Here is the latest news from David Gans, producer and host of the Grateful Dead Hour.
When did you start/stop smoking?
New Riders of the Purple Sage
Robert Hunter reports on the New Riders show in Petaluma:
4.8.06
Just got back from the New Riders show at the Mystic in Petaluma. It sure took me back. Packed out house singing along lustily on songs they didn’t know they loved so much and suddenly discovered they did. Friends crawled out of the woodwork for this one. Betty Cantor was there and Annette Flowers; Michelle, who is to the Riders what Sue Swanson is to the Dead, first fan and lifetime helper. Dan and Patty Healy both looking great. Ramblin’ Jack Elliot spry, spare, ancient and smiling. Other faces half remembered but accounted for. An aura of Joy quickly established itself, similar to the first night of the Dead at Alpine on an intimate scale (a weird parallel I know, but there you go) – the resurrection feel, not repeatable on demand. The spirit bloweth where it listeth. Everyone realized pdq it was one of those nights destined to be remembered, what the music is all about, all it was ever about: love, magic and kick ass songs.
I spent the night on my feet way up front, soaking it all in. Finally went to the back of the house, dead on said feet, with Maureen and Kate to await the encore, which was, fittingly, the late Buck Owen’s “Truck Drivin Man” a song no Riders show ever omitted to play. The band’s manager spotted me seated in the rear of the Mystic, said the band wanted me to do the last number with them. I said I’d worn my voice out singing along with the crowd, which was true, not to mention not having been on stage since opening for the Dead & the ABB at the Gorge a century or two ago – but there was some part of “no” he didn’t understand, as a good manager shouldn’t, so without bothering to have my arm politely ripped out of the socket I went up and did it.
Long time since I’ve been on stage but I can always pull a Ripple out of the hat. How sweet it was to finally sing with the New Riders of the Purple Sage after nearly forty years. A deep emotional experience on the heels of one of the best NRPS shows I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of them. Old Nelson had tears in his eyes, Buddy sitting there like a great glowing Buddha of the pedal steel. Old home night in the 21st Century. The ghosts of Spencer Dryden, Dave Torbert, Skip Batten and Dale Franklin singing along on the chorus, JG present in the melody itself.
The missing Marmaduke seemed supernaturally imminent in the voices of Michael Falzarano of Hot Tuna, whose rhythm guitar is simple and absolutely superb, and of Ronnie Penque and Johnny Markowski of the DN band who acquitted themselves with honors. Each of the three is capable of believably copping the Dawson style without which it wouldn’t be the Riders. So much so that it seemed like a chorus of Marmadukes on the harmony parts! I won’t even get into what a storm Nelson picked on his Telecaster, and of course, Buddy is Buddy. Nuff said. If this sounds like a rave review, so be it. Go get ’em Riders!
Stop using Jesus as a political battering ram
Garry Wills in today’s New York Times:
THERE is no such thing as a “Christian politics.” If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: “My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here” (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program.
This is a truth that needs emphasis at a time when some Democrats, fearing that the Republicans have advanced over them by the use of religion, want to respond with a claim that Jesus is really on their side. He is not. He avoided those who would trap him into taking sides for or against the Roman occupation of Judea. He paid his taxes to the occupying power but said only, “Let Caesar have what belongs to him, and God have what belongs to him” (Matthew 22:21). He was the original proponent of a separation of church and state.
Those who want the state to engage in public worship, or even to have prayer in schools, are defying his injunction: “When you pray, be not like the pretenders, who prefer to pray in the synagogues and in the public square, in the sight of others. In truth I tell you, that is all the profit they will have. But you, when you pray, go into your inner chamber and, locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6). He shocked people by his repeated violation of the external holiness code of his time, emphasizing that his religion was an internal matter of the heart.
Getting online in Negril
This photo can also be found on my flickr page, along with other images from Jamm in Jamaica.
Grateful Dead Hour #916
Week of April 10, 2006
Part 1 33:27
Bob Weir and Ratdog 3/1/06 KPFA Performance Studio
LAZY RIVER ROAD->
SILVIO/TEQUILA->
ALTHEA
Part 2 21:53
Hot Buttered Rum, Well Oiled Machine
WELL-OILED MACHINE
WATERPOCKET FOLD
Photos and audio: Bob and the boys take some calls between sets at KPFA 3/1/06.
Hot Buttered Rum will play live on KPFA June 7, 9-10pm PDT.
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from eDeadshop.com, an online store offering officially licensed merchandise – t-shirts, hats, stickers, tye dyes, gifts and other rock and roll items – from the Grateful Dead, Phish, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd and many others.