Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
Interesting review of the Cow Palace set
Three minutes into “Playing in the Band†they simply take off. Time seems to stand still as the band rockets into a collective improvisation that challenges all the notions of song form they’ve spent the preceding 40 minutes laying straight. It’s jazzy, sure, and exploratory but most importantly it’s utterly transcendent: a meandering yet constantly evolving investigation of melody and timbre that goes everywhere at once while still moving forward with an irresistible linear narrative. Oh, and it’s psychedelic as hell. Twenty minutes in, we realise we’re headed straight back to the infamous regions of the “Dark Starâ€, on a journey both inwards and outwards: the term mind-blowing could have been invented for this. Deep in the famous “Phil Zoneâ€, bassist Phil Lesh is pouring out impossibly rugged yet sensitive variations; the twin drums of Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann push things along with a free-flowing, liquid propulsion; Keith Godchaux’s piano is like delicately inter-laced fingers holding everyone up: and, centre-stage, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia weave cramped curlicues of guitar notes around each other, chasing the moment into spiraling wormholes of expression. This, you realize, is precisely what the army of Deadheads gave their lives to. This is unfettered, spontaneous, selfless beauty and it’s no surprise at all that a multitude of young souls decided this was all the perfection they ever needed. This is the Grateful Dead, exactly where they belong, in their native element, live on stage, hammering out truth in the crucible where all their vital alchemy took place.The whole review is well worth a read.
Grateful Dead Hour #962
Week of February 26, 2007
Part 1Â 31:48
Grateful Dead 12/31/90 Oakland Coliseum Arena
NOT FADE AWAY->
EYES OF THE WORLD
Part 2Â 24:02
Grateful Dead 12/31/90 Oakland Coliseum Arena
DARK STAR w/ Branford Marsalis
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
Forward Progressive Investments, offering three environmentally-focused mutual funds for progressive investors – Forward Progressive Real Estate Fund, Sierra Club Stock Fund and Sierra Club Equity Income Fund. You can learn more at forwardprogressive.com. You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. A prospectus with this and other information can be downloaded at forwardprogressive.com and should be read carefully before investing.  Forward Funds are distributed by Alps Distributors, Inc.
The Suwannee SpringFest, a festival of American roots music March 22nd through 25th at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, just across the Georgia line. Performers include Jorma Kaukonen, Donna the Buffalo, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, The Duhks, Jim Lauderdale, and many many more. Information is available at 904-249-7990 and www.magmusic.com
“The Easiest Best Thing Is Be Kind”
I have an essay in a new book titled The Easiest Best Thing Is Be Kind, edited by M. Luke Myers. It’s a fund-raiser and consciousness-raiser for Darfur. Also appearing in the book are Ken Babbs, Robert Hunter, John Perry Barlow, Steve Silberman, David Dodd, and others.
Here is a note from the editor:
The mainstream media and the US were ignoring the genocide in Darfur.
I asked a few kind people to write for me, and they did. My hope is
and was that Heads will be willing to help. Just look at what the Rex
Foundation has done for arts in the Bay Area and the Conscious
Alliance has done for hunger. They’re fantastic. The pieces in the
book are by people they know and in a spirit they can relate to.
More at https://deadheadsfordarfur.blogspot.comOrdering info:
$10 for paperback
$20 for hardcover
(The book is 60 pages, so I imagine the hardcover looks silly. Mostly for libraries.)https://stores.lulu.com/deadheadsfordarfur
Thanks for you help.
M. Luke Myers
(P.S. My contribution to the book began as a post on this blog titled The Light That Is One…Â
Grateful Dead Hour #961
Week of February 19, 2007
Part 1 21:57
Grateful Dead 12/27/77 Winterland, San Francisco
ESTIMATED PROPHET->
HE’S GONE
Part 2 32:53
Grateful Dead 12/27/77 Winterland, San Francisco
TRUCKIN’->
WHARF RAT->
AROUND AND AROUND
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
The Suwannee SpringFest, a festival of American roots music March 22nd through 25th at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, just across the Georgia line. Performers include Jorma Kaukonen, Donna the Buffalo, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, The Duhks, Jim Lauderdale, and many many more. Information is available at 904-249-7990 and magmusic.com
And from Forward Progressive Investments, offering three environmentally-focused mutual funds for progressive investors – Forward Progressive Real Estate Fund, Sierra Club Stock Fund and Sierra Club Equity Income Fund. You can learn more at forwardprogressive.com. You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. A prospectus with this and other information can be downloaded at forwardprogressive.com and should be read carefully before investing. Forward Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc.
Stevie Coyle in the Humble Stumble
My pal Stevie Coyle of the Waybacks is a character this week in The Humble Stumble, Roy Schneider’s comic strip (which featured me a few weeks ago, too!).
Tune in tomorrow….
BTW, I just bought a copy of Roy’s CD, The Humble Sessions. Some fine pickin’ there, and excellent songwriting! I’ll play a track or two on the GD Hour soon.