From michaelz@zoka.com Mon Mar 4 09:31:32 PST 1996 From: michaelz@zoka.com (Michael Z.) Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead Subject: Dick L. on "Dick's Picks Vol. 4" [transcript] Followup-To: rec.music.gdead Date: Fri, 01 Mar 1996 20:34:02 -0800 Organization: ZOKa Lines: 111 Message-ID: Reply-To: michaelz@zoka.com Hey, it turns out I *did* get my copy of DP4 in today's mail. This inspired me to go back to the tape of last month's GD Marathon on KPFA and transcribe the remarks made by Dick Latvala, Steve Silberman and David Gans regarding these latest CDs in the series. So, without further ado, here is the transcript. MZ --------------------begin transcript---------------------- David Gans with Dick Latvala & Steve Silberman KPFA Grateful Dead Marathon, 2/10/96 David Gans: Here with me in the studio -- Dick, put on your headset, thank you -- Mr. Dick Latvala is here and Mr. Steve Silberman is here. Dick is of course the Vault archivist, one of them creaky, cranky old Deadheads whoıs been listening to this stuff as if his life depended on it, for as long as Iıve known him, which is nigh on 20 years now, and he now works in the Vault organizing and cataloging that music, and he is the namesake of ³Dickıs Picks,² the Vault releases of stereo material that have been such a joy to behold the last couple years, Hello, Dick! Dick Latvala: Hey, how you doing, David, and everyone out there. I think everyoneıs doinı real well here today. DG: Weıre sure having a good time, and Steve. . . Steve Silberman: Hey! DG: . . . The author of, co-author of ³Skeleton Key; A Dictionary for Deadheads,² editor-at-large at HotWired, one of them on-line things. SS: Hey Dave, hey Dick. Itıs great to be here -- itıs a beautiful day outside and inside. DG: No, itıs raining terribly -- I told you it was going to be raining, and it is. Donıt you even *look* out the window, itıs not a good idea. DL: One canıt tell these things when youıre having a good time. DG: Heıs right. So -- Dick, before we go any further, I understand that ³Dickıs Picks Volume 4² is incipient and imminent and cominı out soon. DL: Absolutely. It is -- as most people already know, but I will tell you -- it is 2/13-14/70 at the Fillmore East, and itıs a three-CD set, that should be orderable through mail order around the first of March. SS: And thatıs certainly some of the most beautiful passages of Grateful Dead jamming that there have ever been. DL: And we have Jeffrey Norman to thank for making some edits that *no one* will find -- I defy you. You can have my tape collection if anyone can find Œem. DG: Thatıs because the master reels had flips in Œem, and we had to find other copies. It turns out -- thereıs been tapes of these in circulation for years, of course, and thatıs because these freaks who worked at the Fillmore East tapped in and made their *own* recordings, and Jeffrey and Dick and John Cutler, with the help of various people -- DL: Letıs be specific -- David Gans is one of the main players here, that helped facilitate this -- DG: Anyway, we found another set of reels that were recorded from the same feed and didnıt have the same flips on the tape, so we were able to patch together a complete performance. And also, this is because of the reader and listener feedback youıve been getting on the Internet and in the cards that went out with the other ³Dickıs Picks² CDs, right, Dick? DL: Yeah, it has *something* to do with that, but it really has something more to do with my goêe time began to get it out, and Iıve been pushing it for so long itıs unbearable. So all the forces came into play at the right time, and itıs happening. But it wasnıt something I didnıt *want* to do -- it was something Iıve been *waiting* for years to get going on. DG: Itıs magnificent music. Now, some of itıs available on the record, ³Bearıs Choice,² thatıs been out since 1973, and I understand youıre not repeating *that* material. DL: Absolutely, and even not repeating the versions of the songs that were used on ³Bearıs Choice² from the night before that they were used on, you know, like not repeating those tunes. And so it left us just with the electric stuff. DG: You got one of the great ³Dark Stars² of all time, you got a ³Thatıs It For the Other One² suite in there, and the following night you got this *monster* ³Alligator,² ³Me and My Uncle,² ³Not Fade Away,² ³Masonıs Children² -- finally, after all these years, ³Masonıs Children² makes it onto a legitimate release. DL: Itıs *about time.* DG: And one of the last performances of ³Caution,² I think, too, from there, right? DL: I think so, and it is certainly a good one. DG: Excellent. SS: Certainly, when anybody talks about ³telepathic² Grateful Dead music, and everybody spontaneously inventing beautiful and memorable themes, the 2/13/70 ³Dark Star² is *the* example. DL: Yeah, I have nothing else to say but, yes, yes, yes! ------------------end trancript-------------------- _________________________________________________________ Michael Zelner Oakland CA USA e-mail: michaelz@zoka.com _________________________________________________________