Hell's Kitchen Radio #596: So Long, Ace

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Damn. 

I knew when I was in my early 20s that eventually they would all be gone. That's a thought we all probably have about our favorite artist: one day they'll be gone. For the most part we note it and move on. But what about when that band is our calling? The go-to band. The band that you have invested so much of your musical life to? 

They're still going to go.

Brent went in 1990. Jerry went in 1995. Phil in 2024. Donna in 2025. The way Bobby, the youngest, worked out, daily, I think we all expected him to be the last to go. When we heard of his passing it was a shock. I'm not on social media I don't know if there were stories of him having a cancer scare last summer, which the family said he was able to get past; lung issues eventually did him in. 

Bobby was known to spit out the lyrics, and I mean literally. If you stood in the crowd in front of him there were chances you would get a shower. He was such a crooner in the 90s, really playing to the crowd. 

I've written a lot about my time seeing the Grateful Dead over the years. The 40th anniversary of my first show just passed: December 30, 1985. Post-Dead I saw a few of the incarnations. I saw Phil a few times, went to the two days of Fare Thee Well in 2015 in Santa Clara, saw Dead and Co twice a decade or so ago. I'm happy the music continued to bring so much joy to so many people, and brought in a lot more fans. 

Bobby postulated about the music lasting 300 years. I'd have to imagine that's possible. There are so many people who have been inspired by the music created by Jerry and the boys, that it is conceivable it will grow and morph into the band that be "most triumphant and unite the world". And here you thought it would be Wyld Stallyns.

So here we are, closer than ever to being the orphans we knew we would one day be. Has anyone checked in on Billy, Mickey, TC, Ned and Bruce? If you know, you know.

As for this here tribute, I think Bobby would appreciate what he sees. I start out with an acoustic set, with a few special guests. I then move on to a proper first set, with those first set songs you've come to know and love, before moving onto the second set jams we all live for. 

There is minimal set breaks throughout the show. I marked each track with the date of the performance. There were two shows in 1978, when Jerry had laryngitis, that each song was a Bobby songs. These are all Bobby songs, with only four cover songs. I've also linked all the shows to Archive so you can listen to them all the way through. And you want to do that. All the links are soundboard or matrix (mix of soundboard and audience. I grew up thinking I only wanted to listen to pristine soundboards, but once I started to give audience recordings a listen that what I listen to almost exclusively. The sound of the crowd interacting with the music is a real treat.

What else is there to say? Thanks Ace, it's been a true pleasure. Oh, I always wanted to ask how the hell you grew to look so damn old all of a sudden? And why the beard? You went from being so young a fit, to someone's grandfather over night.

You still rocked like a young man. See you on the other side; wherever that is

Enjoy and please share.

jh

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM Pacific
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Green, Green Grass of Home - May 31, 1969
Dark Hollow - September 20, 1970 with Dave Grisman
Wake Up Little Susie - June 4, 1970 with David Nelson and John "Marmaduke" Dawson
Monkey and the Engineer - October 11, 1980
Cassidy - October 14, 1980

Jack Straw - January 22, 1978
Beat It On Down The Line - April 26, 1971 with Duane Allman
Yellow Dog Story - May 24, 1969
Mexicali Blues - August 27, 1972
New New Minglewood Blues - March 9, 1981

Greatest Story Ever Told - September 28, 1972 (with St. Stephen jam)
The Music Never Stopped - May 9, 1977

Estimated Prophet - December 26, 1979
Take a Step Back - May 8, 1977
Playin' In The Band - February 18, 1971 (the first one)
New Potato Caboose - February 14, 1968

Throwing Stones - October 09, 1989
Sugar Magnolia - November 11, 1973

John Hell's Live Bootleg Bonanza - Tuesdays 8-10PM Pacific - Celebrating Jerry Garcia

 

John Hell's Live Bootleg Bonanza

Tuesdays 8-10PM Pacific

http://radiovalencia.fm

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Jerry Garcia passed away 30 years ago on August 9, 1995. I was in bed when my alarm went off, turning on the clock/radio. I quickly hit the snooze button, but within the scant seconds between it turning on and my hand slapping the button, I heard my friend Nina "Ann Arbor" Price make a comment on her morning show on KFJC, that made me quickly turn the radio back on. Sure enough she had announced that Jerry had died. 

My heart sank in a way I did not anticipate. I knew that I would outlive my favorite band. I also knew the last Dead show I attended, in September 1994 was so disappointing that I couldn't see myself going to another, but I had not expected his passing.

I have written a lot of My Life with the Grateful Dead on this blog, so I won't regurgitate any of that here. 

Instead, I have for you two hours of live Grateful Dead, consisting of two songs. HA! I joke, I joke. There's ten songs on here to enjoy, spanning from late 1960s until 1980, all shining a light on the stellar guitar playing of one Jerome Jerry Garcia.

A lot of you know that I teach high school. Did you know I teach at Jerry's old school in San Francisco? What a treat! And the city just renamed the block of Harrington Street, blocks from where I teach, to Jerry Garcia Street. I get giddy just thinking of all the Heads who will make the pilgrimage here. I'm sure the neighbors won't be as excited, but here we are.

In the meantime, take a look at the playlist below, click on the link above and groove out to some good ol' Grateful Dead, in memory of the late, great Jerry Garcia.

Enjoy and please share.

jh

01 Dark Star > (Dick's Picks 36)

02 Morning Dew (Dick's Picks 36)

03 Scarlet Begonias > (Dick's Picks 18)

04 Fire on the Mountain (Dick's Picks 18)

05 Brown Eyed Women (Europe 72, 2001 remaster)

06 Cream Puff War - demo (Rare Cuts and Oddities)

07 Wharf Rat (Crimson, White and Indigo)

08 Friend of the Devil (Dead Set)

09 Bird Song (Reckoning)

10 Ripple (Reckoning)