Last night I conducted a little sociological experiment: I bought a ticket and went to a Grateful Dead “Meet up at the Movies” show at a local Atlanta movie theatre. I took my seat in the theatre and settled in for a screening of a Grateful Dead concert from July, 1989 (7/12/89). I thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening and recommend attending a Meet up at the Movies to any Dead Heads out there.
The show opened with a hot rendition of Touch of Grey. As I watched the band play I couldn’t help but feel a range of emotions watching them do their thing. I was especially moved by the interactions between Jerry and Brent Midland, the Dead’s keyboard player at the time. So far as I can tell, Brent was an amazing musician and keyboard player, but he sometimes struggled to find his place in the Dead, particularly from a songwriting perspective. Watching him and Jerry smile and play off one another throughout the show felt really great. Garcia and Midland both died before their time. And it’s a tribute to the musical community and the music itself that they continue to be missed by so many.
7/12/89 had a few predictable musical highlights and a few surprising ones. The Estimated-Eyes 2nd set jam was predictably awesome. Surprising was the killer “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” towards the start of the 2nd set. Bruce Hornsby joined the band for this tune and Sugaree. My sense is that Hornsby invariably brought out the musical giant in Garcia and egged him on to new and different levels of jamming. That was certainly the case during “Man Smart, Woman Smarter.” I can’t imagine that there’s a better version floating around out there. Though a quick check on headyversion.com suggests I’m in the minority.
Aside from the music itself, what made a lasting impression during my time at Meet up at the Movies was the fellowship of the folks in the crowd. All told, it was a relatively tame crowd and the theatre was far from full. But as I sat there enjoying the music I felt a definite connection with my fellow attendees. A part of me wanted to stand up and announce that I would love to find any fellow Dead loving musicians to have an occasional Grateful Dead jam. I’m sure that if I had it would’ve been welcome and I might’ve even made a few new friends. Such easy connection is increasingly hard to come by the older you get and the more self-absorbed the world gets. It’s nice to know that there’s a community of folks who love The Dead and are looking for others to share in that love. It won’t fade away.