Friday, May 5, 1967

I write this on the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love from the Haight, now a very different place than it was then. There are vestiges, such as the Sunday tribal gatherings at Hippy Hill in Golden Gate Park, but the 710 Ashbury crashpad sold for several million a few years ago. But during that Summer, a local band called Dead were not yet national rock stars, but people waking up to what was happing, coming here in droves and hearing this band that played like nothing they ever heard.

There are any number of "Holy Grails" out there depending on the reviewer; for me~ this is it. This is the '67 performance that lives up to my imagination. The jam factor of hot & hungry musicians, the fun factor of a young irreverent dance-band, & the rich psychedelia of serious acid-rock pioneers. So great to hear a live Golden Road!, with spirited vocals by Jerry~ and then the transition into New Potato--a fully realized showpiece even here(why didn't they play it at Monterey...?)--is as…