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Soundcheck
This arena brings back memories all right. The smell, the smell. The long hallways and ramps. I am first in today for soundcheck. Everyday at @ 4 o'clock we gather at the stage to check our instruments and get the balance back again. Crew, band, everyone. This reconnects us to each other and to our surroundings. I look forward to the good vibes and smiles that are a fixture of this new beast. We also take this time to run over some songs we might play that evening. Tonight I suggest Liberty as my head is full of the historical significance of this city. Themes and stories abound in our music and choice of songs. I look up at one point to the vast superstructure of this old warhorse's cavity. There is a flag hanging down from up top, it reads,"Grateful Dead, 53 sold out shows". I guess they are going to have to change it to 55 now.
Liberty...
Perfect theme for the night. We start the first set off right. A hard boiled groove for this song takes us smoothly into Cosmic Charlie. We are playing Cosmic Charlie with more confidence than ever these days. Hunter is over stage left just a grinnin away. He must love to hear all his songs being played with this new passion. Good Morning Little School Girl has gone through many changes over the years and now we play it as quick tight shuffle. This used to be the vehicle for Pigpen. When he sang it, I believed he meant it. Now Bob is singing it and he is growlin something fierce. Phil kicks in Caution with an agressive edge...as it should be. Scarlet splices directly into Fire and Jimmy just burns it up tonight. I Know You Rider is steady and sure and then Bill kicks in Midnite Hour. I can remember a New Years Eve in 1968 when we played this song for hours. We play Golden Road, and it lives once again. This song reminds me of the old days.
And speaking about the old days, this town has me in its grip and just won't let go. Today all I can think of is the Liberty Bell and the glory of bells in general. Now the Liberty Bell is no Tsar Kolokol, but it does have great significance and it is here, not in Moscow. Bells have always served man well. In the case of the Tsar Kolokol it was the physical representation in sound of the power of Tsarist Russia.
The Tzar Kolokol is our greatest achievment in bell founding to date.
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It is huge. Fourtunatly it was so large that it remained in its pouring pit for over a 100 years because it was just too massive to raise. The Russians had built a bell that they couldn't get out of the ground. Duh! When Napoleon marched into Russia in 1812 the first thing he took were the church bells. The Kolokol was hidden beneath the ground and was overlooked. Napoleon melted many bells down into shot. There were mass bell graveyards all over Moscow containing these giant bells. So sad. The collective sound of the great Russian bells was called the Zvon. Once the bells were taken, Napolean moved easily into a demoralized and confused Moscow. Take the sound from a people and they have little fight left in them. The bells controlled the rhythm of daily life in the villages. I never did like Napoleon for this, and for other reasons as well. But, in a way this cruel act saved Moscow from mass slaughter. Napoleon also ordered his troops to destroy the nose of the Sphinx in Egypt. He thought it would make good target practice.
Anyway, the Liberty Bell is now a mute symbol of our independence from the British. This bronze tongued creature sang out against the tyranny, the injustice, the cruely of colonialism. Unfortunately, America could never cast a great bell. It was initially cast in 1752 and cracked in its test ringing. Then it was melted down to make a second bell. Too much copper in the pour assured its destiny. Bad tone on the second pouring, too bad. It was melted down again in 1753 and this is what we know now as the Liberty Bell. No one knows for sure when the crack in the first bell appeared. The most popular date given is 1835, while tolling for the funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall. It can be said with certainly that it cracked sometime between 1817 to 1846 and most likely occurred between 1841 and 1845, as it celebrated either Washington's birthday or July 4th.
The order for repairing the hairline crack in the third bell was given so the bell could be tolled for Washington's birthday, in 1846. This involved machining a slot through the bell along the length of the crack, thus preventing the two sides of the bell from vibrating against each other. This is one of the most important events in the bell's history since it created the bell's distinctive trademark feature - the visible dog leg "crack" that we see today. Without it the Liberty Bell would look like any other bell. This "crack" is also the Liberty Bell's greatest misconception. That is, it is not a crack at all. Its a machined slot approximately 1/2 inch wide and 24.5 inches long. The actual crack was a hairline fracture and could not be seen except by very close inspection. Two rivets were inserted in this slot to control the vibration of the two sides and restored the bell's tonal quality, at least temporarily.
Work on the bell was completed in time for Washington's birthday February 22, 1846, when, "It gave out clear notes and loud ... until noon, when it received a sort of compound fracture in a zigzag direction through one of its sides, which put it completely out of tune..." - Public Ledger, Feb. 26, 1846. So, at approximately noon of February 22, 1846, its last loud and clear note was heard.
This is a puny bell in comparison to the great Tsar Kolokol. The Liberty weighs in at 2055 lbs., the Kolokol at 430,000 lbs. The Liberty has a height of 3 ft, the Kolokol 19 1/2 feet. There is an unusual similarity to both bells in that they have each lost their voice. The Kolokol was never sounded as it was destroyed partially and cracked in a fire while in its pouring pit in front of the Kremlin around 1737, and the Liberty was cracked in its test at birth. The Kolokol is now a chapel of sorts, standing in front of the Kremlin in Moscow and the Liberty is here in Philadelphia. Both now stand for a day long gone as silent sentinels.
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The Liberty Bell will always represent the fight for freedom, for freedom and independence for all Americans. It's inscription reads,"Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the inhabitants therof". It's crack is a reminder that liberty is imperfect, hopefully evolving to incl ude those who have been denied full participation in a democratic society. So vote, or else liberty is meaningless.
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