Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey

Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey
Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey

Dead Ringers video tape cover
Directed by Justin Kreutzmann
Produced by Debra Robbins
Justin Kreutzmann
Starring Grateful Dead
Cinematography Richard Scott
Editing by Justin Kreutzmann
Distributed by Arista Records
Release date(s) 1987
Running time 30 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey is a music documentary film about the American rock group the Grateful Dead. It depicts the production of the band's first music video, for their song "Touch of Grey".

Dead Ringers was directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. Released on VHS video tape in 1987, it is 30 minutes long.

The film is known by several different names. The cover of the video box says both Dead Ringers and The Making of the Touch of Grey Video and More. However, the opening titles of the film definitively give the name as Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey.

Contents

Film sequences

Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey begins with a concert performance of the song "Touch of Grey". This is from the May 9, 1987 Dead show at the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey, California.[1] This and subsequent sections of Dead Ringers also include interviews with all the members of the Grateful Dead. At that time the band consisted of Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals), Bob Weir (guitar, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass), Brent Mydland (keyboards, vocals), Bill Kreutzmann (drums and percussion), and Mickey Hart (drums and percussion). The music for "Touch of Grey" had been written by Garcia, and the lyrics were by Robert Hunter. Garcia sang lead vocals. The Dead had been performing the song live since September, 1982.[2] It was about to be released as the first track of the Dead's first studio album in seven years, In the Dark.

The next section of Dead Ringers shows the preparations for the filming of the "Touch of Grey" video. It was decided that the video would depict the band as skeletons, with features and mannerisms that would allow each one to be easily recognizable. The skeletons would be life size marionette puppets. This part of the film shows the construction of the marionettes and other pre-production activities. The "Touch of Grey" video was directed by Gary Gutierrez, who had created the animated scenes for The Grateful Dead Movie.[3] Gutierrez is interviewed, along with several of the puppeteers, one of whom is Annabelle Garcia, daughter of Jerry Garcia and Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Adams.

The next sequence of the documentary covers the filming of the video. After the May 9, 1987 Laguna Seca Grateful Dead show, the audience was readmitted to the concert area, to appear as themselves in the video. The band was filmed on stage, lip syncing the "Touch of Grey" studio recording. Then the marionettes were filmed in the band members' places, also lip syncing the recording. The audience, coached with cue cards, was also filmed. The visuals were naturally enhanced by fog that had rolled in from the nearby Pacific Ocean.[3]

The last section of Dead Ringers consists of the "Touch of Grey" music video. The video shows the band performing "Touch of Grey" on stage before an enthusiastic audience of Deadheads. During the first part of the video, the members of the band are revealed to be skeletons. The fact that they are marionettes is clearly shown, as there is no attempt to hide the strings that move them. After a few verses, brief shots of the band in actual, human form are intercut with the puppet footage. During the last part of the video, the band members are shown as themselves rather than as skeletons.

The closing title music for Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey is "When Push Comes to Shove", another song from the album In the Dark.

Aftermath

The "Touch of Grey" video received significant amounts of airplay on MTV and other music video stations.[4] Partly as a result of this, the song went on to become the Grateful Dead's only top ten hit. Within a short time, the band had achieved a greater degree of popular, commercial success than in their previous 22 years in the music industry.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Grateful Dead Live Album Database
  2. ^ Scott et al. (1999). DeadBase XI, p. 219.
  3. ^ a b McNally (2002). A Long Strange Trip, p. 563
  4. ^ McNally (2002). A Long Strange Trip, p. 564
  5. ^ "Touch of Grey" song review on Allmusic

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Touch of Grey — ist eine Single der Band Grateful Dead. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Geschichte 2 Aufnahmen des Songs 3 Musikclip 4 Erfolge …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Dead Zone: The Grateful Dead CD Collection (1977–1987) — Dead Zone: The Grateful Dead CD Collection (1977 1987) Box set by Grateful Dead Released 1987 Genre …   Wikipedia

  • Touch of Grey — Infobox Single Name = Touch of Grey Artist = Grateful Dead from Album = In the Dark Released = 1987 Format = 7 Genre = Rock Length = 5:50 Label = Arista Records Writer = Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter Producer = John Cutler Last single = This single …   Wikipedia

  • Dead Ringer — may refer to: Dead Ringer (album), an 1981 album by Meat Loaf (containing the track Dead Ringer for Love ) Dead Ringer (1964 film), a 1964 film starring Bette Davis, Peter Lawford, and Karl Malden Dead Ringer (comics), a Marvel Comics character… …   Wikipedia

  • Dead Set (album) — Dead Set Live album by the Grateful Dead Released August 26, 1981 Reco …   Wikipedia

  • The Other Ones — For the 1980s band, see The Other Ones (Australian German band). For the novel by Jean Thesman, see The Other Ones (novel). The Other Ones Origin San Francisco, California, USA Genres Rock Years active 1998–2002 …   Wikipedia

  • The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead — This article is about a 1995 compilation album of songs. For the 2011 American drama film, see The Music Never Stopped. . The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead The cover artwork is by artist Robert Crumb …   Wikipedia

  • Grateful Dead discography — Grateful Dead discography The steal your face sign is one of the Grateful Dead s official logos. Releases ↙Studio albums 13 …   Wikipedia

  • New Riders of the Purple Sage — For the album, see New Riders of the Purple Sage (album). For the western music group, see Riders of the Purple Sage (band). For the Zane Grey novel, see Riders of the Purple Sage. New Riders of the Purple Sage Origin San Francisco, California… …   Wikipedia

  • Grateful Dead — This article is about the band. For the folktale, see Grateful dead (folklore). Grateful Dead Grateful Dead members backstage during the early 1980s (l r): Brent Mydland, Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann. Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart are not… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”