Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
A Bear’s Picnic
Wavy Gravy: the movie!
Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie will be showing in New York and LA starting this Friday! We will be screening at the IFC Center and the ArcLight Hollywood Theater from August 14th to 20th as part of Docuweeks, a program that qualifies us for the Academy Award!
See the film that Indiewire called “Perfectly executed and hugely entertaining†and Michael Moore described as “Wonderful…a moving tribute to a man who today lives his life at the service of others. Everyone at my film festival loved this movie!”
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award – Woods Hole Film Festival
Winner of the Spirit in Cinema Audience Award – Maui Film Festival
Audience Award runner-up – Traverse City Film Festival
Official Selection of SXSW — Full Frame — Santa Cruz — High Falls — Mill Valley
Now is your chance to see the film on both coasts!
The filmmakers will be at all the New York evening screenings and director Michelle Esrick will be at the LA screenings on the evenings of 8/18 and 8/19. Surprise guests at some screenings! See attachment below for more information.
NEW YORK: IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave at West 3rd Street
Fri 8/14 12 noon, 5:10pm
Sat 8/15 1:30pm, 7:35pm
Sun 8/16 3:25pm, 9:45pm
Mon 8/17 12 noon, 5:10pm
Tue 8/18 1:30pm, 7:35pm
Wed 8/19 3:25pm, 9:45pm
Thu 8/20 3:25pm, 9:45pm
LOS ANGELES: Arclight Hollywood
6360 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood
Fri 8/14 2:00pm, 7:50pm
Sat 8/15 3:50pm, 9:45pm
Sun 8/16 12 noon, 5:50pm
Mon 8/17 2:00pm, 7:50pm
Tue 8/18 3:50pm, 9:45pm
Wed 8/19 12 noon, 5:50pm
Thu 8/20 12 noon, 5:50pm
See you there!
Michelle Esrick
Director / Producer
David Becker
Producer
D A Pennebaker
Executive Producer
_________________________________________________________
John Pritzker: Executive Producer
Karen K. H. Sim: Editor
Emma Morris: Consulting Editor
Daniel B. Gold: Cinematographer
Emory Joseph: Composer
Jill Meyers: Music Supervisor
New Kaiser-Bralove CD “Ultraviolet Licorice”
Henry Kaiser left a copy of Ultraviolet Licorice on my doorstep while I was at the ball game yesterday.
I love the title – seems to me it’s derived from Bob Bralove‘s Infrared Roses and Jerry Garcia’s oft-quoted statement that the Grateful Dead is like licorice – you either love it or you don’t.
Michael Zelner forwarded this review to the GD Hour mailing list:
HENRY KAISER/BOB BRALOVE – Ultraviolet Licorice (Blove; USA)
Featuring Henry Kaiser on electric & acoustic guitars and Bob Bralove on acoustic piano and synths. Both Henry Kaiser and Bob Bralove have worked with members of the Grateful Dead at different times. Henry has sat in with Phil Lesh & Friends and Mr. Bralove played live with The Dead for a number of years during the drums and/or space segments. Hence, both of these men know the power of psychedelic jamming. Right from the gitgo of “Concrete Nebula”, those cosmic space/rock sounds and vibes are flowing. There is a strong give and take between both musicians, as well as an uplifting, transcendent wash of warm pastel colors. Even when both musicians play acoustic instruments, their sound is still quietly cosmic. When Henry switches to that fuzz/wah wah tone on “Red Queen”, you just want it to go on forever. It sounds as if the duo is playing during a thunder storm on “Heavenly Plaster” and it fits just right. Mr. Bralove seems to favor his acoustic piano and uses his synth selectively to create moods or set the scenes of the journeys these men take us on. If any of you out there have a problem with the Dead, please forget any references that I made here since this music is still wonderful, engaging and transformative. In the olden days (of the seventies), one might call this space music or perhaps early krautrock. Either way, it is consistently mesmerizing.
I spent the day listening to some recent and early period live Grateful Dead discs. I got to hear two versions of “New Potato Caboose” (my current favorite early Dead song), one from this year and one from 1968. I bring this up since it was fellow Dead fan Henry Kaiser who hipped me to the early live version. I also bring this up since keyboard wiz, Bob Bralove, has worked with The Dead for eight years, even producing a couple of their albums.
– Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Grateful Dead Hour no. 1090
Week of August 10, 2009
Part 1 21:52
Introduction
Grateful Dead, from Woodstock 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur’s Farm
DARK STAR
Part 2 35:03
Excerpts from the movie Fillmore: The Last Days
Bill Graham, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, It’s a Beautiful Day, Hot Tuna
Concert promoter Bill Graham didn’t quit the business after closing down the Fillmore East in April 1971 and the Fillmore West in July of that year. The music business got a lot bigger in the years that followed, and until his tragic death in a helicopter crash in October 1991 Bill was in it up to his earholes. But there was something magical about the Fillmores, and the amazing combinations of performers Bill assembled there. A movie was shot during the closing week of the Fillmore West, and in between some amazing performances by the Dead, Santana, Quicksilver, Hot Tuna, the Jefferson Airplane, and others, there were some pretty amazing performances from Bill himself, hollering at agents and light show artists on the phone, telling the story of how he went from being a refugee in World War II to being a kingmaker in the psychedelic music scene, and so on. Fillmore: The Last Days was released in 1972 but never came out on video until this spring.
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
Grateful Dead Productions, announcing the dead.net exclusive release, Road Trips vol 2 no 3: Wall of Sound, featuring highlights from two June 1974 performances using the band’s legendary and crystal-clear sound system. Listening party, lots more information, discussion area, and more at dead.net
Rhino Records, announcing a stack of new releases and reissues celebrating the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Woodstock 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur’s Farm has 77 songs on 6 CDs, in chronological order and including 38 previously unreleased recordings. Two reissues – Music from the Original Soundtrack and More: Woodstock, and Woodstock Two – are remastered from the original analog tapes, with rare photos and liner notes from Gene Sculatti. And the soundtrack CD from Taking Woodstock, the new film by Ang Lee. Lots more info at rhino.com/woodstock
And from Damn Fine Day.com, building your music collection one song at a time.
Mike Seeger, RIP
From Suzy Thompson:
I got the email below tonight from Mike’s wife, Alexia. Mike went home from the hospital to be with family and receive hospice care a bit more than a week ago. He was a dear friend and a mentor to both me and Eric; each of us met him during our teenage years as fledgling musicians and he was an inspiration and also personally helped us to pursue the “real deal” traditional music. Eric recorded and performed with him. He helped me to get the NEA grant to study with Dewey Balfa, helped me get the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention going, and I spent the last 2 years working on the New Lost City Ramblers documentary which was a challenging project and Mike was always gracious and thoughtful. We will miss him more than I can express. Â
Mike was one of the best friends that American traditional music has ever had; he helped so many musicians, in every kind of traditional music, including the blues. One of the most important things I learned from him was about how all the different kinds of vernacular old time music are connected: what we now call “old time” (fiddle & banjo music), country blues, Cajun music, bluegrass — all are part of a continuum and are not as compartmentalized as some people think. Â
Mike was always eager to hear new sounds, always working to advocate for homegrown regional music, always wanting to encourage younger musicians, and older ones too, to play the music of what he called “the true vine”. Â
Suzy T.
From Alexia:
Dear family, dear friends… Mike has completed his passage. He died this evening, August 7, some time before 9 pm. Family, home, peace. It’s what he wanted, and he did it so gracefully. It went too fast for me to comprehend–but he always said “I don’t want to linger!” Clear in what he’s about, as always.
The love coming from you and from friends all over is just amazingly helpful, sustaining. Thank you. Love——–A
PS Please pass on this news as you wish.