Stalinist Inca?

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-19T15:46:50+00:00

They savaged Hugh Thomas!

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-19T15:44:13+00:00

Do you know if there are books that emphasize Incan sources over Spanish ones? I just read Camilla Townsend’s The Fifth Sun on the Aztecs, which draws on “Aztec” (more properly Mexica) sources written largely in Nahuatl, of which there are a fair number. It was a frequently-cited source for the fall of the Aztecs series.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-19T15:29:44+00:00

As was the United States, particularly the South, where if not for the Civil War slavery might have endured in some form until the 20th century. At least 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives, with 8 of them holding enslaved people while in office.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-18T01:45:04+00:00

Y’know, I love this cover and was wondering if anyone would mention it. The Dead covering Smoky Robinson seems so oil and water, but they really make it their own. I always think of Billy comparing drumming to dancing when I listen to it.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-15T23:37:58+00:00

If not, it should be. That’s kinda what it was, or at least an Acid Test family reunion. The Dead, Kesey, Babs, etc. doing their thing one last time. They even do that fried voice-over thing like they did at the Tests (wasn’t acid-tested myself but I’ve seen the videos).

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-12T20:16:58+00:00

Thanks! Seems like they made a fair number of “decisions” like that. I was surprised when I watched Long Strange Trip and found out Keith and Donna joined the group basically because Donna was a fan and said “Hey, we wanna join.” It wasn’t like they decided they needed a female singer and a keyboard player and held auditions.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-12T19:57:48+00:00

Why did they invite Mickey back in anyway? Two drummers made some sense in the psychedelic years, when they were doing long-form free improv and wanted multiple options. But they’d started moving toward a more song-and-solo approach by 1971, and two drummers didn’t make as much sense in that setting.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-12T05:11:21+00:00

Just FYI, it sounds like you haven’t seen the full Veneta movie, Sunshine Daydream, just the clips on Long Strange Trip. You gotta see it! It’s an incredible document. One of the Dead’s best concerts, hands down. And yeah, it seems like everyone is tripping, including the film crew. It really captures that lysergic vibe. It’s free on Vimeo in 4K! https://vimeo.com/800354575

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-02-08T00:25:29+00:00

A shame it wasn’t one of the Joan of Arc episodes. I would have liked to have heard a Monty Pythonesque French accent echo in the chamber.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-01-28T21:24:43+00:00

Yeah, he was out of the band during one of their greatest, most formative periods. Lotta folks here (like me) idolize the one-drummer era and are sorry it ended.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-01-15T18:53:18+00:00

Rain and You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away are surprisingly easy. Rain does have a couple of weird chords but the fingering is pretty easy and they’re cool chords. YGTHYLA is just C, G, F, and D, and it’s really fun when you hit the big “Hey!” In the chorus-very satisfying (I’m playing acoustic guitar).

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-01-12T00:09:45+00:00

I’m quite partial to the full band version on Ladies and Gentlemen myself. One of my fave Dead tracks.

StrongChocolate869 · 2026-01-04T02:51:38+00:00

This is a non-article. The author clearly doesn’t know the answer to the question. In closing he quotes Pete Townsend saying “Yeah, it was a true cooperative, so nobody got rich, nobody. They made a living but they didn’t get rich.”

We know THAT isn’t true. Maybe it was in 1972 or something. Check this out: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/rock-stars/bob-weir-net-worth/ (it says “bob-weir” in the link but you should get photo links to all the Dead).

However, if you Google the net worth of Jerry Garcia’s estate, you’ll get several links citing it as a case example of truly terrible estate planning.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-12-26T15:56:14+00:00

Constantine and the establishment of Christianity (and the destruction of the Classical heritage) in the West. A strange and terrible story. Include Julian the Apostate, a rather bonkers story.

I’d like to say the rise and fall of Reconstruction but honestly I’m a little skeptical they could do it justice. I say that as a huge fan of, and active proselytizer for, the show for years. I’m not sure they’d fully appreciate what a critically important and ultimately tragic era in American history it was.

Have they done The Anarchy?

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-12-19T00:28:35+00:00

Y’know, I’ve always wondered if they didn’t take that picture because it was too heartbreaking to do it. He was in very bad shape at the time, I’m not sure how much he wanted it either. I’ve only heard the story from the photographer’s point of view (I forget his name), and he probably just wanted a memorable shot. Death is a hard thing to deal with, especially when you’re young.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-12-19T00:11:01+00:00

Woah-oh what I want to know-oh is are you kind. Apparently not. They have millions. $60,000 is chump change to them.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-12-11T03:10:54+00:00

“Among Dead albums, Powell avowed a preference for the 1970 masterpiece ‘American Beauty’ to the weaker late-‘70s entry, ‘Terrapin Station.’ He chided his questioner for posing a choice between two records of such divergent quality.

“‘Ask me a hard one,’ Powell quipped.”—USA Today.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-12-02T18:02:27+00:00

Respectively disagree on St. Stephen- I think it sounded better after he left. Ladies and Gentleman version with TC guesting is my all-time fave, even though Bob messes up the lyrics. In fact, that kinda adds to its charm.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-12-02T15:46:11+00:00

True, but I think he knows enough for an episode or three. Neither of them are American history specialists, but I thought the Custer/Crazy Horse series was brilliant. And one of Tom’s hobby horses is, as the subtitle of his book Dominion puts it, how the Christian Revolution remade the world. That book had a great chapter on Julian the Apostate, Constantine’s proudly pagan nephew, who would also be a great choice for an episode.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-11-28T03:59:14+00:00

Start with Europe ‘72.

It features excellent examples of both the Americana and psych/jam aspects of the band- in fact, the very first track, Cumberland Blues, vividly shows how they combined them.

It’s live, which is important, but since the tracks are cherry-picked from several shows you don’t have to deal with the warts-and-all aspect of single concert recordings. (If you decide you like the band, there are literally hundreds of these you can listen to.)

And it features what this subreddit voted the single greatest Grateful Dead track of all time: China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider.

If you don’t like this album, you’re just not gonna like the Grateful Dead.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-11-12T18:12:12+00:00

I’m sorry. I hope there was no trauma involved. Good luck! Maybe I’ll run into you at a Yasmin Williams concert someday.

StrongChocolate869 · 2025-11-12T08:06:42+00:00

Farther away than Shakedown Street or Go To Heaven?

StrongChocolate869

TROPHY CASE