05/03/70 Wesleyan Unversity, Middletown, CT

     I can also clear up some of the mystery on the 5/3/70 Wesleyan Univ. show.  I did my
undergrad work at Wesleyan, and once asked an alum who was at said show for some details:

     The NRPS arrived first, apparently the truck containing most of the Dead equipment broke
down, stretching out the concert into an all day and early evening affair.  As I'm sure you know,
Nixon had just invaded Cambodia, and plans were underway for a nationwide student strike in
protest.  Wesleyan was/is a *very* political place (people were still firebombing the dean's office
when *I* was there in 1990), and a number of organizers took the opportune lull in music while
waiting for the Dead to arrive, to take the microphones on stage and begin planning the strike.  It
made for a very charged atmosphere I'm told...
     As for the audience tape of the show that is mentioned in Deadbase 8/9:  a group of sociology
students were doing their senior project on group dynamics and used the Dead show as their
centerpiece. (and you thought deadheads trying to get academic credit for going to shows was a
*modern* phenomenon :)   The tape that exists was made by two of the students as part of their
sociological study- not to document the music. Supposedly there is a film that was shot of the
auidence as well, for the same purpose.  Unfortunately, I wasn't really into the Dead when I was
at Wesleyan myself (me and my housemates were more pre-grunge, i.e. nobody ever washed the
dishes, and I've never heard anyone mention the Union Carbide Productions album we wore out
since :)  so I didn't make a concerted effort to track the film down.
     More importantly, the show did not take place at the Field House ( a horrid barn-like gym)
but at the foot of Foss Hill (a great place for sledding!) where the annual spring concerts still
occur.  I got the Wesleyan alumnae magazine a couple of years back- it had a big color photo
from the show.  At the center was the spitting image of Jerry Garcia, but the caption informed
that this was really a professor (the one who sanctioned said sociology project) who had just
passed on.  He's smiling from ear to ear in the midst of the crowd, who look exactly like the kids
I went to school with 20 years later...
     If you happen to correspond with a current Wesleyan student in your archiving activities, you
might want to pass on this info.  The school is very small (under 3,000 students) and refreshingly
free of bureaucracy- i.e. they could easily turn up more photos and perhaps the film with a bit of
detective work.