Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> I was thinking more of the Grateful Dead and most of the Woodstock
> bands, not the Beatles.
>
> Joke heard at the time of Jerry Garcia's death:
>
> Q: What does the Grateful Dead fan say when he's run out of pot?
> A: This band sucks.
>
Ho-ho. Jerry Garcia was a good man. Musically speaking, the Velvets were lightweights compared to the Dead. Compare a typical Velvet 5-chord song with one of the 45 minute improvisations of the Dead. I forget who it was who called the Dead "electronic dixieland" because of their unique (for rock) group interplay and improvisation. They even had politics. There is more there there than a bunch of middle class Long Island kids playing at being street wise and cynical who are not even competant on their instruments. For the real thing, I'll take Albert Ayler or mid-fifties Billie Holiday. The Velvets and Lou Reed should rename their compositions 'Variations on "Hey White boy, What You Doin' Uptown?"'
Sam Pawlett