GOOD OL’ GRATEFUL DEADCAST
Episode: Skull & Roses 50: Side A
Released: April 15, 2021
Hosts: Rich Mahan, Jesse Jarnow

Overview

This episode kicks off Season 3 of the official Grateful Dead podcast with an in-depth exploration of Side A of Skull and Roses (1971), the band’s iconic first self-titled live double album. Celebrating the record’s 50th anniversary, the hosts delve into the album's context, recording process, key songs, memorable shows (particularly those at the Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY), and the surrounding musical and cultural landscape. The episode blends interviews, rare audio, Deadhead memories, and a dose of Dead family mythos, balancing scholarship and storytelling in classic Deadcast style.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Importance of Skull & Roses

• Skull & Roses is introduced as a core Grateful Dead artifact, both for longtime fans and newcomers, marking "the best representation of the band to date"—a sentiment echoed by both the band and the hosts.
  • “Jerry Garcia felt that this release was the best representation of the band to date, and we couldn't agree more.” – Rich Mahan (02:25)
• 50th anniversary reissue announced, including unreleased Fillmore West material and collectible vinyl formats. (02:30–02:49)

2. Position in Dead History

• The hosts situate Skull & Roses between the rural/rootsy Workingman’s Dead & American Beauty (1970) and the ambitious Europe ’72 (1972).
• The episode frames the early ’70s as a period when the Dead’s “protoype” sound truly solidified:
  • “It's us, man. It's the prototype Grateful Dead basic unit. Each one of those tracks is the total picture.” – Jerry Garcia, Rolling Stone, 1971 (09:55)

3. Evolution & Identity of the Band

• The Grateful Dead's sound, always changing, is recapped through quick musical flashbacks (’67’s primal Dead, the acid folk era, etc.).
• The interplay of familiarity and change: “To recap a few, but not all…you had to be used to the constant change.” – Rich Mahan (04:45)
• David Lemieux, Dead archivist, and Blair Jackson, Dead historian, discuss how this era’s sound crystallized both live and on record, making songs like “Bertha" and “Playing in the Band” permanent fixtures. (08:03, 11:01)

4. Recording Process & Alembic Innovations

• Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor-Jackson’s role as visionary engineers is highlighted.
• The hosts detail the Dead’s technical leap with Alembic, bringing a 16-track recording truck to venues, allowing for “one electronic source per track”—an innovation for live albums. (42:56)
  • “It made perfect sense. The most important thing was that it made the music sound like it should.” – Bob Matthews (42:56)
• Comparison to contemporary live records and how the Dead’s approach anticipated the double-live album boom. (45:34)

5. The Capitol Theatre Port Chester Shows

• The December 1970 Port Chester run is postponed, leading to the fabled February 1971 six-show recording marathon, intended as the album’s source. (38:23–43:43)
• Candace Brightman's memories as lighting director, and her unexpected Dead conversion:
  • “After everyone had left the theater but me, I found myself standing in the lighting booth staring at the stage about three hours after the [band] had left…it really blew my mind.” – Candace Brightman (36:28)

6. Songs of Side A: Histories & Development

“Bertha”

• Emerges as a new Garcia/Hunter classic. The song is contextualized historically and mythologically:
  • “Bertha was a song that instantly hit me.” – David Lemieux (08:03)
  • David Lemieux shares his concert memory coinciding with the “test me!” lyric and an encounter with security (08:03–09:55)
• The song’s lyric inspiration is debated:
  • Garcia claims it’s named after a roaring electric fan in the Dead’s office (49:28)
  • Hunter calls it “some vague connotation of birth, death and reincarnation” (50:10)
• The album version is pieced together from multiple recordings (“take 13”), including added overdubs by Merle Saunders (52:48–54:34)
  • “It had that feeling of walking into the hall…just as the band is hitting.” – Gary Lambert on the fade-in (54:50)

“Mama Tried”

• Country standard by Merle Haggard, adopted concurrently by the Dead and New Riders.
• The Dead’s live arrangement evolves over two years before being definitively captured for Skull & Roses. (21:03–23:01)
• Deeded from New Riders to the Dead as the bands split and NRPS stepped out independently (23:19–23:37; 23:43; 24:52)

“Big Railroad Blues”

• Snatched from Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers (and by way of Dead’s early jug band roots), this electric blues tune is both “old and new.”
• Only played once during the multi-track run (at Manhattan Center), but nailed in one take. (56:50–57:08)

“Playing in the Band”

• The inside story of its musical genesis—attributed to Bob Weir, but with memories blurring between David Crosby’s jams at Mickey Hart’s barn and earlier Main 10 instrumental explorations (78:25–82:03).
• Lyrics by Robert Hunter—auctioned drafts reveal alternate verses (82:23–83:14).
• The song’s collective ethos is underlined:
  • “Playing in a band is playing together as a band, not as five individuals, but as the collective…that was where the magic was.” – Bob Matthews (83:14)

7. Dead Family, Projects & Overlapping Scenes

• Sidebars chronicle parallel recording projects and overlapping scenes:
  • Hooteroll (Garcia & Howard Wales), New Riders of the Purple Sage’s debut, and the never-finished Crosby-Garcia-Kantner-Freiberg projects (28:31–31:37).
• The spirit of “one overlap after another” rides high—a recurring Dead ethos (16:18)

8. Dream Telepathy Experiment at the Capitol

• In a legendary intersection of science and psychedelia, Dr. Stanley Krippner’s ESP/dream telepathy experiment with the Dead and their audience is detailed at length:
  • “The entire audience attending concerts by the Grateful Dead…was instructed to telepathically transmit an art print…to Malcolm Besant at the Maimonides Dream Laboratory in Brooklyn.” (69:31)
• Krippner reflects on how the project came about through connections with Mickey Hart and the Dead’s openness to parapsychology. (65:21–68:00)
• The procedure, results (“correct 4 out of 6 times…”), and context (“six nights wasn’t ideal”) are all discussed. (88:52–90:26)

9. Hard Realities: Touring, Postponements & Turning Points

• The grueling logistics and flexibility required by life on the road, and the impact of equipment hauls, show postponements, and family drama (including the devastating fallout from Mickey Hart’s father’s embezzlement from the band). (40:03–74:36)
• Mickey Hart’s imminent hiatus: “he went on what Dr. Stanley Krippner calls a furlough and didn’t return to the Dead stage for more than three and a half years.” (73:29)
• The band’s capacity for change and resilience is contrasted with occasionally dark Northeast “energy”—including a bomb threat that led to a notorious 1971 show evacuation in Port Chester. (91:14–92:58)

10. Audience Experience & Deadhead Culture

• First-person reminiscences about buying tickets, skipping school for shows, the boom of the Northeast Dead scene, and the cultivation of a communal “event” feeling:
  • “The Grateful Dead made every show a special thing…it was an event.” – Jesse Jarnow (63:16)
• The birth of the “touring” fan, fans camped out when shows sold out, and sense of shared experience fostered by both band and audience (90:50–91:14)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On What Skull & Roses Meant:
  • “This is the sound of the Grateful Dead…I loved that sound. I loved the new songs. I liked the country direction, which was a continuation of the Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty vibe somewhat.” – Blair Jackson (11:01)
• On “Bertha”:
  • “Bertha was a song that instantly hit me…I just looked at him as Jerry and Brent were chiming in, too…test me, test me, why don’t you arrest me? And I just…I was beaming.” – David Lemieux (08:03)
• On Port Chester:
  • “After everyone had left the theater but me…three hours after the [band] had left, I found myself…staring at the stage…They were just…they really blew my mind.” – Candace Brightman (36:28)
• On Recording Innovations:
  • “The most important thing was that it made the music sound like it should.” – Bob Matthews (42:56)
• On Changing Lineups:
  • “I just assumed that everything was going to be different all the time.” – Blair Jackson (75:51)
• On the ESP Experiment:
  • “Six nights wasn’t ideal for a proper dream telepathy experiment…but that’s why it was called a pilot study.” – Jesse Jarnow (88:43)
• On Band Ethos:
  • “It’s where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts…that was where the magic was.” – Bob Matthews (83:14)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:11 – The album’s reputation and expanded 50th anniversary reissue
• 03:06 – Guests and episode structure announced
• 08:03 – David Lemieux’s first Dead memory: “Test me, test me, why don’t you arrest me?” story
• 11:01 – Blair Jackson reflects on how Dead’s sound changed post-Live Dead
• 19:01 – New Riders of the Purple Sage segment
• 36:28 – Candace Brightman: falling in love with the Dead at the Capitol
• 42:56 – Alembic’s live recording method explained
• 52:48 – Different takes of “Bertha” analyzed (and how the final take was chosen)
• 65:21 – Dr. Stanley Krippner describes meeting Mickey Hart & the ESP experiment’s origins
• 69:31 – The dream telepathy experiment at the shows: process and implementation
• 74:05 – Mickey Hart leaves the band: the impact and Dead’s adaptability
• 78:25 – Bob Weir’s recollections of writing “Playing in the Band”
• 83:14 – Bob Matthews on the collective magic of the Dead
• 90:26 – ESP experiment results and Deadhead audience scene
• 91:19 – Bomb scare, audience surges, and “the last straw” at the Capitol

Conclusion

In this episode, the Deadcast team sets the tone for the season by showing how Skull & Roses was both a culmination and a new beginning for the Grateful Dead. The focus on the Capitol Theatre run, the enduring songs, technical innovations, mythos, and even dream experiments paints a vivid portrait of a band—and a community—at a crossroads. Fittingly, the show closes by inviting listeners to “get up and flip the record,” promising much more material and deep dives into Side B and beyond.

Recommended Further Listening/Reading:

• Skull & Roses 50th Anniversary tracklist and extras (dead.net)
• Book: This Is All a Dream We Dreamed (Jackson & Gans)
• Denis McNally’s A Long Strange Trip (for more on the Mickey Hart departure)
• Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine (Krippner et al., "Dream Telepathy with the Grateful Dead")

[End of Summary]