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What smoking music are you listening to? (2024)

I haven't been keeping up with this thread so I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but the Rolling Stones recently put out their first studio album in 17 years. That's right. The first new Stones songs in nearly two decades!

And I've been listening to it ever since. Hackney Diamond. Not quite Exile on Main Street but surprisingly, definitely in the ballpark, or at least the zip code, and shows some serious influences from it.



~Boar
 
My first Dead show.

And my first Jefferson Airplane and Butterfield Blues Band show too.

I'd love to say that this show was some great quasi-religious experience and it probably was but I just didn't know it at the time. In May 1968 we we living on Washington Square in Greenwich Village New York. Central Park was only 3.5 miles away straight up 6th Ave but if you are a kid on a stingray bike it was as close Deathrace 2000 as you were likely to find. We usually took our bikes on the subway so we could ride in the park. This time we decided to ride.

We get to the park without being killed and do all the normal stuff kids do. Bike tricks, getting hot dogs from the push cart vendors, smoking cigarettes and hanging out. It seemed like we were noticing more hippie types than normal but not like it was 100x more, just more. Then a little later that afternoon we could hear the CHECK CHECK of the microphones and guitar tuning in the breeze. This was something that demanded our attention!

Now if you aren't familiar with Central Park it has a few bandshells from probably the turn of the century or maybe even earlier. Big enough for 20 musicians back in the day or a 5 piece rock band now. As we ride across the park we are seeing a LOT of hippie types. As we get closer we can see amps and mic stands and a drum kit on the stage. I don't see any signs about who is playing so we eventually ask who is playing, Butterfield Blues Band they say are doing a free show. Well cool! I don't know who they are but if they are playing in the Park they have to be pretty good right?

While we were waiting we find out that the Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead are part of the show too. and it's FREE! This is turning out to be a pretty good day. I shinny up a light pole at one point and see more hippies than I have ever seen. Every hippie in the city must be here but in reality it was around 7000. Paul Butterfield was up first and I had never heard anyone before or since play the harp like that. It was visceral, grabbing you by the gut and brain at the same time - my first real shot of blues that somehow struck deeper than Cream or the Yardbirds and has stayed with me ever since.

The Airplane came up next with Grace looking like the rock goddess she was with Jorma and Jack being the coolest guys on earth. Crown of Creation and Volunteers still stand out to me. Then it was the Dead's turn. I didn't quite know what to make of them Everything from Americana based acid rock to what seemed like mindless noodling. Songs that served as intros to other songs but had no real ending. It was wrong, it was infuriating and it stuck in your head and ate your brain.

This clip is from Columbia University 3 days earlier.

 
Last edited:
AVB said:
My first Dead show.

And my first Jefferson Airplane and Butterfield Blues Band show too.

I'd love to say that this show was some great quasi-religious experience and it probably was but I just didn't know it at the time. In May 1968 we we living on Washington Square in Greenwich Village New York. Central Park was only 3.5 miles away straight up 6th Ave but if you are a kid on a stingray bike it was as close Deathrace 2000 as you were likely to find. We usually took our bikes on the subway so we could ride in the park. This time we decided to ride.

We get to the park without being killed and do all the normal stuff kids do. Bike tricks, getting hot dogs from the push cart vendors, smoking cigarettes and hanging out. It seemed like we were noticing more hippie types than normal but not like it was 100x more, just more. Then a little later that afternoon we could hear the CHECK CHECK of the microphones and guitar tuning in the breeze. This was something that demanded our attention!

Now if you aren't familiar with Central Park it has a few bandshells from probably the turn of the century or maybe even earlier. Big enough for 20 musicians back in the day or a 5 piece rock band now. As we ride across the park we are seeing a LOT of hippie types. As we get closer we can see amps and mic stands and a drum kit on the stage. I don't see any signs about who is playing so we eventually ask who is playing, Butterfield Blues Band they say are doing a free show. Well cool! I don't know who they are but if they are playing in the Park they have to be pretty good right?

While we were waiting we find out that the Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead are part of the show too. and it's FREE! This is turning out to be a pretty good day. I shinny up a light pole at one point and see more hippies than I have ever seen. Every hippie in the city must be here but in reality it was around 7000. Paul Butterfield was up first and I had never heard anyone before or since play the harp like that. It was visceral, grabbing you by the gut and brain at the same time - my first real shot of blues that somehow struck deeper than Cream or the Yardbirds and has stayed with me ever since.

The Airplane came up next with Grace looking like the rock goddess she was with Jorma and Jack being the coolest guys on earth. Crown of Creation and Volunteers still stand out to me. Then it was the Dead's turn. I didn't quite know what to make of them Everything from Americana based acid rock to what seemed like mindless noodling. Songs that served as intros to other songs but had no real ending. It was wrong, it was infuriating and it stuck in your head and ate your brain.

This clip is from Columbia University 3 days earlier.

Click to expand...

Love it. Ready for a few more.
 
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