mardi Gras: MJ: can it help treat cancer? MJ users are safer drivers than drinkers. Don’t give up on Oregon’s drug decriminalization program
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"Changing Beats: Goose's Drummer Departure and New Musical Ventures"

Larry Mishkin dives into a live performance of the Grateful Dead's Mardi Gras Show from 1986. The discussion highlights the additional set by The Nevels, a brief comparison of songs played, and the significance of the venue, Kaiser Convention Center. The conversation transitions to Goose, a contemporary jam band, announcing a change in drummers and their new album release. Larry also touches on the Grateful Dead's record-breaking achievement of having the most Top 40 albums on the Billboard 200. Lastly, it explores the origins and themes of the Grateful Dead's song "Cassidy," drawing connections to individuals associated with the band and the Beat Generation. Throughout, there's a mix of musical analysis, historical context, and personal anecdotes, offering a comprehensive exploration of the music and culture surrounding these iconic bands plus the latest cannabis news.

 

Grateful Dead

February 12, 1986 (38 years ago)

Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center

Oakland, CA

Grateful Dead Live at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center on 1986-02-12 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

 

Show Title:  Dead and the Neville Brothers Rock Oakland Celebrating Mardi Gras

 

A short Dead show by Nevilles played a set after turning it into a marathon evening of great music

 

 

INTRO:              Sugaree

                           Track #3

                           Start – 1:35

 

                           Jerry comes out smoking on this crowd favorite to get things rocking (second song after Hell in a Bucket).  Released on the Jerry’s first solo album, Garcia, in January, 1972.

 

                           Played 362 times

                           1st at on July 31, 1971 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, CN six months before its release

                           Last played on July 8, 1995 at Soldier Field in Chicago

 

Kaiser Convention Center is a historic, publicly owned multi-purpose building located in Oakland, California. The facility includes a 5,492-seat arena, a large theater, and a large ballroom.[2] The building is #27 on the list of Oakland Historic Landmarks.,[3] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.[4]

The building is located at 10 10th Street, in the Civic Center district of the city. It is next to the Oakland MuseumLaney CollegeLake Merritt, and near the Lake MerrittBARTstation.

he Beaux-Arts style landmark was built in 1914; the architect was John J. Donovan.[3] The structural engineer was Maurice Couchot.[5] Originally known as the Oakland Civic Auditorium, it was renamed in honor of Henry J. Kaiser after a 1984 renovation.

The city closed the facility in 2006 and its future was uncertain for a decade.[1] In 2006, Oakland voters defeated a ballot proposition advocating a library space in the building.

The facility was owned by the City of Oakland until 2011, when it was sold to the local redevelopment agency for $28 million.[6] However, the redevelopment agency was dissolved by the State of California in 2012,[7] so ownership reverted to the city of Oakland.

In 2015 the city chose a local developer, Orton Development, Inc. to renovate the facility. The plans are to turn it into a commercial space, with the Calvin Simmons Theater being renovated as a performing arts venue. The building is also supposed to be registered as a national historic landmark.

In the 1950s and 1960s the Roller Derby played there hundreds of times.

 

Elvis Presley performed at the convention center on June 3, 1956, and again on October 27, 1957.

 

On December 28, 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to an audience of 7,000 at the auditorium to mark the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.[13]

Ike & Tina Turner performed at the Oakland Auditorium on January 13, 1967.

From 1967 through 1989, the Grateful Dead, an American rock band, performed at the convention center 57 times. Their first 23 concerts at the convention center were billed at "Oakland Auditorium", and later, starting in 1985, the venue changed to "Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center". In the 80's the band started performing "runs" of shows over the course of three to seven days.[

 

                   

SHOW No. 1:    Tons of Steel

                           Track # 4

                           1:07 – 2:40

 

              A “new” Brent song, released on In The Dark in 1987.  Love the harmonizing with Phil – “She wasn’t built to travel at the speed a rumor flies, these wheels are bound to jump the tracks, before they burn the ties.”  Crowd loves it too – any excuse to hear Phil sing – this is just about a month before the Hampton show where Phil broke out Box of Rain, Deadheads couldn’t get enough of him.

 

David Dodd:

Brent wrote the words and music for “Tons of Steel.” It was first performed on December 28, 1984, at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco (now Bill Graham Civic). The other first in the show was "Day Tripper." I was there! It sounded like a hit to me. But then, I was completely disconnected from whatever it was that passed for hit-making in the 1980s.

It was performed fairly regularly throughout 1985 through September 1987, making its last appearance on September 23 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. That seems odd to me, because it was dropped from rotation just a little more than two months after it was released on In the Dark, in July. Any thoughts?

So, it’s a song about a train. One of the prime motifs in Grateful Dead lyrics. Quick—name five Grateful Dead songs with trains! No peeking!

What do trains evoke in Dead lyrics? Everything from danger (“Caution,” “Casey Jones”) to adventure (“Jack Straw”) to love (“They Love Each Other”) to farewell (“He’s Gone”) to whatever that thing is that we feel when Garcia sings about wishing he was a headlight... (and take a look at the back cover of Reflections sometime).

                           Played 29 times

                           First played December 28, 1984 S.F. Civic Auditorium (NYE run)

                           Last played September 23, 1987 at the Spectrum, Philly

 

 

SHOW No. 2:    Cassidy

                           Track #6

                           2:20 – 4:09

 

"Cassidy" is a song written by John Barlow and Bob Weir[1] and performed by the Grateful DeadRatdog, and Phil Lesh & Friends.[2] The song appeared on Bob Weir's Ace, and the Grateful Dead's Reckoning and Without a Net albums.[3]

The song was named after Cassidy Law, who was born in 1970 and was the daughter of Grateful Dead crew member Rex Jackson and Weir's former housemate Eileen Law.[1] The lyrics also allude to Neal Cassady, who was associated with the Beats in the 1950s[4] and the Acid Test scene that spawned the Grateful Dead in the 1960s. Some of the lyrics in the song were also inspired by the death of Barlow's father.[5]

The song was quoted in the admiring and admirable obituary of Barlow in The Economist.

One of my favorite songs, a great sing a long.

I really like this version because it gets nice and trippy.  Always good for a helping define the mood of the show, usually about mid to late first set.  A very fun tune.

                           Played 339 times

                           1st:  March 23, 1974 at the Cow Palace in Daley City, just outside S.F.

                           Last:  July 6, 1995 Riverport Amphitheatre, Maryland Heights, MO outside of St. Louis 

 

 

SHOW No. 3:    Willie and the Hand Jive

                           Track # 14

                           1:23 – 3;05

 

Played with the Neville Bros. but without Phil who left the stage for this one song.

 

Willie and the Hand Jive" is a song written by Johnny Otis and originally released as a single in 1958 by Otis, reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #5 on the Billboard R&B chart.[1][2] The song has a Bo Diddley beat and was partly inspired by the music sung by a chain gang Otis heard while he was touring. The lyrics are about a man who became famous for doing a dance with his hands, but the song has been accused of glorifying masturbation,[2]though Otis always denied it.[3] It has since been covered by numerous artists, including The CricketsThe StrangelovesEric ClaptonCliff RichardKim CarnesGeorge ThorogoodThe Bunch, and in live performances by The Grateful Dead.[4][5] Clapton's 1974 version was released as a single and reached the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 26. Thorogood's 1985 version reached No. 25 on the BillboardRock Tracks chart.

 

The lyrics tell of a man named Willie who became famous for doing a hand jive dance.[1][2] In a sense, the story is similar to that of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", which tells of someone who became famous for playing the guitar and was released two months before "Willie and the Hand Jive".[1] The origin of the song came when one of Otis' managers, Hal Ziegler, found out that rock'n'roll concert venues in England did not permit the teenagers to stand up and dance in the aisles, so they instead danced with their hands while remaining in their seats.[2][5] At Otis' concerts, performers would demonstrate Willie's "hand jive" dance to the audience, so the audience could dance along.[2] The dance consisted of clapping two fists together one on top of the other, followed by rolling the arms around each other.[2] Otis' label, Capitol Records, also provided diagrams showing how to do the hand jive dance.

 

Eric Clapton recorded "Willie and the Hand Jive" for his 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard. Clapton slowed down the tempo for his version.[12] Author Chris Welch believes that the song benefits from this "slow burn".[12]Billboard described it as a "monster powerful cut" that retains elements from Clapton's previous single "I Shot the Sheriff."[13]Record World said that "Clapton slowly boogies [the song] into laid-back magnificence.

 

George Thorogood recorded a version of "Willie and the Hand Jive" for his 1985 album with the Destroyers Maverick.[27] His single version charted on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, peaking at #25, and reached #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[1][28]Allmusic critic James Christopher Monger called the song one of Thorogood's "high points.

 

Other artists who covered the song include: Johnny RiversNew Riders of the Purple SageThe Flying Burrito BrothersSandy NelsonThe TremeloesAmos GarrettDucks Deluxe and Levon Helm.[4]Lee Michaels released a version of the song on his 1971 album, 5th

 

                           To my surprise, played 6 times by the band, all in ’86 and once in ‘87

                           This is the fist time they ever played it

                           Last:  April 4, 1987 at the Centrum in Worcester, MA              

 

 

SHOW No. 4:   In the Midnight Hour

                           Track # 16

                           2:20 – 4:01

 

                           Played with the Nevilles, Phil back on stage

                           Again, Jerry’s playing really stands out. 

 

"In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on his 1965 album of the same name, also appearing on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. The song was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis, later (April 1968) the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Pickett's first hit on Atlantic Records,[1] it reached number one on the R&B charts and peaked at number 21 on the pop charts.

 

Wilson Pickett recorded "In the Midnight Hour" at Stax Studios, Memphis, May 12, 1965. The song's co-writer Steve Cropper recalls: "[Atlantic Records president] Jerry Wexler said he was going to bring down this great singer Wilson Pickett" to record at Stax Studio where Cropper was a session guitarist" and I didn’t know what groups he'd been in or whatever. But I used to work in [a] record shop, and I found some gospel songs that Wilson Pickett had sung on. On a couple [at] the end, he goes: 'I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour! Oh, in the midnight hour. I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour.'" and Cropper got the idea of using the phrase "in the midnight hour" as the basis for an R&B song.[3] More likely, Cropper was remembering The Falcons' 1962 song "I Found a Love," on which Pickett sings lead and says "And sometimes I call in the midnight hour!" The only gospel record Pickett had appeared on before this was the Violinaires' "Sign of the Judgement," which includes no such phrase.[4]

Besides Cropper, the band on "In the Midnight Hour" featured Stax session regulars Al Jackson (drums) and Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass). According to Cropper, "Wexler was responsible for the track's innovative delayed backbeat", as Cropper revamped his planned groove for "In the Midnight Hour" based on a dance step called the Jerk, which Wexler demonstrated in the studio. According to Cropper, "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."[5]

Pickett re-recorded the song for his 1987 album American Soul Man.

"In the Midnight Hour" t has become an iconic R&B track,[citation needed] placing at number 134 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[citation needed] Wilson Pickett's first of two entries on the list (the other being "Mustang Sally" at number 434).[citation needed] It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll,[citation needed] Pickett's only such entry. In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."[7] In 1999, "In the Midnight Hour" recorded in 1965 on Atlantic Records by Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

 

  • Covers:

·        The Grateful Dead regularly performed the song in concert from 1967 onwards, most notably with extended improv vocals by frontman Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.  It was occasionally the Dead’s “midnight song” at their NYE shows – I saw them do it in 1985 at midnight on the 31st. Fun way to start the new year although I was always partial to Sugar Mag at NYE midnight.

 

                           57 times played

                           1st: December 10, 1965 at the Fillmore in S. F.

                           Last:  October 17, 1994 at MSG, NYC

 

OUTRO:            Johnny B. Goode

                           Track #17

                          Start – 1:40

 

              We just featured this song from a different show, but this version demands recognition.  Played with the Nevilles – great mash up of musicians, singers, the whole thing is just great. Interestingly, not the encore, but the last song of the second set (US. Blues was the encore, a ripping version, but no Neville Bros so I went with JBG instead to hear them one more time).

 

Chuck Berry tune                         

                          

 

                        Dead played it 283 times

                        First played: September 7, 1969 at The Family Dog at the Great Highway, S.F.

                        Last played:  April 5, 1995 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum, Birmingham, AL


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Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-show

Larry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin

Rob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-hunt

Jay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesberg

Sound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/

Recorded on Squadcast

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