...we were doing a piece about the now deceased Dick Latvalla, whose name may sound familiar. Back in the 1960s he quit his job as a mailman and became, in his words, a \"full-on hippie Deadhead freak.\" Dick hit the road as a Grateful Dead disciple, recording all of their concerts. He hung around the band for years and finally, when the Dead realized it needed an archivist, it hired Dick. He took everything the band had ever recorded--from soundchecks to rehearsals to films to performances--and organized it in a large, airtight warehouse vault.
But that still wasn't the best part. In return for a very nice salary, the band had Dick compile a list of good performances for a bi-annual release from the archives, a series known to Deadheads as Dick's Picks. To do the research, Dick went to work every day in his living room or the vault, zoning out to music, revisiting his wild youth hour after hour in front of a massive sound system. \"I mean, there's something happening here,\" he observed as, on tape, Jerry Garcia launched into another solo. \"It's just like food!!!\"
I saw this as a story about a man who, by following his bliss, had found the golden gig.
Just one complication...
Secrets of Dick's Picks
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