Thank you for reading (and listening to) Evil Speakers. Look for Friday’s column on Bill Callahan and a deep study of Middle-Aged Indie Singer-Songwriter Music, along with a power ranking of the current top players. And the continuation of Catalog Club: Grizzly Bear (2006-17) on Tuesday, which will focus on 2012’s “Shields.” To all my paying subscribers — thank you for making this newsletter viable.
Last month, I reunited with my old pal and podcasting partner Rob Mitchum to say “fare thee well” to the late, great Bob Weir. The experience made me wistful for our days of talking about Dead live albums, so I decided to revive our old show in a different form on Evil Speakers. To be clear, this semi-regular segment isn’t that show. We used to talk about Dick’s Picks. Now we’re talking about Dave’s Picks. It’s completely different, which requires a completely different name: 36 Friends That Value (the Dead, minus 34), Quarterly, or 36FTVQ.
In this episode, we talk about the recently released Dave’s Picks Vol. 57, culled from two shows recorded at Chicago’s Uptown Theatre in the early days of 1978. Rob and I converse about epic snow storms, whether the Uptown was the hub of the Dead’s heroin consumption, “transitional” Dead, and the beginnings (or not) of “Drums/Space.”
Dave’s Picks albums are not available on streaming platforms. Here are some alternate recordings of these shows that are available publicly:
