Chalupa

Phil(www.phillesh.net) weighs in: It was brought to my attention that all of the Grateful Dead shows were taken down from Archive.org right before Thanksgiving. I was not part of this decision making process and was not notified that the shows were to be pulled. I do feel that the music is the Grateful Dead's legacy and I hope that one way or another all of it is available for those who want it . I have enjoyed using Archive.org and found it invaluable during the writing of my book. I found myself being pulled back in time listening to old Grateful Dead shows while giggling with glee or feeling that ache in my heart listening to Jerry's poetic guitar and sweet voice. We are musicians not businessmen and have made good and bad decisions on our journey. We do love and care about our community as you helped us make the music. We could not have made this kind of music without you as you allowed us to play "without a net". Your love, trust and patience made it possible for us to try again the next show when we couldn't get that magic carpet off the ground. Your concerns have been heard and I am sure are being respectfully addressed. - Phil

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 30, 2005 Deadheads Outraged Over Web Crackdown By JEFF LEEDS The Grateful Dead, the business, is testing the loyalty of longtime fans of the Grateful Dead, the pioneering jam band, by cracking down on an independently run Web site that made thousands of recordings of its live concerts available for free downloading. The band recently asked the operators of the popular Live Music Archive (archive.org) to make the concert recordings - a staple of Grateful Dead fandom - available only for listening online, the band's spokesman, Dennis McNally, said yesterday. In the meantime, the files that previously had been freely downloaded were taken down from the site last week. Dissent has been building rapidly, however, as the band's fans - known as Deadheads - have discovered the recordings are, at least for the time being, not available. Already, fans have started an online petition, at www.petitiononline.com/gdm/petition.html, threatening to boycott the band's recordings and merchandise if the decision is not reversed. In particular, fans have expressed outrage that the shift covers not only the semiofficial "soundboard" recordings made by technicians at the band's performances, but also recordings made by audience members. To the fans, the move signals a profound philosophical shift for a band that had been famous for encouraging fans to record and trade live-concert tapes. The band even cordoned off a special area at its shows, usually near the sound board, for "tapers" - a practice now followed by many younger jam bands. But more broadly, it suggests that a touchstone of baby-boomer counterculture - the recording made by and shared, sometimes via mail, among hard-core fans - may be subverted in a digital era when music files can be instantly transmitted worldwide. The move comes as the group, which disbanded after the 1995 death of its leader and ringmaster, Jerry Garcia, has begun selling downloads of its live concerts through its own official Web site. The band (whose surviving members - the guitarist Bob Weir, the bassist Phil Lesh and the drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann - have since played together under the more compact name the Dead) sells album-length recordings of the shows at prices that can run from about $8 to roughly $16 a copy. Unlike the digital files sold at popular music services like Apple Computer's iTunes or Real Networks' Rhapsody, the band sells its music as files that can be copied and transferred without restriction. The independently operated Live Music Archive evidently posed unwelcome competition. "These folks assembled a Deadhead's dream collection and made it available," Mr. McNally said. "When we discovered it, we decided to take a wait-and-see approach. Eventually, it was the band's conclusion, after a long discussion with them, to request that they change their policies" and make the live recordings available only as streams. The contretemps makes clear that the band's decades-long support of fan recordings and trading did not anticipate the popularity of music online. "One-to-one community building, tape trading, is something we've always been about," Mr. McNally said. "The idea of a massive one-stop Web site that does not build community is not what we had in mind. Our conclusion has been that it doesn't represent Grateful Dead values." Most fans, he continued, "understand they were being granted an extraordinary privilege, and they responded by taking it very seriously" by respecting the band's wishes not to sell their live recordings. "This is not the same situation," he added. David Gans, who is the host of a syndicated radio program, "The Grateful Dead Hour," said in an interview yesterday that the battle is rooted in the band's "historically lackadaisical attitude toward their intellectual property." He added: "When they were making $50 million a year on the road, there wasn't a lot of pressure to monetize their archives." Now, however, it may be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. While the move to revise the Live Music Archive may deal a blow to what many fans considered an organized library of material, "the idea that they could stop people from trading these files is absurd," Mr. Gans said, adding: "It's no longer under anyone's control. People have gigabytes of this stuff."

Hey I'm bummed out about the loss of the LMA but I'm not THAT bummed!!

Deadheads Boycott Dead (www.rollingstone.com) Fans object to band's live recordings being pulled from Web Grateful Dead fans, perhaps rock's most dedicated bunch, are taking a stand against the band they love. Until recently, Deadheads could download countless live recordings of the band for free from third-party sites, including the popular Live Music Archive (archive.org), which once hosted nearly 3,000 Grateful Dead shows. All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members. Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM -- including CDs and concert tickets -- until the decision is reversed. (The band itself broke up in the wake of leader Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, but in recent years guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured simply as "the Dead.") GDM recently began selling live music downloads through its online store. The sudden lockdown could be a simple non-compete strike, or it could foreshadow a long-rumored deal with iTunes that will make the entire Grateful Dead live vault available for purchase. Fans were incensed that the policy change applies not only to official soundboards but audience recordings as well. Throughout their four-decade career, the Grateful Dead actively encouraged fans to trade live recordings and even designated a special "taper's section" at the concerts. In return, Deadheads largely respected the band's wishes that the concert recordings weren't sold for profit. The petition states: "Now it appears doing the right thing, for the fans, has given way to greed . . . We've lost all respect for this organization . . . We refuse to support any aspect of GDM until we see change." The petition has already picked up thousands of signatures. A kindler, gentler petition is also circulating, with nearly an additional thousand signatures. On his blog, David Gans -- host of the syndicated radio show Grateful Dead Hour, which has drawn on the Live Music Archive for its broadcasts -- criticized the petition: "The howling has begun, and the sense of entitlement that has always concerned me is in full flower." Countering claims that the Dead are doing this to maintain "champagne-and-Porsche lifestyles," Gans mentioned that Grateful Dead Productions, the band's business wing, was recently forced to downsize. Meanwhile, fans are still permitted to trade shows, and Live Music Archive is developing a special section for streaming thousands of the band's audience recordings. "I think it's worthwhile to ask ourselves if there isn't some greed on the other side of the equation," wrote Gans, pointing to the fans. An official statement from the Grateful Dead camp is expected in the next few days. In the meantime, longtime band publicist and spokesperson, Dennis McNally, told Rolling Stone that he thinks "David Gans' comments were dead -- you'll pardon the expression -- on." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/29/barlo...death_of_g.html Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Barlow on death of Grateful Dead music sharing, fans protest Recently, Cory blogged this news: "Archive.org has been forced to take down over 1000 soundboard recordings of the Grateful Dead by Jerry's wife and a few (perhaps one) remaining member of the band." John Perry Barlow, EFF co-founder and former Grateful Dead lyricist, tells Boing Boing: You have no idea how sad I am about this. I fought it hammer and tong, but the drummers had inoperable bricks in their head about it. What's worse is that they now want to remove all Dead music from the Web. They might as easily put a teaspoon of food coloring in a swimming pool and then tell the pool owner to get it back to them. It's like finding out that your brother is a child molester. And then, worse, having everyone then assume that you're a child molester too. I've been called a hypocrite in three languages already. How magnificently counter-productive of them. It's as if the goose who laid the golden egg had decided to commit suicide so that he could get more golden eggs. This is just the beginning of the backlash, I promise you. This is worse than the RIAA suing their customers. Here's Barlow's blog. Today, news that Deadheads are boycotting the Dead, according to this Rolling Stone article: All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members. Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM -- including CDs and concert tickets -- until the decision is reversed. (The band itself broke up in the wake of leader Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, but in recent years guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured simply as "the Dead.") --------------------------- The sense of entitlement that some of these deadheads have is incredible.

I don't see anything but the commercially available releases up on nugs.net - am I looking in the right place?

Unlikely, as these were sold under a when we run out we run out. The pressing was limited to 10,000 copies. With all the added interest from those who missed it and those who didn't want to fork over the bucks for the full set, they did the 3cd special. Doesn't make sense that they'd release this again. The other material you mention is still available as boxed sets and will be indefinitely. Why do I suspect that if someone can beat the encryption on these cds that cdr copies will become availible through back channels. 1. Considering how fast the box sold out it doesn't make ANY sense that GDM doesn't re-release these shows. They won't re-release the box but the shows will either be released CDs or as downloads. If GDM figuress that there is still money to be made of this run(and they do) you know they will try to squeeze every dollar they can out of them. 2. The discs are not encrypted. I just copied/burned the first two discs for the car.

Rumor has it that they (GDM) are going to be releasing the box as individual shows sometime next year. They done this already for the Golden Road and Garcia solo boxes. So I would just save your money and wait a few months.

http://hanazuc02.ld.infoseek.co.jp/cassettes/cassettes.htm

ESPN is eporting the Mets and the Marlins have worked out a deal for Delgado.

Well, yes, I guess we all knew this day was coming but it still sucks just the same. I don't blame them for doing this(pulling the plug) I surprised they didn't do this years ago. I mean the Deadheads were able to get almost the entire contents of the Vault digitized and available for free download YEARS before GDM was ever able to do it. But changing their policy at this point after allowing digital trading for the past 8 to 10 years seems a little shortsighted to me. They can't put the genie back in the bottle at this point. Yes, it will be a little hard to get the music but not impossible. Phish has never allowed their music to be made available on the LMA but you can find just about any show you want w/ a little effort. People will just have to go back to having private ftp servers like they did in the days before LMA. And for people w/out passwords to the ftp servers they will go back to trading cds by snail mail. I think they went overboard on just allowing the audience tape to be streamed and not downloadable. Free trading of GD audience recordings has been the Dead's policy for 20 years. As it has been discussed in another forum on this board, the free exchange of audience recordings helped promote the band and broiught in scores of new fans. I wonder what kind of ripple effect(pun intended) this will have through out the music biz. What worries me though is that GDM will continue to make the digital downloads available at the same snail's pace as in the past. At that rate we will never see(hear) the bulk of the Vault in our lifetime. I hope that they are planning to make the entire contents availble for download soon. It would be a shame to deny people the access to all of that glorious(and some not so glorious) music.

Bad, Bad, bad news..... The Internet Archive has worked with tapers, tape traders, funders, admins, and over 1000 bands to build a great non-commercial music library that is freely accessible. Technically and policy-wise, it has been invigorating as you can probably appreciate. We have made changes in the past and we will make changes again. Following the policies of the Grateful Dead and the Dead communities we have provided non-commercial access to thousands of great concerts. Based on discussions with many involved, the Internet Archive has been asked to change how the Grateful Dead concert recordings are being distributed on the Archive site for the time being. The full collection will remain safe in the Archive for preservation purposes. Here is the plan: Audience recordings are available in streaming format (m3u). Soundboard recordings are not available. Additionally, the Grateful Dead recordings will be separated from the Live Music Archive into its own collection. The metadata and reviews for all shows and recordings will remain available. We appreciate that this change will be a surprise and upset many of you, but please channel reactions in ways that you genuinely think will be productive. If we keep the bigger picture in mind that there are many experiments going on right now, and experiments working well, we can build on the momentum that tape trading started decades ago. Working together we can keep non-commercial sharing part of our world. Thank you for helping find balances that work for all involved. -brewster Digital Librarian and Founder -Matt Vernon Volunteer GD Archivist

That can't be right. I got that from them last Winter along w/ the 7 Steps box. It can be right, and is. It's the recently reissued (Aug 05) longbox version Gotcha. So besides the box format is there any thing else that is dfferent from the metal spine version??

Whoa. Check this out.... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...yson&id=2232133 Mets, many others, can enjoy tax-free offseason By Jayson Stark ESPN.com Archive Since finals are approaching, it's time for a little baseball-economics quiz to help us make sure you're fully educated on a key development in the 2005-06 offseason: If the Mets' payroll inflates to, say, $150 million next season, how much luxury tax would they have to pay -- if the 2006 tax threshold is $136.5 million? A) $3.04 million (22.5 percent)? B) $4.05 million (30 percent)? C) $5.4 million (40 percent)? D) Way more than that, just because they're making Bud Selig really nervous? E) Zero dollars (nada percent), because of a little-known technicality in the Basic Agreement? OK, kids. Pencils down. All those answering "E" pass this test. And if you answered that correctly, either you've spent way too much time reading the Basic Agreement online (and feel free; it's here) ... or you cheated. But it's true. No matter how much cash the Mets insert in the wallets of free agents, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado or all those talented and charming players they already have added this winter, their luxury tax next year is guaranteed to be exactly ... zilch. Same with the Angels, who were No. 4 (just behind the Mets) in the 2005 payroll standings. Or the Phillies, who were No. 5. Or any other team not known as the Yankees or Red Sox. That's because -- as first noted by CNN.com's Chris Isidore -- back in the crazed pre-agreement hours leading to the 2002 labor deal, the frenzied labor negotiators inserted a mysterious clause into the impending deal. That clause says, essentially (in language way more complicated than this) that any team that didn't pay luxury tax in the 2005 season is 100 percent off the hook in 2006. Doesn't matter by how much that team blows by the payroll threshold. Doesn't matter how many different tax rates are listed in the agreement for next season. Doesn't matter whether that team paid the luxury tax in any previous season. None of that matters. So, unbeknownst to most of the sport, the only teams that face a potential tax bill next year are the Yankees (guaranteed to be taxed at 40 percent, as four-time offenders) and the Red Sox (who paid this year but probably won't pay next year unless their payroll goes up by $13 million). But that's it. All righty then. We know what you're thinking: How the heck did a strange rule like this find its way into this labor agreement -- with just about nobody noticing? Well, here's the story, as we've heard it: You might remember that in the previous labor deal -- the first one to contain one of these payroll taxes -- the last year of the agreement was completely tax-free. OK, even if you don't remember, trust us. It was. Well, because of that wrinkle in the old deal, the union was pressing for the same free ride to be included in the current agreement. The idea was to give the market a year to adjust, in case the tax turned out to suppress player salaries more than anticipated. Oh, and one more thing: That one-year gap was supposed to establish the principle that the two sides weren't necessarily committed to this tax forever and ever. So naturally, as negotiations heated up, this issue remained a thorny little tug o' war. The owners didn't want any year to have no tax. The union was digging in. So in the end, they did what negotiators are supposed to do: They compromised. And this was the compromise: No matter how much tax a team paid in 2003 or 2004, if it dipped under the threshold in 2005, it was safe from the tax man in 2006. "I admit it's kind of quirky," says one baseball man who was involved in those talks. "But that's the compromise we came up with." So now here we are, more than three years later. And here's that compromise, ready to take hold for this, the final year of the labor deal. But when we polled high-ranking officials of four teams last week, only one had ever even heard of this rule. Why? Because MLB never mentioned it at the time the deal was done -- and hasn't advertised it since, even now that the time to apply that rule has arrived. Matter of fact, MLB has never even advised the Mets (or the Angels or Phillies, either) that it could directly affect them -- and save them millions of bucks. Why? Because it obviously was hoping nobody would bother to read the fine print. Oops. Somebody did. We didn't mean to blow anybody's cover. But someone needs to read this stuff -- and let the world know the rules. Sorry about that. Meanwhile, there's one more reason this rule could be even more significant than it might appear: We've been hearing murmuring beneath the surface that enough people in the sport are so happy with the current labor deal that they'd be interested in taking advantage of another clause in the agreement -- a clause that allows the two sides simply to extend the deal for 2007. But if they just extend it, they would be extending another tax-free year along with it (a potentially monstrous advantage for the Red Sox in 2007 if they pay no tax in 2006). Or they could negotiate yet another compromise on that particular issue. Now it isn't likely the Mets will actually add enough dollars to their payroll (which was about $101 million this year) to have this wrinkle kick in. But it's possible. Which means that, with a new TV network ready to hit the air, Mets GM Omar Minaya and his good friends, the Wilpons, have been handed the right to go on their very own fun-filled free-agent supermarket sweep. All thanks to the Wacky World of Labor Deals. Gotta love it.

That can't be right. I got that from them last Winter along w/ the 7 Steps box. See above

I can't see Minny taking on Lowell's contract.

She sang backup on "From Elvis in Memphis" and "Elvis Back in Memphis" albums both recorded in 1969. I don't think she ever toured w/ him. Btw, what's up w/ the new format????

LDBS # 7035 IS IN DA HOUSE!!!!

ON THE HORIZON Blue Note Records is filling up its 2006 calendar with noteworthy CDs, including a solo piano outing by Gonzalo Rubalcaba -- appropriately titled "Solo," arriving March 7 -- and a Wes Montgomery tribute by guitarist Pat Martino, out February 7. Pianist Andrew Hill, who began recording for the label in 1963, has re-signed with Blue Note for the third time. Coming up is a quintet release, "Time Lines," out February 21. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051119/music_nm/jazz_dc

Philly media is saying that the Mets are trading for Nady to free up cash to make a run at Wagner.

I'm going to miss this one. I've been fighting off a cold all week and last night I biked out to see William Parker. Great show but, I'm paying for it this morning.

http://www.loureed.com/new/news/video/lawr...underground.wmv

http://passedoutwookies.com/

I guess I'm in the minority here but I saw the Lanois/Tortoise show I was mighty underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high going in. Maybe it because of my unfamilarity w/ Lanois' solo material. Then again maybe it was because I saw them the same night as a FANTASTIC Roscoe Mitchell/Muhal Richard Abrams show that I attended but the Lanois/Tortoise collaberation did nothing for me. I LOVE Tortoise and I like Lanois as a producer/performer on other people's albums but as a solo performer I think he's kind of blah. I didn't think much of his guitar playing or his songs. In fact I was rather bored. His pedal steel excursions were nice but he only played it on one or two songs . The guys from Tortoise didn't seem to add much to his songs either. AFAICT, the only one who seemed to be into it was the drummer. The entire band only backed Lanois up on a couple of songs. The whole thing sounded under-rehearsed to my ears. However, the Philly show was early in the tour so maybe that's why it wasn't clicking. I wanna give Lanois the benefit of the doubt but for now color me unimpressed.