Crucial Track for April 21, 2025

"Eyes of the World (Live)" by Grateful Dead

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Share a song that changed your perspective on music.

I never saw them with Jerry Garcia. I did see "The Dead" play at an outdoor concert in a very uptight community that put a significant damper on fan activities. I have also seen Rat Dog play at First Avenue.

My first exposure to the music of The Grateful Dead was via a group called Dark Star Orchestra. They're a tribute band that picks a known set list from one of the Grateful Dead's shows, and they play it straight through. They probably play less loosely than the real band themselves might have played, if you can imagine.

Up to a certain point in my life, I had been a tee-totaler. I had only recently begun to drink beer at social events. My spouse at the time was not at all convinced this was a good idea.

So.

I was invited by an excellent friend to a place called Harmony Park, in Southern Minnesota. Dark Star Orchestra was headlining a night at the venue, which is also a camp ground. I met my friend's family and some others there for an overnight event.

I went by myself, armed with a sleeping bag and a very small tent I borrowed from another friend. I probably brought along some Guiness.

I was encouraged to do it the right way. This was the music of The 'Dead, after all. It was really interesting to watch other campers around the park in the hour before Dark Star Orchestra took the stage. Costumes changed. Treats were distributed. Lights were hung from poles and from the trees.

I, too, had some tea and a hit from the bat.

As the evening wore on, perhaps an hour into the show, I was asked about how I was feeling. There was a lot of discussion about what I should notice. As a complete neophyte, I could only shrug and shake my head. I didn't think I felt different. I was given some additional pieces and folks were going to check in on me later.

It wasn't long after that that I began to notice that it felt really good to look at the stage lights as they moved across the crowd. I also noticed how all of the notes of music fit together into this great cosmic scheme.

Later, I became terrified I was broken. There was no way I should be feeling this good and that certainly there was no way back from the sky. I began to mourn for my life as it had been.

After the show I walked around and around the grounds. I watched the fire spinners and listened to the drum circles. I was transfixed by the gently pulsing lights some more experienced campers had hung at their camp sites. I listened to the laughter of campers and the music they had playing. I couldn't believe smoke from a camp fire could smell so good. I didn't know that pine forests could small so amazing. I didn't know there were kaleidoscopes behind my eyelids.

And I started to understand popular music and how and why it sounds the way it does just a little bit more.

I love Eyes of the World by The Grateful Dead. I've heard several live versions from the Dick's Picks collections I've picked up since then. I'm partial to one version that's about 15 minutes long. No one would ever call me a Dead Head, but I have knowledge from an experience that resonates to this day.