I first started collecting bootlegs in 1997. The internet had really just come into its own, exploding all over the place, including my little apartment. I had recovered from the staggering amount of boobies available and had begun looking for other interests, including music.
With my 2800 kps modem, there wasn’t much use in looking at graphic-intensive sites so I quickly made a place for myself on Usenet groups. One of my favorite places was rec.music.gdead, a land of plenty for Grateful Deadheads.
Patiently I read through months of messages about trading live bootleg tapes. It seemed to be a secret society thriving on the edge of this international, public network. They even used secret code words like B+P*, SBD**, and GDTRFB***. I had been chatting long enough to understand the basics of internet speech, I could LOL with the best of them, but these deadheads had a language all to themselves.
There were agreements going on all the time, special music and tapes being passed back and forth all carrying their own specific rules. Rules which if you broke, you were forever labeled with words like “bad trader,” marked like the beast to be banished from this secret world.
After several months of deciphering the code words and understanding the secret rules to this society, I finally decided I wanted to enter into this world.
With the help of a buddy who had a few bootlegs (which he had obtained by giving out hamburgers to a local trader, which is a story in itself) I posted a message to the board asking for trades to help a newbie out.
I was overwhelmed with responses. Numerous folks said they would dub some shows for me if I would send them blank tapes and the price of the postage to get them to me. A couple of kind folks sent me freebies, including one guy who sent me a stack of tapes from every decade the Grateful Dead played.
Quickly I turned around and asked for more trades, passing around my little list. Others, just like me, with small lists, gave me lists of their own, and trades were made, and more music was obtained.
It was addictive. I kept a list of what tapes I had, who I had traded with, to whom I was currently trading, and who was a bad trader. Though most folks in the scene were very cool and kind, there were a few folks who would set up a trade, receive the tapes I had sent, and then never send anything back. This was more of a hassle than an actual loss.
To set up a trade in those days, I would spend hours on websites that contained thousands of tape lists. I’d search those lists looking for shows I didn’t have and that sounded interesting. Then I’d search another website to get the set lists and reviews of that particular show. When I found some things I wanted, I’d email the owner and ask for a trade.
Half the folks never responded, either they were too busy or I had nothing they wanted. After sending out 10-20 requests a few responses would come in. Multiple emails would pass setting up all the requirements for the trade. There would be discussions of the quality of the material, what type of tapes we each used, and whether we wanted to send the cases or not. On and on we worked out the details until finally all was settled and nothing was left to do but start recording. It might take a week to get everything settled upon and a trade officially made.
So, it was extremely disappointing to go through all that work and receive nothing in return because of a bad trader.
But when a trade went through there was nothing sweeter. Seeing that bubble mailer lying next to the door when I got home was paradise. Opening the package, reading over the tapes received, and then sliding them into the tape deck to fill the room full of beautiful new music was nothing short of awesome.
Some of the best music I’ve ever heard comes from these bootlegs.
Alison Krauss and Union Station
09/02/95
Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival
Woodstown, NJ
Alison Krauss has a lovely voice, smooth as silk pie. It’s the kind of voice that makes your loins weep. It’s the kind of voice that will make atheists believe, and the faithful renounce their calling for there can be no god, but Alison. She’s not a bad fiddle player either. With the Union Station, Alison sports one of the finest bluegrass units playing music today. This particular show has everything you could want from an Alison Krauss concert — well, except the masterful dobro picking of Jerry Douglass, who didn’t join the band until 1998. Even so, the music sported here in both the early and late shows is full of fast-picking and soulful ballads.
With songs like “Baby, Now that I’ve Found You,” I suspect that if you followed up with audience members you would find more than a few children who have birthdays nine months after this show.
Dan Tyminski, most famously known as George Clooney’s singing voice in O Brother, Where Art Thou? adds the perfect harmony to Alison’s lead. The entire band aptly plays along during the slow songs and tears it up for the faster ones.
If I have a complaint it is about the quality of the actual songs. I’ve never heard a studio album from these guys that I’ve really enjoyed. They seem to choose songs written by friends, which should be great for the friendship, but not necessarily a good choice for the band. There is generally very little to latch on to and remember after the music is over. I rarely find myself humming one of their tunes, or singing a remembered lyric.
This is easily overlooked, for the entire band members excel with their musicianship and Alison sings like the heavens above. Listening to them live I forget that the songs themselves aren’t necessarily awe-inspiring. This is surely a case where the band performs well beyond the songs themselves.
*B+P – Blanks and Postage, one-sided trades where somebody with a bootleg will record it for another if that person sends the blank tapes and enough postage to ship the tapes back.
**SBD – Soundboard tapes, used to signify bootlegs recorded directly off of a soundboard feed.
*** GDTRFB – “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” title of a traditional song covered many times by the Grateful Dead
themidnightcafe.org 