Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
Suwannee SpringFest 3/26-29/09
To our Festival Family: We have several Holiday Announcements. We proudly announce the beginning lineup for Suwannee Springfest 2009 and provide ticket information as well…. We also want to offer our thanks, appreciation and gratitude for your support and participation during 2008. We wish each of you a joyous Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year! In spite of considerable economic challenges, we remain committed to providing you with the best music festival value we can possibly offer. Tickets for Suwannee Springfest and MagnoliaFest have been the same price with no increase for 5 years. While our costs are rising across the board, we are once again NOT going to increase our ticket prices for Suwannee Springfest. Due to current economic conditions and our concern for our business and our festival family, ticket prices for Suwannee Springfest 2009 will not be increasing. The discounted Magnolia Blossom Pass is discontinued and not available for 2009. We appreciate our longtime loyal customers who purchased the Voucher when we thought prices would increase. Thank you for your loyal patronage and support the past 12 years. In a rapidly changing world, we remain committed to our original intention & vision, which is to present you with the finest music festivals we can which offer the best quality performers in a most beautiful natural setting. We again ask that you, our loyal festival patrons, spread the word about Suwannee Springfest far and wide. Please help us sell more Suwannee Springfest tickets to offset our growing expenses. Bring along some new friends, tell someone new about us, give us a plug in your blog or on your myspace page, link us to your website, and help us maintain the Magnolia Music experience.  SUWANNEE SPRINGFEST TICKETS Suwannee Springfest is March 26-29, 2009 A Limited number of Early Bird Suwannee Springfest Tickets priced at $100 are available now. There is a $5 per order handling fee. Get complete ticket information and to order online: magmusic.com/ticketsforspringfest.htm. Email questions to mail@magmusic.com or call 904-249-7990 to order by phone. Our office hours vary widely, so leave a message and we’ll get back with you. SUWANNEE SPRINGFEST LINEUP We’re not finished, but we’ve got an excellent start on the lineup for Suwannee Springfest 2009. Here’s the confirmed list so far, more to come… Donna the Buffalo Emmitt Nershi Band The Duhks The Lee Boys Darrell Scott Darol Anger & Mike Marshall with Väsen Scythian The Gourds Blueground Undergrass Amy LaVere Shannon Whitworth Roy Book Binder Tornado Rider The Dedringers Dread Clampitt David Gans Amanda Shaw Josh Pinkham Gatorbone Check it out at magmusic.com/lineupspringfest.htm The MagMusic Radio Show Join us every Tuesday evening from 7-9pm CT (that’s 8-10pm in the East) for “The MagMusic Show”. Hosted by Randy “Big Cosmo” Judy and Beth Judy. The show can be heard online at Wildman Steve Radio, wildmansteve.com. Check out the rebroadcast of our Christmas Show on Christmas Night at 10pm CT (11pm eastern). Thank you for your time. We appreciate your support and commit to bringing you quality events that feature great music, a joyful community spirit, healing vibes, and are just plain fun! In Harmony, Iris Blooms (speaking for Beth & Randy) Magnolia Music & Events, Inc. www.magmusic.com 904-249-7990
GD Hour archive on DeadNet
Just a reminder that we post a show from the Grateful Dead Hour archives on DeadNet every Wednesday.
Today’s post is GD Hour #977, part 1 of a June 2007 interview with Ratdog lead guitarist Mark Karan. Part 2 will go up next Wednesday.
Happy holy daze, everybody!
DG interview @ jambands.com
Randy Ray interviewed me last week for jambands.com. Part 1 was posted today; part 2 goes up next month.
An excerpt:
[Producer Tim Carbone] just understands. We’re in the same general age cohort. I think I might be a year or two older than he is, but we sort of came up in the same time, and we have very similar political and philosophical views, so he totally got my point of view in terms of what I was trying to say in my songs.
I knew from listening to Railroad Earth that these guys would be great sidemen. To me, the most important thing is the song. I don’t care how great your licks are, if the songs suck, I don’t want to hear it. I knew that those guys understood that the role of band members in a band like Railroad is to tell the story. They understand that the songwriter is the main thing, and their job is not to surround him with hot licks and swamp the song in flashy playing. It’s to underscore and support what the song is doing. There’s plenty of room for shredding in a band like that, but I knew that if I brought them in to do my songs, that my songs would be served by these amazing players. They’re all instrumental storytellers of the first rank.
Honest Tune reviews “Weirdest”
Bill Whiting reviews The Ones That Look The Weirdest Taste The Best in Honest Tune. I couldn’t have asked for a more positive opening:
Most know David Gans as the host of the long running radio program, The Grateful Dead Hour. Now, they will know him for the addictive long-player, The Ones That Look The Weirdest Taste The Best.
Dark Star Marathon: the music
I don’t have a list of the broadcast in order, and I’m not sure if all of these pieces made it into the final playlist, but here is a list of the selections I submitted for our Sirius XM Grateful Dead Channel Dark Star marathon:
2/27/1969 Fillmore West (Live Dead)
4/27/1969 Minneapolis (Dick’s Picks 26)
11/8/1969 Fillmore West (Dick’s Picks 16). Dark Star-> The Other One-> Dark Star -> Uncle John’s Jam -> Dark Star
2/13/1970 Fillmore East (Dick’s Picks 4)
9/19/1970 Fillmore East. Dark Star-> Stephen-> Not Fade Away-> Lovelight
4/28/1971 Fillmore East (Ladies and Gentlemen… The Grateful Dead)
10/31/1971 Columbus OH (Dick’s Picks 2). Dark Star-> jam-> Sugar Magnolia
4/8/1972 Wembley, England (Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead)
8/27/1972 Veneta OR. Dark Star-> El Paso
9/21/1972 Philadelphia (Dick’s Picks 36) Dark Star-> Morning Dew
10/18/1972 St Louis, Playing in the Band-> Drums-> Dark Star-> Morning Dew-> Playing in the Band
6/10/1973 Washington DC
6/24/1973 Portland OR. Dark Star-> Eyes of the World-> China Doll
8/1/1973 Jersey City
10/25/1973 Madison WI. Dark Star-> Mind Left Body Jam
11/11/1973 Winterland (Winterland 1973 boxed set)
12/6/1973 Cleveland OH
2/24/1974 Winterland. Dark Star-> Morning Dew
6/23/1974 Miami (Audience recording by Jerry Moore). Dark Star jam-> Spanish Jam-> US Blues
10/18/1974Winterland (Grateful Dead Movie DVD/Soundtrack CD). Jam-> Dark Star-> Morning Dew
12/31/1978 Winterland (Closing of Winterland DVD/Soundtrack CD). Dark Star-> The Other One-> Dark Star
7/13/1984 Greek Theater, Berkeley (Audience recording)
10/26/1989 Miami Arena
7/12/1990 Washington DC (View from the Vault II DVD/Soundtrack CD)
11/1/1990 London. Playing in the Band jam-> Dark Star-> Drums-> Space-> Jam-> Dark Star
10/31/1991 Oakland Coliseum Arena. Dark Star-> Drums-> Space-> Dark Star-> The Last Time With Gary Duncan on guitar, Ken Kesey speaking about Bill Graham’s death (including an e.e. cummings poem)
11/14-15/2008 Ratdog @ Tower Th, Upper Darby PA
David Murray Octet, Dark Star (The Music of the Grateful Dead)
David Grisman Quintet, from Various Artists, Stolen Roses: Songs of the Grateful Dead
Tom Constanten: Mountains of the Moon-> Dark Star
Fit and Limo, The Serpent Unrolled
There were many more that deserved to be included, obviously. I had several 1968 selections in the works, but I just ran out of time. And I coulda sworn I had the audience recording of 1/10/79 in there. Dang. We’ll just have to do it again with another batch of Dark Stars!