HIPPIE MUSIC

"Hi...my name is Chris,"

"Hi Chris!"

"...and i'm a...i'm a..."

"it's okay, Chris...were with you!"

"i'm a...i'm a...Grateful Dead fan."

(shock & silence)

there...i just outed myself, and thus lost all hipster/New Wave cred. i can take comfort with the following qualifications tho: before they totally messed up and started to try to sing, and write these dumbass three-minute pop/melodic songs (Workingman's Dead onward = ugh), the Dead were an amazing, improvisational combo that fused OrnetteartsongamphetemineEuroexperimentalmusic with rock amplified artillery and produced fantastically complex compositions.

their Anthem of The Sun LP is one of the great lost masterpieces of the 20th Century. Warner Bros. wrote 'em a blank check, and like all good stoner musos they abused the privilege. you name it, it's in there = speed-fueled wecan'tstop live snippets/tape manipulation (most famously - where the right and left stereo channels slide out of sync via Varispeed twiddling)/musik concrete/overdubsoverdubsoverdubs. you can hear the technology of the day groaning as the Dead stretch its capabilities way deep past the red line.

and like all good Deadheads, i have outtakes/studio chatter/rehearsal tapes, plus two vinyl copies (one pressing WITH the trumpet at the fadeout of Side Two, and one without).

what brought this on? well, last night at The Sach, it was a 420 (4:20? 42-0?) fest - National Pot Smokers Day - and i didn't know there were that many hippie bands left in the world, let alone just in Clevo. lots of noodlingnoodlingnoodling (i am a sucker for noodling), a light show, the smell of hemp-fabric clothes and patchouli emanating from not-very-attractive people.

fun. boring. fun again.



i know where of i speak. the hair = c. early '70's. the Chucks = a proto-punk in Hippie Boy drag? wish i still had that Kustom amp & ES-335. never, never ever sell gear...

NP: Phil Lesh/"Seastones"

PEEVE DE JOUR: every band that listened to The Dead got inspired and then went on to get it so, so wrong and for all the wrong reasons.

N.B.A.T.W.P.:

FROM BIANCA BOB in NYC:

A cool spring cleaning event that may have gone under the radar for some....(since the city of nyc did the mailing)

manhattan electronics recycling event 4/23 from 9am-3pm in Union Square park, north plaza

recycle your: working and non-working computers, monitors, TVs, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, and cell phones. You can bring up to five pieces- NYC residents ( but who is going to check?) link for info is here: http://lesecologycenter.org/les_frames.html