Grateful Dead Music Forum

in the 90's I think Bobby played a casio midi guitar if that helps answer your question

hotasaPistol wrote:Speaking of Healy...........anyone know exactly what went down and why he got canned????

I can tell you only what I heard and that is after some review of the tapes the band came to the consensus that Healy was doing an overall poor job. This includes keeping Bobby too low or out of the mix, messing with various effects on instruments and vocals and importantly what the band heard on stage was not what was heard in the house.

True or not? Can't say. But there is also an in-ear monitor bootleg floating around somewhere like the soundcheck for Unbroken Chain where Jerry talks about the disservice done by having Healy so long and what he's done.

But also it was well known Healy and Bobby didn't get along for many, many years.

strummin, your explanation is pretty consistent with what Phil wrote in his book, particularly concerning Bobby. That is of course if I remember correctly, I read it about 2 and a half long months ago

I've got Phil's book in front of me.

Healy had been running the PA at 75 percent volume for opening acts so that they didn't upstage the Dead. He would lower the level of Bob's guitar in the mix, and apply "strange electronic effects" to Bob's voice or guitar, and drown his voice in artificial reverb if he said anything.

So what effects would he have been able to apply from the board? I still find it hard to believe that he would have a distortion effect bussed through the board. If anything, the likely choice would be reverb and delay. Unless Bob was in fact playing through midi, which may have given control to someone else. But why would the chief soundman also be controlling midi sounds? I'd think his job would have been the overall mix on the board, with someone else responsible for midi control on specific instruments, since each job is complicated enough on its own.

It really depends on how the midi unit is setup. As I understand it, some setups use the guitar like a simple controller whereby the strings are digitized into something equating to their note and octave and then an effect is added to it. That said, the choices are endless with what could be done.

Directly related to Bobby, I thought he ditched the Casio midi in the 90s?

you gotta laugh.. bobby swearn it was happening and no one believing him.. i recall one of those rfk shows.. i think the coma show .. where bobby's ramblin about the sound hittin all over dc.. something like you can even hear us from the highest office of the land... and that happening.. bob notes, "he's full of fun..."
it's a riot that no one believed him..
i get those books mixed up, but as i recall one of em says the job of givn the ax fell to jerry..
and i THINK but am only abou 30% sure, that that's where the quote comes from that goes,,,
"ya haven't been dropped till your dropped by jerry..."

heh, i can just see bob trying to tell ppl that healy's messing around with the mix and turning him down and everyone kinda gives him the raised eyebrow "whats up with weir?" look like they think hes lost it, been on the road too long, its getting to his head. all along its actually happening and bob doesnt even know what the truth is anymore. how did they find out that healy was fuckin' around?

Bob's pretty adamant about anyone touching his rack gear. On the back of his rack it says, "What the fuck you looking at" "No touch my rack"

There's no way anyone touched his settings

that's why it's funny that it was dan.. and all ya need to do is listen to the tapes,, you can hear it.. a funny one is laguna seca raceway, for that.. and rfk stadium