Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
Donna Jean and Davis
I invited Tom Davis to join me at the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport CT this weekend. He was particularly interested in seeing Donna Jean Godchaux, who he met in the ’70s and hadn’t seen in a couple of decades. Davis and I arrived at the hotel Thursday afternoon, and Donna Jean and her group arrived shortly after. She stared at Davis in amazement and then said, "I was just talking about you yesterday!"
This photo was taken a couple of hours later, in the hospitality tent at GOTV.
Davis and I were both blown away by the Donna Jean Godchaux Band‘s performance. Jeff Mattson was on fire! I’ve been a great admirer of Jeff’s guitar playing since the first of these events in 1996, and last night’s performance was the greatest I have ever heard from him. And the rest of the band was right there with him, energy-wise. It was thrilling.
Appropriately for this context, the band’s set was heavy on GD covers. But the great surprise was a new addition to their book: "Darkness, Darkness," from the great album Elephant Mountain by The Youngbloods.
Marmaduke RIP
From NRPS.net:
JOHN “MARMADUKE” DAWSON (1945-2009)
John passed away peacefully on July 21, 2009 at the age of 64 in Mexico, where he had retired several years ago. It is with great sadness that we relay this news, and extend our deepest condolences to his family and all his many fans out there.
His songs inspired us in so many ways. His energy, passion and commitment to the New Riders brought us all so much joy over the years. We can all be thankful that his music and legacy will live on forever.
And here’s a short audio clip of David Nelson telling how Marmaduke got his name and how the New Riders got started in 1969.
Grateful Dead Hour no 1087
Week of July 20, 2009
Part 1 27:38
Introduction
Interview: Peter Conners
Grateful Dead 6/30/87 Kingswood Music Theater, Maple, Ontario
FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN
Part 2 28:02
Interview: Peter Conners
Grateful Dead 6/30/88 Silver Stadium, Rochester NY
HE’S GONE
Interview: Peter Conners
Grateful Dead, Built to Last
BLOW AWAY
Peter Conners is the author of Growing Up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of a Teenage Deadhead. This interview is an edited version of our June 3 conversation on KPFA’s Dead to the World, which you can hear in its entirety here. That link will also take you to an online discussion with Peter that took place in The WELL’s inkwell.vue author forum.
Here’s what Grateful Dead historian Dennis McNally had to say about the book:
“The hardest part of being the Grateful Dead’s publicist was convincing the media that Dead Heads were diverse, thoughtful, and not infrequently accomplished. If I’d just had a copy of Peter Conners’ Growing Up Dead, I could have simply handed it out. The Dead Head subculture was rich and fascinating, and this book is a terrific documentation of it.â€
I enjoyed Growing Up Dead, too. Well worth reading, for those who followed the Grateful Dead and for those who wondered why so many other did so.
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
Warner Home Video, presenting the 40th anniversary release of Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music – the director’s cut, on Special Edition DVD and Ultimate Collector’s Edition DVD and Blu-Ray. The Ultimate Collector’s Edition contains more than two extra hours of rare performance footage as never before seen. This footage features 5 artists who were at Woodstock but did not appear in any previous film version, including the Grateful Dead, Paul Butterfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Winter, and Mountain. Video clips and complete information at www.WoodstockOnDVD.com
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
The Church of Universal Love & Music, presenting its remaining summer festivals in southwestern Pennsylvania with Medeski, Martin & Wood with DJ Logic, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Fred Westly, EOTO with Steve Molitz, CB-3 with Michael Kang, Boris Garcia, Cornmeal, and many more. Complete festival dates and details are available at www.iLoveChurchMusic.com.
Fire Arts Festival 2009
Rita making music in the Light Portal at the Fire Arts Festival in Oakland.
Freddy “Are We Really” Hahne, who is among many other things the president of the Rex Foundation board. Here he is as a member of the Mind Shaft Society, just before their Flame Thrower Shooting Gallery opens for business.
More photos here.
Feldstein photos from Dan Hull
These photos of Al Feldstein were sent to me by Dan Hull. He added a beautiful note to the original memorial post; I’ll paste it in here as well.
Al and Luke at the Lomita house circa 1991
Al at my wedding day 1980
I believe that Al was the happiest when he was playin’ in the band.
Caryn, all Al’s friends and loved ones, My heart goes out to you all. I’m still in shock and just kind of numb. Al and I were like brothers since we were about thirteen. We literally grew up together. We made our way through adolescence with a friendship and brotherhood that was true Americana. Emerson Jr High, the first boy-girl parties, going steady, hangin’ out at the student union at UCLA and on the beach each summer at Sorrento Beach. We thought we were so cool. Then it was Uni High, punks again. We played together on the C-Basketball team our first year. We went 12- 0, undefeated league champs. Wow. Not so much because of Al and me but because of Bobby Shamberg and Fred Sakomoto. Then 11th grade. Al’s in student government, getting A’s and I’m barely passing but we were still best buds. I fell in with the stoner gang while Al was more in the in-crowd. We still played a lot of basketball, saw a lot of rock and roll shows together. The summer between 11th and 12th grades my friend Mike Viscovich and Gregg VanAllen turned me on to the Dead. Then I in turn turned Al on to them but he put up a fight as Al would. He came around and that’s how we came to be Dead Heads. We were silk screening and wearing Dead T-shirts before you could ever buy them. We saw a lot of shows together throughout the years. Great memories. So many.
Then he was off to Cal. It was tough on me but I made a lot of trips up to see him. Hangin’ out with the Piedmont gang then to Etna listening to the Bobcats then the Reptiles upstairs at Etna. Al and I wrote a song together that was a main stay in the Reptiles repertoire forever. That will always mean a lot to me. [Note: That song, “Watchin’ for the Bear,” can be heard coming out of “Playing in the Band” here]
In 1980 I got married and the boys came down to LA to play. What a set. What a party. Anyone who was there will never forget it.
I’m skipping ahead but this is getting too long. Al and Caryn married and lived in Burbank. I fondly remember lots of afternoons by the pool. In fact, my son Luke (20 now) learned to swim in that pool. Then May ‘94 we moved to Colorado and I didn’t see Al much after that. We still talked on the phone frequently. He visited the house in Longmont once. Then the Reptiles came to Boulder. That was a special night backstage at a Reptiles show with Luke. Then up to the Devil’s Thumb Ranch for Steve’s wedding. Another just fantastic day of good friends, good cheer and good music. That was the last Reptile set I saw and I only saw Al once after that. It was last Thanksgiving. Fred Luke and I were out for a week at Hemet and Sierra Madre. Al was real busy while we were there but made a point to come to my sister Mutia’s house the afternoon before we left. We had a great visit. Al and me, Fred Luke, Mutia and my mom. It was like we had seen each other often even though it had been many years.
Al was a fine person and my best friend. I will miss him dearly. Thanks to David for putting this together and thanks to all of you for sharing your memories. I would love to hear from ALL of you, especially Richard Briskin, Steve Kirshbaum and Randi Kinsler. I’m not a computer guy, real cowboys don’t use computers. You can reach me at
PO Box 366
Hygiene, CO 80533.
303.775.1180.
May God bless you all. Dan Hull.
P.S. Come visit me. I’ve got a beautiful, peaceful quiet little ranch here in Northern Colorado.