Happy Anniversary

The Guide celebrates having one year under its belt today. In the first year we’ve logged 70 show reviews. If viewed as being a brand new tape collector, that’s a pretty nice collection of shows to have gathered in a year’s time. Not an overwhelming number, but enough to start causing our non-Deadhead friends to think very seriously that we have some kind of problem, just the same.

In the old days this would represent something on the order of 160 cassette tapes – definitely time to start building some nice wooden cassette racks for the wall! Spread out over a year, we might not even have noticed that we dropped something on the order of $425 on our new cassette habit (to say little of stamps and bubble envelopes). Also worth recognizing is the fact that we would have probably spent a good deal of time sending a fair amount of this music out to other like-minded traders, turning other folks on to some amazing music.

That’s one thing about the Grateful Dead tape trading scene – it resonates with, and follows the laws of balance in the universe. There is a built in regulator switch to tape trading that makes it almost impossible not to share out at least as much music as you accept in. And the more you give, the more you get. It is (was) not uncommon to be gifted tapes pretty regularly, and this then would inspire us to do more of the same. Whether it be adding an extra tape or two in a trade just because you really wanted to share some show that wasn’t part of a trade request, or the handing out of tapes to strangers at a gas station when you see with a Grateful Dead bumper sticker on their car, this sort of stuff went on regularly in tape trading.

I know we touched on this a while back, but it’s also worth recognizing that after a year of this trading, our significant other has not been blind to our new found zeal for something having altogether nothing to do with said “other.” We’re probably spending a bit more time than could be rationalized under headphones, or in the basement. Does she/he know about that $425 bucks!?! And to be sure, we are catching grief for always exiting the normal activities of life every 46 minutes to go flip a tape – and I mean always.

The fact that we seemed powerless to stop these things was a telltale sign that we were in the right place. And I suppose that while the onset of our “digital age” has changed the very nature of our trading community forever, we can be thankful that so much music is now so easily accessible in forums such as this and others across the net. And the give and take is still alive and well. I can’t express how much pleasure I get from knowing how appreciative folks are about the content of this site. That’s what I’m getting in trade – the knowledge that I’m achieving a bit of my intended goal for the guide. Thank you all for that.

If the first days are the hardest days, we shouldn’t worry now about our ability to explore more great music in year two of the Grateful Dead Listening Guide. Whether you started reading a year ago, or have only recently stumbled into our corner of the web, I’m glad to have you along. The wide readership, responses, and always positive feedback are constant reminders that starting this thing was a good idea. I look forward to continuing to explore the music and musical spirituality that inspires me to write and share my thoughts with you all.

You can always blame that grizzled old Deadhead that lives across the street when your friends look at you with an air of confusion. Listen to the music play!