Vince, DG and The Persuasions
Photo by Bev Rice David Gans and Vince Welnick working on “Ripple” during the making of Might as Well: The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead. Vince played piano on “Ship of Fools,” “One More Saturday Night,” and “Bertha.”
General discussion
Interviewees for tonight’s VW tribute
The lineup of friends and bandmates for tonight’s Vince Welnick tribute is growing. So far I have Prairie Prince, Michael Cotten, and Michele Rundgren of the Tubes; Todd Rundgren; Bob Weir; Robin Sylvester; Steve Kimock; Jerry Lawson of the Persuasions; and Tom Constanten. Again, the tribute will air from 8pm til midnight pacific time on … Read more
Online interview 6/14-28
I’m being interviewed – so far, mostly about musical matters – in the WELL’s Inkwell conference. This is not a live chat – it’s an online conversation that will be “live” for two weeks and then archived permanently. Stop by and take a look, and if you have a comment or question you can send … Read more
Vince tribute tonight: four hours
Larry Kelp has graciously given up his show “Sing Out” so I can go til midnight with tonight’s Vince tribute. I’ve got a lot of Vince’s friends and colleagues lined up to call in: Prairie Prince, Michael Cotten, Todd Rundgren, Michele Rundgren, Bob Weir, Steve Kimock, Robin Sylvester, Tom Constanten, and maybe a surprise or … Read more
Garage sale update
Update on the “garage sale” of GD Hour t-shirts: All the MEDIUM shirts of the original design are gone. I still have some SMALL white shirts with the original design, and plenty of XXLs in blue, sand, and black of the second design. Images and more information in an earlier post. Thanks to all who … Read more
MMF “Astral Weeks”
Missing Man Formation Astral Weeks 12/5/96 Los Angeles CA
Gans in the Rex Foundation spotlight!
In case you haven’t visited lately, the Rex Foundation’s web site has been quite active. And there’s a “Musicians Spotlight” feature on me up there now – an interview by a fine young writer named Casey Lowdermilk. Says musician, songwriter, and producer David Gans: “I like Rex’s commitment to grassroots, direct-action humanitarianism. In a world … Read more
Phil Lesh on Vince Welnick
Phil Lesh’s statement, posted at PhilLesh.net: The period after Brent’s death, when Vince first joined the band, was one of one of my most difficult years with the Grateful Dead. Jill and I had become quite close to Brent and his wife Lisa and we spent many happy hours hanging together. I was devastated when … Read more
Ratdog and “Book of Rules”
I have to believe the addition of “Book of Rules” to the Ratdog songbook may have something to do with a conversation that Bob, Mark and I had off the air during their KPFA appearance 5/31. The inevitable requests for “Monkey and the Engineer” and “My Brother Esau” came in on the phone, and while … Read more
Weir in the I-J
Nice Bob Weir interview by Paul Liberatore in Friday’s Marin Independent Journal, previewing Ratdog’s appearance at the Harmony Festival that night. Regarding Vince’s suicide: “It’s nothing but sad,” Weir says from his Mill Valley home. “I wish I were qualified to have been of more help to him, but I’m not. All I could be … Read more