Grateful Dead: Backstage Pass

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Backstage Pass

BackstagePassVHS.jpg

Backstage Pass video tape cover
Directed by Justin Kreutzmann
Produced by Gillian Grisman
Starring Grateful Dead
Edited by Bill Weber
Justin Kreutzmann
Distributed by Grateful Dead Productions
Release date
  • 1992 (1992)
Running time
 35 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Backstage Pass is a music documentary video by the Grateful Dead. It was directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, and produced by Gillian Grisman, the daughter of musician David Grisman. It was released in 1992, and is 35 minutes long.

Grateful Dead American rock jam band

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. Ranging from quintet to septet, the band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, modal jazz, reggae, experimental music, psychedelia, and space rock, for live performances of lengthy instrumental jams, and for their devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads". "Their music", writes Lenny Kaye, "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists". These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead "the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world". The band was ranked 57th by Rolling Stone magazine in its The Greatest Artists of All Time issue. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and a recording of their May 8, 1977, performance at Cornell University's Barton Hall was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012. The Grateful Dead have sold more than 35 million albums worldwide.

Bill Kreutzmann American musician

William Kreutzmann Jr. is an American drummer. He played with the Grateful Dead for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to perform with former members of the Grateful Dead in various lineups, and with his own bands BK3, 7 Walkers and Billy & the Kids.

David Grisman Mandolinist, composer, and record label owner

David Grisman is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic musicians.

Contents

Segments of the video

As the name implies, Backstage Pass provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Grateful Dead. Excepting the intro section, each of its segments has a Dead song performance as its soundtrack. The visuals are a mixture of footage of the band from all eras up to the time the video was made, combined with footage of the song performances themselves, along with some computer animation.

Backstage pass employee pass which allows its bearer access to employees-only areas at a performance venue

A backstage pass is an employee pass which allows its bearer access to employees-only areas at a performance venue. They are most commonly associated with rock music groups.

  1. "Intro", sights and sounds from outside the concert venues, using the Infrared Roses track "Crowd Sculpture".
  2. "Hard to Handle", sung by Pigpen, using audio from an April 29, 1971 concert (later released as part of Ladies and Gentlemen... ). The visuals are a montage of onstage and offstage footage of the Grateful Dead from all eras, focusing on the early days of the band.
  3. "Fearless Groove", a studio version of "Drums" performed by Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, combined with footage of the Dead from all eras.
  4. "The Other One", using visuals from the band's visit to Egypt and performance at the Great Sphinx of Giza (see also Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 ). The audio, cross-fading from the previous segment, uses "Blues for Allah", followed by "The Other One", both from a concert performance on August 13, 1975 in San Francisco (see also One from the Vault ).
  5. "Easy to Love You", a concert performance of the song written and sung by Brent Mydland, combined with footage of the Dead, most of it then relatively recent. The video of Brent performing is from July 6, 1990, in Louisville, Kentucky (see also View from the Vault, Volume One ), while the audio is from March 28, 1990, on Long Island, New York (see also Spring 1990 (the other one) ).
  6. "She Belongs to Me", a studio version performed by Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh. Garcia and Weir play acoustic guitars and trade off singing verses of the song. The visuals consist entirely of the song performance and are in black-and-white.
  7. "Infrared Roses Revisited", a concert performance of the free-form improvisational song "Space". This version is the track called "Magnesium Night Light" from the album Infrared Roses , recorded October, 9, 1989 in Hampton, Virginia (see also Formerly the Warlocks ). The visuals are a computer animation of abstract forms and Grateful Dead related imagery (see also Infrared Sightings ).
  8. "Outro", credits with music from a "Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain" segue recorded in concert October 31, 1990, in London, England.

Track listing

Allen Alvoid Jones, Jr. was an American record producer. Jones produced several albums for Albert King, and became the producer and manager for The Bar-Kays. He produced all of their records including their last records for Mercury Records. He formed their production company, and produced other acts such as Kwick on EMI and executively produced Ebony Webb, also on EMI. Jones was a very successful songwriter covered by the likes of Elvis Costello and Albert King. Jones started out as a bass player, and ended up owning his own studio (ONYX)AKA American Recording Studio Memphis, Tennessee. He gave many artists and musicians opportunities to work in the recording industry, long before there were college classes on the music business. Jones knew a hit record and blossomed at Stax Records as a writer, producer and recording engineer. Jones won a Grammy for his input on Shaft. He lived to be in the studio and helped to make a name for Ardent Studios. He stayed in Studio A of Ardent for almost 10 years. Jones kept The Bar-Kays with albums and tour dates until the day he died of a heart attack.

Otis Redding American singer, songwriter and record producer

Otis Ray Redding Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. Redding's style of singing gained inspiration from the gospel music that preceded the genre. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s. During his lifetime, his recordings were produced by Stax Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee.

Mickey Hart American musician

Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until the group disbanded in August 1995. He and fellow Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann earned the nickname "the rhythm devils".

Credits

Grateful Dead

Jerry Garcia American musician and member of the Grateful Dead

Jerome John Garcia was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his work as the lead guitarist and as a vocalist with the band Grateful Dead, which came to prominence during the counterculture era in the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.

Phil Lesh American musician

Philip Chapman Lesh is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career.

Bob Weir American musician, member of the Grateful Dead

Robert Hall Weir is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead. Weir also founded and played in several other bands during and after his career with the Grateful Dead, including Kingfish, the Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, Scaring the Children, RatDog, and Furthur which he co-led with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. In 2015, Weir, along with former Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, joined with Grammy-winning singer/guitarist John Mayer to form the band Dead & Company. The band remains active.

Production

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References

AllMovie database of information about movie stars, movies and television shows

AllMovie is an online guide service website with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2013, AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.

AllMusic Online music database

AllMusic is an online music database. It catalogs more than 3 million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musical artists and bands. It launched in 1991, predating the World Wide Web.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

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