News Briefs 02/28/07

Bob On Boomers

According to KnoxNews, a national survey of 1,008 adults conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University found that boomers are not regarded as the most generous, self-sacrificing or hardworking generation, but are credited for enjoying life and for producing the best music of any recent generation. The article quotes Bobby (a frequent pundit of music & culture who was on a Disco documentary I recently watched):

"Our music had the most eclectic roots. We listened to everything," said Bob Weir, 59-year-old founding member and a lead vocalist for The Grateful Dead. "The stuff that gets played today is heavily produced and formulaic. The melodies are all almost identical. Selling records today is only about business. Back in our day, it was a marriage of business and art."

"We were just more footloose and intoxicated with all of the possibilities of life," said Weir.

Forty-three percent also thought boomers "had the best music," significantly more than the other two generations, a finding that surprised Weir.

"After all, the generation before the baby boom produced Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett - pretty cool stuff," Weir said. "Really they were the ones who produced rock and roll. We inherited it. Little Richard and Chuck Berry were not of the boomer generation."

Cops Undercover as Deadheads

I had to chuckle when reading an article on amny.com. "It is clear from recently released police documents that the NYPD was preparing for the 2004 Republican National Convention as if the world were about to end" begins the article. But at the end it quotes a protester:

"I could easily pick out the undercover police officers in the room," he says. "They were so obvious. They were wearing Grateful Dead shirts."

A Little Humor

Minyanville posted a "spoof" article that plays with using the word "jam":

Boeing Co. (BA) is offering to install advanced anti-jamming technology on some future commercial satellites for the first time, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. “Some of our customers are looking for technology to potentially reduce the threat of jamming,” said Craig Cooning, deputy general manager of Boeing’s Space and Intelligence Systems unit. “Inevitably, we’re going to see more jamming in the future.”

“The threat of jamming?” Does this mean jamming will be blocked on satellite radio, like XM (XMSR) and Sirius (SIRI)? If so, will Boeing’s anti-jamming technology spread to other media delivery formats, like mp3 and compact discs? Perhaps the deeper question at hand is why Boeing is leading the charge against jamming? Is legendary jam band Phish dangerous to society? Is the String Cheese Incident just a homegrown al-Qaeda in tie-dye? What will this mean for the annual Jammy Awards? Or the Bonnaroo festival? Or for Ratdog fans?

Read the rest of the Jamming piece here

Another story, which also tried to be funny (but failed miserably in my opinion) is over at the Second Supper.

Rolling Stone Bashes Dylan & the Dead

Also not funny was the Rolling Stone article that listed Dylan & the Dead as one of the worst albums by good artists:

2. Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead Dylan & The Dead

What looks incredible on paper sounds lazy and half-baked on record. We’re still curious as to why only Dylan standards were played, cold-shouldering an entire GD catalogue.

Now I like that album (and that's not because I like all the Dead CDs, in fact I don't). But having Dylan do complete sets with the Dead as backup is great on paper and was even better on stage. And I can answer his curiosity as to why they did Dylan standards. Because it was a Dylan set! Dylan sang Dylan songs, and the Dead backed him up.

Update on the Grateful Dead Stories Project

I've been busy doing a bunch of other things this week (including dancing to a 4 hour & 15 minute George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic set) but plan on getting back on it (and my overly detailed reviews, as promised). If there is anyone who's an expert at Wiki software and would like to help, I would certainly appreciate it. I need to learn what can and can't be done, and then how to do it.

Contact me here: slclibraryboy@yahoo.com

Update on "Losing Jerry"

From left, Mark Constance, Tracey Becker and Mitch Ganem are working on a film
about Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia’s death and how the Seacoast responded.
Courtesy photo

Back in December of "Oh-Five," this blog featured an article from Seacoast Online about the making of a movie called "Losing Jerry." Here's a new article from the same source:

Remembering Jerry Garcia
By Karen Dandurant
kdandurant@seacoastonline.com

RYE -- Get out your autograph book, because the Seacoast will be the location for a movie about those who love Jerry Garcia.

"Losing Jerry" is based, in part, on a true story. When Garcia died on Aug. 9, 1995, Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and his band, Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman and Ratdog, were playing at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. Thousands of Seacoast "Deadheads" flocked to the Casino for a candlelight vigil.

The film will be co-produced by Mark Constance and Tracey Becker. Mitch Ganem is the writer/director. The production company is Terrapin Station Films.

"The movie is about three friends whose love of the Grateful Dead brings them together," said Constance. "The characters are a compilation of Mitch's friends, because he's a big Deadhead. The movie culminates on the night Jerry died."

Constance said the film will bring millions into the local economy: About 40 percent of the film's budget will be spent here.

"We need cars, hotels, supplies, groceries and lumber," he said. "We'll eat at restaurants and bars, go to movie theaters and use caterers. We'll be here four months with people from all over the country and world. If they are not from here, they are not flying back and forth every day. They'll be here."

Matt Newton, film specialist for the New Hampshire Film and Television Office, worked to facilitate production and bring the film into the state. His office supports film makers in the state.

Newton said his office does not have the final budget numbers yet, but he said the film is one of the larger the state has seen in a long time.

The film will be shot on the Seacoast and in Manchester. Constance said he and his crew are tying up details and hope to begin "very soon."

"We are casting now," he said. "We're waiting for a couple of pieces to fall one way or the other before rolling out a major announcement. We're based out of the Seacoast now, but it's a spread-out process. I'm here. Tracey is in L.A., and Mitch is in New York."

They are looking for a studio banner -- a major studio to lend its name to the film. The Grateful Dead Corp. licensed 25 songs to the studio for a soundtrack, and the stars will be known.

"I want people to look and say, Whoa, he's in the movie," he said. "Local people can be extras. We'll be releasing to major theaters.

"My goal is to bring more and more filmmaking to New Hampshire. I love driving to work instead of hopping on a plane."

THE PRODUCERS

Tracey Becker, co-producer of "Losing Jerry," is a former stage actress. She was a producer on the movie "Finding Neverland."

Writer and director Mitch Ganem is from Wolfeboro and now lives in New York. This is his first foray into film as a director.

Co-producer Mark Constance grew up on the Seacoast, moved to L.A. in 1989 and returned in 2001. He did a film in New Hampshire called "The Sensation of Sight."

More Than Ties

The Baltimore Sun reviewed a Jerry Garcia art show. It menitons his piece "Reluctant Dragon" which is pictured above.

Garcia's legacy goes corporate
About 70 examples of counterculture icon's artwork on display at White Marsh hotel

By Gadi Dechter
Sun reporter

A long, strange trip it's been from hippie Haight Street to a White Marsh Hilton, but more than a decade after his death, Jerry Garcia's legacy keeps on keeping on - and commanding $70,000 for a signed watercolor.

So perhaps it's fitting that a touring show "featuring one of the largest collections ... ever assembled for public display" of the Grateful Dead bandleader's artwork made its local stop yesterday at a business hotel tucked between Corporate Drive and Mercantile Road.

A musical icon of the 1960s counterculture movement who commanded a massive, multigenerational following until his death in 1995, Garcia cultivated a folksy, anti-establishment, papa-bear-on-pot image.

"I don't think this would be Jerry's style," said Kathy Krueger, 44, of the small corporate meeting room where about 70 Garcia pieces - ranging from sentimental landscapes to surrealistic watercolors - lined the walls.

Though the prices, averaging in the low five-figures for signed prints, were beyond Krueger's budget, the self-described "Deadhead" says she believes Garcia's artistic abilities merit them.

"I really like the Reluctant Dragon," she said, pointing to a $3,500 lithograph of a cartoonish green monster. "If I could afford it, I would buy it."

Her 9-year-old daughter, Molly, approved the choice, though she only knows of Garcia as "a famous person" and prefers the music of pop singer Hilary Duff.

Show organizer John Sozanski, who has been selling Garcia's artistic output since 1992, says prices have appreciated by about 25 percent every year and are still a relative bargain.

"Getting a Garcia now is like getting a Picasso at the beginning of the 20th century," said the Pennsylvania-based dealer, who specializes in art made by musicians and actors.

Garcia studied at the San Francisco Art Institute before joining the band that became the Grateful Dead. Perhaps best known artistically for making zany neckties that were an ironic comment on business attire, Garcia didn't begin painting in earnest until awakening from a diabetic coma in the mid-1980s, Sozanski said.

In 1995, after a long battle with heroin addiction, the 53-year-old Garcia died of a heart attack at a California drug-rehabilitation center. Before his death, he had signed only about half of the 500-edition lithographs made of his artworks, Sozanski said.

Prints with the artist's signature are more highly prized, the dealer said, while the most ever paid for a Garcia original is about $100,000.

The first signed edition of Paris in the Rain, a somber drawing of a woman strolling along the Seine, was on offer yesterday for $8,000. A later edition, with a silk-screened autograph, could be had for only $600.

Even that was a bit steep for Bryan Kocsis, 46, of White Marsh. Still, the veteran of a dozen Grateful Dead concerts said he and his wife, Patty, enjoyed getting a sweeping look at Garcia's artistic oeuvre.

"We're excited to be able to see the whole collection in one spot," said Kocsis, as the Grateful Dead's "Black Muddy River" played softly in the background.

The multimedia director for Union Memorial Hospital said he had attained insight into the "mind of the musician."

"The art helps you better appreciate the music," Kocsis said. "He had a very vivid imagination. It's sad that he's gone."

gadi.dechter@baltsun.com

Garcia Birthday Band

The Oregonian has an article on the Garcia Birthday Band:

sound check
By LEE WILLIAMS
The Oregonian

A DEAD-ISH WAY TO PLAY -- Inspiration sure burns longer than incense. Just ask two of the members of Portland's Garcia Birthday Band if they can recall their first Grateful Dead shows.

The responses come faster than a lightning bolt through a skull.

"Red Rocks, 1982," says guitarist Jon Sokol, who went on to attend hundreds more Dead shows during the '80s.

"Hanover, Michigan, April 1989," says bassist Scott Gillan, speaking recently with the tie-dye-T-shirted Sokol at the Barley Mill Pub in Southeast Portland. "It took going to one show, and that was pretty much it," says Gillan, who would notch 44 more Dead shows through the '90s.

"But I really wasn't playing many Grateful Dead songs until after the Dead wasn't a band anymore," adds Sokol. "Why see us when you can see them? Now that you can't see them, I feel OK with sort of carrying on the genre, that same inspiration."

Many folks in fact have been clamoring to see the Garcia Birthday Band, who got their start playing as a loose collective at the annual bash held on Jerry's birthday (Aug. 1) at McMenamins Edgefield. GBB took firm shape in 2000, settling into the current six members. On Thursday, they launch a new free monthly show at the White Eagle Hotel in Northeast Portland.

Pretty good for a group that doesn't consider itself a cover band per se. GBB plays loose interpretations of Garcia's canon, vs., say, Chicago's Dark Star Orchestra, which strives for note-for-note accuracy.

"I think that's what makes us unique," says Sokol. "I'm not trying to sound like Jerry when I play! Scott's not trying to sound like Phil Lesh when he plays, but we all know the music and we end up sounding Dead-ish, I think, because we're out there jamming, and just trying to have fun."

Garcia died 11 years ago, but the Dead lives on. The Grammys, for instance, just recognized the band with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

And the motivations that kept Sokol and Gillan following the Dead back in the day seem to be driving their own musical collaboration.

"What I always liked about Jerry is that it seemed like he didn't seem to care," says Sokol. "He'd play the lead wrong, or miss a break or drop out of key, and it didn't seem to bother him, because somewhere along the way, even if just for a minute or two, he'd hit this space where it was just magic. And those notes would cut right through my soul."

And if GBB happens to miss a note in their rendition of "Althea" or "Truckin' "?

"We have a phrase we use in this band. We say it after a sloppy version of something, or if I forget the vocals," says Sokol: " 'It's just so very Jerry.' "

Lee Williams is a Portland freelance writer; lwilliamsd@gmail.com.

Check out Garcia Birthday Band videos here

Grateful Dead Caucus 2007

Steve Gimbel, a philosopher at Gettysburg College, blogged about this year’s Caucus over at Philosophers’ Playground

Check out his blog!

A wonderful conference last week in Albuquerque, the 10th annual gathering of the Grateful Dead Caucus as a part of the annual meeting of the Southwest/Texas Association of Popular and American Culture. Reflections from my first time as a part of the caucus:

Paper
Covering four days -- from 8 am to 8 pm on Thursday and Friday -- there seems to be no lack of interest in taking the Dead phenomenon seriously by academics. Covering a very wide range of methodologies in the humanities and social sciences, the papers were universally of a very high quality. Papers generally grouped themselves around a couple of general themes:

History
A wonderful series of papers discussing historical aspects of the Dead, the Haight, and the movement. Starting off was co-chair Gary Burnett's examination of the complete run of the neighborhood newspaper the Oracle and its relation to and mentions of the Dead showing at first a bi-polar stance both embracing and deprecating hippie music showing a tension between the beat and hippie factions of the early counter-culture. Rick Dodgson read "From Soquel to San Jose: The First Acid Tests"

Grateful Dead and Spirituality
Several papers discussing the spiritual nature of the Dead experience. Thursday's panel featured Mary Goodenough's "In and Out of the Garden: Sacred and Profane in Deaddom," Paul Gass' "Buddhism Through the Eyes of the Dead," and Dave Bryan's "Grateful Dead Theology," while Saturday brought Kent Elliot's "The Lie Breathed Through Silver." All began from the fact of broad spiritual experience amongst Deadheads at shows and then tried to make sense of this phenomenological data. By examining the relation between lyrics and religious traditions or looking at the experience itself, the hope was to make the "it" that so many point to more clear. Discussion around this topic was spirited, if not spiritual.

Deadhead Culture
Sociologists Rebbecca Adams and Alan Lehman gave fascinating discussions of Deadhead demographics, the former from data gathered at the 1998 Further festivals and the latter at 1991 shows at RFK and Giants Stadium. Nicholas Merriwether gave an incredibly well documented discussion of Deadhead pipecraft, locating it in the historical tradition of pipecraft through the centuries. Elizabeth Carroll gave a fascinating approach to interpreting the scene as a whole (both good and bad) viewing through the Greek notion of a pharmakon -- the word for both remedy and poison -- in her paper "Is Destruction Loving's Twin?: The Grateful Dead Pharmakon." The continental philosophical duo of Jim Tuedio and Stan Spector read their papers "All Ears, All Body: The Strange Attraction in Nonlinear Musical Embodiment" and "And The Music Played the Band: The X Factor, Merleau-Ponty, and the Chiasm" that sought to understand the phenominological embodiment of the process of Being when engaged in what the Germans call Mithoeren (hint: if you don't understand continental philosophy, just say something in Greek, German, or French). My own contribution looked at the nature of the economy in the parking lot.

Comparative Musicology
There were a number of papers that sought to reconcile the music of the Dead with the larger body of American popular music. Eric Levy and Jay Williams both compared the Dead to representatives of the experimental and avant-garde movements, Eric focusing on John Cage and Jay upon Frank Zappa, while Matt Armstrong looked at the Dead's influence in the work of Ryan Adams. Chris Norden compared the lyrics of Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter in terms of their use of weather metaphors. Christian Crumlish examined the unmentioned influence of the Dead on artists through the decades in his "Please Forget You Knew My Name: Secretly Influenced by the Dead." Pam Hunt, Liz Yeager, and Jake Cohen gave contrasting views of the political presuppositions in post-Dead, contemporary jamband culture with their papers "Are You Kind?: The Relationship between Behavior, Meanings, and Levels of Involvement and Ideological Embeddedness in the Jamband Subculture," "My Band is Better Than Your Band: Inside America's Jamband Scene," and "Jamband's and Sonata Form." Barry Smolin focused on freak folk, contemporary psychedelic music that eschews improvisation and David Gans in "Anti-Dead and Meta-Dead" looked at music about the band both laudatory and negative.

Other
Papers that defy categorization included Mark Mattson's magnificent cataloging of every performed error in the playing of "Here Comes Sunshine" and Mel Belleville's fictional expansion of the storylines of "Jack Straw," "Loser," and "Friend of the Devil."

Rock
We were treated to several wonderful performances. Wednesday night was a triple bill at the District Bar and Grill of Dave Bryan's Chickenstand Throw-DownBand, David Gans, and Liquid Gypsy. David Gans played a second set at Friday night's house party and if he wasn't completely pleased with the performance, his opinion was far in the minority.

Scissors
Perhaps the highlight of the conference was the appearance of John Perry Barlow as the conference's keynote speaker. Mesmerizing the crowd with wit, intelligence, and his abilities as a storyteller, Barlow was simply amazing. Generous with his time as well, he hung out and shot the breeze with us at the infamous Hotel Blue on Thursday night and at the airports in Albuquerque and Houston on Saturday.

An incredibly successful conference by any measure. I want to personally thank everyone there for being so incredibly welcoming of the new folks like myself and especially to the session chairs, Nick and Gary, I just have to say thank you for a real good time.

All I can say is WOW!

News Briefs 02/21/07

Well, I was away for a few, and now I got some catchin' up to do!

Kantner On Garcia

Robert Tacker alerted me to an upcoming broadcast of an interview with Paul Kantner that he says has lots of Jerry content. From the Radio Memeworks blog:

"To celebrate this and to kick off our year long celebration of the magic that was that pivotal year in the evolution of music, we offer up SteveSilberman's fantastic 2005 interview with Paul Kantner. It originally aired on KPFA in Berkeley, CA during David Gans's Dead To The World. We are indebted to David for providing these discs.

Airs this Saturday, 2/24/07 at 9PM PST, immediately following the Grateful Dead Hour, hosted by David Gans."

More info here

***

Other Commitments

Here’s part of Paul Liberatore’s article about the Grammys that I didn’t quote last week:

"'You Better Have a Good Excuse' Libby will be mailed to Bob Weir and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead for not showing up in person or via video to accept their lifetime achievement award. I was a little worried about Phil, who recently had prostate cancer surgery, but his office assures me that he's doing great. He just had "other commitments" that night. Weir was performing up the coast in Ventura with RatDog."

***

About the Term “Jamband”

And on the topic of the Grammys, Allen Ostroy of JamBands.com wrote a piece about the “J-Word” after the Dead were called the “Mother of all Jambands” It’s an interesting article in which Mr. Ostroy asks “When are we going to start feeling comfortable with calling and being called Jamband?”

***

Rock Scully Speaks

A strangely short article at KCBS.com ends with the line “Former manager of the Grateful Dead, Rock Scully pointed out that communal farms, organic gardening and recycling all came out of the 60s.”

***

Young Heads

Kate Adams, 17, of New York City and Rhiya Trivedi, 16, of Toronto talk about their love of great record albums in the Concord Monitor. At one point they discuss up the Dead:

"Kate: People just aren't used to listening to the 12-minute songs.

Rhiya: Song ADD is a big thing. I've been using the term for a while. I'm not sure who came up with it, really, but it's probably the best way to describe it. Grateful Dead jams for, like, 30 minutes, I'm good. You don't stop in the middle of Dead concerts.

Kate: That's, like, sacrilegious.

Rhiya: I don't think any song is worth cutting off, 12 minutes or 2 minutes. You gotta listen to it the way it was meant to be, in its entirety."

And a little bit later:

"Kate: I like the revolutionary spirit (of the '60s and '70s).

Rhiya: People were a lot more optimistic back then. They were a lot more open. Everything was new every day.

Phil Lesh, the bassist for the Grateful Dead, wrote a book called Searching for the Sound about the Grateful Dead and their journey. The first 100 pages were about San Francisco in the '70s, and I wanted to be there with all my heart.

Kate: I think that's one of the reasons I listen to albums. I love that time period, and I sometimes wish I could be back in there. It gives it another connection once you're listening to albums.

Rhiya: (I'd live back then) in a second.

Kate: In a heartbeat."

***

Nader & Weir

"While speculating about whether Nader will run again, Michael Hussey blogged about the time when Bobby spoke out about the former Presidential Candidate at a Ratdog show:

Nader has a history of doing things that he knows pisses people off. Former Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir has met Nader.

The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir is pleading with Deadheads everywhere not to vote for Ralph Nader. Performing on Saturday in Boston, Weir told the band's followers to be sure to vote, but then exorted, "Don't vote for Nader. I know him. He's an a--hole," our spies tell us. The band then broke into "Johnny B. Goode," a theme song of the Kerry-Edwards campaign ..."

The quote came from a 2004 article in the New York Daily News

***

Dennis Larkins Art Show

The La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles is featuring art by Dennis Larkins. Their website says “A refugee of the Kansas Bible Belt, Dennis Larkins has lived life on the front lines of radical times, emerging from Grateful Dead artist to a chronicler of skewed and alternative realities” and shows some of his work."

“From the Grateful Dead to Disney,” Dennis Larkins’ art can be seen at:

CannibalFlower.com

SkeletonArt.com

TNTGallery.com

NitroSyndicate.com

HotRodCityCustoms.com

StreetWalkerExhaust.com

dead.net

Tangento

Links thanks to StartlingArt.com

***

The Relix Empire Expands

The famous blog Huffington Post had this little Newsbrief:

"Current Relix owner and Grateful Dead fan Steve Bernstein adds Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs to his roster: If Jerry is indeed still alive, we can't wait to read his views on The Haunted and Dark Tranquility joining forces with Into Eternity and Scar Symmetry for their upcoming tour. [FishbowlNY]"

To know what that blurb is talking about, you can read the press release at NewsWire.com.

***

Need Tunes?

Over at Digg.com there is this announcement:

"Grateful Dead downloads

In this space, every Monday, you will find information on the recorded history of the Grateful Dead ’s music as it pertains to that week, specifically focusing on the shows for that week, through the band’s 30 year performing history, that reside in the Grateful Dead’s storied tape vault."

***

Grateful Dead Business Sense

There have been quite a few articles lately that use the Dead as a positive example for businesses and corporations. The latest was in a Paul Williams article at Idea-Sandbox.com:

"Although we don’t normally think of them as a company, the Grateful Dead sustained its revenues for decades building an experience that connected with its fans’ desire for oneness. Similarly, organizations that connects their members into nature or a broader sense of the world and are capable of evoking a meaning of oneness."

***

Raspy Bob

A blurb over at HeraldNet.com says:

"Bob Weir & Ratdog: A guitarist and raspy-voiced vocalist, as well as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, Weir has been touring with Ratdog since Jerry Garcia died in 1995. He started as a rhythm guitarist but now plays a classic blues slide. Ratdog performs Weir's song list from the blues to his psychedelic and rock Grateful Dead classics."

The 1980 Warfield Poster is by Dennis Larkins and can be found at SixtiesPosters.com with many other cool posters

News Briefs 02/15/07

Grammys: A Wasted Oportunity

The great journalist Paul Liberatore (who writes about the Dead quite often) had this to say about the 49th Grammy Awards:

"Wouldn't you rather have heard Joan Baez sing at least one song than listen to Mary J. Blige sing what felt like every song all night?

The same goes for our own Booker T. Jones, his partner in the MGs, the great guitarist Steve Cropper, and Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead. They were all there to accept lifetime achievement awards. They haven't retired. Why not have them actually perform instead of just sitting on their hands in the audience?"

Good point, Paul!

***

Shakedown Street

The Summit Daily News had a piece about the tribute band coming to the Silverthorne Pavilion:

Calling all Deadheads to Silverthorne
Summit County, CO Colorado

"The Silverthorne Pavilion welcomes Grateful Dead tribute band Shakedown Street featuring Melvin Seals, former musical director and keyboardist for the Jerry Garcia Band, on Thursday.

Shakedown Street, which consistently draws large crowds in the Rocky Mountains, has garnered a national reputation as being the mother of all Dead bands. The band has been performing for over 19 years and still includes original member Ted Galloway from Manitou Springs on guitar and vocals, David Recker from Evergreen on guitar and vocals, Joe Weisiger from Denver on keyboards, organ and vocals, Trevor "Bones" Davis from Salida on drums and vocals, Jim Allard from Denver on bass and vocals and Jake Wolf from Denver on drums and vocals.

Melvin Seals has been a powerful presence in the music industry for over 30 years with a long-established reputation as a performer, recording artist and producer. He has played with legends such as Chuck Berry, Charlie Daniels and Elvin Bishop. But perhaps Melvin is most revered for his powerful and high-spirited Hammond B-3 organ and keyboards in the Jerry Garcia Band, adding his gospel-soul touches to the rhythm and blues base of the JGB. Melvin continues to treat music lovers to his unique brand of melodic flavor with his latest projects, Vitamin B-3 and The Mix, Melvin Seals JGB Band and Melvin Seals Rhythm Factory.

Doors to Thursday's show will open at 8 p.m. with music beginning at 8:30 p.m. Advance tickets are $15 and available at the Silverthorne Recreation Center by calling (970) 262-7370 or at Affordable Music in Dillon. Tickets will also be sold at the door. The concert is open to all ages."

***

Let Phil Sing!

Speaking of shows, Mr. Lesh will be playing in San Fran on February 17th:

Phil Lesh. 8 p.m. Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove St., San Francisco. (408) 998-8497

***

Talking To the Kids

Speaking of Phil, Michelle Euganks wrote a cute article about how she spoke with some 5th Graders about her experiences being a journalist. She wrote:

"Although they had no idea who Phil Lesh or David Sedaris were, they all were pretty taken aback when I told them I often cry with people I interview if the story they're sharing with me is particularly touching."

That got me thinking - how cool would it be if David Sedaris opened for Phil. Opening acts don't have to be bands (remember the Flying Karamazov Brothers?).

***

Lessons From the Dead

Brain Fuller wrote a piece called "Steve Jobs and the Grateful Dead." Here's the Dead part:

"The older I get, the more the lessons of the Grateful Dead resonate in our hyper-technological era.

What do the Dead have to do with this? Decades ago, the Dead actually let tapers into their concerts and set aside a prime spot in the venues to set up their mics. From the back it always looked like a congregation of alien robots. Into these mics flowed Dead tunes which flowed out into the world at large through bootleg cassettes. As long as bootleggers didn't profit, all was good. Didn't hurt Dead record sales; didn't hurt Dead concert ticket sales. They were always sold out, and by the time they broke up after Jerry Garcia's death in '95, they were one of the highest-grossing bands in the history of American music. The lesson? It's not the technology that's throttling the music industry. Today's music is throttling the music industry: it sucks. It's soulless, violent and misogynistic, and, yes, I am over the age of 35.

How did you know?"

We Need Your Help

Last week I blogged about my desire to make a site for Grateful Dead Show memories and stories. I got some great responses. With the help of some new friends, the idea has evolved into a Wiki-Grateful Dead project. The goal is a site where there'd be a page for each show that includes the setlist, photos, reviews, stories, etc. All of these things can be found on the web, but never all in one spot. And the stories are real hard to find. We're working on the format first. I'm going to try to get permission to reprint some stories from books, magazines, and other sites and permission to display at least thumbnails of photos, tickets, posters, etc. Then we are going to need people to contribute by inputing the info for the many, many Dead shows. The hope is that, once the ball is rolling, folks will get inspired and hop on the bus. Wouldn't be cool to be able to pick a date and have everything about that show right there in one place? Please email me at slclibraryboy@yahoo.com if you have any ideas, materials, stories, or want to offer help. And thanks to those who have sent stuff already. I'm keeping it all safe...

Never Enough Shows

Alexander Varty wrote an article that starts by mentioning the reissue of the Dick's Picks series, but is mostly about how 188 Ratdog shows are available on the Ratdog website (known as "dot org" by those who hang out there). Here's the article from straight.com:

Fans of Weir’s Ratdog can opt for an instant replay
By Alexander Varty

As of last week, devotees of the Grateful Dead have their choice of 36 historic concerts, reissued on CD as part of the psychedelic pioneers’ Dick’s Picks series. That’s a lot of listening—but not as much as former Dead guitarist Bob Weir has made available to fans of his latter-day Ratdog project. Visit that band’s Web site (www.ratdog.org/?) and you’ll find a link to a total of 188 live recordings—available in triple-CD, MP3, or FLAC formats—documenting every concert the Bay Area–based sextet has played since October 11, 2003.

And those who are truly dedicated to reliving the Ratdog experience have an additional option: if you visit the group’s merch table during one of its marathon live shows, you can preorder a recording of that night’s music and it will be waiting for you within minutes of the concert’s end. New advances in CD-recording and -mastering technology have turned the Ratdog tour bus into a miniature pressing plant, and Weir reports that the band’s fans are increasingly taking advantage of this instant-replay option.

“I’d say about one in 10 end up buying a recording, so it’s working out real well for us,” he says via cellphone, while navigating the clogged streets of rush-hour San Francisco.

Going over past set lists, it’s easy to see why listeners might want to collect multiple Ratdog live recordings: the band’s signature mix of Grateful Dead tunes, Americana standards, R?&?B covers, and Weir originals changes radically from night to night. Staples include the singer-guitarist’s enduring, anthemic “Playing in the Band”, Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece”, and the jug-band classic “Minglewood Blues”, but on this tour Weir plans to switch things up by featuring some new compositions.

Maybe it’s the traffic or the less-than-perfect cellphone reception, but this never-prolific songwriter is reluctant to disclose too many details about Ratdog’s new songs. But he does let slip some of the topics they cover, before signing off to attend to the road.

“Oh, you know, we’re going through a romance in one tune,” he says, laughing. “We’re going for sort of a take-the-money-and-run story in another one, and there’s one about a dragonfly tattoo. We’re trying to hit all the bases we can.”

Ratdog plays the Commodore Ballroom on Sunday (February 18).

Last time I saw Bobby (here in Utah last summer) I wore a CD wristband during their set, happy with the knowledge that I'd have a copy of the show right afterwards. That night, in a little tent, my buddies and I passed stuff around which included my walkman. Someone would take a turn listening to the show and would inevitably exlaim (in that really loud voice people with headphones use) "Dude...This is dope!!!"

In the early 70's, the Grateful Dead looked into doing something like the "Live CD Series" and hoped to offer live show recording by mail order as a part of their "fan club" project. But the idea was too ahead its time. It was when they realized they couldn't offer all the shows to fans that they began to allow taping. Before that, tapers had to be sneaky, or they might find their equipment confiscated or even destroyed by an outraged crew guy.

Jerry's T-shirt For Sale

eil.com is selling "Jerry's T-shirt" - they say he wore it in Egypt and then signed it (and they have the photographic evidence). Here's the pitch:

GRATEFUL DEAD Jerry Garcia's Own T-Shirt (Rare Black T-shirt originally owned by Jerry Garcia and worn during the 'Egypt' live concert tour, September 1978. Jerry has also signed the front of the T-Shirt underneath the gold 'Dead' slogan. Additionally this comes complete with pictures showing Jerry wearing it - Be a 'Deadhead' for the day!!)

**Complete With Certificate Of Authenticity**

£ 395.00, USD 778.15, € 600.40

I don't know what's up with that "be a 'Deadhead' for a day" suggestion...but if you think wearing Jerry's old shirt is kinda gross, remember that it was his toilet that was up for auction last year!

News Briefs 02/13/07

Phish’s Phriend

Trey Anastasio told Rolling Stone that he’d like to do more work with Phil Lesh. That's what I'd like to hear from Bobby, Billy & Mick!

Tom Constanten

A Chris Azzopardi article about Reuben Butchart’s sophomore album “Golden Boy” talks about Butchart taking piano lessons from T.C.

“After weeding through piano teachers at the community center who rejected his unstudious style, he landed with Tom Constanten, the Grateful Dead's original keyboardist. "At that age I had no idea who the Grateful Dead was," he says, bashfully laughing.

Constanten knew the pop realm well and he also knew that Butchart, who created collages from other composers' musical notations, didn't want to practice. The keyboardist didn't care. He knew the youngster's passion was for composing. And so Butchart did.”

Mouse & Kelley

ArtDaily.com reviews a Minneapolis art show that includes work by Alton Kelley & Stanley Mouse:

"Two new exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) celebrated the unique “San Francisco sound” that came out of the Bay area in the mid-1960s. Drawn primarily from the MIA’s permanent collection, San Francisco Psychedelic provides a rare opportunity for visitors to view sixty photographs of some of the seminal bands from this movement, such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Highlights include Mouse’s iconic 1966 Grateful Dead poster featuring a skeleton picking a rose..."

The Curse of the Keys

And here's an article by Martin Vengadesan about the Dead's "keyboard curse" (which is the only good reason why Bruce never became a "full time" member of the band).

The poisoned chalice
A succession of four tragic deaths underlines the cursed seat in The Grateful Dead.

MUSIC, MYTHS & LEGENDS
By Martin Vengadesan

IT’S one of the classic jokes about the fictional rock band Spinal Tap that the drummer’s seat is something of a curse. While every other band member came through the “heavy years” relatively unscathed, the drummers succumbed to a variety of afflictions including a gardening accident, choking on (someone else’s) vomit and spontaneous combustion!

While Spinal Tap was indeed fictional, I’ve just found out about something that reminded me of a very real phenomenon that reads almost like a curse. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but earlier last week I found out that Vince Welnick had committed suicide last June. I admit that aside from the tragic loss of Welnick himself, I was rather spooked at how his fate seemed to echo that of his predecessors. For Welnick, who spent five years as keyboardist of the legendary improvisational psychedelic band The Grateful Dead, wasn’t the first Dead keyboardist to die.

He was the fourth!

Seriously, for all the theories that tend to pigeonhole a rock group’s keyboardist as its most intellectual and least wild member, the Dead sure had a habit of losing them to tragic early deaths.

Of the lot, perhaps none was quite so legendary as the man who first occupied the seat. A colourful character, Ron McKernan was obsessed with the blues, and his lifestyle reflected that. An intimidating appearance (which earned him the endearing nickname Pigpen) belied the fact that he was a rather shy fellow with an interesting outlook on life. A brief dalliance with the equally self-destructive Janis Joplin was followed by an interracial relationship with one Veronica Grant.

However, even while in his early 20s, Pigpen’s heavy drinking undermined his position in the band he helped form. While there are some classic recordings that feature him on lead vocals (covers of Good Morning Little Schoolgirl and Smokestack Lightning as well as the original Operator), Pigpen’s talents were never truly captured by the Dead. Originally a blues harmonica player, he had moved on in the mid-1960s to the then in-vogue organ, but found that by 1968, his position was under threat.

Pigpen’s instability (ironic in that he was a heavy drinker in a band notorious for its use of psychedelic drugs) led to the addition of pianist Tom Constanten, and he was relegated to congas for a while. Even when Constanten (who despite playing on important albums like Aoxomoxoa barely figures in the group’s history) departed in 1970, Pigpen was unable to regain his original presence.

By the time of the seminal live album Europe 1972, the Dead had added Keith Godchaux on piano to supplement Pigpen’s organ-playing. However, despite being only 27, his drinking had aged him beyond his years, and he died of a gastrointestinal haemorrhage at his home in Corte Madera, California, on March 8, 1973.

That meant that Godchaux took full rein. He had leapt on board the Dead train with his wife Donna-Jean, who a fine vocalist though she could be, always seemed wrong for the Dead. Keith, on the other hand, provided some much-needed impetus adding a jazz-rock touch to the group’s music, fuelling interesting albums like Wake of the Flood and Blues for Allah. However, by the late 1970s, it was all tired, and both Godchauxs were asked to leave. Keith died soon after his 32nd birthday, following a car crash in Marin County, California, on July 23, 1980.

Brent Mydland may have looked cool and been technically proficient, but his soft-rock contributions to the group were really quite lame. It may not have been his fault, but he sat through its weakest phase when the band cut just three studio albums (Go to Heaven, In the Dark and Built to Last) in 11 years. Nonetheless, he was the Dead’s longest-serving keyboardist, when at the age of 37 he died of a speedball (mixture of heroin and cocaine) overdose at his home in Lafayette, California, on July 26, 1990 (that’s right, almost exactly 10 years after Keith Godchaux’s death).

By that time the legendary rockers were on their last legs, more a touring concern than a viable creative entity (that’s despite a surprise hit single, Touch of Grey, in 1987). Band leader Jerry Garcia had his own battles with his health and there were some fears that the band would fold. Instead, pop star and long-time Dead fan Bruce Hornsby sat in while auditions were held.

Welnick was selected for the “hot seat”. Unfortunately for him, the Dead was no longer recording albums, and while his composition Long Way to Go Home became a crowd favourite, he never got to record as Garcia himself died of a heart attack in August 1995.

Unfortunately, Garcia’s passing and the subsequent disbanding of the Grateful Dead triggered a lengthy battle with depression for Welnick and he was hurt when he was not invited to any major post-Garcia reunions. When he slit his throat on June 2, 2006, he was 55. He died in Sonoma County, which neighboured Marin County and Contra Costra County where his three predecessors had died!

Martin Vengadesan, a music lover and history buff, combines his two passions in his fortnightly column. If you have any interesting stories you want him to research, do drop him a line.

***Late Addition***

Check out this cool bit torrent. It's called "Jamming At the Edge of Magic, Volume 3" and it features jams, jams, and more jams. These are "designer jams" with cute names like "Good Grief Jam" and "Moon Boots Jam." There are also classics like the "Mind Left Body Jam" (what did Dick call it? Mud Love Buddy?).

40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love

"The Summer of Love was not all that great," Bobby is quoted as saying as news outlets cover the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love.

Here’s the first in a series of articles by Jim Harrington:

Flashing back to the Summer of Love

Has it really been four decades since the flower children invaded San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury? What a long, strange trip indeed
By Jim Harrington, STAFF WRITER

This is the first in an occasional series of stories about the people and events of the Summer of Love, which turns 40 this year.

For everything, there is a season.

And for love, it was the summer of 1967. Or, at least, that's what folks were told - and that's what many believed. That's why thousands of young men and women, known to the world as hippies or flower children, descended on San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district for months of fun, live music and mind-altering substances. That time came to be known as the Summer of Love.

Some indeed came looking for love, the kind where all people - regardless of race, political affiliation or economic status - would accept one another as true brothers and sisters. Forty years later, that dream still sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Yet, the reality was closer to a nightmare for many who lived in the Bay Area before that summer. Surprisingly, one person who doesn't have such warm memories is Bob Weir, who - as a founding member of the Grateful Dead - was one of Haight-Ashbury's premier attractions. When asked what he first thinks of when he hears a reference to the Summer of Love, he says, "It was time to get out of the city."

"The Summer of Love was not all that great," the 59-year-old vocalist-guitarist said during a recent interview at his home of 35 years in Mill Valley. "The summer before was wonderful."

Looking beyond the cultural implications, the Summer of Love was thought of by many as the ultimate party. But, like most good parties, it soon grew too crowded. And some of the folks clearly weren't on the guest list.

Drawn by the intense media coverage of the hippie movement, including a cover story in Time magazine, the Haight was bombarded by an estimated 100,000 new arrivals that summer. That number included a fair share of teen runaways, con artists, thieves and drug dealers - who would combine to irrevocably change the very essence of the neighborhood.

The neighborhood was on another radar as well - that of the police. The cops followed the newcomers into the area, looking for - and finding - plenty of easy busts.

Those things combined to push many locals out. The neighborhood's most famous residents - the Grateful Dead - would hightail it across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County not long after a well-publicized drug bust at the band's house at 710 Ashbury St. in late '67. No wonder Weir isn't exactly fond of that time.

Yet, despite those things, the summer of '67 would be romanticized as nothing short of a cultural revolution. Indeed, social, cultural and political change was in the air, blowing through big cities like London and New York City as well as college campuses across the nation.

The focal point, though, was San Francisco.

Great human experiment

Some saw the whole thing as a great human experiment, an attempt to create a gentler, more enlightened society that would value flowers over firearms and poetry over possessions. That was the dream. The reality, as Weir pointed out, was a little less lovely.

But why let reality get in the way of a good story? Let's, for the moment, focus on the positive elements that sprung from the Summer of Love. The season gave birth to, or helped solidify, several key movements - including the Free Speech, Gay Rights and Civil Rights movements.

Those are some of the reasons why many people will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of San Francisco's most famous season for most of this year. Just recently it was announced that there will be a Summer of Love celebration concert Sept. 2 in Golden Gate Park. The lineup has yet to be set, but there should be no shortage of willing participants. Organizers will give a public launch party for the event from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday at 3075 17th St., San Francisco.

Don't expect Weir to be there waving a heartshaped Summer of Love banner on Valentine's Day. He'll be busy that night fronting his current band, Ratdog, at the most hallowed of all '60s venues, the Fillmore. Plus, 40th anniversary or not, the Summer of Love feels pretty distant these days to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

"It's back there a ways," Weir said. "Other stuff that proceeded that seems a little closer. I don't know. Stuff gets mixed up."

Well, let's clear things up a bit. Weir, whether or not he wants the credit, is at least partially responsible for there having been a Summer of Love. One of the biggest draws to Northern California during that time was the live music scene, of which the Grateful Dead was arguably the most significant member.

Peninsula roots

Intriguingly, for a band forever linked with San Francisco, the Grateful Dead got its start on the Peninsula. There are several jumping off points for the story, but, for our purposes, it makes sense to begin in 1963 - New Year's Eve 1963, to be exact. That's when young Weir, just 16, was strolling through Palo Alto and heard some acoustic tunes ringing from Dana Morgan's Music Store. He followed the sound and found Jerry Garcia, who would become his musical mentor.

Those are the kinds of memories that remain fresh in Weir's mind. And it's hard for him to fathom what he'd be doing today if he hadn't hooked up with Garcia that night.
"I have no idea," said Weir, who attended several schools on the Peninsula, including Menlo- Atherton High School. "I know that I would probably still be doing music. It's all I've ever wanted to do since I was 8 or 9."

Fortunately for Deadheads, Weir and Garcia became fast friends and, along with bassist Phil Lesh, drummer Bill Kreutzmann and vocalist-keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, formed a band in 1965 that would later take the name Grateful Dead.

Influenced by a huge array of musical styles, from bluegrass and country to avant-garde classical and electric-guitar rock, the group sounded vastly different from everything else in the music business. The Dead would find an audience for its eclectic mix when it began performing at author Ken Kesey's famed acid tests, which marked a marriage of mind-bending jams with mind-altering substances that is still going strong today.

Along with such fellow sonic adventurers as Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead would pioneer a style of music that would become known as the "San Francisco Sound." In turn, the band would help usher in the psychedelic era and indirectly influence everyone from the Beatles and the Beach Boys to Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones.

The Grateful Dead was the de facto house band for San Francisco's psychedelic period. Notably, the group performed at the Human Be-In, an event that drew more than 20,000 flower children to Golden Gate Park in January 1967. The Be-In was widely considered to be the kickoff to the Summer of Love, and it featured several other local bands, including Quicksilver Messenger Service, as well as notable poets and personalities such as Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary (who was making his first appearance in San Francisco).

The event introduced the term "in" to popular jargon, and soon every imaginable type of gathering was being described as an "in" of some type. Even television would later get in on the act, when NBC began broadcasting "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In."

Five months after the Be-In set things in motion, the Grateful Dead performed at the year's most famous concert, the Monterey Pop Festival. Held in June, the festival drew some 200,000 music fans to the Monterey County Fairgrounds to see a dizzying array of talents, including Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding, the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. (The occasion would be documented in director D.A. Pennebaker's memorable film, "Monterey Pop.") The Dead, famously, were given the unenviable task of taking the stage between the twin titans - the Who and Hendrix.

Two years later the Dead was on hand for both the apex of the Summer of Love movement (Woodstock) and its nadir (the tragic Altamont Free Concert, where the Dead didn't take the stage).

After the love

The Dead, of course, would far outlive the Summer of Love and become one of the most successful touring acts of all time. The band kept right on truckin' until its hesitant bandleader, Garcia, died in 1995. All of the surviving band members, however, have remained active in the music business. Weir still sees a lot of old Deadheads when he's out on the road with Ratdog. But it's not all familiar faces.

"There's a huge influx of 19- to 24-year-olds in our crowd now," he says. "That's great to see, because we are hitting a new generation."

In that regard, a little bit of the Summer of Love lives on.

For more information about the Summer of Love 40th anniversary celebration or Valentine's Day launch party, visit www.2b1records.com/summeroflove40th. For details on Bob Weir and Ratdog's show at the Fillmore, visit http://www.livenation.com/.

Rock Scully emerges from obscurity as Harp Magazine reports:

Non-profit organization The Council of Light will be holding a launch party on Feb. 14th for their forthcoming 40th Anniversary Summer of Love concerts in San Francisco and London. The party will feature Doc Kraft (his website describes his band’s range from “quiet ‘Cocktail and Dinner Jazz’ to raucous ‘Rock'n Roadhouse’ music”) and live soundboard concert recordings from—appropriately enough—Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead.

That’s from 6pm to 10pm at 3075 17th Street if you plan on attending.

The Council of Light includes members of the original Family Dog, original Grateful Dead management, FM programmers, and many of the poster artists from the ‘60s. Former Family Dog partner Boots Hughston is the event coordinator, while former Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully and David Bean (ex-president of CTI Records and manager for Jesse Colin Young) are organizing bands, licenses and sponsors. In a statement, the promoters indicated their intentions “to utilize the best in concert production for the musicians involved, from sound, to stage, to travel and lodging. While noted musicians from the era will be featured, organizers welcome bands from the past four decades inspired by the San Francisco music scene of the ‘60s. It is anticipated that there will be worldwide media coverage with live broadcast and streaming possibilities.”

The San Francisco show will be held at Speedway Meadows, Golden Gate Park on September 2, 2007. More information on the event including participating bands, will be announced at a later date. For now, visit the Summer of Love 40th website to pique your interest.

The Dead's Lifetime Achievement

The Grateful Dead were awarded a special Lifetime Achiement Grammy the other night. Here are a couple quotes that were in the news.

The Associated Press said Phil Lesh was “very excited” to get his first recognition from the recording academy and quoted him as saying “It’s kind of a wonderful thing, after however many years of neglect, to be recognized.”

Reuters quoted the drummers. "The thing about a lifetime achievement award is being here. We made it and we're alive," said the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, who stood with co-drummer Bill Kreutzmann to receive the honor on behalf of the group. "I wish the rest of my brothers in the band could be here," said Kreutzmann.

Chuck Crisafulli reported:

Drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart represented the Grateful Dead this night, and Kreutzmann made a point of sending out a special thanks to his bandmates, both living and deceased, "Especially Jerry Garcia, who I miss dearly." Kreutzmann also expressed heartfelt thanks to the bands fans, "Deadheads": "God bless you — you know who you are." He also pointed out one large, particular fan in the audience this night —basketball great and well-known Deadhead Bill Walton. Hart jokingly expressed some confusion, claiming that he'd been under the impression that the Dead were receiving a "Lifetime Pardon" rather than a Lifetime Achievement Award. He described the band's career as "Desperate men in desperate times doing desperate things," but said that, "I loved every minute of it." He also emphasized how much he appreciated the support of fans over the years, pointing out that while so many fans would do anything to get to a show, the band itself "Would do anything to get to making the music for you."

Photo by REUTERS/Max Morse

And More DSO...

GoTrida has a little piece on the Dark Star Orchestra:

The Dark and the Dead
Jeri Rowe - Staff Writer

For the third time in four years, The Grateful Dead is coming back to The Carolina Theatre.
Sort of.

Dark Star Orchestra, one of the country's most talented Grateful Dead tribute bands, will perform Sunday night at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro. The band will recreate a particular show from the Dead's 30-year history and recreate an experience that's considered one of the most improvisational moments in popular music.

What show will they play? You'll find out after the show. You can listen to the Carolina Theatre show live from its Web site through what's known as Streamernet. Or check them out Sunday night at the Carolina where tie-dyed legions will dance in the aisles and remember what used to be.
Dino English knows those times well. He first caught The Grateful Dead in June 1991. Now, he's one of the band's two drummers. What does he think?

Describe your first Dead show.

I had several friends who tried to tell me how cool they (the Dead) were, and every time they did, I told them, "I don't get it." Then I went to the second night at the Sandstone Amphitheatre in Kansas City. The only tunes I knew were "Good Lovin'" and "Truckin'," but I enjoyed the whole thing. It was like I got struck by a bolt of lightning.

How did you pick a show?

It's pretty difficult. Rob Eaton (one of the band's guitarists) is in charge of that. The goal is no repeats from night to night, and we work to push from different eras. We search by going through the Deadbase (the encyclopedic book of past set lists from Grateful Dead shows) to make sure we meet all the requirements, and that can be a chore. But by the time we go out on tour, we have a booklet of things Rob has picked. It's not beyond changing, but we stick to it.

What's Streamernet?

We're moving into the future, and that's what I always admired about the Grateful Dead. They wanted to explore new areas, and this streaming the shows live from any venue we can is a way of pressing the folds. Plus, when you've got a lot of interest in what we play every night, we'd figured we'd let them find out and listen to it. I believe we're the first band to do it on a regular basis.

So, will the music ever stop?

I don't think so. I think the music is too powerful. It's a living entity. After all the members of the Dead and the members of Dark Star Orchestra are gone, someone will pick up the torch and carry on. It's like folk music passed on through generations. There's something special about these groupings of songs. It goes beyond music itself. Like a living, breathing entity. It'll do what it can to survive.

Jeri Rowe is a metro columnist with the News & Record. Contact him at 373-7374 or jrowe@news-record.com.

Here's the Carolina Theatre's Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Corey Pitz
Marketing and Public Relations
corey@carolinatheatre.com
Administrative: (336) 333-2600 ext.4
Box Office: (336) 333-2605

Location: The historic Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene Street, Greensboro, NC 27401

Prices: Tickets are $20.00 in advance and $22.00 day of show.

Back by Popular Demand: Dark Star Orchestra at the Carolina Theatre !

GREENSBORO, NC - Dark Star Orchestra Offers Live Perspective on the Dead

On Sunday, February 11 at 8 pm, Dark Star Orchestra returns to light up the stage of the Historic Carolina Theatre of Greensboro. The group performs critically acclaimed live performances of Grateful Dead show re-creations to venues all over the United States.

DSO is drawing national attention with their true-to-life performances. Rolling Stone recently praised "Dark Star Orchestra's fanatical attention to detail." USA Today says DSO is "channeling the Dead" and the Washington Post declared them "the hottest Grateful Dead tribute act going." Dallas Morning News affirmed DSO was "the next best thing to being there."

Each night, the Chicago-based band decides on performing one show from the 2,500 that the Grateful Dead performed during their 30-year tenure as fathers of improvisational rock. As a chamber orchestra interprets Bach or Mozart, Dark Star Orchestra presents the complete original set list, song by song, and in order, with uncanny faithful interpretation. The group has its craft so well-refined that even members of the Grateful Dead themselves, rhythm guitarist/singer Bob Weir, drummer Bill Kreutzmann, vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux, and keyboardists Vince Welnick and Tom Constanten, have appeared on stage and performed with these extremely talented musicians.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $22.00 day of show. A $1 Restoration Fee is added to the price of each ticket.

The Carolina Theatre is a non-profit organization that provides a state-of-the-art downtown performance, film, and rental facility to the greater Greensboro community. It is a member of the League of Historic American Theatres and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For more information or a complete listing of events, please visit www.carolinatheatre.com or call the Theatre Box Office at (336) 333-2605. Additional press materials, including photographic images, are available calling (336) 333-2600 ext. 4.

Koons Involved in Another Lawsuit

Deborah Koons Garcia, Jerry's "last" wife (who was recently sued by Jerry's "last" daughter), is apparently suing...herself. Well, kinda. The Associated Press reports:

Jerry Garcia's Widow Sues Over Estate
By Associated Press

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- The widow of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia is suing to gain access to unpublished tapes of her late husband's musical performances.

Deborah Koons Garcia filed a civil suit Jan. 31 in Marin County Superior Court against a limited liability corporation, comprised of the rocker's beneficiaries including Koons Garcia, that oversees business involving his estate.

According to the lawsuit, Koons Garcia wants to professionally restore the so-called "Garcia Tapes," but others in the limited liability corporation have stalled the process. The suit asks a judge to clarify the terms of the agreement that led to the formation of the business entity.

Koons Garcia claims the corporation had been scheduled to dissolve by Dec. 31, 2005, but continues to exist.

The lawsuit is just the latest in a prolonged legal battle among Jerry Garcia's beneficiaries.

Some have filed their own lawsuit against Koons Garcia in an effort to maintain the corporation. The rocker's daughter, Keelin Noel Garcia, 19, also has sued Koons Garcia for allegedly shoddy financial oversight of the estate.

Attorney Lawrence Rockwell, who represents several of the defendants in the Jan. 31 lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.

A hearing is scheduled for April 13.

The AP story has been carried by the Chicago Tribune, the Toronto Star, the Gainseville Sun, the Baltimore Sun, the Mercury News, the Herald Tribune & MSN Music News (as well as over 160 other news outlets).

The Marin Independent Journal has a little more info...

Koons has been involved with many Jerry related lawsuits over the years, especially since she is co-executor of his estate (further referred to as "The Estate"). Here are a few:

1997 - Koons is sued by Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia over money MG was to receive based on her divorce terms. A court awarded MG $5 Million but, during appeal, she accepted a $1.25 - $1.5 Million settlement.

1998 - Former Office Manager Suzanne Stephens sues The Estate over an alleged promise by Jerry to pay her half the royalties from the "Cherry Garcia" ice cream.

2005 - The Estate sues Moe's Southwestern Burritos for using Jerry's image unlawfully to sell tacos and Southwestern food.

2006 - Keelin Noel Garcia sues The Estate over child support/Estate division misallocation.

Attention Deadheads!

I have always enjoyed folk's stories and memories about Grateful Dead shows. I have been unable to find a website that collects these.

First of all, is anyone aware of a good, comprehensive website? I would like to see a site where you choose the date and then read stories by Heads who were there.

I don't think there is one...and so I'm thinking about creating one. I would welcome stories and memories about shows you attended. It can be a review of the show or just random things that happened. Please send any ideas, links, suggestions, and/or stories to slclibraryboy@yahoo.com

Thanks...and PEACE!

Ratdog Tour in One Week

LiveDaily blurbed Ratdog's Spring Tour and added the Valentine's Day show to the itinerary:

Ratdog firms up spring tour plans
by Tjames Madison, LiveDaily Contributor

Bob Weir's Ratdog (tickets music) has laid down plans for a spring tour, and added a Valentine's Day date in San Francisco to its already announced itinerary.

The group, led by former Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Bob Weir, is scheduled to hit the road Feb. 9 in San Diego and play through late March. The first half of the band's schedule features West Coast appearances, while the latter portions skews heavily toward Northeastern shows, including a three-night stand at New York's Beacon Theatre beginning March 8.

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.

Tour Itinerary

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
14 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
16 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
17 - Seattle, WA - The Moore Theatre
18 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom

March 2007
2 - Syracuse, NY - Landmark Theatre
3 - Rochester, NY - Auditorium Theatre
4 - Greensburg, PA - Palace Theatre
6 - Peekskill, NY - Paramount Center for the Arts
8-10 - New York, NY - Beacon Theater
12 - Concord, NH - The Capitol Center for the Arts
13 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
22 - Athens, GA - Classic Center
23 - Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
24 - Greensboro, NC - Memorial Auditorium

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