Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
Grateful Dead Hour #1011
Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay was born to sing, and over the course of time she’s done so with people like Elvis Presley, Percy Sledge, Boz Scaggs, and Jerry Garcia. Now she has a new band that she’s quite certain is on a creative par with anything she’s ever done. “This band is a perfect fit for me as a singer/songwriter,†she said recently, “and I hope to be doing this for a long time to come. We’re having so much fun with this music!†The Grateful Dead alumna has joined up with six members of the next musical generation – Mookie Siegel (David Nelson Band; formerly Phil & Friends, RatDog), Wendy Lanter (Hope in Time), and Jeff Mattson, Tom Circosta, Klyph Black and Dave Diamond (Zen Tricksters) to form Donna Jean and the Tricksters. Look out! Things have come full circle and anything’s possible. Oh, sure, they’re gonna jam. But the band has seven vocalists and an incredible array of songwriting talent, and DJ&tT is going to make waves in ways you’d never anticipate.I have been a fan and friend and occasional collaborator with the Zen Tricksters for ten years, and so of course I’m thrilled to hear what this new band can do. All seven of them sing and write, and they put on a hell of a show. You can hear the entire 9/19/07 live broadcast on the KPFA archive. I’ll be featuring the new DJ&T CD on the KPFA marathon February 9, and you can get their new CD as a thank-you gift for a contribution to the station on that day. Or you can get it right now in a music store near you, or online from Dig Music. Pat Mallinger is the Deadhead in Sabertooth. They’ve recorded “Cassidy” and “China Doll” on previous records, and now here’s a live performance of “China Cat Sunflower” on their new CD. From the Delmark Records web site:
Saxophonists Cameron Pfiffner and Pat Mallinger are exciting jazz players who evoke the spirit of historic saxophone tandems like Johnny Griffin & Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis or Sonny Stitt & Gene Ammons. They formed Sabertooth in 1990 and have been doing the Green Mill Saturday night After Hours Jazz Party for fifteen years. Pete Benson’s been Sabertooth’s organist for five years and the group is anchored by drummer Ted Sirota. Blues to bop, Caribbean to cool, strange (Dr. Midnight) to odd (couple) – put this CD on and join the party!
Phil, Bob, Mickey et al for Obama
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
DEADHEADS FOR OBAMA AT THE WARFIELD JUST ANNOUNCED!
DEADHEADS FOR OBAMA
featuring
BOB WEIR, MICKEY HART, PHIL LESH & FRIENDS
The Warfield Theatre
Monday, February 4, Doors 6:00 PM/ Show 7:30PM
Tickets are $35.00 general admission (main floor) and $35.00 reserved seating (balcony) plus applicable service charges…all ages
Two-ticket limit per person.
Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster.com ONLY
Will Call only event
Deadheads for Obama
Grateful Dead Members to Reunite for Barack Obama
(San Francisco) Members of the Grateful Dead will host a get out the vote concert in support of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday, February 4th at The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco.
Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir, joined by Jackie Greene, John Molo, and Steve Molitz, will play a show together in support of Barack Obama.
The video website Iclips will be producing a live simulcast streamed via the Internet on www.iclips.net at approximately 7:30pm PST.
This will mark the first time that the members of the legendary band have performed together since 2004. They have agreed to reunite for this one-time-only event in order to lend support to Senator Obama leading into the crucial “Super- Tuesday†series of primaries held on Tuesday, February 5th.
PLEASE NOTE: Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster.com ONLY. Tickets will NOT be available at the box offices, charge-by-phone or Ticketmaster outlets. Two-ticket limit per person. Tickets are non-transferable. No refunds or exchanges. A service charge is added to each ticket price. In the spirit of fair access to tickets for fans, this is a “WILL CALL ONLY” event. UPS and Ticketfast will not be available as delivery choices. You must bring your government issued photo ID and your credit card used to purchase the tickets to the box office window on the day of the show to retrieve these tickets. You and your guest must enter the venue directly upon picking up your order. **Will Call tickets are not transferable and must be picked up by card holder. Alternate names for will call are not allowed. No will call drop-offs permitted.** *** TICKETMASTER, AT ITS DISCRETION, WILL CANCEL ANY AND ALL ORDERS THAT EXCEED THE TICKET LIMIT WITHOUT NOTICE. THIS INCLUDES DUPLICATE ORDERS HAVING THE SAME NAME, BILLING ADDRESS OR CREDIT CARD. ***
KPFA marathon update
Plans are proceeding, and the donors are donating.
I can confirm that DeadNet will be streaming the entire day (9am to 1am PST Sat Feb 9), AND they’re going to donate 10% of all Dick’s Picks sales for the day to KPFA. So if you’ve been thinking about filling in your collection, Feb 9 would be a good day to do it ’cause it’ll help KPFA too. (That link is to all live recordings, but it’s only the 36 Dick’s Picks titles involved here.)
We’ll also have the new CD by Donna Jean and the Tricksters.
More to come.
Drums for Peace
Mary Eisenhart reports: “Rex Foundation helps bring the healing power of music to war-torn Iraq”
“A cultural hootenanny broke out. They started playing their rhythms, doing their dances, and before I knew it 38 people were up dancing around the room and singing. And you couldn’t tell who was Arabic-speaking and who was Kurdish-speaking.†– Christine Stevens
Click to Support Rock the Earth
From Marc Ross, executive director of Rock the Earth:
We’re currently in second place in Patagonia’s $5,000 grant giveaway. With the forthcoming opening of the Boulder, Colorado store on April 5th, Patagonia has offered Rock the Earth the chance to win a $5,000 grant by gaining the om the public. Please go to patagonia.com/boulder and vote for Rock the Earth as your charity of choice.
To put things in perspective, $5,000 means 500 hours of low-cost legal assistance to help preserve some of America’s natural spaces like Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park! So please help Rock the Earth today by voting at patagonia.com/boulder and please spread the word! Contest ends on March 29. Thank you!