Fifty years ago today, the Grateful Dead released American Beauty:
There are countless versions of the Grateful Dead to tap into, hundreds of bootlegs and remastered live recordings to queue up. Many bona fide Deadheads would say it's not even worth bothering with the studio recordings. But American Beauty, released Nov. 1, 1970, and lined with back-to-back classics that earned them the title of the great American jam band, stands out from all the rest.
Meanwhile, yesterday set a couple more milestones that historians will talk about 50 years from now:
- Tropical Storm Eta became the 28th named storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, setting a new record. Hurricane season officially ends a month from today.
- More than 91 million people have already voted in this election, about 2/3 of the total ballots cast (136.5 m) in 2016.
- The monthly average water level in the Lake Michigan-Huron systemfinally dipped below last year's levels, following 9 straight months of record or near-record levels.
Only 60 shopping days left until we finally exit this bizarre and horrible year.