General discussion

Press release: 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 … Read more

Jon Carroll publishes a version of this fine essay in his San Francisco Chronicle column every T-day. Here is today’s edition. A few excerpts: Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It is comfortably free of the strident religious and/or militaristic overtones that give the other holidays their soft emanations of uneasiness. At Thanksgiving, all … Read more

New song. This was its third public performance (at a house concert 11/12/06 in Forestville CA), and there are a few minor glitches in the delivery, but you get the gist. Sweet, wise, reverent, blasphemous and witty.  Damn that’s nice.  – Gail Williams RAN INTO GOD David Gans © 2006 Whispering Hallelujah (BMI) I ran … Read more

Join Rock the Earth and help protect the planet one beat at a time.

Tim Truman has posted his cover art for the 12/31/76 multitrack set, to be released by Rhino in January. I like it!

Regarding Blair Jackson’s new book, Grateful Dead Gear: The Band’s Instruments, Sound Systems, and Recording Sessions from 1965 to 1995, Steve Silberman posted this on the WELL: Well Jesus Christ, this book is frickin’ amazing, and I’m the opposite of a knob-twiddling gearhead pedal fetishist. I don’t know what ANY of this shit is, and … Read more

My wife and I saw Stranger Than Fiction last night, and really liked it. It’s a lot deeper than I was expecting from a Will Ferrell movie, but with Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman also on board, I figured it could have some substance. It’s about a guy who suddenly begins hearing a voice narrating … Read more

From the press release: LEGENDARY COMEDY GROUP FIRESIGN THEATRE CELEBRATES ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY NOVEMBER 17, 2006; INVITE FANS TO COUGH UP THE GOODS LOS ANGELES, CA (November 13, 2006): Legendary comic foursome The Firesign Theatre, creators of over thirty LPs and CDs including such classics as Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers, a … Read more

Arts>World Financial Center Presents: THE AMERICAN BEAUTY PROJECT HONORS TWO GRATEFUL DEAD LANDMARK ALBUMS American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead with Jorma Kaukonen, Ollabelle, Toshi Reagon, The Holmes Brothers, Jen Chapin, Dar Williams, The Klezmatics, Tim O’Reagan, Mark Eitzel, Jim Lauderale, Larry Campbell, Catherine Russell, Andy Statman, Tony Trischka, and more to be announced. Workingman’s Dead … Read more

Here it is. Anyone played it yet? Update: the instructions