from the LP The Grateful Dead, Warner Bros. Records, 1967Blanketed in over 2 ft. of snow now, drifting to the top of the 6 ½ ft. backyard fence, all of which is pure joy for our dog Penny, the snow-beagle (pictured above all the drugs to your right), and watching her bunnyhop around in the snow bowl is entertainment enough for me; however, the really exciting thing is that both of the colleges I teach for have closed their campuses today--- WOO-HOO!!! I remember, a very long time ago now, when I was first getting into the Grateful Dead, to be truly cool you were basically supposed to shun all of their studio albums in favor of bootlegs, across the board; while my passion for live Dead sets hasn’t waned, I’d be a liar if I told you I haven’t grown to love every single album they put out from this debut to Blues For Allah. I remember being shocked the first time I played this record, knowing many of the songs already but having been familiarized with live, much slower, versions of them, and it absolutely floored me; this song in particular never again approached even half the speed at which they blow through it here. Their youthful exuberance & sprawling urgency always puts a grin on my face, having no inkling as to the cultural marvel they would later become, just playing their hearts out for the heads in their town. They never really played this fast again, live or on record, so I’ve come to cherish the versions of Dead classics found within this album; most of all, Pigpen’s sprightly organ warms me to the fucking core!
