News Briefs 1/13/07

Phil Lesh's Urologist

Phil Lesh was mentioned in Neal Rubin's article Dr. Menon: Our urologist to the stars on detnews.com:

Three weeks ago, the bass player for the Grateful Dead sang to me the praises of his robotic prostate surgery in Detroit. Phil Lesh jetted in, had his prostate whisked away at Henry Ford Hospital and was back in Northern California in time for Christmas shopping.

Since then, I've heard a small chorus of discontent regarding the hospital's Vattikuti Urology Institute. So as the owner of a prostate -- you might say it's factory-installed equipment -- I figured I'd best make some follow-up calls.

What I now know is that the callers were correct but out of date when they said Lesh's surgeon didn't take insurance and asked for payment up front.

Dr. Mani Menon, director of the institute and one of the pioneers of the surgery, prefers to handle wealthy people's prostates. In the past year or two, however, he has begun dealing with insurance programs, as long as their names aren't Medicare or Blue Cross.

Jerry Garcia Was a Fan of The Parker House

John Moore mentioned Jerry Garcia in his Toronto Star article on The Parker House, the oldest continuously operation hotel in the US:

Apparently, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead was a particular fan. The oak-and-leather ambience of the hotel's foyer and the tasteful grace of the rooms seem better suited for Boston brahmins or the business elite than chemically-charged rockers (not to mention the inevitable troupe of Deadheads). But guest services manager Seamus Murphy insists that Garcia "was a true gentleman and a model guest."

Silent Auction of Autographed Guitar

Union Leader's sports page had an article about the Granite State Baseball Dinner by Kevin Gray that included the following:

A massive silent auction featured a Fender guitar signed by the late Jerry Garcia and members of the Grateful Dead. An anonymous bidder took home the guitar after spending $8,100.

American Beauty Project

JamBase has an update on the American Beauty Project.

You can read the JamBase article here and read previous Dead News posts: Line Up & Set Lists and the interview with event coordinator David Spelman.

Coming up on this Blog

Besides any new articles on the Grateful Dead to be found in cyberspace, I will be posting my own review of the book "Grateful Dead Gear" (I'm still waiting for my order to come in) and a piece on the upcoming Rhino release of "Live at the Cow Palace," New Year's 1976 (I'm still doing some research).