News Briefs 03/21/07

Apologies to any regular readers who've checked this blog over the last week and a half only to find no new news. I have quite a few excuses (including a couple good ones).

I wasn't even able to post about Phil's birthday last week. : ( Happy Birthday Phil!

And apologies to my fellow net-deadheads who've been working on the "Deadpedia" project. I'll be back at it soon...

And on to the Dead News:

Custom Kids Clothes for a Little Weir

The following quote is from an eMediaWire article about Rachel Culp and her Custom made children's boutique clothing on Ebay:

Natasha Weir, Wife of Grateful Dead Guitarist Bob Weir, had Rachel make her Baby Daughter, who refused to put Pajamas on, a fun and interactive pair of P.J's out of 2 of her favorite cashmere Sweaters, with little flaps and pockets that revealed a Teddy Bear, a Hula Girl, and some Balloons.

Grateful Kids

Speaking of children of the Dead, both Donna Jean and Phil have a musician son with a rock band of his own.

Grahame Lesh

Here's an excerpt from Therin Jones' article about Stanford's Phi Kappa Psi’s “Battle of the Bands”:

When Vice took the stage at ten, little standing room remained in the Phi Psi lounge. Of all the Stanford bands, Vice is distinguished by the unique personal histories of its band members. Guitarist Grahame Lesh is the son of the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh, and lead singer Brodie Jenkins had a short-lived country music career with her mom and older sister prior to coming to Stanford. This country background couldn’t be more obvious in Vice’s music. No matter how gritty Jenkins takes her voice, you still can’t help but liken her tone to that of LeAnn Rimes.

Zion Godchaux

Donna Jean’s son Zion is in a band named Boombox. You can read about it over at JamBase.

Formed about three years ago, BoomBox is not your traditional group. It only has two members - a guitar player/vocalist and a DJ - that combine live instruments with multi-track sequencing, turntables, and samplers for a unique brand of infectious music. Zion Godchaux and Russ Randolph came together while working on an album that Zion was collaborating on with his mother, former Grateful Dead member Donna Jean Godchaux. Russ was engineering the record and the two connected immediately.

Read the entire article here

Jerry's Art

Jerry's art sure gets a lot of attention these days. NewWireToday has the latest:

Original Jerry Garcia Paintings the Latest Addition to EIL's Blue Chip Store

NewswireToday - Eil.com the world's leading provider of rare music & music memorabilia have secured two stunning pieces of original artwork from the legendary Jerry Garcia that they are pleased to offer to the music and art collecting marketplace.

Mike Cambridge Eil.com’s senior Memorabilia buyer based in Lancashire commented: “These kinds of pieces complete with such amazing provenance are virtually impossible to find, so for us to be able to offer two unique pieces of Garcia artwork to the marketplace is something we are extremely proud of.”

The first piece is an original watercolour titles ‘Purple Rat Dog’. Painted in 1985, it depicts a dog characteristic of the artist’s style and humour. This is one of only 2 known versions, with the other titled simply Purple Dog.

On the reverse of the painting there is a pencil inscription in Jerry's hand detailing 'Purple Rat Dog' #2 1-5 Jerry Garcia 85 w/c, with the 1-5 seeming to indicate that he intended to produce more versions, though only 2 are confirmed at this time.

The second piece painted by Garcia in 1993, shows his unique interpretation of San Francisco & the Golden Gate Bridge backed by a landscape of buildings and watery abstractions in brightly coloured forms outlined in black.

As with the previous piece this also has a pencil inscription on the reverse in Jerry's hand detailing 'Frisco View/J Garcia/For Hedge/A.G.G.A' and signed by Jerry on the lower right front of the painting J Garcia 93.

Both of these fabulous items have been fully authenticated by Garcia’s first and primary art dealer 'The Weir Gallery' and comes complete with their detailed Certificate Of Authenticity with embossed stamp and signed by the director Roberta Weir who is highly regarded in the 'Art World' as the foremost expert and authority on Jerry Garcia.

Mike continued, “Jerry Garcia’s work in his own band and of course the Grateful Dead created his reputation as a superb and versatile musician but he was also a dedicated and prolific visual artist. He created nearly 500 pieces of art between 1985 and 1995 and sold hundreds of his original works.”

All prices & items are correct and available however the rare and limited nature of these items does mean we cannot guarantee their availability after the time of release. All items come with certificates of authenticity & full provenance.

Gone But Not Forgiven

The Archive.org controversy made #7 in Earvolution’s Top 10 Corporate Moments in Rock:

7. The Grateful Dead Removes Their Soundboards From the Live Music ArchivesInherent to The Grateful Dead's mystique was their willingness to permit their fans to bootleg and trade their live shows. Long before other bands would recognize the benefits to be reaped from the free exchange of live music, The Dead created the model from which they would work. With the advent of the Live Music Archives at archive.org, Deadheads entered the digital age, flooding the site with multiple copies of nearly every Dead show ever played; all with the permission and consent of the venerable San Francisco band. The Grateful Dead were not the first band to change their mind about the availability of their shows on the Archives, but their about-face stung their fans the most.

Citing the detrimental effect on present and future archival CD and DVD releases, the Grateful Dead, upon the initiative of Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, revoked the consent that permitted the Archives to act as a conduit for the exchange of the Dead's shows, denying fans the opportunity to obtain the music for free so that it could be sold to them in the future. "When the music was given away for free to trade, the band was making so much money touring that the music was not as valuable to them," explained Marc Schiller, who assists the Dead with their online marketing. "Apple iTunes has made digital downloads a business." The Dead underestimated the angry, aggrieved response from their fans: like dire wolves they howled vociferously, adamantly pointing to Jerry Garcia's numerous statements that the music belonged to the fans. Bassist Phil Lesh even chimed in to express his bewilderment over the entire issue. Ultimately, a compromise was reached: fans would still be able to freely download shows recorded by their peers but the better-quality soundboard recordings would remain available as streaming audio only - that is, until the Dead decide to release the show commercially and remove it from circulation.

A Pro Nuclear Energy Merry Prankster

Greenie Watch, at antigreen.blogspot.com, has an article about Stewart Brand and his “affection” for nuclear power in which it gives this history on Brand:

He divides environmentalists into romantics and scientists, the two cultures he's been straddling and blending since the 1960s. He was with the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead at their famous Trips Festival in San Francisco, directing a multimedia show called 'America Needs Indians.' That's somewhere in the neighborhood of romantic. But he created the shows drawing on the cybernetic theories of Norbert Wiener, the M.I.T. mathematician who applied principles of machines and electrical networks to social institutions.

Losing Jerry

The following quote is from a SeacoastOnline article about movie making in their neighborhood:

Take "Losing Jerry," a film about Jerry Garcia fans, which is scheduled to be shot entirely in New Hampshire -- and will include a finale scene at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom.

"Losing Jerry" likely wouldn't be shot here if director Mitch Ganem wasn't from Wolfeboro and producer Mark Constance didn't move to Brentwood from Los Angeles.

Constance is part of small but growing network of filmmakers who are giving a much closer look to the state and the region.

Don't Forget Jerry!

A bunch of Poughkeepsie Journal readers wrote in to defend Jerry.

We ran a story called "Gods of the guitar" Friday, listing such great ax players as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana among the best of all time.

We also asked readers to let us know their choices.

Many thoughtful and adamant replies came in. They wanted to know: How could we forget Jerry Garcia?

— Jerry Garcia.
I'll take a quote from Bob Dylan to describe good ole Jer.
"His playing was moody, awesome, sophisticated, hypnotic and subtle.
Bob Geis
LaGrangeville

— I would think Mark Knoffler and Jerry Garcia would be a must on anyone's list.
Michael Brady
Dutchess County public defender

— I literally can't believe you left out Jerry Garcia. Garcia was perhaps the most witty, accomplished guitarist of his generation. As far as jamming goes, Jerry was the father of all jam bands that have come since, a virtuoso who could weave Miles Davis' "So What" into the middle of a playing of "Dark Star" or "Truckin'. " He played jazz, country, bluegrass, folk and rock all at once, and with the Grateful Dead, created the jam music of today.
Steven Levine
Poughkeepsie

Merlefest 2007

Not only does rhadish.com have the line-up for Merlefest, but a Rhapsody playlist that contains one song by all 47 artists who will be performing this year at Merlefest 2007.

Here's the list, but you'll have to go to rhadish.com for the playlist

Merlefest 2007 Line-Up
1. Tough Luck Man - Doc Watson
2. Alison - Elvis Costello
3. Restless - Alison Krauss
4. In Another World - Donna The Buffalo
5. Out of the Rain - The Duhks
6. Old Train - Tony Rice
7. Fishin’ In The Dark - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
8. Press On - Robinella
9. Born With A Hammer In My Hand - Blue Highway
10. Girl Of The North Country - Sam Bush
11. Blue Mountain Hop - Bela Fleck
12. High On A Mountain - The Del McCoury Band
13. Let’s Call It A Life - Darrell Scott
14. Devil Woman - Toubab Krewe
15. Been Around - The Waybacks
16. Who Thought The Railroad Wouldn’t Last - Jim Lauderdale
17. Could You Love Me One More Time - The Lonesome Sisters
18. Eight More Miles - Laurie Lewis
19. Mississippi Blues - Roy Bookbinder
20. Shady Grove - Laura Boosinger
21. Miracle - Andy May
22. How Long? - Cherryholmes
23. Changing Lanes - Circuit Riders
24. Red Clay Halo - Nashville Bluegrass Band
25. Flora - Crooked Still
26. That’s What I Like About The South - The Red Stick Ramblers
27. Voyage of the Dunbrody - Jim Ronayne
28. Big Bug Shuffle - Jerry Douglas
29. Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Earl Scruggs
30. Sundown - Pat Flynn
31. Goodbye Bottle Of Whiskey - Steep Canyon Rangers
32. Heal Yourself - Ruthie Foster
33. Minor Swing - Bryan Sutton
34. Diggin’ Uncle Sam’s Backyard - Paul Geremia
35. Arlo Buck - Tut Taylor
36. Sweet Wild Turkey - Mitch Greenhill
37. Maybe It Was Memphis - Pam Tillis
38. I Choose You - Buddy Greene
39. Step It Up And Go - Happy Traum
40. Abilene - George Hamilton IV
41. Warfare - Uncle Earl
42. Push Comes To Shove - John Hammond
43. Your Lone Journey - Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz
44. Now Is The Time - Tony Williamson
45. Bear Tracks - Clint Howard
46. Now Is The Time - Tony Williamson
47. No More To Leave You Behind - The Infamous Stringdusters

One Guy's Story

Rich Shea (who says he’s not a Deadhead) has a great story about his first Dead Show, when he met Jerry and asked if he’d play “Eyes of the World.” Make sure to check it out at his blog.