February 20, 2007
My presentation from the 10th anniversary Dead caucus
Here are my slides from the conference. I offered to host slides and comments from other participants and/or to link to them offsite. We’ll see if anyone takes me up on the offer.
Naturally this deck is just a skeleton of my half hour talk, but I’d be happy to discuss it further here if there’s interest. Also, I got a bunch of good leads that would help me flesh this out further if I can ever find the time (including a reminder about Sonic Youth, surprising info about Shane MacGowan, a hint about Richard Lloyd, and a few other tidbits).
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May 18, 2006
Rest in Peace, Ram Rod
Lawrence ‘Ramrod’ Shurtliff: 1945-2006 / Mainstay of Grateful Dead crew dies — ‘he was our rock’:
Born Lawrence Shurtliff, he was raised a country boy in eastern Oregon and once won a county fair blue ribbon in cattle judging. He got the name Ramrod from Kesey while he was traveling through Mexico with the author and LSD evangelist, at the time a fugitive from justice.
“I am Ramon Rodriguez Rodriguez, the famous Mexican guide,” he boasted, and he was known ever after as Ramrod.
…
“I remember when he first showed up at 710 Ashbury,” said Dead drummer Mickey Hart. “He pulled up on a Harley. He was wearing a chain with a lock around his waist. He said ‘Name’s Ramrod — Kesey sent me — I hear you need a good man.’ I remember it like it was yesterday.”
Ramrod joined the Dead in 1967 as truck driver and was held in such high regard by the members of that sprawling, brawling organization that he was named president of the Grateful Dead board of directors when the rock group actually incorporated in the ’70s. It was a position he held until the death of guitarist Jerry Garcia in 1995. Like the rest of the band’s few remaining staff, he was laid off last year.
…
Ramrod went to work setting up and tearing down the band’s equipment for every show the Dead played. He puzzled his way through elaborate situations and circumstances: from the myriad psychedelic dungeons the band played through the ’60s, to a concert at the base of the Great Pyramids in Egypt in 1977 to the baseball parks the Dead filled on the endless tours of the ’80s and ’90s up until Garcia’s death.
…
A protege of Neal Cassady of the Merry Pranksters, the intrepid band of inner-space explorers who gathered around Kesey, Ramrod absorbed lessons from Cassady, a Beat era legend and model for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s landmark novel “On the Road.” “He knew Neal better than anyone in our scene,” said Weir.
…
Guitarist Weir said he could barely remember the Dead before Ramrod. “When he did join up, it was like he had always been there. I won’t say he was the missing piece, because I don’t think he was missing. He just wasn’t there. But then he was there. And he always will be. He was a huge part of what the Grateful Dead was about.”
Robert Hunter’s Elegy for Ramrod
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May 14, 2006
Donna Jean, Tricksters form a new band
Kettle Joe’s Psychedelic Swamp Revue Announces Spring, Summer Dates
Kettle Joe’s Psychedelic Swamp Revue, a band formed several months ago by Donna Jean Godchaux, formerly of the Grateful Dead and Heart of Gold Band; Mookie Siegel, formerly of Phil Lesh and Friends and the David Nelson Band; Wendy Lanter; and The Zen Tricksters, has announced a series of spring and summer performances. Consisting of a mix of traditional venues and festival appearances, the band will play select markets between June and August. Following a brief break, the band will then launch a full U.S. tour next fall.
Kettle Joe’s was formed out of a chance happening - the coming together of these seasoned and highly regarded musicians at a benefit concert. According to Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, “When we teamed up in New York City” last November, “we immediately realized that playing together was something we wanted to pursue further. We decided early this year to bring in Mookie on keyboards and work a week in a rehearsal space. We tried it out with a couple of shows, and not only were we thrilled but so were the audiences, so this is now our full-time touring band.”
Adds Jeff Mattson, one of the co-founders of The Zen Tricksters, “This is not some part-time thing we have to fit in around our other projects. This is now, for all of us, a full-on commitment and while we have to fulfill some obligations we have all made this summer, we’re already rehearsing and working up new material. Starting in the Fall, Kettle Joe’s Psychedelic Swamp Revue will be touring regularly, playing lots of original music contributed by the various members of this band, plus some choice covers. We expect every show to be an incredible, special experience for our fans and for us as well.”
Kettle Joe’s Psychedelic Swamp Revue Tour Schedule:
6/8 The Shoals Theater, Florence, AL
6/9 Riverbend Festival Chattanooga, TN All Ages
6/23 The 8 x 10, Baltimore, MD
6/24 The Gathering III Pulaski, NY
7/2 Gratefulfest, Nelson Ledges Quarry Park, Garrettsville, OH
7/8 Oregon Country Fair, Veneta, OR
7/10 John Henry’s, Eugene, OR
7/20 The Canal Room, New York, NY
7/21 A Bear’s Picnic, Miton, PA
8/16 The Stephen Talkhouse, Amagansett, NY
8/17 Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA
8/19 The Gathering of the Vibes, Mariaville, NY
For more information please visit KettleJoesPSR.com
Management: Neil Glazer, Mindful Artists, LLC
Publicity: Randi Mattson
Posted by gans at 9:02 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
April 5, 2006
GD listing in uncyclopedia
uncyclopedia calls itself “the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.” The entry on the Grateful Dead is hilarious.
The Grateful Dead was originally a regimen of Special Ops. Army forces used to assassinate Soviet and Chinese officials in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, as well as to carry out psyops against the populations of both North and South Vietnam. Firm believers in the slogan “Better Dead than Red” they named their organization in honor of civilians killed in the bombings of North Vietnam who they believed were grateful to no longer be living under Communist rule. To keep their mission top secret, the leaders of the group made frequent trips to their adopted home of San Francisco between missions, attempting to blend in with the local population. During one such trip in 1967, Lt. Colonel Jerome “Jerry” Garcia and Majors Robert “Bob” Weir and Phillip “Phil” Lesh became concerned about the growing unrest they saw with the war at home. It was then that they met with West Point graduate and CIA operative Timothy Leary who helped them devise a strategy. Leary introduced the soldiers to Ronald “Pigpen” McKernan - venture capitalist and corporate raider, William “Bill” Kreutzman (a high-priced lawyer whose clients included the John Birch Society, Exxon, The Daughters of the Confederacy, and The Walt Disney Company), and Robert Hunter, a lobbyist for the nuclear power and coal industries, who also had a side business running safaris to hunt endangered species.
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March 15, 2006
Kreutzmann x2 on KPFA tonight
Bill Kreutzmann and his son, Justin, are coming to KPFA tonight to talk and play some recordings.
Bill has some jazz he recorded in Hawaii, plus some Serial Pod (w/ Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon) recorded last December, and we’ll listen to some Grateful Dead as well, of course.
Justin has a recording of Rachel Fuller and Pete Townshend, and some new projects to talk about.
8:00-10:00 pm PST tonight onKPFA 94.1 fm in northern California, KFCF 88.1 fm in Fresno, and online at kpfa.org and kfcf.org
Playlist will be updated as we go at logblog.gdhour.com
P.S. Justin has a transcript of Bill’s last KPFA appearance on his site.
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March 14, 2006
Alan Dalton's O&ITW banjo book
Grateful Dead Hour #914 includes an interview with Alan Dalton, who transcribed all of Jerry Garcia’s banjo work on the first Old and In the Way album and then got the tablatures published. Story, photo and audio of the interview are posted on the GD Hour logblog.
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March 2, 2006
Ratdog on KPFA - sound and pictures
Ratdog performed live on KPFA’s Dead to the World on Wednesday, March 1.
Between sets, Bobby and the boys crowded into the control room and took some calls from listeners.
On this logblog entry, you’ll find photos by Susana Millman and Sue Weiand, plus audio of the between-sets amusements. The entire two-hour program is archived on KPFA’s site.
Posted by gans at 7:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
February 10, 2006
Day three of the Dead Caucus
We’re wrapping things up today. The conference at large continues through Saturday but we don’t have any papers or panels tomorrow. Things start off this morning at 8 am with “Grateful Dead 9” in Enchantment F:
Improvisational Space: The Sonic Field of Postmodern Community
- “Crying Leonardo Words from out a Silk Trombone”: Surrealist Impulses and Consensus Consciousness, Mark Tursi, College of Misericordia
- “And Then Flew On”: Improvisational Moments of Rhizomatic Assemblage in Grateful Dead Musical Experience, Jim Tuedio, California State University, Stanislaus
And at 10:00 we have “Grateful Dead 10”:
Tribute and Anti-Tribute Songs
Panel Chair: Christian Crumlish, Independent Scholar
Discussants:
- David Gans, Musician and Host, Grateful Dead Hour
- Gary Burnett, Florida State University
Then tonight, the big house party with Gans performing, a hootenanny, and all kinds of purely academic I sure you forms of debauchery.
Posted by xian at 7:57 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
February 9, 2006
Day two of the 2006 Dead Caucus
Things start off today at 12:30 pm with “Grateful Dead 5” in Enchantment F:
Panel Chair: Alan Lehman, University of Maryland
- Mourning for Jerry Garcia, Rebecca Adams, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- Mourning the Loss of Jerry Garcia: A Cultural Communication Analysis, Natalie Dollar, Oregon State University, Cascades (unable to attend at the last minute, but she sent her paper to Rebecca)
- Playing in the Band: Online Memories of Jerry Garcia, David Gans
At 2:30 we have “Grateful Dead 6,” which includes my second contribution:
Mixed Marriages: Deadheads and Non-Deadheads
Panel Chair: Rebecca Adams, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Discussants:
- Christian Crumlish, Independent Scholar
- Kathy Burnett, Florida State University
- Eric Levy, University of Illinois at Chicago
At 4:30 we have “Grateful Dead 7”:
Panel Chair: Nicholas Meriwether, Editor, Dead Letters
- Mendocino Dreaming: The Origins of the Sir Douglas Quintet, Steve Davis, Kingwood College
- Human Errors and Creative Variation in the Music of the Grateful Dead: Here Comes Sunshine, Mark E. Mattson, Fordham University
And we finish today at 6:30 with “Grateful Dead 8,” which has had some attrition from people not able to make it at the last minute (I’ll update the participants when I find out who does what):
Towards a Grateful Dead Archive
- Forensic Oral History: Raising the Dead, Nicholas Meriwether, Editor, Dead Letters
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February 8, 2006
Day one of the 2006 Dead Caucus
I arrived in Albuquerque yesterday because today is the first day of what we are pleased to call the Dead Conference or the Dead Caucus at the Southwest Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Assocation’s annual conference. Technically, Grateful Dead is an “area” or sequence of panels threaded through the conference schedule.
(Other areas include Atomic Culture, Biography, Chicana/Chicano Literature, Cormac McCarthy, Rap and Hip-Hop Culture, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Shakespeare on Film and Television, Women’s Studies, The Beat Generation and the Counterculture, Computer Culture, and much, much more!)
This is the ninth year that there’s been a Grateful Dead area at the conference and our caucus has grown steadily, with every year an astounding range of perspectives on the Grateful Dead from a truly multidisciplinary set of academic fields (including oral history, musicology, sociology, psychology, information technology, philosophy, business, statistical analysis, and more).
I’ll do my best this week to post a little something each day about the proceedings.
Things start off today (at 1 pm, in less than ten minutes!) with “Grateful Dead 1” in Pavilion V:
Panel Chair: Gary Burnett, Florida State University:
- My First Dead Show (Adam Perry, Independent Scholar)
- “When the Secrets All Are Told and the Petals All Unfold”: On Joycean Epiphany in Hunter/Garcia’s “Wharf Rat” (Eric Levy, University of Illinois at Chicago)
At 3:00 we have “Grateful Dead 2”:
Postmodern Crossings: Nomad Music, the X-Factor, and Grateful Dead Communitas
Panel Chair: Nicholas Meriwether, Editor, Dead Letters
Discussants:
- Stan Spector, Modesto Junior College
- Jim Tuedio, California State University, Stanislaus
At 5:00 we have “Grateful Dead 3,” which includes my first contribution:
Panel Chair: Eric Levy, University of Illinois at Chicago
- The Grateful Dead’s Anti-Structural Phenomenon: Creating and Negotiating Communitas through Art and Improvisation, Amanda Hirsh, Independent Scholar
- Of Wikis, Archives, and Information: The Challenges of an Online Grateful Dead Community, Gary Burnett, Florida State University
- Get Back Blogging On: A Survey of Grateful Dead Related Blogs, Christian Crumlish, Uncle John’s Blog and Wiki the Flood
And we finish today at 7:00 with “Grateful Dead 4”:
[Note: This panel was cancelled.]
Online Tape Archives and Community
Panel Chair: Amanda Hirsch, Independent Scholar
Discussants:
- Gary Burnett, Florida State University
- Alan Lehman, University of Maryland
- David Gans, Musician & Host, Grateful Dead Hour
OK, now I’m late! I’ll fix any typos later.
Posted by xian at 11:09 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (2)
February 4, 2006
Remember cassettes? (Part two)
Andy Monfried writes a paean to Maxell tapes in his blog, You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t want to know.
I remember in the early 90s when we used to imagine how eventually trading would be digital - it would happen directly online. How cool that would be.
Along the way we lost some of the charm and the social interaction of cassette tape trading.
And, just like one of his commenters, “I still have an unwrapped Maxell XLII 90 min, ready to go!”
See also Remember cassettes? (Part one).
Posted by xian at 9:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
January 31, 2006
From a Japanese Deadhead
My name is Nabe. I’m an old Japnese Deadhead. I’ve been to the Dead shows 12 times only.
I had enjoyed your program The Grateful Dead Malathon on last Sunday in Japan.
It’s a small community of Deaheads in Japan,but Good old community. There were so nice party named Oshino Dead : Jerry Garcia 10th Memorial Gathering.
Many Dead’s Tribute band appeared and camping among three night with good fellows and Dead music.
We got a message from Phil Lesh . “The spirit lives among you ! “
I send you a photograph of Oshino dead
I hope you keep on broadcast such a nice program for us.
Peace & Love, No war Thank you
Posted by gans at 8:58 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
January 28, 2006
KPFA GD marathon happening RIGHT NOW
See dttw.gdhour.com for the details. Webcast via nugs.net
Playlist updated live at logblog.gdhour.com
Goes til 1 am PST.
Posted by gans at 9:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 27, 2006
David Singer needs help
From Marty Hohn:
Anyone who remembers the old Fillmore posters is familiar with the work of David Singer. As a long-time staff artist for Bill Graham, David was responsible for the art for nearly seventy posters. David went into the hospital with gallstones in November, and a series of complications has left him in seriously ill condition. He is slowly emerging from an induced coma, but faces weeks more of procedures and a lengthy recovery. His excellent prior health gives us encouragement, but without an income, his family needs help. The Rock Poster Society (TRPS) has set up a relief fund to channel financial contributions to the Singer family. Please send donations to:
TRPS
P.O. Box 1967
Richmond, CA 94802
Please note on your check that the donation be directed toward the TRPS Artists’ Relief Fund and David Singer. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Posted by gans at 11:01 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
January 24, 2006
It's a family affair
From a mailing list I’m on:
A forthcoming Discovery Channel/TLC program is searching for old school Dead Head parents and their progeny. The call is out for “families who have children now between the ages of 25 and 45 who raised them on tour or did a lot of traveling to shows while they were growing up.” The casting department for the program adds, “If this description fits your family at all and you have pictures or home movies from when you all were traveling-please send me an email about your family with a picture if you have one!” Send your email to familytripcasting@gmail.com. Aside from the supreme glory of being featured on a Discovery Channel/TLC program, the show’s producers pledge to “send 10 lucky families to relive a trip from the past.”
Posted by xian at 5:37 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
January 18, 2006
Deadhead blogger conference!
Mark at Knockin’ on the Golden Door proposed a Deadhead Bloggers’ Convention and suggestions are coming in to hold it this summer at the Gathering of the Vibes.
Posted by xian at 4:13 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
January 5, 2006
Star Spangly
I never did manage to hear the Dead’s (OK, Bobby, Jerry, and Vince’s) version of the National Anthem until just now. Sounds pretty good.
Posted by xian at 4:26 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (1)
Phil responds to online questions
From a mailing list I’m on:
Message From Phil
January 5th, 2006“Don’t worry up your mind
People are sick and mean sometimes
They’re only words
They’re only words”Happy New Year, Heads!
So you all want answers. I’m here to provide some.
I am responsible for asking to take down the message board on Philzone. Until now, I have felt that the boards are your turf to trample as you will; but right before New Year’s Eve one of my employees received a very threatening email from a frequent poster on Philzone. In the process of dealing with this I was shown that the discussions sometimes cross the line. For example - Bob Weir is dead; so and so (fill in the name of the musician you most love to hate) is a junkie/child-molester/wife-beater/asshole/sucks, etc. Our attorneys are dealing with the threatening email, but they are concerned that Philzone.com/org is perceived to be an official site. We will be working with the Philzone team to clarify the distinction between the two.
I would like to start the New Year with some healthy communication, so I’ve asked my man JC to scour the message boards so I can respond to some of your questions and concerns.
Some questions from the TOO Board -
Subwoofer: “I will say this…. it’s all very odd. Herring leaves under “interesting” circumstances…. so does Sipe…. Molo bows out for a bit but triumphantly returns….Ryan Adams is the most talked about “poor decision” that he’s made, and yet he backs this RA like he’s the second coming…. and he finally finds a gem with Barry Sless(too bad he couldn’t keep David Nelson around a bit more!). But it’s all very mysterious to me….and I’d think that Phil’s fans would be questioning his motives.”
Phil: Jimmy Herring and I had been growing apart musically since the December 04 shows. It seems we worked better together in the context of the Q. We discussed this after the December shows, after Mardi Gras, after the Colorado shows and we both still felt that it wasn’t right after Vegas. Clearly, it would be a mistake to head off on a month long tour together, so rather than forcing the relationship we agreed to go our separate ways sooner than planned. At that point I decided to ask John Molo to do NYE instead of Jeff Sipe as he had more experience with the material- although Jeff will be joining me again in February.
Thinman: “Couldn’t Phil sing Terrapin at least??”
Phil: Ha! If you insist, but you have to take the blame when everyone complains… I’ll just direct everyone to your email address, OK?
From the Ryan Adams fan site -
(Rev Buddy Greene is a regular philzone poster who felt the need to go to the Ryan Adams fan site and trash him. He ends his rant with this): I want everyone to know that I am not a troll I am a music fan.
Phil: Hey Buddy; since you’re a music fan, how about some intelligent musical observations, instead of writing what could be an article for Star magazine? Just for you, here are some musical (and some not) reasons why I love playing with Ryan. I love playing with Ryan because he’s fearless; because he doesn’t have to do anything the same way twice; because every idea he throws out in a jam is a little gem that cries out “polish me”; because he has about nine hundred voices that he can use like a Bene Gesserit; because of his huge heart and enormous talent.
I like it that we deconstruct the songs so that verses are transposed, or the bridge comes in early, or the jam leads back to a verse instead of a chorus. I like it that we have to be on our tippy-tippy toes to make the acute left turns and abrupt changes that Ryan likes to spring on us. I like to spring those kind of changes too- what do you think I’m doing when I talk into my mike and you can’t hear me? I love playing with Ryan because he takes me back to when the Grateful Dead were young, fearless, crazy and didn’t give a shit about what other people thought we should do. If what you desire is the perfect rendition, there are many excellent bands that perform Grateful Dead songs- but I have never been about perfection and never will be. I do promise that I will always do my best to follow my weird. I hope you will join me, but I do understand if your path takes you elsewhere. I will also say with no hesitation that Jerry would have loved Ryan and his fearless interpretations of his songs. It’s funny, but I feel Jerry close to me whenever I am around Ryan.
Phil: JC tells me that everyone wants to know about the Dead and Archive.org.
The Dead - The Dead is a big rusty machine that takes awhile to crank up. I am completely open to doing a Terrapin Station weekend and hopefully we will get it together for this summer.
Archive - I had two conversations with Cameron Sears, our CEO at GDP, regarding Archive, starting when our material first showed up there. I told Cameron that I was fine having the audience tapes up there, but that he should talk to everyone, including Bob Hunter and John Barlow, regarding the soundboards. A year later when I had not heard anything about the boards, I mentioned to Cameron that I felt by not doing anything we were making a decision about the boards and that I was fine with that. Again I urged him to talk to everyone. I was caught by complete surprise when, right before Thanksgiving, the recordings were pulled. I feel that Bobby was not updated properly and unfairly took most of the heat. A lot of our business disagreements are the result of poor communication from advisors. Bobby is my brother and I love him unconditionally; he is a very generous man, and was unfairly judged regarding the Archive issue.
In the end, what we want or enjoy in life comes down to personal preference; the best and the bravest will always follow their own path in their listening, in their reading, in their thinking, without any concern for the opinions of others.
Words of comfort whispered to the injured, words of courage whispered to the scared, words of encouragement whispered to a child, words of love whispered to the sky.
Words have great power; use them wisely.
- PHIL
From Philzone Admin: We will be putting the discussion board back up soon and we hope you all take Phil’s words to heart moving forward.
In the meantime, Phil will be answering some questions from registered discussion board members only. Please email your question to askphil06@philzone.com. You must include your name, discussion board username and your real email address. Of course Phil can’t answer all your questions. We will post Q&A updates periodically. Serious questions only please!
Posted by xian at 10:02 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
1967 "Viola Lee" on film
Posted on the GD Hour logblog, a link to a piece of film on youTube, plus comments by Gary Lambert.
Posted by gans at 8:46 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
December 24, 2005
Remember cassettes?
How many Max Points do you have?
Check out Cassette Jam ‘05 for a blast of nostalgia.
Posted by xian at 11:39 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
GDH/DTTW Logblog
I’ve started a blog over at gdhour.com for playlists, program notes, and discussion of both the nationally syndicated Grateful Dead Hour and my weekly KPFA show, Dead to the World. I hope you’ll join me at logblog.gdhour.com
- Gans
Posted by gans at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
December 19, 2005
Memo From The Sports Desk
ny times, 12/18/05:
An anomaly among team owners? Yes. But just a day in the life of [Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim] Irsay, who owns guitars once played by Elvis Presley and Jerry Garcia and who, after winning an auction for the original manuscript of Jack Kerouac’s classic “On the Road,” gave a giddy, single-digit salute to photographers to honor what he thought Kerouac himself would have done.
story w/photo (subscription required)
Posted by forshac at 7:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
December 17, 2005
GD reference in the Raleigh News & Observer
John Rottet is a Deadhead and a staff photographer for the Raleigh (NC) News and Observer. Today’s image in his Scapes series includes a reference to “Weather Report Suite.”
Posted by gans at 12:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Online interview with David Dodd
One of my hobbies (sorta) is co-moderating the interactive component of David Dodd’s Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics project. It’s the deadsongs.vue conference on the WELL.
In this forum, readers post thoughts, opinions, links and questions regarding the songs in the GD canon.
Right now we’re doing an online interview with the editor, David Dodd, to celebrate the publication of the hardcover book version of the Annotated Lyrics.
Drop by and join the conversation, please! If you’re not a WELL member, you can send questions or comments to the hosts va this link.
Posted by gans at 8:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
R&R Tavern, Hanoi
I got email from Jay Ellis, who owns the R&R Tavern in Hanoi:
…we’ve been established for 10 years now, a small effort at “reconciliation” (read making friends). The house band includes 4 great Hanoi fellows and myself trying to sing, we have a grand 50 Dead tunes and on occasion it really works, New Years Eve ‘03 saw the house absolutely packed with flashing lights, dancers, confetti poppers and it was so strong and real I thought I was going to pass out!I saw my first show outside of Miami in December, 1969. Been carrying the flag ever sinse.
Your motto is mine as well, Truth and Fun. Thank you so much. I hope I can figure out something I can do for your efforts one day.
The name of the house band is Mason’s Children.
From the web site:
We are the American Bar of Hanoi, and as is the tradition, everyone is welcome.I asked him about his clientele:We play classic rock from the 60’s ands 70’s and we have live music Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Music is our language.
Thursday, the Thanh Long String Quartet will give you a pre-weekend soothing. It is top notch.
Friday, the house band plays the music of the Grateful Dead and reminisces off into more innocent times.
Saturday is the Maddog Mike’s Open Mic Night.
We have a little core group now and some profound blues have evolved later Sat. evenings.
There is a minority of Vietnamese and Americans. The mix is mostly people from the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, then Eastern Europeans, lots of Canadians. One of the reasons I like it here.
R&R Tavern
47 Lo Su Street
Hanoi
Posted by gans at 7:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
December 15, 2005
New audio files online
I have posted two new items that might be of interest to readers of this blog.
Interview with David Dodd, editor of The Complete Annnotated Grateful Dead Lyrics 11/2/05.
Interview with legendary Grateful Dead tapers Barry Glassberg, Jerry Moore, and Rob Bertrando 6/9/90.
Posted by gans at 4:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
December 14, 2005
Non-head listens to the Fillmore Box
Dan Strachota in the SF Weekly: Dead Like Me - he hates the GD, but he listens to the entire Fillmore West boxed set in the company of some friends.
A few excerpts:
I hate the Grateful Dead. I’ve always hated the Grateful Dead. Numerous times over my lifetime, people have tried to get me to appreciate the band, with little success. The interminable solos, the dope-smoking-moron lyrics, the ridiculous ambient jams — I’d rather shove chopsticks up my pee hole than listen to them. And don’t even get me started on the drug-addled, fire-stick juggling, arrhythmic-dancing fans who are trying to either recapture a long-lost moment of their youth or catch a glimpse of something extinguished long before their birth.
…no one should name a song “New Potato Caboose.”
Can’t argue with this, tho:
the sloppiest version of “Hey Jude” ever.
Gotta love the ending:
Postscript: The next morning, I wake up with “St. Stephen” in my head and Tim’s hacky sack beside me. Oh shit, the conversion has begun.
Posted by gans at 3:18 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
December 12, 2005
Jerry At The Bar
From an article about NYC bartenders in yesterday’s Times:
NORMAN BUKOFZER, 61 The Ritz-Carlton Central Park South
In his career Mr. Bukofzer has introduced a lot of people. He has poured drinks for Bono, and for Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson. Jerry Garcia gave him his first hand-painted tie.
Funny, I always thought of Jerry as a Four Seasons guy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/fashion/sundaystyles/11BARS.html
Posted by forshac at 4:55 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
TiVo Time
(janitorial note: I was trying to clean up a double post and ended up somehow deleting both, so I am restoring this entry, but it was originally by forshac - I’ll fix the credit in the database when I get a moment.)
(janitorial update: ok, that should do it on rebuild.)
Posted by forshac at 4:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
December 9, 2005
Welcome, David and Chris!
Close readers of this blog will notice that we’ve got two new contributors posting entries lately, both longtime astute observers of the Dead scene, both people I met originally via the Usenet group rec.music.gdead.
Because I host David Gans’s blog here on my Mediajunkie system, it was an easy matter to give him posting rights to Uncle John’s Blog. The bait worked and here he is, posting great links and comments!
Chris Forshay is a friend of mine (and past contributor to Relix, every volume of The Deadhead’s Taper Compendium, among other publications) whom I’ve been trying to entice into contributing to UJB ever since… well, since 2000 when I started it up. He has graciously agreed to drop by and post links and commentaries and has already helped me procrastinate for several hours this week when I should have been working, turning up links I most likely wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.
Please join me in welcoming these guys to the blog.
(For blog geeks, I’ve been experimenting with a MT plugin that lists authors in the sidebar of this blog… but, it’s malfunctioning and listing some of authors of other blogs on this system. For David—username gans—and Chris—username forshac—and myself—xian—and Michael Z—michaelz—and Jeff Tiedrich—tiedrich—at least the listing is accurate. Yes, .tiedrich has still yet to contribute, but I’m trying.)
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jerry/guitar player
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December 8, 2005
insect fear
ny times, 12/4/05, review of ALIEN ROCK: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Extraterrestrial Connection. By Michael C. Luckman. (Pocket Books, paper, $13.95):
Finally, Jerry Garcia “admitted that for two days he was locked in a ‘tremendous struggle in a sort of futuristic spaceship vehicle with insectoid presences.’”
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in the news
per the ap:
Academic unravels the origin of the Grateful Dead’s lyrics
By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — By day he was a mild-mannered, buttoned-down reference librarian. By night - and on weekends and during vacations - David Dodd would shed his jacket and tie for tie-dye and morph into a Grateful Dead fan.
He was one of those multicolored, often-bearded people who, for what seemed like endless summers, followed the band from show to show in search of its holy grail - that elusive, transcendent musical moment.
Then one day, this scholarly fellow stumbled upon the perfect union for his two passions.
Dodd, who finds great joy paging through books and microfilm or surfing the Web to determine the exact origin of phrases and expressions, decided he would annotate the recorded works of the Grateful Dead.
Ten years later, he has come out with “The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.” The 480-page illustrated book was published by Simon & Schuster’s Free Press in October. It has a lengthy foreword by the band’s principal lyricist, Robert Hunter, who came out of seclusion long enough to pay Dodd the ultimate compliment: He said the researcher got it right.
“It’s a lovely book,” Hunter remarked from his home in Northern California. “I thumb through it and find it actually of interest. … I had no idea that all of these things he found had affected my songs.”
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December 7, 2005
Justin Kreutzmann's videos
Justin Kreutzmann, filmmaker and son of Billy, has posted two of his music videos on his blog.
Garcia-Grisman The Thrill is Gone
Jerry Garcia The Wheel
Well worth a look, both of ‘em.
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Audio of Ed Cone's 1987 interview with Garcia
I blogged about this awhile back but noticed recently that Ed has posted a series of MP3s of the interview with “Jerry Garcia, Bill Graham, and members of the Dead” (EdCone.com: A Conversation with Jerry).
This sentence from Ed’s description of the interview is particularly relevant given the recent flap:
We wrote what I think was the first article about the economics of the Dead’s unusual strategy of allowing fans to tape its shows — an idea that would later be applied to the Internet and software businesses.
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December 6, 2005
Herb Greene: Close Encounters with The Dead
December 2, 2005 - January 14, 2006
galleryKayafas
450 Harrison Avenue, Suite 61
Boston, MA 02118
Herb Greene began his photographic career as a department store staff photographer while living in San Francisco in the mid 1960s. His love of folk music led him to photograph and become part of the subculture which was taking root in the Haight-Ashbury area – the San Francisco Sound. It was at this time that his path crossed with The Grateful Dead and a 30+ year relationship began.
Greene is considered the official photographer for The Grateful Dead. The music of the 60’s became the foundation for political revelation and activism, a sexual revolution, a drug enhanced transformation, the much touted “generation gap” and the Summer of Love. Greene’s iconic imagery is the definitive Rock & Roll album not only of the bands and fans but of those individuals who would become a part of the movement. They also revealed the underside of the life of the street kids who came to Haight-Ashbury.
Greene’s work has been shown in numerous exhibits and publications throughout the United States. It has been featured in “Rolling Stone” and “Newsweek” and three of Greene’s own books. This exhibit, Brief Encounters with The Dead, will show for the first time, his portfolio of large exquisite platinum prints (13x13 Rock Solid) of Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Carlos Santana, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Jefferson Airplane, The Dead, and, of course, Jerry Garcia. This body of work celebrates Greene’s extraordinary relationship and access.
Most significant to Greene are his memories of his friend: “I loved Jerry Garcia. His humility was amazing. He is a shining symbol of freedom.”
The gallery is open and free to the public -- there is no charge to enjoy the work!
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From Geoff Gould at GD Forum Store
All of the following is from Geoff Gould, longtime operator of the GD Forum Store on AOL:
By now, most of you know about the back and forth situation regarding the availability of digital shows at the Internet Archive. Many deadheads protested, and it seems like a compromise has been reached. Soundboards will only be streamed, but audience recordings will be downloadable again. Here's the update from the archive.Phil issued a statement, essentially saying he didn't know about how this was
going down.There's a ton of links in the Google News area too.
I'd say there was a lot of different realities at play here. At the extreme poles were people inside the GD organization taking a "business is business" approach to the Dead's intellectual property, and some deadheads who believe they (the fans) were entitled to endless free downloads of said intellectual property. I think the current agreement seems pretty reasonable, but this moment has been a watershed, exposing the realities of the music business in the age of digital music. Things will never be the same. Or maybe, it will just be the "same as it ever was."
This brings me to share with you the current state of the GDForum Store. The Grateful Dead have been very good to me over the years. When my company was making Phil and Bobby's axes (and a couple for Jerry he didn't play) they helped keep us afloat. Over the years since the GD Forum first appeared on AOL and then on the web, we have worked together to bring the community many unique chat events and interviews. The GDF Store was actually the first functioning online commerce store selling GD Merchandise back in the Fall of 1995, and the GDM folk provided us with much great gear over the years. It's been an honor serving the community, but times have changed.
Enter the "business is business" crowd.
Over the last couple of years, the GDM as well as the JG Estate stores have adopted a marketing plan of offering 'exclusive bonus discs' that has basically cut our sales anywhere from 60% to 90%. It was probably intended to get more market share away from sites like Amazon, and not aimed at me (I hope!) but the result is undeniable nonetheless. Like I said, the GD has been very good to me, and after reading Phil's comments, I have to hope I was not targeted by these practices, but merely affected by the collateral damage.
It's hard to say for sure, but this sure feels like the last holiday season for us, so we'll be trying to clear the shelves as much as possible, and will send out a note soon about some specials. In the meantime, we look forward to helping you out in 2005, and will keep the latest, most popular gift items in stock this month.
Here are a few basic links:
The Holiday Shopping Update page
Thanks again for all your support over the years, and drop me a line to say hi
when you can.Peace,
Geoff Gould
GDForum webmasterAOL keyword: aol://4344:635.deadtop.4523331.494870589
Customer service: 800-513-0000
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December 5, 2005
Ratdog on tour - instant live CDs
On a more positive note, Bob Weir talks in the Denver Post about the current state of his band, Ratdog, and their success in selling CDs of their gigs that the fans can order at the venue and pick up on their way out of the show - "a better concert memento than the $40 T-shirt," writes Ricardo Baca.
Weir offers one cranky observation:
"All of this has given rise to a phenomenon I'd like to discourage," RatDog frontman and improvisational music legend Bob Weir said from the road last week. "You work, as a singer or bandleader, on getting everything toward a featured ballad that typically comes toward the end of the show. It's supposed to be quiet - but then some dude lets out a piercing (expletive) whistle."He's already ordered his disc at the beginning of the break, and he just wants to be able to say, 'That was me! You remember that?' And it's wrong. It's not happening quite so much this tour, so maybe they've already got their piercing (expletive) whistles on tape."
(Of course, people have been screaming and whistling during the quiet moments for decades. But still.)
Weir has good things to say about the state of the band, and I heartily concur. I've seen them a few times this year and listened to quite a few of their shows on CD, and I am delighted with the progress Ratdog has made since Robin Sylvester joined on bass. Here's Weir:
...the interlude jams and stuff like that get to the point a little quicker because we know how to intuit each other better than ever. There's less rambling and more improvisation.
He goes on to acknowledge that they are in need of some new material and notes that the next "studio" album will likely be recorded on tour - "we have the technology to do that, what with Pro Tools and a laptop, a few extra hard drives and the quality mics we carry around."
With all the ugly shit that's going down in Deadland regarding the archive and all that, it's good to remember that they are fine musicians. Weir is making fiine music with Ratdog, and that still matters, goddammit.
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December 3, 2005
Clip from 'On the Story'
![[download the clip]](http://thedeadbeat.com/unclejohn/onthestory.jpg)
David Gans PVR’d my appearance on ‘On the Story’ and sent me this Quicktime file (warning: it’s 9 megs plus).
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It was Weir
Yesterday afternoon, RatDog played a live set on KBCO in Denver before their show and the station’s DJ, “Ginger,” asked Bob Weir about the Archive decision. I heard about this from David Gans on the Well, and he posted this partial transcript of Weir’s comments there:
We had to cover our asses. What they’re doing is illegal, unless there are arrangements made… particularly in the case of covers — other people’s material.
If we’re perceived to be distributing their songs without their agreement, they have every right, and really and every obligation, to sue us…
We had to take it down. We had no choice. It’s archive.com’s [sic] job to make arrangements with the other people whose material… we’re playing, and then everything’s good….
Probably a lot of it is stuff that we intend to release in the future anyway.
We need revenue. Our music division needs revenue so we can digitize all of that stuff.
The ‘information wants to be free, man’ — those folks… this is not information, this is music. It’s kind of value-added information. Some people prefer to call it art….
We had to go ahead and do the right thing, and it upset some folks. I’m really sorry about that. So they started up a petition, a boycott, and all that kind of stuff. I really hope they can stick to their guns, and boycott us, and… seeya….
Sounds like he isn’t entirely convinced by Barlow’s rap.
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