The New Guy, Brent Mydland, first sat in the hot seat 31 years ago today.  I feel old.

I know what you mean.
I always thought he and Vince were the best vocalists the Grateful Dead ever had. And speaking of Vince, he was an even newer guy than Brent.

Call me a weirdo (Weir-do?), but I truly love the Dead's singing - everybody (well, maybe not Donna) through 1990. Don't remember Vince's voice (only saw them once with him; didn't work for me).  
 
Peter

I saw the Dead cover Baba O'Reilly and Vince did a superb job on that vocal. That's really all I remember of his singing with the Dead (never was a Tubes fan)but it was very memorable. It indicated that he was an excellent singer even if the Dead didn't use his talent much.

I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to jam with Vince a couple of times.  A great player and a really nice guy.  It was sad what he went through following his time in the Dead.
 
Bill, tgo

One of my good friends who lived out in Park City, UT with me for a couple of years named his dog Mydland. Those unware of the reference found it to be a strange name for a dog. LOL

for me, the dead were at their best with brent
especially 1987. after he left us, the void was never really filled by vince, he wasnt the greatest keyboard guy. when hornsby played with them, it was pretty darn good.  
cmon did anybody really like samba in the rain?

I find myself still singing that song from time to time even though I haven't heard it in 15 years.  It usually comes up when I am doing 'something' in the rain and I substitute Samba for that Something.  The thing about Samba was that it at least had a hook and some energy, it wasn't a definite set destroyer like Wave to the Wind, Eternity, If The Shoe Fits, Childhoods End and a few other monstrosities that lurked in setlists from the period.

Ck out the new dead.net release from Philly on 7/7/89...3cd's and a DVD with good quality...lot's of Brent. FWIW, ALL the GD shows (i.e., before 8/95)I was at (and there were a bunch) were with Brent at the keyboard helm. Never saw Pig, Keith/Donna, Hornsby/Vince in the actual flesh.