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Poster: bluedevil Date: Nov 8, 2010 12:34pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: "Interview" with the archivist at UCSC

http://www.jambands.com/features/2010/11/04/nicholas-meriwether-keeper-of-the-dead-archives/

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Poster: William Tell Date: Nov 8, 2010 8:29pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

Yikes. Not good. Sure, we can forgive the kid doing the interview as a novice, I assume, but this archivist does not impress. Anyone that works with an institution in part supported with public funds, however indirectly, must always be ready with compelling remarks about the significance of the endeavor, and this comes off as a couple of secret handshake insiders reveling in their inner circle of esoteric trivia. Which at one level may be all that it is, I understand, but I've read "deeper" (a term I imagine they use as well) stuff here on a regular basis...

Sorry, Flow; no offence--realized you said you know the guy!

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Nov 8, 2010 1:23pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

On Furthur:

"My contention is that if that they should have chose Steve Kimock and paid him well and let everything else go. He’s the only guitarist for my money that can do Jerry without floundering."

Thank you. No offense to everyone else.

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Poster: cousinkix1953 Date: Nov 8, 2010 7:56pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

If not Kimock, then maybe Karan in Further. Now that you mention it; why didn't Melvin Seals join the Grateful Dead after Brent died. These guys are already members of the family's bands, which minimizes scheduling conflicts. Listening to some of those current SCHWAG shows on the archive, I get the vibes that Seals would have been better than Vince Welnick by a long shot. http://www.archive.org/details/schwag2010-10-29.SBD http://www.archive.org/details/schwag2010-10-30.SBD
This post was modified by cousinkix1953 on 2010-11-09 03:56:00

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Poster: jjoops Date: Nov 9, 2010 7:10am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

"Now that you mention it; why didn't Melvin Seals join the Grateful Dead after Brent died"

Among other things, they needed someone to take the high harmonies, and Melvin doesn't sing.

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Poster: Jim F Date: Nov 9, 2010 12:59am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

I once read some stuff about why Melvin wasn't a good fit for the Dead. I wish I could find that article. I recall him saying some things about how it was a different style that he just wasn't comfortable playing. Stuff about him not feeling their whole psychedelic thing.

I used to be pretty involved in that whole Schwag scene...hell for all I know we might know each other...were I still as involved as I was I would ask Melvin himself about it, but I dropped out of that scene a year or so ago. Looks like they're not going to have a "scene" anymore anyway, as their 400 acre campground got raided by various federal agencies, primarily the IRS, just last Monday, just after the festival where these recordings were made.

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Poster: robthewordsmith Date: Nov 8, 2010 2:14pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

What an extraordinary quote. I'll be generous and allow that it may have been shockingly inept editing that makes the archivist come across as a semi-literate bozo, but the suggestion that Kimock does Jerry, floundering or otherwise, could only be put forward by someone who hasn't really listened properly to either guitarist.

Here's an extract from an interview SK did in 1998:

You've had to deal with people pigeonholing you, or people coming from a perspective where they never heard Terry Haggerty, let's say, they never heard John Cipollina, they're fifteen years old! but they heard the Dead, or they went on tour, so they hear you and that's their only reference point.

SK
But I still have to answer to myself. I still have my own integrity, if there's anything you hear in my music that makes any sense to you. If nowhere else in my life, I've got some integrity there in my music. It's not about the audience perception about what's the deal with the Jerry Garcia thing. I have nothing to prove to those people. I'm just going to go play, and I think it's appropriate that I do that, and if anybody else thinks it's appropriate that I do that, fine. And if they think it's inappropriate to do that, fine, I'm going to play anyway. I have every expectation of going out there and doing a good job, and I have every expectation of being out on my ass in the snow when the thing is over. I have every expectation of not allowing any of that to bother me, and to continue playing.

X
Would you make a point of not playing any of that material again, outside of that context, or could some of that stuff enter your repertoire or influence the way you play?

SK
I've never willingly played that material. When I did the gig with Bob Weir and he wanted to do one of those tunes, I'd say OK, because that's my job. Right? And when I did the gig with Merl, if he wanted to play Bertha or something like that then I'd play that. When I did the gig with Vince, if he wanted to play a Dead tune, it was like, OK. But for exactly the same reasons I've had to stay away from that, because that's not it.

I think it's OK that I play in that style. It's a style, and I look up to those guys, and I look up to what they did. It's great and I'm not trying to copy what they did. I'm not even so presumptuous to think that I could add something to what they did. I just happen to think that that's a cool way to play, and that's where it wound up. It didn't get there the same way, and it's not going to wind up going the same place, but it's in that style. And there's not a lot of guys that played that.

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Nov 8, 2010 2:27pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

I also see possible problems with the term "do Jerry". I, however, am giving him the benefit of the doubt and hoping he didn't mean "copy Jerry". If he did, then I am sorely dissapointed.

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Poster: robthewordsmith Date: Nov 8, 2010 2:47pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

For myself, I can't see what else 'do Jerry' could possibly mean, other than to be a Jerry substitute, and you and I both know that there can't be any such thing.

What you can do is treat the Dead's legacy as a body of work to be explored and developed. Like Phil said, he started doing the Friends shows "as way to tap into the vast subculture of musicians who love and perform GD music as if it were a 'repertory' body of work, like Shakespeare or Beethoven." The people who best serve the music aren't the slavish copycats, but the ones like Kimock, Hornsby, Herring and Greene who embrace the possibilities and make it their own. Honestly, it's what Garcia would have expected - after all didn't he take a few songs from other people and give them a little something extra?

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Poster: bluedevil Date: Nov 8, 2010 2:53pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

Oh, and by the way, he's "back" -

http://paxamrecords.com/

Just think he should get mentioned in any post about non-slavish "copiers" adding a little something extra...

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Poster: robthewordsmith Date: Nov 8, 2010 3:12pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

Interesting. The site design initially had me wondering if we were being lined up for Ryan's Trans, though a sampling of the riffage suggested a more 'traditional' approach. Both, of course, could be the fishiest of red herrings. I do like a man who messes with his audience's expectations.

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Poster: high flow Date: Nov 8, 2010 3:09pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

The interviewer is a former Chico local. He wrote for the Chico's "alternative" newspaper. He was a concert promoter and he hosted Playing Dead on the local radio station. He's a good guy, but he obviously was lazy and published this article too soon.

Typo-errors tend to distract one from the information being presented. That is the case here. I hope knowledge of his background will help you look past his flawed presentation. He's a real music lover and long-time Deadhead.

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Poster: robthewordsmith Date: Nov 8, 2010 3:19pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

Thanks for that, Mr Flow - it did look to me like someone was in too much of a hurry to get the copy out. However, no amount of rushed editing will change the fact that the UCSC archivist seems to think that Kimock 'does' Garcia - and that's what I really take exception to.

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Poster: high flow Date: Nov 8, 2010 3:44pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

I agree. "Kimock does Jerry" in the same way Jerry's and Miles' approaches were similar. There is no technical or tangible similarity. The sameness is in the artists' philosophy, or approach to music, not in the final product.
This post was modified by high flow on 2010-11-08 23:44:16

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Nov 9, 2010 6:11am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

Well said. I prefer to interpret "do Jerry" not as to copy him, or some necrophelia-induced nightmare, but rather a comment on his ability to shape music into a distinct work of art, as Jerry did. SK's sound and style are entirely unique; there can be no doubt who you are listening to when he plays. Looking at it like this I guess he is "doing Jerry", but in his own way.
I guess you could draw a parallel and say that SRV "did Hendrix" when playing Voodo Chile or Red House; bringing the same unbridled energy and joy to the songs, but in a way that was completely his own.
Maybe I'm not explaining this as well as I would like, but I hope you get the drift.

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Poster: robthewordsmith Date: Nov 9, 2010 6:37am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

Maybe reinterpret is a better word? After all, that's what Garcia was doing when he called on his huge repertoire of songs by other artists. Did a pretty fine job of it too.

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Nov 9, 2010 7:02am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: 'Interview' with the archivist at UCSC

I believe "reinterpret" may indeed be better.

And, yes, the fat man could plan.