Is this for real? Or was it some clever April fool's joke? Inquiring minds...
> -----Original Message----- > From: Ihor W Slabicky [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 9:12 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: surely you have this one? > > > > we were discussing some obscure, and heretowith untraded, shows (i.e. > everyone got to ask 'surely you have the xxx from yyy?') and > how they have > surfaced and how shows are getting patched up and etc. well, > i got this as > a response... > > reposted with permission. > > I-) ihor > > ---------- > > Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 20:54:25 -0500 > From: "Stev Lenon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: surely you have this one? > > Doesn't everyone? > > Show: 9-21-78, Kibbutz Ein Gedi, Israel > > Sound Check: Promised Land > > First Set: Promised Land, Cold Jordan, Havah Naghilah tuning, > Bird Song, > Turn, Turn, Turn (only time ever played - weir acoustic), > Children Go Where > I Send You (only time ever played - weir acoustic),Greatest Story Ever > Told, Samson & Delilah, Visions of Johanna > > Second Set: Scarlet > Fire Estimated Prophet>Eyes> Terrapin > >PITB>Drumz>Bill Graham Part the Red Sea Rap>Drumz> I Need A > Miracle>Stella > Blue>St. Liebowitz Jam> (only time played)>PITB Reprise>Morning Dew > > Encore: Shalom Aleichem (only time played) > U.S. Blues. > > Source: AUD, Quality: B Length: ca. 2:10, Taper: Ze'ev > Yaakov Ben Aryeh > HaLevi. There is little known about this particular taper. > His name pops > up occasionally in taping circles and more frequently in > trading circles. > He is usually associated with some relic of Dead Arcana or > Apocrypha. He > is reachable only by Internet post. Place a call for him on > alt.Rec.music.gdead and wait for him to see it. If you are > looking for real > rarities he is your source of last resort. > > Comments: The tape quality has been affected by the age of > the source tape > and has suffered some generational loss. There is some hiss, > marked at > times, nearly absent at others. There is also some > environmental noise > contamination. Given the location and the proximity to the IDF bases > nearby; this is unavoidable. > > I was in Tel Aviv doing some clinical research at the time of > the Egypt > shows. By the time I learned they were happening, the first > show was over. > There was no way to get from Israel to Egypt in time due to > the necessity > of flying to another country to enter Egypt instead of being > able to go > directly from Israel. I was horribly disappointed, not > having seen the > band in over a year. You can imagine my joy when a colleague > working with > me heard from a cousin in Ein Gedi that there was going to be an > un-announced show. My project was winding down and I had > only some data > reduction left to do for completion. With no experimental > demands, we were > free to try to make it to the show. Hitchhiking is a > recognized means of > transport in Israel. We hit the road; and looking so > obviously American, > we made it to Ein Gedi with little difficulty but much road dust. > > The venue is incredible. Ein Gedi is a socialist Kibbutz > hard on the banks > of the Dead Sea. This is the lowest geological point on the earth's > crustal surface, The Dead Sea is 1300 feet below sea level. Sulfur > springs, moonscape-like terrain, blue water, blue skies, > oasis, waterfalls, > nature carried to extremes. This is the border between two tectonic > plates. Farther south it is called the Great Rift Valley. > Here, it's a > wonderful tourist spot and a great venue. > > We gathered around an open stage with some of the strange > salt formations > on the audience left and the brilliant blue of the Dead Sea > behind. It was > hot, almost oppressive until the sun slid behind the hills. > Then Ein Gedi > like all desert communities gets chilly. Jackets were appreciated. A > bottle or two of Israeli brandy slid by and the warmth provided was > enjoyable. > > The band slowly took the stage. The crowd was noisy but very subdued > compared to the crowds at home. There may have been 1500 of > us sitting or > standing on the lakeshore. Almost a private show! From the > crowd noise I > think that less than a tenth of the crowd were American. The > lights went > up, as the stars grew brighter. > > From the first audible notes, the show possessed a life of it's own. > Promised Land as a sound check; Bobby taking no prisoners. Fervent > applause from the crowd who understood the significance of > Chuck Berry's > song. Then we were amazed when they played it as the Set opener. > Back-to-back Promised Land, a fitting opener for the Twice > Promised Land. > Cold Jordan slowed the pace a bit and drew locally fervent > applause. Bobby > began fiddling with his equipment and Jerry, apparently bored > fell back to > his early folkie days and launched the one and only Havah > Naghilah tuning > that the band ever played. > > The show was becoming more memorable by the minute. The > crowd went wild at > this point and the boys had the audience in their pocket the > rest of the > night. Bird Song, a standard reading; no major shakes, just > some nice > Jerry work. Then another salute to the host nation and its literature > appeared from nowhere. Turn, Turn, Turn, a selection I > never expected to > hear from The Grateful Dead lay there in front of us. Weir > strapped on an > acoustic guitar and laid down some nice chord patterns. > Jerry did a little > noodling at the end and then the accapello talents the band too seldom > exhibited were fully displayed as the hit some wonderful harmonies on > Children Go Where I Send You. Weir stepped in with a hard > driven Greatest > Story and then decided to keep going as if no one else had a > say in the > set. He kicked the tempo up to overexcitation as he took > center stage for > real screamer Samson & Delilah. There was little strength > left in Bobbie's > voice at the end of the song. Jerry seemed not to want to > leave the stage > and before I realized what was happening he was mumbling his > way through > Dylan's Visions of Johanna. He blew half the words, there > was little in > the way of solo performance. But hey! Visions of Johanna! > > That was the set end. We sat there on the ground amazed at so many > breakouts in one show, in one set! This was going to be a > show to remember > for many reasons. > > The band took a long set break, over an hour. Several > bottles of brandy > passed back and forth where I was sitting. There was the > faint smell of > something more enticing in the air but I didn't go looking > for it. There > were more than a few IDF troops around. There were also quite a few > police. I had no desire to run afoul of Israeli law. Twice > during the set > break I hit the ground as a pair of F-4's, wings heavy with ordnance > streaked low overhead. Training mission? Real mission? > Didn't have an > answer. Hadn't seen a Phantom going that fast and that low > since 1969. > Took a few more sips of brandy and blew away what flashbacks > I could. Time > for Set 2. > > Scarlet > Fire was the set opener. There was a tasty but not > very long jam > out of Scarlet. All too soon the familiar opening riff of > Fire signaled > that this was going to be a fast set. Fire sort of bounced to > a stop and > with almost no tuning we were treated to an equally fast > Estimated Prophet > > Eyes Of The World. Again, no spectacular solos, no > spectacular jams. > This was solid musicianship but not horribly inspired. I > figured Drums and > Space were next and was considering stretching my legs a bit. > But Jerry > kicked into Terrapin and kept on rolling. Everything was > slightly too fast > for them to open up the music. Just straightforward readings > like they > were practicing for a studio session. Terrapin didn't end > like it should. > It wandered from the repetitive final riffs into an > absolutely unexpected > Playin' In The Band. This show was proceeding under it's own > control and at > this point not even the band had a suspicion of where it > would end. Drumz > finally appeared about 2 minutes out of PITB. Billy and > Micky banged out > some marvelous polyrhythms and all of a sudden Bill Graham > walked on stage. > He was rather glassy -eyed and was wearing a burnoose. He > raised his hands > and the drummers stopped. This is when his "Part the Red Sea > Rap" actually > took place, not at Giza. While Bill was telling an > abbreviated version of > the Exodus we suddenly heard Jerry exclaim over an unsuspected open > microphone " Damn, Man! I think I stepped in some camel shit or > something!" Bill lost his concentration and stopped his tale. > He was still > belly laughing when he made his way offstage. > > An austere and unsettling Space of about 4 minutes, mostly > feedback and > Philbombs led suddenly into the heavy opening chords of I > Need A Miracle. > This was more like it. The tempo was where it belonged. A > really powerful > reading that called to mind the host nation again. A short > melodic jam > full of descending triplets led into the most nearly perfect > Stella Blue I > have ever heard. The poignancy in Jerry's voice was matched > by the magic > in his fingers. Phil dropped bombs where needed and chords where > indicated. This alone was worth the trip. Stella ended in > those lovely > discordant harmonies I loved from '73. Then another > breakout. The one and > only St. Liebowitz Jam, Phil shuddering the Judean hills with > bomb after > bomb and ending with the pathognomic line "Blessed St. > Liebowitz, pray for > us." It left us wondering what the hell we had just heard. The band > didn't give us time to wonder as they quickly rocked back > into another Weir > screaming session PITB Reprise. After all this there was little Jerry > could do but Morning Dew. He did it. But they were tired and > it went by in > that too fast tempo that for me made it less than perfect. Absolute > silence greeted the end of the set as the moon rose over the Dead Sea. > > To thunderous applause Jerry came on stage alone and > performed the first > encore on an acoustic guitar, Shalom Aleichem. Then the whole > band came out > for an up-tempo U.S. Blues. I guess they were getting > homesick. I'm sure > Jerry was jonesing for a cheeseburger. So was I. > > What a show, all those breakouts and the penultimate venue > for the Grateful > Dead, The Dead Sea! Get this tape if you can. Ignore the > decidedly less > than sterling quality of the source tape and even > generational degradation. > Don't let someone make you a cleaned DAT copy. This is a > show that demands > the ambiance of an analog Aud. You can hear an entire > audience "get it" > for the first time. You can hear them grow from polite applause for a > strange group doing somewhat familiar songs in a foreign language to > full-throated appreciation of the phenomenal band that they > were hearing. > For most of the audience this would be their only show. If you had to > choose to see only one show, this would be a good one to see. > > That's the way I recall it. I was so damned tired by the > time I hitched > from Tel Aviv to Ein Gedi ( soldiers got the first rides and > civilians had > to wait as you know) Then the time spent begging for a miracle ticket > there in the shadow of Masada, still it was an event to > remember. And the > lights there in the desert night! Then there was the IDF > helicopter flying > remote security that made several of the songs hard to hear > All in all, a > long strange trip into the desert! > > Review by Stev Lenon, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >
