Vince Welnick R.I. P.

I just read another report that Vince was only 51. If so it's even more tragic. I am a deadhead but can't get into anything after '76. To me that's when Jerry started to lose his voice. There are some exceptional 77 shows but I never liked Donna or any keyboardists after Keith. They lost the soul of the band when Pigpen died IMHO. Death Don't Have No Mercy on GD keyboardists.

Slipknot: The first show I went to was Capitol Theater 1978. Even then I knew I got on board too late. Everything is subjective, but for me 4-26-71 and most of the Europe '72 tour were the boys finest moments. Nobody ever replaced what Pigpen brought to the equation and I don't mean musically. caught a few of the Radio City shows in '80 and I dug the acoustic sets but I can't listen to Donna or anything after the Cornell 77 show. Donna, Hornsby,Brent were for a later generation than me. Just my opinion. Talk about shivers down your spine though how bout Donna's solo "From the heart of Me'? What crap!

I can't fault a musician for trying to earn his daily bread. The Who continuing their tour after Entwistle's death appalled me as do new versions of The Doors , Queen and now The Cars. A friend dragged me to a Phil and Friends show at the Beacon a few years ago and I thought it was awful. How could Phil think he could sing a whole concert?Just do Box of Rain every 50 shows and shut up. I saw The Who in 71 and The Band in 72 at Saratoga, but was too young to appreciate the significance of what I was seeing.

I think they lost an irreplacable part when Pigpen died. I never liked Donna . She was a shrieking over-singer who IMHO was more of a detraction than contribution. Unfortunately Jerry's voice started deteriorating 76-77 so there was a need for vocal filler, but they could've done better than Donna. I've been to shows where she got booed on her solo song "From the heart of me." No problem with Keith though. I agree that their coming on board and the 2 or 3 years that followed was The Dead's last meaningful period.

Dicks Pick's, Steppin' Out '72, 100 Year Hall, The 4 cd fillmore 71 shows and some other live commercial releases are great, but there was always more pleasure for me in trading for some obscure gem that some taper unearthed than just buying them from GDM. The Dead pulling their soundboard shows off archive.org made me stop doing business with GDM. That was a greedy move and contrary to the vibe they laid down over the years. I'm sure the live CD's they sell for 25 bucks at the end of the pathetic "The Dead" shows ain't payin' the bills the way touring with Jerry did.

Garebear:

That's a good question. Seems they stopped at #36. Go to deadnet.com and shoot them an e-mail with an inquiry. Then post it. I'm curious myself.I just picked up Phil's book and although I don't anticipate the same kinda dirt Rock Scully's book exposed it's still seems like it'll be a great read although so far it's a little heavy on the technical and classical aspects of music. '71-'72 were my favorite years especiallly the European shows.

I stopped buying any merch from GDM when the band reversed policy and made archive.org remove soundboard shows for download from their website so that they could sell them instead. This move was unmitigated greed. Even John barlow said as much. "The Dead" to me are just that. thanks JOND . I didn't know that.

Slipknot: Kudoes on your post. You waxed very eloquently on the subject. Without Jerry the band is no different than The Doors with the Cult guy.