.Namaste... I find listening to a hot China>Rider from '73 is an appropriate way to begin this long overdue letter.... I am back in India.. for good or ill again... on a train that is pulling out of the station in Haridwar, in thirteen hours I should be arriving in Jaipur. I've bumped up a notch to an air-con sleeper, not first class, but expensive enough to keep the hordes of riff-raff out. India hasn't changed one bit. except that now they use little tiny plastic cups instead of the throw away clay ones like before. Great for the permanent layer of haze that blankets the sky in this country. the China>Rider is sweet though. Music to my ears. I've got this crappy little 6 gb ipod that someone gave me, battery doesn't hold a charge worth shit, but it's got some gems on it and has brought me great joy in many countries. Fuck 'em, - there will never be nothin' like a Grateful Dead concert. The way Jer. sings the line.. " I wish I was a headlight... on a northbound train...." Loved it then, and love it now.
Rolling through the Indian countryside, it's not so bad if you manage to get a seat in an uncrowded car. But man,, I had about five hours to pass in Haridwar, - site of this years Kumbha Mela.. very holy spot.. well,, did my usual urban exploring, came to a spot on the river where pilgrims congregate and bathe.. and there was a bridge,, and on this bridge more crippled beggars than I have seen in any one place at any one time in all my travels across this land... I guess it is not only pilgrims who bathe here, but wealthy Indians too, The Ganga attracts all Indians no matter what their social or financial status may be.. sans the Muslim population who might find the lack of non-veg food disconcerting. Meat is forbidden in such holy places. So is Alcohol, which is just as well since Indian beer is so putrid anyway...
...Half step uptown toodeloo.... someone told me about a bumper sticker they saw once.. "Hello baby.. I'm gone... Goodbye... " As for me.. I'm on my way.. .still.. on my way... across the river Ganga... across the not so lazy river... no, this river flows,, down from a glacier called Gaumukh, or 'cow's mouth' which is at an altitude of 4000 meters above the sea. The river then flows down, gathering up other little rivers and provides a lifeline for thousands of villages on it's way to the sea... It is also home to some sort of freshwater dolphin.. no, the Ganga is not a lazy river.. and now.. after Half Step,,, Big River,,, Imagine that.. this is quite an Americana set.. .. Colorado rain, West Texas cowboy,.St. Paul Minn... and now, finally,,, something a little more down to Earth.. Dark Star!!!!!!!
t's easy to to get distracted from any thoughts I was trying to convey. I think I was going to explain the sensation I had on that bridge. Well, I could picture you standing there, surrounded by kids with their hands out, touching your arm. The legless on their little pieces of wood with wheels, emancipated women sitting on the ground holding out their tin cups, and all of this going on above India's holiest river, which at this place looks like some aquatic garbage dump that people bathe in, and I picture you , standing there, taking it in, and in complete resignation, exclaiming, "This is India!" like you did so many times in similar situations during our travels here together. I tell you, India hasn't changed a bit. Why do I keep coming back? That is a question. And people ask me that, when they discover that I came from Hawaii, they ask, "why would you leave there?"... I guess it has something to do with adventure. Having done 49 of the 50 states, seeing the nicest places, rocking out to the best music, ( although I can't say that I've ever experienced a Mind Left Body Jam and though it may sound the same played by D.S.O or even the latest incarnation of the Dead, for me,, the wheel is turning and I can't go back..) .. Where was I? Adventure,, oh yeah,, I guess I'm just our and about seeking a thrill so some sort or another.. "One step done and another begun.. in I wonder how many miles..."
The train stops at a random station, I pause the M.L.B. jam, step outside for a bidi, and I'm in India again. Women in Sari's, an old lady bent over a large staff comes up to me with her little tin cup, families sitting on the ground ( I still don't understand why they don't have benches on train platforms in India.) .. .Rolling again. press play, and notice that I am 5 minutes 20 seconds into this jam with 5 minutes 20 seconds remaining.. that's a first. Hey, have you ever been to Thailand? the trains there are a lot nicer and they serve cold beer... maybe we should meet in Thailand. It's a good place for a vacation. I am going to work for the next two months and then try to cross the gauntlet into Japan. Sounds cray, but I can't seem to get a straight answer form anyone whether or not I can return there, and Air India is having a promotion now to make yup for the fact that all their pilots just called in sick for four days in an attempt to get a pay raise, so I have until tomorrow to buy the only ticket I can afford. A now or possibly never situation, which is a huge decision old Hucklebee. Not only is it not spontaneous.. (Dec. 15th -Jan 7th) but it is a gamble, I mean, what if take my ipod away and throw me in a dungeon again? But I feel like the odds of that happening are so minimum, I think the worst thing that would happen is they wouldn't allow me in and I'd have to get on the next flight back to India. I'd be out some dough, but I'd get to keep my ipod,, and I could listen to Jer. repat the line, with utmost poignancy and potency.. "I guess it doesn't matter any way..." and then hit those notes, so intentionally, so slowly, before building up to the explosive crescendo that brings tears to the eyes and sends waves of ecstasy coursing through the body...while the band follows along, taking you to the highest place that a rock n roll band can possibly take you, to the peak and beyond... before the final line.. " I guess it doesn't matter anyway!!!"
wow,, Dark Star>M.L.B. Jam>Morning Dew.. mid set...a minute of tuning before they jump into a frolicking Sugar Mag. yeah, everyone dancing, smiling,, wading in a drop of dew,, Morning Dew?..Listening to Sugar Mag always brings such joyous flashbacks.. what a Happy way to end a show. Sunshine Daydream! I tell you my brother, and I know, of all people, you can relate,, when listening to particularly hot show, it just affirms the reason that our music collection is made up of 90+% Grateful Dead. and on this night in October of '73, they come back and encored With Eyes>Stella Blue... Johnny B. Goode. I always figured the way to gage a really hot show is by the tunes Jerry plays in the second set.
Eyes... Eyes has long been gospel for me.. But now especially it rings true.. .( well, it always has.. ) but the line.. "Sometimes we live no particular way but our own,,, sometimes we visit your country and live in your home... sometimes we ride on your horses,, sometimes we walk alone,,, sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own..." followed by an incredible bass solo,,, Phil so in his prime in '73 and '74..
o.k. pause again.. another bidi. I actually love this part of traveling by train across India, when the train stops in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason.. and the sun is setting into the dense haze. Just a big bright orange ball. Nothing but fields of green, and birds singing. this is the India I love. It's just me and India... "sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own..."Yes, I really feel that it's times like this we are the eyes of the world... and I have to say,, I have been traveling for more than a year now, and this moment, that I am sharing with you, is one of the major highlights. This too my friend, is India... maybe this is the reason I continue to return. there is an ancient vibe here, and it's shanti, so shanti. Heaven and Hell, is how I usually describe this countyr when someone asks 'what is India like?'.. Heaven and Hell,, and often in the same day... India. you can't sit in an open doorway on trains in the west. Wave back at children on their bicycles waiting to cross the tracks, see families out in the fields harvesting crops by hand, flocks of birds flying overhead, a solitary temple on the horizon. There is a type of freedom found among the chaos and mayhem that is India. To pass through villages where the pace of life hasn't changed in aeon's. There are still countless villages in India that have no cars, no phones, the villagers don't wear shoes, and there is barely enough electricity to count. ..
Back to the music.... Am I correct in calling this jam at the end of Eye's, the Seven? I know the DB lists the Seven as only played a few times, where as they did this jam quite frequently in '73 a d'74. I figured you might have the answer to this query of mine... This jam and the one in China>Rider ( which I have never seen titled) (and the exploratory Darks Star's .. and...) make '73 and '74 some of my favorite years.... And Stella Blue!! from any year....Another song I ave been intimately connecting with as of late. Taking each line to heart. I think as more and more years combine, the reflections become more pronounced and they really begin to melt into a dream... and in this state of reflections, an angle, who has come and gone, sings from a guitar...Lonely streets and vanished years.. Stella Blue... and "when all the cards are down.. and there's nothing left to see,,,," see?,, this song.. as do so many, strike very close to home.. after fifteen years on tour.. ( and almost fifteen since!) ".. there's just the pavement left, and broken dreams.." extreme I know, but it so eloquently describes how I feel about the 'American dream'. Stella Blue.. I am so grateful to have Stella Blue (and you!) in my life... I mean, who is to say that all this life is not a dream? a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago? Who is to say.. I read a quote recently, "There does not exist one shred of evidence to support the notion that life is serious.." Johnny B. Goode.. a little reminder that after all, the Grateful Dead is just a good ol' American Rock n Roll band... " Thank you all and Good night.."
10/19/74....China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Me & My Uncle, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Big River, Dark Star > Mind Left Body Jam > Morning Dew, Sugar Magnolia
E) Eyes Of The World > Stella Blue, Johnny B. Goode
Rolling through the Indian countryside, it's not so bad if you manage to get a seat in an uncrowded car. But man,, I had about five hours to pass in Haridwar, - site of this years Kumbha Mela.. very holy spot.. well,, did my usual urban exploring, came to a spot on the river where pilgrims congregate and bathe.. and there was a bridge,, and on this bridge more crippled beggars than I have seen in any one place at any one time in all my travels across this land... I guess it is not only pilgrims who bathe here, but wealthy Indians too, The Ganga attracts all Indians no matter what their social or financial status may be.. sans the Muslim population who might find the lack of non-veg food disconcerting. Meat is forbidden in such holy places. So is Alcohol, which is just as well since Indian beer is so putrid anyway...
...Half step uptown toodeloo.... someone told me about a bumper sticker they saw once.. "Hello baby.. I'm gone... Goodbye... " As for me.. I'm on my way.. .still.. on my way... across the river Ganga... across the not so lazy river... no, this river flows,, down from a glacier called Gaumukh, or 'cow's mouth' which is at an altitude of 4000 meters above the sea. The river then flows down, gathering up other little rivers and provides a lifeline for thousands of villages on it's way to the sea... It is also home to some sort of freshwater dolphin.. no, the Ganga is not a lazy river.. and now.. after Half Step,,, Big River,,, Imagine that.. this is quite an Americana set.. .. Colorado rain, West Texas cowboy,.St. Paul Minn... and now, finally,,, something a little more down to Earth.. Dark Star!!!!!!!
t's easy to to get distracted from any thoughts I was trying to convey. I think I was going to explain the sensation I had on that bridge. Well, I could picture you standing there, surrounded by kids with their hands out, touching your arm. The legless on their little pieces of wood with wheels, emancipated women sitting on the ground holding out their tin cups, and all of this going on above India's holiest river, which at this place looks like some aquatic garbage dump that people bathe in, and I picture you , standing there, taking it in, and in complete resignation, exclaiming, "This is India!" like you did so many times in similar situations during our travels here together. I tell you, India hasn't changed a bit. Why do I keep coming back? That is a question. And people ask me that, when they discover that I came from Hawaii, they ask, "why would you leave there?"... I guess it has something to do with adventure. Having done 49 of the 50 states, seeing the nicest places, rocking out to the best music, ( although I can't say that I've ever experienced a Mind Left Body Jam and though it may sound the same played by D.S.O or even the latest incarnation of the Dead, for me,, the wheel is turning and I can't go back..) .. Where was I? Adventure,, oh yeah,, I guess I'm just our and about seeking a thrill so some sort or another.. "One step done and another begun.. in I wonder how many miles..."
The train stops at a random station, I pause the M.L.B. jam, step outside for a bidi, and I'm in India again. Women in Sari's, an old lady bent over a large staff comes up to me with her little tin cup, families sitting on the ground ( I still don't understand why they don't have benches on train platforms in India.) .. .Rolling again. press play, and notice that I am 5 minutes 20 seconds into this jam with 5 minutes 20 seconds remaining.. that's a first. Hey, have you ever been to Thailand? the trains there are a lot nicer and they serve cold beer... maybe we should meet in Thailand. It's a good place for a vacation. I am going to work for the next two months and then try to cross the gauntlet into Japan. Sounds cray, but I can't seem to get a straight answer form anyone whether or not I can return there, and Air India is having a promotion now to make yup for the fact that all their pilots just called in sick for four days in an attempt to get a pay raise, so I have until tomorrow to buy the only ticket I can afford. A now or possibly never situation, which is a huge decision old Hucklebee. Not only is it not spontaneous.. (Dec. 15th -Jan 7th) but it is a gamble, I mean, what if take my ipod away and throw me in a dungeon again? But I feel like the odds of that happening are so minimum, I think the worst thing that would happen is they wouldn't allow me in and I'd have to get on the next flight back to India. I'd be out some dough, but I'd get to keep my ipod,, and I could listen to Jer. repat the line, with utmost poignancy and potency.. "I guess it doesn't matter any way..." and then hit those notes, so intentionally, so slowly, before building up to the explosive crescendo that brings tears to the eyes and sends waves of ecstasy coursing through the body...while the band follows along, taking you to the highest place that a rock n roll band can possibly take you, to the peak and beyond... before the final line.. " I guess it doesn't matter anyway!!!"
wow,, Dark Star>M.L.B. Jam>Morning Dew.. mid set...a minute of tuning before they jump into a frolicking Sugar Mag. yeah, everyone dancing, smiling,, wading in a drop of dew,, Morning Dew?..Listening to Sugar Mag always brings such joyous flashbacks.. what a Happy way to end a show. Sunshine Daydream! I tell you my brother, and I know, of all people, you can relate,, when listening to particularly hot show, it just affirms the reason that our music collection is made up of 90+% Grateful Dead. and on this night in October of '73, they come back and encored With Eyes>Stella Blue... Johnny B. Goode. I always figured the way to gage a really hot show is by the tunes Jerry plays in the second set.
Eyes... Eyes has long been gospel for me.. But now especially it rings true.. .( well, it always has.. ) but the line.. "Sometimes we live no particular way but our own,,, sometimes we visit your country and live in your home... sometimes we ride on your horses,, sometimes we walk alone,,, sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own..." followed by an incredible bass solo,,, Phil so in his prime in '73 and '74..
o.k. pause again.. another bidi. I actually love this part of traveling by train across India, when the train stops in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason.. and the sun is setting into the dense haze. Just a big bright orange ball. Nothing but fields of green, and birds singing. this is the India I love. It's just me and India... "sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own..."Yes, I really feel that it's times like this we are the eyes of the world... and I have to say,, I have been traveling for more than a year now, and this moment, that I am sharing with you, is one of the major highlights. This too my friend, is India... maybe this is the reason I continue to return. there is an ancient vibe here, and it's shanti, so shanti. Heaven and Hell, is how I usually describe this countyr when someone asks 'what is India like?'.. Heaven and Hell,, and often in the same day... India. you can't sit in an open doorway on trains in the west. Wave back at children on their bicycles waiting to cross the tracks, see families out in the fields harvesting crops by hand, flocks of birds flying overhead, a solitary temple on the horizon. There is a type of freedom found among the chaos and mayhem that is India. To pass through villages where the pace of life hasn't changed in aeon's. There are still countless villages in India that have no cars, no phones, the villagers don't wear shoes, and there is barely enough electricity to count. ..
Back to the music.... Am I correct in calling this jam at the end of Eye's, the Seven? I know the DB lists the Seven as only played a few times, where as they did this jam quite frequently in '73 a d'74. I figured you might have the answer to this query of mine... This jam and the one in China>Rider ( which I have never seen titled) (and the exploratory Darks Star's .. and...) make '73 and '74 some of my favorite years.... And Stella Blue!! from any year....Another song I ave been intimately connecting with as of late. Taking each line to heart. I think as more and more years combine, the reflections become more pronounced and they really begin to melt into a dream... and in this state of reflections, an angle, who has come and gone, sings from a guitar...Lonely streets and vanished years.. Stella Blue... and "when all the cards are down.. and there's nothing left to see,,,," see?,, this song.. as do so many, strike very close to home.. after fifteen years on tour.. ( and almost fifteen since!) ".. there's just the pavement left, and broken dreams.." extreme I know, but it so eloquently describes how I feel about the 'American dream'. Stella Blue.. I am so grateful to have Stella Blue (and you!) in my life... I mean, who is to say that all this life is not a dream? a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago? Who is to say.. I read a quote recently, "There does not exist one shred of evidence to support the notion that life is serious.." Johnny B. Goode.. a little reminder that after all, the Grateful Dead is just a good ol' American Rock n Roll band... " Thank you all and Good night.."
10/19/74....China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Me & My Uncle, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Big River, Dark Star > Mind Left Body Jam > Morning Dew, Sugar Magnolia
E) Eyes Of The World > Stella Blue, Johnny B. Goode
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