Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
New GD Hour affiliate: Alice 97.7 Springfield IL
Gans gig update and a plug for “Desert Wind…”
This gig update may look a little thin to you, but that’s because I am taking a couple of months off from touring (for the most part) so I can concentrate on a book project. Blair Jackson and I are collaborating on This is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead, to be published next year by Flatiron Books.
I am also delighted to report that I’m playing more gigs at home! Phil Savell and I started doing some improvising, and quickly bolted on a very cool rhythm section: Zach Partain on bass, Neil Hampton on percussion. We’re playing roughly once a month at the Monkey House in Berkeley, and we’re starting to spread it around to other venues, too.
My old friend Bob Bralove and I have been doing improv gigs at the Bazaar in San Francisco, and Bob has joined the Monkey House crew a couple of times, too.
I am going out on the road this week, bound for the Terrapin Hill Harvest Festival (Harrodsburg KY), Indianapolis, St Louis (two shows), and a very cool new event in Danville IL called the Phases of the Moon Music and Art Festival.
I will hit Terrapin Hill again around Halloween for Snuggleween, hosted by my BFFs the Rumpke Mountain Boys.
Details on all the gigs below, and new gigs are posted at dgans.com/gigs.html as they are confirmed.
I intend to resume a busy schedule of touring as soon as the book is turned in, and I’ve already got quite a few firm commitments for 2015. Stay tuned.
Now, while I have your attention, I’d like to remind you that I have a newish CD on the market: Desert Wind, Rollin’ River is a 19-song collection of originals and Americana favorites by Eric Rawlins and me. Eric and I have been making music together for more than 20 years, mostly in private settings. We made a record together in 1997 called Home By Morning (which is also still available, of course). Desert Wind, Rollin’ River was recorded in my living room by Stephen Barncard, who is best known for recording the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty and David Crosby’s …If I Could Only Remember My Name. The CD was mastered by Dave Glasser at Airshow Mastering.
You can get the new CD and all my other releases at dgans.com/discography and also in the iTunes store, HDTracks.com, CDBaby.com, and other online retailers.
Desert Wind, Rollin’ River is a ridiculously good bargain: NINETEEN tracks for $14 (to US addresses)!!
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Friday, September 5: Terrapin Hill Harvest Festival, Harrodsburg KY
Saturday, September 6, 8pm: Chilly Water Brewing Company, Indianapolis
Sunday, September 7, 7pm: The Focal Point St Louis MO
Tuesday, September 9: The Shanti, 825 Allen Ave., St Louis MO. DG performs and co-hosts the weekly open mic.
September 11-14: Phases of the Moon Music and Arts Festival near Danville IL
Thursday, September 18, 7:30-10pm: Improvisation at the Monkey House Theater in Berkeley: DG, Phil Savell, Zach Partain, Neil Hampton, and guest Joe Balestreri. $10-20 sliding scale. Email reservations@monkeyhousetheater for info/reservations.
Tuesday, September 23, 7-9:30pm: DG, Jeff Pehrson, Ira Marlowe, and Mario DeSio at the Bazaar Cafe, 5927 California Street (between 21st and 22nd Avenues), San Francisco
Wednesday, October 8: DG, Phil Savell, et al. at Second Act, Haight Street, SF CA
Thursday, October 9: DG, Phil Savell, et al. at the Monkey House, Berkeley CA
Saturday, October 18: Sweet Blossom String Band (DG, Roger Sideman, Jeff Hobbs, Jacob Groopman) perform at the Shakedown Street Festival. Civic Center Park, 2151 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Berkeley. Fre! Music from noon til ? We play at 6pm
Wednesday, November 12, 9pm: DG joins Teja Gerken’s Guitar Showcase at the Sleeping Lady, Fairfax CA
Saturday, November 15, 9:30 am to 1:30 pm: Grand Lake Farmers’ Market, Oakland CA
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As always, I’m in the market for house concert opportunities. If you see an open spot on my schedule in your general vicinity, let’s try to make something happen! And remember: word of mouth is a gigantic part of musicians’ promotion and publicity these days, so if you like my music, please spread the word about my gigs and recordings.
Great thanks to Jim Dunlop Guitar Products for providing me with first-rate strings for all my guitars!
Thanks also to Rick Turner for creating the amazing guitar I play on tour, the Renaissance RS-6.
“Desert Wind, Rollin’ River” review by Chris Jones
My friend Chris Jones posted this review on the Eurotraders list:
The many faces of David Gans: Gans and Rawlins – Desert Wind, Rollin’ River
It’s amazing how many different approaches David takes to music.
Desert Wind, Rollin’ River is not as muscular as Gans’ Stage Stop solo show (which I reviewed earlier): rather it’s more of a gentle, lyrical journey – across America and through different decades – by a couple of old friends, and listening to it, I can picture them swapping yarns round the camp fire along the way.
There’s nothing challenging about the music – it’s not a dramatic symphony, more of a gentle serenade – but sometimes that’s just what you need. Something warm, friendly and familiar; two people in perfect harmony on vocals and guitar accompaniment.
Each of the songs tells a story, and most of them are on the theme of travelling, whether it’s “Waltzing Across Texas”, “Going Back to Georgia”, or “Leavin’ Louisiana”, and each of them is delivered with just the perfect amount of joy or pathos.
Gans and Rawlins have been “making music together, mostly at parties and occasionally in public, for more than 20 years” and it’s clear that over this time they’ve developed the strongest of musical relationships. They fit together like a pair of fine silk gloves, with a similar shape and style and supremely comfortable together, but complementary – each one working with the other to provide a balanced whole.
One of the songs strays further afield – to “Kilkelly” in Ireland. It tells a sad story which reminds us that we didn’t always have modern communications, and those people who emigrated from Ireland or the UK to the other side of the world (America or Australia) would probably never see their homeland and their parents again.
There’s one cover that I’m familiar with – the superb “Wheels” by Chris Hillman of the Flying Burrito Brothers (from their 1968 album The Gilded Palace of Sin) – and, appropriately, that’s about travelling, too.
The last Track, “What’s Your Name,” is pure doo-wop and could have been written in the fifties (and possibly was)
It’s such an intimate recording that it sounds as if they could be playing in your own front room – and, as it happens, the recording was made in David Gans’ living room, and that’s an immense contribution to its considerable charm. The album was recorded by Stephen Barncard and, as you can imagine, it’s of the highest quality.
You can find out more and read other feedback here:
https://flink.livedownloads.com/show.asp?show=7136
And you can buy it (and all David’s other releases) at
www.dgans.com/discography and also in the iTunes store, HDTracks.com,
CDBaby.com, and other online retailers.
This is probably my favourite of all David’s many recordings, and I do urge you to give it a listen – and to buy it too!
CJ
Grateful Dead Hour no. 1354
Week of September 1, 2014
Part 1 44:09
Grateful Dead 12/27/89 Oakland Coliseum Arena
DRUMS->
SPACE->
THE WHEEL->
I NEED A MIRACLE->
MORNING DEW
Part 2 11:41
Grateful Grass, Dos
BERTHA
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, an iconic venue that hosted the Grateful Dead 18 times in 1970 and ’71. Phil Lesh & Friends keep the spirit of Grateful Dead alive when the band plays five consecutive weekends at The Cap starting October 31. Live music is featured six nights a week at the venue’s nightclub, Garcia’s. Events, information, and ticketing at thecapitoltheatre.com.
New online station streaming the GD Hour
WTUD at Tiffin Unversity will stream the GD Hour Sundays at 9pm ET starting September 14.
Here is the current Grateful Dead Hour station list.