MetaChat - I have 666(.1) MB of Grateful Dead on my iPod

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28 May 2008

I have 666(.1) MB of Grateful Dead on my iPod . .What pointless fact about you do you care to share?→[More:] I can't figure out how to dump the 0.1 MB, or I would.

post by: danf at: 13:57 | 30 comments

Dump the 0.1 MB by deleting the good song.

posted by BitterOldPunk 28 May | 14:01

I can turn the right side of my tongue over the left side (so it's upside down), but not left over right.

posted by Joe Invisible 28 May | 14:04

Dump the 0.1 MB by deleting the good song.

So I may infer that your answer to question 1 (the only one posited) is that you are one of the legion of Deadhaters. Check.

posted by danf 28 May | 14:07

I learned to wiggle my ears after years of practice. It finally happened one day as I was working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. I was astounded.
Thank you for making me remember that, I can now add it to my MeFi profile, which contains many other pointless facts about me. Here are some of the less internet-related facts:
-I have one blue eye and one greenish eye, though there's not always that much of a distinction between the two.
-I was the first person to comment on Garry Newman's Facebook wall.
-I have been crapped on by a bird at least once.
-I once stood directly in front of Dave and the violinist from Dave Matthew's Band on an escalator at the mall.
-The coordinates for my home town form a palindrome (sort of): 41.7, -71.4.
-I've shaved my chin three or four times in my life so far.

posted by CitrusFreak12 28 May | 14:15

I've met Kenny "R2D2" Baker and later watched him get shit faced.

posted by joelf 28 May | 14:27

I do now and always have been of the very firm belief that crack is whack.

posted by msali 28 May | 14:31

I have seen the beginning of the movie "Private Parts" about 75 times. I have never gone farther than I did last night when he had to fire that guy at the radio station. At this rate, I will finish watching the whole film when I'm 104.

posted by stynxno 28 May | 14:46

Dump the 0.1 MB by deleting the good song.

they have a good song?

posted by stynxno 28 May | 14:48

Oh, come on, the dead were a perfectly serviceable alt.country band in their day. Never had a decent drummer or vocalist, but they managed to write some decent songs when they weren't randomly wanking away at their instruments.

posted by dersins 28 May | 15:12

OMG I can't believe I just defended the dead, and on a public forum, no less. But still. It's true.

posted by dersins 28 May | 15:13

But your "defense" did not even rise to the level of faint praise. So, no worries about your cred.

posted by danf 28 May | 15:19

My cred? Good lord, I have none of that. Never did. The first record I ever bought was Billy Joel's "Glass Houses," for fuck's sake.

posted by dersins 28 May | 15:22

I was really, really into "Christian contemporary rock" back in high school; a fact which shocked MuddDude when my mom shipped me all my old albums. In my defense, there were a few great bands that happened to write Christian songs...

posted by muddgirl 28 May | 15:25

The first record I ever bought was Billy Joel's "Glass Houses," for fuck's sake.

That is a good answer to the original question in this thread. . .does that one have "we didn't start the fire" on it?

posted by danf 28 May | 15:25

does that one have "we didn't start the fire" on it?

Nope. I'm older than that.

posted by dersins 28 May | 15:33

What do the Grateful Dead and Christian contemporary rock have in common? People judge 'em based on the fans.

posted by box 28 May | 15:41

crack is whack

Crack is an onomatopoetic noise made by smart, resounding blows? Or did you mean "wack"?

(That is my pointless fact. That and honkeys are wack.)

posted by Eideteker 28 May | 15:53

What do the Grateful Dead and Christian contemporary rock have in common? People judge 'em based on the fans.

More of a connection than you think.

posted by danf 28 May | 15:59

Betcha didn't think you were starting a referendum of the Dead, danf.

Box makes a good point, although that's not always the case. As a big fan of psychedelic music, I've wanted to like the Dead for a long time. The stuff they did while they were still urban acid punks works pretty well for me, but I start losing interest around the time they moved to Marin County and got all bucolic. I respect them as originators and innovators, but I generally prefer their contemporaries. And as far as proto-jam bands go, my vote goes to the Allman Brothers.

As for the original question, I have never seen any of the following films: ET, Saturday Night Fever, Rocky (or any of the sequels), Rambo (or any of the sequels), Top Gun, Forrest Gump, Jurassic Park (or any of the sequels), or Bambi. I have seen The Matrix, mistook it for a comedy, and haven't seen any of the sequels.

posted by bmarkey 28 May | 16:00

I do not have 3-D vision.

posted by BoringPostcards 28 May | 16:38

And as far as proto-jam bands go, my vote goes to the Allman Brothers.

Word.

Box's point is well-taken, though. It is almost impossible for me to discuss the Dead without discussing Deadheads, and my experience with Deadheads is that most of them would best serve humanity by dying in a fire. As a band, though, they are head and shoulders above the band that seems to have inherited their mantle and their fanbase, Widespread Panic. The less said about Panic (and their fans), the better.

That said, the Dead's "Sugar Magnolia" from Maples Pavilion '73 is gorgeous -- energetic, tight, rousing rock. I'm sure there are other examples I haven't heard. Feel free not to share them with me, thanks. And their policy of allowing fans to tape live shows was a revolutionary step (and, I think it could be argued, was the original crack in the monolith of the music business through which the torrents flowed to undermine the whole system).

There, I said something nice about the Dead.

posted by BitterOldPunk 28 May | 17:55

I hear you BOP.

They used to play annually (for the most part) where I live, and, most, but not all the time, I would ride my bike and go see them.

But the cosmic debris that would blow into town, the raids on food banks, the litter, the theft, and the abandoned puppies (they always had puppies but you'd never see a deadhead with a grown dog. . hmmm), amongst other behavioral stuff, would make me very glad when the circus moved on.

posted by danf 28 May | 18:03

they have a good song?

Good thing you didn't say that in my house this past weekend, stynxno, or you would have been sleeping in the cabin... if I was in a good mood!

posted by terrapin 28 May | 18:37

danf: I have your back. Most of the haters hear have shown they know little to nothing about the boys. Even those who think they are defending the Dead. Can't argue with someone who has a closed mind. Where is digaman when you need him? ;)

About 7% of my iTunes library is Grateful Dead, but none of that is my live collection... unless it was released on CD (Dick's Picks, Vaults, etc.) Once I get a new external drive though, I am finally going to get around to converting all those SHN downloaded shows sitting on my shelf. It's a damn good thing I have satellite Internet or I'd have thousands more shows.

As for your original post, the only song I would delete is What's Become of the Baby.

Your favourite bands suck too, everyone.

posted by terrapin 28 May | 18:50

BTW, danf, did you go to the 1993 Eugene shows? I did. Great time. Indigo Girls opener and Huey Lewis sitting in on harmonica.

posted by terrapin 28 May | 18:52

I have to admit that I was one of those smelly hippies in the eighties that made you hate the Good Ol' Grateful Dead. I still listen to them pretty regularly to the mild annoyance of my dance-pop loving wife. Oddly enough, I have very little patience for modern jam bands like Phish or Widespread Panic or even most of Dave Mathews.

I was never really very smelly, even though hairy.

posted by octothorpe 28 May | 19:28

I have precisely 1000 songs on my iPod today.

Exactly one song is from the Dead... a Phil song. I've always felt that they could've made Workingmans', American Beauty, Europe '72 and then quit, never to play another note. (although I'll throw in Reckoning if pressed.) IMO, history would view them as a better band for having done so.

I gave up on the Dead on Sept. 28, 1990. That was the night I saw Phish for the first time at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. I was up against the stage, looking up, and it was during Run Like an Antelope when Trey's head rolled back, eyes unfocused, and he pretty much set the gearshift for the high gear of his soul, right then and there.

posted by Triode 28 May | 21:16

I don't have an iPod!

posted by grouse 29 May | 07:05

BTW, danf, did you go to the 1993 Eugene shows? I did. Great time. Indigo Girls opener and Huey Lewis sitting in on harmonica.

I went to one of them. It was the biggest crowd that the IG's had ever played to. They had covered Uncle John's Band, for a tribute album but would not play it, out of deference.

I think that the Dead played a good Terrapin, that say.

My favorite Dead show in Eugene was the 100+ degree day they played Mac Court. It was so hot in there, that there was weather forming up in the rafters, raining evaporated and then condensed sweat back down on us. Every one camped out in the graveyard across the street was a nice touch, also.

posted by danf 29 May | 10:15

I love Robert Hunter.

That is all.

...have been sleeping in the cabin... as opposed to the station, terrapin?

posted by small_ruminant 29 May | 23:45

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