D for the Dead
And the Dead were dead as a doornail.
And D is for Dead and the Dead were dead as a doornail. And D is for Danny Fields and he’s the one who first gave them the D, they were bound to get one sooner or later and it was bound to be fitting when you consider them and the fourth letter of the alphabet having been stablemates all along. But who would’ve expected it to be at their triumphal first nite at Manhattan Center in New York, the Dead’s honorary home? Not me, I didn’t expect it, neither did Creem’s own Dave Marsh, who was on hand at the close of his tour of New York. But D is what they got, not an F, not a D-, not a D+, but a D on the nose'
Howard Stein the promoter sold 1000 more tickets than there was standing room for, 6000 instead of 5000. Stand was what was supposed to be good about it, standing meaning dancing and it was called a Marathon Dance anyway and the Dead are well known marathon musicians so it lopked pretty good. And it started at 8 and as things looked it seemed destined to continue until 2. And since an estimate of 2 with the Dead usually means 4 it was gonna be an 8-hr show. But it was over by 1:20, totaling out a playing time of only 5 :20, the skimpiest they’ve done in 6 yrs.
