text:
An ongoing series of articles on songs & performances of the early Grateful Dead.
January 8, 2010
The Dead's Early Thematic Jams
Note that this guide stops at 1974. There's also a good overview of many of these jams in the first Taping Compendium.
In no particular order....
The Feelin' Groovy jam is basically four chords based on the Simon & Garfunkel song, and was frequently done in Dark Stars from '69-'72. This first appeared in Dark Star in late '69 - in '73 it migrated into the middle of China>Rider, with a rather different feel and an extra 'bridge' section added. (A lot of people also call it the "Uncle John's Jam" since the four chords are very similar.)
This is one of the only jams where we have a recording from the Dead's home rehearsals, a long standalone version from the fall of '69 - alongside an extended exploration of the Uncle John's jam, and a cool early Friend of the Devil. Despite poor, distorted sound, this is one demo I can't recommend highly enough:
The first Feelin' Groovy jam appears in the 9/26/69 Dark Star, around the 11-minute mark, unfortunately hard to appreciate due to the sound quality:
Since it's an audience tape, most people probably haven't heard it - but this one from the Dark Star a month later is well-known:
- and just a week after that it had one of its best performances:
Feelin' Groovy appeared in many Dark Stars thereafter, too many to cite - almost every one up through 1970. Some of the best-loved versions might include 1/2/70, 2/13/70, 5/15/70, 9/19/70, 10/21/71, 4/14/72, and 5/25/72. From the end of '69 and through '70, Dark Star had a particular format: after the first verse the band would evaporate into space, explore weirdness for a while, then slowly return back to melody - and here the Feelin' Groovy jam (or sometimes the Tighten Up jam) would emerge, like bright joy after the darkness. (Sometimes though, they mixed things up or weren't in the mood, and you sometimes catch Garcia refusing to enter a Feelin' Groovy jam even when Lesh is trying to drop one in.) Over time the Stars changed, and became more dense and complex - particularly after Keith joined, the '72 Stars got jazzier with more jamming elements and meltdowns, and the Feelin' Groovy jam often became more brief and fleeting - sometimes just a hint from Phil.
Late '72 saw the end of its stay in Dark Star - one instance is 10/18/72, a classic version at the end of the Star, after the Philo Stomp:
By contrast, from 11/13/72 we have an extremely fast version in a Star filled with intense meltdowns:
The last time I recall Feelin' Groovy being played in a Dark Star is 11/26/72, a great version that should be known by more people - the end of the Star has a bass solo>Feelin' Groovy>Tiger meltdown - Garcia's tone in the Feelin' Groovy is just amazing:
A couple times the Feelin' Groovy jam would appear 'solo': on 10/2/72, in the post-Truckin' jam it's one of the themes after Nobody's Fault But Mine and is played very loosely, leading up to Morning Dew:
And on 2/24/73 it's part of the jam coming out of Eyes of the World (unfortunately the more complete audience tape isn't on the Archive), and follows a long bass solo - Garcia initiates it and they play it very sweetly:
The first time Feelin' Groovy entered the China>Rider transition was on 3/16/73; and there it would stay over the next two years, with many exciting versions as it became increasingly jammed-out - a couple examples would be the Dick's Picks of 6/26/74 and 8/5/74. One unique variation happens in the 3/31/73 show - after toying with the Spanish Jam in the Other One, out of the Other One space they suddenly shift into Feelin' Groovy, and from there head naturally into Rider without bothering with the China Cat:
After 1974, Feelin' Groovy mysteriously disappeared.
The Tighten Up Jam was a very common Latin-style jam theme in 1970. It's often called a proto-Eyes jam since Weir plays two repeating jazzy chords that are rhythmically similar to the opening of Eyes of the World, but they're from the Archie Bell & the Drells tune.
Its first appearance I'm aware of was on 8/30/69, where Weir plays the chords as Garcia's changing a string during Dark Star; it gets a full band performance on 10/25/69. After that they played it steadily for a year, in many Dark Stars and after March '70 in most of the Dancing in the Streets. They apparently dropped it in 1971, except for a surprise appearance on 10/31/71. As we'll see it was normal for the Dead to use a jam-theme interchangeably between two different songs like that, and Tighten Up works well in both of them. (It's surprising it took so long for them to play it in Dancing, since it's similar to the usual Dancing two-chord jam pattern - on 12/11/69 for instance, the Dancing is extremely close to a Tighten Up.)
There used to be a webpage devoted to the Dead's Tighten Ups, but it's disappeared. These are the performances I've found so far; I've probably missed a few (I think there are some in Lovelights as well), but this is the most complete listing available.
10-25-69 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-10-25.sbd.jagla.81.sbefail.shnf
11-2-69 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-02.sbd.goodbear.1125.sbefail.shnf
12-26-69 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-12-26.sbd.murphy.1821.sbeok.shnf
1-2-70 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-01-02.partial-early.sbd.86.sbefail.shnf
3-1-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-03-01.sbd.hanno.4641.sbefail.shnf
3-21-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-03-21.late.aud.lee.pcrp.21779.shnf
4-3-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-04-03.sbd.cotsman.4283.sbefail.shnf
4-15-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-04-15.sbd.kaplan.14354.sbeok.shnf
4-24-70 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-04-24.aud.hanno.19531.sbeok.shnf
5-2-70 Dancing (Dick's Pick)
5-6-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-06.sbd.gans.94.sbefail.shnf
5-8-70 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-08.aud.miller.32056.sbeok.flacf
5-24-70 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-24.sbd.hanno.6481.sbeok.shnf
6-6-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-06-06.sbd.miller.86951.sbeok.flac16
6-24-70 second Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd_nrps70-06-24.aud.pcrp5.23062.sbeok.flacf
7-12-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-07-12.aud.unknown.sirmick.24663.sbefail.shnf
9-17-70 Star - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-09-17.aud.remaster.sirmick.27591.sbeok.shnf
10-5-70 Dancing (Download Series with 2/4/70)
10-24-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-10-24.sbd.hollister.103.sbeok.shnf
10-30-70b Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-10-30.sbd.cotsman.20044.sbeok.shnf
11-8-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-11-08.aud.weiner.28609.sbeok.shnf
12-17-70 Dancing - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-12-17.sbd.unk.87356.sbeok.flac16
10-31-71 Star (Dick's Pick)
(I might add that Deadlists claims there's a Tighten Up in the 2/2/70 Star, but there isn't.)
The Tighten Up and Feelin' Groovy jams have often been confused, even by Latvala who should have known better! There were Dark Stars where they did both of these jams, but the 1970 Dancings generally have Tighten Up jams, not Feelin' Groovy jams. The easy way to check: is Weir repeating two chords or four chords?
Sometimes the two themes are done back-to-back. Check out the Dark Stars from 11-2-69 or 1-2-70, which have the same structure after the first verse: - a space, weird & wild, - then the Feelin' Groovy jam, almost sounding more fully developed than it was in later years with different variations, and when that dies down, - the Tighten Up jam, again done fully & at length; when this is done it's time for the second verse.
The Mind Left Body jam originated in the PERRO sessions, where we can hear an early, faster version of the four descending chords. Paul Kantner took this riff for his song "Your Mind Has Left Your Body", which Garcia played pedal steel on. Garcia in turn adapted it into a Grateful Dead theme, which first showed up on occasion in '72, but started regularly entering the jams in fall '73. It added a transcendental feeling to many shows up through '74 - these are some of the most notable jams:
4-8-72 Dark Star
9-21-72 Dark Star
10-19-73 Dark Star
10-30-73 Dark Star
11-11-73 Dark Star
12-2-73 Playing
5-19-74 Truckin' jam
6-28-74 WRS jam
7-31-74 Truckin' jam
10-17-74 Other One
In '75 the MLB theme was turned into a section in Weir's Music Never Stopped; but in later years it made some infrequent appearances in unexpected places.
Sometimes the MLB jam is mistaken for Feelin' Groovy - on Dicks Pick 12, Latvala even called the China>Rider transition the 'Mud Love Buddy' jam, which is misleading. The segue jam in the '73/74 China>Riders is definitely Feelin' Groovy, not MLB - Latvala just messed that up. (For instance, on DP12 the jam from 6/28 IS the MLB jam, but doesn't get named!)
I go into much more detail in the Mind Left Body post -
Weir based the Spanish Jam on the song "Solea" on Miles Davis' album Sketches of Spain, sometime in late '67 when the Dead started recording Anthem of the Sun. As it was, a little bit of the Spanish Jam actually got on the album, in the form of a short Davis-flavored trumpet break from Phil in the middle of Born Cross-Eyed (after the verse, "Think I'll come back here again, every now and then, from time to time"). For a moment, it seems like Garcia and the band are about to break into the Spanish Jam, but they quickly cut back to the song....
In any case, the Spanish Jam debuted on the Anthem tour of early '68 and was played regularly - but, was soon dropped from the setlists (along with Born Cross-Eyed). Weir kept it in mind though, and it made a surprise reappearance at the 2-11-70 allstar-jam show, out of Dark Star. It then disappeared for three more years - was revived for two shows in March '73 (tied with Dark Star again on 3-24-73) - was dropped again - and, once again, emerged from nowhere in another Dark Star jam on 6-23-74. Finally the Dead felt ready for it, and played it frequently through the rest of '74. However, aside from one show in '76, the Spanish Jam remained unheard for several years after the hiatus, until another revival on 5-6-81. After that, it appeared now and then, from time to time in shows up to the end in '95, making it one of the longest-lasting Dead jams.
Here is an older post with a brief history of the Spanish Jam:
And here are some more examples of notable early Spanish Jams not linked in the post:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-17.sbd.cotsman.11795.shnf - the first
The Main Ten was a ten-beat Mickey Hart riff the Dead started playing in mid-'68. It popped up in shows now & then for a couple years, when they felt like taking an excursion. It also appeared on Hart's first album Rolling Thunder. It's strange to hear this riff today, when it's so identified with Playing in the Band, but in its original incarnation it embodies a mysterious, otherworldly feeling.
The earliest performance we have is from 6-19-68:
It resurfaces, surprisingly, in a couple '69 Dark Stars:
4-11-69 in Dark Star (short, at 10-minute mark) -
4-15-69 in Dark Star (short, at 17 minutes) -
11-8-69 (in the Caution) - Dick's Pick.
12-5-69 (after the Uncle John's jam, segueing into a lovely Baby Blue) -
5-3-70 (for completeness' sake, a short bit inside this Lovelight - although the band can barely be heard, it's interesting to hear the crowd clapping to the beat) -
6-7-70 (a mystical groove in-between the great Cryptical outro and the first Sugar Magnolia) -
11-6-70 (inside the Good Lovin') -
11-8-70 (out of Dark Star, and into Dancin' in the Streets) - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-11-08.aud.weiner.28609.sbeok.shnf
In early '71, the Dead decided to turn the riff into a complete song, and merged it into Playing in the Band, which debuted on 2-18-71. It's credited to Weir/Hart/Hunter - presumably Hart originated the Main Ten, Weir added the other sections of the song, and Hunter wrote the lyrics. (Weir also turned Hart's "Pump Song" into the Greatest Story Ever Told.) Playing was a catchy tune which wouldn't become a 'jam' number for another year, but it lost the spooky feel that the Main Ten had.
The Seven is another riff from the experimental days of '68, and there are very few tapes. There are a couple in the Hartbeats Matrix shows on 10/8/68 and 10/10/68, and there's a short one coming out of the Viola Lee on 3/21/70 (they had sometimes teased it in '69 Viola Lees) - but the best is on the AUD recording of 9/29/69, it's very tight!
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-10-10.sbd.miller-ladner.4513.sbeok.shnf (Hartbeats practice)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-09-29.aud.early.hollister.79.sbeok.shnf (out of Doin' That Rag, into Good Lovin')
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-03-21.early.lee.pcrp.20184.sbeok.shnf (brief, out of Viola Lee & into Cumberland Blues)
One jam that switched places over the years is the "We Bid You Goodnight" jam. This is unique as a song the Dead would jam instrumentally during Alligator, and then sing a cappella at the end of the show after "feedback"! It was introduced during the Anthem '68 tour - possibly Garcia had been listening to a Joseph Spence album and liked this song.
The earliest sung versions we have come from 1/22 and 3/16/68. The earliest instrumental Goodnight theme I recall is in the 2-24-68 Dick's Picks show, 5 minutes into the Alligator, played in Garcia's usual staccato fashion at the time.
By '69 the instrumental Goodnight theme frequently appears in Alligators, played a lot faster than it was later. I looked up a few shows where it's tracked separately and easy to find:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1969-02-15.sbd.goodbear.2175.sbeok.shnf - Alligator
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-01.sbd.cotsman.6298.sbeok.shnf - Alligator
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-12-12.sbd.gerland.10988.sbeok.shnf - Alligator
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-12-30.sbd.miller.28469.sbeok.shnf - Alligator
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-01-03.sbd.gmb.97743.flac16 - Eleven>Alligator (following a brief China Cat tease)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-02-05.sbd.hanno.9184.sbefail.shnf - Eleven>Caution (here Garcia almost takes it into a China Cat riff)
In 1970, as Alligators grew rare, the Goodnight jam starts showing up in Not Fade Aways, including 8/18, 9/18, and 9/20/70 - a few examples:
Starting in October 1970, it became the 'bridge' between Goin' Down the Road and Not Fade Away. This brings us to the birth of Goin' Down the Road - with so many shows missing from fall 1970, we're lucky to be able to hear it take shape from the start.
On 10/10 they start playing Goin' Down the Road instrumentally in Not Fade Away, but they never sing it:
On 10/11 it emerges as a separate song - but they don't play the Goodnight theme afterwards, instead they jump straight from "don't want to be treated this way" back into NFA:
And at our next show, 10/23, we finally have the Goodnight theme in the expected place - and it's a nice version, as they're already stretching it out before returning to NFA:
After this, it closed out pretty much every Goin' Down the Road for the next four years and beyond. (11/10/70 was the last Not Fade Away where it appeared 'on its own'.) I particularly like the versions from late '71 when they extend the two-chord jam going on after the Goodnight theme. One example is the 10/31/71 Dick's Pick, not as 'pretty' as some others but jammed out to four minutes.
There is one more version I must link, though a short one - on 11/19/72, for the only time, the Dead closed a show with the Goodnight instrumental:
Garcia was quoting Donovan's "There Is A Mountain" months before the Allman Brothers were formed, most often playing it for a bar or two in Alligator jams. I think the earliest instance is in the 9-3-67 Alligator; and you can hear it at 9:00 in the Alligator on the Anthem album, or briefly at 12:00 in the 2-14-68 Alligator. Melodically it sounds similar to the Bid You Goodnight riff, so it's interesting that both of these pieces were born in the Alligator jam - there are many early Alligators where Garcia seems constantly just about to play one of these.....
It's tricky finding good links for it though, since he always plays it as just a brief tease, and there's little point in directing you to long Alligators just to find a few seconds of a melody. But one place where it has its own track is 11-6-70 after Goin' Down the Road:
A couple other places where Garcia is playing, not necessarily the exact riff, but an extended jam in the Mountain Jam style, include the 6-4-70 Midnight Hour -
- and six minutes into this expansive Not Fade Away, which in this poor AUD recording sounds like a distorted wah-wah rendition!
Then there's the "Darkness" jam from the Youngbloods song which was done a few times in 1970; the most well-known version is in the 9/19/70 Not Fade Away where it's very clear. (They also do the China Cat riff in that NFA, which they did frequently (and at greater length) in the fall of 1971.)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-07.aud.weiner-gdADT04.5439.sbefail.shnf (in the Lovelight, which includes several theme-jams in a row)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-24.sbd.hanno.6481.sbeok.shnf - in the Lovelight (briefly)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-06.sbd.ashley.2172.sbeok.shnf (in the fantastic Alligator jam, following the Bid You Goodnight riff)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-09-19.mtx.chappell.SB14.31510.sbeok.flac16 (Darkness/China Cat jam in NFA)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-12-12.sbd.clugston.5985.sbeok.shnf (after Goin Down the Road, goes into the Stephen riff, very low-key)
It made a surprise return on 7/31/71, which could be the last version:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-07-31.winberg.weiner.5678.gdADT05.sbefail.shnf (AUD) - after Goin' Down the Road, comes uniquely out of the Bid You Goodnight jam (the SBD was released on the Summer '71 Road Trips)
My own favorite jam was done very few times - the instrumental version of Uncle John's Band, which is just lovely, but was done only in November '69:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-01.sbd.cotsman.6298.sbeok.shnf (in the Alligator jam - brief, following the Goodnight theme)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-07.sbd.kaplan.19783.sbefail.shnf (in Dark Star)
11/8/69 (in Dark Star) The most famous version, on Dick's Picks.
12/5/69 has a very short Uncle John riff preceding the Main Ten, but because it's cut by the AUD taper, it's impossible to tell whether this is the Jam or part of the full song, which had debuted the previous day.
And I have to mention again this great home rehearsal tape (very poor sound, but taped by Robert Hunter I think), which has the Dead in fall '69 practicing the Feelin' Groovy and Uncle John's jams at length - and also John Dawson's first version of Friend of the Devil, before Garcia sang it. Priceless stuff!
The Dead sometimes played the China Cat riff aside from the song, in moments of jamming exuberance in '70/71.
Our first example actually comes from a year earlier, when China Cat was out of the rotation - in the great Alligator jam on 2/7/69, shortly after the drums, Weir starts up the China Cat riff and the band grabs it. Garcia seems to be trying to remember how it goes, and he eventually drags them back to Alligator.
The China Cat jam was an occasional occurrence in 1970 when the band was in a good mood - in these shows, notice how often the Dead tend to string together various common themes:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-01-03.sbd.ret.19440.sbeok.shnf - in the hot Alligator jam (briefly, China Cat jam>Bid You Goodnight riff)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-03-21.late.aud.lee.pcrp.21779.shnf - in the Not Fade Away (Stephen riff>China Cat jam)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-07.aud.weiner-gdADT04.5439.sbefail.shnf - in the Lovelight (a great jam that includes the Stephen riff>Darkness riff>jam>China Cat jam)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-04.sbd.miller.12135.sbeok.shnf - in the Midnight Hour (briefly - it follows a very Mountain Jam-like passage)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-09-19.mtx.chappell.SB14.31510.sbeok.flac16 - Darkness>China Cat jam in Not Fade Away
Later in '71, China Cat jams became a regular feature in Not Fade Away. By late '71 Not Fade Away was hitting a new peak and becoming more jammed-out than it had been in early '71, and some of the best versions come from this tour. These are the Not Fade Aways with China Cat jams in them:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1971-10-27.ashley-bertha.32869.sbeok.flac16 http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-11-15.sbd.cotsman.12438.sbeok.shnf http://www.archive.org/details/gd1971-11-20.sbd.miller.92908.sbeok.flac16 http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-12-05.prefm.miller.3391.sbeok.shnf http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-12-10.sbd.yerys.1311.sbeok.shnf
and a later one - http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-04-14.sbd.hurwitt.8828.sbeok.shnf
The China Cat riff would sometimes pop up in later post-hiatus shows too, particularly in Franklin's Tower, where it fit nicely.
It's already been mentioned a few times in these notes, but frequently in 1970 the Dead would break into the St Stephen riff in the middle of a jam. This was more a 'tease' than a jam really, since they usually just jab at it for a few moments and then move on....sometimes it sounds like Lesh is pushing it but Garcia doesn't want to go that way. But these are the most notable occurrences:
3-21-70 Not Fade Away - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-03-21.late.aud.lee.pcrp.21779.shnf
5-7-70 Lovelight - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-07.aud.weiner-gdADT04.5439.sbefail.shnf
6-4-70 Not Fade Away - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-04.sbd.miller.12135.sbeok.shnf
7-12-70 Lovelight - http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-07-12.aud.unknown.sirmick.24663.sbefail.shnf - (tracked separately - this is one of the best 1970 shows, and one of the worst tapes....)
10-24-70 Good Lovin' - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-10-24.sbd.hollister.103.sbeok.shnf
11-11-70 Hard to Handle - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-11-11.aud.cotsman.17081.sbeok.shnf (the jam comes very close to St Stephen, but doesn't quite go all the way)
12-12-70 Not Fade Away - http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-12-12.sbd.clugston.5985.sbeok.shnf
4-26-71 Good Lovin' (not on the Archive)
4-29-71 Alligator jam (just a brief tease; released on Ladies & Gentlemen)
In 1972 the solos in Greatest Story Ever Told often edged close to St Stephen territory - one famous full-blown Stephen quote (complete with Donna's wails) happened here:
9-28-72 - http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-09-28.sbd.bill.12657.sbeok.shnf
A couple later examples are in the Greatest Stories on 5-20-73 and 5-17-74.
This was a blues song Garcia was fond of (done by Blind Willie Johnson, among others), and we have one performance from 1966:
Nobody's Fault resurfaced as a jam inside New Speedway Boogie for a few shows in 1970, including 5-14-70 and 6-13-70:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-13.sbd.hanno.9079.sbefail.shnf (brief, but this New Speedway is notable for having piano!)
Once New Speedway was dropped, you'd think that would be the end of it, but Garcia managed to slip Nobody's Fault into the Truckin' jam starting in late '72:
And for the next two years, Nobody's Fault would become a regular part of many a Truckin' - some two dozen in fact - sometimes sung, sometimes just jammed. Two released examples are the 12-19-73 Dick's Pick and the 6-16-74 Road Trips bonus disc. The last one played was this:
Nobody's Fault would very occasionally pop up afterwards - for instance on 10-12-77 out of Truckin', 6-4 and 7-7-78 in Not Fade Away, 1-5-79 out of Truckin' again, 5-4-81 and 9-3-85 in the 'space' slots, and about once a year in the '90s.....
The Philo Stomp was a stomping bass solo Lesh did in fall 1972. It may have started to take shape over the summer, as he often did rather aimless solos from Truckin' into the Other One; but all of a sudden in a series of October '72 shows, it emerges full-blown:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-18.sbd.weir.7295.sbeok.shnf (in Dark Star)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-24.pset2-sbd.hamilton.159.sbeok.shnf (in the Other One)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1972-10-28.sbd.finney.160.shnf (in Dark Star)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1972-11-13.aud.cotsman.7518.sbefail.shnf (in Dark Star)
11-13 is the best example; after that, Lesh's long solos in Dark Stars tend to meander:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-11-19.sbd.winters.17705.sbeok.shnf http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-11-26.sbd.cotsman.9248.sbeok.shnf
And from 1973, here are a couple Dark Stars that end in more organized, interesting bass solos:
Caution started out in '65 as an imitation of Them's "Mystic Eyes". It had been a regular jam-piece in Pigpen's days, usually following Alligator, but sometimes as an instrumental theme inside Viola Lee jams. (I talk more about it in my Viola Lee post.)
By the time Pigpen left in '72, the Dead had developed it enough so that they could have kept it as a jam theme even without him; but they decided not to. Somehow a couple Caution jams still slipped into the end of '74, very loose and jazzy:
9-18-74 (out of Truckin') -
10-19-74 (out of He's Gone, into Truckin') - on the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack.
In later years, Caution would be very rare indeed, but sometimes it would burst out of a He's Gone jam - on 10/27/79, 5/12/80, and 5/6/81.
Slipknot was just a riff in '74; in the studio in '75 the Dead would work it into the "space-jazz" section of a new suite. So it's interesting to hear the Dead (particularly Garcia) toying with this new riff in some '74 shows, seeing what they could do with it. Also note how far removed it is from the more melodic, accessible jam-riffs they had done in previous years!
(Although....the Slipknot riff closely resembles the Seven riff....)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-02-22.sbd.patched.sirmick.21539.sbeok.shnf (in Playing)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-02-23.sbd.clugston.3382.sbeok.shnf (in the Other One)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-06-20.sbd.clugston.2179.sbeok.shnf (19 minutes into Eyes)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-07-25.sbd.miller.12656.sbeok.shnf (21 minutes into Dark Star)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1974-10-20.sbd.smith-lee.GEMS.97193.flac16 (14 minutes into Eyes)
'73 and '74 saw the jams opening up in all directions. There are a number of gnarly riffs that get repeated from show to show (particularly by Phil), but without names or identities they're hard to pin down. The repeating-riff jam at the end of Eyes in these years is very similar to Stronger Than Dirt, and often gets called that, but I think it's a distinct piece. Stronger Than Dirt may have evolved from it, though - check out the Eyes>Dirt from 8-13-75 (One From The Vault) to hear the difference from the '73/74 jam.
[Stronger Than Dirt, confusingly, is also known as King Solomon's Marbles or Milkin' the Turkey. Most of these jams were not named by the band - here they gave one too many names!]
There may well be other distinct jams that they didn't do enough times for us to identify - the Alllmans-like Jam in the Other One of 7/25/72 is a great example, which sounds so composed it's hard to believe they only did it once - also the "Beautiful Jam", done only during the 2/18/71 Dark Star, which is quite unique, almost a song in itself. (I don't think it's closely related to the Tighten Up jam, though others hear it that way.)
Also check out the portion of 3-22-72 that was released on a bonus disc: in the jam at the end of Caution, there's a quiet part where the Dead play a mysterious instrumental theme that sounds like a lovely, unusual cross between Bobby McGee and Bid You Goodnight, but is definitely an unknown tune.....one of those haunting moments.
The "Beautiful Jam" in the 2/18/71 Dark Star -
the "almost-China Cat jam" in the 8/14/71 Other One -
the instrumental after the 3/22/72 Caution -
and the long, tantalizing "almost-Spanish jam" in the 7/25/72 Other One.
And finally, here is a listing of other various one-time-only jams the Dead played over the years, not related to their usual pieces.
This isn't the place to cover the big '74 jams out of Truckin' or Let It Grow, or the instrumental-only versions of Dark Star or the Other One, or the odd instrumental cover like Hideaway or various tuning riffs; and I've decided to skip the occasional soundcheck jams (though they can be interesting).
I also decided to leave out the Seastones '74 sets and Hartbeats '68 shows, since those were covered in this post:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1966-XX-XX.sbd.GEMS.81254.flac16 - generic Blues Jam with Jorma & Jack Casady
http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-03-19.sbd.scotton.81951.sbeok.flac - Slow Blues Instrumental (They also cover Freddie King's "Heads Up" at this show.)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-03-25.sbd.unknown.38.sbeok.shnf - Instrumental
http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-11-10.sbd.sacks.1612.sbeok.shnf - this file includes 7-23-67, the jam behind Casady's rap (it's a Lovelight instrumental into Space)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-05-07.sbd.cotsman.6028.sbeok.shnf - Instrumental after a jammed-out Me & My Uncle (sadly cut)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1969-04-21.sbd.miller.88465.sbeok.flac16 - Foxy Lady jam (brief)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-04-15.sbd.kaplan.14354.sbeok.shnf - Santana-like jam after drums in the Other One
http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-09.sbd.vernon.5249.sbeok.shnf - short blues jam with Grace Slick
http://www.archive.org/details/gd73-07-27.aud.weiner.gdadt26.26363.sbeok.shnf - Watkins Glen Jam. (AUD version, since SBD has a small cut)
6/18/74 (Road Trips) - It's A Sin jam. (They had done the song a number of times in '66 and '69, but I don't recall other instrumental versions.)
http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-06-23.sbd.cribbs.16780.sbeok.shnf - Jam into Ship of Fools (Similar to the 6-26 jam into China Cat.)
I'm sure there are other unique jams I've forgotten, so feel free to add examples....
Another Tighten Up connection -
This is a performance of Archie Bell's original version:
Now here, from years later, is a tune called Hypnotize from Kingfish:
Hmm....that riff is a bit similar, isn't it?
Kingfish listeners at the time might've thought they were copying Eyes of the World....
And while I'm at it, a link to Your Mind Has Left Your Body (Garcia on pedal steel):
Feelin' Groovy (S&G live at Monterey):
Darkness Darkness (the Youngbloods):
There Is A Mountain (Donovan live on '60s TV - the world has sure changed):
Mystic Eyes (Them live! - the Dead copied this note-for-note in Caution):
Nobody's Fault But Mine (Blind Willie Johnson):
Hideaway (Freddie King live on TV - Garcia was especially fond of this tune):
I Bid You Goodnight (Joseph Spence & the Pindar Family - starting after 3:20):
46 comments:
A correction for the Main Ten -
The '6/19/68' show is now known to be 2/19/69, so that's now our first known date for the Main Ten. I have to think, if it had been composed earlier, it would have shown up in one of the '68 Hartbeats shows, so perhaps this riff started much later than I thought.I found the earliest Seven jam!
Garcia plays it somewhere in the middle of the really long Carousel jam with Jorma, Jack and Mickey on 5/21/68. Out of nowhere, and it fits right in. (Brief, though.)
I also read somewhere that the 5/7/69 Dark Star supposedly has a Seven jam in it - but listening again, I didn't hear one.There's a particular jazzy Phil riff that he pushes a lot around '73 - a good example is early in the Dark Star on 6/24/73. I haven't attempted to find all the different renditions. Sometimes it dies quickly, sometimes Weir joins in with a counterpoint, sometimes (as here) the whole band plays with it... I can't place whether it's an original riff or a jazz quote. But it's almost like an early version of the Stronger Than Dirt riff.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousSeptember 7, 2011 at 12:37 PM
I'm very tempted to believe that the 6/19/68 show (2/19/69) was recorded much later than February 69. The show starts with a Lovelight>Not Fade Away>Lovelight sandwhich. However, the band did not start playing NFA until 12/69. In addition, they didn't start combining NFA with Lovelight until around 3/70. Perhaps this was one of those mysterious "early shows" that they were doing in 1970? Early 1970 of course.
-Rob Purificato (email@example.com) - AnonymousSeptember 7, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Listening to it now, it does sound, at the very least, un-Feb-69-like. Jerry's tone on this recording sounds nothing like the live/dead era Jerry. Also, (I'm only on the 2nd lovelight right now, its been a while) as of yet, I hear no Tom Constanten. Also, The way the Dead play here sounds so comfortable. It sounds like they're playing in a small venue with all of their friends. The crowd chanting (in lovelight), as well as the way dead are completely fearless in their playing (the jamming in the end of lovelight, going into NFA sounds like they're just having fun) and they are having fun by the sounds of it. On a wild guess I might even say that perhaps the Pranksters were a part of this show. What do you think?
ReplyDelete - AnonymousSeptember 7, 2011 at 1:25 PM
(sorry in advance for the flood of writing) There is some organ an the end of lovelight. But it does sound more like pigpen than Tom. And it's probly Pigpen because You don't hear it until the end, until after Pig came back to the mic (and probably onstage- judging by the "Hey Pigpen, where are you? Get the fuck over here!" comment that was made earlier in the song.
-Rob Interesting, thoughtful comments - but, after writing a whole post on this show, I'm still convinced that it's 2/19/69:
I think the style is a lot closer to early '69 than to early '70; it really doesn't sound like 1970 at all to me (especially the NFA).
They almost did NFA on 4/23/69, but stopped because they were out of tune or something, so it's not improbable for them to try it in Feb '69. (For that matter, the Main Ten starts showing up in Dead shows in April '69 too.)
And you're right about it being a comfortable venue for the Dead, as it was in the Carousel. I think my post explains the looseness & Pranksterish chanting.
There are various mixing problems on the tape, so the organ is not really audible til the second-set jams. I don't know who's playing, it's not necessarily TC or Pigpen.- AnonymousSeptember 12, 2011 at 4:50 PM
Aw man, how could I forget about that post?!
Haha wow. I would have to agree with you on that one. Very nice article btw.
Looking forward to whatever you're cooking up.
Good Day,
Robert The Tighten Up jam may be misidentified...
People listening to a couple of the '69 jams have noticed its resemblance to the Chicago song Beginnings.
You can compare Weir's chords to the intro of Beginnings:
or to Tighten Up:
I'm on the fence, as there are resemblances to both (it's a very similar pattern), but the Tighten Up jam may actually be the Beginnings jam!Replies- AnonymousFebruary 25, 2013 at 10:03 PM
It sounds like "Tighten Up" to my ear.
And recall that Pigpen would sometimes encourage the rest of the band to "tighten up" as things got a little weird in a drawn-out "Love Light," echoing Archie Bell's delivery. - AnonymousJanuary 6, 2014 at 4:05 AM
Has anyone ever asked Weir or the others about this? Since it was a jam that they returned to multiple times it's possible that they would have some recollection of its inception.
Merryjerry No,I don't think the band members have ever been asked.
Not that they might remember too much anyway. There's one '80s interview where Mickey Hart is asked about the Spanish Jam, and reminded that it drew on a Sketches From Spain piece:
"God! Those things just come out! Those are really not planned. That really comes out when we are jamming. I forgot even where that came from! I didn't even think about that, but you're right, that's where it did come from... I knew I recognized it from someplace!"
(from Swing 51 #7, 1983, Garcia article)- AnonymousApril 14, 2014 at 2:47 AM
what are some examples of the "Insect Fear Jam"
This was mentioned in the Skeleton key dictionary, but they gave no examples Well, people's definitions may differ; I think of it as another name for the Tiger Jam - which wasn't a thematic jam, just a term for the band's scary meltdowns when Garcia's screeching on wah-wah & Lesh is scraping his strings & everyone's making alarming noises; very common in '72-74.
Other people think of it as a name for the Phil/Ned interlude in '74, but I suppose any atonal space could get tagged with the name.
Now that you mention it, I wonder how the name "insect fear" originated. The first time I've seen it used was on Mickey Hart's 1972 album Rolling Thunder, where Garcia was credited with "insect fear" on the 'Pump Song.' (Mickey later also recorded a radio play called "The Bugs" about an insect invasion, which included music from the 11/28/73 experimental performance.)
How & when that term started being used for the Dead's spaces, I'm not sure.
- AnonymousMarch 5, 2012 at 10:46 AM
I believe there is a Tighten Up jam in the Dark Star from 10/17/70 Cleveland that has just surfaced, starting around 10:30.
ReplyDelete Great article. I wanted to point out that the "Mind Left Body" jam made a reappearance in "The Music Never Stopped" circa summer 1990 and may have become a permanent part of the song after that (I heard it at 7-12-90 and 9-25-91).
ReplyDeleteDon't know if you're following 30 Days of Dead over at dead.net, but yesterday's selections was the Feelin' Groovy Jam -> Sugar Magnolia from 2/24/73 (more is in the vault than circulates, apparently). You mention above that there's an AUD tape from the show, and deadlists.com notes 60min. of AUD tape containing the Truckin' through Sugar Mags portion. But as far as I can tell, that audience tape doesn't circulate on the web (on Archive or elsewhere). Have you heard it? If so, do you have any idea how we could get it into circulation?
ReplyDeleteRepliesI also talked a bit about this show in my post on incomplete shows from Feb '73. The second-set SBD snippet on the Archive is mislabeled as being Truckin'>Nobody's Fault (deadlists repeats the error, for some reason) but it's actually the post-Eyes jam.
The Sugar Magnolia in the Vault snippet isn't on the Archive copy (which cuts off just at that point), but unfortunately a big chunk of the second set is missing from the Vault - Lemieux wrote:
"Unfortunately, reel #5 is missing from the vault, but what's on reel #6 is certainly worth hearing: Jam>Bass Solo>Jam>Sugar Magnolia. Too bad the 46 minutes that precedes this jam is missing, but at least this excellent jam remains."
The AUD was reviewed in the Taping Compendium, but I've never heard it. My guess is the quality is pretty poor and very few people (outside of the top collectors) have it, or else it would've made it to digital by now. (Lots of AUDs mentioned in the Compendium or deadlists have similarly disappeared.) A mention of it in the Lossless Legs forum brought no response. So, unless someone who has the show gets reminded about it & has the desire to transfer it to digital, we're out of luck.
But the situation isn't hopeless - I heard recently that someone's planning to transfer a complete AUD of 2/15/73 to digital, and I just worked to bring an alternate AUD of 7/12/70 to light too; so these things do keep trickling out.
The Dark Star played on 12/18/73 contains a 'Mind Left Body Jam' that should be added to the list. Commencing at the 8:0l mark, and spanning to the 9:27 mark, this version is less defined than some of its contemporaries; however, the lush, subtleness of this one is no less charming. While it's not as fully realized and definitive as the epic 6/28/74 version (the yardstick by which all others should be judged), it nevertheless deserves its rightful place in the MLB canon.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousSeptember 6, 2013 at 7:39 AM
I'm listening to the 10-25-1969 Winterland Dark Star. Does this Dark Star not also contain a brief Feelin' Groovy Jam into a Tighten Up Jam? This would make a total of 3 Dark Star's containing a Feelin' Groovy and Tighten Up Jam. I admit that the 11-02-1969 and 01-02-1970 versions are much more developed.
Thanks for all your work. Really love your site.
-MikeRepliesActually, I did not try to track how many Dark Stars had both Tighten Up and Feelin' Groovy jams, but it is certainly more than those three. Offhand I would say most of the 1970 Dark Star Tighten Ups are also accompanied by a Feelin' Groovy jam, though not necessarily back-to-back like in these early versions.
When I first heard The Music Never Stopped I was immediately reminded of this song:
So maybe we should call the MLB jam the YAINTGB jam...Replies- AnonymousDecember 3, 2013 at 9:02 PM
"You're all i need to get by" is a progression involving A, B7, Dm6 and back to A. All these chords include an A note, and they involve a descending pattern of E,Eflat,D and C#. For MLB, the chord progression which i've found to best work in all keys (it was played in A, D and E) is A7, D/E, Dm/E, A. All the chords share an E note, and there is a descending pattern of G, F#, F and E. So, indeed, similarities. I got the chords for YAINTGB from Motown Showstoppers.
There is a jam which was called "Epilogue" on Europe '72, came in the wake of Truckin' and ahead of the Other One. It often popped up in Dark Stars of the era, notably 8/24/72 (excellent version of both the jam and DS, underrated and overlooked due to the version of three days later) and the 2/26/73 Dark Star (DP 28), likewise great versions of both. Has it ever attained a name of its own other than "Epilogue"? "Epilogue" sounds like passages in a lot of Dark Stars, but I wasn't able to pick out any particular themed jam in it. At any rate it doesn't go by another name.
- AnonymousDecember 26, 2013 at 8:16 AM
Some early 1970 Dark Stars feature another two chord pattern by Weir (A7 - G7), for instance 2/2/70 starting around 12:00. I believe some mistake this for Tighten Up and it does sound like a more aggressive variation on Tighten Up. Not sure if it occured often enough to deserve its own name.
ReplyDeleteRepliesI think that pattern's too scanty to single out as its own jam (and not sure how much it occurs outside of early '70), but Dark Star did have some other recognizable themed signposts from time to time - like the "sputnik jams" so common in '69, or Phil's 6/8 riff that keeps popping up in '73 (for instance, around 6:30 in the 6/24/73 Dark Star).
One reader wrote a post on Phil's jazzy 6/8 riff that pops up so often in 1973 shows - giving it the title of the "Elastic Ping Pong Jam." Well worth reading:
Some further comment on it here:
Early, undeveloped versions of it show up in late '72, for instance in the 11/19/72 Dark Star; but here's a partial list of where it shows up in '73:
12/31/72, start of the Other One
2/26/73 Dark Star (starts about 10-11m in)
2/28/73 Other One (around 4:40)
6/24/73 Dark Star (after 6:20)
6/29/73 Other One (around 3:25)
9/11/73 Dark Star (about 10-11m in)
10/30/73 Dark Star (at 6:20)
I'm sure more examples can be found. As far as I know, it dies away in late '73.RepliesPhil plays this line extensively in the 11/17/72 Other One, starting about 9 minutes in and continuing it on & off for a couple minutes - then he keeps repeating it occasionally in the rest of the jam.
DeleteIn the 6/10/73 Dark Star, Phil takes a bass solo before the verse, is it possible that this same riff is played in that jam?
DeletePhil's bass solo in the 6/10/73 Dark Star is based on the "Philo Stomp" (which got deconstructed a bit in '73 and played in more fragmentary fashion), but the jam after the bass solo, when the guitars return, starts with the "elastic ping pong" riff.
DeleteThanks for the reply, I love this particular jam, but seem to have some trouble tracking all the variations (I don't have any music education). Still, I'll be on the lookout for more versions.
DeleteI don't have any music education either; I know almost nothing about music, which this site makes glaringly apparent. You can learn what to listen for, though. All you need is ears!
The elastic ping pong jam is very cool. The writer of that blog suggests that this jam served as the basis for Stronger than Dirt/King Solomon's Marbles, and that may well be. Dirt/Marbles is in 7, however, so some further evolution would have had to occur. But, both the ping pong jam and Dirt/Marbles are in B minor. Further, the ping pong jam does remind me very much of the jam they did on 3/23/75.
Also, the genesis of this jam may have begun as early as April 11, 1972 in Newcastle. Listen to Truckin' at 15:37-16:05. Phil quotes the bass line to Wayne Shorter's Footprints quite clearly (in D minor). Footprints is in 3, so it's not much of a stretch to work that into the ping pong type of jam. Some of Phil's opening licks during the 6/24/73 ping pong jam have a clear relationship to the Footprints bass line.
In any case, great stuff.RepliesSome people have suggested before that this jam might have been based on Footprints -
I am not so sure - Phil had a lot of related bass-lines going on in '72-75, making it hard to say whether one theme turned into another over time, or if they're distinct but just sound similar.... But over time, listeners will probably turn up more to study in this family group of Phil's jazzy riffs.
- AnonymousAugust 5, 2014 at 10:23 AM
The end of Eyes at the Curtis Hixon in Dec 73 could be an even earlier Slipknot - just Garcia and only a flirtation shortly past the 10 min mark.


text:
What specifically is "blinding" you? This is actually the first complaint about the color scheme that has been posted.
I know I cannot be the only one who is blinded by the default theme on this site. I'd love to view this site, but it feels like I'm looking at one of those shirts with the designs made to hurt your eyes to look at. So if you will not change the default theme, please add the option to select other css themes so I can at least view this site.
What specifically is "blinding" you? This is actually the first complaint about the color scheme that has been posted.
The white text on black background. Can't explain it really, but I've shown it to others on different computers and they agreed that its really difficult to look at. Maybe no ones complained, because like me they just never came back?
As far as the forum theme goes, this was the first negative comment, while the rest were positive (that we have seen). However, we will definitely take your thoughts into consideration to look for areas of improvement, while keeping the same color scheme.
The only thing I dont like are small fonts and the fonttype (hard to read..)
I don't see anything to complain about, really. Obviously you're used to the common black text on a white background. Fact is, that is several thousand times more blinding than in the other-way-around case due to the amount of light emited from the monitor. The contrast. on the other hand, is equally high in both cases. I think, however, that increasing the brightness of the near-black backgrounds with white text would make it look more aesthetically appealing.
Sorry I should have been more specific. I was talking about the Main Phoronix site, not the new forums. The forums look fine to me.
In that case, I agree to some extent. A dark grey background would be preferable to a pitch black one for the white text.Originally Posted by KohlyKohl
I don't have a problem with the theme colors, but I'm pretty sure there's a plugin for vBulletin that allows users to switch between themes. I can look into it if you want, Michael.
It's not a plugin, it's built into vB from the getgo, it's just a matter of switching an option. And building another template of course, hehe.

subset: commoncrawl


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SBD Global/November 28, 2013/People and Pop Culture
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text:
Losing all opinions and listening to your girlfriends every beckin call without question
PETE MENDICINO to BRITTANY B
από Emily Fairmont
28 Νοέμβριος 2003
Whoh-keesh! (Sound of cracking of bullwhip whenever a guy does what his woman tells him to)
Don't surprise me that he's so pussy whipped, being that he's so damn submissive to his girl!
από Anton
8 Μάιος 2003
When a man is controlled by his woman.
when a woman tells a man to do everything and he does because he is a bitch.
από mike trainor
17 Μάρτιος 2003
The state in which a male is totally and utterly owned by his female companion. He lives in constant fear of her, despite being 300 times stronger and tougher than her and being the sole reason that bitch has food to eat and a roof over her ungrateful head. Such a pitiful man has to "check-in" every 4 minutes to make sure his woman is "okay" with him being away from her. A total disgrace to all mankind, deserves to be sent to a concentrations camp. Will follow his woman all over the planet "just because" (lacks testicles)
"Thank god i'm not pussy-whipped! I know how to make my bitch come correct!"
από i see your ass
30 Ιανουάριος 2003
A guy so infatuated by a woman, or should I say Goddess, that he would eat a yard of her feces just to see where it came from. Once there, begging for seconds.
He's so pussy whipped that he is just happy she lets him see it.
από Philo Swneey
26 Φεβρουάριος 2007
A pussywhipped person (usually male but can be female) is a person that enjoys serving and being submissive to women. As female bosses and female leadership are becoming more common, the term is being used less as the female-in-charge is becoming "normal"
A pussywhipped male, for example, would much rather spend a Sunday hosting a pedicure party for his girlfriend and her friends serving them wine and food and giving them all great pedicures instead of watching football and drinking beer and eating pizza.
από flrjohn
12 Αύγουστος 2006
being your girlfriends bitch
από diondion
10 Ιανουάριος 2008


text:
The AFTRA Media and Entertainment Excellence Awards were created in 2003 to honor AFTRA members for excellence in their craft and their contributions to the fields of media and entertainment.
We are pleased to honor three industry veterans in 2012: recording artist Rosanne Cash; actress Phylicia Rashad; and New York disc jockey and rock historian Pete Fornatale.
Proceeds from the 2012 AMEE Awards go to benefit the AFTRA Foundation, an independent non-profit organization separate from AFTRA that provides support to charitable and educational endeavors critical to AFTRA members, including the George Heller Memorial Scholarship , which provides scholarships to AFTRA members and their dependents for academic study, and the International News Safety Institute, the only global organization solely dedicated to the safety of journalists and other news professionals.


text:
Cards, Crew look to take sole possession of first place
Brewers trying to end seven-game skid while St. Louis eyes sweep
The Brewers' lead over the Cardinals in the National League Central finally evaporated Saturday afternoon after a 10-2 loss in Milwaukee. It marked Milwaukee's seventh consecutive defeat and 11th in 12 games dating back to June 29.
But the disappointment stemming from Milwaukee's midseason collapse has paled in comparison to the overwhelming sadness gripping the clubhouse after shortstop Jean Segura learned late Friday night that his nine-month-old son, Janniel, had passed away.
Segura traveled home to the Dominican Republic early Saturday morning and was placed on the bereavement list. At this point, the team is unsure of when Segura will return.
With heavy hearts, the Brewers have no choice but to move forward. They'll cap off the first half of 2014 with the series finale against the Cardinals on Sunday, a chance to not only regain the division lead, but also provide a glimmer of positivity in a moment of devastation.
"You walk in after a tough loss and you hear another [piece of] bad news. That's hard," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "I always talk about these guys being able to turn the page, and we will."
Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez will match up with Brewers right-hander Wily Peralta on the mound for Sunday's contest.
Martinez will be making his seventh career start and sixth this season. The Cardinals are 5-0 in his five starts. He's compiled a 4.12 ERA in 59 innings this season, the majority of which have come during his 30 relief appearances.
In his last start, Martinez surrendered four runs over six innings in the Cards' 5-4 walk-off win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Peralta has gone 9-6 with a 3.95 ERA in 18 starts this season. The Phillies rocked the right-hander for nine earned runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings in his last outing.
Cardinals: Matheny confident in Cruz behind the plate
Yadier Molina is expected to miss 8-12 weeks with a torn ligament in his right thumb, and he was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday. In the meantime, Tony Cruz has assumed the starting role.
The Brewers stole two bases on a double steal in the first inning of Friday's night's series opener and added another in Saturday's game. Even so, manager Mike Matheny is not concerned and has full faith in Cruz's defensive abilities.
"I'm not that concerned because I know how good of a thrower Tony is," Matheny said.
Cruz contributed with his bat in Saturday's 10-2 victory, driving in three runs.
Brewers: Wang to the DL
Brewers Rule 5 Draft pick Wei-Chung Wang was placed on the disabled list late Thursday night with shoulder tightness.
Wang compiled an 11.12 ERA in 13 appearances this season. The 22-year-old, who pitched in rookie ball last year, saw limited action because of his inexperience.
Manager Ron Roenicke said Wang would get several weeks of rest before beginning his throwing program and ultimately joining a Minor League affiliate for a rehab assignment. The skipper thinks the time off will be positive for Wang's development.
"That's the hard thing with what we were doing with him, is it was so inconsistent as to what we were doing. He would go 10 days, sometimes 12 days," Roenicke said. "That's what makes it so hard -- you want to develop him, and you also want him to pitch well for you, yet the inconsistent work is tough on a guy."
Worth Noting
• The Cardinals optioned catcher Audry Perez to Triple-A Memphis to make room for catcher George Kottaras on the 25-man roster.
Daniel Popper is an associate reporter for MLB.com. He also can be found on Twitter @danielrpopper. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Ken Whisenhunt sends right message in benching John Skelton
It may not have resulted in a win, but Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt made the call of the season early in Sunday's game at the Georgia Dome.
After four first quarter possessions, quarterback John Skelton got the hook in favor of rookie Ryan Lindley.
Skelton suffered yet another bout of ineffectiveness, completing just 2-of-7 passes for six yards. But the problem wasn't necessarily Skelton's completion percentage. The problem was his on-going struggles with accuracy, which led to several missed opportunities. And this time, there were no receivers dropping passes to blame.
The play that stands out like a sore thumb is a first quarter throw into the end zone intended for a wide-open Larry Fitzgerald that wound up soaring out of bounds. Earlier, Skelton had a chance to hit Fitzgerald for a first down but missed on that one as well. Neither throw appeared to be all that difficult.
The Cardinals defense intercepted Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan three times in the first quarter but had only a 13-0 lead to show for it. They wound up with five picks and a fumble recovery on the afternoon. A team with half an offense would have won by a minimum of three touchdowns with that kind of defensive performance.
Unless Lindley gets hurt, Skelton should not see the field again this season.
At 4-6, chances are slim to none this team is bound for the playoffs, although no one inside the organization would dare admit that now, nor should they. Both the division and the conference are way too competitive for a team with less than 10 wins to reach the postseason. So unless you think the Cardinals have a six-game winning streak in them with December road games at New York, Seattle and San Francisco, then hear me out.
Skelton has had multiple opportunities to take the starting quarterback job from Kevin Kolb. He didn't have a good preseason. He wasn't off to a good start in Week 1 before getting hurt. And, with the exception of a decent second half in Green Bay two weeks ago, he's been inaccurate way too often since Kolb got hurt five weeks ago. There's no reason to believe the Cardinals can win with Skelton under center. In fact, they haven't yet this season.
Although Lindley wasn't anything special against the Falcons, he wasn't expected to be. He hadn't seen any game action since the preseason, and presumably did not receive many snaps with the first team offense in practice during the bye week. He looked like a sixth-round draft pick making his NFL debut.
Unfortunately Skelton has looked like a rookie since August. I think that given a full week to practice with the starters, we'll see a better Lindley next Sunday against the Rams.
In fact, Lindley should play until Kolb is healthy enough to return, especially if the Cardinals have the slightest inkling he could be their signal caller of the future. Maybe they have already secretly decided to move on from Kolb after the season.
There are still more questions than answers surrounding their future at quarterback.
Would Larry Fitzgerald be okay with a rookie under center the rest of the way? He only caught one ball for 11 yards on Sunday. Of course it was Lindley who threw it to him.
And did you read his body language when Skelton missed him in the end zone?
John Skelton is a nice guy. I think he works hard and does his best to prepare as thoroughly as he can. He's got a good arm. The Cardinals had an impressive run with him running the show down the stretch last year -- thanks in larger part to Patrick Peterson and a great defense -- but the proof is in the pudding this year.
2012 started with so much promise, but has gone down in a hurry. Now it's time for the Cardinals to give fans a reason to have hope for the future.


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Don Sawruk '70
"My two business degrees from LSSU were instrumental in preparing me to work at all levels of Edison Sault Electric (ESE), concluding with the privilege of becoming ESE President in 1998. My company also takes pride in that 14 out of a total of 17 management personnel and about 20% of hourly employees at ESE either have degrees from or have attended a substantial number of classes at LSSU. Finally, our company and employees have contributed in excess of $500,000 to various LSSU projects over the last 25 years. ESE Believes in Blue." Edison Sault Electric Company President and CEO Sault Ste. Marie, MI LSSU Business and Economics Outstanding Alumnus Award '03
Highest Awards
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i hope the rest of the system remains free of that fucking proprietary spyware crap (encrypted binary, encrypted traffic, analyzes the hardware it runs on, stupid PR gag against AMD, different binaries for chinese IPs, ...). i tried to configure skype on a friend's winxp computer not to start when at system startup. the config dialog said "Saving options. This may take some minutes" for over half an hour. holy crap!
for those who are not yet into skype bashing:
it's a shame the english wikipedia does not have a "criticism" section in the article.


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KQED Guides
SF zipper pouch
November 20, 2012 | 2:26 PM | By Tina Barseghian
About the author
Technology is revolutionizing the world of education – replacing familiar classroom tools and changing the way we learn. MindShift explores the future of learning in all its dimensions – covering cultural and technology trends, groundbreaking research, education policy and more. Tina Barseghian is the editor. View all posts by Tina Barseghian →


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text: Avengers Alliance Tactics is the new Marvel game coming to Facebook. Similar to the last game, players will act as a SHIELD agent, sending teams of heroes in battles that are turn-based. In Tactics however, the map is grid-based, rather than enemies and heroes simply being on opposite sides of the screen. This new setup means that positioning plays a role in gameplay, and the 3D graphics mean the 20 available heroes can be seen from multiple angles. It's likely that more Marvel heroes will be included further after launch. No word on when the worldwide launch will be, but apparently the game will be available in Canada shortly.


text:
Arizona Coyotes
Dave Tippett speaks highly of the Coyotes' offseason acquisitions
With the ownership situation still in flux this past summer, general manager Don Maloney was forced to make shrewd and rather inexpensive moves to bolster the Phoenix Coyotes' roster.
While the team didn't land any big names during the offseason, the additions of Steve Sullivan (38-year-old left winger, who has played in parts of 18 seasons), David Moss (six-year veteran, who can play center and right wing) and Nick Johnson (27-year-old right winger, who has 31 points in 87 career games with the Penguins and Wild) should fit in nicely with the Coyotes' desire to play gritty, disciplined hockey.
Although Dave Tippett has only had a few days to watch the trio strut their stuff on the ice, Phoenix's head coach gave rave reviews of all three in his scouting report to the media Monday.
"Sullivan kind of looks like Ray Whitney out there a little bit," Tippett said. "He's the same kind of player, has good quickness, good vision, high skill, so we will try him in the same spot as where had Whits last year."
In 2012, the 40-year-old Whitney led the team with 77 points (24 goals and 53 assists) playing alongside Radim Vrbata and Martin Hanzal on Phoenix's first line. The club, however, opted not to re-sign Whitney. He ultimately reached a two-year agreement with the Dallas Stars.
While Sullivan will be expected to produce offensively on the Coyotes' top line, Moss was primarily brought in to be a bruiser and an occasional goal scorer along with Boyd Gordon, Lauri Korpikoski and Raffi Torres (when he returns from the eight games remaining on his suspension).
Moss was very injury prone for the better part of his time with the Calgary Flames and required ankle surgery in 2011-12. Still, Tippett views him as a necessary asset.
"He's a big, heavy guy who goes up and down the wing, who has scored 20 goals in this league before," said Tippett. "He's one of those guys that's a mucker, grinder but finds a way to get to the net."
While Sullivan and Moss are proven veterans that will likely adapt rather easily to Tippett's team-first philosophy, Johnson is a bit of a mystery. The former third-round pick has barely scratched the surface of his potential, having played in only one full season in the NHL.
"Johnson is an interesting player," said Tippett. "He hasn't had a great deal of opportunity in the NHL, but you watch the things he does out there, he's an intelligent player that uses his big body well.
"I don't know a lot about him, but from what I've seen here for a few days, he looks like he's going to be a good fit for our team."
With a 48-game season, the Coyotes' newest pieces won't have much time to get accumulated, but from the sound of it -- and granted it's only the first official day of training camp -- Maloney may have once again found terrific bargains in free agency.
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- Shane Doan, Coyotes captainShane Doan discusses his future in Arizona and the direction of the Coyotes.
- Dave Tippett- Coyotes head coachDave Tippett doesn't want to experience this season again.


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History & Civilization
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I Didn't Know That
I Didn't Know That: Fire Stunts
Richard Ambrose and Jonny Phillips learn how to safely "play with fire" from a professional fire-eater and stunt performer.
I Didn't Know That
I Didn't Know That: Fire Stunts
Fire Fighting
Richard Ambrose and Jonny Phillips learn how to safely "play with fire" from a professional fire-eater and stunt performer.
NARRATOR: Fire one of the most useful natural phenomena in the world, but also one of the most destructive.
RICHARD AMBROSE: So, what's fire all about?
NARRATOR: There's a three part formula to fire.
RICHARD AMBROSE: It's called the fire triangle.
JONNY PHILLIPS: And this is what you need; oxygen, usually from the air; a fuel, which is basically anything that will burn and heat to get the fuel to the temperature at which it will burst into flames.
NARRATOR: So how can you make fire?
JONNY PHILLIPS: Method one, elbow grease and plenty of it. The friction creates heat and tiny embers of wood which act as the initial fuel to start the fire, eventually.
RICHARD AMBROSE: And method two, flint and steel. This makes incredibly hot sparks of the steel, and once there's a flame, silver birch bark is ideal tinder, because it contains a natural oil which lights up very easily. Jonny, how you getting on?
JONNY PHILLIPS: Yeah, really well mate, yeah.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Yeah, [laughs], whey hey, flint and steel! Look at it! Excellent!
NARRATOR: The three elements of fire; fuel, heat and oxygen are the everyday stock in trade of Sandy McClure. Who has his own unique take on the fire triangle.
RICHARD AMBROSE & JONNY PHILLIPS IN UNISON: Whoa! How do you do that?
SANDY MCCLURE: Basically you just take some paraffin in your mouth um, and you need to blow it out so that you get as fine a mist as possible. It tastes absolutely disgusting to be honest.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Is it that bad?
SANDY MCCLURE: It really is that bad. Liquid paraffin doesn't burn.
RICHARD AMBROSE: So you're making a vapor.
SANDY MCCLURE: Yeah, you kind of um, mix air in your mouth as you blow it out.
JONNY PHILLIPS: And Sandy have you ever hurt yourself doing this?
Not, not too seriously, I had the wind change and blow the flame into my face once, uh, that burnt my lips and my face a little bit obviously, lost the eye, the eyebrows for a couple of weeks uh, and have had a couple of chemical burns on the gums.
RICHARD AMBROSE: So one word, should children try it at home?
SANDY MCCLURE: Oh no, definitely not.
JONNY PHILLIPS: What about adults? 'Yeah, fine'.
SANDY MCCLURE: No! Definitely....
NARRATOR: It's the final part of our investigation into fire and Now we're going to find out how to burn a human.
JONNY PHILLIPS: Oh! What are you doing man?!
RICHARD AMBROSE: [laughing]
JONNY PHILLIPS: What are you doing?
This is about the limit of our special effects budget plus we need Jonny for future shows. So just like in Hollywood we found ourselves a stunt man. He's Rod Woodrough, veteran human fire ball. He's performed over a hundred fire stunts for TV and movies.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Hi Rod.
ROD WOODROUGH: How you doing alright nice to see you.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Yeah, you too.
JONNY PHILLIPS: Alright Rod, how's things?
ROD WOODROUGH: Yeah, good.
JONNY PHILLIPS: What's this you're putting on then?
ROD WOODROUGH: Uh, well this is the uh, undergarment to the main racing drivers' suit for being on fire and it's a like a one-layer nomex.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Yeah?
ROD WOODROUGH: Yeah, Kevlar based.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Right, ok.
ROD WOODROUGH: Keeps the flame from uh penetrating right the way through really.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Rod, how long have you been doing this?
ROD WOODROUGH: I've been a professional stunt man for about 25 years now, yeah. Eaten quite a bit of hospital food all round the world.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Have you seriously?
ROD WOODROUGH: [laughs] Yeah.
RICHARD AMBROSE: So...
ROD WOODROUGH: In um, in the early days when I...
JONNY PHILLIPS: So it does go wrong?
ROD WOODROUGH: Uh, it's had it's moments yeah. I mean in a hundred fire stunts, I've had two go wrong really, so...
NARRATOR: But just one mistake could be disastrous. So emergency medical help is always on hand in case the fire gets out of control.
RICHARD AMBROSE: What sort of heat will be coming off? I mean, have you ever measured it?
ROD WOODROUGH: It's difficult to describe really, but if you can imagine, I don't know, when you open your oven at home, times that by about 50.
JONNY PHILLIPS: Oh dear!
RICHARD AMBROSE: Right.
NARRATOR: This is mega high risk so fire fighting kit is essential.
ROD WOODROUGH: Drop more then. I'm just putting on a water based gel as a preparation just before I get..., that's it, that'll be fine. Fire will go everywhere, so it's got to go in the ears, up the nose...
NARRATOR: The body burn is only seconds away so it's time for solvent based glue.
JONNY PHILLIPS: This is your fuel, this is what you burn.
ROD WOODROUGH: This is what we're gonna be setting alight with, yeah.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Rod do you start to get nervous now at all?
ROD WOODROUGH: Uh, I can see the adrenaline just a little bit, yeah.
JONNY PHILLIPS: Indeed, Rod are you really gonna do this?
ROD WOODROUGH: Uhhh...
JONNY PHILLIPS: Are you serious?
ROD WOODROUGH: I've come this far so uh...
JONNY PHILLIPS: [nervous laugh] Ok, rather you than me.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Rod we're gonna stand back and we'll see you when you've been extinguished, ok?
JONNY PHILLIPS: Good luck mate, all the best.
ROD WOODROUGH: Ok, light me and let's go.
JONNY PHILLIPS: I don't believe it.
RICHARD AMBROSE: There's a bit just down here.
ROD WOODROUGH: Water.
PARAMEDIC: Where?
ROD WOODROUGH: Just a bit of water.
PARAMEDIC Where?
ROD WOODROUGH: In the middle of the back, little bit, not a lot, little bit. And in the middle of that leg.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Rod, are you alright?
JONNY PHILLIPS: You ok Rod?
Just two seconds, yeah? [inaudible]
JONNY PHILLIPS: That was stunning.
ROD WOODROUGH: Did it look good?
RICHARD AMBROSE: Whoa!
JONNY PHILLIPS: That was stunning.
ROD WOODROUGH: Bit of CO2, CO2, CO2 just a bit.
RICHARD AMBROSE: Do you want some water?
ROD WOODROUGH: Yeah, ok?
JONNY PHILLIPS: Wow! That was stunning, absolutely stunning.
RICHARD AMBROSE: When you, when it set off, I couldn't believe how much flame was there is.
JONNY PHILLIPS: I thought you'd put too much on. I really was shocked
JONNY PHILLIPS: My heart's going like a train.
RICHARD AMBROSE: I was like, hold on, it's already gone wrong.
JONNY PHILLIPS: Yeah, yeah, quick, put him out, that's too much.
ROD WOODROUGH: Well it's good to try and get that height with, with no gloves and everything. I could feel it licking a bit.
JONNY PHILLIPS: Burn? Did it burn?
ROD WOODROUGH: No, no, feels alright.
JONNY PHILLIPS: No? Definitely not?
ROD WOODROUGH: I got a bit when I turned on that bottom camera there. Did you see that when it came up here?
JONNY PHILLIPS[replay]: I don't believe it.
RICHARD AMBROSE: When you started going down, I thought hold on we, we've really got to put you out quickly and it's like no, no, this is my flame. Do they call you hot rod?
ROD WOODROUGH: Funny you should say that.
JONNY PHILLIPS[replay]: I don't believe it.
NARRATOR: But this is all in a day's work for a movie stunt man.
I Didn't Know That
I Didn't Know That: Fire Stunts
Richard Ambrose and Jonny Phillips learn how to safely "play with fire" from a professional fire-eater and stunt performer.
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text:
User-Led Does Not Equal User-Centered
Companies should lead their users, not the other way around.
So say Jens Skibsted and Rasmus Hansen in their recent post, User-Led Innovation Can't Create Breakthroughs, on Fast Company's Co.Design blog. They're exactly right, but for all the wrong reasons, which highlight a wider problem of the misunderstanding of interaction design and the field of UX.
The thesis of the article is that the very idea of a user-led approach is fundamentally flawed, that listening to users is harmful, and that a user-centric design focus creates sameness and stifles creativity and innovation. The article quotes "design team members" inside Apple who shun user-centeredness: "It's all bullshit and hot air created to sell consulting projects and to give insecure managers a false sense of security." The article also attributes that belief to IKEA: "IKEA designers don't use user studies or user insights to create their products. When I asked them why, they said 'We tried and it didn't work.'"
The Co.Design article has caused quite a stir in interaction design and UX circles. So what is all the fuss about, and why does it matter?
User-Centered Does Not Equal What the User Wants
It's difficult to know which people in which positions at Apple and IKEA were the sources for the Co.Design article. It's easier to empathize when you understand the context of the viewpoints expressed. If you work in an environment dominated by focus groups and interviews that generate wish lists and "user insights" that tell you what the user thinks you should do, then its easier to see just how the authors formed this opinion.
But UX professionals already know the risks associated with improper research methods and the dubious value of such information. This approach of taking raw findings and applying them directly to designs or products is called user-led design, and its weakness is in failing to use the skills of experts to verify and extract user needs.
Alan Cooper sums up this point in a 2006 interview he links to in his response (If users could lead innovation, they wouldn't be users) to the Co.Design article:
"What would a user know about behavior [...] users don't know! You can't get blood from a stone!" He passionately responds to a developer's question regarding finding out what users want through iteration, and gives this great analogy: "[Doctor], I Broke my arm, the bone is sticking out, it hurts like hell, but I find that if I hold it in this position the pain is at a local minimum. So would you please duct tape it to my body in this position so it doesn't hurt every time I take a step?"
"When they come to you [...] with bones sticking out of their body it means there is a problem and you have to bring your expertise to bear and analyze the problem and come up with a solution."
The doctor listens to the patient, analyzes the problem that is being presented, and uses specialized, expert knowledge to provide a solution that will fix the broken arm.
This Process Is User-Centered, But Not User-Led or User-Driven
Cooper's analogy highlights perfectly the differences between being user-centered and user-led. Being user-centered requires the involvement of experts who focus on the user as a person. Interaction designers listen and observe, and apply their knowledge about the behavior of people and their psychology, especially when they interact with digital products and services. Being user-centered means understanding a problem and the users, analyzing user behavior and listening to their wants, then translating this into needs that drive a creative solution to the problem. Being user-led or user-driven, on the other hand, means responding to user feedback without applying the filters of analysis and translation. As Cooper argues, this is a fundamental abdication of design responsibility.
A Razor Sharp Focus on the End User Is What Creates Great UX
Everyone involved in the development of a product or service—including designers, developers, business leaders, and project managers—needs to have the same focus on the end user and understand that ultimately their decisions will affect the user's experience and perception.
Companies that create great products for people are user-centric. They are creative, have a strong vision, and are able to execute this vision consistently. The results are users who feel satisfied their needs are met. They feel emotionally connected, and non-users desire to own or use the product. This cannot be accomplished without skilled team members who, throughout the whole development cycle, hold a razor sharp understanding of people, and focus on creating an excellent user experience, end to end.
Rely on Your Vision, Verify With People
The Co.Design article asserts that it's not possible to be both creative and user-centered, that the two are mutually exclusive. This not the case—they are complementary.
The MIT Media Lab must be one of the most creative places on earth. Students and alumni are responsible for innovations such as the G-Speak gestural interface found in the film Minority Report, e-reader displays, $100 laptops, and Guitar Hero. The people at MIT Media lab have a strong, clear vision for the future and are passionate about their domain. Breakthroughs happen frequently and become real-world products and technologies.
Yet their work is fundamentally about people, and is user-centered. MirrorFugue is a system being developed by Xiao Xiao and Hiroshi Ishii from the Tangible Media Group. In their paper MirrorFugue: Communicating Hand Gestures in Remote Piano Collaboration, they clearly describe a user-centered approach to design.
Starting with expert knowledge of the domain and an understanding of the associated needs, they develop a clear vision of a system that could enable remote musical learning and collaboration via telepresence. Xiao and Ishii test their ideas on real users to qualify and verify their vision. They do not ask users what they want or if they think it is a good idea, but instead gather quantitative and qualitative data to be analyzed after the fact, from which findings are extracted and fed into the next stage of development.
The user-centered nature of this work is founded just as much in the human needs driving their vision as it is in the steps the researchers have taken to test and verify. Without real needs driving the questions filtered by an expert understanding of the domain and human behavior, the solutions and conclusions drawn would not be relevant to the world and breakthroughs would not be made.
At the ustwo studio, we have our own failing ground where we allow creativity to flow unhinged, some of which we allow out into the real world as mobile applications to see what happens. In the past, this work would go out without any user-centered thinking, and it showed. Creative ideas failed because of little attention paid to usability rather than being conceptually flawed. Now our quality is higher because we apply user-centered thinking and testing during the implementation.
Working on large and complex projects for clients, ranging from financial trading systems to IPTV interfaces, we need to be a little more precise. We make sure that we always have time for discovery and conceptualization: framing the problem, understanding the business' and users' needs before ideating and generating lots of possible solutions. During implementation we design and build, iterating and user testing along the way. This works for us, and allows us to be both creative and user-centered.
Alan Cooper is correct; if users could lead innovation, they wouldn't be users. Kibsted and Hensen are also correct; user-led design does not create breakthroughs, and rarely creates good design solutions. However there is a fundamental difference between being user-led or user-driven, and being user centered. Complement strong vision and leadership with an expert understanding of people, along with tools and techniques to apply this knowledge through design, and it is possible to create innovative solutions and great user experiences.
Add new comment
Speaking of the Simpsons, it also brings to mind the episode where Springfield residents are gathered in town hall, and Mayor Quimby addresses them:
Mayor Quimby
"You people are nothing but a pack of fickle mush-heads!"
"He's right!"
"Give us hell, Quimby!"
Users often ask for things based on trends or conventions with which they are familiar; often these are rooted in years of exposure to the flotsam and jetsam of bad design. Caveat emptor.
Take on board users ideas and considerably think about them. Don't let the user dictate the features but let them remind of things you forgotten.
One scene plays out in my head when i think user-led. It was an episode of The Simpson's where Homer was given the chance to build the peoples car, the car of the future.
Well, he built a dream car that reflected his needs only and if I'm right he bankrupted his newly found brother's company.
willemrt: "Take the case of Twitter, the users lead the design of features by creating them themselves and the company supporting it officially after it was already in use."
Which perfectly makes the point of the article. Twitter didn't incorporate every dumb idea that everyone wanted. They incorporated the ideas that appealed to a majority, and were already popular. This is closer to crowd-sourcing than being user-led.
Are you talking about radical innovation or incremental innovation? They are both innovations.
You should look at his book. He will tell you why users can lead innovation.
And, please define what do you mean by "innovation" first when you want to argue the old topic.
"Yet their work is fundamentally about people, and is user-centered. MirrorFugue is a system being developed by Xiao Xiao and Hiroshi Ishii from the Tangible Media Group. In their paper MirrorFugue: Communicating Hand Gestures in Remote Piano Collaboration, they clearly describe a user-centered approach to design."
And you have fallen for the classic fallacy of believing what your subject says instead of investigating what actually happens. The Media Lab, when I was there, studying with Hiroshi Ishii and other professors, is driven by technocratic myopia. That's not a negative, just descriptive of a process that is more akin to tinkerers than "user-centered" designers.
Students and professors couldn't have been less interested in users. The focus was in making something interesting that would wow the corporate sponsors. Even taking the sponsors into account, there was little (if any) interest in users.
I don't think this is necessarily true. Whilst it may not work in certain situations, sometimes user led design is what makes a company strong.
Take the case of Twitter, the users lead the design of features by creating them themselves and the company supporting it officially after it was already in use.


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PLX3397 is an investigational anticancer drug that works by targeting a family of enzymes called kinases - particularly Kit, Flt3, and Fms kinase - which drive cancer growth. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of PLX3397 treatment in patients with advanced solid tumors fueled by these enzymes and which cannot be treated successfully with other therapies.
These tumors include salivary mucoepidermal cancer, pigmented villonodular synovitis, malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor, anaplastic thyroid cancer, tumors with documented pericardial, pleural, or peritoneal effusions, and any other tumors that doctors feel may respond to PLX3397.
PLX3397 is taken orally (by mouth).
To be eligible for this study, patients must meet several criteria, including but not limited to the following:
For more information about this study and to inquire about eligibility, please contact Dr. William Tap at 646-888-4163.


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It's like a real life fallout 3.
Very interesting to see. I remember seeing pictures of the site where they buried all these military vehicles.
Phoronix: Touring Chernobyl In 2010
I just returned to the United States after being in Ukraine the past five days over Easter weekend. The purpose of this trip was to explore the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and surrounding areas -- Kyiv, Pripyat, the Red Forest, etc. Contrary to some initial beliefs, it was not an April Fools' Joke. Due to the great interest in Chernobyl among those interested in science and technology whether it be due to the fascination with nuclear power or finding Chernobyl popularized by video games, documentaries, and the like, I have published my collection of these photographs of Chernobyl showing what the area looks like in 2010 -- just days prior to the 24th anniversary of this catastrophic disaster -- along with some of my thoughts and information collected from this journey.
It's like a real life fallout 3.
Very interesting to see. I remember seeing pictures of the site where they buried all these military vehicles.
Wish they would find a less dangerous power source - too many lives lost. Thou with the current power hungriness of people that ain't gonna happen.
After seeing all those pictures I can't really say a thing...
It's incredible to imagine what has happened there.
A few comments:
According to the testimony of Anatoly Dyatlov, all the instruments read normal just six seconds prior to the explosion. Instrumentation was probably inadequate here, as it's considered likely that there was a "hot spot" that formed in the lower half of the reactor which went undetected.Testing of this nuclear safety feature in April of 1986 turned into this deadly disaster as established procedures were not followed and in the minutes leading up to the accident, emergency warnings were ignored and mistakes were made. There also proved to be several flaws within the design of the Soviet RBMK nuclear reactor and in its construction.
The RBMK reactor was known to be less stable at low power levels than at high power, and it was originally instructed that they perform the test at about 60% power. However, due to electricity demand they were forbidden to shut down the reactor for several hours after when the test was supposed to start, which caused Xenon to build up (which is a strong poison). The reaction rate tanked, and they removed a bunch of control rods to try and get it back up, finally deciding to run the test at much lower power than anticipated (~14% iirc).
Again according to Dyatlov, the test completed successfully and the control rods were being reinserted to shut the reactor down after completion. The control rods, however, were tipped with graphite which moderated the reaction and when first inserted actually *increased* the reaction rate. (A fault which was first discovered in an incident at the Ignalina plant).
Canadian simulations suggest that the control rods were actually able to successfully deactivate the top half of the reactor, but there was still enough material in the lower half that it was able to operate essentially independantly from the top half.
The RBMK was a very tall reactor, especially factoring in the fuel cranes on the top, and they didn't consider it practical to add even more to the height by adding a heavy containment to the top. They did, however, have a fairly robust accident localisation system (ALS) for the bottom half of the reactor (a lot of good that did).Worth noting is that none of the reactors at Chernobyl had a containment building, which is effectively an airtight shield made of steel and concrete that covers the nuclear reactor and presents radiation from escaping into the atmosphere.
Yep - the Forsmark power plant registered somethat higher radiation levels at their detectors and shut themselves down for inspection thinking that they might have had a leak. They didn't find one.(Sweden was reportedly the first country to notice the increase in airborne radiation)
The sarcophagus is built upon the existing structure of the reactor 4 building, which is considered unsound as one of the major supports was severely bent in the explosion. Simulations suggest that a tremor of 7 or above on the Richter scale (which happen in the area about once every 30 years or so) could cause the thing to collapse.The sarcophagus did help in preventing greater amounts of radioactive material from escaping into the atmosphere, but it's fallen into a state of disrepair with cracks appearing along the roof and the entire structure is considered unstable and being at a risk of collapse.
Yeah, westernized nuclear power is quite safe. Even after visiting Chernobyl, I still am a strong proponent of nuclear energy production. They are safe, clean, can operate more efficiently than wind or solar energy farms, can ultimately be cheaper than other forms of "clean" energy, etc.
How can you call nuclear energy production "clean"? Maybe while running but the biggest problem is the waste. This contaminated crap lasts for longer than one can think. It may be clean for us but the upcoming generations have to deal with the crap we left behind. I personally don't consider this clean. Alternative energy sources are not as efficient but they are a multitude cleaner than nuclear energy in the long run.
There's Yucca Mountain and other facilities for storing waste for many, many years.