Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
Grateful Dead Hour no. 1410
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from: Dead and Company – Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge – on tour from coast to coast November 11 through December 31. Complete details and ticketing at www.deadandcompany.com. That’s Dead and Company, on tour from November 11 through New Year’s Eve. The legendary Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. A haven for DeadHeads and one of Jerry Garcia’s favorite theaters, The Capitol Theatre boasts state-of-the-art light, sound, and video systems. Live music is featured many nights a week at the venue’s nightclub, Garcia’s. Events, information, and ticketing at thecapitoltheatre.com.
Coming soon: an Oral History of the Grateful Dead
Publication date is November 10.
Here is the Goodreads page for the book, and here is the publisher’s page. Both include links to several purchase options.
Publisher’s Weekly gave us a good review:
This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead
Blair Jackson and David Gans
Flatiron, $32.99 (528p) ISBN 978·1·250·05856·0
This epic oral history of the 50-year-old band is timed to coincide with five massively hyped “Fare Thee Well” concerts. The straightforward approach by Jackson and Gans (who collectively boast almost 80 years of Grateful Dead journalism) uses multiple perspectives to tell the story of a group that began as a San Francisco jug band of penniless hippies, morphed through multiple musical incarnations, and created a colorful psychedelic subculture. The more than 100 voices here include members of the Dead – including deceased guitarist/ de facto leader Jerry Garcia, and keyboardists Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Brent Mydland – and their collaborators as well as business partners and fans. Jackson and Gans relied on new and archival interviews, as well as other published and unpublished sources. To their credit, the authors focus as much on the creation, recording, and marketing of music as they do on the ingestion of hallucinogens. The result is a solid, engaging chronicle.
Kirkus Reviews: also quite favorable!
THIS IS ALL A DREAM WE DREAMED [STARRED REVIEW!] An Oral History of the Grateful Dead
Author: Blair Jackson
Author: David Gans
Review Issue Date: September 1, 2015
Online Publish Date: August 15, 2015
Publisher:Flatiron Books
Pages: 528
Price ( Hardcover ): $32.99
Publication Date: November 10, 2015
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-250-05856-0
Category: Nonfiction
Coming on its 50th anniversary and just after the band’s farewell tour, an engaging, near-comprehensive oral history of the Grateful Dead. If “the Grateful Dead” and “disco” are not phrases that go together, it’s not for want of their trying. As Jackson (Grateful Dead Gear—The Band’s Instruments, Sound Systems, and Recording Sessions, from 1965 to 1995, 2006, etc.) and musician Gans (Conversations with the Dead: The Grateful Dead Interview Book, 1991, etc.) — collectors and archivists who know as much as nearly anyone alive about the storied band—chronicle, midway into the 1970s, with albums such as “From the Mars Hotel” and “Wake of the Flood” under their belts, the Dead were enough under the sway of Saturday Night Fever to attempt a disco-ish take on “Dancing in the Street.” Chalk it up to Mickey Hart, one of the many thorns in this thorny narrative hide, whose return to the band wrought big changes. “We had to tell him [what to play],” said guitarist Bob Weir in 1977, “which means we had to be thinking about it, which means while we were thinking about it, we might as well rethink things in general.” As fans already know but will further note, the superficially peace-and-love demeanor of the Dead disguised all sorts of tensions, from personality clashes to money worries and differences over musical direction. But it all worked, despite Jerry Garcia’s drug use and increasingly erratic behavior. Says sound tech Bob Bralove, “The energy around [the last tour with Garcia] was kind of confusing, because there was this really positive energy coming from the band, but it was missing a key ingredient.” For all that, there’s plenty of peace and love here and lots of smoke and psychedelia, as well as the usual Altamont regrets, all voiced by people in and close to the band. Worthy of Studs Terkel and an essential addition to the books of the Dead.
Grateful Dead Hour no. 1409
Week of September 21, 2015
Part 1 15:48
Billy and the Kids 8/15/15 Peach Music Festival, Scranton PA
ESTIMATED PROPHET (with Bob Weir)
Part 2 40:13
Grateful Dead 9/15/72 Boston Music Hall
HE’S GONE
ME AND MY UNCLE
BIRD SONG
MEXICALI BLUES
RAMBLE ON ROSE
Billy & the Kids 8/15/15 is available as a free MP3 download from livedownloads. You can also get FLAC files for a few bucks. GREAT performance!
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. Guitar legend Warren Haynes takes roots-rock fueled storytelling to The Cap on October 1 with the Ashes & Dust Band featuring Jeff Sipe & ChessBoxer, with very special guest Chris Stapleton. Events, information, and ticketing at thecapitoltheatre.com.
The WELL, a pioneering social network featuring a Deadhead community that’s been telling stories and sharing information since 1986. There are thousands of other conversations in the WELL, too, and no ads, no animation, no data mining – just hearts, minds, and ideas. Grateful Dead Almanac editor Gary Lambert is also a longtime member. More information at well.com/dead
New online affiliate
Mile Hi Radio will webcast the Grateful Dead Hour Tuesdays at 9pm Mountain Time starting right away!
Here’s the complete Grateful Dead Hour station list.
Grateful Dead Hour no. 1408
Week of September 14, 2015
Part 1 14:52
Billy & the Kids 8/15/15 Peach Music Festival, Scranton PA
FEEL LIKE A STRANGER (with Bob Weir)
Part 2 41:24
Grateful Dead 9/15/72 Boston Music Hall
LOSER
JACK STRAW
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL
PLAYING IN THE BAND
CASEY JONES
The 8/15/15 Billy & the Kids show is available as a free MP3 download! Other audio formats also available. Check it out here.
Here’s what I posted about it on Facebook on August 31:
I’ve been listening to that free Billy & the Kids download for several hundred miles. I am loving it!
This is exactly what I want from a band playing this music: a deep, satisfying, often profound conversation in the language of the Grateful Dead and in the unique collective voice of these particular musicians.
And if you ever had any doubt that Bill Kreutzmann is the heartbeat of the Grateful Dead, this recording should clear that up for you.
This is the swingin’, jammin’ SHIT!
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. Acclaimed indie-rockers The Demberists play The Cap on September 24. That Saturday, September 26, classic-rock icons Cheap Trick offer fans the music they know and love. Events, information, and ticketing at thecapitoltheatre.com.
The WELL, a pioneering social network featuring a Deadhead community that’s been telling stories and sharing information since 1986. There are thousands of other conversations in the WELL, too, and no ads, no animation – just words. Grateful Dead Almanac editor Gary Lambert is also a longtime member. More information at well.com/dead
