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Not Sure Where To Begin?

The intro posts are always a good start, followed logically by
my thoughts on Music & Being, which guide my writing.
You could also try my current favorite show on the blog,
plus there's good reading under the trading community label.
Or, take a walk on a
Listening Trail.
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Roll Away

Jerry Garcia 11/17/78Speaking from experience, it's healthy to step away from a solid diet of Grateful Dead music once in a while. I did it for a multi-year period before starting up this blog, and it was a very good thing. Not only was it refreshing to dive into "other" music with all the daily listening time I had been devoting to the Dead, but in coming back years later, their music opened up like a flower revealing subtle hues I missed in the past. The music spoke with more fine detail and more wide reaching scope than before. I didn’t plan to come back to the Dead when I did, much as I hadn’t planned to step away years earlier. All in all I recommend taking a break from time to time.

In recent weeks I’ve stepped away again. The August 24, 1972 review marked only the first time I had returned to listening to the Dead since early September. And excluding that one show, October 2009 has been a whirlwind adventure into other music; the Grateful Dead receiving nary a thought along the way.

It’s okay. I’m not here to tell you I’m hanging up a closed sign on the blog or anything like that. Not even “gone fishing,” though it may seem a bit like that recently. I’m comfortable that the archives here can keep readers interest (Gosh, I wonder how many folks have read this site cover to cover?) even while I slip away to dabble in other waters.

Regardless, I’m actually well into the research portion (listening) for the guide’s next show review. I won’t let things completely die on the vine. And I did feel like checking in for a moment even if just to pass along a few tidbits.

Somehow,through no doing of my own, the GDLG twitter account password became corrupted last week. If you follow, you might have noticed that @deadlistening has gone completely dark of late. Amazingly frustrating. One can imagine how difficult it is to get any direct support help from such a large “free” service. I really don’t want to have to bail on the account (with its more than 1000 followers) and start over. Hopefully I’ll get lucky soon and find help working through the issues that are somehow preventing my even managing to receive the password reset e-mail via twitter. If you know anyone over at Twitter, I’d appreciate being put in contact. I want my account back.

On a lighter note: While enjoying the next show on the GDLG reviewing bench yesterday while driving home with my 11-year-old, he chimed in from the back seat as the band segued into Truckin’. “This has got to be the Grateful Dead.” It wasn’t because he recognized the familiar tune. He said he knew it because they have a really distinctive sound that let’s you know it’s them every time. I myself had just been marveling at how absolutely archetypical Jerry’s guitar tone was sounding, and we spoke a bit about that distinctive rich, round twang that embodied Garcia’s tone for so many years.

Then, as the band continued singing the tune my son said, “Chicken? Chicken?” I burst out laughing. “Chicken, like the doodah man…”

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

DeadListening on Twitter


The Grateful Dead Listening Guide is now on Twitter!
(follow deadlistening now)

Without new technology this site would never have come into being. The idea for the GDLG came in response to what I felt were drawbacks and roadblocks born from the benefits associated with our new digital age bringing all Dead shows to our fingertips. It becomes an interestingly blurry distinction, or perhaps more so, an uroboros-like connotation, which leaves it hard to call the technology outright bad, or good. Without its drawbacks, I would not have found an avenue into the pleasure of my own creative output here. We wouldn’t have all the Dead shows online if not for the dedication of a well connected community, and we wouldn’t have seen the entire face of our trading community turned on its ear if not for the music having made it online. One has fed the other, and back again.

That said, there is also new communication technology springing up all the time. On the surface it can seem to only complicate the angles from which we get our information. But the Internet world is one of constant change. One’s existence online has become far more than a single webpage. Groups, companies, and people now have a “web presence,” and this spreads across multiple platforms and communication channels – I beg your pardon. That’s my “day job” persona talking.

I know some of you are already “fans” of the GDLG blog page on Facebook, and I’d encourage and welcome any Facebook users here to pop on over and join the group there – not that there’s anything particularly unique happening on that page. I keep waiting for Facebook to improve the usefulness of the blog pages in general. Regardless, I’d love to keep building the community there. Come on by and become a fan.

The jury may still be out on how good or bad all of these Social Networks are, but they are here just the same. Take Twitter. Good? Bad? I have no clue. My gut reaction is that it’s as much an intrusive little bother into the flow my day, as it is a unique way to keep up with people I know. And in the spirit of accepting new technology as having as much potential for good as bad, I’ve launched a DeadlListening specific Twitter account.

Do you tweet? Whether that question is completely baffling to you or not, why not stop by and consider following the GDLG on Twitter? And to be sure, not following DeadListening on Twitter will not leave you out of any loop. As you’ll see from the most recent tweets, I’m not plumbing the deepest Grateful Dead wisdoms on Twitter. It’s just a slightly more personal (and decidedly less significant) way to keep in touch over the Internet tubes.

I look forward to seeing you, everywhere.

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