TFTL Ep 22 Those Were The Days, As Archie Said - The Golden '70s and '80s

Speaker 1: 1:05

Tales from the Lot, episode 22. Those were the days, as Archie would say. My guest is Bruce Asher from Putnam County, new York. Here we go. Welcome to Tales from the Lot, I'm Will. My guest this week is Bruce Asher. He's coming to us from Putnam County, new York. How's it going, bruce?

Speaker 2: 1:23

Good, good thanks. I'm glad to be here tonight.

Speaker 1: 1:26

Yeah, awesome, I'm really glad to have you. Um, so, let's, let's just start. Are you from that area originally, or New York?

Speaker 2: 1:33

city and uh you know, as life moves on, I moved out of the city and up into the suburbs, so on and so forth, and now I live up here, like I said, about 50 miles North of Manhattan.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Oh, nice, yeah, Still still close enough, though. Yeah, yeah, um and so okay, okay. So, growing up, what were you listening to and what sort of like you know through middle school, high school or whatever, and what got you to the Grateful Dead eventually?

Speaker 2: 1:56

Well, my first band was Led Zeppelin and you know I loved them. Zeppelin, the who and the Allman Brothers were my first three rock bands. But I was also heavily into Motown. I was a big Temptations fan. I was familiar with the dead in the early mid-70s through the radio and it wasn't until I was 16 or 17, 76, 77, I started really paying attention, In fact without realizing how much I was into them.

Speaker 2: 2:29

The day before I graduated high school I went to the Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan to see the Grateful Dead movie, which was in, I guess, May of 74. And I had listened to some radio broadcasts. I thought, ah, these guys are pretty cool. But then when I went off to college later in 77, I had a roommate who was a deadhead with the cassettes. I'd never heard Live Dead'd never heard binghamton, you know. Uh, now, this was 77, so a lot of the stuff that had was yet to come. But hearing the stuff that he had on cassette, that just flipped me at that point and I never looked back yeah, you're probably hearing like lot of 72, 73, and 74.

Speaker 1: 3:12

Yeah, roosevelt.

Speaker 2: 3:12

Stadium, Fox Theater, St Louis 71. Lots of that stuff.

Speaker 1: 3:19

Yeah, it's funny. You mentioned the Grateful Dead movie. I actually just watched that today. It's on Amazon Prime and I was like I'm just going to watch that today.

Speaker 2: 3:28

And seeing it when I did, I didn't get it. I've seen it since, but you know that was my first shot. I wasn't really that much into the band. So it was like let's do something cool before we graduate high school and that was to me a cool thing to do before graduating high school.

Speaker 2: 3:46

So so when did you go see the band live the first time? Where was that? So I went to school, tulane down in New Orleans, and I started down there in August of 77. And we come to find out they're playing in Baton Rouge in October of that year. So actually it was Bob Weir's 30th birthday. It was October 16th, 77.

Speaker 2: 4:06

So my buddy and I, we drove the hour and change up to baton rouge to get tickets, came back with, like you know, 15 20 tickets for the gang and went up there on a on a bus with one of the fraternities. That was my first dead show was october 77 in baton rouge nice, right.

Speaker 1: 4:23

What was the the venue for that one?

Speaker 2: 4:26

uh, assembly center pete maribor center about a 15 000 seat arena at at the lsu campus yeah, that's what I thought.

Speaker 1: 4:33

Yeah, I couldn't remember if it was that or the football field. But cool. Yeah, no, I don't think they were playing stadiums just yet yeah, yeah, yeah, not likely at that time, and uh, so were you just on the bus at that point, like seeing as much as you could in your area? Yeah, I mean it wasn't a whole lot in the South, I guess.

Speaker 2: 4:51

Well, so that was October 77. And then in April of 78, and I was still a freshman I persuaded a friend of mine who had a car for us to drive to Atlanta to see them at the Fox Theater. I had a high school buddy who was in school in Atlanta, so we had a place to crash. The funny thing is my buddy's car broke down about a half hour outside of Atlanta and had to call his dad and explain why he was in Atlanta, Needed $500 because the transmission blew.

Speaker 1: 5:21

Oh no.

Speaker 2: 5:22

Yeah, that was. My next dead show was April of 78 at the Fox in Atlanta.

Speaker 1: 5:27

Yeah, but you guys made it somehow.

Speaker 2: 5:29

Made it great show. Had a blast yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Nice, and so did you say how many shows did you see?

Speaker 2: 5:37

You know between the Dead and Garcia, between 80 and 90 over the years. You know living in New York City. They come to town. You go five or six shows in a span of a week or two.

Speaker 1: 5:49

Yeah, no doubt when they go to MSG. Did you see any of the Radio City shows?

Speaker 2: 5:57

No, actually the reason you brought that up, I was at school in New Orleans. They stopped in New Orleans in between they did the Warfields and they did Radio City, but they stopped and the first time in 10 years they played in New Orleans. After the bus they played at the Sanger Theater. And this was one of the stories I was going to tell. We worked for the school radio station and we were there both nights and we were in the front row both nights Little theater, 2,000 seats. The second night when they came out they looked at us and said oh, you guys are back. And that was again. That was the acoustic and the two electric sets.

Speaker 2: 6:35

Nice, and if you guys want to hear something. The second night they did trucking and obviously the first time back in New Orleans in 10 years I think was 10-16 or 10-17, 81 or 10-18. The trucking they did, the explosives, the explosiveness of it because it was in new Orleans, was amazing.

Speaker 1: 6:55

Yeah, I bet, yeah. Something to be said about those audience tapes sometimes like that, or one that always stood out to me was the, uh, the. It was like 10, I think it's 10, 16, 89 or something like that, Bob where's birthday, whether it's like in and out of, or something like that Bob Weir's birthday, where it's in and out of play and you could just hear the crowd going crazy the whole time. It's one of those that I just love to have on an audience.

Speaker 2: 7:17

It's interesting you brought up audience tapes.

Speaker 1: 7:19

If we're going chronologically, if I may, yeah, we're here to nerd out on the dead.

Speaker 2: 7:28

I was in school in New Orleans and so in late 78, when Jerry got sick and they canceled a bunch of Northeast shows Right so we're home for Christmas break, you know, late 78, early 79. And they rescheduled the shows. So we drove down to the Spectrum on January 5th without tickets and we picked up tickets for the Spectrum show, which was a Friday night. We came out and it was snowing out and we made it as far back as Princeton to a buddy's house. That's as far as we could go with the weather. Saturday no show. Sunday night, a show at the Garden, which was okay, not great. Monday night, which was January 8th, there's no soundboard recording of the show and it's my favorite Scarlet, my favorite Terrapin. There's no soundboards. It's all audience wherever you turn and it was explosive that night. I'd love to find the soundboard. But even if you're familiar with Relisten, it's audience recordings on that. They were explosive show. It was an explosive night. I'd love to hear a soundboard but there just isn't one anywhere.

Speaker 1: 8:36

It sounds like it's time to petition that to be the next release.

Speaker 2: 8:40

That would be awesome. Yeah, I'll get Dave Libby on the phone.

Speaker 1: 8:44

That's right. So everybody listening email Dave.

Speaker 2: 8:49

January 8th MSG there we go. We need a crisp recording and then I left the next day to go back to college.

Speaker 1: 8:56

I missed the dark start Nassau Coliseum ah yeah well, yeah, you know, you just have to keep going then to catch it the next time, that's the beauty of it?

Speaker 2: 9:09

oh, absolutely, but you go every night. You just have to keep going then to catch it the next time. That's the beauty of it. Yeah, oh, absolutely, absolutely, but you'd go every night.

Speaker 1: 9:13

Yeah, you go every night, yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:14

For certain yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Uh, so what? What are some other standout ones that you saw?

Speaker 2: 9:20

Um, uh, I mean the five nights in 87 at the Garden with that morning do. That was the Friday night show, that was. That was an amazing night. And what, aside from the good love in La Bamba and the great morning do what? I remember that night and I posted this Bob Weir was incredible that night. Vocally, he was just so on point If you listen to the Watchtower, he was spectacular that night. Um, that's one, that's one that stands out.

Speaker 2: 9:56

Um, I do remember I wore that tape out uh many years ago that 79 show I mentioned at the garden I I I saw them out in in in Salt Lake city, which was a tremendous show in 1981. That's a kind of a cool road. That's my favorite road trip story and it also involves another musician beside the dead in the story. I graduated college. I was traveling out West bouncing around. I graduated college. I was traveling out west bouncing around. I visited friends in LA. We went up the coast all the way to Vancouver and then I made my way across. I ended up in Salt Lake City with the intention of spending one day there. You just, you know, do some sightseeing and hit the road.

Speaker 2: 10:47

I check into a cheap hotel Middle of the afternoon. I see a bar right around the corner from the hotel. It says live music tonight. So I go in, have a beer. Ask the bartender what's going on. He says they canceled tonight. There's no band. I'm sitting at the bar and I'm reading the local newspaper and it says Grateful Dead, salt Palace August 12th. So off I go, I run to the arena, I buy it. I buy a ticket. I check into University of Utah Cheap $6 a night rooms for students. A couple of nights later I'm back at that same bar and there's a band playing and I'm sitting at the bar with my back to the band. Suddenly I hear a very familiar saxophone. I look over and it's Grover Washington, your saxophone. I look over and it's Grover.

Speaker 2: 11:27

Washington and he's playing with some local band in Salt Lake City at this bar I'm at. So I went up to him during the break. I said what are you doing here? He said he was in town recording. He felt like playing that night. So in the span of you know, a few days or so, grover Washington and the Grateful Dead in Salt Lake City.

Speaker 1: 11:46

That's awesome being able just to walk up and get a ticket. Those were the days as archie would say yeah absolutely yeah, yeah, that's, but now your little guy is walking across the screen trying to get that ticket I was very lucky never getting there, uh, my college roommate who was the one I mentioned earlier.

Speaker 2: 12:08

His name name is Rick Arnstein. He had a relative who did business with the dead and he actually, you know, we always had access to tickets and sometimes we had backstage passes. So I was very fortunate we would have had tickets to shows anyway, but he helped us along getting tickets for a lot of those shows and there were also the stadium shows, you know, outdoors. You mentioned what do I remember? July 4th 87 with Dylan in Foxborough. That's one I'll never forget.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Yeah, yeah, I love Dylan, and what a great pairing that was.

Speaker 2: 12:40

What was very cool, and you know I don't know if you're familiar with Foxborough there's one road in and out of that stadium. So while the dead were playing, you saw a helicopter coming down and landing behind the stage and we all knew Dylan was in that helicopter. Yeah, and my favorite memory and I've seen the video on YouTube when they did the Times they Are Changing. It's July 4th, people are waving American flags and he's singing the Times they Are Changing, and Jerry's riff is just burned in my head from that song. Yeah, and then a week later, at the Meadowlands, we saw them again.

Speaker 1: 13:19

So you were seeing them originally when Keith and Donna were there and then you kind of saw the transition into Brent.

Speaker 2: 13:25

Right, yeah, I mean the first show, the first few shows were with Keith and Donna, and then Brent and then Vince Welnick, you know, and some of the Hornsby shows. Brent definitely added an interesting I don't want to call it jazz, but a a jazzy flair to some of their jams, which is really cool.

Speaker 1: 13:42

Yeah, he could definitely play in his, in his. His vocal harmonies were, uh, were a welcome, a welcome thing. No doubt my first shows were when Hornsby was with him, right, and I didn't really know that much about him when I first went and just assumed it was like that all the time, but that was the only time I got to see Hornsby with him.

Speaker 3: 14:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:03

But you know, I liked Vince that was short it was, it was my entire you know it was it was, it was my entire dead viewing career, I guess. Yeah, I started in 91 and then saw a bunch through as much as I could, but yeah, it's, that's, that's all I got to see. But yeah, I liked Brent a lot and what he, we, what he provided vocally and musically too.

Speaker 2: 14:28

Yeah, I saw a lot, and what he provided vocally and musically too, I saw a lot of.

Speaker 1: 14:32

Garcia band shows as well. You got to love Melvin too.

Speaker 2: 14:34

Oh God, yeah, In fact it's funny I tell this story Halloween 1993. Giant Stadium the Jets and the Giants were playing and Jerry was playing at the arena next door that night. So there were my buddy and I. We weren't the only ones who had tickets to both shows. So you know it was a rainy, dreary, miserable day, but our seats at the football game were under, so we were protected. And when the game ended at four, there was a bar, sort of, in between the venues and a lot of people who had tickets for both were hanging out there, and Matt Dillon was one of them.

Speaker 1: 15:14

Oh nice.

Speaker 2: 15:15

And he was in there hanging out, and all these people that were at the football game were then going to the concert.

Speaker 1: 15:20

Yeah, that's pretty convenient and a great day of entertainment.

Speaker 3: 15:24

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Speaker 1: 16:42

Because it's the most important meal of the day man. Meal of the day man. Earlier we were talking, before we jumped on here, about a uh, a grateful dead cover band that you see occasionally in the area. Uh, grateful, bro, is that right?

Speaker 2: 17:00

grateful bro, and bro stands for blues roadhouse orchestra uh, okay yeah, they, they play primarily in the new york area, um, but like I said, and they, they do a lot of you know a lot of dead, but they mix in steely, dan stone, santana, um, they're, they're terrific. They play outdoor venues in the in a nice weather out here, and they play all the bars in areas new york, new jersey, connecticut. They don't do much traveling beyond that area, but of all the dead cover bands and I'm not talking about J-Rad or, you know, dark Star Orchestra, but the local bar stuff these guys are far and away the best one that I've seen in a long time.

Speaker 1: 17:42

There's probably a fair amount of them in New York. Oh, there's.

Speaker 2: 17:46

Bob's Dad there's Grateful of Yours. There's Gr's dad there's Grateful of Yours. It's great. Yeah, it's Grateful bro. The Stella Blues Band. There's a lot of them, yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:54

I think we have four or five semi-decent ones here in Denver too.

Speaker 2: 17:58

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:58

Semi-decent or better. I don't want to slight anybody, but yeah, there's four or five and they all play in the same places. Yeah, there's the circuit of of dead places and and they do, they do pretty well.

Speaker 2: 18:11

I. I did stop over in Denver on that trip. I think it was after the show in Salt Lake city. It stopped in Denver for a couple of days, but it's been a long time ago, so yeah, it was a much different place, probably even better at that point than it is now.

Speaker 1: 18:25

Yeah, than it is now. Yeah, I did see the Dead in. I can't complain.

Speaker 2: 18:30

Ann Arbor was, I guess, the Midwest place I saw. The Dead was in Ann Arbor in 79.

Speaker 1: 18:36

Yeah, and that was the majority of the shows I saw were like I saw maybe I don't know a bunch at Deer Creek and then 94 Summer Tour I did like 12 or 13 in a row or just sort of circling around the midwest I mean all those places in the midwest I hear about and I have tapes and I listen to.

Speaker 2: 18:53

You know, dave lemieux, I never saw the dead outdoors at any of those type of venues. It was always stadiums. Yeah, you know, um again, by the time I got into them in the late 70s they were starting to do this, the summer stadium shows. So you know my first outdoor show, oh god, it must have been somewhere in the early 80s, 77 english town. I was already down in new orleans in school 78 giant stadium. I was already down there. So it was always giant stadium or foxborough. I never saw them at one of those cool outdoor venues.

Speaker 1: 19:30

Yeah, yeah, probably the best one. I like Deer Creek a lot, one of the best venues I've ever been to. I don't know if you've, I don't even know if it's still there, but it's called Mud Island and it's in Memphis. I've never heard of it. I saw fish there one time. Yeah, I saw fish there one time, but but it was very cool because there was a bridge that that went out over the mississippi. You had a long quarter mile bridge. You would walk out to this little island in the middle of the mississippi and the seating and the stage down and behind the stage is memphis downtown. That's cool, yeah, super cool stadium or or not a stadium, but just like an outdoor auditorium kind of thing. It was small, maybe 6,000 people. Cool place. I don't even know if it's still there.

Speaker 2: 20:16

I saw a fish. There's an amphitheater outside of Hartford similar to that. I saw them there in one of those indoor-outdoor kind of places, which was really cool, but to dead, it was always stadiums outdoors that I saw them, yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:30

Yeah, the biggest one I ever saw, I think, was Buckeye Lake. It was like what did they say? Like 90,000 or something? Actually maybe Soldier Field. What's Soldier Field?

Speaker 2: 20:40

That's the big one, Soldier Field.

Speaker 1: 20:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:44

I mean that's just got to be 65,000, 70,000.

Speaker 2: 20:47

Yeah, I think Buckeye Lake is bigger though, cause it's just like, really as far as, it's just a field, as far as you can go. Yeah, those were good times, my buddy, uh buddy, on the blues bar in Manhattan and the day that Jerry died and I just bring it up because we were sitting there and one of the things he said to me that night was I'll miss the road trips. Yeah, you know, and even if they were, you know, three hours down to philly, or four hours up to, you know, up to foxborough, or just you know a couple hours to new haven, they weren't long trips but they were fun, you know, they were a lot of fun.

Speaker 1: 21:27

Yeah you remember where you stayed that night and what you guys did, and and, and the people, yeah, when you got to wherever you were parking, uh, before you got to the show and like all of those. Those things add up to as much of the experience as the music.

Speaker 2: 21:45

That Salt Lake City show. When I was on my own, I was traveling around and I met a local girl I hung out with and then a bunch of Colorado Deadheads came down to Salt Lake for the show. I ended up hanging out with them in the parking lot and at the show we all sat together and it was just a blast. Yeah, the people they were. It was funny because here I am, I'm this new yorker, all by myself in salt lake city seeing the dead, and they were like, wow, that's kind of cool. Yeah, yeah just happens.

Speaker 1: 22:13

You know, strangers, stopping strangers, yeah, yeah, so, um, you're also mentioning that you had a friend who had a connection to bob somehow.

Speaker 2: 22:23

Uh, yeah, mike. Mike boshan is his name. Um, he's a trombone player. I met him last year really nice guy, um, he bought a car for me and we start talking about music and he told me he plays on with some broadway orchestras and symphony stuff and jazz in manhattan. And I guess he texted me a couple of weeks later that he got pegged to play with bob and the wolf brothers at saratoga and forest hills because the regular trombone player called in sick. So somehow my buddy mike got got pegged to do it. His name is Mike Boshan, b-o-s-c-h-e-n. He's got a website. He's really talented and obviously you know Bob thinks so too, because he played with Bob a couple of gigs last year.

Speaker 1: 23:08

That's fantastic. Do you know if they had rehearsals, or did he just say show up and know what to do?

Speaker 2: 23:12

He got called last minute. He got called last minute and I've seen you know some YouTube videos, I think NugsNet. I was watching, you know, the stream just to see my buddy up there on the stage in Forest Hills and it's ironic because I lived around the corner from the stadium in Forest Hills when I was a kid.

Speaker 1: 23:30

So he didn't get you in then.

Speaker 2: 23:34

I didn't feel like traveling. It's a long trip and parking is a hassle.

Speaker 1: 23:46

You know I'm a little old for some of that at this point, you know.

Speaker 2: 23:48

Yeah, uh, I feel you I've there comes a point when it is, it is a bit of work to to get there and and do the things we did. Yeah, I, um, I did go, um, I did go to see dead and company with my sister in philadelphia last summer, um, you know, as a favor to her, um, you know that's as far as you know that's a favor to her. You know that's as far as you know that's a three hour drive for me. That's as far as I'm going to travel at this point to see some music.

Speaker 1: 24:06

So, yeah, yeah, that's about my limit too. I'm pretty lucky to live in here in Denver. There's I'm like, yeah, less than an hour from Red Rocks, oh God from Dix.

Speaker 2: 24:22

Never, never, never, never, never been. So. Um, my ex-wife, who I get along with, was supposed to see john prine there a couple of years ago and he he was still alive and he got sick, but then she got to see tedeschi trucks there oh, wow I'm jealous because I've never.

Speaker 2: 24:31

I mean tedeschi trucks, you know and she got to go to red Rocks and I've never been. It was funny when they, when they come to Manhattan, they would just like move into town. And I had a. I had a girlfriend from Wales who lived around the corner from Madison Square Garden and when the dead came in for one of their six, seven night runs she used to say me neighborhood's a bloody commune. And night runs she used to say me neighborhood's a bloody commune. See all the, the, all the kids wandering and the vw buses just all around madison square garden for days.

Speaker 2: 25:10

Yeah, I took her to a show 91 and she was you know, and I went. She was more into the english new wave stuff and you know I like the Smiths and the Cure and all that. But I took her to Dead Show and she really enjoyed it.

Speaker 1: 25:24

Nice. Yeah, I find that anybody can find something redeeming there. They play so many different styles and they cover so many bases. You may not like it all, but you'll have a good time nonetheless.

Speaker 2: 25:38

I've told people over the years they're the best country band ever, you know.

Speaker 1: 25:43

Yeah, they are really country at heart. I mean Jerry's really picking some country licks a lot of times mixed in with the madness.

Speaker 2: 25:51

I have 20-year-old twin daughters and when I used to play Olden in the way in the car, they'd say it's farmer's music.

Speaker 1: 26:00

Yeah, maybe. So that's all right. Nothing wrong with farmer's music, that's what they call it. It's music, oh, wow, all right. So I like to ask because deadheads are into cool stuff so what's something that you've seen or heard recently, an album you've heard, or maybe a book you've read, or something that's really struck you as interesting, that listeners might be like to check out?

Speaker 2: 26:26

I'm reading Peter Shapiro's book right now, ah, you familiar with Peter Shapiro.

Speaker 1: 26:33

I am. What is his book about?

Speaker 2: 26:35

It's called the Music Never Stops and it's basically his story, um, from you know, and he did the fairly well tour, but it's it's, and I'm about a third of the way through it, from the clubs he was involved with in the city, uh, the wetlands, which is a place we used to hang out in um to his involvement with some of the bands and the management, um, oh, now I'm having a brain fart. Um, john popper's band, what's? What's john popper's band's name?

Speaker 2: 27:06

uh, blue traveler you know in the city and his with the wetlands and moving in through getting involved with fairly well and his relationship with the dead. And you know he, he runs the capital theater now. So I'm reading that and it's really interesting. Musically I'm not up on what's new and exciting really. There's a couple of. I mean it's an all-girl band out of brooklyn called say she she, which I really like, um kind of got a Motown all girl vibe to it with sort of a I don't call it an emo beat but it's really nice.

Speaker 2: 27:43

The radio station I listened to Fordham university, their radio station in New York, WFUV. That's the best music station in New York city. They play a lot. They play new and interesting stuff and I'll hear something and then I'll run home and, you know, put it on my, you know my Apple Music and download it. But a lot of stuff I just I'm not familiar, I don't remember names, but they do play a lot of really cool new stuff. The other you mentioned books One of my favorite writers, TC Boyle, who's from Peekskill but he lives in California now. His writing has a sensibility I think that a lot of deadheads would like. Drop City is about a commune in California and he teaches at Santa Barbara. He's a brilliant writer. You ever seen the movie the Road to Wellville?

Speaker 1: 28:38

No, but I have heard of it.

Speaker 2: 28:40

Uh, with Michael J Fox. It's about Dr Kellogg and his farm in Michigan. Well, it's based on a book by TC Boyle. He's a brilliant writer and he does have an interesting sensibility that I think would appeal to a lot of deadheads, and the book drop city is one I think that they would enjoy lot of deadheads, and the book Drop City is one I think that they would enjoy.

Speaker 2: 29:02

Awesome, all right, bruce thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate you sharing your stories. I don't get to talk about music with too many people, so I've been looking forward to.

Speaker 1: 29:13

really appreciate you inviting me on. I'm glad to have you, thank you.