It's over a decade after the Grateful Dead's demise as a band. This version of Black Muddy River @Oakland Coliseum Arena Oakland, CA December 28th, 1990 features Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby on keyboards.

The ballad is rough, ragged and loose but it expresses a feeling of localized sense of place. It has almost an existential feel to it----you sense Garcia's fragility: he is dying. The drugs were taking their toll on his health. He had a diabetic relapse in 1989 and 1991. I cannot really listen to Grateful Dead music recorded after 1980 without becoming uncomfortable.

In the autumn of 1992 Garcia was again hospitalized with diabetes and an enlarged heart. He eventually returned to action looking more fit than he had in years. He’d regain health enough to tour again in 1993 and 1994, but srarted to ail significantly. On August 9, 1995 Garcia was found dead in his room at a substance abuse treatment facility in Forest Knolls, CA; the 53 year old's death was attributed to a heart attack.

The Grateful Dead was not just a bar band--- the experimental side of the Grateful Dead was still there in the 1990s eg., the second part of Drums/Space. I increasingly prefer the experimental section of their latter concerts --there is more depth and space in this music than their songs.

In Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig argues that the notion of a mutable public domain -- the kind unconsciously embraced by Deadheads for decades -- lies at the heart of American tradition. It is a national methodology free to rely on appropriation, mutation, and unfettered word of mouth. Draconian copyright laws, Lessig says, are eroding the free tradition.

Comments

Posted by: Michael | January 22, 2011 9:17 PM

Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson | January 23, 2011 6:27 AM