April 1, 2024 • 29 mins
Ever found yourself entranced by a rhythm, a melody, or a memory that transports you to another place and time? That's the magic Bruce Ascher, a die-hard Deadhead from Putnam County, brings to the table in our latest episode. With the backdrop of Led Zeppelin and Motown beats, Bruce's musical pilgrimage led him to the Grateful Dead's doorstep, and he's never looked back. We journey with him to his first Dead concert—a serendipitous celebration on Bob Weir's birthday—and through the enchanting live shows that solidified his lifelong devotion. Bruce's tales aren't just about the music; they're a testament to the vibrant community and shared experiences that defined being a Deadhead in the golden '70s and '80s.
From the Fourth of July with Bob Dylan co-headlining the Grateful Dead—Bruce was there, and his anecdotes from that iconic 1987 show are just the tip of the iceberg. We navigate through the band's evolving eras, from Keith and Donna to the jazzy stylings of Brent Mydland, and into the hands of cover bands that keep the flame burning brightly. Bruce's narrative includes a nod to local New York legends like Grateful Bro, painting a picture of a scene that refuses to fade away, sustained by the undying passion of fans and musicians alike.
Our conversation takes a literary turn as we explore the intersection between the Grateful Dead's cultural phenomenon and the written word, with a spotlight on TC Boyle's "Drop City." We unravel how Boyle's portrayal of freedom and counterculture resonates deeply with Deadheads. Wrapping up, we reflect on the ever-present musical connections that continue to unite and inspire, from spontaneous jams with Bob Weir to the present-day concert scenes that keep the Dead's timeless vibe pulsing through the air. Join us for an unmissable episode that's as much about the music as it is about the memories and the indelible marks they leave on our lives.
This episode is sponsored by ShakedownTshirts.com with unique lot-style T-shirts and gifts for Grateful Dead, Phish, Zappa, Panic, and more. All US orders over $35 Ship Free. Use code "Lot20" for 20% off any order.
Tales From The Lot
will@talesfromthelot.org
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/talesfromthelot
YouTube -https://www.youtube.com/@talesfromthelot
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tales from the Lot, episode 22.
Those were the days, as Archiewould say.
My guest is Bruce Asher fromPutnam County, new York.
Here we go.
Welcome to Tales from the Lot,I'm Will.
My guest this week is BruceAsher.
He's coming to us from PutnamCounty, new York.
How's it going, bruce?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good, good thanks.
I'm glad to be here tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, awesome, I'm really glad to have you.
Um, so, let's, let's just start.
Are you from that areaoriginally, or New York?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
city and uh you know, as life moves on, I moved out
of the city and up into thesuburbs, so on and so forth, and
now I live up here, like I said, about 50 miles North of
Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh, nice, yeah, Still still close enough, though.
Yeah, yeah, um and so okay,okay.
So, growing up, what were youlistening to and what sort of
like you know through middleschool, high school or whatever,
and what got you to theGrateful Dead eventually?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, my first band was Led Zeppelin and you know I
loved them.
Zeppelin, the who and theAllman Brothers were my first
three rock bands.
But I was also heavily intoMotown.
I was a big Temptations fan.
I was familiar with the dead inthe early mid-70s through the
radio and it wasn't until I was16 or 17, 76, 77, I started
(01:18):
really paying attention, In factwithout realizing how much I
was into them.
The day before I graduated highschool I went to the Ziegfeld
Theater in Manhattan to see theGrateful Dead movie, which was
in, I guess, May of 74.
And I had listened to someradio broadcasts.
I thought, ah, these guys arepretty cool.
But then when I went off tocollege later in 77, I had a
(01:41):
roommate who was a deadhead withthe cassettes.
I'd never heard Live Dead'dnever heard binghamton, you know
.
Uh, now, this was 77, so a lotof the stuff that had was yet to
come.
But hearing the stuff that hehad on cassette, that just
flipped me at that point and Inever looked back yeah, you're
(02:03):
probably hearing like lot of 72,73, and 74.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, roosevelt.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Stadium, Fox Theater, St Louis 71.
Lots of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, it's funny.
You mentioned the Grateful Deadmovie.
I actually just watched thattoday.
It's on Amazon Prime and I waslike I'm just going to watch
that today.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And seeing it when I did, I didn't get it.
I've seen it since, but youknow that was my first shot.
I wasn't really that much intothe band.
So it was like let's dosomething cool before we
graduate high school and thatwas to me a cool thing to do
before graduating high school.
So so when did you go see theband live the first time?
(02:46):
Where was that?
So I went to school, tulanedown in New Orleans, and I
started down there in August of77.
And we come to find out they'replaying in Baton Rouge in
October of that year.
So actually it was Bob Weir's30th birthday.
It was October 16th, 77.
So my buddy and I, we drove thehour and change up to baton
rouge to get tickets, came backwith, like you know, 15 20
(03:08):
tickets for the gang and went upthere on a on a bus with one of
the fraternities.
That was my first dead show wasoctober 77 in baton rouge nice,
right.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
What was the the venue for that one?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
uh, assembly center pete maribor center about a 15
000 seat arena at at the lsucampus yeah, that's what I
thought.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, I couldn't remember if it was that or the
football field.
But cool.
Yeah, no, I don't think theywere playing stadiums just yet
yeah, yeah, yeah, not likely atthat time, and uh, so were you
just on the bus at that point,like seeing as much as you could
in your area?
Yeah, I mean it wasn't a wholelot in the South, I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, so that was October 77.
And then in April of 78, and Iwas still a freshman I persuaded
a friend of mine who had a carfor us to drive to Atlanta to
see them at the Fox Theater.
I had a high school buddy whowas in school in Atlanta, so we
had a place to crash.
The funny thing is my buddy'scar broke down about a half hour
(04:07):
outside of Atlanta and had tocall his dad and explain why he
was in Atlanta, Needed $500because the transmission blew.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that was.
My next dead show was April of78 at the Fox in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, but you guys made it somehow.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Made it great show.
Had a blast yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Nice, and so did you say how many shows did you see?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know between the Dead and Garcia, between 80 and
90 over the years.
You know living in New YorkCity.
They come to town.
You go five or six shows in aspan of a week or two.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, no doubt when they go to MSG.
Did you see any of the RadioCity shows?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
No, actually the reason you brought that up, I
was at school in New Orleans.
They stopped in New Orleans inbetween they did the Warfields
and they did Radio City, butthey stopped and the first time
in 10 years they played in NewOrleans.
After the bus they played atthe Sanger Theater.
And this was one of the storiesI was going to tell.
We worked for the school radiostation and we were there both
(05:14):
nights and we were in the frontrow both nights Little theater,
2,000 seats.
The second night when they cameout they looked at us and said
oh, you guys are back.
And that was again.
That was the acoustic and thetwo electric sets.
Nice, and if you guys want tohear something.
The second night they didtrucking and obviously the first
(05:35):
time back in New Orleans in 10years I think was 10-16 or 10-17
, 81 or 10-18.
The trucking they did, theexplosives, the explosiveness of
it because it was in newOrleans, was amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I bet, yeah.
Something to be said aboutthose audience tapes sometimes
like that, or one that alwaysstood out to me was the, uh, the
.
It was like 10, I think it's 10, 16, 89 or something like that,
Bob where's birthday, whetherit's like in and out of, or
something like that Bob Weir'sbirthday, where it's in and out
of play and you could just hearthe crowd going crazy the whole
time.
It's one of those that I justlove to have on an audience.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It's interesting you brought up audience tapes.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
If we're going chronologically, if I may, yeah,
we're here to nerd out on thedead.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I was in school in New Orleans and so in late 78,
when Jerry got sick and theycanceled a bunch of Northeast
shows Right so we're home forChristmas break, you know, late
78, early 79.
And they rescheduled the shows.
So we drove down to theSpectrum on January 5th without
tickets and we picked up ticketsfor the Spectrum show, which
(06:45):
was a Friday night.
We came out and it was snowingout and we made it as far back
as Princeton to a buddy's house.
That's as far as we could gowith the weather.
Saturday no show.
Sunday night, a show at theGarden, which was okay, not
great.
Monday night, which was January8th, there's no soundboard
recording of the show and it'smy favorite Scarlet, my favorite
(07:09):
Terrapin.
There's no soundboards.
It's all audience wherever youturn and it was explosive that
night.
I'd love to find the soundboard.
But even if you're familiarwith Relisten, it's audience
recordings on that.
They were explosive show.
It was an explosive night.
I'd love to hear a soundboardbut there just isn't one
(07:31):
anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It sounds like it's time to petition that to be the
next release.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
That would be awesome .
Yeah, I'll get Dave Libby onthe phone.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That's right.
So everybody listening emailDave.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
January 8th MSG there we go.
We need a crisp recording andthen I left the next day to go
back to college.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I missed the dark start Nassau Coliseum ah yeah
well, yeah, you know, you justhave to keep going then to catch
it the next time, that's thebeauty of it?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
oh, absolutely, but you go every night.
You just have to keep goingthen to catch it the next time.
That's the beauty of it.
Yeah, oh, absolutely,absolutely, but you'd go every
night.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, you go every night, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
For certain yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Uh, so what?
What are some other standoutones that you saw?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Um, uh, I mean the five nights in 87 at the Garden
with that morning do.
That was the Friday night show,that was.
That was an amazing night.
And what, aside from the goodlove in La Bamba and the great
morning do what?
I remember that night and Iposted this Bob Weir was
(08:37):
incredible that night.
Vocally, he was just so onpoint If you listen to the
Watchtower, he was spectacularthat night.
Um, that's one, that's one thatstands out.
Um, I do remember I wore thattape out uh many years ago that
(09:01):
79 show I mentioned at thegarden I I I saw them out in in
in Salt Lake city, which was atremendous show in 1981.
That's a kind of a cool road.
That's my favorite road tripstory and it also involves
another musician beside the deadin the story.
I graduated college.
(09:22):
I was traveling out Westbouncing around.
I graduated college.
I was traveling out westbouncing around.
I visited friends in LA.
We went up the coast all theway to Vancouver and then I made
my way across.
I ended up in Salt Lake Citywith the intention of spending
one day there.
You just, you know, do somesightseeing and hit the road.
I check into a cheap hotelMiddle of the afternoon.
(09:46):
I see a bar right around thecorner from the hotel.
It says live music tonight.
So I go in, have a beer.
Ask the bartender what's goingon.
He says they canceled tonight.
There's no band.
I'm sitting at the bar and I'mreading the local newspaper and
it says Grateful Dead, saltPalace August 12th.
So off I go, I run to the arena, I buy it.
I buy a ticket.
I check into University of UtahCheap $6 a night rooms for
(10:09):
students.
A couple of nights later I'mback at that same bar and
there's a band playing and I'msitting at the bar with my back
to the band.
Suddenly I hear a very familiarsaxophone.
I look over and it's GroverWashington, your saxophone.
I look over and it's Grover.
Washington and he's playing withsome local band in Salt Lake
City at this bar I'm at.
So I went up to him during thebreak.
I said what are you doing here?
He said he was in townrecording.
(10:34):
He felt like playing that night.
So in the span of you know, afew days or so, grover
Washington and the Grateful Deadin Salt Lake City.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
That's awesome being able just to walk up and get a
ticket.
Those were the days as archiewould say yeah absolutely yeah,
yeah, that's, but now yourlittle guy is walking across the
screen trying to get thatticket I was very lucky never
getting there, uh, my collegeroommate who was the one I
(11:02):
mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
His name name is Rick Arnstein.
He had a relative who didbusiness with the dead and he
actually, you know, we alwayshad access to tickets and
sometimes we had backstagepasses.
So I was very fortunate wewould have had tickets to shows
anyway, but he helped us alonggetting tickets for a lot of
those shows and there were alsothe stadium shows, you know,
(11:23):
outdoors.
You mentioned what do Iremember?
July 4th 87 with Dylan inFoxborough.
That's one I'll never forget.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, I love Dylan, and what a great pairing
that was.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
What was very cool, and you know I don't know if
you're familiar with Foxboroughthere's one road in and out of
that stadium.
So while the dead were playing,you saw a helicopter coming
down and landing behind thestage and we all knew Dylan was
in that helicopter.
Yeah, and my favorite memoryand I've seen the video on
YouTube when they did the Timesthey Are Changing.
(11:56):
It's July 4th, people arewaving American flags and he's
singing the Times they AreChanging, and Jerry's riff is
just burned in my head from thatsong.
Yeah, and then a week later, atthe Meadowlands, we saw them
again.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So you were seeing them originally when Keith and
Donna were there and then youkind of saw the transition into
Brent.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Right, yeah, I mean the first show, the first few
shows were with Keith and Donna,and then Brent and then Vince
Welnick, you know, and some ofthe Hornsby shows.
Brent definitely added aninteresting I don't want to call
it jazz, but a a jazzy flair tosome of their jams, which is
really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, he could definitely play in his, in his.
His vocal harmonies were, uh,were a welcome, a welcome thing.
No doubt my first shows werewhen Hornsby was with him, right
, and I didn't really know thatmuch about him when I first went
and just assumed it was likethat all the time, but that was
the only time I got to seeHornsby with him.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But you know, I liked Vince that was short it was, it
was my entire you know it wasit was, it was my entire dead
viewing career, I guess.
Yeah, I started in 91 and thensaw a bunch through as much as I
could, but yeah, it's, that's,that's all I got to see.
But yeah, I liked Brent a lotand what he, we, what he
(13:20):
provided vocally and musicallytoo.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, I saw a lot, and what he provided vocally and
musically too, I saw a lot of.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Garcia band shows as well.
You got to love Melvin too.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Oh God, yeah, In fact it's funny I tell this story
Halloween 1993.
Giant Stadium the Jets and theGiants were playing and Jerry
was playing at the arena nextdoor that night.
So there were my buddy and I.
We weren't the only ones whohad tickets to both shows.
(13:51):
So you know it was a rainy,dreary, miserable day, but our
seats at the football game wereunder, so we were protected.
And when the game ended at four, there was a bar, sort of, in
between the venues and a lot ofpeople who had tickets for both
were hanging out there, and MattDillon was one of them.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh nice.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
And he was in there hanging out, and all these
people that were at the footballgame were then going to the
concert.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, that's pretty convenient and a great day of
entertainment.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Oh, absolutely it to you.
Oh, absolutely, Rise and shineand start your day with a
crunchy dose of peace and loveat breakfast time, Introducing
Hippie Krispies, the cerealthat'll have you saying far out
with every spoonful.
Dive into our heady swirl ofcrispy oats, toasted nuts and
(14:45):
colourful marshmallow shapes.
Marshmallow shapes like peacesigns, VW buses, gel caps and
Jerry hands.
But that's not all.
Inside every box of hippiecrispies you'll find a surprise.
A surprise Like a working minilava lamp, a tie-dye spoon or
(15:07):
our collector's series LSDblotter paper reproductions of
some of the most iconic blotterpaper artwork ever created.
Collect all 10.
No LSD included.
So why settle for ordinarybreakfast cereals when you can
start your day with a bowl ofpure good vibes?
Eat Hippie Krispies forbreakfast.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Because it's the most important meal of the day man.
Meal of the day man.
Earlier we were talking, beforewe jumped on here, about a uh,
a grateful dead cover band thatyou see occasionally in the area
.
Uh, grateful, bro, is thatright?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
grateful bro, and bro stands for blues roadhouse
orchestra uh, okay yeah, they,they play primarily in the new
york area, um, but like I said,and they, they do a lot of you
know a lot of dead, but they mixin steely, dan stone, santana,
um, they're, they're terrific.
They play outdoor venues in thein a nice weather out here, and
(16:17):
they play all the bars in areasnew york, new jersey,
connecticut.
They don't do much travelingbeyond that area, but of all the
dead cover bands and I'm nottalking about J-Rad or, you know
, dark Star Orchestra, but thelocal bar stuff these guys are
far and away the best one thatI've seen in a long time.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
There's probably a fair amount of them in New York.
Oh, there's.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Bob's Dad there's Grateful of Yours.
There's Gr's dad there'sGrateful of Yours.
It's great.
Yeah, it's Grateful bro.
The Stella Blues Band.
There's a lot of them, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I think we have four or five semi-decent ones here in
Denver too.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Semi-decent or better .
I don't want to slight anybody,but yeah, there's four or five
and they all play in the sameplaces.
Yeah, there's the circuit of ofdead places and and they do,
they do pretty well.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I.
I did stop over in Denver onthat trip.
I think it was after the showin Salt Lake city.
It stopped in Denver for acouple of days, but it's been a
long time ago, so yeah, it was amuch different place, probably
even better at that point thanit is now.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, than it is now.
Yeah, I did see the Dead in.
I can't complain.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Ann Arbor was, I guess, the Midwest place I saw.
The Dead was in Ann Arbor in 79.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, and that was the majority of the shows I saw
were like I saw maybe I don'tknow a bunch at Deer Creek and
then 94 Summer Tour I did like12 or 13 in a row or just sort
of circling around the midwest Imean all those places in the
midwest I hear about and I havetapes and I listen to.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You know, dave lemieux, I never saw the dead
outdoors at any of those type ofvenues.
It was always stadiums.
Yeah, you know, um again, bythe time I got into them in the
late 70s they were starting todo this, the summer stadium
shows.
So you know my first outdoorshow, oh god, it must have been
(18:10):
somewhere in the early 80s, 77english town.
I was already down in neworleans in school 78 giant
stadium.
I was already down there.
So it was always giant stadiumor foxborough.
I never saw them at one ofthose cool outdoor venues.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, yeah, probably the best one.
I like Deer Creek a lot, one ofthe best venues I've ever been
to.
I don't know if you've, I don'teven know if it's still there,
but it's called Mud Island andit's in Memphis.
I've never heard of it.
I saw fish there one time.
Yeah, I saw fish there one time, but but it was very cool
because there was a bridge thatthat went out over the
mississippi.
You had a long quarter milebridge.
(18:47):
You would walk out to thislittle island in the middle of
the mississippi and the seatingand the stage down and behind
the stage is memphis downtown.
That's cool, yeah, super coolstadium or or not a stadium, but
just like an outdoor auditoriumkind of thing.
It was small, maybe 6,000people.
(19:07):
Cool place.
I don't even know if it's stillthere.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I saw a fish.
There's an amphitheater outsideof Hartford similar to that.
I saw them there in one ofthose indoor-outdoor kind of
places, which was really cool,but to dead, it was always
stadiums outdoors that I sawthem, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, the biggest one I ever saw, I think, was
Buckeye Lake.
It was like what did they say?
Like 90,000 or something?
Actually maybe Soldier Field.
What's Soldier Field?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
That's the big one, Soldier Field.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I mean that's just got to be 65,000, 70,000.
Yeah, I think Buckeye Lake isbigger though, cause it's just
like, really as far as, it'sjust a field, as far as you can
go.
Yeah, those were good times, mybuddy, uh buddy, on the blues
(19:59):
bar in Manhattan and the daythat Jerry died and I just bring
it up because we were sittingthere and one of the things he
said to me that night was I'llmiss the road trips.
Yeah, you know, and even ifthey were, you know, three hours
down to philly, or four hoursup to, you know, up to
foxborough, or just you know acouple hours to new haven, they
weren't long trips but they werefun, you know, they were a lot
(20:22):
of fun.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah you remember where you stayed that night and
what you guys did, and and, andthe people, yeah, when you got
to wherever you were parking, uh, before you got to the show and
like all of those.
Those things add up to as muchof the experience as the music.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
That Salt Lake City show.
When I was on my own, I wastraveling around and I met a
local girl I hung out with andthen a bunch of Colorado
Deadheads came down to Salt Lakefor the show.
I ended up hanging out withthem in the parking lot and at
the show we all sat together andit was just a blast.
Yeah, the people they were.
It was funny because here I am,I'm this new yorker, all by
(21:02):
myself in salt lake city seeingthe dead, and they were like,
wow, that's kind of cool.
Yeah, yeah just happens.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You know, strangers, stopping strangers, yeah, yeah,
so, um, you're also mentioningthat you had a friend who had a
connection to bob somehow.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Uh, yeah, mike.
Mike boshan is his name.
Um, he's a trombone player.
I met him last year really niceguy, um, he bought a car for me
and we start talking aboutmusic and he told me he plays on
with some broadway orchestrasand symphony stuff and jazz in
manhattan.
And I guess he texted me acouple of weeks later that he
(21:41):
got pegged to play with bob andthe wolf brothers at saratoga
and forest hills because theregular trombone player called
in sick.
So somehow my buddy mike gotgot pegged to do it.
His name is Mike Boshan,b-o-s-c-h-e-n.
He's got a website.
He's really talented andobviously you know Bob thinks so
too, because he played with Boba couple of gigs last year.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
That's fantastic.
Do you know if they hadrehearsals, or did he just say
show up and know what to do?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
He got called last minute.
He got called last minute andI've seen you know some YouTube
videos, I think NugsNet.
I was watching, you know, thestream just to see my buddy up
there on the stage in ForestHills and it's ironic because I
lived around the corner from thestadium in Forest Hills when I
was a kid.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So he didn't get you in then.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I didn't feel like traveling.
It's a long trip and parking isa hassle.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You know I'm a little old for some of that at this
point, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, uh, I feel you I've there comes a point when it
is, it is a bit of work to toget there and and do the things
we did.
Yeah, I, um, I did go, um, Idid go to see dead and company
with my sister in philadelphialast summer, um, you know, as a
favor to her, um, you knowthat's as far as you know that's
a favor to her.
You know that's as far as youknow that's a three hour drive
for me.
That's as far as I'm going totravel at this point to see some
music.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
So, yeah, yeah, that's about my limit too.
I'm pretty lucky to live inhere in Denver.
There's I'm like, yeah, lessthan an hour from Red Rocks, oh
God from Dix.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Never, never, never, never, never been.
So.
Um, my ex-wife, who I get alongwith, was supposed to see john
prine there a couple of yearsago and he he was still alive
and he got sick, but then shegot to see tedeschi trucks there
oh, wow I'm jealous becauseI've never.
I mean tedeschi trucks, you knowand she got to go to red Rocks
and I've never been.
It was funny when they, whenthey come to Manhattan, they
(23:42):
would just like move into town.
And I had a.
I had a girlfriend from Waleswho lived around the corner from
Madison Square Garden and whenthe dead came in for one of
their six, seven night runs sheused to say me neighborhood's a
bloody commune.
And night runs she used to sayme neighborhood's a bloody
commune.
See all the, the, all the kidswandering and the vw buses just
(24:03):
all around madison square gardenfor days.
Yeah, I took her to a show 91and she was you know, and I went
.
She was more into the englishnew wave stuff and you know I
like the Smiths and the Cure andall that.
But I took her to Dead Show andshe really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Nice.
Yeah, I find that anybody canfind something redeeming there.
They play so many differentstyles and they cover so many
bases.
You may not like it all, butyou'll have a good time
nonetheless.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I've told people over the years they're the best
country band ever, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, they are really country at heart.
I mean Jerry's really pickingsome country licks a lot of
times mixed in with the madness.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I have 20-year-old twin daughters and when I used
to play Olden in the way in thecar, they'd say it's farmer's
music.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, maybe.
So that's all right.
Nothing wrong with farmer'smusic, that's what they call it.
It's music, oh, wow, all right.
So I like to ask becausedeadheads are into cool stuff so
what's something that you'veseen or heard recently, an album
you've heard, or maybe a bookyou've read, or something that's
(25:15):
really struck you asinteresting, that listeners
might be like to check out?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I'm reading Peter Shapiro's book right now, ah,
you familiar with Peter Shapiro.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I am.
What is his book about?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
It's called the Music Never Stops and it's basically
his story, um, from you know,and he did the fairly well tour,
but it's it's, and I'm about athird of the way through it,
from the clubs he was involvedwith in the city, uh, the
wetlands, which is a place weused to hang out in um to his
involvement with some of thebands and the management, um, oh
(25:51):
, now I'm having a brain fart.
Um, john popper's band, what's?
What's john popper's band'sname?
uh, blue traveler you know inthe city and his with the
wetlands and moving in throughgetting involved with fairly
well and his relationship withthe dead.
And you know he, he runs thecapital theater now.
(26:14):
So I'm reading that and it'sreally interesting.
Musically I'm not up on what'snew and exciting really.
There's a couple of.
I mean it's an all-girl bandout of brooklyn called say she
she, which I really like, umkind of got a Motown all girl
vibe to it with sort of a Idon't call it an emo beat but
(26:37):
it's really nice.
The radio station I listened toFordham university, their radio
station in New York, WFUV.
That's the best music stationin New York city.
They play a lot.
They play new and interestingstuff and I'll hear something
and then I'll run home and, youknow, put it on my, you know my
Apple Music and download it.
(26:57):
But a lot of stuff I just I'mnot familiar, I don't remember
names, but they do play a lot ofreally cool new stuff.
The other you mentioned booksOne of my favorite writers, TC
Boyle, who's from Peekskill buthe lives in California now.
His writing has a sensibility Ithink that a lot of deadheads
(27:18):
would like.
Drop City is about a commune inCalifornia and he teaches at
Santa Barbara.
He's a brilliant writer.
You ever seen the movie theRoad to Wellville?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
No, but I have heard of it.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Uh, with Michael J Fox.
It's about Dr Kellogg and hisfarm in Michigan.
Well, it's based on a book byTC Boyle.
He's a brilliant writer and hedoes have an interesting
sensibility that I think wouldappeal to a lot of deadheads,
and the book drop city is one Ithink that they would enjoy lot
of deadheads, and the book DropCity is one I think that they
(27:56):
would enjoy.
Awesome, all right, bruce thankyou so much for joining me today
.
I appreciate you sharing yourstories.
I don't get to talk about musicwith too many people, so I've
been looking forward to.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
really appreciate you inviting me on.
I'm glad to have you, thank you.
Tales from the Lot, episode 22.
Those were the days, as Archiewould say.
My guest is Bruce Asher fromPutnam County, new York.
Here we go.
Welcome to Tales from the Lot,I'm Will.
My guest this week is BruceAsher.
He's coming to us from PutnamCounty, new York.
How's it going, bruce?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good, good thanks.
I'm glad to be here tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, awesome, I'm really glad to have you.
Um, so, let's, let's just start.
Are you from that areaoriginally, or New York?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
city and uh you know, as life moves on, I moved out
of the city and up into thesuburbs, so on and so forth, and
now I live up here, like I said, about 50 miles North of
Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh, nice, yeah, Still still close enough, though.
Yeah, yeah, um and so okay,okay.
So, growing up, what were youlistening to and what sort of
like you know through middleschool, high school or whatever,
and what got you to theGrateful Dead eventually?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, my first band was Led Zeppelin and you know I
loved them.
Zeppelin, the who and theAllman Brothers were my first
three rock bands.
But I was also heavily intoMotown.
I was a big Temptations fan.
I was familiar with the dead inthe early mid-70s through the
radio and it wasn't until I was16 or 17, 76, 77, I started
(01:18):
really paying attention, In factwithout realizing how much I
was into them.
The day before I graduated highschool I went to the Ziegfeld
Theater in Manhattan to see theGrateful Dead movie, which was
in, I guess, May of 74.
And I had listened to someradio broadcasts.
I thought, ah, these guys arepretty cool.
But then when I went off tocollege later in 77, I had a
(01:41):
roommate who was a deadhead withthe cassettes.
I'd never heard Live Dead'dnever heard binghamton, you know
.
Uh, now, this was 77, so a lotof the stuff that had was yet to
come.
But hearing the stuff that hehad on cassette, that just
flipped me at that point and Inever looked back yeah, you're
(02:03):
probably hearing like lot of 72,73, and 74.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, roosevelt.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Stadium, Fox Theater, St Louis 71.
Lots of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, it's funny.
You mentioned the Grateful Deadmovie.
I actually just watched thattoday.
It's on Amazon Prime and I waslike I'm just going to watch
that today.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
And seeing it when I did, I didn't get it.
I've seen it since, but youknow that was my first shot.
I wasn't really that much intothe band.
So it was like let's dosomething cool before we
graduate high school and thatwas to me a cool thing to do
before graduating high school.
So so when did you go see theband live the first time?
(02:46):
Where was that?
So I went to school, tulanedown in New Orleans, and I
started down there in August of77.
And we come to find out they'replaying in Baton Rouge in
October of that year.
So actually it was Bob Weir's30th birthday.
It was October 16th, 77.
So my buddy and I, we drove thehour and change up to baton
rouge to get tickets, came backwith, like you know, 15 20
(03:08):
tickets for the gang and went upthere on a on a bus with one of
the fraternities.
That was my first dead show wasoctober 77 in baton rouge nice,
right.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
What was the the venue for that one?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
uh, assembly center pete maribor center about a 15
000 seat arena at at the lsucampus yeah, that's what I
thought.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, I couldn't remember if it was that or the
football field.
But cool.
Yeah, no, I don't think theywere playing stadiums just yet
yeah, yeah, yeah, not likely atthat time, and uh, so were you
just on the bus at that point,like seeing as much as you could
in your area?
Yeah, I mean it wasn't a wholelot in the South, I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, so that was October 77.
And then in April of 78, and Iwas still a freshman I persuaded
a friend of mine who had a carfor us to drive to Atlanta to
see them at the Fox Theater.
I had a high school buddy whowas in school in Atlanta, so we
had a place to crash.
The funny thing is my buddy'scar broke down about a half hour
(04:07):
outside of Atlanta and had tocall his dad and explain why he
was in Atlanta, Needed $500because the transmission blew.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that was.
My next dead show was April of78 at the Fox in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, but you guys made it somehow.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Made it great show.
Had a blast yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Nice, and so did you say how many shows did you see?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know between the Dead and Garcia, between 80 and
90 over the years.
You know living in New YorkCity.
They come to town.
You go five or six shows in aspan of a week or two.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, no doubt when they go to MSG.
Did you see any of the RadioCity shows?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
No, actually the reason you brought that up, I
was at school in New Orleans.
They stopped in New Orleans inbetween they did the Warfields
and they did Radio City, butthey stopped and the first time
in 10 years they played in NewOrleans.
After the bus they played atthe Sanger Theater.
And this was one of the storiesI was going to tell.
We worked for the school radiostation and we were there both
(05:14):
nights and we were in the frontrow both nights Little theater,
2,000 seats.
The second night when they cameout they looked at us and said
oh, you guys are back.
And that was again.
That was the acoustic and thetwo electric sets.
Nice, and if you guys want tohear something.
The second night they didtrucking and obviously the first
(05:35):
time back in New Orleans in 10years I think was 10-16 or 10-17
, 81 or 10-18.
The trucking they did, theexplosives, the explosiveness of
it because it was in newOrleans, was amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I bet, yeah.
Something to be said aboutthose audience tapes sometimes
like that, or one that alwaysstood out to me was the, uh, the
.
It was like 10, I think it's 10, 16, 89 or something like that,
Bob where's birthday, whetherit's like in and out of, or
something like that Bob Weir'sbirthday, where it's in and out
of play and you could just hearthe crowd going crazy the whole
time.
It's one of those that I justlove to have on an audience.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It's interesting you brought up audience tapes.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
If we're going chronologically, if I may, yeah,
we're here to nerd out on thedead.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I was in school in New Orleans and so in late 78,
when Jerry got sick and theycanceled a bunch of Northeast
shows Right so we're home forChristmas break, you know, late
78, early 79.
And they rescheduled the shows.
So we drove down to theSpectrum on January 5th without
tickets and we picked up ticketsfor the Spectrum show, which
(06:45):
was a Friday night.
We came out and it was snowingout and we made it as far back
as Princeton to a buddy's house.
That's as far as we could gowith the weather.
Saturday no show.
Sunday night, a show at theGarden, which was okay, not
great.
Monday night, which was January8th, there's no soundboard
recording of the show and it'smy favorite Scarlet, my favorite
(07:09):
Terrapin.
There's no soundboards.
It's all audience wherever youturn and it was explosive that
night.
I'd love to find the soundboard.
But even if you're familiarwith Relisten, it's audience
recordings on that.
They were explosive show.
It was an explosive night.
I'd love to hear a soundboardbut there just isn't one
(07:31):
anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It sounds like it's time to petition that to be the
next release.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
That would be awesome .
Yeah, I'll get Dave Libby onthe phone.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That's right.
So everybody listening emailDave.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
January 8th MSG there we go.
We need a crisp recording andthen I left the next day to go
back to college.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I missed the dark start Nassau Coliseum ah yeah
well, yeah, you know, you justhave to keep going then to catch
it the next time, that's thebeauty of it?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
oh, absolutely, but you go every night.
You just have to keep goingthen to catch it the next time.
That's the beauty of it.
Yeah, oh, absolutely,absolutely, but you'd go every
night.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, you go every night, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
For certain yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Uh, so what?
What are some other standoutones that you saw?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Um, uh, I mean the five nights in 87 at the Garden
with that morning do.
That was the Friday night show,that was.
That was an amazing night.
And what, aside from the goodlove in La Bamba and the great
morning do what?
I remember that night and Iposted this Bob Weir was
(08:37):
incredible that night.
Vocally, he was just so onpoint If you listen to the
Watchtower, he was spectacularthat night.
Um, that's one, that's one thatstands out.
Um, I do remember I wore thattape out uh many years ago that
(09:01):
79 show I mentioned at thegarden I I I saw them out in in
in Salt Lake city, which was atremendous show in 1981.
That's a kind of a cool road.
That's my favorite road tripstory and it also involves
another musician beside the deadin the story.
I graduated college.
(09:22):
I was traveling out Westbouncing around.
I graduated college.
I was traveling out westbouncing around.
I visited friends in LA.
We went up the coast all theway to Vancouver and then I made
my way across.
I ended up in Salt Lake Citywith the intention of spending
one day there.
You just, you know, do somesightseeing and hit the road.
I check into a cheap hotelMiddle of the afternoon.
(09:46):
I see a bar right around thecorner from the hotel.
It says live music tonight.
So I go in, have a beer.
Ask the bartender what's goingon.
He says they canceled tonight.
There's no band.
I'm sitting at the bar and I'mreading the local newspaper and
it says Grateful Dead, saltPalace August 12th.
So off I go, I run to the arena, I buy it.
I buy a ticket.
I check into University of UtahCheap $6 a night rooms for
(10:09):
students.
A couple of nights later I'mback at that same bar and
there's a band playing and I'msitting at the bar with my back
to the band.
Suddenly I hear a very familiarsaxophone.
I look over and it's GroverWashington, your saxophone.
I look over and it's Grover.
Washington and he's playing withsome local band in Salt Lake
City at this bar I'm at.
So I went up to him during thebreak.
I said what are you doing here?
He said he was in townrecording.
(10:34):
He felt like playing that night.
So in the span of you know, afew days or so, grover
Washington and the Grateful Deadin Salt Lake City.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
That's awesome being able just to walk up and get a
ticket.
Those were the days as archiewould say yeah absolutely yeah,
yeah, that's, but now yourlittle guy is walking across the
screen trying to get thatticket I was very lucky never
getting there, uh, my collegeroommate who was the one I
(11:02):
mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
His name name is Rick Arnstein.
He had a relative who didbusiness with the dead and he
actually, you know, we alwayshad access to tickets and
sometimes we had backstagepasses.
So I was very fortunate wewould have had tickets to shows
anyway, but he helped us alonggetting tickets for a lot of
those shows and there were alsothe stadium shows, you know,
(11:23):
outdoors.
You mentioned what do Iremember?
July 4th 87 with Dylan inFoxborough.
That's one I'll never forget.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, I love Dylan, and what a great pairing
that was.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
What was very cool, and you know I don't know if
you're familiar with Foxboroughthere's one road in and out of
that stadium.
So while the dead were playing,you saw a helicopter coming
down and landing behind thestage and we all knew Dylan was
in that helicopter.
Yeah, and my favorite memoryand I've seen the video on
YouTube when they did the Timesthey Are Changing.
(11:56):
It's July 4th, people arewaving American flags and he's
singing the Times they AreChanging, and Jerry's riff is
just burned in my head from thatsong.
Yeah, and then a week later, atthe Meadowlands, we saw them
again.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So you were seeing them originally when Keith and
Donna were there and then youkind of saw the transition into
Brent.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Right, yeah, I mean the first show, the first few
shows were with Keith and Donna,and then Brent and then Vince
Welnick, you know, and some ofthe Hornsby shows.
Brent definitely added aninteresting I don't want to call
it jazz, but a a jazzy flair tosome of their jams, which is
really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, he could definitely play in his, in his.
His vocal harmonies were, uh,were a welcome, a welcome thing.
No doubt my first shows werewhen Hornsby was with him, right
, and I didn't really know thatmuch about him when I first went
and just assumed it was likethat all the time, but that was
the only time I got to seeHornsby with him.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But you know, I liked Vince that was short it was, it
was my entire you know it wasit was, it was my entire dead
viewing career, I guess.
Yeah, I started in 91 and thensaw a bunch through as much as I
could, but yeah, it's, that's,that's all I got to see.
But yeah, I liked Brent a lotand what he, we, what he
(13:20):
provided vocally and musicallytoo.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, I saw a lot, and what he provided vocally and
musically too, I saw a lot of.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Garcia band shows as well.
You got to love Melvin too.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Oh God, yeah, In fact it's funny I tell this story
Halloween 1993.
Giant Stadium the Jets and theGiants were playing and Jerry
was playing at the arena nextdoor that night.
So there were my buddy and I.
We weren't the only ones whohad tickets to both shows.
(13:51):
So you know it was a rainy,dreary, miserable day, but our
seats at the football game wereunder, so we were protected.
And when the game ended at four, there was a bar, sort of, in
between the venues and a lot ofpeople who had tickets for both
were hanging out there, and MattDillon was one of them.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh nice.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
And he was in there hanging out, and all these
people that were at the footballgame were then going to the
concert.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, that's pretty convenient and a great day of
entertainment.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Oh, absolutely it to you.
Oh, absolutely, Rise and shineand start your day with a
crunchy dose of peace and loveat breakfast time, Introducing
Hippie Krispies, the cerealthat'll have you saying far out
with every spoonful.
Dive into our heady swirl ofcrispy oats, toasted nuts and
(14:45):
colourful marshmallow shapes.
Marshmallow shapes like peacesigns, VW buses, gel caps and
Jerry hands.
But that's not all.
Inside every box of hippiecrispies you'll find a surprise.
A surprise Like a working minilava lamp, a tie-dye spoon or
(15:07):
our collector's series LSDblotter paper reproductions of
some of the most iconic blotterpaper artwork ever created.
Collect all 10.
No LSD included.
So why settle for ordinarybreakfast cereals when you can
start your day with a bowl ofpure good vibes?
Eat Hippie Krispies forbreakfast.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Because it's the most important meal of the day man.
Meal of the day man.
Earlier we were talking, beforewe jumped on here, about a uh,
a grateful dead cover band thatyou see occasionally in the area
.
Uh, grateful, bro, is thatright?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
grateful bro, and bro stands for blues roadhouse
orchestra uh, okay yeah, they,they play primarily in the new
york area, um, but like I said,and they, they do a lot of you
know a lot of dead, but they mixin steely, dan stone, santana,
um, they're, they're terrific.
They play outdoor venues in thein a nice weather out here, and
(16:17):
they play all the bars in areasnew york, new jersey,
connecticut.
They don't do much travelingbeyond that area, but of all the
dead cover bands and I'm nottalking about J-Rad or, you know
, dark Star Orchestra, but thelocal bar stuff these guys are
far and away the best one thatI've seen in a long time.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
There's probably a fair amount of them in New York.
Oh, there's.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Bob's Dad there's Grateful of Yours.
There's Gr's dad there'sGrateful of Yours.
It's great.
Yeah, it's Grateful bro.
The Stella Blues Band.
There's a lot of them, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I think we have four or five semi-decent ones here in
Denver too.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Semi-decent or better .
I don't want to slight anybody,but yeah, there's four or five
and they all play in the sameplaces.
Yeah, there's the circuit of ofdead places and and they do,
they do pretty well.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I.
I did stop over in Denver onthat trip.
I think it was after the showin Salt Lake city.
It stopped in Denver for acouple of days, but it's been a
long time ago, so yeah, it was amuch different place, probably
even better at that point thanit is now.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, than it is now.
Yeah, I did see the Dead in.
I can't complain.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Ann Arbor was, I guess, the Midwest place I saw.
The Dead was in Ann Arbor in 79.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, and that was the majority of the shows I saw
were like I saw maybe I don'tknow a bunch at Deer Creek and
then 94 Summer Tour I did like12 or 13 in a row or just sort
of circling around the midwest Imean all those places in the
midwest I hear about and I havetapes and I listen to.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You know, dave lemieux, I never saw the dead
outdoors at any of those type ofvenues.
It was always stadiums.
Yeah, you know, um again, bythe time I got into them in the
late 70s they were starting todo this, the summer stadium
shows.
So you know my first outdoorshow, oh god, it must have been
(18:10):
somewhere in the early 80s, 77english town.
I was already down in neworleans in school 78 giant
stadium.
I was already down there.
So it was always giant stadiumor foxborough.
I never saw them at one ofthose cool outdoor venues.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, yeah, probably the best one.
I like Deer Creek a lot, one ofthe best venues I've ever been
to.
I don't know if you've, I don'teven know if it's still there,
but it's called Mud Island andit's in Memphis.
I've never heard of it.
I saw fish there one time.
Yeah, I saw fish there one time, but but it was very cool
because there was a bridge thatthat went out over the
mississippi.
You had a long quarter milebridge.
(18:47):
You would walk out to thislittle island in the middle of
the mississippi and the seatingand the stage down and behind
the stage is memphis downtown.
That's cool, yeah, super coolstadium or or not a stadium, but
just like an outdoor auditoriumkind of thing.
It was small, maybe 6,000people.
(19:07):
Cool place.
I don't even know if it's stillthere.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I saw a fish.
There's an amphitheater outsideof Hartford similar to that.
I saw them there in one ofthose indoor-outdoor kind of
places, which was really cool,but to dead, it was always
stadiums outdoors that I sawthem, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, the biggest one I ever saw, I think, was
Buckeye Lake.
It was like what did they say?
Like 90,000 or something?
Actually maybe Soldier Field.
What's Soldier Field?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
That's the big one, Soldier Field.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I mean that's just got to be 65,000, 70,000.
Yeah, I think Buckeye Lake isbigger though, cause it's just
like, really as far as, it'sjust a field, as far as you can
go.
Yeah, those were good times, mybuddy, uh buddy, on the blues
(19:59):
bar in Manhattan and the daythat Jerry died and I just bring
it up because we were sittingthere and one of the things he
said to me that night was I'llmiss the road trips.
Yeah, you know, and even ifthey were, you know, three hours
down to philly, or four hoursup to, you know, up to
foxborough, or just you know acouple hours to new haven, they
weren't long trips but they werefun, you know, they were a lot
(20:22):
of fun.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah you remember where you stayed that night and
what you guys did, and and, andthe people, yeah, when you got
to wherever you were parking, uh, before you got to the show and
like all of those.
Those things add up to as muchof the experience as the music.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
That Salt Lake City show.
When I was on my own, I wastraveling around and I met a
local girl I hung out with andthen a bunch of Colorado
Deadheads came down to Salt Lakefor the show.
I ended up hanging out withthem in the parking lot and at
the show we all sat together andit was just a blast.
Yeah, the people they were.
It was funny because here I am,I'm this new yorker, all by
(21:02):
myself in salt lake city seeingthe dead, and they were like,
wow, that's kind of cool.
Yeah, yeah just happens.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You know, strangers, stopping strangers, yeah, yeah,
so, um, you're also mentioningthat you had a friend who had a
connection to bob somehow.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Uh, yeah, mike.
Mike boshan is his name.
Um, he's a trombone player.
I met him last year really niceguy, um, he bought a car for me
and we start talking aboutmusic and he told me he plays on
with some broadway orchestrasand symphony stuff and jazz in
manhattan.
And I guess he texted me acouple of weeks later that he
(21:41):
got pegged to play with bob andthe wolf brothers at saratoga
and forest hills because theregular trombone player called
in sick.
So somehow my buddy mike gotgot pegged to do it.
His name is Mike Boshan,b-o-s-c-h-e-n.
He's got a website.
He's really talented andobviously you know Bob thinks so
too, because he played with Boba couple of gigs last year.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
That's fantastic.
Do you know if they hadrehearsals, or did he just say
show up and know what to do?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
He got called last minute.
He got called last minute andI've seen you know some YouTube
videos, I think NugsNet.
I was watching, you know, thestream just to see my buddy up
there on the stage in ForestHills and it's ironic because I
lived around the corner from thestadium in Forest Hills when I
was a kid.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So he didn't get you in then.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I didn't feel like traveling.
It's a long trip and parking isa hassle.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You know I'm a little old for some of that at this
point, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, uh, I feel you I've there comes a point when it
is, it is a bit of work to toget there and and do the things
we did.
Yeah, I, um, I did go, um, Idid go to see dead and company
with my sister in philadelphialast summer, um, you know, as a
favor to her, um, you knowthat's as far as you know that's
a favor to her.
You know that's as far as youknow that's a three hour drive
for me.
That's as far as I'm going totravel at this point to see some
music.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
So, yeah, yeah, that's about my limit too.
I'm pretty lucky to live inhere in Denver.
There's I'm like, yeah, lessthan an hour from Red Rocks, oh
God from Dix.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Never, never, never, never, never been.
So.
Um, my ex-wife, who I get alongwith, was supposed to see john
prine there a couple of yearsago and he he was still alive
and he got sick, but then shegot to see tedeschi trucks there
oh, wow I'm jealous becauseI've never.
I mean tedeschi trucks, you knowand she got to go to red Rocks
and I've never been.
It was funny when they, whenthey come to Manhattan, they
(23:42):
would just like move into town.
And I had a.
I had a girlfriend from Waleswho lived around the corner from
Madison Square Garden and whenthe dead came in for one of
their six, seven night runs sheused to say me neighborhood's a
bloody commune.
And night runs she used to sayme neighborhood's a bloody
commune.
See all the, the, all the kidswandering and the vw buses just
(24:03):
all around madison square gardenfor days.
Yeah, I took her to a show 91and she was you know, and I went
.
She was more into the englishnew wave stuff and you know I
like the Smiths and the Cure andall that.
But I took her to Dead Show andshe really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Nice.
Yeah, I find that anybody canfind something redeeming there.
They play so many differentstyles and they cover so many
bases.
You may not like it all, butyou'll have a good time
nonetheless.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I've told people over the years they're the best
country band ever, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, they are really country at heart.
I mean Jerry's really pickingsome country licks a lot of
times mixed in with the madness.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I have 20-year-old twin daughters and when I used
to play Olden in the way in thecar, they'd say it's farmer's
music.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, maybe.
So that's all right.
Nothing wrong with farmer'smusic, that's what they call it.
It's music, oh, wow, all right.
So I like to ask becausedeadheads are into cool stuff so
what's something that you'veseen or heard recently, an album
you've heard, or maybe a bookyou've read, or something that's
(25:15):
really struck you asinteresting, that listeners
might be like to check out?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I'm reading Peter Shapiro's book right now, ah,
you familiar with Peter Shapiro.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I am.
What is his book about?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
It's called the Music Never Stops and it's basically
his story, um, from you know,and he did the fairly well tour,
but it's it's, and I'm about athird of the way through it,
from the clubs he was involvedwith in the city, uh, the
wetlands, which is a place weused to hang out in um to his
involvement with some of thebands and the management, um, oh
(25:51):
, now I'm having a brain fart.
Um, john popper's band, what's?
What's john popper's band'sname?
uh, blue traveler you know inthe city and his with the
wetlands and moving in throughgetting involved with fairly
well and his relationship withthe dead.
And you know he, he runs thecapital theater now.
(26:14):
So I'm reading that and it'sreally interesting.
Musically I'm not up on what'snew and exciting really.
There's a couple of.
I mean it's an all-girl bandout of brooklyn called say she
she, which I really like, umkind of got a Motown all girl
vibe to it with sort of a Idon't call it an emo beat but
(26:37):
it's really nice.
The radio station I listened toFordham university, their radio
station in New York, WFUV.
That's the best music stationin New York city.
They play a lot.
They play new and interestingstuff and I'll hear something
and then I'll run home and, youknow, put it on my, you know my
Apple Music and download it.
(26:57):
But a lot of stuff I just I'mnot familiar, I don't remember
names, but they do play a lot ofreally cool new stuff.
The other you mentioned booksOne of my favorite writers, TC
Boyle, who's from Peekskill buthe lives in California now.
His writing has a sensibility Ithink that a lot of deadheads
(27:18):
would like.
Drop City is about a commune inCalifornia and he teaches at
Santa Barbara.
He's a brilliant writer.
You ever seen the movie theRoad to Wellville?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
No, but I have heard of it.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Uh, with Michael J Fox.
It's about Dr Kellogg and hisfarm in Michigan.
Well, it's based on a book byTC Boyle.
He's a brilliant writer and hedoes have an interesting
sensibility that I think wouldappeal to a lot of deadheads,
and the book drop city is one Ithink that they would enjoy lot
of deadheads, and the book DropCity is one I think that they
(27:56):
would enjoy.
Awesome, all right, bruce thankyou so much for joining me today
.
I appreciate you sharing yourstories.
I don't get to talk about musicwith too many people, so I've
been looking forward to.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
really appreciate you inviting me on.
I'm glad to have you, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!