Learn: Home » Creating The Closing of Winterland - Part II
CA: How much a part of what you accomplished was a product of recent consumer technological advancements?
DL: Basically, all of it. There is so much packed into just two DVDs. One thing is that you can play director with the alternate camera angles — which is not an option with any other consumer playback medium. There is the New Riders Of The Purple Sage montage and the Blues Brothers footage, both of which are accessible at any point. You can recreate the events as they unfolded or just watch the concert, which we figured everyone would consider as the main event. That is also the reason we chose to present it with the layout we did. In terms of the alternate angles, we had shots to draw upon occasionally with the "iso" footage that began during ?Fire On The Mountain.? Each reel of video had significant overlap, so we could edit it seamlessly. In fact, because there was so much overlap, we never had to cut during a song. That was helpful.
CA: This project was different in that both you and Jeffrey worked both apart and then brought the fruits of your respective labors back to the table, once they were completed, right?
DL: Yes, exactly and I?m glad you also explored his endeavors, since that is half the story right there. There was a lot going on that he did while I was not in the room and would have had no real firsthand knowledge of.
CA: Yet, the final result is undeniably seamless. Let?s discuss the layout. We heard from Jeffrey how he constructed the audio elements, so why don?t you correspond with your creation of the visuals?
DL: We began by opening up a dialogue with our video editing and DVD authoring house, which is one and the same actually. We described the project to them and gave them all the problems we thought we were going to have. They allayed our fears and assured us that it was possible to pull it off. With that confidence, we began in earnest moving forward.
We then examined the elements that we had, which were six reels of video program, as well as an additional four reels of "iso" shots. Incidentally, it?s those "iso shots" that contained the footage we used for the alternate camera angles. Before the show actually starts, we didn?t have anything in terms of interviews or, well, anything really. Between the first and second set, we had access to the interview with Bob [Weir], Mickey [Hart] and Ken Kesey. So, we made a big chart and put together a timeline of what we could conceivably use. For the most part, the unused video footage consisted of sweeping camera shots. They were taken between sets and show the crowd, tripping in unison at 3 AM or whenever.
Here I should mention Frank Zamacona. Frank is one of the Bay Area?s, if not America?s, premier documentary film makers. He takes the materials, and on a bit of a budget . . . well, just look for yourself at the caliber of what he came up with. Frank has done quite a bit of work with Bay Area public TV station KQED, who broadcast the event live at the time. He went through their archives and located the raw news footage, which contained the various interviews and all the other elements that were being compiled for a pre-show special. The station did a big piece on the event, which is the source for the Scoop Nisker-hosted Bill Graham interview, as well as the Deadhead Q&A outside.
CA: Like the clip of former Grateful Dead tape archivist, Dick Latvala?
DL: Yeah. Here is the serendipitous part — when Frank put the documentary together, he must have had 10 to 15 Deadhead interviews to choose from, of which he used maybe seven. Anyway, he invited Jeffrey and I over to view what he had done so far. So, we are watching and really digging it and all of a sudden Dick comes on. Jeffrey and I look at each other and go "IT?S DICK!"
Frank had no idea who it was. I mean, he was aware of the name and the Dick?s Picks series [of archival live Grateful Dead releases]. But, Frank had never met Dick and had no idea what ol' Latvala looked like. When we informed Frank, he was beyond thrilled, as we all were. I mean it is only fitting. Having an audio and video release like this was Dick?s dream and primary goal when he was the Grateful Dead?s tape archivist. More than anything else, I wish he were here to enjoy it. Well, he obviously is . . . heck, he is on the damn thing! [laughs] We had no clue that footage of him even existed.
In the course of making the documentary Frank interviewed Jeffrey and I. We had no clue he was going to create a separate ?Making Of The DVD? mini-featurette. I thought he?d just incorporate our comments into the larger piece, maybe inter-cut them, sort of like he did with the other interviews. Had I known and if we would?ve had the time, I?d have given a virtual tour of the vault — especially since the old one was in the process of being dismantled. After showing folks where all the master tapes reside, I?d have walked them over — on camera — to the oven and explained the steps involved in baking the tapes. Plus, we could have been able to show Jeffrey in the process of re-amplifying Jerry?s guitar track.
CA: That would have really enhanced the experience of enjoying the final results.
DL: Yeah, you can see how we implemented each step we took in the restoration. Especially if we could have mixed the featurette in 5.1 and offer a speaker-by-speaker before and after demonstration. Or, discretely gone around to all five channels of the mix and done a demo of the information coming from each of the speakers. To take that a step further, we could build the mix by bringing up each of the 24 tracks one at a time. So you would hear just the "snare drum" and then just the "bass" until all two dozen tracks are blended. Let people hear what each of those sounds like. Really go behind the music, you know?
CA: Even non-Deadheads would get a kick out of that. Speaking of "going behind", what is the story on the New Riders Of The Purple Sage video footage you interspersed with the still photos during the ?Glendale Train? montage?
DL: We all felt it was high time that the New Riders be represented on an archival Grateful Dead release. They were so integral a part of the scene in the Bay Area, right through the ?70s as well. So, I contacted Rob Bleetstein who takes care of their archive and he brought about 40 or 50 of the photos that we used. Then, a week prior to going to edit that piece, I was rooting around and found an open reel of videotape that said "New Riders December 15, 1973" and that was it. Because of the format, I figured we?d have to send it off to New York or Los Angeles for transcription onto a usable format. As it turns out, there is a place in the Bay Area called Antique Video and they turned it around in two days. What we ended up with is an awesome New Riders set on video shot from the in-house Winterland three-camera shoot. Since we had no video of the New Riders during the actual New Years Eve show, we thought we could use that as part of the montage. I am glad that the New Riders are getting some credit on a Grateful Dead release given the long history the two bands have with each other. I mean Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart were all in the earliest incarnation.
CA: How about the Blues Brothers footage?
DL: Frank called up one day and said that he located the KQED master tape of their set. We had a copy in our vaults, but it paled in comparison. The broadcast began with the Blues Brothers set rather than the New Riders?, which was probably a time consideration. So, we spoke to our powers that be and told them that we?d really like to use some of the footage. Then, just by chance a guy who takes care of some of my finances in Canada, where I am originally from, just happens to be Danny Aykroyd?s cousin and one of his best friends. This was really down to the wire, but he got us an in to the Belushi estate. Long story short, we were able to get permission because I think they understood the importance of the whole project.
CA: Who originally shot the video footage?
DL: Good question. My guess is that it was the folks at KQED. It was not anyone involved with the band, I know that much.
DL: Basically, all of it. There is so much packed into just two DVDs. One thing is that you can play director with the alternate camera angles — which is not an option with any other consumer playback medium. There is the New Riders Of The Purple Sage montage and the Blues Brothers footage, both of which are accessible at any point. You can recreate the events as they unfolded or just watch the concert, which we figured everyone would consider as the main event. That is also the reason we chose to present it with the layout we did. In terms of the alternate angles, we had shots to draw upon occasionally with the "iso" footage that began during ?Fire On The Mountain.? Each reel of video had significant overlap, so we could edit it seamlessly. In fact, because there was so much overlap, we never had to cut during a song. That was helpful.
CA: This project was different in that both you and Jeffrey worked both apart and then brought the fruits of your respective labors back to the table, once they were completed, right?
DL: Yes, exactly and I?m glad you also explored his endeavors, since that is half the story right there. There was a lot going on that he did while I was not in the room and would have had no real firsthand knowledge of.
CA: Yet, the final result is undeniably seamless. Let?s discuss the layout. We heard from Jeffrey how he constructed the audio elements, so why don?t you correspond with your creation of the visuals?
DL: We began by opening up a dialogue with our video editing and DVD authoring house, which is one and the same actually. We described the project to them and gave them all the problems we thought we were going to have. They allayed our fears and assured us that it was possible to pull it off. With that confidence, we began in earnest moving forward.
We then examined the elements that we had, which were six reels of video program, as well as an additional four reels of "iso" shots. Incidentally, it?s those "iso shots" that contained the footage we used for the alternate camera angles. Before the show actually starts, we didn?t have anything in terms of interviews or, well, anything really. Between the first and second set, we had access to the interview with Bob [Weir], Mickey [Hart] and Ken Kesey. So, we made a big chart and put together a timeline of what we could conceivably use. For the most part, the unused video footage consisted of sweeping camera shots. They were taken between sets and show the crowd, tripping in unison at 3 AM or whenever.
Here I should mention Frank Zamacona. Frank is one of the Bay Area?s, if not America?s, premier documentary film makers. He takes the materials, and on a bit of a budget . . . well, just look for yourself at the caliber of what he came up with. Frank has done quite a bit of work with Bay Area public TV station KQED, who broadcast the event live at the time. He went through their archives and located the raw news footage, which contained the various interviews and all the other elements that were being compiled for a pre-show special. The station did a big piece on the event, which is the source for the Scoop Nisker-hosted Bill Graham interview, as well as the Deadhead Q&A outside.
CA: Like the clip of former Grateful Dead tape archivist, Dick Latvala?
DL: Yeah. Here is the serendipitous part — when Frank put the documentary together, he must have had 10 to 15 Deadhead interviews to choose from, of which he used maybe seven. Anyway, he invited Jeffrey and I over to view what he had done so far. So, we are watching and really digging it and all of a sudden Dick comes on. Jeffrey and I look at each other and go "IT?S DICK!"
Frank had no idea who it was. I mean, he was aware of the name and the Dick?s Picks series [of archival live Grateful Dead releases]. But, Frank had never met Dick and had no idea what ol' Latvala looked like. When we informed Frank, he was beyond thrilled, as we all were. I mean it is only fitting. Having an audio and video release like this was Dick?s dream and primary goal when he was the Grateful Dead?s tape archivist. More than anything else, I wish he were here to enjoy it. Well, he obviously is . . . heck, he is on the damn thing! [laughs] We had no clue that footage of him even existed.
 Lindsay Planer in the hallowed stacks of the Grateful Dead vault. |
In the course of making the documentary Frank interviewed Jeffrey and I. We had no clue he was going to create a separate ?Making Of The DVD? mini-featurette. I thought he?d just incorporate our comments into the larger piece, maybe inter-cut them, sort of like he did with the other interviews. Had I known and if we would?ve had the time, I?d have given a virtual tour of the vault — especially since the old one was in the process of being dismantled. After showing folks where all the master tapes reside, I?d have walked them over — on camera — to the oven and explained the steps involved in baking the tapes. Plus, we could have been able to show Jeffrey in the process of re-amplifying Jerry?s guitar track.
CA: That would have really enhanced the experience of enjoying the final results.
DL: Yeah, you can see how we implemented each step we took in the restoration. Especially if we could have mixed the featurette in 5.1 and offer a speaker-by-speaker before and after demonstration. Or, discretely gone around to all five channels of the mix and done a demo of the information coming from each of the speakers. To take that a step further, we could build the mix by bringing up each of the 24 tracks one at a time. So you would hear just the "snare drum" and then just the "bass" until all two dozen tracks are blended. Let people hear what each of those sounds like. Really go behind the music, you know?
CA: Even non-Deadheads would get a kick out of that. Speaking of "going behind", what is the story on the New Riders Of The Purple Sage video footage you interspersed with the still photos during the ?Glendale Train? montage?
DL: We all felt it was high time that the New Riders be represented on an archival Grateful Dead release. They were so integral a part of the scene in the Bay Area, right through the ?70s as well. So, I contacted Rob Bleetstein who takes care of their archive and he brought about 40 or 50 of the photos that we used. Then, a week prior to going to edit that piece, I was rooting around and found an open reel of videotape that said "New Riders December 15, 1973" and that was it. Because of the format, I figured we?d have to send it off to New York or Los Angeles for transcription onto a usable format. As it turns out, there is a place in the Bay Area called Antique Video and they turned it around in two days. What we ended up with is an awesome New Riders set on video shot from the in-house Winterland three-camera shoot. Since we had no video of the New Riders during the actual New Years Eve show, we thought we could use that as part of the montage. I am glad that the New Riders are getting some credit on a Grateful Dead release given the long history the two bands have with each other. I mean Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart were all in the earliest incarnation.
CA: How about the Blues Brothers footage?
DL: Frank called up one day and said that he located the KQED master tape of their set. We had a copy in our vaults, but it paled in comparison. The broadcast began with the Blues Brothers set rather than the New Riders?, which was probably a time consideration. So, we spoke to our powers that be and told them that we?d really like to use some of the footage. Then, just by chance a guy who takes care of some of my finances in Canada, where I am originally from, just happens to be Danny Aykroyd?s cousin and one of his best friends. This was really down to the wire, but he got us an in to the Belushi estate. Long story short, we were able to get permission because I think they understood the importance of the whole project.
CA: Who originally shot the video footage?
DL: Good question. My guess is that it was the folks at KQED. It was not anyone involved with the band, I know that much.
