Dead Symphony in Baltimore 8/1

Associated Press story in today’s San Francisco Chronicle:

Honoring the Dead – with a symphony

Excerpt:

….”Dead Symphony” is more than just pop songs arranged for an orchestra – it’s an honest-to-goodness, 12-movement symphony by a respected classical composer that twists the Dead songs it’s inspired by in adventurous directions.

The symphony had a gestation period that inevitably recalls that most quoted of Dead lyrics: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” Atlanta recording studio owner Mike Adams first got the idea after a Dead show in 1974. He began pursuing it in earnest after Garcia died in 1995 and got in touch with composer Lee Johnson, who’s also from the Atlanta area.

Johnson wasn’t a Deadhead before he took on the project. He likes to immerse himself in a subject before he starts writing, so he amassed a huge collection of Dead CDs that he carried around in a paper grocery bag. He ended up spending nearly 10 years composing his sixth symphony…