Truckin'

Some people spend their college spring breaks in Florida or Texas or Mexico. My freshman year in college, I spent the time being a Dead Head, and traveling around the East Coast with some friends following the Dead. We started out from New Hampshire, with friends from other New England colleges-there were a few from both Bennington and Middlebury in Vermont, a few from Bowdoin in Maine and of course, our contingent from New Hampshire. I drove down with a group of 4 girls in a friend’s mother’s Volvo station wagon, and we headed south to Atlanta for the first of 4 shows in Georgia and North Carolina. One thing about Dead shows-you could see them on back to back nights and never see the same show twice.

We were the fortunate ones-between all of us, we had a network of friends and family all over the east coast and we could couch surf and not have to camp out or anything. A unique feature of the Dead fan base was the community (traveling circus?) that followed the Dead from show to show. They had folks selling food from the trunk of their cars and back of vans. Some were energy healers, others sold handmade goods and clothing. There were entire families, sometimes multigenerational, that spent their lives on the road with the band. I remember at one Dead show at the Meadowlands, there were folks teaching yoga and aromatherapy, selling falafel, jewelery, woven pieces and doing laundry in a wading pool in the same row in the parking lot.

It was around this time that Touch of Grey had come out, and the Grateful Dead was morphing from being a subculture to mainstream. As a result, there were quite a few Southern frat boys and their dates in this sea of tie dyes and patchouli oiled folks. One thing that made the Dead unique back in the day was the fact that they encouraged their fans to tape their shows, and to trade the tapes all around. There are shows that were more rare than others, and of course a bootleg from one of those shows is a prized possession.

We made it to Atlanta for the show at the Omni, and actually had a day or so to go sightseeing and visit. There is an incredible amount of history in Atlanta, and we were able to spend some time exploring it. We visited the Botanical Gardens. The Fuqua Conservatory was brand new. It was interesting to see the winter gardens and especially the hydrangeas (my favorite flower overall). Me being a Gone with the Wind buff had to go see the Margaret Mitchell house. It was the home she wrote her masterpiece in back in the 1920’s. In the late 80’s, it was in the early stages of restoration and was not open to the public to admire as it is today. We also had a chance to picnic in Piedmont Park, but this was prior to the restoration. Another park we visited was Grant Park. We may have been a bunch of hippies, but we were also interested in culture and nature.

The set lists between the two Atlanta shows were incredibly different. The first night it seemed as if the band was catering to their new found fame and fans. The music was less jam band-y, and more oriented to the casual fan. The next night was more for the Dead Head. They did some of my favorite Dead songs including Wharf Rat and Box of Rain. The vibe was different the second night, and it was more a communal experience.

We had stayed with a friend’s sister and her family in Atlanta and after brunch, we took off for Greensboro, NC for our next stop on our tour. It was about a 6 or so hour ride from Atlanta to there. We had friends that were attending Greensboro College, so we were going to crash with them, and all go to the concert together.

During our time in Greensboro, my friends and I visited the Bicentenniel Park, Blandwood Manor and the Courthouse National Military Park. What is significant about the Battle of Greensboro is the losses sustained by the British troops at this battle were directly responsible for the surrender at the Battle of Yorktown months later. We also went hiking in a nature preserve near town, and ate in a really good somewhat vegetarian restaurant.

The shows in Greensboro were more like the stereotypical Dead shows. The first night was almost a greatest hits retrospective, including Bertha, Sugar Magnolia and an amazing cover of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Night number 2 featured Terrapin Station, Me and My Uncle, Trucki’ and a new song Hell in a Bucket. They also did another blistering cover of All Along the Watchtower and Good Lovin’ which actually are my preferred versions of the songs.

We left after the show on Saturday morning and drove northward, taking 81 up through Virginia then East to I-95. From there it was a straight shot up to I-91 to Vermont. Driving through western Massachusetts anytime of year is lovely, and early spring it is particulary charming. The trees are budding, it looks lush, green and new throughout the Connecticut River Valley.

Robert Frost, who once taught at my college, must have envisioned that region when he wrote a Prayer in Spring:



Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.



Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.



And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still.



For this is love and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

The Alchemist

Seven years ago, the Big Man & I became pioneers and travelled westward across the plains from NJ. One of requirements of a place to settle was that it needed a strong cultural base.
Fortunately, we found Sioux Falls. There are some great restaurants, with a variety of ethnicities ranging from several different Mediterranean to Ethiopian to Vietnamese to italian and all in between. We have some terrific art galleries, with a vibrant artistic community. Several performing arts centers exist in the community, from community theater to road companies of broadway productions. There is a terrific symphony orchestra that blends pops and traditional symphonic performances.
We are also quite fortunate to have the Jazz and Blues Society. Every July, there is Jazzfest, which is an awesome outdoor concert (over the course of a few days). Some of the top jazz and blues artists from all over the world have played the festival. While it's not quite on the same par as Newport or Montreaux, it's pretty darn close.
During the rest of the year, there is a concert series that brings other superb musicians to the area. Last night the concert series opened with Acoustic Alchemy.
Acoustic Alchemy are a British smooth jazz quintet. Smooth jazz is a fusion of r&b, funk & rock which makes it accessible to those who might not like jazz otherwise. Some of the best known performers are Kenny G and Candy Dulfer, which leads some jazz snobs to deride the genre as background music.
Acoustic Alchemy feature guitars as their main instruments, which may sound odd, but they stretch the limits of them. I took the teen queen as my "date", as she has not had any previous cultural exposure (& I mean none) and she was not happy about going. She likes rap and country as well as teeny bopper pop. In fact, one of her favorite singers, Miranda Lambert was playing at the Arena last night as well, and she originally thought that we were going to see her. On top of it all, the concert series is held at the Orpheum Theatre, which dates back to the turn of the last century. The theater contains 7 Greek revival murals that are painstakingly being restored, as is the rest of the theater to it's art deco glory. Due to it's long history, the Orpheum also has a history of paranormal activity. It is alleged to be haunted by the ghost of Larry. No one knows who Larry is-some say he was a despondent actor who killed himself in the balcony, another story says he was shot by a jealous husband; another story is that he was a construction killed during the building of it. The most common story is that Larry is a stage hand so dedicated to his job, he's been there for nearly hundred years. At our library lecture last week, the author mentioned that the Orpheum was haunted, so teen queen was terrified she was going to come face to face with a ghost. I conveniently left out the fact that Larry haunts the balcony, as that is where we were sitting.
Teen queen's only concert going experience was Lifelight labor day weekend. That is an outdoor festival so concert etiquette is very different. She didn't know the "rules" so I apparently was mean mommy to tell her to hush during the musical pieces and when to clap, etc. I take this stuff for granted as I grew up going to performances in NYC. Little Man knows because I've taken him to our South Dakota equivilents. I just assumed that over the course of time, exposure to these things would have happened at school or something.
Wrong.
Once we settled in, and focused on the performance it got much better. She even saw a correlation between scat singing and rap, so that was exciting. Another piece was reggae infused, and in her excitement she was all "Bob Marley mon!" (I'm teaching her well)
Overall, my two favorite pieces were Ariane and the Game.
Great concert & a lot of fun exposing teen queen to something new. And no, we didn't encounter Larry.

Insight

Back in the day, there was a huge punk rock scene in Salt Lake City. Part of it was fueled by Raunch Records.

It was this just amazing record store, in one of the worst neighborhoods of Salt Lake. If it was available, you could get it there. If it was a bootleg, they could hunt it down for you. It was like a little safe haven. Then there was the Painted Word cafe, which was a gasp! a coffehouse in Salt Lake City (this was akin to a declaration of war). I saw Rollins do spoken word there in 1986, when Black Flag

had come through town (see Get In the Van by Rollins for his version of events).
My first hardcore show ever was the Dead Kennedys.

It was October, 1985. I remember going with my friend Suzy from Sandy, who was more of a Motley Crue fan than hardcore punk. (the show reinforced that muscial choice). I spent so much time prepping and primping for it, and I looked the part of the punk rock girl.

Honestly, all the songs sounded the same. It was in the horticultural building at the Utah State Fairgrounds, which was not the best place to go see a concert.

Acoustically, it was horrible. There was so much feedback and buzzing. About half way through, Jello Biafra stormed off.

The house lights came up.
We were ushered out.
Suzy's mom was going to pick us up at 10 PM, when the concert was going to end. It ended much sooner-closer to 9. This was in the days before cell phones and instant communication. We waited for an hour for her. Some of my friends who were already driving opted to wait with us, so we wouldn't be alone. That was pretty darn cool.

Lay Your Hands on Me

One of the greatest things about living in Salt Lake City in the 1980's was KCGL. It was this amazing radio station that was part anarchy and all great music. Thanks to them, I still listen to the same music I did as a teen.
Another great thing about that time in my life was some of the greatest concerts that I got to see living there. It was great because I was able to get tickets for some of the hottest (well, back then, they were hot) bands and go without parental influence.
One of the shows I got to see were the Thompson Twins in 1984. It was at the height of their fame. I remember I wanted to wear all neon, just like the girl in the band, because it was 1984 and it was the cool thing to do. However, my parents convinced me otherwise because I was a fat chick, and neon on a fat girl apparently isn't a pretty sight.

So, I didn't wear all neon to the concert.
I don't have any pictures of my teenage years, they are lost to time and memory. I am sure that there were some photos of the night I saw the Thompson Twins and Berlin in concert.

This was Berlin pre-Take My Breath Away, when they weren't quite famous-more like infamous-due to both the Metro and Sex (I'm A..)\
Honestly, I don't really remember much about this concert, other than it was one of the last I had to go to with my parents.
It was an the University of Utah.
I was so far from the stage I couldn't really see anything.
It could have been anyone up there lip synching.
It was still a great show, at least by my teenage standards.

Rock You Like A Hurricane

I grew up in Utah in the 1980's. It wasn't as bad as some people might think. While there may have been some things that were not available or a little different from the coasts, it did have a lot going for it.
One of the greatest things happened to have been the number of groups that came through on tour. The Salt Palace

 was a great venue to see concerts. It was in the heart of downtown, and it was off the Temple Square bus route. That meant we could take the bus there and then our parents could come pick us up after the concert.

Yeah, it was great back in the day.
The Scorpions it seemed, came through every year.

 Every year we would go, and every year it was an awesome show.

I saw Def Leppard too, on the Pyromania tour,

right before their drummer lost his arm (apparently it didn't slow him down much, as they are still touring all these decades later). One of the most consistently rocking concert I've been to.

However, out of all the 80's hair metal acts that came through Salt Lake while I lived there, the most anticipated was Motley Crue.

People were protesting against them and everything. It was crazy! My two best friends at that time (and one is still my best friend 30 years on) were Motley Crue.
I was not, however, a Crue fan.
Until I saw them live.

That changed my perspective.
Man, what a show.