Just a few quick thoughts on last night’s meet up at the movies.
I was at the Century 16 in Aurora and there were only 15-20 people in the theatre. When I got there they were showing slides with trivia on them and the Eyes of the World form 3/29/90 with Branford was playing, so that was nice.
Before the movie started there was a quick, maybe 5 minutes or so, piece on the new Spring 1990 (The Other One) box set. It included interviews with Bob Weir, Jeffrey Norman, and Branford Marsalis. It was a nice, quick primer on the tour and the upcoming set.
The actual movie was quite entertaining. Really this is something that everyone should see. I heard David Lemieux say that they only got permission to screen it this one time, but it would be a travesty to not get a deal worked out and to have this thing collecting dust.
If nothing else it was great to see how loose and jovial the band was. The interactions between songs were nice to see and garnered a laugh from the audience on several occasions.
I found Billy to be very entertaining for some reason. At the start of the film there’s a shot of him just sitting at his kit, leaning on one of the drums and he’s got a look on his face that makes you think he’s ready to kill someone. I don’t know if the cameraman caught him off guard but I found it humorous for some reason.
The false starts were interesting to see too, simply because that’s not something we’re accustomed to with the Dead. We accept them, train wrecks an all so it was different to see their standards for themselves on display. At one point Jerry is seen in the background showing Donna where to stand so she doesn’t get feedback from the mic. Pigpen had a little alligator figure on top of his organ and what appeared to be a spiral bound notebook of lyrics? chord changes? I’m not quite sure. But it was seeing the little things that made the film enjoyable.
Perhaps the main drawback came at the end when the band is starting to take their Other One jam into an interesting place and the camera simply fades out. We don’t get to see how they resolve everything, but at least we can hear it on the audio recording.
All told the 2014 vintage of the Grateful Dead Meet Up At The Movies was an enjoyable experience. I had not gone to one previously, but likely will in the future!
