A weekly audio postcard from the wide musical world of America’s best-loved band!
“Aunt Fran” Bennett posted some MP3s and a concert poster from The Beans, Vince’s first (?) band and a precursor to The Tubes. Before going off to a successful 32 year career on LA & San Francisco radio I was a 17 year old beginner at the underground station in Phoenix, AZ, and it was … Read more
I’ve spent much of this week listening to Vince Welnick’s music, in a variety of contexts. I’ve got some fine moments from his time with the Grateful Dead, of course, and also The Tubes, Missing Man Formation, the Affordables, Mood Food, etc. Stephen Barncard, who recorded The Tubes in 1973, directed me to Tom Lattanand, … Read more
I’m trying to raise money to finish a CD project, and so I’d like to sell some items from my closet. I have these Grateful Dead Hour t-shirts (designed and printed by Norm Ruth and The Deluxe Team) in limited sizes and colors… The first Grateful Dead Hour t-shirt. White only; Small and Medium only. … Read more
My dear friend, fellow Pacifica-radio music programmer, and occasional musical collaborator Barry Smolin is featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times today! It’s about his work as a teacher in the Los Angeles schools: This Teacher Digresses, and Well If that link expires, Barry has it archived on his site. Barry hosts … Read more
From the GD Hour mailing list, posted with permission: I’m not here to comment on any aspect of Vince’s treatment by the organization. I just recall my own initial education in the subject of the ethos of, for want of a less threadbare appellation, the psychedelic warrior: Tom Wolfe’s “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”. By the … Read more
Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports that Vince’s death has officially ruled a suicide – specifically, “self-inflicted cuts.” Sonoma County sheriff’s detectives went to Welnick’s Forestville home Friday to investigate, trying to determine whether his death might have been a homicide.
Relix.com posts a Feb/Mar 2003 interview with Vince by Richard Thomas.
VINCE WELNICK SUCCUMBS TO THE CURSE OF THE KEYBOARDS The Dreadful Great, among our other bad habits, had a reliable propensity for killing off keyboard players. It was a kind of ritual sacrifice, I suppose, but the really terrible aspect of these departures was the bottomless sorrow that drove out of the physical world Ron … Read more
I’ll be posting more as I continue to gather material for the June 14 tribute. Vince Welnick & David Gans 3/17/99 live in the KPFA Performance Studio What’s Your Name? Emperor’s Suit A Day in the Life Cosmic Charlie
I learned more about harmony from Vince playing his music than I ever learned anywhere else. But through it all, he was possessed of a nervous, lonely energy that always seemed to be on the verge of teetering out of control.