Editor’s note: This is a letter from my father to his four brothers and two sisters about their family history going back as far as able. If you’re reading it on a phone or tablet, switch to landscape orientation.
This blog hasn’t always been worth reading but it’s been worth keeping. I started it 10 years ago as a way to learn WordPress and help a family friend start an actual blog.
It’s now morphing into a repository for family history, housing a fun letter from my dad to his siblings that I’m calling Dear Clan and a 10,000 word autobiography written by my uncle titled An Exceptional Memory: The Autobiography of Mike Case.
Enjoy any and all pieces and if you spot any typos, errors or omissions, let me know at jameson.case@gmail.com.
My high school friend held in highest regard, Ballardvale and Boston’s own Tim Gould, a.k.a. @therealtbg12, sent the email below to me as a follow-up to the delivery of a Grateful Dead bootleg. It must be shared (the music and what he wrote about it) now that I have permission. The > symbols refers to transitions between songs. If anyone wants the bootleg, DM me @JamesonCase.
From Tim:
Help on the Way > Slipknot > Franklin’s Tower: August 13, 1975 at the Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, Ca.
PARADISE AWAITS! Truly one of the all-time great openings to any Dead album for me. Sick intro from the legendary Bill Graham while each band member kicks in his or her part of the song after their name is announced. The sound on that recording is magnificent and while Help > Slip brings the juice, it’s the Franklin’s that really pays off for me (“If you get confused listen to the music play…”). Jerry, Bobby and Phil all weave through the jam on top of some serious rhythm from the 8-armed, 2-headed Hydra that is Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman!
Small fact about said drumming monster: Early in their career when the band was young and living together in The Haight, Billy and Mickey would tie themselves together and play a single set of drums so as to create chemistry and truly understand what the other one was doing. I think it worked…
Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain: May 8, 1977 at Barton Hall, Cornell University
The greatest show in Grateful Dead history? I say YES! Not the lengthiest but certainly one that came during their peak of 1977 which in itself was arguably their best year. And this Scarlet > Fire is generally considered the baseline for all Scarlet > Fires! Phil’s opening bass riffs are sonically supreme and, I have to say, unlike any other version I have ever heard. Truly mesmerizing. Throw in Jerry’s transition from Scarlet to Fire and it’s 20 minutes of pure mind-melting joy.
I have had the privilege of going to Barton Hall and it’s pretty neat. An old school gymnasium that looks like an aircraft hangar. Big, huge arched ceiling, pull-out stands, basketball court flooring and tons of space for sounds to bounce all around in there. 5/8/77 must have been a truly magical night and if anyone ever wants the complete show, I have it and will pass it along. It’s a must own for anyone even remotely interested in the Grateful Dead.
St. Stephen > The Eleven > Turn on Your Lovelight at Fillmore West, 1969
I mean come on! A ridiculous full length Stephen (with original ending) into possibly the most underrated GD jam ever! I am huge Eleven fan. Its bizarre timing and 11 count is amazing and Jerry rips through this underplayed number with the utmost fury. Somehow the boys manage to find their way out of the late 60s haze into a Lovelight that has it all! Pigpen rapping away, Bobby singing his back-up portions enthusiastically and perfectly, and Jerry, along with Phil, tearing the roof of the Fillmore West with a perfect blend of blues-driven rock mixed with psychedelic lunacy!
There may or may not be some New England Patriots fans who read this blog out of sheer pity for their state school English major friend (or son, as the case may be). But everybody, not just them, knows about the time when the wet blanket Red Sox had to face their fears and the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.
A friend of mine wanted the Sox to play the Twins that year in the ALCS. He’s a CPA, so rationality and calculation are hardwired. These are good qualities in a CPA, but they don’t apply when a reckoning is at hand; when a narrative arc needs to keep on rising. The Red Sox had to go through the Bronx to really win anything, to make the story what it was — if the Twins had beaten the Yankees and the Sox got past the Twins to beat the Cardinals, 2004 would not be the legend it is in Boston. The bully would’ve been back at school the next year.
The Patriots Get Haunted
Things are shaping up in a similar fashion for the Patriots this post-season. The Ravens are the team that took the Pat’s toy and threw it ’round the playground in 2009 playoffs, with a final score of 33-14. The Ravens were up 21-0 in the first quarter. It was the first playoff loss for the coach/QB unit of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady at home ever.
That was also the year that Wes Welker shredded his ACL in the final, meaningless game of the regular season, a loss against the Houston Texans. Losing to the Texans? Forgettable. The Pats were locked in as AFC Division Champs the week before. Losing Welker? Unthinkable. It meant that losing in the first round was a chilling possibility when you watched the Pat’s best short yardage weapon limp off the field.
Oh, Memorable Losses
None of the Patriot’s losses are as permanent as the one to the Giants in the 2007 season Super Bowl. This year, the chance to meet Eli Manning’s team in Indy would be irresistibly sweet to fans of either team. If the Giants pulled it off, they are giant killers, smacking the cocky Pats down once again. But if the Pats win, the 18-1 season ghost will vanish, and Tom Brady and the Patriots will chisel the final word in the monument to their ability as a football team.
The vengeance story line doesn’t feature the Giants yet. It’s the Ravens that Patriots fans feel hard done by. The Ravens are Johnny Ringo, surprised to see Doc Holliday ready to square off down at the oak grove. The Ravens are the team that didn’t have to face one of the best screen pass catchers who ever wore a mustache in 2009. The Ravens are the team that picked a fight against the stoic, beleaguered Patriots and won it.
A Baltimore lover of bad blood if there ever was one, Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston but despised the city and it’s inhabitants. He adopted Maryland’s charming seaside town as his home, which led to delightful idea of naming a football team after Poe’s poem that details a man’s descent into madness over a lost lover.
A Reckoning is Nigh
In the NFL Network documentary, A Football Life: Bill Belichick, the coach laments early in the 2009 season that his only offensive weapons that year are the inimitable Randy Moss and Welker. He sees the limitations even before they are further limited by a ligament tear.
This season, the Patriots have multiple offensive options, moves and tactics that defy game planning by anything other than IBM’s Big Blue. Hernandez from the backfield or the strong side, BJGE up the middle, Welker on a screen pass, Branch on an out route, or Gronkowski anywhere the ball goes.
The 2011 Patriots team has been built to beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. You can keep Ed Reed and Ed Poe.
The True Gen