Jambase Talks Tech with Bobby

Andrew Wetzler interviewed Bob Weir for JamBase:

Downloading With Bob Weir
By Andrew Wetzler

JamBase: Just out of curiosity, what kind of time do you spend on the internet these days?

Bob Weir: I'm something of a news junkie. So, out here on the [West] Coast I get the New York Times online every night. I spend 9:00 to 10:00, generally after the kids are down, reading the news and stuff like that. I do a fair amount of shopping, as much as I have a stomach for. I try to do that online. I spend a lot of time traveling, so when I'm home I like to stay home.

JamBase: Do you ever spend time online reading the reviews and message boards related to you?

Bob Weir: I used to but I don't have time for that anymore. I know what kind of show we had, and I can tell from the reaction of the audience what kind of show [they feel] we had.

Do you download music yourself?

Yes. I go to commercial sites you know, mostly [iTunes]. If I can't find something on Apple Music then I start drifting around. It is all pretty much the same quality. Actually, Apple Music is pretty good. They have the FLAC stuff.

Are you able to perceive a big difference between MP3 and FLAC?

Yeah. [FLAC is] way, way more dynamic.

You need a much bigger hard drive though.

Yeah, actually I got a bigger hard drive.

What kind of stuff are you listening to these days?

I don't listen to much pop music. I listen to old R&B. I listen to modern classical. I listen to jazz, mostly older jazz. Some blues.

What about some of the bands that would be more on the jam side of the fence today?

Not a whole hell of a lot of it because I don't want that stuff in my head, what other people are doing in my ilk. It's bound to happen where if something catches my fancy it's going to come out through my hands. I would encourage jam bands not to listen to each other so that they continue to develop their individuality.

Where does covering the Dead fit into that mix in terms of stifling creativity for other bands?

Whatever floats their mullet as the saying goes. If they love a tune, they should play it. That's what brings a lot of the joy to the music.

I find that as my kids are getting older I'm losing some control over the music that's being played in my house. Who controls the music in your house and what's being played?

Well, my kids are young. My oldest is nine. We do a lot of the Nutcracker for instance these days. They listen to a lot of ballets because the oldest is a ballet student. I imagine the younger one just listens to mostly what the older ones play. I don't play a lot of my music in the house. I tend to play that out here in the studio.

When you're deciding what songs you're going to play for a given show, to what degree does it enter your mind, "Well gee, is this something that someone is going to want to buy later on as a download?"

No, not at all. When I'm creating a set list it's a matter of flow and a matter of the evening's entertainment.

As you're going from Orlando to Boca to Jacksonville or wherever, do you give thoughts to what you played one night versus the next, so that it keeps it fresh?

The way I create a set list is I have a database so that the songs I've done for the last two years - and the last couple of times we've been around a given town - are automatically out. Then, say the last week's worth of shows, those songs are more or less automatically out, unless the set really, really needs them.

What happens if you play two "One More Saturday Night" in Boca Raton two years in a row?

Well, then you are going to get two "Saturday Nights." We'll try to make them different.

We may have saved our democracy in this last election. The cards aren't all down yet but it was
The archive.org situation a year ago caused a great deal of commotion with a lot of passionate feelings being expressed. Looking back on it, is there anything that you'd like to share about what happened? Would you have done anything differently?

I've learned a lot from that. For instance, I learned that if we're going to go to the effort and expense of making a record that we have to be able to market it some way. We haven't really figured it out yet, but we're going to have to do that soon. If we're going to go through the effort and expense of making a record, we're going to need to at least get our money back out of it.

Did you expect such a backlash when you guys went the route you did?

I think for the most part that was your stock standard typical, very vocal minority. People were just not content to deal with the fact that a musician needs to make a living...

...that what you have is proprietary at the end of the day.

Right. They had no respect for intellectual property whatsoever. The musicians' needs are not being met. There's this myth that information has to be free. That was the big rallying cry back a year ago, and I don't buy that. It doesn't make sense. There is no way you can make it make sense, and I debated this with people who are big time web/internet blowhards who claim to know the situation inside and out. But, they don't know the situation legally and they don't know the situation morally.

Take a company like Google who got to a point where they said free information is nice but now we need to monetize it.

Yeah or we can't do business.

For some of the diehards out there, does there appear to be a disconnect relative to the Dead's willingness to let people tape shows forever?

Something of that nature. We let them make digital copies of our archival stuff, which is a major technological step further forward. So, you can get a hundredth generation digital recording with file sharing and still have a pretty good recording. We've actually gone way further in that direction then the Dead ever did. That's simply because the technology has changed since the Dead were around.

Just a couple other questions for you. "Easy to Slip" has been in your repertoire for a very long time. Did you spend any time around Lowell George?

Hell, yeah. He produced a record for us. The night I met him I was sort of the band's envoy to the various producers we were interviewing, and I picked him up at the airport. He was hungry so we decided to stop in [San Francisco] for Chinese food. He wanted to go to Golden Dragon Restaurant - which is a good restaurant - because there was a very famous Chinese gangland shootout that happened there. The bullet holes were still there, and he had to go up to the wall and put his fingers in the bullet holes and stuff like that. We had a lot of times. He was a great guy, fabulous musician, a lot of fun to hang with. We did a little drinking together. I think the worst I ever felt in my life was the morning after I got the news he died. A bunch of us were up in Portland and there was a Trader Vic's at the bottom of our hotel. So, we figured we've got to raise a glass or two to Lowell. I didn't feel so good in the morning.

You've sat in with The Radiators a couple of times when they've been in the Bay Area. What's it like playing with those guys?

They're a lot of fun. Great groove.

One of my fondest memories was seeing Bobby and the Midnights on the Riverboat in New Orleans during college. Any plans for that to happen again?

You know, maybe in another five or ten years or something we'll get a little reunion tour together just for fun.

What's in the cards for you and for Ratdog in 2007?

Well, we're working on that right now. We'll be touring a fair bit, and I think we'll be recording a fair bit. I think we'll probably make some sort of deals with various online subscription and straight ahead commercial music [services].

Any parting words of wisdom?

Love what you do. Aside from that, register and vote. We may have saved our democracy in this last election. The cards aren't all down yet but it was slipping away, getting beyond reach. It was becoming a democracy in name only. A lot will have to be done to remedy what has been done over the last few years in terms of gerrymandering the country, rigging voting systems, and stuff like that. A lot of attention is going to have to go back to that because those folks aren't done trying to grab power.

***the end***

I love when Bob says "Whatever floats their mullet as the saying goes." I googled that "saying" but couldn't find any other reference or use. Another Weir original!

Phil Lesh Wants Your Blood!

Well, he doesn't want it personally. He wants you to donate your blood to help out those in need. There are 12 days left to meet Phil's challenge.

Phil and the Unbroken Chain Foundation are asking phans to donate blood this month in honor of Phil. In honor of your commitment, UBC will donate $10.00 to the Vattikuti Urology Institute for every pint donated through December 31st, 2006 (to a maximum of $50,000). After you have donated, please send an email to mailto:donor@phillesh.net?subject=I%20Gave%20Blood with the subject "I Gave Blood". Please include your name, blood bank name, city, and state.

To achieve the maximum donation, 5,000 Phil-Zoners need to donate blood.

To Find a Donation Location Near You, Please Go to aabb.org or RedCross.org

Grateful Dead To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at 49th Annual Grammys

From the Recording Academy press release (at grammy.com):

Recipients of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY® Award were announced today by The Recording Academy®. Joan Baez, Booker T. & The MG's, Maria Callas, Ornette Coleman, the Doors, the Grateful Dead and Bob Wills will receive The Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.

***

"This year's group of accomplished honorees are as diverse as they are influential as creators of the most renowned and prominent recordings in the world," said Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. "Their contributions exemplify the highest artistic and technical standards that have positively affected the music industry and music fans."

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors lifelong artistic contributions to the recording medium while the Trustees Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing capacity. Both awards are decided by vote of The Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY Award recipients are determined by The Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing members and The Academy's Trustees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.

Formal acknowledgment of these special merit awards will be made at an invitation-only ceremony during GRAMMY Week, as well as during the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be held at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.

***

The Grateful Dead (*Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir) — The Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors, spreading their message of peace, love and harmony across the globe for more than four decades. The ultimate cult band, the Dead were known for their unique and eclectic songwriting style, fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, country, jazz, psychedelia, and gospel, and for live performances, featuring long jams. The band released more than 50 albums, and was music's top-grossing live act year after year. As strong and passionate supporters of numerous educational and humanitarian charities, they established the Rex Foundation. Today, more than 10 years after Jerry Garcia's death, the legions of fans — called Dead Heads —have only grown larger and stronger.

The Dead Sue

Well, this Press Release from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has spread quick:

Rock Icons, the Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana, Led Zeppelin and The Doors File Lawsuit to Stop Illegal Sales of Concert Memorabilia and Merchandise

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Grateful Dead Productions, Carlos Santana, and the members of Led Zeppelin and The Doors filed a lawsuit today seeking to stop the unlawful reproduction, promotion and sale of thousands of vintage concert memorabilia items and illegal copies of the memorabilia.

The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California against William Sagan, who operates a website, wolfgangsvault.com, through which he is promoting and selling these materials in violation of federal and state laws.

Sagan acquired the memorabilia when he purchased certain assets of the late legendary concert promoter Bill Graham from Clear Channel Entertainment, which acquired Graham's concert promotion company after his death. Graham's archives contained millions of promotional items and personal memorabilia, such as vintage concert posters and t-shirts featuring the musical artists' intellectual property -- their names, voices, likenesses, photographs, trademarks and copyrights -- which were never authorized for sale.

Sagan has continued to expand his allegedly unlawful practices by offering reproductions of these items for sale, including "reprints" of vintage concert posters and a new line of baby clothing featuring the artists' names and protected trademarks. In addition, to increase sales of these materials, Sagan is streaming allegedly illegal recordings of live concerts performed by the artists to the public on his website and is offering to "license" these recordings to other parties.

The artists are represented by Jeff Reeves and Ashlie Beringer, lawyers with the international law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

"Sagan simply doesn't have the legal rights to exploit and profit from the extraordinary success of these musicians," said Jeff Reeves, who represents the musicians. "This memorabilia was created in the first place for the purposes of promoting concerts and as gifts for fans and concert crew. Graham himself did not have the right to sell, reproduce or otherwise exploit these materials as a promoter, and neither does Sagan, who was not authorized to purchase these materials and who has absolutely no connection to the artists or their music."

"We have never given permission for our images and material to be used in this way," said Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. "What Sagan is doing is stealing. He is stealing what is most important to us -- our work, our images and our music -- and is profiting from the good will of our fans."

"Bill Graham was a man of great integrity who cared very deeply about the artists he worked with as a manager and promoter," said GRAMMY-award winning musician Carlos Santana, one of the artists -- along with his namesake band Santana -- affected by William Sagan's activities on wolfgangsvault.com. "Bill was a close friend to me and the Santana Band for many years, and I know that what Sagan is doing would go against everything he believed in. I am fully committed to joining with other artists to protect our work, our rights and our legacy."

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Right now, the website being sued has Jimmi Hendrix live @ Winterland 10/11/68 as "this week in the concert vault."

Here's a Mercury News story from February about the "new" site.

Mickey Hart will Entertain at Nancy Pelosi Party

On January 4th, Nancy Pelosi will be formally elected as speaker of the house. That evening, she will be honored at a concert/fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which runs the party's national House campaign. Entertainment at the National Building Museum includes Mickey Hart.

An individual ticket will cost you $1,000. I have a feeling getting a free one really would be a Miracle!

Read more at SFGate.com

American Beauty Project Line-up & Set Lists

This sounds way cool and tickets are free. Too bad plane tickets to NYC aren't free. ;^D I am hoping for some fine online coverage...

From Cybergrass.com:

Line-up and Set Lists Confirmed for The American Beauty Project

Two of the Grateful Dead's greatest albums, American Beauty and Workingman's Dead, both recorded in 1970, will each be honored with its own evening when Arts>World Financial Center presents The American Beauty Project free in the World Financial Center Winter Garden, 220 Vesey Street.

Workingman's Dead, which was recorded in March 1970, will be honored Saturday, January 20 at 8:00pm by a distinctive roster of singer-songwriters, bands and instrumentalists when each performs one of the tracks on the classic album.

The next night, Sunday, January 21 at 8:00pm, another group of singers and musicians will perform cuts from American Beauty, which was recorded in August and September 1970.

Performing their own arrangements of the Workingman's Dead and American Beauty songs are Jorma Kaukonen (Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane), Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Gob Iron), Ollabelle, Toshi Reagon, The Holmes Brothers, Sex Mob, Espers, Jen Chapin, Dar Williams, The Klezmatics, Tim O'Reagan (The Jayhawks), Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Phil Lesh & Friends), Teresa Williams, Rob Barraco, Dan Zanes, Railroad Earth, Catherine Russell, Jim Lauderdale, John Leventhal, Brandon Ross, Andy Statman, Tony Trischka and more names to be announced in the weeks ahead.

Putting together The American Beauty Project to celebrate 35th anniversary of these two landmark Grateful Dead albums is Artistic Director and Producer David Spelman, who was responsible for similar tributes to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. At last year's Nebraska Project honoring Springsteen, The Boss himself spent the evening standing unnoticed with the crowd before jumping on stage for the finale.

"Both Workingman's Dead and American Beauty were ranked on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, 258 and 262, respectively," said Mr. Spelman. "Each was extremely innovative at the time for their fusion of bluegrass, rock, folk and country music."

Workingman's Dead, the band's fourth studio album, was recorded in March 1970, and was voted by readers of Rolling Stone as the best album of 1970, in front of Crosby, Stills and Nash's Déjà and Van Morrison's Moondance.

American Beauty was recorded between August and September of 1970 and was released in November of the same year. It included instant radio favorites such as "Truckin'", "Sugar Magnolia" and "Friend of the Devil."

"The acoustic sound and folk/country tunes of Workingman's Dead would come as quite a shock to many fans, and to the critics as a harbinger of some sort of conscious movement (along with The Band, Dylan and the Byrds) toward country," wrote Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally in his program notes for the event. Mr. McNally went on to add that "as usual with the Grateful Dead, the album's origins were serendipitous and synchronistic, involving no plan or program. Instead, their swerve to include country songs in their work began quite accidentally when their lyricist Robert Hunter moved in with the Garcia family in January 1969 … In March 1970, they went into the studio to record Workingman's Dead Hugely in debt to their record company, they were forced to be simple and economize, thinking consciously of Buck Owens' Bakersfield sound. The simplicity served the music perfectly, and the result was a classic, although not the departure many thought it was. They'd enlarged their vision, not changed it."

The set list for The American Beauty Project is as follows:

Workingman's Dead - Saturday, January 20 at 8:00pm:

Uncle John's Band ----------------- Ollabelle with Larry Campbell
High Time----------------- The Holmes Brothers
Dire Wolf----------------- Larry Campbell with Teresa Williams and Rob Barraco
New Speedway Boogie----------------- Catherine Russell
Cumberland Blues----------------- The Klezmatics
Black Peter----------------- Jim Lauderdale with John Leventhal, Brandon Ross and friends
Easy Wind----------------- Tim O'Reagan (the Jayhawks)
Casey Jones----------------- Railroad Earth
Plus instrumental interludes by: Tony Trischka and Andy Statman

American Beauty - Sunday, January 21 at 8:00pm:

Box Of Rain----------------- Toshi Reagon
Friend Of The Devil----------------- Mark Eitzel
Sugar Magnolia ----------------- Jim Lauderdale and friends
Operator----------------- Jorma Kaukonen and friends
Candyman----------------- Jay Farrar (Son Volt)
Ripple----------------- Dar Williams and Dan Zanes
Brokedown Palace----------------- Ollabelle with Larry Campbell
Till The Morning Comes ----------------- Espers
Attics Of My Life ---------------- Larry Campbell with Teresa Williams and Rob Barraco
Plus instrumental interludes by: Andy Statman, Tony Trischka, and Sex Mob

HOST:
John Schaefer is the host of WNYC's innovative music talk show "Soundcheck," which features live performances and interviews with a variety of guests. Since 1982, Schaefer has also hosted and produced the popular new music radio program "New Sounds," hailed as "The #1 radio show for the Global Village" by Billboard magazine. He has been heard regularly on the BBC, the ABC (Australia), Taipei Public Radio, and Radio New Zealand. Schaefer's writings include New Sounds: A Listener's Guide to New Music (Harper & Row, NY, 1987; Virgin Books, London, 1990); a biography of composer La Monte Young (in Sound and Light, Bucknell University Press, 1996); and Songlines: The Voice in World Music (Cambridge Companion to Singing, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2000). In May 2006, New York Magazine cited Schaefer as one of "the people whose ideas, power, and sheer will are changing New York" in its Influentials issue. First Dead show attended: He's pretty sure it was in 1977…or 1978…possibly at New York's Palladium…he's just can't remember all the details.

PRODUCER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
David Spelman has been making and producing music for more than fifteen years as a global impresario, busker, flack, and patron of the arts. As Artistic Director of the biannual New York Guitar Festival (b. 1999), David has earned plaudits from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and websites that only guitarists bother to read. David has produced epic tribute concerts to Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan (Bruce showed, Bob didn't), oversees the Wall-To-Wall Guitar Festival at the University of Illinois' Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and will get to taste many Australian wines at their sources as the Artistic Advisor of the annual Adelaide International Guitar Festival, launching in November 2007. David has trained in conservatories, luthiery shops, and the Prague Metro (the lattermost was the most lucrative). A former owner of a New York-based publicity firm, David did not author this bio. First Dead show attended: Capital Centre, Landover, MD, November 8, 1979.

C0-PRODUCER:
A.J. Benson's earliest musical memory is of puzzling over his parents' Mamas & Papas, Dave Brubeck, Simon & Garfunkel, Trini Lopez and Herb Alpert LPs. He's spent the last twelve years in the music industry, most notably at Arista Records, RCA Music Group, and Virgin Records America, working on projects for Patti Smith, The Bravery and OutKast to Barry Manilow and Dave Matthews (and many in between), and is currently managing recording projects at Island Def Jam. When he wasn't diligently studying in high school and working on his journalism degree at the University of Connecticut in the 1980s, he was following the Grateful Dead around the country. First Dead show attended: New Haven Coliseum, April 23, 1984.

Arts>World Financial Center serves as the leading showcase in Lower Manhattan for visual and performing arts - from the intimate to the spectacular - by artists either emerging or established. Since 1988, year-round and free to the public, it has presented interdisciplinary arts programming with an emphasis on commissioned works, site-specific installations and premieres.

All events are free! No tickets required. Seating is first come, first served. For information, call (212) 945-0505 or visit www.worldfinancialcenter.com.

The American Beauty Project MySpace page

Mickey & the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp 2007

Last year I did a post about Mickey and his participation with the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp. It's fun to see him involved again this year. The five day Hollywood camp will be February 15th - 19th, 2007 (President's Day Weekend).

You can check out the daily schedule here, but this is just a (one day) taste:

TUESDAY AUGUST 15th, 2006

8:30AM – 9:30AM
SHUTTLES FROM HOTEL TO REHEARSAL STUDIOS

8:45AM – 9:45AM
BREAKFAST SERVED AT GIBSON & ULTRASOUND STUDIOS

10AM – 3:30PM
BAND REHEARSALS
“BONES” MALONE, AL CHEZ & BRUCE KAPLAN VISIT STUDIOS

The Horn Section from The Late Night with David Letterman Show will visit each studio. This will be your time to practice with them for your performance on the final night at B.B. Kings!

1PM – 1:30PM
LUNCH SERVED AT GIBSON & ULTRASOUND STUDIOS

1:30PM – 5:30PM
LEVON HELM VISITS STUDIOS

5:30PM
SHUTTLES TO “T” NEW YORK

6PM – 7PM
COCKTAILS & DINNER AT “T” NEW YORK

7PM – 9PM
UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH DR. JOHN
Q&A and an intimate performance with this New Orleans legend!

9PM
SHUTTLES TO GIBSON

9:30PM – 10:15PM
MASTER CLASSES
Round Two of Master Classes from the Rock Stars. If you missed a class the night before, this is your second chance to learn tips and techniques from the counselors.

10:15PM
LATE NIGHT JAMS
These jam sessions are the perfect opportunity to rock out with your fellow campers and counselors. HAVE FUN!

11PM – till…
SHUTTLES BEGIN TO HUDSON HOTEL

Check out all kinds of stuff @ the official website

pic from rocknrollfantasycamp.com

Return of the Hard Truckers

This cool press release came out while I was "out of it" but better late than never, eh???

DECEMBER 1ST, 2006 MARKS THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF AN IMPORTANT COG IN THE GRATEFUL DEAD WHEEL

After Thirty Years on the Road and a Brief Hiatus The Hard Truckers are Back.

Back in 1975, a fledgling company formed in the Bay Area. Two Grateful Dead Roadies, Steve Parish and Joe Winslow, took what they learned as part of the team that built the Grateful Dead's legendary Wall of Sound and began commercially building the touring professional's speaker cabinet. On the cutting edge of technology, the Hard Truckers produced speaker cabinets years ahead of their time. Used by the Bay Area's biggest rock stars, these hand-made speaker cabinets toured the world and back. Well now, Steve, Joe and the Hard Truckers are back.

The Hard Truckers are proud to announce their return to the music gear scene. For this leg of the trip the Hard Truckers are honored to have their good friends from Tone Tubby speakers along for the ride. Called "the most significant development in speaker design for decades." Tone Tubby and their hempcone speakers are committed to tone. The Hard Truckers are again doing what they do best as they set the stage for the hottest speakers the market has ever seen.

Hand-made works of art, the Hard Truckers are the professional answer to generic gear. Musicians of all levels will benefit by the return of the Hard Truckers.

Catch them at NAMM in Anaheim, CA, Jan 17th-20th in the Tone Tubby Booth, Hall "E" booth 1280.

If you would like more information on this topic or to schedule an interview with the Hard Truckers, please contact Glenn Goldstein at (404) 496-4049 ext. 5 or email Glenn at glenn@hardtruckers.com

And make sure to visit the Hard Truckers website

And if anyone is wondering what to get SLC Library Boy for Christmas...

Ratdog to Hit Road in Feb

I'm prayin' 'n' hopin' a Salt Lake show is added!!!

From LiveDaily:

Ratdog plots early 2007 roadwork
by Rob Evans
LiveDaily Editor

Never a group to stay in one place for long, Bob Weir's Ratdog--currently taking a winter break--has lined up a series of February tour dates.

The group, led by former Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Bob Weir, is currently set to play seven club dates in the West.

Also on Ratdog's itinerary is a three-night stand at New York's Beacon Theater in March, and an appearance at Minnesota's 10,000 Lakes Festival. Details are in the itinerary below.

Weir formed Ratdog--originally known as RatDog Revue--in 1995 with bassist Rob Wasserman, who is no longer involved with the group. The band unexpectedly became Weir's primary musical vehicle following the death of Grateful Dead co-founder Jerry Garcia in 1995.

Though Ratdog has always been a strong draw on the concert circuit, the group's only studio album is "Evening Moods," released by Arista Records in 2000.

Joining Weir in Ratdog's current lineup are drummer Jay Layne, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, guitarist Mark Karan, saxophonist Kenny Brooks and bassist Robin Sylvester.

February 2007
9 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
10 - Ventura, CA - Ventura Theater
11 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
13 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove
16 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
17 - Seattle, WA - The Moore Theatre
18 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom

March 2007
8-10 - New York, NY - Beacon Theater

July 2007
20 - Detroit Lakes, MN - 10,000 Lakes Festival

Bobby to Play in Werewolves Band

From Jambase:

World renowned keyboardist Chuck Leavell (The Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers), will perform with The Werewolves on January 18th at San Francisco's Bimbo's 365 Club. The all-star band will feature Bob Weir, guitarist Mark Karan (RatDog), drummer Narada Michael Walden (Sting, Jeff Beck, Mahavishnu Orchestra), Norton Buffalo on harmonica (Steve Miller Band, Bonnie Raitt), guitarist Jimmy Dillon (Clarence Clemons, Springsteen, BSMC Director), keyboardist Ozzie Ahlers (Van Morrison, Jerry Garcia Band), and bassist Dewayne Pate (Robben Ford Band).

Thursday, January 18
Chuck Leavell - The 6th Rolling Stone and his other band, The Werewolves plus Bob Weir (Grateful Dead, Ratdog) and Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller Band, Bonnie Raitt) and more stellar, surprise guests!

All proceeds benefit Bay Area children's music programs
Sponsored by Acteva, lala.com, Wells Fargo Bank, NAMM
Doors at 6 p.m. Tickets are $150
21 & over are welcome

Photo by Robert Minken

...looks like another stellar show I'll be unable to make it to... :^(

SNL Anicdote

Gawker.com reprinted Alan Baird's Saturday Night Live stories and one of 'em is 'bout the Dead. I'm a sucker for GD anicdotes!!!

Originally from TheMorningNews.org:

The Grateful Dead begin psyching themselves up to perform 20 minutes before air, and by the time we let the audience take their seats, clouds of marijuana smoke in the entry hall have reduced visibility to five or ten feet at best.Then the red ‘On Air’ light starts blinking, and through the heavy double doors, I can hear SNL’s house band rip into the theme music. Don Pardo’s dulcet tones announce the Dead and their guest host. Later, I’ll go inside to watch some of the sketches that have survived dress rehearsal, and none of us will miss the two musical performances. But for now, I stand in the empty hallway, sucking up a few lungfuls of second-hand reefer. After an earlier rehearsal, Jerry Garcia gave me one of his plastic guitar picks, and I run a finger along its triangular shape, resting securely in my pocket. This little treasure will look mighty fine, pasted into the ol’ scrapbook.

By the way, I love the Dead for the Jams - the longer the better. Considering the time limit and format of SNL, I didn't expect to really enjoy the Dead's appearences. But, I must say, the Dead sounded Phat!

Phil's Blood Bounty

Sometimes I get a little weary posting about Phil's health (just 'cause we don't like hearing any bad news). But, in the end, I think it's positive because Phil has been addressing his health issues, getting treatment, and then getting out the educative word about these health issues. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing that Jerry had taken such a pro-active approach. As always, best wishes and prayers for Phil and all the others with similar conditions.

From detnews.com:

Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh gives money for blood
by Neal Rubin

The doctor back home in California thought the best thing to do with Phil Lesh's prostate issue was watch and wait.

Lesh thought that was a fine idea, except for the part about it being slow, stupid and pointless. So the founding and only bass player for the Grateful Dead made haste for Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where he had surgery last Tuesday at the increasingly legendary Vattikuti Urology Institute.

More than 2,700 other men have had their cancerous prostates robotically removed at Vattikuti since 2001, and it's sort of like million-dollar lottery winners: After the first few, everyone stopped paying attention.

What makes Lesh noteworthy, aside from his resume, is that he's celebrating the occasion by putting a bounty on blood donations. Give a pint by the end of the year, let him know about it, and his nonprofit will donate $10 to Vattikuti.

Lesh, 66, has been a big booster for organ donation since he received an aftermarket liver in 1998. After racking up more Frequent Transfusion Points at Henry Ford, he has widened his scope.

"Holidays are the worst time of year for blood donations," he pointed out, but the need for blood doesn't go away just because everybody who's not on a gurney is at the mall.

Leshes did their homework

Lesh has been micromanaging his health care since he ignored the early signs of hepatitis C and it wound up costing him a body part. He and his wife, Jill, did their homework on prostatectomy and decided that Detroit in December was the place to be.

The robotic technique pioneered at Vattikuti is considerably less invasive than the old method, said Henry Ford spokeswoman Zoila Brown, with fewer and milder side effects. "We've actually had patients from every state," she said, and recently someone dropped by from Antarctica.

Lesh's case was typically smooth. He checked out of the hospital after 36 hours, checked into a Dearborn hotel for a few days of recuperation, and was scheduled to fly home to Marin County this morning. He could have taken off Saturday, but waiting a few extra days allowed him to leave his catheter behind.

In Dearborn, he said, he was out and about every day, "trying to balance rest and exercise so the rest will mean something, and my whole being won't atrophy." His destinations included The Henry Ford and Fairlane Mall -- entertaining enough, if not his most enjoyable visit to the area.

"I remember partying at the Pontchartrain with the (Jefferson) Airplane in 1970," Lesh said. "Quite an evening."

Inform Lesh of blood donation

With the Grateful Dead largely expired, his focus this millennium has been on Phil Lesh and Friends, a revolving cast of musicians playing what he calls "Dixieland-style rock."

His prostate's musical career is over, but the rest of him doesn't expect to miss any performances, and he is looking forward to writing as much as $50,000 worth of checks to Vattikuti through the Unbroken Chain Foundation.

After you offload a pint, simply send an e-mail to donor@phillesh.net, put "I Gave Blood" in the subject line, and give your name, blood bank name, city and state.

Compared to giving blood, it's easy, not that giving blood is all that difficult. And be you a rock star, rock fan or rock collector, don't forget the most important thing, other than the part about saving lives:

Free cookies.

Reach Neal Rubin at (313) 222-1874 or nrubin@detnews.com. Catch his blog at www.detnews.com/blogs

Phil pic by Getty Images

Bobby on Keller Williams CD

Keller Williams (who came to my town for our awesome free downtown summer concert series) is known as "the one-man jam band." But his 9th studio album has a bunch of great guest artists including Bobby.

From UpstageMagazine.com:

When singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Keller Williams scratched out a long and ambitious wish list of artists he'd like to collaborate with in the studio, he told himself "It can't hurt to dream." Today, with the release of his ninth studio album, Keller's dream comes true. For the release the usually one-man-band is backed by a dream team of musicians including Bela Fleck, Bobby Read, Bob Weir, Charlie Hunter, Derrek Phillips, Fareed Haque, Fleming McWilliams, Jeff Sipe, John Molo, John Scofield, Martin Sexton, Michael Franti, Modereko, Samir Chatterjee, Sanjay Mishra, Steve Kimock, The String Cheese Incident, and Victor Wooten.

dream features 16 tracks of unblemished material: a cataract of electrifying musical alliances, and endless entertainment thanks to Keller's rapturous innovations and his earthy, barefoot-in-the-park presentation. Look for dream to be released February 6. 2007 on SCI Fidelity Records.

Keller Williams is a one-man band for the digital age. Using innovative looping technology and innate musical genius, Keller's live solo performances pack more music on one stage than a full fledge rock ensemble might. His inspired live shows sell out from coast to coast.

The Keller's winter 2007 tour is as follows:
December 16 2006 9:30 Club Washington DC
December 26 2006 Fredericksburg Fair Grounds Fredericksburg VA SPCA Benefit Concert
December 29 2006 Fillmore Denver CO w/ YMSB
December 31 2006 Tweeter Center Camden NJ w/ TDB
January 11 2007 Galaxy Theatre San Juan Capsitrano CA
January 12 2007 Henry Fonda Theater Los Angeles CA
January 13 2007 House of Blues San Diego CA
January 24 2007 Midtown Ballroom Bend OR
January 25 2007 McDonald Theatre Eugene OR
January 26 2007 Roseland Ballrooom Portland OR
January 27 2007 Showbox Seattle WA
January 28 2007 Nightlight Bellingham WA
February 02 2007 Norva Norfolk VA one set with The Keels
February 03 2007 Rams Head Live Baltimore MD
February 16 Warfield Theatre San Francisco CA w/ Michael Franti and Spearhead
February 18 Montbleu Resort Showroom Lake Tahoe NV w/ Michael Franti and Spearhead

Then, in early spring, Keller returns to Europe for a run of headlining dates:
March 13 2007 King Tuts Glasgow UK
March 14 2007 Night and Day Manchester UK
March 15 2007 Lock 17 London UK
March 16 2007 Engine Rooms Brighton UK
March 17 2007 Handelsbeurs Gent BEL
March 18-20 2007 Jam in the Dam Amsterdam Neth w/ YMSB, DSO, Galactic
March 22 2007 Roubaiux - La Cndition Lille FRA
March 23 2007 Point Emphemere Paris FRA

More dates to be announced. Visit www.kellerwilliams.net for updated information and details.

Photo from ASCAP site

One Day Left to Bid

As Divester put it:

The Second Annual Reef Relief auction will come to an end this Friday, December 15th. If you're looking for ocean-themed gifts this holiday season and don't mind paying a little extra to help endangered coral reefs, then get moving.

From C-Market:

Item Number: 2031
Estimated Value: Priceless

Description:
Bob Weir rhythm guitarist and singer for the Grateful Dead and his sister, Wendy Weir, combine their talents once again to create a story to inspire and educate young readers about the need to preserve the fragile balance of an endangered environment-the coral reef.

BARU BAY: Australia (Hyperion Books for Children; May 8, 1995; $19.95), a book and musical/storytelling cassette package, is an intriguing combination of realism and fantasy set in Australia. A place of raw beauty unchanged for thousands of years, life in Baru Bay, Australia, can be as serene as the water at dawn or as rough as a storm surge during a hurricane.

The Aboriginal people who live in Baru Bay are descendants of people who have lived in the area since the Dreamtime, the time of creation in the Aboriginal culture. It is this world that Tamara, a young Australian girl, sets out to explore. During her adventures, she not only learns about ancestral traditions of the Land Down Under but also discovers the natural beauty as she snorkels through the coral reef.

In October 1992, Bob and Wendy Weir traveled to Australia to research BARU BAY beginning an experience that influences their lives to this day. They dove the Great Barrier Reef walked deserted beaches, hiked through rainforests recording the different sounds, and stayed in the Gumatj community with Mandawuy Yunupingu, the leader of the Aboriginal rock band Yothu Yindi.

Thousands of indigenous and traditional coastal cultures are dependent on healthy reefs for survival. Coral reefs are found in 109 countries around the world; it is estimated that in 93 of these countries, the reefs are either destroyed or damaged by human activity. In addition to the direct damage of the coral reefs, destruction of coasts, mangroves, and adjacent tropical rainforests also kills living coral organisms as it causes siltation and chemicals to run from the land into the water and out to the reef.

The elements of BARU BAY including pictures and sounds, are all reality-based and are woven together to encourage children's awareness and appreciation for the delicate environment. In addition to its brilliant illustrations, the book includes a map, a key to the illustrations, and a glossary of Aboriginal and coral reef terminology.

The tape features original music by Bob Weir, sounds of the natural australian locale, and absorbing narration, which fuse together to create an unusual sensory experience of the coral reef and the Australian environment. Bob's narration highlights Side A (16:45 min.), the original music featuring the Baru Dance is on Side B (18:20 min.).

Both Bob Weir and Wendy Weir are environmental activists who share the hope that everyone who reads or listens to their books will appreciate the importance of protecting the earth's fragile environment. They continue to use the proceeds from the sale of PANTHER DREAM: A Story of the African Rainforest to fund rainforest reforestation and educational projects in Africa. They will use proceeds from the sale of BARU BAY: Australia to benefit Reef Relief and the Yothu Yindi Foundation. The Walt Disney Company has arranged to have a tree planted for every one used in the printing of this book.

BABU BAY: Australia By Bob Weir and Wendy Weir Illustrated in full color by Wendy Weir With music by Bob Weir Publication date: May 8, 1995 Ages 4-8 40 pages Trade edition (book and cassette): l-5628222

Special Instructions:
There will be an additional charge to cover shipping and handling fees.

There are only two copies of Baru Bay By Bob Weir & Wendy Weir autographed by Bobby Weir and one of them could be yours.

The packaging in not in mint condition.

Donated By:
Bob Weir & Wendy Weir

Also on Cmarket:

Item Number: 845
Estimated Value: Priceless

Description: Reef Relief is the exclusive supplier of Grateful Diver apparel thanks to Honorary Board Member Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and his sister Wendy, who designed this striking logo that is featured on this white 100% cotton short-sleeved tee autographed by Mr. Bob Weir himself that is sure to please.

Special Instructions:
The Bob Weir autographed Grateful Diver tee shirt is available only in 2XL and in Large and there is only 1 of each. If you need a different size we do have the Grateful Diver sweatshirts autographed by Bob Weir available in S, M, L, XL, and 2 XL, but again there is only 1 of each size.

This particular Tee Shirt you are bidding on now is the L.
There will be an additional charge to cover shipping and handling.
Donated By:
Bob Weir

Best Wishes Phil!

On The Mend:

Last week, Phil Lesh underwent surgery at Henry Ford Hospital, a leading center for prostate cancer and urology health.

According to Lesh's Web site, "his surgery went very well, although he did require blood transfusions. He is already out of the hospital and is healing well."

The Henry Ford Hospital is known for its Vattikuti Urology Institute, which developed a robotic surgery method that treats patients from around the world. Lesh's Unbroken Chain Foundation is also asking fans to donate blood this month in honor the bassist. Sources: Bloomberg, WJR, jambands.com, DetroitFreePress

The Unbroken Chain Foundation is asking phans to donate blood this month in honor of Phil. In honor of your commitment, UBC willdonate $10.00 to the Vattikuti Urology Institute for every pint donated through December 31st, 2006 (to a maximum of $50,000). After you have donated, please send an email to donor@phillesh.net with the subject "I Gave Blood". Please include your name, blood bank name, city, and state.

Thank you for your love and support. Phil looks forward to being back making music with you soon.

PLEASE GIVE BLOOD!

Photo by Terry Mayer

Capitol Theatre Programs on new Web Site

Way cool new Websit alert!

From prnewswire.com:

35th Anniversary of Legendary Capitol Theatre Commemorated by Artist's Release of 300 Vintage Concert Programs

PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Lighting director and rock and roll illustrator Moyssi launched a website today to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of John Scher's Capitol Theatre, the legendary Passaic, NJ venue which Billboard hailed as "the Number One concert hall in the nation under 6,000 seats."

The 635-page website, http://www.moyssi.com, presents for the first time a complete collection of Moyssi's original cover illustrations of more than 300 concert programs for the Capitol Theatre, Giants Stadium, On The Boardwalk at Asbury Park, Byrne Meadowlands Arena and a dozen other venues in New York and New Jersey from 1975 through 1984. "Moyssi's creations have probably been seen by more rock music fans than any other modern artist," said Aquarian Arts Weekly at the time.

Concert-goers during those years will remember the unique artwork gracing the program covers: the delicate Rapidograph lines melding into fun fantasies which depicted a song, tour or album title, or some other tidbit about each band. The website revolves around the program covers or, in one case, the back cover. According to Moyssi, "When The Rolling Stones required us to use their tour artwork on the front cover, I illustrated the back cover-backwards- alluding to 25 of their album titles in one drawing." The concert programs are presented chronologically with catalog links to each program by artist, date and venue. The website also showcases related illustrations and dozens of other items including backstage passes, parking permits, buttons, door markers, meal tickets, bumper stickers and other concert memorabilia. "The site will grow as we continue to add anecdotes by the artists and roadies," said Moyssi, "making it an invaluable resource for writers, editors and researchers who wish to explore the East Coast music scene that began in the 1960s and ended in the 1980s." Also a boon for archivists and collectors of concert ephemera and original rock, jazz and blues concert art: all the original Rapidograph illustrations are now available for purchase for the first time.

About Moyssi

As one of the elite few resident stage lighting directors in the nation, Moyssi designed and directed lights at John Scher's Capitol Theatre (1971-86), Howard Stein's New York Academy of Music (1971-76) and The Bottom Line Cabaret. He toured with Jerry Garcia Band, Old And In The Way, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Edgar Winter, Foghat, Triumvirate and others. Moyssi also directed lights for live HBO/Cinemax and MTV features in the late 80s. As a young stage lighting director for the fabled series of concerts at Stony Brook University (1967-71), Moyssi, a sober engineering student, sipped from the same bottle with Janis Joplin-before breakfast-and an accidental career choice became a celebrated piece of American rock and roll history.

Search by Band Name here!

'67 Toronto Dead Poster in Auction

News-Antique.com has a primer about the Dead in their auction announcment:

Bill Graham's 1967 Toronto GRATEFUL DEAD with JEFFERSON AIRPLANE Concert Poster in near mint condition, and 1100 other lots will be sold Dec. 16 in the ItsOnlyRockNRoll.com Catalog and online auction.

THE GRATEFUL DEAD
While the national media frenzy surrounding the arrival of Beatlemania in 1964 continued unabated through 1965, a burgeoning, youth-based cultural movement was receiving but scant attention from the mainstream press. Not until 1967's "Summer of Love" was America formally introduced to this "psychedelic" phenomenon...and music was the conduit through which psychedelia was advanced.

Enter the GRATEFUL DEAD! After evolving from a jug band in '64 into a rock band with r & b tendencies called the Warlocks in early '65, Jerry Garcia settles on the name, Grateful Dead, after perusing the Oxford Dictionary for ideas on the eve of playing with Jefferson Airplane at the opening of Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium in December '65. Arriving on the San Francisco music scene with no fanfare, their '67 debut for Warner Brothers peaks at a dismal #73. Although receiving no airplay on conventional Top Forty radio, they are among the first wave of artists to find enthusiastic acceptance on the new underground fm radio format. The Grateful Dead reaches cult status as the 1960's come to a close.... and for the next twenty-five years, they weather the storms of personnel changes...drug busts...drug abuse, and all the usual twists and turns that traverse a working unit of life-long friends and musicians.

That relentless, seemingly never-ending tour schedule that established them as a premier concert draw for thirty years came to an end in 1995 with the death of Jerry Garcia. While various mutations involving Dead alumni continue to tour, their ever-expanding fan base continues on that "long strange trip."

You will find the Grateful Dead's long and storied history is visually enticing as you pore over our extensive collection of posters and memorabilia we offer here. It's not by chance that the Grateful Dead are, far and away, the subject of more psychedelic poster art than any other musical act. After all, they were there from the very beginning.

Lot # 401 - GRATEFUL DEAD, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE BG74 TORONTO CONCERT POSTER
1967. In the summer of 1967, Bill Graham promoted a concert series featuring The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane playing eight performances at Toronto's O'Keefe Center. This BG 74 first printing is quite unusual in that it was originally cut from a larger sheet; presumably one that included handbills. The borders are slightly larger on all four sides; a fact which would allow for the poster to be trimmed to the original 14 x 20.5" size. This outstanding example of one of the premier pieces (and most elusive) of the Bill Graham poster series exhibits one minor crease; otherwise it is NRMT.

Please visit ItsOnlyRockAndRoll for more about the Auction

10,000 Lakes 2007

The first announcement of artists for the 2007 festival is on the official website.

From 10KLF.com:

10KLF 2007 Artists

Bob Weir & RatDog, Trey Anastasio, Gov't Mule, Umphrey's McGee, moe., Little Feat, The Derek Trucks Band, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Trampled By Turtles, WookieFoot, Everyone Orchestra and over 50 more bands will celebrate July in Minnesota!

Global Rhythm Interviews Mickey

From Relix and Global Rhythm Magazine:

Grateful Dead drummer thinks globally

Perhaps more than any other band, the Grateful Dead was a melting pot, combining a myriad of musical influences (some American, many not) into a kaleidoscope of sound. Powering those experiments was Mickey Hart, forming one-half of the group’s fabled percussion duo, alongside Bill Kreutzmann. Also known as the Rhythm Devils, the duo is prepared to hit the road with guitarist Steve Kimock, Phish bassist Mike Gordon and others. Talking with GR, Hart reminisced about when foreign rhythms first cast their spell on him.

When did you first hear world music?

Well, there is no such thing as “world music”: It’s the world’s music. It’s culturally specific. It all depends on where you are—if you’re in Papua, New Guinea, Appalachian music is world music to you. But I know what you’re alluding to: You’re talking about something non-Western, basically. Well, I guess it would be the clave, and it would have to be Tito Puente and all those great Latin players in New York in the ’50s. I grew up in New York, and at that time, there was a cultural explosion, where all these people were migrating to New York and they were mixing the African rhythms and the rhythms from Puerto Rico and Cuba, especially. And the clave was being reborn, using horns and set into the jazz medium. Also, in the indigenous mediums as well—the merengue, cha-cha, mambos. That was my first hit of whatyou call world music.

When did you start playing non-Western rhythms?

I started playing timbales and shakers and guiro, and I worked in a restaurant at Atlantic Beach [in the suburbs of Manhattan, in NassauCounty], where Tito Puente was playing upstairs in the ballroom. At night, Tito used to let me come backstage and play guiro and shakers, behind the bandstand. I was too young to be on the bandstand—I was a kid, 13 or 14 years old.

What effect did that have on you?

I saw the trance, the ecstatic trance, and that’s what really connected me. I saw these people dancing all night...There were all kinds of very powerful rhythms being played and nobody except the practitioners knew what they were handling. It was like fire in the hands of these white suburban people. The Latin music was coming into suburbia, and into the urban cities, and igniting their white souls, and I was watching it, as it was happening, and I was attracted as well.

When you’re playing, what do you find yourself thinking about?

There’s no thinking. When you’re thinking, you’re just beating stuff up, and that’s an intellectual pursuit. I’m after the trance, and in the trance, you don’t think—the drum tells you what to do. You just go and do it. If you have you enough skill, and you’re in the right frame of mind, and you’re entrained with the drum, and you’re in sync in the moment, you could get everything: the pains, or the bills, or the fight you had with your kid. But when you get in the trance, there’s no thinking there. The only thinking you do is say to yourself, “Relax and stay where you are. Don’t go anywhere. Just relax and ride this magic carpet.” And you know it’s magic, and magic is fleeting, and that’s the only thing I’m really after. We know that rhythm connects us to the infinite. We know it connects us to our soul, we know it alters our consciousness; it’s a transformative power.

Is there anything that you learned from Tito that you sometimes find yourself still playing today?

It was more like a sensibility that I picked from him: the way he moved around the timbales and picked up his notes. You know, you usually base your knowledge on something that happened before...So do I think of Tito, from time to time? I do. Do I try to copy his licks? No, because those were rhythms for another day. This is a new day.

Are great drummers born with a gift for rhythm?

I think it’s genetic. I’m coded to scan for rhythms. I know that’s in my DNA.

What’s currently on your iPod?

Trance music, dance music, things that pump: heavy bass and drums, electronic music, dance music. The Chemical Brothers, Dust Brothers, Loop Guru, I like all those kind of electronic/bass rhythm/bass things. And I also have Crosby, Stills and Nash in there. ·

This article originally appeared in the February ’07 issue of Global Rhythm magazine.

***Interview by Wes Orshoski

I must say that the Chemical Brothers kick ass and I'm so glad to read that Mickey listens to electronic dance music. Check out my dance remix of Estimated Prophet over at my myspace (if you want) ;^)

Rhythm Devils Show Review

Inside Bay Area reviewed what looks like was a stellar show:

Grateful Dead members resurrect Rhythm Devils for charity
By Jim Harrington, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area

THE MEMBERS of the Grateful Dead were known for taking long, strange trips. Even by the standards of those legendary psychedelic pioneers, however, the journey that brought the Rhythm Devils to San Francisco's Warfield Theatre on Friday night was extraordinarily lengthy and bizarre.

The band's origins stretch back to the'70s, when director Francis Ford Coppola was looking for inspiration for the soundtrack to 1979's "Apocalypse Now." He found it at a Dead concert and later asked three band members — percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann and bassist Phil Lesh — to go into the studio to record musical accompaniment for the film.

Some of that music made the actual film soundtrack, but the lion's share was released on a separate album credited to the Rhythm Devils (reissued by Rykodisc as "The Apocalypse Now Sessions" in 1991).

On a lark, Kreutzmann and Hart resurrected the Rhythm Devils name to play what appeared to be a one-off ensemble gig with former Phish bassist Mike Gordon and Zero guitarist Steve Kimock at the 2006 Jammy Awards.

The four players had so much fun at the Jammys (the jam-band equivalent to the Grammy Awards) that they decided to invite some more friends onboard (including vocalist Jen Durkin) and take the show on the road.

That brings us to Friday, when this version of the Rhythm Devils finally made its Bay Area live debut. The concert was a benefit for the Rex Foundation, the Dead's charitable arm that has donated more than $750,000 to worthy organizations during the past five years.

Hart's Planet Drum ensemble, which also features Indian tabla phenom Zakir Hussain, Puerto Rican conga guru Giovanni Hidalgo and Nigerian drum master Sikiru Adepoju, opened the show.

One has to like percussion — really, really like percussion — to dig Planet Drum. Most fans seemed to enjoy the set, yet nobody seemed disappointed that it was shorter than what one gets when Planet Drum headlines a show.

There's always a major jolt of excitement that courses through the crowd whenever some Dead vets take the stage — especially at a place like the Warfield, a venue that played such an important part in the band's history. That was certainly true Friday as Hart and Kreutzmann climbed behind their kits, and the Rhythm Devils opened their two-set show with a superb take on the Janis Joplin classic "Piece of My Heart."

Durkin, a 12-year veteran of the jam-band scene best known for her time with Deep Banana Blackout, sang lead on most of the tunes and did her best work with the bluesy selections like "Piece of My Heart."

Gordon also did a fine job at the mic, especially during the band's funky take on the Dead's rambling country cut "Cumberland Blues," and it was too bad that his vocals weren't used to a greater extent.

The bassist was a terrific match for his percussion pals and seemed to push Kreutzmann and Hart in ways that were clearly reminiscent of Lesh's best years with the Dead. Kimock managed to sound somewhat like Jerry Garcia's double without really taking over a song in true Jerry-like fashion.

The ensemble kept growing throughout the night, to the point where the entire Planet Drum group was onstage and pounding through such Dead classics as "Scarlet Begonias" and "Fire on the Mountain."

Bob Weir even showed up and joined his fellow Dead mates for solid takes on his old band's "New Speedway Boogie" and "The Other One." Weir was in fine voice, but his greatest contribution was his rhythm guitar work — which seemed to serve as the missing link between Gordon and Kimock.

For those who missed the concert, the good news is that the Rhythm Devils show no sign of slowing down. Dead lyricist Robert Hunter has written a bunch of new tunes for the band and rumors swirl that a 2007 tour is in the works.

In other words, the trip should grow even longer, and possibly stranger, for the Rhythm Devils.

Write music critic Jim Harrington at jharrington@angnewspapers.com
Read Harrington's blog at http://www.insidebayarea.com/music

Photo by Josh Baron

Tucker Sees DSO

By the way, even though I'm a proud Liberal AND Progressive (and hope for some of "Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco Values") I support this whole "right wing" Deadhead thing because it's proof that it's all about the music!!!

The Dinger Zone has an account of Tucker Carlson @ a Dark Star Orchestra show:

Saturday night, Dark Star Orchestra played at the 9:30 Club. Dark Star Orchestra is a GRATEFUL DEAD cover band. Just prior to the beginning of the second set, I turned to Tucker Carlson and said (with my index finger and thumb a 1/4 inch of each other) that "I now have this much respect for you." He said "why"? I said "just because he was into the music of the DEAD." He then told me that he had been to 75 GRATEFUL DEAD shows and started to follow them in California as a 15 year old. Who Knew?

I then asked Tucker if he brought Anne Coulter(another DEAD HEAD)and he said "No, I brought my wife....she's much prettier!!!"

After the show Tucker turned to me and asked how I liked the show? We chatted a but, formally introduced him to the BF and he introduced us to his wife. She told us a cute story of when Tucker met GRATEFUL DEAD bassist Phil Lesh. She said he was so nervous that it was the first time she ever saw Tucker speechless! Tucker asked the BF and I how long we had been together and seemed surprised when we told him almost 11 years. He said "wow, that's longer than most marriages." Me, being me, replied "yep and you need to stop using gay people as a weapon, we deserve better." He asked us if it were legal would we get married? We said "yes" we wanted the same legal rights as he and his wife. To my shock he agreed. That's right...Lord of the Anger Twinks is cool with gay marriage, well, at least to my face and after few Stella's.

The show was a blast. The high light (for me) was the wicked-sick SHAKEDOWN STREET from the second set. It still amazes me how the music of the GRATEFUL DEAD can bring so many people from so many different backgrounds together....Oh, did I mention the guy dressed in drag?

In case you missed Tucker's interview of Phil, here's the D.C. Spectator account:

May 09, 2005
Tucker Carlson Interviews Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead

Washington, DC -- As someone who has known for some time that conservative pundit Tucker Carlson has been a longtime fan of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, it was great to see his interview with Dead bassist Phil Lesh on his recent PBS show.

It was also interesting to find out that Tucker saw over 50 shows -- just shy of Ann Coulter's tally of about 70 shows, she said, while at the University of Michigan back in the 80's.

As a proud Republican Grateful Dead enthusiast with 187 shows under my belt from 1977-1995, herewith in celebration of the band's status as classic Americana, a transcript of the Tucker Carlson-Phil Lesh interview courtesy of the Tucker Carlson Unfiltered website:

Carlson: For four decades Phil Lesh has been playing music with Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann. For thirty of those years they were joined by Jerry Garcia in the Grateful Dead. It was one of the most innovative acts in American music. Evolving from Bay area acid rock to bluegrass and almost everything in between. As its bassist, Lesh may have been the band's most musically adventurous member. I saw Phil Lesh play with the Dead more than 50 times, and when he came to Washington to talk about his memoir, Searching for the Sound, I interviewed him, unapologetically, as a fan.

For our viewers who aren't as familiar with the Grateful Dead, one of the things that comes out in your really nicely written excellent book --

Lesh: Thank you.

Carlson: Is how much you all toured.

Lesh: Yes.

Carlson: Give me an overview sense of the last 40 years.

Lesh: Well, we started out playing for dancers in the ballrooms of San Francisco in the late 1960's. And that's really what we've always thought of ourselves as, as a -- essentially a dance band, a lot like the swing bands of the 1930's and 1940's. We always wanted to -- we just wanted to play for more people. Because the way we thought of our music was as kind of a communion ritual, sort of we commune with each other and form what we thought of as a group mind. And that brings the music out and then we can transmit that to the audience and they send us energy back. And so that was the main reason we played music was to get that communion going and that sense of community.

Carlson: How would you describe Grateful Dead music? It seems to go all the way from acid rock to almost country. What is it?

Lesh: Well, it's something that has -- it's a kind of music that has a wide range of influences in it. And so from the beginning, we wanted to try and blend and fuse, really, all of those influences. And so we consciously tried to look at the music as being texturally greater than the sum of the parts.

Hoest You're early music was influenced by L.S.D. You have this amazing description of being at a show and somebody puts a bunch of acid in your orange juice and you get on stage. And you're not sure what this device is in your hands. It's a bass, as it turns out, which you played.

Lesh: Yes.

Carlson: Did L.S.D. make the music better?

Lesh: It didn't do that much to the music -- it didn't make anybody play better or worse. What it did was, fuse our minds together in a kind of telepathic manner that allowed us to -- see the best part about making our kind of music is when the music is pretty much playing us and there's no one there at all moving the fingers. That is to say we all subassume our identity in a sense in a greater whole. We call that -- the group mind. That's the tool that we use to open the valve to that pipeline which funnels that greater music down through us. Stravinski once said I am the vessel through which the music passes. In the case of the Grateful Dead, that's also the case.

Carlson: The Grateful Dead, at least from the outside it appeared to be a libertarian spirit, a reluctance to tell other people what to do. It struck me as a kind of nonpolitical band at least from the outside. Other bands always lecturing you from the stage. No one from the Grateful Dead, the shows I went to, anyway, was lecturing you who to vote for. You've got this amazing line in the book, I want to read it to you, a show you played in 1966 in the panhandle of San Francisco, you said there was a Buddhist chant led by Alan Ginsburg. After that, poets read, bands played. We even had some leftist politicos ranting the only bring-down of the day.

Lesh: I'm referring to the human being there.

Carlson: Yeah. When all these bands became political, all the bands in your world, why did you all choose not to?

Lesh: Because we felt that what we were doing was more -- I hate to use that word because it's almost a cliche -- religious. What we were doing was religious in the sense of the word, which means to bind together. We were trying to create a community of spirit with the music and the political harang and -- again, it was just like a cop trying to tell people what to do, legislate morality or legislate private behavior. It was just anathema to us.

Carlson: But you have these wide-eyed fans who love you. Isn't it tempting to send a message?

Lesh: The metaphor of the band cooperating and collaborating and being one organism, that's the message.

Carlson: If it's a religious movement, you have all these religous followers, what did you think of the Dead Heads?

Lesh: God bless their little pea-picking hearts, as my mother used to say. I'm going around now and doing book signings. In the past I've done blood drives. It is just the most wonderful experience to meet these Dead Heads face to face, just like you and I right here and shake a hand and get a smile and all everybody wants to do is say thank you. Thank you for changing my life.

Carlson: So you never thought that there were people taking it too seriously, devoting their lives to going on tour, for instance?

Lesh: Well, there was -- yeah, people were doing that and I saw that, and I think we all did as the last great American adventure. You can't hitchhike or run away with the circus or ride the rails anymore. Going on tour with the band, any band, really, is an adventure. There's a little uncertainty, a little danger. Generally it's a safe environment and you can extend yourself. You can explore other realities and still come back and tell the tale the next day.

Carlson: I was amazed to read that for all the touring you guys did, 30 years, almost full time, a lot of the time it seems like.

Lesh: Yes.

Carlson: You weren't making a huge amount of money. Why?

Lesh: We started out -- it's strange. Up to a certain point before we had our big record in 1987, we weren't really making that much money. We were supporting ourselves and we put everything into the general kitty. And the band and everyone else drew salaries. And pretty much, you know, cost of living salaries. They'd go up from time to time. And the idea was to put everything back into equipment and, you know, to increase -- to enhance, rather, the experience and the technology of presenting the music.

Carlson: Why couldn't you ever capture your sound in the studio?

Lesh: We -- you know, I don't think any of us ever believed it could be done. Because there's just so much -- there was just so much range to it. Not necessarily only dynamic range or -- but there's just so much emotional range to it and we just -- we found ourselves in the studio always trying to tone it down, which really isn't what we do. We're not about turning it down. We're about opening it up.

Carlson: I was impressed and amazed that you let people tape your shows with high-tech equipment. You're best known for live touring. Your albums don't sell as well as your concerts. You're giving away the product. How does that work, and why was that a good business decision?

Lesh: It was a good business decision because we didn't think of it as a business decision. It was that libertarian spirit, I think, that prompted it. It just started happening rather spontaneously. We started noticing microphone stands in the audience. We thought, OK, they're taping the shows. It was first cassettes and digital audience tape and mini disk, and now it's hard drive, I guess. But management came to us and said, well, we can't let them do that and Jerry just stood right up and said, listen, after we've played it, we're done with it. They can have it. Let them do whatever they want with it. We did ask them not to sell it, you know, just trade it. Give it away. That's what happened. People would copy their tapes and give the copy to a friend or to a sibling or to a parent, even. And it was the smartest thing we ever did. It just
--

Carlson: Really? Because I never --

Lesh: It disseminated the music.

Carlson: Yeah, but I never bought your albums when I was little. I just got tapes for free.

Lesh: We didn't care. We only made the albums because it was maybe what we were supposed to do. You know, you make records. It
brought in a little money, you know. It was interesting to play in the studio and see what could be done with it. But that wasn't why -- that wasn't why we were playing music, to make records.

Carlson: You have this description in the book of Jerry Garcia in his later years staying home and building model trains and teaching his cat to fetch.

Lesh: I saw it with my own eyes.

Carlson: Were you surprised when he died? When Jerry Garcia died?

Lesh: I wasn't surprised. I was shocked and saddened and, in fact, devastated, but I wasn't surprised. Really, we'd all been waiting for this a long time. He'd been really sick in 1986, again in 1992. And he couldn't seem to shake the habit. But to his eternal credit, he was really trying to turn it around when he died. He'd gone to Betty Ford. That hadn't worked out for him. But right after that he came back and he checked himself in to another facility. Which -- for rehab. And he clearly hoped that that was going to help. So -- but it was -- it was really hard to make the decision to tour at all, for me, because after Jerry's death I didn't really want to do it. I didn't think I wanted to play music with anybody but him. He was the reason I joined the band in the first place.

Carlson: Phil Lesh. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time.

Lesh: Thank you.

Carlson: Searching for the Sound.

Lesh: Thank you. Good to be here.

Jerry's Brother Sells Lithographs

Another Liberatore article on MarinIJ.com:

Jerry Garcia's brother Tiff selling lithographs
Paul Liberatore
Marin Independent Journal

TIFF GARCIA loves guitars and has a talent for drawing and art. In that sense, he's a lot like his late brother, rock icon Jerry Garcia. In the living room of Garcia's immaculate Novato home one recent afternoon, a vintage Les Paul Custom electric guitar lay in a princely position on one sofa, and a customized Fender Telecaster had its own soft place on a couch under a window overlooking a deck and garden.

"They keep the dogs from jumping on the furniture," Garcia cracked with a laugh that sounded eerily like his brother's.

"I'm a guitar player, but I know that Jerry had more talent than I do.

"When I think back on it, I can't say that there was any one time when I realized that my brother was gonna be a guitar hero some day, and everyone was gonna worship the various strings that he touched. All that's good, and I appreciate it, but it took a while for me to swallow that."

Tiff (a nickname for Clifford) is a trim man with curly brownish gray hair and a neat beard. He's 69 years old, four years older than Jerry, who died in 1995 at 53 after decades of drug abuse.

"I didn't poison myself as much," he said with a sad smile. Then he brightened, joking in a mock shout: "I've got Jerry beat by 10 years!"

Jerry Garcia was one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time, with an instantly recognizable, distinctive style and sound.

But before he formed the Grateful Dead in 1965 and began a 30-year career as a touring musician, he was looking to become a fine art painter, studying at the San Francisco Institute.

When he was in art school, he completed five oil paintings that he gave to his brother, who is now offering limited-edition lithographs of one of them for sale to collectors and fans of Garcia's art.

Priced at $2,000, the 19-by-25.5-inch lithograph is for "the Deadhead who already has everything," joked poster artist Stanley "Mouse" Miller, who is overseeing the reproduction process.

Garcia's painting, titled "In Chair," a male figure sitting and reading, was done under the tutelage of Elmer Bischoff (1916-1991), a leader in the Bay Area figurative art movement (1950-1964). Richly colored in ochre, red, browns, yellows, greens and black, it's available at www.jerryfineart.com.

"Jerry was just 17 when he painted it," said Bob Mathews, a former Grateful Dead music producer and sound engineer who is co-producing the project. "It represents a period of time before Jerry chose music as his means of creative expression. This was when he was seriously thinking that he was going to be an artist."

Garcia actually did become an artist in later years, creating nearly 500 pieces of art between 1985 and his death in 1995, using watercolor, gouache, pencil, ink, airbrush and digital media.

While he was once quoted as saying that he hoped no one took his art too seriously, he sold hundreds of his original works and thousands of lithographs.

In addition, his designs appear on popular neckties and clothing under the J Garcia brand.

While Jerry was becoming a superstar with the Grateful Dead, building the band into the top grossing touring act in the world at one point, Tiff was living in Fairfax with his wife, Gayle, raising three children and commuting to a post office job as a letter carrer in San Francisco.

"I had some colorful routes that were kinda nice - Russian Hill, Chinatown, North Beach," he recalled in a nasal voice reminiscent of Jerry's. "But when I got home at night I'd be beat. It was killing me."

Did he ever resent his blue-collar life as a letter carrier while his little brother was becoming a rock superstar?

"Not a bit," he said without hesitation. "I'm a morning person. And I don't like show business."

Tiff was so leery of the drug scene around the Dead, for example, that he wouldn't hang out backstage, preferring to sit anonymously in the audience with the throngs of worshipful Deadheads.

In 1988, he quit the post office when Jerry offered him a job in the Grateful Dead's then-new merchandising department.

"I went in there and fit perfect," he said. "It was a short commute to San Rafael. I was home every day at a reasonable time. We started out in a closet, but it all came together.

"And I enjoyed doing what I was doing, just sending people a cup or a CD or a T-shirt or whatever and making them happy. People were always clamoring for new merchandise."

Along with other employees of Grateful Dead Productions, Garcia lost his job when the band shut down its Marin operations in recent years. All of its business is handled by Rhino Entertainment in Los Angeles.

At the same time he went to work for the Dead, Tiff had more time to work on his own art, using artist markers, watercolors and pen and ink. He sells his pieces online at Until now, the soft-spoken Tiff was probably best known among Deadheads for accidentally chopping off half of Jerry's right middle finger.

It happened at their family's Santa Cruz mountain cabin when they were horsing around with an ax as boys.

As it turned out, the missing finger would become a part of Jerry's persona. Jerry was only five when it happened, and handled it better than his sensitive older brother.

"I had to carry that burden around for a while," Tiff said. "And it wasn't friendly. I had a breakdown. I think everyone around me understood that I was traumatized."

Making matters worse, Jerry ended up getting rewarded for an injury he helped cause.

"Each time they changed a bandage, they gave Jerry a new toy." Tiff remembered. "By the time he was down to the last bandage, he had a roomful of them."

The following year, the boys lost their father in a fishing accident. Jerry was watching from the bank when his dad was swept away in a river and drowned.

Tiff was at the family cabin in Santa Cruz and learned of his father's death on the radio.

"I'm glad I had Jerry at that time," he said. "We bonded."

Many of the Grateful Dead family showed up one night last week at the historic Matrix nightclub in San Francisco to support Tiff and launch his new art venture.

Among the crowd was Sue Stephens of San Anselmo, who was Jerry's executive secretary for 23 years.

Asked if seeing Jerry's student art work connects her to him, she said, "No, but it connects me to his brother. People say they're opposites, but I don't see it. Like Jerry, Tiff is a very sweet guy.

"It's good to see him doing this to honor his brother."

Paul Liberatore can be reached at liberatore@marinij.com

Make sure to follow the link to the original site to listen to a few moments of Tiff Garcia messing around on the guitar in his Novato home!

Barlow

John Perry Barlow worked on Dick Cheney's Congressional election campaign in 1978??? Yes, according to the following post on Tim's Vox Space:

John Perry Barlow is my hero at this date in time. John was born in Wyoming, lived his life as an academic, a song-writer for the Grateful Dead, a cattle-rancher, an Internet pioneer and founder of EFF - the Electronic Frontier Foundation. His mind is so dynamic and engaging that I'll have to forgive him
for working on Dick Cheney's election campaign in Dick's '78 Congressional campaign.

John lays a clear path for idealistic libertarians in this age of electronic communication and over-reaching corporations and governments. The EFF is a perfect vehicle for engaging the mainstream without the nuance and legalese speak needed to personally engage such complex topics as (1) identity on the Internet and (2) peer-to-peer technologies - to name a couple. In a rational world we should all be engaged and educated about the topics and would-be laws that would economically and personally impact our lives - unfortunately this engagement isn't possible for a variety of reasons; but I digress from explaining what NGO's are.

John recently shared some chapters of his life and bits of knowledge with the students of USC - Cory Doctorow was the mediator - John Gilmore was also in attendance. This audio can be downloaded via a podcast in iTunes on the USC Center of Public Diplomacy Events podcast. In this audio, John can be heard as a thoughtful and well-reasoned ma; in addition, he seems to embody this new Western Man persona, comfortable with living rough (on a ranch), but also equally comfortable with technology and it's libertarian aim to empower individuals and set them free.

Fight the good fight - join EFF.

Go to the original post for more links...

Jerry Garcia Wine

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reviews the Jerry Garcia wines:

Makers of J. Garcia wine use original artwork by the Grateful Dead's Poppa Bear, Jerry Garcia, to sell wine commemorating the band leader, who died in 1995.

"J. Garcia is about the wine, but it also is very much about the artist," says Limeng Stroh, senior director of marketing for Beam Wine Estates, which produces J. Garcia and numerous other well-known labels. "It's a combination of the music and the art Jerry did in his lifetime."

Garcia, who grew up near wine country in California's Marin County, produced more than 500 paintings in his lifetime. Deborah Koons Garcia, Garcia's third wife and manager of the $15.4 million estate, approached Beam (then known as Allied Domecq) to see if it could produce a tasteful wine that would also be a platform for Garcia's artwork. Allied Domecq jumped at the chance to produce a wine with ready-made brand recognition.

Of course, the family didn't want anything tacky or ill-suited for the label. They consciously left Garcia's image off and also went with the more subtle initial "J" rather than spelling out Jerry. As for the artwork, which changes with every vintage, Beam and members of Garcia's estate hunt through the hundreds of canvases for the image that best reflects the wine inside.

The wine had to live up to the family's expectations, too. "The estate wanted to make sure that the wine was made well, and once we showed them Erik's work with Simi, Chateau Ste. Michelle and with Clos du Bois, they were very impressed," Stroh said, referring to J. Garcia winemaker Erik Olsen, who also makes Clos du Bois wines. "Still, they blind-tasted his wines against some top competitors. They wanted to make sure that his wine came out on top."

Like the Grateful Dead, with its legions of fans, J. Garcia has developed a strong following since its release in 2003. Sales in 2005 topped 40,000 cases of chardonnay, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel. Not surprisingly, it can be found on the wine list of Hard Rock Cafés in the United States but also has found favor with a number of fine-dining restaurants, like
Atlanta's Food 101, which held a wine dinner this summer featuring J. Garcia wines.

Ron Eyester, a card-carrying Deadhead and Food 101 chef, created signature dishes with a mischievous nod to the drug culture that swirled around Jerry's band. Nearly 170 diners enjoyed items like duck burrito with marinated mushrooms and goo-ball brownies while grooving to Swami Gone Bananas, a local Dead cover band.

"They're good wines, but not over the top," said Eyester, who named his daughter Midland after the late Dead keyboardist Brent Midland and counts several J. Garcia wines in his home wine collection. "They are very food-friendly and provide a good backdrop for lots of dishes." The J. Garcia dinner observed the anniversaries of the guitarist's death and birth, which occur three days apart in August. Eyester will reprise the event in 2007.

"The Jerry Garcia estate is happy to see how the wine is going," said Stroh, who reports that the wines, priced at $12 to $15 a bottle, don't resonate with typical caravaning Dead fans. "We see this as a baby boomer type of item. We like to think that people drinking J. Garcia might love the Dead, but they are driving around in BMWs and enjoying the finer things in life."

I think Phil should come out with a wine because he was the connoisseru!