Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
DG on talk radio 12/4
Thanksgiving Day 1976
I was there!
GDH/Lyons Den day/time change on KUNV
Las Vegas, Nevada, KUNV-FM : The GD Hour, and George Lyons’ excellent radio show The Lyons Den, have moved to Sundays. The Lyons Den airs Sundays 7-11pm Pacific Time, followed by the Grateful Dead Hour from 11pm to midnight.
Grateful Dead Hour no. 1105
Week of November 23, 2009
Part 1 20:28
Introduction
Grateful Dead, Road Trips vol. 3 no. 1 (12/28/79)
ALABAMA GETAWAY->
GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
Donna the Buffalo (with David Gans) 10/25/09 MagnoliaFest, Live Oak FL
FENNARIO
Part 2 36:27
Grateful Dead, Road Trips vol. 3 no. 1 (12/28/79)
TERRAPIN->
PLAYING IN THE BAND
Tara Nevins, the multi-instrumentalist with the beautiful singing voice who co-founded Donna the Buffalo, took little side trip with Bill Kreutzmann‘s trio a few months ago and came away from the experience with a deeper regard for the music we all love so much. I was honored to join Donna the Buffalo onstage twice this fall – at Shakori Hills and again at MagnoliaFest – and among the songs we performed together was the great ballad “Fennario,” also known as “Pretty Peggy-O,” which Tara performed while on tour with BK3.
Support for this week’s Grateful Dead Hour comes from:
Backbeat Books, presenting Relix, The Book: The Grateful Dead Experience, Grateful Dead Gear: The Band’s Instruments, Sound Systems, and Recording Sessions from 1965 to 1995, Woodstock Vision (featuring an introduction by Jerry Garcia) and the Levon Helm Midnight Ramble book. All titles are available at www.backbeatbooks.com and wherever books are sold.
The Jerry Garcia Family LLC, presenting Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2 – Let It Rock. This is the first edition of the Jerry Garcia Band, recorded in November 1975 with the great Nicky Hopkins on keyboards. And Grateful Dead Productions, announcing Road Trips Vol. 3, No. 1 – the complete show from December 28, 1979, with Brent Mydland at the keyboards. More information on both of these new releases, sample tracks, discussion board and more online at dead-dot-net.
damnfineday.com, building your music collection one song at a time.
“Confessions of a Dead Head”
I am reading a book called Confessions of a Dead Head by a guy who calls himself The Starburst Commander. It’s a quick read, and I am enjoying the hell out of it so far. He got on the bus in 1974 and drove a van called The Orange Barrel. Freaks of a certain vintage will recognize the reference.
This isn’t a deeply analytical memoir – just the warmly told story of some wonderful times. I’d like to see a hundred more books like this, ’cause every one of us has a similar set of experiences.
Here’s an excerpt that I especially enjoyed:
Dentist and I love Stella Blue and once listened to a live bootleg version of it more than 30 times in a row. We were on a construction site off of St. Stephen’s Road in Lafayette, CA. This was back in the cassette tape days, and by replay number six we had the timing down on the rewind.
Stella Blue is the perfect combination of brilliant musical and lyrical writing. This song is Garcia and Hunter in their element and at their very best. There is not one wasted word. Every line, every verse sets us up for the next line and the next verse. And when Jerry finishes it up on his guitar, we have a genuine masterpiece. It is as perfect as a song can be, and Hunter’s lyrics are a true reality check….
“Dust off those rusty strings just one more time.” It gets me every time. “Gonna make ’em shine” – that last hope of hopes. it is beautiful, but starkly lonely. It seems a brutally, pessimistically optimistic song.
Then – “There’s nothing you can hold for very long… Stella Blue.” Fuck me four times sideways. Like a lamb to the slaughter I follow every word. My emotions are pulled n every direction. Am I sadly happy or happily sad? This song leaves me longing for the knowledge of something I don’t quite understand, and Jerry’s solo continues to take me apart before he slowly puts me back together again. The pauses between his notes here are perfect evidence of his musical genius. Style over speed, quality over quantity. Never a blur, always succinctly clear. I find myself anticipating each note and the wait is sweet.
You can order a copy here. I recommend it highly, and I do mean highly. I get all molecular just thinking about it.