I Don't Know About That - Grateful Dead

Episode Date: April 27, 2021

In this episode, the team discusses rock band Grateful Dead with their audiovisual archivist and legacy manager, David Lemieux. Follow David on Twitter @LemieuxDavid and Grateful Dead on Twitter @Grat...efulDead For all Grateful Dead news and updates, go to www.dead.netSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:03:43 Dodge cars. Is that the same company? What's going on? The Dodgers Dodge Cars Is that the same company? What's going on? What the fuck's going on? You might find out I don't know about that with Jim Jefferies We're all starting the show now Hello everyone
Starting point is 00:03:57 Welcome to I Don't Know About That With me, Jim Jefferies You might know me from this podcast Or several panel shows 20 years ago in Britain I was always on them talking about Oh, that bit of music Jeffries, you might know me from this podcast or several panel shows 20 years ago in Britain. I was always on them talking about, oh, that bit of music. Oh, what happened in the news? Oh, Tony Blair.
Starting point is 00:04:12 Am I right? How are you all doing? Good. Speaking of Dogecoin, I have a little bit in Dogecoin. I got out. I got out. I bought in at 0.04 and it went up to 43 cents this weekend. It's back down to like 30 cents. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:28 Wait, you got it at 0.04? Yeah. I got it in four cents. You got it in four cents. I got it in five cents. Yeah. All right. All right.
Starting point is 00:04:35 How many did you buy? One. 450. So not a ton. I just wanted to throw like 25, 50 bucks in there. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So 450.
Starting point is 00:04:44 450 shares at four cents. At four cents. Like $450? $450 share is at $0.04. At $0.04. Like $450. Now it's sitting at about $0.30, $0.32. I thought you were going to say $450 because that'd be a lot then. Yeah. No, that would be a risk
Starting point is 00:04:52 that I wasn't willing to take. I have about $450 in my bank account. Right. I have some big news, some big news that you guys already know, but my wife's pregnant. She has been for the week. Yay!
Starting point is 00:05:04 We're having a baby, I think. Yeah. Yeah, I think. That's what the doctors say. And also, I mention this because I'm also going to be touring Australia in July, and we're now discussing with the doctors whether me and my wife go or we have to quarantine for a couple of weeks in a hotel room before I am allowed into Australia.
Starting point is 00:05:23 So if you're in Australia in July, I'll be doing all the major cities one at a time, so come and find me there. But my question is, who would want to quarantine with a pregnant person for two weeks? It could be a stressful time. So I've written into my contract I'll do it as long as I can have Uber Eats. No Uber Eats, no shows because that's what you do with the pregnant. You throw food at them.
Starting point is 00:05:48 I'm a bit upset today. There you go. What do you mean? You can have Uber Eats. You mean they'll pay for it? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, because if you stay in the hotels, you get given boxed food like you're on an airplane, right? But I'm having it so I can pay a little bit extra in the room
Starting point is 00:06:06 and I can have a concierge service where they bring me food. So I think they'll make all the difference to the entire experience. Because basically that's what I do now except for coming here. So it'll just be like that with a difference, you know, a sea breeze. So I'm looking forward to that kind of distraction. With the wife. It's it's, uh, we're doing all the things like you can't drink coffee and you can't like, we weren't expecting to get pregnant.
Starting point is 00:06:30 We got married and then when she got pregnant soon afterwards, but we, we weren't planning on doing this for a couple of years and this just happened. How, how no, who knows how these things happen? Anyway. So, so, um, it's, I find it funny that like, so she goes, I want to have a swim. My wife's very particular about temperature of water. And so they say that you can't have the pool above 90 degrees, right? And she won't swim in a pool that is less than 85.
Starting point is 00:06:56 So I'm like a fucking scientist and I'm going, it's right in the sweet spot. And then one day it was like 92 degrees and I was like, this is where I can swim in the pool. And she goes, no, I can't drink coffee, and I can't eat raw fish, and I can't swim in a pool. Yet the doctor said it was all right for us to keep fucking. You know, you're banging your wife as hard as you can,
Starting point is 00:07:14 and the baby's jostling around, and all of a sudden it's like, oh, make sure you don't have a coffee. Anyway, as I said, as always, my mother-in-law's listening. Hello, Becca. Your dick will never reach the baby, guys. Don't worry about having sex while you're pregnant. Yeah, but it's the jolting back and forth that you go to a theme park. You can't go on a merry-go-round.
Starting point is 00:07:32 Pregnant people can't ride this ride. I don't know how you have sex, but it's a lot of shaking back and forth. Usually it's just, and then it's done. Wow. That's how Kelly comes. No, that wasn't me coming. This is Kelly. What's your name?
Starting point is 00:07:52 That's the men's. All of them. That was a bit much, Kelly. So what do you got for us, Jack? Common world. All right. One, two, three, four. Jack's got a region coming out. I'm coming, woo.
Starting point is 00:08:07 Coming, woo. Jack's got a region coming out. I'm coming, woo. Coming, woo. Wee, wee, wee, wee, wee. Fuck off to you later. No one gives a fuck. Could have ended it, too.
Starting point is 00:08:23 Yeah, yeah. Tommy's the only one in the room who can't hear it. Alright, party on, Jack. That was by the Thorazines. Oh, it's a whole band. Oh, it's a real band. Yeah, it's a band. I was going to say, it was a lot of production.
Starting point is 00:08:37 Really well put together. Good name, Thorazines. The Thorazines? Where are they from? I don't know. It was very well put together. Thank you, Thorazines. First comment, we got a review. where are they from I don't know Australia it was very well put together thank you Thorzine first comment
Starting point is 00:08:47 we got a review the eclectic mix of professionalism and complete amateurism makes this podcast absolutely one of the best 10 out of 10 alright
Starting point is 00:08:56 I've always thought that I was a good mix of those two things I can't tell if it's really a compliment or not I don't know this comes from dumbfuck from Australia.
Starting point is 00:09:07 I know jack shit. This podcast is like getting wasted and sitting on a beanbag listening to my stoner mates. Loved it. Signed, some dumb Aussie cunt. Five stars. Excellent. Thank you for your review. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:09:19 All right. This one's called It's Good. Five stars. Almost skipped over the birds episode, and I'm glad I didn't. Kelly was the funniest she's been to date. Finding out she's over six foot was enticing also. Enticing? Never tired of the Dave Grohl jokes.
Starting point is 00:09:37 Feel like he'd approve. Jack looks like Dave Grohl if he dressed up as Hannah Gadsby. Except Jack is tolerable. Can't wait for the next one. No, you look more like Hannah Gadsby dressed up as Hannah Gadsby, except Jack is tolerable. Can't wait for the next one. No, you look more like Hannah Gadsby dressed up as Dave Grohl. Well, speaking of Dave Grohl, there's other ones.
Starting point is 00:09:52 Oh, yeah, let's hear them. Jack looks like when you want brand name Dave Grohl, but your mom says we have Dave Grohl at home. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. You look like Dave Grohl if Dave Grohl walked into a hornet's nest. Ah, close. You look like Dave Grohl if Dave Grohl walked into a hornet's nest. Ah, close. He looks like Dave Grohl if he accidentally inhaled a bee while eating a sandwich and was stung in the throat.
Starting point is 00:10:13 My throat? Wow. What's wrong with my throat? Fuck. So Jim wrote that review then. Yeah. Clear on, right? That was a little too on the nose.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Yeah, yeah. Trying to find a comment. Okay. It looks like Dave Grohl never left the farm. Oh, Dave Grohl didn't a comment. Okay, go. He looks like Dave Grohl never left the farm. Oh, Dave Grohl didn't start on a farm, did he?
Starting point is 00:10:29 I don't know. I'm not even sure what that means. You look like Dave Grohl if Dave Grohl ate Kurt Cobain after he died. Interesting reference
Starting point is 00:10:38 because this guy says Jack looks like Dave Grohl in utero. We're finding out Jim's written on me. Oh, I'm just seeing the photos and thinking you looks like Dave Grohl in utero. We're finding out Jim's written on me. Oh, I'm just seeing the photos. I think you look like Dave Grohl if Dave Grohl was in a womb and they used an ultrasound photo. That's a good one.
Starting point is 00:10:53 Not that ugly. Damn. Last one I have here is, Jack looks like someone tried to carve Dave Grohl out of a cheddar cheese log. That's the best one. Thank you, Keith Mortimer, for the best one. you Keith Mortimer for the best one Mortimer Mortimer
Starting point is 00:11:09 Mortimer I get a lot of people commented about this when I was talking about Gretzky I wanted to say first round draft picks
Starting point is 00:11:20 but I said first round draft picks and everyone's getting on my case about it. Apparently that's called a spoonerism. People are like, why didn't you call him out?
Starting point is 00:11:31 I'm like, because he just flubbed his words. Spoonerism is when you just switch the first letter. Yes, spoonerism. Why didn't we call him out? Yes, we need to pick on Jack more. People are already mad at us for what we do. Someone said, if I was Jack, I'd bust Forrest in the mouth and quit.
Starting point is 00:11:51 Jesus Christ. Never seen someone disrespected so much. It's ridiculous. They bust me in the mouth? Yeah, you're the mean one. I would bust you in the mouth. Everything I say has a tinge of love. Me too.
Starting point is 00:12:02 Like, Jack, you're stupid. But we're mates. Just kidding. But I love when all my friends are dumber than me. Well, I don't even employ you. You don't have to quit. You can just punch me in the mouth and see what happens. You're co-workers. You're working in the same building. No, no, let's see what happens, dude. Listen, Jack, despite what everybody
Starting point is 00:12:21 here thinks about you, I think... Let's be honest. This company has no HR department. We can all punch each other whenever we want. We're going to third party at the Tommy Caprio. Yeah. Yeah. Just try it though, dude.
Starting point is 00:12:32 See what happens. You're scaring me. Yeah. Just pop them in the mouth right now. Another person said when Jack eventually snaps, it'll be hilarious. I picture him attempting to roundhouse for us and karate chop Jim while shouting out his attack moves.
Starting point is 00:12:44 And then someone follows up with that and then take Kelly on a date. I think you two will get together one day. My mom and I were dating. Oh, no. In years and years time, it's going to be like a very Harry Met Sally. We're like, we're friends. And then one day at the office after a bit too much Taco Bell, you had to lay down. There's only one couch.
Starting point is 00:13:07 A lot of my guy friends' moms think we're dating. I think it's just because a lot of them don't date. And so they're like, please just date anyone. Oh, it's a guy and girl. Nice. Must be dating. People love the joke book segment. Has your mom ever tried to set you up with anyone?
Starting point is 00:13:22 Yes. Yeah? How did that go? She tried. When she came out here. She asked my roommate. She goes, why won't he date you? And she's like, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:13:34 She's like, I think he probably would. Mom, she's gay. Yeah, because I was born with the power of choice. And then my mom thought Kelly and I were dating. Really? Yeah. And you guys just dating. Really? Yeah. And you guys just have sex casually. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:47 My friend Kevin's mom a long time, my friend Kevin is gay, and his mom a long time ago always thought we were dating because he was living in his mom's house and I would sleep over there. And one time he had to go to the doctor because he had strained a sperm duct. Right. Masturbating too much, I guess. And so he went to the doctor and she's like why do you have to go to the doctor why do you have to go to the doctor
Starting point is 00:14:08 and he's like i'm not telling you and finally she gets to him and he's like i strained a sperm duct okay and she goes is kelly okay and i was like and he was just like yeah she's fine and he just never told her that we weren't fucking and i was like what the fuck no no it's maybe because she masturbates too much as well why is she always on my bed masturbating that's so weird how are your sperm ducks
Starting point is 00:14:30 Kelly they're great sperm ducks they're like white birds egrets it's in a James Bond book I learned
Starting point is 00:14:40 I learned that the bird episode but people want us to do the joke book segment again. People like that, don't you? I'll pull some more jokes, maybe find a different joke book, maybe an older joke book. People also really like the credit episode. People are like, holy shit, I didn't know any of this.
Starting point is 00:14:56 They should teach this in school. Yeah, you think? We taught some real things on the credit episode. I love how they teach in school things that are fucking pointless. Geography. My son's doing an assignment at the moment, which love how they teach in school things that are fucking pointless. Geography. My son's doing an assignment at the moment, which is for Earth Day or something like that. And we have to do something earthy.
Starting point is 00:15:11 You know what I mean? And it's like all the things we're doing, making statues, we're making shit out of plastic. We're destroying the Earth Day. I'm going to spray paint something on the wall. One of my friend's younger brothers is in college right now. And on the class syllabus is one of the classes they have to watch your gun
Starting point is 00:15:31 routine. Yeah. I know I'm in universities. Oh yeah. There's university. One of the big ones like Cornell or something has it as part of their thing. And people get out of thing and they go there and it's meant to be like a social dilemma thing
Starting point is 00:15:45 or like even had like to build an argument bill yeah i think it's for debating or something but but i've since said this very openly i a lot of those statistics were uh you know yeah but you know they were common sense things i was trying to say i wasn't trying you know but after a presidential debate they always go through and fact check it and there's things that are wrong, so you're fine. Oh, no, it's no different. There's still plenty of logic in that routine. There's plenty to watch, but I find it very bizarre that people,
Starting point is 00:16:13 and they do that and they watch that routine and they don't watch the My Cunt's Broken. That's a good routine. That one I'm more proud of. There's bigger laughs in that routine. Don't blame me, your cunt's broken. Fucking hell, Fantastic joke. Someone says, Forrest looks sexy holding his pen to his mouth all the time.
Starting point is 00:16:31 Oh, he was just doing that. He was just doing that. You know what's crazy? I have an email right here in front of me. We did not coordinate this. I just pulled this up from John Williams. Sounds fake. It says, hello, Forrest.
Starting point is 00:16:41 I'm the writer of the Star Wars theme song and a fan of yours. It says, hello, Forrest. I'm the writer of the Star Wars theme song. And a fan of yours. It says, hello, Forrest. My sense is that you are sincere and wanting to do a good job on the JJ YouTube show. Whatever the fuck that is. Just get the fucking name right. JJ YouTube show. Putting your pen in front of your mouth while talking can make it hard to understand what you're saying. So you may want to break that habit.
Starting point is 00:17:03 Take care. Oh, no. No, he's being sexy. What makes it hard to understand what you're saying. So you may want to break that habit. Take care. Oh, no. No, he's being sexy. What makes it hard to understand is very clearly when Forrest was a child, he was kicked in the larynx. Got rocks in my throat. Yeah, so I've been meaning to put my man in my mouth more when I'm talking.
Starting point is 00:17:23 Someone said they buy a queef from Kelly. Can I say one thing before you get to Kelly's queefs? There's a comment that I know you're not going to read because it's technically negative about me that I saw because I was looking through, and it was something about how they didn't think it was funny, and then just to be fair, they went and watched all of any footage
Starting point is 00:17:40 they could find on my stand-up, so I don't know if they watched Conan or my special on Amazon Prime, Poor Decisions. You can watch it and they and they said not funny dot dot dot witty i want that person to look up the the definition of witty it means funny face so jokes on you yeah yeah yeah he's very it's not a compliment but it still means funny he's not funny he's more humorous yeah so someone wants to buy a queef from Kelly
Starting point is 00:18:18 and that must have been building off the guy who's selling his farts for NFTs we did say we would jar our farts Jim said he would sell his farts I'd jar a fart up and sell it how much Kelly? I don't know how to queef on command how many doge coins?
Starting point is 00:18:35 2,000 doge coins what you do is you normally queef do women queef when sex isn't involved? are you just walking around queefing? people can I always thought it was because the air was pushed up there and then it came out. But there are girls
Starting point is 00:18:48 like on TikTok now that do like queef on command videos and you're like, huh, not sure what the market is. Well, just keep a jar. But obviously there is a market.
Starting point is 00:18:56 Keep a jar next to the bed. Yeah, I always do. This is for you. This is for you, Jack, as well because you'll be there. Now, wait, wait. I'm going to queef? No, because we're having sex, remember?
Starting point is 00:19:07 Oh, yes. Called back two minutes ago. We do that. We do sex. And then when the penis is removed, grab the jar. Yeah. And put it, just hold it over. Yeah, I always have a jar next to the bed for that.
Starting point is 00:19:17 It's like catching a queef in a bottle. It is catching a queef in a bottle. It's not like that at all, Jack. That's exactly what we're saying. It's fucking gay. From the police song, Queef in a bottle. It's not like that at all, Jack. That's exactly what we're saying. It's fucking gay. From the police song, Queef in a Bottle. What, have you never caught a queef in a bottle before? Talking like a fucking rookie over here, Jack.
Starting point is 00:19:32 In a bottle. Queef in a bottle. Someone said, I love you, Jim. My dream is to be like you. That's from my brother Scott thanks for writing in I know he listens to the podcast that'll make him angry
Starting point is 00:19:51 he'll be walking along ah fuck him I won't play Call of Duty with him for a couple of days there's last comments about chickens alright
Starting point is 00:19:59 and it's frightening this guy goes I have like 50 chickens and like 10 of them eat eggs if they find them. Also, all of them are pack animals. If one rushes to eat something, all of them rush after it. I've seen my chickens eat mice, pigeons, even other chicken. If they see blood, they pick at it.
Starting point is 00:20:17 And when they taste it, they like the salt and the blood. And they keep pecking until that chicken loses all her blood, dies, and gets eaten by the other chickens. It's not because they're starving. Chickens eat all day. They eat and poop. If you put them... It's bad grammar, this whole thing.
Starting point is 00:20:31 If they put the light at night, they will nonstop move around searching for food. They have grain, but still go around looking for bugs and stuff. So chickens sound horrible. Thank God we eat them. I'm getting closer and closer to becoming vegan. And just the reasoning, I know there's all's people like, ah, the gym changed. But no, it's just, I just, I morally don't want to eat animals.
Starting point is 00:20:52 Right. But the thing that stops me from becoming vegan is obviously animals taste so good. But another thing is I just want one other animal in the kingdom of animals to also give up meat. You know, just one tiger to go, yeah, I'm plant-based, man. I'm fucking, like, just not one animal has gone, oh, no, no, I've gone the other way. It's just not right.
Starting point is 00:21:17 Well, because a tiger is a carnivore, but so you'd have to get another omnivore. Like a raccoon, I think, is an omnivore. I'm not sure actually what other omnivores. So famous, like, okay, so gorillas are fucking herbivores, right? And they're big and strong, and they're just eating fucking twigs and shit. I'm not one of these people who thinks if I give up meat, then I'll lose energy, and where will I find all my iron
Starting point is 00:21:39 and all this type of crap. I'm not worried about that. But I just taste, I'm having problems with taste. Bears. Bears are omnivores? I've given up pork. I haven not worried about that, but I just taste, I'm having problems with taste. Bears. Bears are on the horse. I've given up pork. I haven't eaten pork for a while. Birds.
Starting point is 00:21:48 That's one thing I did do. So we were on our bachelor party. I'd given up pork at that stage for about a year. So we came to my bachelor party. It was in the middle of COVID, right? And so that was the big thing. There was going to be no strippers
Starting point is 00:21:59 or anything because it's COVID. We had like eight blokes and we all went together to this house in Joshua Street. And so to my last night of freedom, what did I do? I ate ribs. Oh, this will show. They fucking don't control me right now.
Starting point is 00:22:14 I'm there picking fucking pork off the bone. Freedom. That was the last bit of pork I ate. Freedom pork. All right, let's do some ads. Okay. Hey, everyone, Mother's Day is coming up. When is that happening?
Starting point is 00:22:31 I don't know. May. May. First Sunday of May. First Sunday of May. I've got to buy something for me bloody ex, me ex, who's my son's mother. And then the pregnant lady, she's going to want something for Mother's Day.
Starting point is 00:22:44 They all cash in on the Mother's Day. Have you thought about bidets? I don't know what to get. What? Hello, Tushy, for Mum, for Mother's Day. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're sitting at home and you're thinking to yourself, maybe I don't want to focus on Mum's arsehole at Mother's Day.
Starting point is 00:23:01 Right? Maybe I could go a more traditional gift like the flowers. Fuck flowers. She's had flowers. Do you know how happy she'd be with a clean arsehole? Well, from knowing your mother quite well, very. Very. Your mother loves a fucking clean arsehole.
Starting point is 00:23:21 Very clean. Bring your mama into the future with the brand new Hello Tushy 3.0 modern bidet system. It's stylish, eco-friendly, easy to install, and stop flushing her retirement down the toilet with toilet paper costs. Hello Tushy 3.0 cleans butts good. Of course it is. Of course it does.
Starting point is 00:23:40 That's what it's known for. It's known for cleaning the arseholes. But it doesn't stop there. It cleans itself with the Smart Spray Automatic Self-Cleaning Nozzle System. When you say anyone can put this shit together, right, obviously not someone without arms. Don't be stupid. You need arms. You need arms to put it on.
Starting point is 00:24:02 Or I did see one pic. There was this guy in a bar, no arms, just feet, and he was sitting in the corner drinking beer with his feet. Figure it out, yeah. That cunt could do it too. And he probably needs the bidet more than anyone because wiping your ass with your feet is a real challenge. So this is really for anyone.
Starting point is 00:24:21 Now you say anyone can put this shit together. We mean even your parents. Yes, yours. Hello Tushy 3.0 attaches to their existing toilet with no electricity, extra plumbing, and no tech support, FaceTimes, and it cuts your toilet paper use down by 80%. So Hello Tushy bidet pays for itself in a few months. Not me because I don't use my toilet paper,
Starting point is 00:24:41 just leave the shit smeared around my arsehole. But it's paying me back in kindness. Plus, every Hello Tushy bidet attachment comes with a 60-day risk-free guarantee and a 12-month warranty. Mum's already got a tushy on the pipe. Your mum's already. Everyone just sit at home and think about that. Your mum takes shit.
Starting point is 00:25:04 Think about her squeezing, curling one out, and your mum's sitting there and the shit, and then she's had a bit of curry and it just splatters everywhere and she's like, oh, God, I've got to use toilet paper. Like a fucking idiot. Not anymore. Not anymore. Not anymore.
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Starting point is 00:25:52 Clean asshole. Free of poop. Go to HelloTushy.com to get 10% off plus free shipping. This special offer is for our listeners at HelloTushy.com for 10% off. HelloTushy.com. What have you got to wait? Assholes. Okay. Please welcome our guest this week. David Lemieux.
Starting point is 00:26:14 Hello, David. Welcome to the show. Uh, we're about to do a, a, a segment we call. Yes. No.
Starting point is 00:26:21 Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Judging a book by its cover. Okay, I know nothing about David, but David's an expert in the Grateful Dead
Starting point is 00:26:31 because I know that this is someone that Jack just has brought on the show and you have a lot of Grateful Dead albums behind you. So I've used all my detective skills. Oh, I didn't even see the I didn't see the poster behind David. You see little Jack now. He had his shirt all done up and all that stuff. And so the T-shirt was underneath. Now he's putting on the headband.
Starting point is 00:26:52 Am I correct, David? You're an expert in the Grateful Dead. Are you in the Grateful Dead? That's how little I know about the Grateful Dead. I'm not in the Grateful Dead. Well, yeah, I guess I know quite a bit about them. I worked for them. I worked for them for a little Dead. I, well, yeah, I guess I know quite a bit about them. I worked for them. I've worked for them for a little while.
Starting point is 00:27:06 So, yeah. So, yeah, I guess we're going to talk about them today. David Lemieux has been the Grateful Dead's official audiovisual archivist since 1999 and their legacy manager since 2010. Over the past 22 years, Lemieux has produced scores of Grateful Dead CD and DVD releases, many of which have been certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA, as well as several Grammy-nominated box sets.
Starting point is 00:27:32 Lemieux was a supervising music producer on the Martin Scorsese-produced career-spanning documentary on the Grateful Dead, Long Strange Trip, The Untold Story of the Grateful Dead. And in 2002, the Grateful Dead renamed their primary archival release series, Dave's Picks,
Starting point is 00:27:47 as a testament to his expertise. And then on Twitter, you can find him at Lemieux David, which is L-E-M-I-E-U-X David, and then at Grateful Dead. So yeah, there's his credits. All right.
Starting point is 00:27:59 So yeah, you can talk a little bit about how you came to this point, like in with the Grateful Dead, if you want to. Well, I mean, the essence of my job, amongst many other things, is listening to Grateful Dead music. And as you mentioned, there's a series called Dave's Picks where I kind of go through the archive and find the really good shows they played. Well, we won't talk about what years, but they played quite a bit. And I find the best shows, we put them out on CD, we make box sets, we do things like that. So I come at it as a fan from
Starting point is 00:28:30 when I was, you know, I've been a fan for 30, almost 40 years, since I was 13 years old. And I went to university for a while and did a bunch of things. And then I wrote them a letter in 1998 and suggested if they needed help archiving their video collection, I'm their guy. And then I wrote them a letter in 1998 and suggested if they needed help archiving their video collection, I'm their guy. And they called me up and I came down. I went to California, went to the Bay Area. I'm from Canada and went down to California, worked for them for a number of years. And then things moved from San Francisco to LA and I didn't make the move. I moved back to Canada where I still do the job as the archivist and legacy manager, but I didn't make the move. I moved back to Canada where I still do the job as the archivist and legacy manager, but I do it from up here. So it's been 22 years of,
Starting point is 00:29:11 um, you know, turning my passion into a career and I love it every day is a fun day. I, I'm not going to do well. Yeah. This is our 50 something episode. And there's been some topics Jim hasn't known anything about, but he knew a little bit about, I don't know if you'll get any of these questions. Would you like to know everything I know right now? Well,
Starting point is 00:29:31 let's just ask some of the questions and then we might, the question and answer part might be very short and we just might get into the, all the answers are jam band. Well, okay. So already wrong. I'm going to ask Jim everything he thinks he knows about The Grateful Dead,
Starting point is 00:29:45 and then at the end of it, David, you're going to grade them 0 through 10, 10 being the best on accuracy. Kelly's going to grade them 0 through 10 on confidence. I'm going to grade them on et cetera. I'm just going to say something off the bat. There'll be people who will go, that's not true. I don't think Grateful Dead were big in Australia, at least not when I was young.
Starting point is 00:30:01 So I never really listened to The Grateful Dead. If you do a podcast on midnight oil, I'm down. I've got that all day. I've got that all day. But the Grateful Dead, I'm up for learning. I'm going to pre-grade him on confidence. It's a zero. Yeah, okay.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Well, we'll put them all together. 21 through 30, you'll be a grateful Jim. I don't think you're going to be that. 11 through 20, it says thank you, but doesn't seem to mean it, Jim. And then zero through 10, rude Jim. I don't think you're going to be that. 11 through 20 says thank you, but doesn't seem to mean it, Jim. And then 0 through 10, rude Jim. I don't even know what that means. Yeah, I don't get those jokes either. Let's start.
Starting point is 00:30:33 Can you name any members? Jerry Garcia. Crashing it. I think you might get that. Anybody else? I'll go through all the other ice creams. Is there one called Half Baked? All the Ben and Jerry flavors.
Starting point is 00:30:46 Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Dough. Okay. What was the original name for the band? Oh, the Happy Alive. Okay. Then Jerry died and then it was the Grateful Dead. We're only going to probably ask about six of these questions. I can see so far.
Starting point is 00:31:03 We'll just get into them. People get on the LSD'll just get into them. People get on the LSD and like to watch them. It's a band that people follow around. People like to follow them around. You don't get that as much. I'm sure there's people who follow Green Day or something, but there's not many people who get into a van
Starting point is 00:31:20 and then paint it Green Day on the side. There are other bands. I know Phish. Tommy Caprio likes Phish. There's a lot of these American bands. I'm like, what's everyone up to here? There's a cultural difference for me. Okay.
Starting point is 00:31:36 Do you know when they started playing together? In high school. Okay. Got together. Played together in high school, and that would have been in the 1970s. Are they still playing together? Still going? The remaining members are still playing together,
Starting point is 00:31:53 and Jack goes and sees them. I used to work with a guy called Peter O'Fallon. He was a deadhead. I know they're called deadheads. Boom shakalaka. Oh, yeah. Right? And there's dancing bears involved.
Starting point is 00:32:05 All I know about the Grateful Dead is I've heard their songs in the background, but none of their merchandise matches their sound. Everything's like a skull and a thunderbolt and all that type of stuff, and then the music's more chill than that. You think it's going to be heavier. Yeah, okay. It's like Savage Garden. You think that's going to be a good heavy metal band.
Starting point is 00:32:22 Ooh, I want you out on. Ooh, Savage. Even better than you thought it was going to be. When they think Savage, they go, ooh, you think that's going to be a good heavy metal band. Ooh, I want you, I don't know. Ooh, Savage. Even better than you thought it was going to be. When they think Savage, they go, ooh, you're Savage. How many drummers does the band have? Okay, well, I'm going to say two. Because you think it's a question. Yeah, because he's going to say, how many drummers do the Beatles have?
Starting point is 00:32:42 Maybe there's one, but also Paul. Maybe there's three drummers. Yeah Beatles have? Well, one, but also Paul. He's got great drums on some of the albums. Maybe there's three drummers. Yeah, I'm saying two. Do you know who Ken Kesey is? You might know who he is. It's those things that my wife has to do to keep a vagina tight. It's a guy.
Starting point is 00:33:00 I was asking, do you know who Ken Kesey is? That's what she's doing. He's a smaller penis, so it wraps around, and then my penis builds back. My mother-in-law is listening. Hello, Becca. Okay. I don't think you know who Bear Owsley Stanley is.
Starting point is 00:33:16 I'm scared. Yeah, he's a big guy. How many top 40 hits did the Grateful Dead have? Can you name any of their songs? How about that? I would say they had five top hits. They never had a Dead have? Can you name any of their songs? How about that? I would say they had five top hits. They never had a number one. Can you name any songs?
Starting point is 00:33:30 Feeling Easy. Nope. A Doorway to the Sky. This is not, no. I'm not even what you would call a deadhead, but I mean, I know enough about it. I've been to a couple of concerts. This boat, I missed it completely.
Starting point is 00:33:48 I didn't even see it on the shore. I was asleep. The hotel didn't go up. Well, you'll learn today. How did they revolutionize the live concert experience? There's things that they did. Because they do like songs that go for like ever, like 30-minute songs and shit.
Starting point is 00:34:05 Anything else? Oh, they were the first people to involve lighting. There was no lighting before the group was out. There was candles and stuff. Don't be silly. There was some lighting, but not actual pop of lighting. They used light bulbs. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:19 Okay. Well, you said what are Grateful Dead fans called. You got that one, so give me that. Do you know any famous Deadheads uh Jack Hackett oh right
Starting point is 00:34:29 Peter O'Fallon yeah um famous Deadheads I'm gonna just say Woody Harrelson would be one yeah maybe yeah Woody Harrelson
Starting point is 00:34:36 would be one and then and then there'd be like some famous hippies throughout time that would have been right into it so I'm gonna say
Starting point is 00:34:43 uh Janis Joplin liked them. Well, speaking of that, is there any other musicians, like famous musicians, that you would know that have played with the Dead? Do you even know? There are. I'm asking you, do you know? Yeah, Jimi Hendrix played with them.
Starting point is 00:34:57 You know Jimi Hendrix? And Mark Knopfler. Mark Knopfler. Mark Knopfler's a pretty good guess. I don't even know if that's true, but that might be your best guess so far. I don't even know if that's true, but that might be your best guess so far. I don't even know if that's true. He's the salt in the swing, man.
Starting point is 00:35:08 Yeah, I like him. That's such an un-rock and roll song. What's it called? The salt in the swing. I'm the salt in the swing. Do you know why they named it that song? Right. Because he was watching some late night band in a bar
Starting point is 00:35:19 and there's these guys just not doing very well and they called themselves the saltons of swing. So that's really funny. Oh, yeah. The saltons. Okay, so a couple more questions. Weultans of Swing. So that's really funny. Oh yeah, the Sultans. Okay, so a couple more questions. We'll just get to David. He doesn't need this. Would it be proper cultural appropriation now to call yourself
Starting point is 00:35:32 a Sultan? Would there be some Sultans that are like, no, that's my word. We'll have to send that in. If you're a Sultan, please let us know. If there's any Sultans that are listening to us. Email us at idcatwjj at gmail.com Tell us if you're offended by the song Sultan of Swing by the white band
Starting point is 00:35:48 Dire Straits from their album Brother of Arms from 1985 see I know that I only know that because my brother listened to that album at Nauseam and it was the first CD to sell a million I'm deflecting other knowledge that I know I know things I swear
Starting point is 00:36:04 it was Brothers in Arms anyways got it I swear. It was brothers in arms. Anyways, got it wrong. Damn. I thought it was brothers in arms. That's what I just said. You said and arms. In arms. Yeah, I said brothers in arms.
Starting point is 00:36:13 I heard of arms. Yeah, me too. All right. Why do the fans at concerts, Grateful Dead concerts, say, I need a miracle? Because their hearts have stopped working from all the drugs. They're laying in a field of mud, looking up at people going, I really need a miracle.
Starting point is 00:36:28 All right. I think we're good. I don't think you did very well, but we'll ask David. This is, this is, we found out how the podcast can be flawed. It's not flawed.
Starting point is 00:36:38 This is why we have the podcast. So people can learn about stuff. I mean, there's going to be people that know about the Grateful Dead. I'm just going to say officially, I don't know about that. Okay. So David, zero's going to be people that know about the Grateful Dead. I'm just going to say officially, I don't know about that. Okay, so David, zero through ten, how'd Jim do?
Starting point is 00:36:50 I'm going to give him about a two to three, maybe. He's a deadhead, man. They're cool. Yeah, that's cool. So nice, David. So nice. Two to three. Zero on confidence, Skelly? Actually, negative five on confidence. Yeah, I'mlly? Actually, negative five on confidence.
Starting point is 00:37:05 Yeah, I'm going to give him negative 500 on confidence. Rude Jim. Rude Jim. I didn't even have a category. Now my score's going back to the crypto episode. Okay, David. So, members of the Grateful Dead. He said Jerry Garcia.
Starting point is 00:37:21 That was one of the points he probably got, which are being very generous. Yeah, and Deadhead, two points. Numbers of the band, I'm saying. That's why I got two points. I'm asking David now. It was ten questions, two answers right, two points. Who were the members of the Grateful Dead, David? Well, the founding members were Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzman,
Starting point is 00:37:37 Phil Lesch, and Pigpen, Ron McKernan and Jerry, of course, and then Mickey shortly after, Mickey Hart, and then several keyboard players. It was kind of the hot seat where they came and went. A lot of them died in bad circumstances. But yeah, you got Jerry and that's something. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:57 Jerry Garcia. I even put on the sheet in case you couldn't figure when I was like, it's an ice cream flavor. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, I know that. I know Jerry Garcia. I work backwards. That, I know that. I know Jerry Garcia. I work backwards. That's the only reason I know who Jerry Garcia is.
Starting point is 00:38:08 If the ice cream didn't exist. He was a fan of Ben and Jerry's before. Is Jerry Garcia alive, Jim? No, he's dead. Okay. Yeah, I found that out the hard way. What? Eating ice cream?
Starting point is 00:38:19 I was eating ice creams, taking the piss, and someone started crying. No, I don't know. Someone told me. By the way, Ben and Jerry's, there's too much stuff in there. Yeah, too much stuff. Yeah, I got it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:38:29 What was the original name for the band? I've gone Talenti. I've gone back to simpler times. What was the original name for the band? I didn't ask you this. Why did they change it, and how did the Grateful Dead get their current name? These are the questions I didn't get. And I said Alive Happy.
Starting point is 00:38:42 They changed it because Grateful Dead is obviously more catchy because it's lasted so long. You're part of this. The show's over. I got to just reiterate it as wrong. Then you can comment on David's answers. Original band name was The Warlocks, and
Starting point is 00:39:00 in late 1965, Phil, the bass player, was flipping through some records in a store and found there was another band named the Warlocks. And they already put a record out. So they said, well, we can't do that. Some speculation that that was the early Velvet Underground, Lou Reed. And then so they changed it to Grateful Dead in December of 65. And they opened up a dictionary and they opened it to the page that went straight to grateful dead it was kind of screaming out at them and they looked at it they said that's exactly who
Starting point is 00:39:29 we are and they all just unanimously said that's a great name this was uh november december 65 and they've been grateful dead for months there were 50 56 years yeah the warlocks i jack sorry hold on jack you have to take care of this quickly. The guy's out the front. He didn't find the apartment. Sorry about this. Jim's ordered some Taco Bell. He thought it would come before. It's the fastest thing in the street.
Starting point is 00:39:54 He thought it would come before the podcast. I'm not going to eat it while I'm on air, but it took a bit longer, and now there's Taco Bell downstairs. A lot of life decisions. I'm kicking a lot of goals here today, David. You're going to shame eat some cheesy gordita crunches. So the original name was The Warlocks. I also agree with you, Jim.
Starting point is 00:40:13 I like a lot of the Grateful Dead songs. I've been to a few concerts and stuff, but I always was confused by the artwork and stuff. Jim mentioned that, too. There's a lot of skulls and skeletons and it looks a little bit harder than it is. Like, how did that all come about? Like, why is that? It does. Well, the skull and lightning bolt,
Starting point is 00:40:31 I got the lightning bolt on my hoodie right here was because they needed a, they needed something when they were playing festivals and every, all the other bands had the road cases and the dead needed something that was identifiable as their own thing. And it became a circle with a lightning bolt with red and blue. And then that morphed into the skull with lightning bolt. Grateful Dead, the skull and roses was just something that one of the original poster artists, Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly, they put together and the dead loved it.
Starting point is 00:41:00 They said that's kind of antithetical to who we are in a way. You know, like you say the music is certainly not heavy it's not uh it's not heavy metal by any means it's not dark it's not sinister um but it was it was beautiful imagery so they went with it and then there are other images that they got into later like the dancing bears like the turtles that are slightly less uh dark and ominous now why, why Dancing Bears? Is there something about, like when I see these images, I could go Dancing Bear, but is there some point or reason behind it
Starting point is 00:41:33 or something that people? There is. One of the questions was who was Owsley Stanley? His nickname was Bear because he was a strong guy. He was the Dead's original, he was the Dead's benefactor when they didn't have any money. He was the Dead's original, he was the Dead's benefactor when they didn't have any money. He was also an LSD manufacturer. He's the person single-handedly, I think, who turned on most people in America in the 1960s. And he was also, he had some money
Starting point is 00:41:56 from that, not a huge amount, but he had some money. So he put it into the band, into the sound system. And his nickname was Bear. He was a strong guy and he was a little he was small but he was strong uh bear and so um he was the dead's original sound guy and then the name officially kind of caught on with deadheads with the fans in 1973 they put an album out called bear's choice and it was uh it was an album that bear chose some live owsley chose some live material and interestingly one of the questions i don't think we got to the second part about Bear, what country did he naturalize to? Australia.
Starting point is 00:42:29 So Bear lived his last 30 years in Australia. Oh, wow. You spent longer there than me. And it's going back to that. Jim at the beginning said when he was growing up, he doesn't, they didn't make it to, did they ever perform live in Australia or make it down there? They didn't. One of my best friends here in Victoria, BC, he's, he's Australian.
Starting point is 00:42:51 He had never heard of them until early nineties when, when he started dating his wife. And she said, Oh, they're grateful that she's from Canada and mentioned them. He'd never even heard of them. And so, yeah, you know, he's from Melbourne and they never played there. They only played in North America and mostly United States and a little bit in Europe. And that was it. Right.
Starting point is 00:43:12 Well, see, there you go. Yeah. The hook, Jim. We forgive you. Didn't know about the Grateful Dead. I had one mate who was a Deadhead fan. He had the van and everything, but, you know, he was in Australia, so it was a pretty pointless task he was just driving around delivering
Starting point is 00:43:29 bears to people yeah my roommate in college was really into the dead and so you know when you're have a roommate you and you got you had little boom boxes back then and i would play something that i'd want and then he'd always put in like a bootleg copy which is like all the live recordings we'll talk about that but that and so i i just by accident started to learn all the dead songs because he would constantly play them and i actually i went to two concerts the same city hamilton uh ontario and i would want to say it was probably like 92 it was 90 or 92 yeah 90 wait a minute you grew up in Florida. What were you doing in Hamilton, Ontario? I went to school at Ithaca College in New York.
Starting point is 00:44:07 Oh, yeah, that makes more sense. I went to school in central New York. No, no, it checks out. I remember he was getting... I thought it was a brag. You were like going, I once went to Hamilton, Ontario. Ooh, someone's traveled. Yeah, so I saw those two shows, I guess.
Starting point is 00:44:24 And that's crazy that you would even, I guess they didn't play there a lot. So you would know that already. Four times, March of 90, and then two shows in March of 92. I mean, it's, yeah, March 20th and 21st. This is a simple question. So the audience at a Grateful Dead concert,
Starting point is 00:44:41 a lot of them are on drugs, correct? This is just a... I don't know. This is speculation, but... on drugs, correct? This is just a speculation. For me, it's speculation too. I wasn't at most of them. Most of them. As Forrest said, bootleg taping was a thing where the dead allowed it. People could bring in their microphones.
Starting point is 00:45:01 And I was taping a lot of shows. I taped those Hamilton shows that Forrest was at, which means bringing in your recording. I would love to hear those recordings. Just like, like, Hey, you know where the bathroom is? And you're just like this, man, I'm trying to record this show. Hey, gambling. You know, full disclosure at that Hamilton show, I was on drugs. I will say this, I, that it was a really great, to me, it was like my roommates, like, do
Starting point is 00:45:29 you want tickets? I remember he was on the phone. Do you want tickets? And, and my brain, I wasn't huge into the dead, but I was just like, I got to go to this because it's like a part of American, like, you know, pop culture. I'd like to go just to see you. Yeah. And, and so we drove up there, we spent two days or two nights there.
Starting point is 00:45:44 I don't even remember. We slept in a hotel room with a bunch of other people and then it was like the scene in the parking lot is amazing I mean I'm sure you could talk that more but it was like there's just like drum circles and people like selling like food and just different like trinkets and then um I had packed this down jacket because it was gonna be cold and I had bought two of these jackets because I think it was like buy one get one it was like a cheap jacket and so I was walking around I had these two jackets I had one extra in my bag I was walking around and this guy
Starting point is 00:46:09 had a sign up and he goes we'll trade for jacket like it was cold like he wanted to trade something and I just like hey I have another jacket I was on like LSD and I was like hey I have another jacket if you want it so I was just like talking to him and he goes sure what do you have to trade put it on the rock
Starting point is 00:46:24 it's pretty warm my friend if you want us. I was just like talking to him and he goes, sure, what do you, what do you have to trade? Put it on the rock. Stay warm, my friend. I'll check on you later. I ended up trading him for a skateboard and I skateboarded all around Hamilton on acid.
Starting point is 00:46:38 Like, it was really fun and then I went to- That's what Hamilton the musical should have been. But, it. But it was an amazing time. I remember it being... When you do go to those concerts, Tim, there's like a whole
Starting point is 00:46:50 part in the center, I'm sure David knows. It's called Shakedown Street. Oh, is that what that's called? That was one of the questions we had. Yeah, where everyone has these microphones and they're recording stuff. And it's like, why did the band allow them to do that, like to record? The Dead knew that their strength was in live performances. They were they made good i love their albums but i think
Starting point is 00:47:10 their strength and their longevity was in what they did live and i think they saw it as something you know as jerry once famously said when we're done with it you can have it and and so you know people to record their shows and nobody sold them that was the thing your your roommate for us who had all these tapes, they were all tape trading. They were never for sale. That was heavily shunned, the sale of these tapes. But you trade them. So your buddy in college has 100 and 200 tapes and another guy's 200. You find things that you don't have that he has.
Starting point is 00:47:39 You make copies. So it was all about tape trading. And that's really, I mean, for me, it was a huge promotional thing because it kind of my tape collection was hundreds and hundreds of tapes. And it got me always listening to the dead. So all I wanted to do was go to the next show. And, you know, the record executives were always saying, well, you know what, if you allow this, nobody's going to buy your records and the dead. So nobody buys our records anyway, compared to another band, you know, the Zeppelin or the Eagles. people are buying those records. The Deads' records sold okay. They had a lot of gold records, but they didn't sell 10 million. They didn't do anything like that. So the Dead knew their strength was in the live show. I think it was an inadvertent promotional aspect where they just figured that there's no harm in it
Starting point is 00:48:21 is the way they saw it. They were going to do it one way or the other. Now, how different were each concerts that people wanted to have hundreds of records to listen to? I know that they sort of improvised a lot on stage or whatever, but were these shows vastly different from each other? Vastly. You could see four, five shows in a row.
Starting point is 00:48:43 And, I mean, in the era I was seeing shows, 1987 to 93, you could be pretty much guaranteed in those four nights, you go four nights in a row, 20, 22 songs a night, guaranteed you would not see one song repeated in those four nights. Really? Because an active repertoire of not just something that they would pull out once in a while, but an active repertoire at any time of a hundred to 120 songs. And,
Starting point is 00:49:09 and so they could draw on them at any time. And then there were the songs that they played very rarely that you'd see maybe once a tour. And those were the kinds of things you'd kind of like get really excited about. But, you know, certainly Forrest saw these two shows and he didn't see any repeated
Starting point is 00:49:21 songs. I didn't know. It was just not, I thought it was like when you come and see me, right? So when you come and see me, I'm on stage for an hour and a half, an hour of it's always pretty much the same. And then I dick around with another 30 minutes. For the next night, yeah.
Starting point is 00:49:35 To the next night. So if you went two nights in a row, I always like to think that you're going to see something different if you come two nights in a row, right? But no, it's never a completely different set. That would be ridiculous. But that, for me at least. The first night was great. The second night was a bit weak. two nights in a row right but no it's never completely different set that would be ridiculous for me the first night was great the second night was a bit weak
Starting point is 00:49:54 you said the same thing yeah and that and that i just just from being at the which is such a spectacle like in a good way the parking lot to the concert and everything there uh i remember that was the anticipation it was like oh i i i hope they play this song or when is it going to play this? My friends and I were always like, well, what are they going to start with? Oh, maybe it's... Okay, so when you're saying the car park, did they only ever do big outdoor gigs? Or when they play Madison Square Garden,
Starting point is 00:50:14 where it is... It was like tailgating. I mean, David... When they're in Chicago or whatever, the Chicago Theater or something, what happens then? There might be a parking deck or whatever. Where's your street?
Starting point is 00:50:27 Yeah. A place like Madison square garden, the deadheads would just kind of take over. They played the garden over 50 times and they would take over the city blocks around it. But then at a venue that was a proper venue, maybe out in the suburbs that had a massive parking lot, the dead in Chicago,
Starting point is 00:50:41 generally in the last few years played soldier field, which held about 60,000. And because it was made for NFL football, it was filled with parking lots. And so like massive parking lots. And those are where people would show up at noon and, you know, they party and play Frisbee and sell their wares all day long and then go into the show. Generally in the last, you know, 15 years of the Grateful Dead's touring and right up to today with Dead and Company, which is what they're touring as, they're playing big venues, at least 15,000 to 18,000. And oftentimes, Wrigley Field in Chicago or these bigger places, Soldier
Starting point is 00:51:16 Field they played six years ago, they sold out three nights at 74,000 people a night. And those were major, major parking lot scenes. And the Shakedown Street where people are selling things and you can get anything there. And, you know, this speaking to, you know, what Jim had asked about is everybody on drugs at the shows. And again, I can't speak to that. It wasn't my experience, but the nice thing about dead shows is there is freedom to essentially do whatever you want. As long as you're not harming another person, there's complete acceptance and openness. And I mean, it's an incredible scene. It was like the last place I thought in America,
Starting point is 00:51:48 I remember Bob Weir said this once, the rhythm guitar player, that it was like running away and joining the circus. And then you'd return to your life and go back to college or your job or whatever it was or your family. But it was a safe place to go. I was traveling the country when I was 16, 17 years old and my parents had no problem with it knowing that the dead
Starting point is 00:52:08 scene was safe. So, I mean, it was a great place to grow up for sure. So I can send my son away to do this. You can leave for a bit. Let him grow up a little bit. No, but kids grow up so fast these days. So he'll be ready by 12 if he was ready by 16. When we were on the Jim Jefferies show, the Dead & Company played at the Hollywood Bowl. Never heard of it.
Starting point is 00:52:28 And they, because Shakedown Street got so big, Hollywood traffic was ruined for two days. Like gridlocked just because of all the deadheads.
Starting point is 00:52:38 And a lot of people in the parking lots never made it into the show. They just hung out in the parking lot. I saw a guy playing a hockey stick as an instrument. They're just hanging out in the parking lot for hours on
Starting point is 00:52:47 end yeah it sounds like that's awesome are there okay now i know that you david you'll have to give a diplomatic answer on this um out in the dead in the deadhead community are there any hot chicks it doesn't feel like a hot chick environment you know i think men and women uh at dead shows you know i'll say this uh it's a healthy crew and it is a happy crew and i mean when you add healthy people with happy energy i mean i like to think that just to yeah i mean these people men and women've got great smiles out in these parking lots and everybody, I mean, it's a great place to be. I don't know how to answer that.
Starting point is 00:53:29 This is, this is where you got me wrong here. I don't want there to be fucking hot chicks. That's what's keeping me from Coachella. They're the fucking worst. I'm trying to enjoy myself and you're taking photos and you're bitching about lines and shit. Shut up.
Starting point is 00:53:43 Yeah. I like a band with a good ugly fan base come to the parking lot I will say this and I know that that this is something you're talking about too
Starting point is 00:53:57 when I went to the concert there was actually a lot of people that weren't on drugs because I remember being I had that preconceived notion that like everyone's gonna be on drugs and you get there and you're like oh you're not I was like I guess there was a lot of people that weren't on drugs because I remember being I had that that preconceived notion that like everyone's gonna be on drugs and you get there like oh you're not I was like I guess there's a lot of people on drugs not on drugs and I'm like I'm on drugs though so now I'm self-conscious about it but but I did I just want to say this and the shakedown street this is just a little thing that I think about I thought about was I I bought acid and I was behind a car and I bought some acid from a guy and there was my friend was with me and there was a rando guy that we didn't know, random guy.
Starting point is 00:54:27 He bought some acid, he put some on his tongue and then he took another piece and put it in a pouch around his neck. And then me and my friend are like, why did you put it in that pouch? And he goes, when Jerry Garcia dies, I'm going to take all this acid. And when Jerry Garcia died, that was the first thing I thought of was that guy. And I was like, I hope that guy's okay. And I hope he did not take all that acid I hope he came to his senses I don't know how that's going to help anything in this situation
Starting point is 00:54:49 it's one of you I've never indulged in the LSD maybe there it's never been a thing I feel like I get what I need from mushrooms but you could
Starting point is 00:54:57 I would say I've been there's only two concerts I went to and you could be sober and completely you don't need drugs it was like
Starting point is 00:55:04 a very amazing experience and it's oh I get I used to get wasted could be sober and completely you don't need drugs to enjoy it was like a very amazing experience and it's I used to get wasted at Paul McCartney concerts don't worry
Starting point is 00:55:11 about me I've been on cocaine at Crowded House this is really great great
Starting point is 00:55:18 yeah so I'm like don't worry about the Grateful Dead I'm there I know what to do
Starting point is 00:55:24 how many drummers Jim says two yeah two Yeah, so I'm like, don't worry about the Grateful Dead. I'm there. I know what to do. How many drummers? Two. Yeah, two. Yeah. Two drummers. Bill Kreutzman was the founding member, and shortly after, a year and a half, two years later,
Starting point is 00:55:38 Mickey Hart joined, and that's kind of when the Grateful Dead became the Grateful Dead. Now, Mickey did leave for a couple of years, 71 through 74, but then came back in 75 and was there through the duration right up to today. And Mickey, I mean, Mickey and Billy together, they make an unbelievable sound and they propel the music forward and they do some incredible things. They complement each other. They don't, it's not just like two drummers playing the same thing and therefore it's much louder it's two very complementary drummers whereas mickey is a little more percussive and adds a lot of uh color whereas billy kind of keeps things straight uh very complementary i mean the grateful dead wouldn't be the grateful dead without those two
Starting point is 00:56:18 guys um certainly mickey did like the uh score like Apocalypse Now or something. He did all the drum work on it. Like almost the whole score. They did Billy and Mickey. Yeah, Billy and Mickey. They were called the Rhythm Devils. And Francis Ford Coppola hired them to do some of the music for the jungle scenes as they're going through the jungle on the boat. And it's quiet, but you hear this percussive jungle music. And that was Billy and Mickey and some of their friends doing some incredible
Starting point is 00:56:45 stuff. So yeah, that was, that was 1979. You know, the dead have been around a while and they've done a lot of cool things through those, you know, 56 years they've been playing. And I asked Jim this, but what, like there are other notable musicians that have played with the dead through the years besides the founding members, right? Certainly they were, you know, friends with, Jimi Hendrix never did play with them. Certainly a contemporary, but didn't play with them.
Starting point is 00:57:09 Janis Joplin certainly sat in a couple of times and Janis was really good friends with the Grateful Dead. Huge respect, particularly Pigpen. I mentioned the original keyboard player and singer for the band. He died in 1973. He and Janice were incredibly tight because in the San Francisco music scene in the late 60s, there was a lot of LSD. There was a lot of drugs. And Janice and Pigpen, they didn't do the drugs. They were drinkers. Pigpen was a blues man. Janice was from Texas. And they bonded over the fact, I mean, they were both hardcore blues musicians, but they weren't on any drugs. But the Dead and Janice were incredibly tight.
Starting point is 00:57:48 She sat in with them a few times. Carlos Santana sat in. Ranford Marsalis, very famously. Some of the Los Lobos guys, the Neville Brothers. You know, a lot of bands. Didn't John Mayer do stuff with them? He's with them now. John Mayer, he's now the lead guitar player.
Starting point is 00:58:04 Oh, yeah, he plays for them. Yeah, with Dead & Company. He has been for six years now, since November of 2015, since the Dead's 50th anniversary. They did some big shows, and right after those, they reformed as, with Bob, we were the Dead's rhythm guitar player
Starting point is 00:58:19 and the two drummers, and then Oteel on bass from the Allman Brothers, and Jeff from Many Grateful Dead spinoffs on keyboards, and John Mayerel on bass from the Allman Brothers, and Jeff from Many Grateful Dead spinoffs on keyboards, and John Mayer on lead guitar. And I mean, what a perfect fit. This guy, I've never seen anyone work so hard at something. He really didn't know a lot about Grateful Dead music, but he knew a lot about music. Guy's incredibly talented, but he worked and still works his butt off because he knows it's a big responsibility to get up in front of 30 or 40,000 people and play this music that people have been listening to since before John was born.
Starting point is 00:58:50 John's only 44, 43 years old. So, yeah, he knows his responsibility and he takes it seriously and he's really good. He's good energy. Ken Kesey asked Jim about him. Yeah. You know, I told you what that was. about him. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:02 Do you know yet? I told you what that was. You actually would know, I don't know if you've seen the movie that the book you wrote is based on, but... What's the movie? He wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Oh, yeah, I know that movie.
Starting point is 00:59:15 Yeah, I've seen that. But he's involved with the Grateful Dead. I guess, David, you can tell us how that... Ken Kesey was part of a scene in the mid-60s. They called themselves the Merry Pranksters.
Starting point is 00:59:27 And they were really good friends with the Grateful Dead through mutual friends. And then Ken and his crew. And Ken had a bit of money from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest from the book. And this was like 65. And they started throwing parties. Now, remember, 1965, LSD was still legal in California for another year. So they threw these parties called the acid tests. And as part of it, there would be people just show up.
Starting point is 00:59:52 There'd be a light show and there'd be whatever, but it would be acid. And there'd be music. And one of the things is Keezy asked the Grateful Dead to come and play the acid test. So those were the first real Grateful Dead gigs. And they weren't gigs in the sense that they were paid and they had to play for four hours. They could get up and play two songs and people would dance and then maybe they'd be too high and they'd just stop playing for three hours.
Starting point is 01:00:15 And then they'd get up and play a couple more songs. And it was that freedom. You know, you mentioned, Jim, about the dead. You know this, that the dead could get up and improvise, and they could play any song from, you know, it could be a five-minute song or a 20-minute song. And that comes from the acid test days, which was a very short period. It was a few months. But it gave them the freedom of basically doing what they felt at that moment
Starting point is 01:00:36 and an incredibly freeing experience. Those were the dead's first real gigs were these acid tests. So those were parties held by Ken Kesey and his Mary Franksters. So, okay, so were the dead on drugs on stage a lot? Because I know from my drug-taking days that you can be on drugs on the Friday night show, but on the Saturday night show, you're a little bit more chill. And you're just taking care of your body so you can make it home.
Starting point is 01:01:05 Water tonight. And tonight, yeah, tonight I'll be using the chair a lot. more chill and you're just taking care of your body so you can make it home. Water. And tonight, yeah, tonight I'll be using the chair a lot. You know, I know in the, in the early days, in the acid test days, most certainly, um, it was a big part of, um, you know, Jim, you mentioned mushrooms and, you know, those are mind expanding drugs. Those are certainly not anything that's going to constrain your mind and it's going to open things up. And for the Grateful Dead, LSD expanded their musical minds and allowed them to stretch things out and play things and understand what the other guy was doing and having that kind
Starting point is 01:01:34 of group mindset. So in the early days, most certainly it was a part of it. Later years, I don't know. I don't know how long that went on for. I know that as the crowds got bigger and the shows became more shows, people are paying money. As you know, Jim, you have people coming to see you. You've got to be somewhat professional. Very good, David. And so you've got that responsibility. So if they were, I mean, it certainly wouldn't be anything that would allow them the freedom of saying at any given time, I don't feel like playing right now. So I'm going to walk off stage for a couple hours until I get my head right.
Starting point is 01:02:09 You can't do that. So I don't I don't know. I don't think so. I certainly think they took this job very seriously. You know, and that goes almost right after the acid test by 67, 68 and really by 70 into 71. That's when they started headlining bigger places, arenas, places like the Philadelphia Spectrum, they could sell out as early as 1972. And that was like 19,000 people. So you've got this responsibility of putting on a proper performance, you've got to be there for it. So I don't think so. Again, I know these guys as my bosses, as people I've got
Starting point is 01:02:46 to know quite a bit working with them in the studio and stuff. And certainly they're as sharp as anybody I've ever worked with or known in my life. So, I mean, they're certainly not now, but I don't know. After the acid test, I don't know. But certainly acid tests, I think it was a big part of what allowed them to freak freely.
Starting point is 01:03:02 What bands in our society now do we have that we wouldn't have if the Grateful Dead didn't exist that was so heavily influenced that there's a pathway to there? I think a lot of them, and I think a lot of bands realize, both on a business level, that the Grateful Dead had a lot of practices that were out of the mainstream for most bands on a business level, allowing taping merchandise.
Starting point is 01:03:28 The Dead had good merchandising going back early 70s. They did different shows every night, as we talked about, and that encourages people to go see many nights. My brother is a huge U2 fan, and he can see three U2 shows in a row and see virtually the identical show each night. Same lighting cues, same everything. The Dead weren't like that. That would encourage people to come back any given night. The authenticity The Dead played with, you can see a mediocre show that might not inspire you so much to come back the next time, but you give it a chance, and that next show could really blow your mind.
Starting point is 01:04:04 the next time, but you give it a chance and that next show could really blow your mind. And it means that the next time they come to your city or even nearby within a couple hundred miles, you're going to make it a point to go to that show. So all of those things, I think, gave a lot of bands nowadays the freedom of knowing that you can do that, that maybe for some bands, it's not really the business model like U2, which plays the same show every night. But there's bands like Phish that certainly play a different show every night that allow taping, that allow their fans to be themselves. There's a lot of bands like the String Cheese Incident, Mo. I know early on when Pearl Jam was getting really big in 92, 93, 94, they certainly looked to the Grateful Dead for a lot of their business practices,
Starting point is 01:04:46 the online, not online tickets before the internet, but the dead did mail order tickets. So when I was buying Grateful Dead tickets, this is a, this is a little box of stuff here. And this is my box of Grateful Dead ticket stubs that are all the ones that, you know, so, you know, yeah. So you mail order your tickets and you get them directly from the band the band would get an allotment of the you know 18 000 seat arena the dead would get
Starting point is 01:05:10 nine or ten thousand of those seats to sell directly to their fans so pearl jam would look at that they'd look at the taping things like that um we talked about this the other day that metallica you know pretty mainstream band um they started allowing a taping section where fans could come in with thousands of dollars in equipment large microphone stands to get you know pretty mainstream band um they started allowing a taping section where fans could come in with thousands of dollars in equipment large microphone stands to get you know you said jim about people you could hear them on the tapes but we're not holding our mics they're way up in the air so you know they're above the crowd so you're getting a pretty good recording and metallica picked up that practice it's not personally i was just trying to find the bathroom and now i'm hanging up these rafters.
Starting point is 01:05:45 Shit's really going down. A little help? A little help? That's my young Forrest voice. I can do the one now. He's a different guy. There's a lot of it. I wasn't a huge like I like the Grateful Dead. Like I said, I gave you some of the experience.
Starting point is 01:06:01 I hear bands to this day, like I don't know Vampire Weekend is a band that they sound like the grateful dead sometimes in their song, like the phrasing and the way the guitar sounds. And it's like, and that's a very modern, like old band.
Starting point is 01:06:13 Now that's like, you know, that's like you hear it. I think you hear it in a lot of bands too. Like just the sound, like Wilco and like bands. And so like, that's like,
Starting point is 01:06:21 you know, and those are, those are bands that are big now, but definitely. Yeah. Look at that. It's like we planned it. So like, that's like, you know, and those are, those are bands that are big now, but definitely. Yeah. Look at that. It's like we planned it. You know,
Starting point is 01:06:29 so do you have the record for the most, um, most going to the concerts? What are, that's an easy sentence. Most attained. Yeah. Who has gone to the most concerts?
Starting point is 01:06:41 Is it you? No, God, no. I've only seen the dead, uh, from, uh, 87 to 93 um i saw them 101 times oh that's it nothing like i i've got plenty of friends i mean friends
Starting point is 01:06:54 most of my friends saw the dead 200 300 times 350 times um i know people who saw them over 400 times and this you know this is people who would see them. And this, you know, this is people who would see them over the course of, you know, 10 or 15 or 20 years, and they would see them 15 or 20 times a year. I mean, in the short amount of time I was seeing them, I think the most I saw them was probably 25 times in a year. A light year for me would be eight or 10 shows because college got in the way or something. But yeah, you know, it was, it was that exciting to see the dead and catch that great night amongst some really good ones. Generally they were playing really, really well in the years I was seeing them,
Starting point is 01:07:33 but then you'd get the magic night that would make sure that you never wanted to miss a show. And then you, you know, you get the call from your friends saying, Oh man, they're playing great this tour. And you'd make it a, you'd make a trip to catch that end of that tour. So, um, you know, it was never, I never went to see the dead for one or two shows at a time. When you went to Hamilton forest, I didn't do anything like that. Maybe once or twice, it was always about catching six shows or 10, uh, in a row and going. And the dead generally, when I was seeing them, we're doing three or four nights in a city. So it made it very easy where
Starting point is 01:08:05 they could play two nights in Hamilton and then three nights in Albany, New York right after that, and then three nights at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. So you'd be able to see them. They play two weeks at Madison Square Garden, do eight or nine shows at Madison Square Garden, and people just go there for two weeks and see all the shows. So, you know, certainly what I saw was I wish I'd seen a lot more. And in my prime touring years, there were a lot of shows that I didn't see that I wish I had that I could have. But I, you know, I skipped them for whatever reason. One nice thing, dead tickets were pretty inexpensive compared to other bands. They were 18 or $20 in the late 80s. And
Starting point is 01:08:41 the other thing is Forrest said when he stayed at a hotel, we generally packed six or eight people into a hotel so everybody would chip in 10 or 15 bucks. So it wasn't expensive. People don't know, how'd you afford that? But 500 bucks would get you to 10 or 15 dead shows. It wasn't expensive, but extremely uncomfortable. Sometimes about that. But when you're young, yeah, you're young.
Starting point is 01:09:02 You can sleep on anything. Jack, how many times have you seen The Dead? Well, I've only seen Dead and Company, but maybe like six times. See, I've seen Oasis over 20 times. I don't know the exact amount. And I will say this about Oasis, whether you like it or hate it, it is a different show every time. Now, the set list might be exactly the same.
Starting point is 01:09:23 But you can literally go, oh, they're not getting along today. Oh, Liam's drunk and he's fallen over and he's rolling in his own feces. Noel's going to take over the singing for a bit. He's gracious. So, I
Starting point is 01:09:39 actually didn't ask you this. You can answer it. When did they start playing together? But the thing I was going to say is when you answer that is how many top 40 hits did they start playing together? But, but the thing I was going to say is, uh, when you, when you answer that is how many top 40 hits did they have and how many Grammys? Cause they are arguably one of the most successful bands ever. And I'm just interested in what that number is. But yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:54 Uh, two top 40 hits, uh, uh, touch of gray in 1987. That was the, I will survive song. That was the one with the music video with the skeletons on stage that turned into the Grateful Dead band members. Big music video, 1987. And in 1970, they had
Starting point is 01:10:11 Truckin'. And Truckin' kind of climbed slowly. And in various markets, it was hitting top 20. But they never had a number one, as Jim said. And they were never really a radio band. I mean, you'd hear some things on some FM stations when the albums would come out, but the longevity of that stuff on the radio didn't last. It's a lot more prominent now. I certainly hear them a lot more on the radio, to the point now that on SiriusXM, there's a 24-7 Grateful Dead channel. They were the first band, going back 14 years ago, 2007,
Starting point is 01:10:46 that had their own channel on Sirius XM. So there's certainly many ways to consume your Grateful Dead now. But those were the two. And as far as Grammys go, none except 2007, they were given a Lifetime Achievement Grammys for the band members, because they have recorded a lot. Now, one thing where it's a more recent kind of, if you want to call it a record, last year they were in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most albums, the most live concert releases. And then they've also got the record
Starting point is 01:11:17 for the most top 200 Billboard albums over the years. And we keep adding to that by six or eight albums a year. The Dead keep putting out six or eight archival albums that all make the top 200 and some are top 20 in terms of albums. So, you know, they keep adding to this record. So they've got a few records that are, I don't think ever going to be broken, partly because the numbers are so huge and partly because they keep getting added to as the Dead keep releasing more and more archival releases. Now, if not for they had no number ones,
Starting point is 01:11:49 they had very few top 40 hits, they weren't played on the radio, how did they pop? How did they become such a big – I understand they have such a big body of work, but how did the initial go from playing to 100 people in a bar to playing stadiums? What happened there? How did that happen?
Starting point is 01:12:08 It was the live concert experience that was so good. There was the famous phrase, there is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. And that's very true. And if you saw them once and you caught them on a good night, which they were most nights, you would never want to miss them again. So if they came anywhere within 500 miles of where you lived, you would go see them. And that's why you'd see people in Denver traveling up to Minnesota and over to Texas
Starting point is 01:12:33 and over Oklahoma to see them because you didn't want to miss that magic. So there was that. And there was word of mouth that, you know, you bring someone, you know, Forrest has his roommate is like, oh, you got to see this. It was a good show. Both shows were like I did It's like, oh, you got to see this. It was a good show. Both shows were like, I did leave there like, wow, that was really good concerts. Like I was like.
Starting point is 01:12:51 There's nothing like it. And once you experience it, you don't want to miss it. I have to see. So Eric, I can see it on YouTube. I don't have to, or you have to be there. Well, you know, I got some Blu-rays. I got to see it with Jerry Garcia. I was like, you know, I'm not bragging, but you know.
Starting point is 01:13:05 You pulled in rookie numbers, only two shows. Yeah, I know. This is off the topic. When you open up your box of tickets, now my mother has passed. She's not with us anymore, so I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but I will in this moment. I collected as a child every movie ticket that I had gone to from Uncle Buck was the first ticket I collected, right?
Starting point is 01:13:29 Anyway, I used to go to the movies like once a week, right? So I had like hundreds of movies. Every shitty film that ever came out I saw and I kept them in a box and it was my ticket stubs. I don't know why I kept them. It was just a thing that I like movies and here's all my ticket stubs. Anyway, one time I arrived home late or something like that and I came in my room.
Starting point is 01:13:49 My mother had torn them all up and left them on the floor. Tore them? Yeah. Oh, my God. She knew that because I used to get there as a little kid. I was like 14 or 15. And I used to put them out on the bed and try to put them in order with all the dates, you know, like baseball cards or anything.
Starting point is 01:14:01 You collect stupid shit when you're a kid. And I had such an affection towards these bits of paper, and she knew it, and she fucking tore them up. Bloody hell, I've never collected anything since. That's brutal. It's not a new collection. Yeah, I was going to say. No, it was bloody hoarding.
Starting point is 01:14:17 There's two types of TV shows on those, like, on wherever hoarders is, right? Yeah. There's hoarders, right, and. There's Hoarders, right? And then there's those Pickers. So there's one show where they're like, you've got too much shit, right? And then there's two blokes that go over to the house and go, look at all the shit this guy has.
Starting point is 01:14:36 This is fantastic. What do you want for this rusty spring? I don't know. I could possibly give you it for $5. It's from a Coca-Cola cart. If you have the other parts, it's pretty valuable. And they're like, this is valuable. And then the show straight after it, this is all shit. And then there's Antique Roadshow too.
Starting point is 01:14:54 Yeah. I do not even know that had something good. This is worth a million dollars. What? Oh, I can watch Antique Roadshow all day. I find it very enjoyable. Because you know that they're going back to Google. And then they go, oh, this is an artist. And this is actually, you can watch Antique Roadshow all day. I find it very enjoyable. Because you know that they're going back to Google. Then they go, oh, this is an artist.
Starting point is 01:15:07 And this is actually, you can see from the bottom here that this artist, they've gone like this Google pewter fucking barge and fucking take a photo. Oh, yes, it's a Dijon. A Dijon. Great people. I didn't ask you what the wall of sound is. Do you know what that is?
Starting point is 01:15:24 No, I could guess it's the sound made out of wall. It's the sound made out of wall. great people um i didn't ask you what the wall of sound is do you know what that is um no i could guess it's the sound made out of wall it's a sound made sound made out of war a wall made out of sound either way man either way man whatever makes you feel good man it's like keith richards always said that silence is the canvas that music is painted on so So, yeah. Did he say that? He said something like that. What's the wall of sound? Wall of sound. It was a Grateful Dead sound system that Owsley Bear,
Starting point is 01:15:56 the guy we talked about, who lived his last 20 or 30 years in Australia, he developed a sound system with Dan Healy, with the Dead Sound crew and some other sound experts. And they developed a sound system that was unlike anything in music history. And they only used it in 1974 at about 40 shows. It essentially bankrupted the Grateful Dead. It required the crew to work incredibly long hours that led to drugs that would keep you up incredibly long hours.
Starting point is 01:16:25 And those drugs are not exactly conducive to, I think, good attitudes. And so the whole Grateful Dead scene became quite negative in that year. The music was phenomenal. The sound system, it was basically a sound system that instead of just like a left and right PA system, as you would see now, a line array, which you would have a concert gym. Instead of that, it was a wall, literally a wall of sound behind the band, an entire wall, about 35 feet high, with six or 700 speakers and amplifiers. And the band members themselves controlled what it sounded like. There was no front of house sound mixer because everything was mixed right there on the stage. So there's this incredible sound system that in the biggest arenas, you know,
Starting point is 01:17:09 whether it was, you know, Philadelphia Spectrum, whatever it was, or stadiums, even the farthest seats in the place sounded crystal clear, no distortion. And if you're up front, crystal clear, loud, but not distorted loud. So it was this sound system sound system but again it essentially bankrupted the Grateful Dead it required them to take two years off they uh they knocked off they took a hiatus at the end of 1974 that they'd actually considered this might be the end we can't continue like this it's killing us and and and it bankrupted them too they were flat broke playing stadiums they were coming back broke um and so they came and when they came back to touring two years after that, 1976, they came back to playing theaters and smaller arenas with a rented sound system, a regular old sound system. This sounded great. They did a lot of development on sound, but the Wall of Sound was a sound system only used for one year for 40 shows.
Starting point is 01:18:02 But it was magnificent. I mean, everybody who got to see The Grateful Dead in 74 still talks about it. And it was it was a mammoth thing, you'd walk in and, you know, I remember when Rush was touring in the mid 80s. They had a laser light show. And it was part of the reviews of the show was and even the previews when the Rush would come to your city was like, oh, they're bringing their new laser light show. And it was part of the story. It was the music and it was this whole light show. The Dead were the same thing in 74. The Dead are coming to town.
Starting point is 01:18:31 They're bringing their great music, but they're also bringing the sound system that's unlike anything you've ever heard. So it was this incredible sound system that essentially killed the band for a couple of years. I lived with a Canadian for a while, a friend of ours, Jason Whitehead, who opens for me still. I lived with a Canadian for a while, a friend of ours, Jason Whitehead, who opens for me still.
Starting point is 01:18:51 It seems to me that Canadians like big, large bands that waffle on a bit, right? So like, and I mean that in the nicest way, but it's like. How can you mean that in a nice way? No, no, no, no, no. But always when you meet a Canadian, they're like, oh, no, you've got to listen to the sounds in between the sounds, man. Right? So it's like Rush, the're like, oh, no, you've got to listen to the sounds in between the sounds, man. Right? So it's like Rush, the Tragically Hip, the Grateful Dead.
Starting point is 01:19:09 I know that the first two I said are. Celine Dion. Yeah, but is it? Am I being racist? Am I bigoted saying this? I don't know. But it feels like Canadians like it. It's very popular in Canada, this type of music.
Starting point is 01:19:22 Am I correct? You know, it is definitely, Tragically Hip, huge, Tragically Hip can play any arena, they could have played any arena they wanted in Canada and sold them out whereas they go to the States, I saw them in the States quite a bit in front of 400 people.
Starting point is 01:19:37 I'll tell you a story about the Tragically Hip right, I was performing, this was only maybe three years ago the singer died, am I correct? Maybe three, four, so three years ago I was doing a gig in Canada. Um, the singer from the tragedy hip had cancer or a brain tumor or something was my right, which is cancer. Um, he had, he, he, he was on limited time. They decided to do a concert live on TV over satellite on a straight on, on a Canadian TV, right? And you had to watch it live.
Starting point is 01:20:06 Of course, you could record it, but everyone wanted to watch it live. I had sold in that town 2,500 tickets pre-sold. 400 people didn't show up because they wanted to stay home to watch the Tragically Hip on TV. Wow. Who had bought tickets. The show was sold out. The show was sold out.
Starting point is 01:20:23 And I'm like, oh, I guess they like this band, huh? Yeah, you know, I just got goosebumps you telling this story because that was one of the most, I think, collective things. It's like when your hockey team is playing for Olympic gold and everybody's in front of the TV, the same thing happened with the Tragically Hip that night. So I know exactly what you're talking about. The country shut down.
Starting point is 01:20:43 Shut down. The show was from Kingston, Ontario and it was broadcast live on TV. I would do a meet and greet after the show maybe with a hundred people and they come up and you talk to them for a bit and you take a photo with them. And so every single person that night came up and went, you know, I chose the hip over you. I chose you over the hip. I'm like, thanks. Thanks.
Starting point is 01:21:07 I appreciate that. I didn't ask this question. The Dead had a famously horrible concert at one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Do you know which one it was, Jim? Maybe the Pyramids. Pyramids? Yeah. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:21:19 It would be Six Flags. You know what I mean? Probably the Pyramids. It was the pyramids. They played three nights in September of 1978, set the whole thing up themselves. They went to the State Department in the U.S. and the Egyptian Department of Cultural whatever, and they played right at the base of the pyramids at the Sound and Light Theater. And they waited until the kind of sun went down and magnificent photos. And
Starting point is 01:21:45 I mean, a couple hundred deadheads from America came over. But it was it was a lot of Egyptians, including, you know, Bedouin tribesmen, you know, a lot of camel riding. And the most magnificent photos of the pyramids all lit up, the Sphinx lit up, and the band playing they did three nights. They weren't horrible they had um there was definitely some great moments we put a two cd set out from those shows um there were like nine cds worth of music six or seven of them were okay but there was there was two cds as a compilation they're actually pretty good but it kind of famously goes to the dead um famously blowing it at the big ones um Monterey, at Woodstock.
Starting point is 01:22:26 They played a lot of these big places. And, you know, they, as they say, this is their words, they blew it at the big ones. And Egypt would be one of them where they didn't play three exceptional nights. In 1978 was a year that was, they were capable of doing three wonderful nights in a row. And that didn't happen in Egypt. And I think they were just overwhelmed by it. I thought they almost died at the Pyramid shows. Like it wasn't grounded.
Starting point is 01:22:51 Is that why you put this question in there, Jack? Yeah, I did. I thought like Bob Weir touched a microphone, got electrocuted or something. It was like a King Ralph situation. It happened at Woodstock for sure. Woodstock, there was a lot of electricity bouncing around um separate from the drugs but um it was poorly grounded and it was raining and the wind um so yeah uh you just had big mosquitoes and uh they were buzzing around the whole time they were like bats i think there were
Starting point is 01:23:16 bats actually uh i'll tell you a bat story so i I was doing a gig in – oh, here. COVID. No, I was doing a gig in Des Moines. I was with you. Yeah, this is the thing. And now I've got to follow up this story that just happened this week, and this is why it's all happening, right? So I'm on stage, and I'm telling a joke, and then the audience all at once just recoils back and goes, yeah, like that, right?
Starting point is 01:23:42 And I was like, what the fuck's going on? Turns out behind me a bat was flying around. A couple of bats. Yeah, well, then yeah, like that, right? And I was like, what the fuck's going on? Turns out behind me a bat was flying around. A couple of bats. Yeah, well, then it got to two, right? Yeah. And then the bat was flying around the auditorium and all that type of stuff. And I'm like, you can't perform. For whatever reason, a bat takes everyone's attention.
Starting point is 01:23:57 So I'm trying to perform these two fucking bats and I'm like, people just ignore the bats and listen to the jokes. And then I'm like saying to the guy, like, you know, I don't want to give everyone bloody refunds because a couple of fucking bats are here. Let's finish the show. You know, so I said to the bloke, I said, draw the curtains. And then they, so I'm on about maybe the width of this desk.
Starting point is 01:24:15 I'm on maybe like two feet of stage in front of the curtains. And behind the curtains, I can hear Laurel and Hardy fucking trying to get these fucking bats, right? The bats are flying on. And I was getting a bit annoyed and I said to the stage manager in the corner, I said, can you get the fucking bats? And he's like, oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Jeffries. This has never happened before.
Starting point is 01:24:37 Now, why he was saying that, a bloke walks behind him with a fucking bat net. Like one of those great big nets with a big stick on it with a hoop that you catch butterflies in where the net's really deep. Right. And he goes, never happened before. And I went, I went, why the fuck do you own a bat net then?
Starting point is 01:24:53 Yeah. That would never. Just in case. Butterflies. Yeah, exactly. It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Right.
Starting point is 01:25:00 So anyway, so, so he's there chasing after bats. Anyway, I, so, so it never happens. And then like afterwards I was reading the comments in the show
Starting point is 01:25:08 because I very rarely do that. No, but the meet and greet people were saying. Oh, the meet and greet people were like, there's always bats. Oh, that's right, yeah. There's always bats. There's always bats. Anyway, here's the button in the story. That was maybe four or five years ago.
Starting point is 01:25:23 Last night, no, a couple of nights ago, my agent rings me up and goes, I've got you booking for a theater in Des Moines, but it's the one with the bats where you had the bad experience with the bats. Are you all right with that? And I went, yeah. Said, I'm vaccinated. You bring your own bat now this time.
Starting point is 01:25:44 Let's fucking go back to bat. So Des Moines, I'm coming. Bring your own bat net this time. Let's fucking go back to bat. So Des Moines, I'm coming. All right. Bring your bat net. Okay. So this is a part of the show called Dinner Party Facts where, David, where we asked the expert to give us one fact, obscure, interesting, on the topic that the audience can use to impress people at like a dinner
Starting point is 01:26:04 party or a bar something that might not be well known you know i would say some of those records um about the grateful dead on billboard the grateful dead with the most with guinness book of world's records last year um 1994 grateful that were inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame uh pretty much as soon as you possibly can i think you can be inducted 25 years after your first recording. You know, the dead, they were, I think anybody who's met kind of famous people, and I'm sure everybody says this about you, Jim, he's just a regular guy. I am as famous as the Grateful Dead.
Starting point is 01:26:39 Just a regular guy. And that's the thing about the Grateful Dead is they really are just regular guys. Mickey Hart won the first ever Grammy Award. I mentioned the Dead hadn't won a Grammy as the Grateful Dead, but Mickey's won a couple. He won the first ever Grammy Award in the world music category. So Mickey, outside of the Grateful Dead, and I mentioned earlier that he's a percussionist. He does some incredible percussion work. and that was one of the things he did early on Grateful Dead you know I mentioned they only played North America
Starting point is 01:27:12 and Europe but I guess they also played Egypt that's not Europe is it? No. Middle East Africa Africa That should be a clip right there Antarctica Yeah I think it's It's Africa. It's Africa. He's right. It's Africa. That should be a clip right there.
Starting point is 01:27:26 Antarctica. Yeah, I think it's at the bottom of the hill of the boot in Italy. Yeah, I think you're right. Okay. The Grateful Dead have another record. They played the most concerts by any band. I'm sure there's some bar bands that have played more, but for bands that tour, 2,317 shows. They played 2,317 shows over their 30-year career.
Starting point is 01:27:53 2,317? Yep. I've done more gigs. I've done 3,000. Okay. Yeah, but comedy is different because when I was living in London, I was doing like five sets a night. So you can really fucking chalk up the numbers.
Starting point is 01:28:12 No, but you're not a music act either. Yeah, not a music act. It takes a little bit more to set up. I was doing seven gigs a week as well. You're cooking the books. Some of my shows were five minutes. To two people. No, yeah. Some of my shows were five minutes. The two people. No, they weren't.
Starting point is 01:28:26 A lot of my performances were five minutes in that statistic. But I have gotten on stage over 3,000 times. Yeah. I like how you said there might be a bar band. If there's a bar band that's done more than 2,300 shows, I don't want to see that bar. That's got to be a sad group of people. We're going to make it any day.
Starting point is 01:28:41 Just keep playing Highway to Hell. Two tickets to paradise. All right, David. So they can find you on Twitter at LemieuxDavid. That's L-E-M-I-E-U-X-D-A-V-I-D. And then it says at Grateful Dead, too. So is that an account that you run? The Dead have their Twitter account, Grateful Dead. And then all the Dead's activities are at their website, Dead.net.
Starting point is 01:29:04 And that's where you can find out you know touring activities were for dead and company when they get back on the road i know everybody's anxious for that they just announced that um they're doing a couple of weekends in mexico in january of 2022 so those are the first announced um dead and company shows that's the band with the three guys from the dead plus john Mayer and Jeff and O'Teal. So that's getting on the road, and people are incredibly anxious. Again, Jim, if The Dead play anywhere near you,
Starting point is 01:29:34 let us know. You've got to go see them. It's a fun time. I want to see that. If they're back at the Hollywood Bowl or something, I mean, okay. They played at Dodgers once. Yeah, I think they play.
Starting point is 01:29:44 I don't know if they ever played that one. They would know the Hollywood Bowl or something. I mean, okay. They played at Dodgers once. Yeah, I think they played. Yeah, I don't know if they ever played that one. They would know the Hollywood Bowl, but maybe. Yeah, the Denning Company played Hollywood Bowl a few times, Dodger Stadium. The Forum. Yeah, so yeah, they definitely play and love LA. They played the Forum, I think. So yeah, they love it there.
Starting point is 01:30:03 Yeah, we'll go see them, Jim. All right, David, thank you for being on the show. I know a little bit now about The Grateful Dead. Jack, I want you to test me on this one in a little while. Okay. See if I recall anything from this. Yeah, give me a test. If you're ever at a party and someone comes up to you and says,
Starting point is 01:30:21 that Jim Jefferies knows a lot about The Grateful Dead, go, well, I don't know about that, and walk away. Good night, Australia.

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