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Courtesy of Rich Simon:

“The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.” -Henry Wallace, Vice President of the United States, April 9, 1944.

AMHERST, Mass. — The Grateful Dead’s appeal is still alive.

The University of Massachusetts will host a series of events to study the impact of the Grateful Dead on American culture in the fall.

The group was the backbone of San Francisco’s psychedelic scene in the late 1960s and 1970s, and fueled a counter-culture that transcended generations and professions.

The events at UMass will include a three-day symposium in November, titled: “Unbroken Chain: The Grateful Dead In Music, Culture, and Memory.”

The full story is here.

Shaky 8mm movie shot in San Diego 5/11/69, with Santana (briefly) and the Grateful Dead. A random “New Potato Caboose” is the soundtrack, but it has no connection to the music being played.

Jerry is really, really animated in this film, bouncing around with the music. Very sweet clip.

I’m going to broadcast Paul Ingles’ 2-hour Sgt Pepper documentary on KPFA June 20, 8-10pm PDT. From Paul’s web site:

THE TWO SIDES OF SGT. PEPPER: AN HONEST APPRAISAL

June 1, 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. For decades, the recording has ranked highly on many All-Time Best Album lists. Celebrated as the first quasi-concept album in rock, fans and critics have long lauded the song-craft, the pioneering production sounds, and its colorful, now iconic, cover art. Some say it both reflected and drove the burgeoning youth culture through the “Summer of Love” in 1967. In more recent years, some critics have tried to cut through the mythology of the album and reconsider it in every way. Some have ranked other Beatle albums as superior to Pepper and feel the record has been over-hyped.

In this two-hour special, producer and host Paul Ingles (Everything was Right: The Beatles’ Revolver and The Beatles in America-1964) presents a lively ride that functions as both a celebration of a landmark recording and a balanced survey of critical opinion about Sgt. Pepper. Listeners will experience this music in a new way as they’ll hear both the stories behind the creation of these memorable tracks as well as thoughtful perspectives that place the work in context.

The “Pepper panel” assembled for the show includes musicians, writers, fans and critics. Some still love Pepper. Some “have issues.” It features Steve Turner, Ashley Kahn, Anthony DeCurtis, Jim DeRogatis, Greg Kot, Scott MacNicholl, Ann Powers, Deborah Holland, Richard Goldman, Jim Fusilli, Douglas Grant, Leslie Healy, Stuart Madow, Paul Zollo, Jon Spurney, David Gans, Richie Unterberger, and Howard Massey.

And once again, here’s my brief mutilaudio “Tribute to Sgt. Pepper”

I have been going through my photos for a couple of projects, and last night I posted some more on my flickr page.

My dear friend John Rottet has been scanning negatives and slides for me, and I’ve also done some scanning of prints from my archive.

The new batch of images includes a proof sheet strip of Robert Hunter and Roadhog in San Rafael 9/26/76. I need to find the negatives!

More to come as time permits!