With the appearances of Frederic Michel and Adam Smith at the Leveson Inquiry, you may think I’m describing Jeremy Hunt. At the time of writing, the Culture Secretary is looking increasingly like an antidote selected by David Cameron to repair the damage caused by Vince Cable’s declared antipathy to News Corporation’s bid for control of BSkyB. But no, my ‘dead man’ is the senior civil servant who, in his current role as the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests, could/should have been given the task of investigating the Culture Secretary’s dealings with News Corp, rather than leaving it up to a chat with Robert Jay and Lord Justice Leveson. I suspect he’s now quite glad not to be involved and is suffering greatly from the pain being caused to Adam Smith in his attempts to reconcile truth and loyalty.
I’m talking here about Sir Alex Allan KCB, a Harrow- and Cambridge-educated career Civil Servant, one-time PPS to Nigel Lawson, John Major and Tony Blair, British High Commissioner to Australia, Permanent Secretary in the Department for Constitutional Affairs, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (after Sir John Scarlett, of ‘dodgy dossier’ fame) ….and Deadhead.
Knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours – primarily for his day job, I suspect – Sir Alex is no casual fan of the band. Having caught the bug from their early records, he first got to see them on this tour, at the Bickershaw Festival and then at the Lyceum. He set up a site around 15 years ago dedicated to the band’s recordings and song lyrics and has maintained it assiduously ever since, despite his continual high flying (and windsurfing and cycling). One reward for this effort has been a level of involvement with the Dead ‘organization’ that led to him writing the CD-pack’s liner notes for the band’s third night at the Lyceum, 40 years ago today.
As another fan who rarely got to see the band in action, the memory of his own obvious delight in being able to watch them in full creative flow is something that resonates strongly.
What I remember most about this night, though, was the amazing “Dark Star” in the second set. I was up front, carried away by Jerry’s guitar playing and the interplay with Phil Lesh. The lead-in was a sweet “Uncle John’s Band”, followed by a very moody “Wharf Rat”, with the usual audience cheer on “some other fucker’s crime”. The “Dark Star” seemed to go on forever, moving back and forth from very spacey passages into melodic ones, with Jerry playing with a perpetual grin, mostly leading the changes in mood or tempo, though sometimes looking delighted as he caught an idea from Phil Lesh. Bob Weir looked intense as he added his guitar part to the mix. Eventually it came to an end and segued into an energy-packed “Sugar Magnolia”.
I think the cause of Jerry’s perpetual grin is apparent in his playing: he’s somewhat spaced-out. It’s actually a slightly ragged sequence; plenty of great passages but also many mood changes and questions about where to go next (and no less interesting for that). We join them here at the end of Uncle John’s Band, negotiating a change of time signature, tempo and key to lead into the next song. They flirt with Dark Star before going into Wharf Rat; did they all know what was coming, or was that a last-minute Garcia decision? Or had he forgotten what they’d decided until someone reminded him? Maybe seeing them actually do it would provide an answer; from the recording, it’s impossible to tell.
‘They flirt with Dark Star before going into Wharf Rat; did they all know what was coming, or was that a last-minute Garcia decision? Or had he forgotten what they’d decided until someone reminded him?’
… not that it in any way equates, but that could be rewritten as ‘They flirt with Cable before going with Hunt; did they all know what was coming, or was that a last-minute Cameron decision? Or had he forgotten what they’d decided until someone reminded him?’
I’d love to know how a Dead Head views the inner workings of Government. Is there a latent Prankster in him, a Boho waiting to spring a lysergic surprise on his colleagues?
Great post, Chris … and oh, the music ……
Cheers, Simon. Maybe I missed a trick there with that parallel: I was still watching Adam Smith as I was writing….
I’ve emailed Sir Alex to let him know about today’s post, so maybe he’ll provide us with some insights. But I suspect he didn’t get where he is today without being something of a diplomat. And I’m certain he never inhaled…..
No, I don’t suppose he ever did. It will be fascinating to see if he does engage in the conversation (though I dare say that he has a few other things onhis mind at the moment!)
a really good jazzy feel about 19 minutes into Dark Star …. quite different fro other versions I’ve heard.It’s the drums and base that do it.
Hi Chris. Wow. This is what I need after a busy couple of weeks and monkeying around on RR. I don’t mind if Jerry was floating around uncertain of where to go next from Uncle John’s Band. It’s so beautiful, whatever he was doing and wherever he was going.
Dark Star is lovely, too. I’m not really familiar, but I like that jazzed up bit too. It feels a bit conflicted with the guitar in the beginning, possibly, but that’s nice.
Great post. Its good to be reminded that there are humans with souls in government. Hunt’s office shennanigens demonstrates yet again the lack of arms-length protocol in government and civil administration. Harrumph.
Thanks.
That was quite a gorgeous Wharf Rat wasn’t it. And a rather stellar (sorry) Dark Star, and as you know that’s not my favorite Dead tune. Still could have trimmed some wank though… but, but – you cut off Sugar Magnolia! And UJB at the beginning. Tease.
As a yank, your Sir Alex is unfamiliar to me, but i did check out his website. Loved his Dead cycling shirts (think you could get Aba to wear one?). Interesting to me was the feature question on 1977, that’s the year of the show that was on the other night, in Richmond Va in May, when the kids put on the Deadjams station. (I have to stop calling them college kids now, at least 3 of them just graduated and they’re adults now, and not in college anymore.) Was a brutal Scarlet Begonias, Donna totally butchered that one.
The big national sort of Dead tribute band here in the US is called the Dark Star Orchestra–
“On any given night the band will perform a show based on a set list from the Grateful Dead’s 30 years of extensive touring or use the catalog of original songs and often played covers to create a unique set list for the show.”
Just to give you an idea though – here’s a list of the Dead Tribute bands here –
http://home.fuse.net/fairbanks142/ujb.htm
Here’s our local Dead cruise band is called Eddy’s Shoe Band – the Dead cruises always sell out.
The Dead won’t ever die here i don’t believe.
Dead.net are still streaming the full Lyceum shows, amy, if you want to hear the UJB and Sugar Mag. The former is good but the latter lacks subtlety and Garcia fucks up the end (Weir: ‘Say what??!!’). There’s a much better Sugar Mag now over on the Spill.
I’ve seen the DSO (on video; I missed their recent London trip): they are very good indeed at recreating deadmusic. But, tbh, I don’t need any more sources: I can always play my own versions!
Sir Alex is unfamiliar to Brits, too. Our top civil servants like to stay in the shadows: it’s easier to run the country from there.
Oh, i would much rather listen to the Dead than to a tribute band too. I guess i was making the point that there is still plenty of interest here, still a lot of people, not just oldies like us, are happy to have a night out with Dead music.
I was trying to avoid being jealous…
Former SF mayor Willie Brown says that Obama should be more like the Dead –
“Obama was more than a candidate last time out. He was a popular and cultural phenomenon. A rock star. But the trouble with rock stars is that they drop like a rock once fans conclude they are “over.”
The trick in politics is not to be a one-hit wonder, but to be more like the Grateful Dead. Jerry and the boys were never what you’d call stars, but their Deadheads were legion and good days or bad, they always turned out in record numbers.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/2 /BA7Q1ON41I.DTL#ixzz1w58OWaoF
oops –
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/26/BA7Q1ON41I.DTL#ixzz1w58OWaoF
And this is our Dead Jams station – still not yet in the UK I don’t believe.
http://www.siriusxm.com/gratefuldead
but apparently you can subscribe to Sirius internet radio http://www.siriusxm.com/internetradio
in the UK
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?58742-Siruis-Internet-Radio-Subscription-in-the-UK
not cheap though.