Girl wearing a shirt that says "Have you hugged a taper today?"

Dead of the Day: 02-14-1968

Carousel Ballroom

San Francisco, California

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This Valentine’s 1968 show is the joyous, bacchanalian embodiment of raw, unreserved psychedelic energy, the mainline of straight up primal Dead. The Morning Dew begins the perfection, and the band steamrolls from there. Listening to the show, you can feel a growing, building and, eventually, completely overwhelming stoke develop sometime during the Dark Star, which will cause you to smile from ear-to-ear and flat out rock with the music. And, by the time the Spanish Jam> Alligator> Drums> Alligator> Caution ridiculousness begins, you will be one with the perfection. As “pulp79” says on Archive, the more he listens, “the more I want to build my time machine, so I can experience these mind-blowing songs first-hand, with a couple thousand other heads, drinking the Kool-Aid. That’s right, not to the birth of mankind, but to right here: San Fran, February 14, 1968.” We could not agree more.

Recording info
Use alternative player
Identifier:
gd68-02-14.sbd.kaplan.15640.sbeok.shnf
Source:
Soundboard
Notes:
Midnight Hour patched with: FM>Reel>Reel>DAT>CDR There is a cut in the Jam on all circulating copies. Thanks to AJL & Tony C (Ttazzz@aol.com) for the Seed Disks Eac/Shn by Seth Kaplan from Tony C’s audio.
Description:
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Morning Dew, Dark Star, China Cat Sunflower, The Eleven, Turn On Your Lovelight Cryptical Envelopment-> The Other One-> Cryptical Envelopment-> New Potato Caboose-> Born Cross-Eyed-> Spanish Jam, Alligator-> Drums-> Alligator-> Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks), E: Midnight Hour
Lineage:
SBD > MR > DAT > CD > EAC > SHN
Transferrer:
AJL, Tony C., and Seth Kaplan
Play
Pause
Back
Forw.
Volume
00:00
1
Morning Dew
06:25
2
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
12:36
3
Dark Star
05:57
4
China Cat Sunflower
03:01
5
The Eleven
06:27
6
Turn On Your Lovelight
09:08
7
Cryptical Envelopment
02:23
8
The Other One
03:08
9
Cryptical Envelopment
03:58
10
New Potato Caboose
08:37
11
Born Cross-Eyed
06:27
12
Spanish Jam
08:39
13
Alligator
08:45
14
Jam
08:32
15
Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)
09:40
16
Feedback
10:13
17
In The Midnight Hour
11:50
Choose recording

On this Valentine’s night, the Dead shared the bill – the grand opening of the Carousel Ballroom – with Country Joe and the Fish. The Dead, along with Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane had leased the hall in order to compete with the Fillmore and Avalon, allowing more freedom and control for the musicians. Previously known as the El Patio Ballroom, the Carousel was located on the second, upper floor of a corner building in San Francisco. Later in ’68, Bill Graham abandoned his original Fillmore Auditorium because of the declining neighborhood and took over the Carousel, renaming it the Fillmore West.

On the recording, Jerry dedicates the second set to Neal Cassady, great friend of the Dead, Merry Prankster extraordinaire, and model for Jack Kerouac’s Dean Moriarty. Cassady had passed away in Mexico ten days before. The original concert poster, by Stanley Mouse, features Cassady’s visage in a Valentine’s heart. The show was released as part of Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2 along with bonus material from some other early 1968 shows. The cover of that album incorporates some of the original poster.

Enjoy with someone you love or just declare this show your Valentine.

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Comments

6 responses to “02-14-1968”

  1. Sly Avatar
    Sly

    An awesome Spanish Jam…Love all their psychedelic stuff :-)))

    Reply
  2. tumultus101 Avatar
    tumultus101

    This show turned me onto the Dead. I was coming back home after dropping 5 hits of acid in the woods and decided to rest my bones next to a sculpure of loch Ness near my place. and Spanish Jam came on, as I spaced out while staring into the moon. It was the first time I really broke through on acid. And the dead have been my therapy since.

    Reply
  3. P_P_K Avatar
    P_P_K

    Great balls of fire! As for the time machine, when the Grateful Dead movie was released in 1977, we dosed and went to the theater to watch. That’s when we realized time is sideways, so we slid right into the eternal festival.

    Reply
  4. John Avatar
    John

    The man in the photo is not Neal Cassady. Looks a bit like Cassady’s photo booth(?) shot from 1946 but the one that Mouse used is clearly of an older vintage. I think Mouse was after a love struck stoned out looking face to centre the poster. Heed the warning… “Stick to weed it’s safe” that is at the bottom. The original was more of a handbill than a poster measuring in at 11″x11″. God Bless Stanley Mouse!

    Reply
  5. Will Avatar
    Will

    Would love to somehow hear an isolation of Phil’s instrument during the jam on NPC. He doesn’t do any solos but does some cool stuff around the 3:30 mark. Pig adds a nice touch on organ too. Kind of a mysterious buildup to Jerry’s rainbow-winged singing bird carrying us through the fire.

    Reply
  6. Robert Sanoff Avatar
    Robert Sanoff

    It was great show.

    Reply

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