This interview is taken from pre-edited reels taped for the Direct News radio broadcast. As such (and considering who is being interviewed), there is an extremely loose feel to it. The conversation starts out with Mickey Hart, who explains how he scored the Apocalypse Now film, why he takes his pulse before playing, and how things are going with The Grateful Dead.

Jerry Garcia then joins in to talk about the newest addition to the band (Brent Mydland) and the song writing process. This section provides an amazing example of how the band feeds off each other: the two often talk at the same time, to the point where you can’t understand what either of them are saying, and then they are done and a point has somehow been made. Finally, the interview focuses on Jerry himself, including his guitar playing and his “subject disease.”

This recording as a whole captures the two band members at an extremely optimistic time for The Grateful Dead. They were having fun on tour and looking forward to getting into the studio for what eventually became Go To Heaven. The interview is also full of those psychedelic metaphors and archetypes that provide the groovy-ness one would expect.

Mickey Hart 00:29 – Approaching trance-inducing drumming 01:31 – Approaching the Apocalypse Now score 02:17 – A student of drumming history 03:14 – Mother Melody, Father Rhythm / musical archetypes 04:32 – Rhythm starting from one’s pulse 05:35 – Mickey’s favorite drummers 06:05 – The Grateful Dead / Brent Mydland 06:41 – The current tour 07:16 – What’s special about The Grateful Dead 07:51 – The Winterland shows, 10/78 08:46 – The unique Grateful Dead chemistry / flawed perfection / job security 10:51 – New songs, new album, writing with The Dead 11:40 – Plans for The Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart 12:28 – Not much to talk about 13:03 – The new leg for The Grateful Dead / consistent improvement 14:59 – Flying into the 1980’s / learning, maturing 17:20 – “The faith factor” / getting sparks off of each other 18:28 – Brent Mydland 19:34 – New songs, new album (from Jerry’s perspective) 20:43 – Mickey introducing compositional ideas during shows 21:35 – Working with Robert Hunter / not drying up the well 23:36 – Earliest memories (Jerry) 24:20 – The infinite well of music

Jerry Garcia 24:51 – Jerry’s first guitar, current guitar, playing banjo 25:47 – Trying to be a better guitarist 26:46 – Jerry’s favorite guitarists 27:57 – Jorma Kaukonen 28:39 – Being absorbed during leisure time / “subject disease” 30:22 – “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg” trilogy 31:55 – Plans for the near future

Jerry Garcia; Mickey Hart