> can "The Illustrated Trip" be considered a definitive
> source for dates?
> we've attributed set lists to Deadbase and other books, why not this one
> too?
>
There are no "definitive sources." Evidence must be weighed on its own
merits question by question.
Any evidence that comes to hand can help. Newpaper ads are great but
sometimes in the early years gigs didn't get played. Reviews are great but
it can be difficult to assing a review to a specific show when multiple
shows were played (presumption is the first,here, however, but only
presumption ... ) etc. Posters are no longer so reliable, as this
discussion shows.
People working with early dates for Dead went thru the Art Of Rock a LONG
time ago.
New early dates are much more likely to be turned up by archival research in
microfilms of newspapers from the period. Joey Newlander has demonstrated
this with JGB dates for 1970-71, and back in the day Mike Dolgushkin worked
on early Dead dates this way. If somebody in the Seattle area wants to
spend time in a library looking thru microfilms of old area newspapers
('underground newspapers' also, don't forget), that might turn up non-bogus
early dead dates up there, or settle the questions about the actual dates of
the shows there in early 68.
