Oregon daily emerald., June 22, 1978, Page 9, Image 9

Eugene prepares for
Sunday: the day of the living Dead
Stories by
GLEN OZONEWOOD
Of the Emerald
To dedicated fans, a Grateful
Dead concert in their home town is
a luxury — a luxury Eugene
Dead-Heads will have Sunday for
the second time in five months.
The Dead will headline a day-long
show at Autzen Stadium that in
cludes Santana, The Outlaws and
Eddie Money.
The Dead have carried the
torch of the San Francisco experi
ence since the mid-60’s. One of
the first groups to form in the Bay
Area, the band was among the
last to sign a recording contract. In
the early '70s, the band hit the big
time.
It began filling up caverns like
Portland’s Memorial Coliseum
and as the auditoriums increased
in size, the band developed an
awesome sound system. Lead
guitarist Jerry Garcia described it
as the physical embodiment of
sound.
“In other words,” Garcia told
BAM, a California music
magazine, “the lowest note on a
bass is 32 feet high. That’s its real
size. Clearly, nothing that’s any
smaller than that can produce a
sound wave that’s that big in the
air.”
But the sound system was
cumbersome, a cumbersome
ness that began showing up in all
aspects of the Dead’s playing.
Crowds grew and grew and the
money it took to keep the monster
going grew with them. Finally in
73-74, concerts quit being fun.
“It had turned into a thing that
was out of control,” says Garcia.
“Nobody was really doing it be
cause they liked it. We were doing
it because we had to.”
So in October 74 the band took
a vacation and went out with five
Reliable promoters
bring music to field
Aside from a YMCA-sponsored show, there have been no con
certs held at Autzen Stadium. Just what damage 40 thousand scream
ing rock fans would do worried the University. Sunday it’ll find out.
“We believe our facility should be used by the community and in
offering a rock concert,” University Athletic Director John Caine told the
Register-Guard, “we offer a show that appeals to a certain group of
people, particularly young people.”
The athletic department plans to get 10 percent of the gate re
ceipts, which could be $500,000. The show is produced by the Athletic
Department, Concerts West and Bill Graham Presents. Caine said he
feels comfortable working with Graham and Concerts West. They’ve
done similar events before.
"We turned down an awful lot of people who wanted to get into this
field,” said Caine. "We turned them down because if we wanted to do it
we wanted to do it right.”
One of the people turned down was Sue from the Springfield
Creamery. She tried to bring the Dead to Autzen a number of summers
but she’s in the business of making yogurt, not producing rock shows.
She says her conversations with the University were cordial, but her
lack of experience amplified the University’s concern.
In 1972 the Creamery did sponsor an outdoor show. The concert
offered the music of the Dead and the New Riders and happened in a
large field near Veneta. Sue describes the event as a “good time” and it
made the Dead want to play under Oregon’s sun again. The last four or
five years it just hasn’t come together.
But Sue doesn't see her efforts as a waste.
“The interest that’s been expressed in the band coming here over
the years is the reason it’s happening now.”
r
concerts at Winterland. Those five
concerts provided the footage for
the Dead’s movie.
Members of the band began
touring with splinter groups but in
the Spring of 75, Blues for Allah
was released. The Dead was
back. The album combined the
spontaneous jams of early re
leases with the polished style of
Wake of the Flood, producing a
kind of vector music: energy with a
direction.
In June 76, two Portland con
certs kicked off a tour of the other
side of the country, Micky Hart in
tow. Hart, a percussionist, had
left after American Beauty.
Exchanges between Hart and
drummer Bill Kreutzman give the
group's sound life.
That heartbeat accompanies
the mellow tones of Phil Lesh’s
bass and Garcia’s and Bob Weir’s
guitars. The group is rounded out
by the Godchauxs, Donna singing
and her husband Keith on
keyboards.
“Either you’re alive or you’re
not,’’ says Keith, “and there’s only
one side of that that matters.”
Early releases, many of them
live, were rambling and sounded
much like the Dead’s concerts.
Weir says the group didn’t utilize
the special sounds offered at a
studio. With Ugly Rumors from the
Mars Hotel, that utilization was
there.
After an attempt at running its
own record company, the Dead
signed with Arista, the label that
released the band’s last album,
Terrapin Station.
The band plans to be back in the
studio over July and in September
is scheduled to fly to Egypt to play
under the pyramids. The concert
will be a benefit arranged by
Anwar Sadat's wife to help chil
dren in Cairo.
Sunday also offers a chance for
Eugene to hear Santana, one of
the Bay Area’s most popular
groups. When the Fillmore West
closed, Santana headlined the
last show. Lead guitar player Car
los Santana has gone through a
number of changes in the last 10
years, leaving the group for awhile
to play with John McLaughlin.
Rhythms are a big part of the
band’s sound.
Also scheduled, for the show,
which starts at 11 a.m., are the
Outlaws and Eddie Money. The
Outlaws are an intense rock band
into extended boogies. Money is a
Bay Area act with a current FM hit,
“Two Tickets to Paradise.’’
Tickets for the event cost $10,
available at Meier and Frank, the
Athletic Department and at the
gate. The parking lot opens at 7
and the doors at 9.
enjoy
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