Winterland in the 70s, the hiatus shows, and Egypt 1978 are just some of the greatest moments in the history of the Grateful Dead that our guest this week, Don Defenderfer, experienced in the flesh. Margaret and I were thrilled to listen to his intimate and captivating stories and were just as floored by his heartfelt insights into the music and culture of the Dead. Cue up this special episode of the Heads’ Tales podcast and smile, smile, smile as Don relates all his incredible memories.
Get a copy of Don’s book, Tasmania: An Island Dream and read his columns from Forty South.
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Some of the shows mentioned in this episode:
May 20, 1973 – Campus Stadium, UCSB – The Bertha, Eyes of the World, and Jack Straw all come from an audience recording of unknown provenance.
May 26, 1973 – Kezar Stadium – The Sugaree is off a Gene Taback recording, which was transferred by David Minches. You can get a sense of the scene that Don describes from this short video provided by voodoonola.
November 9, 10, and 11, 1973 – Winterland Arena
October 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, 1974 – Winterland Arena – The Uncle John’s Band is from an audience recording of the 16th worked on by Bob Menke, David Minches, and Derek McCabe.
March 23, 1975 – Kezar Stadium – The Blues for Allah and Johnny B. Goode come from a Peter Kafer tape of the KIOI-FM broadcast, transferred by Matt Smith and Pat Lee.
June 17, 1975 – Winterland Arena – Crazy Fingers is from a Rob Bertrando audience recording via Alan Fink and Mark Ferguson.
September 13, 1978 – Sphinx Theater – A FOB tape by The Face with work by Dave Schall, Jeff Patton, Ophelia, and John gives us part of the soundcheck.
September 16, 1978 – Sphinx Theater – Another FOB with help from Dave Schall and John D’Auria give us the Ollin Arageed into Fire On The Mountain. You can also watch this incredible video of the Ollin Arageed> Fire that Don references.
December 31, 1976 – Cow Palace – The Wharf Rat that sends us out was recorded by Rich Petrunis and transferred by Andrew F.
Other music in this episode:
October 30, 1973 – Kiel Auditorium – The Mexicali Blues and Here Comes Sunshine are from an unknown AUD, rescued from Ebay with thanks to John Petrunis.
December 31, 1975 – Jerry Garcia Band – Keystone – The Catfish John is from a matrix by Chris Chappell.
March 18, 1977 – Winterland – The Mississippi Half-Step and Promised Land are from a Bob Menke audience recording, which was mastered by SirMick.
June 28, 1974 – Boston Garden – The Row Jimmy and Must Have Been the Roses are all from a Jerry Moore audience recording transferred by Rob Berger.
December 31, 1990 – Oakland Coliseum – The Not Fade Away comes from a David Gans tape, remastered by Scott Clugston and Charlie Miller.
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