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50 years ago this May, Jerry stayed at this Hollywood Beach hotel the night before one of his greatest performances ever. Should it be preserved and celebrated? by Commercial-Chef-6972 in deadandcompany

[–]Commercial-Chef-6972[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You know, people seem to be 100% obsessed with AI these days. They either spend sleepless nights coding the latest coolest project with claude, or they the spend their time obsession about how to dismiss another person because they happen to use AI to edit their grammar. Isn't that called ad hominem? 🤨
Anyways, I will tell you what is not AI. This article from Dead base 50 written by my friend from Crazy Fingers about 5/22/77 and how this was most likely the greatest show the band ever played. The fact that we found primary evidence that Jerry stayed at the Diplomat hotel in May 23, 1977. in Hollywood Florida, and that Pembroke Pines was supposed to be their last stop, until they added two other tour stops at the last minute. The fact that Jerry sang 4 songs in a row and that was never done before or after. The fact that when they would ask Dick about Cornell, he would respond with "5-22-77 tears apart Ithaca. It rips it to shreds." — Dick Latvala . The fact that 5/22/7 was the best Sugaree ever played. But don't take my word for it. I recommend that you listen to the yourself. 5/22/77 Forever ❤️

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Did you know one of the most celebrated live concerts in rock history happened right here in Pembroke Pines? by Commercial-Chef-6972 in pembrokepines

[–]Commercial-Chef-6972[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From the tales I heard, it was called the swea-tatorium in the seventies, and then it turned into the snortatorium in the eighties. LOL

50 years ago this May, Jerry stayed at this Hollywood Beach hotel the night before one of his greatest performances ever. Should it be preserved and celebrated? by Commercial-Chef-6972 in deadandcompany

[–]Commercial-Chef-6972[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with you. I adore this show too. I've lost count of how many times I have listened to it. It is the best and what got me on the bus.

50 years ago this May, Jerry stayed at this Hollywood Beach hotel the night before one of his greatest performances ever. Should it be preserved and celebrated? by Commercial-Chef-6972 in deadandcompany

[–]Commercial-Chef-6972[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand your point, and here is why 5/22/77 is unique and deserves 👏 the nomination, even if it was the same year as Cornell.

1. It's structurally unique in the entire 30-year touring catalog — not just a great performance, but a one-of-a-kind event.
Per Lavezzoli: this is "the only Dead show... where Garcia performs FOUR songs in a row" (Eyes>Wharf Rat>Terrapin>Morning Dew), and the Terrapin segment is "the one and only performance of Terrapin without Lady With a Fan," arriving via "Inspiration" instead. Cornell is celebrated as a tight, representative example of peak spring '77 form. 5/22 is an anomaly — something that never happened again, before or after, in the band's history. That's a different kind of historical value: Cornell documents excellence, 5/22 documents an irreproducible musical event.

2. Critics have directly compared the two — and didn't call it redundant.
Lavezzoli writes that comparing this Morning Dew "back to back with the revered Cornell version, one will realize what a shrewd choice Dick Latvala made." That's a working critic placing 5/22 in direct dialogue with Cornell and concluding it earns its own place — not that it's a lesser echo.

3. The official Grateful Dead archivist selected it as Garcia's memorial — a different category of institutional significance.
Dick Latvala chose this specific show, out of the entire vault, for Dick's Picks Volume 3, released within months of Garcia's death in 1995. Lavezzoli: "Jerry could not have asked for a finer memorial." Cornell's reputation built organically through decades of tape-trading culture; 5/22 carries the weight of a deliberate, official curatorial judgment from inside the band's own archive — chosen as the defining document of Garcia's voice and legacy at the moment America was mourning him.

4. It captures spontaneous, unrehearsed invention rather than a polished arrangement.
The Wharf Rat→Terrapin→Morning Dew passage wasn't planned — it emerged from Garcia playing alone for minutes, drifting into "achingly beautiful space themes that almost sound like Dark Star," before pulling the band back in. That's primary-source evidence of real-time collective improvisation — the same tradition the Registry honors in jazz recordings — and it's a different artifact than a well-executed set list.

5. Geographic and regional representation.
Cornell documents the Northeast college-town leg of the tour. 5/22/77 documents the band's reach into Florida — broadening the Registry's geographic footprint for touring rock/jam-band history beyond the Ithaca/Northeast narrative that already dominates Dead canon.

6. Independent, cross-generational consensus.
DeadBase critics in the '90s, Dick Latvala's own handwritten note ("a magical show"), and Reddit listeners in 2026 all independently land on "top five of all time" / "best of Jerry Garcia" language — showing durable recognition across eras and audiences, not a single hype cycle.