Guest Book

Hey Red Dog, I just wanted to address some of your comments. I'll preface this by saying that I bought your book from you, so I'm a customer. Red Dog does indeed have a point about the fact that without Dickey, the band may be less of an easy sell for promoters; when I tell your average Joe about my seeing an Allmans show, they usually like to show off their knowledge by saying "Dickey Betts, right?" Well, no. And I'm still hearing people call for "Jessica" or "Blue Sky" at gigs. Me, when they launch into "Afro-Blue," I'm in heaven. But I recognize that for the great unwashed (or washed, as the case may be) the song is greeted by clueless shrugs and beer runs. And I say, God bless the ABB for NOT taking the easy way out, for putting the music first. I mean, I know Warren could sing "Blue Sky;" the Lesh quintet lays me out with their version on a good night. But they choose to be the band that these 7 guys are, with each coloring and shaping the music. You get the work of the guys who are there, not the ones who aren't. And I think that's the gutsier move. But Dawg, lord knows, musical quality and musical marketability are vastly different things. Sonny Rollins comes to my town (well, to me NYC is just a great big ol' small town) and he fills a room of, maybe, 500-1,000. Britney Spears comes around, shaking those delicious things she has to shake and lip-synching all the way to the bank, and you can't touch a seat at the hockey rink for under $100, because she sells out in nine minutes. Does that make her music better than Sonny Rollins? Not in my book. Originally I was in shock and awe at the prospect of Dickey and the ABB parting ways. But the simple truth for me as a fan is, the ABB are better today-- by a lot-- then the band that Dickey left. I mean, by a lot. They have gone from a nostalgia band (and I didn't even realize that's what they had become) to one of the most exciting and dynamic entities on the scene today. But here's the kicker. I still love that lilting sound of Dickey's playing, and his chemistry with Toler is something to behold. Indeed, GREAT SOUTHERN IS ALSO BETTER THAN THE BAND DICKEY LEFT. So as a fan, I'm sitting here thinking, the music was torn in different directions, eventually it split in two, and each new entity is better than the one I had available before. I mean, I take no sides; when DB&GS rolls into this sleepy little burgh, I'm there. And if the Collectors Volume 1 isn't a great (as Dickey says) Sunday morning record, I don't know what is. For us fans, if that isn't win/win, I don't know what is. Respectfully, Your man at the Beacon