Grateful Dead

Dead World Round-Up
By Jesse Jarnow with Gary Lambert

It was 60 years ago not-precisely-today, somewhere near the end of 1964, when the roustabouts hanging around Dana Morgan’s music store in Palo Alto slid some electric instruments off the walls, dragged some amplifiers into the back room, and plugged in everything. The folk and bluegrass crazes were waning and the shop was starting to do a steadier business in drum kits and combo organs. The quintet all worked there in varying degrees, ranging from the 19-year old janitor Ron McKernan (who fired up one of the new Farfisa organs) to the store’s part-namesake Dana Morgan Jr. (who co-owned the place with his father, and tried his hand at electric bass).

And, by a year or so after that, in December 1965, the same week they fortified their relationship with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, the fully-electrified Warlocks changed their name to the Grateful Dead. In connecting their worlds as tradition-committed musicians to the psychedelic now, the Dead enacted something like an alchemical transition, germinating a progressive American musical tradition of their own that continues to blossom and bloom decades later.

Once again, tracking the band’s continuing legacy proves happily and surprisingly difficult. It’s (almost) easy enough to point at the ongoing work of the musicians themselves, detailed in individual sections for each just below. Most visibly, Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart parked Dead & Co. in Las Vegas at one of the newest of all available nows for their historic 30-show Sphere run, which Gary Lambert details in his Vegas scene report. Phil Lesh, meanwhile, established the Terrapin Clubhouse back in good ol’ Marin County, broadcasting regular jams with a rotating cast of younger collaborators and old friends. But those were hardly the only places where the music’s story extended in surprising ways.

Over this past year, the Dead’s legacy was celebrated at major league baseball stadiums, by a scholarly book series from a university press, and a major Jerry Garcia exhibit at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum (see below). This coming January, the surviving members will be honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC alongside their contemporaries and occasional collaborators Francis Ford Coppola and Bonnie Raitt.

The Dead’s collective past continued to churn up exciting unheard music and other surprises. This fall sees the publication of The Silver Snarling Trumpet, the late Robert Hunter’s astonishing book about his teenage adventures with Jerry Garcia in Palo Alto in 1961 and 1962, ending around the time Garcia took his first music store job that would eventually birth the Warlocks. There was a whole bushel of new archival music, including a 50th anniversary edition of From the Mars Hotel (including a bonus show with the Wall of Sound’s outdoor debut from Reno in May ‘74) plus an accompanying set of Angel’s Share outtakes, an expanded edition of Robert Hunter’s Tales of the Great Rum Runners solo debut, and Friend Of the Devils, a box set of choice Dead music from spring ‘78.

We’ve explored all of the above and more on the 9th and 10th (!) seasons of the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast, including (but not limited to) a month-by-month/song-by-song tour of the Wall of Sound year of 1974 (starting here), the lost story of how Grateful Dead Records almost signed Bob Marley, the birth of the Rhythm Devils, the thrilling show at Duke University filmed by the student-run television station, lost studio sessions, and tales of high adventure from across decades and continents, with plenty more surprises to come. The Friend Of the Devils episodes, as well as a segment on Roosevelt Stadium ‘74, feature longtime Deadcast friend Steve Silberman, who died unexpectedly at the end of August. We miss him a lot, as we do the late Bill Walton, mega-collector Eric Schwartz, and so many other members of the extended Dead karass who’ve departed too soon.

But the story continues wherever the music is playing. A mile-and-a-half down El Camino Real from Dana Morgan’s was Magoo’s Pizza, where the Warlocks appeared on Wednesday family nights in the spring of 1965, where customers received a free bucket of spaghetti with every pie, and where at least one indignant father left in a huff after the noisy roustabouts started clanking about with their electric guitars. The occupants of 641 Santa Cruz Avenue these days are a little more upscale, where the soon-to-open new cocktail bar Loretta is planning to once again feature Dead music on Wednesdays. Until then, keep your freak flag high, and stay in touch.

DEAD & COMPANY

Now, where were we? Oh, right…

When last we gathered here around the digital campfire last Autumn, we had recently witnessed the completion of what was announced as the Final Tour by Dead & Company. And a glorious tour it was – by general acclaim the finest to date by the latest (and easily the most popular) of the various ensembles featuring core alumni of the Grateful Dead and continuing an ever-evolving musical and social adventure that began nearly 60 years ago. When the tour was initially declared to be the last one by this lineup, it evoked, understandably, a complicated range of emotions in the Dead Head community. Certainly, there was gratitude for the way the band had fulfilled its mission over the course of its eight-year run, simultaneously honoring the traditions of the Dead and bringing a fresh perspective to the party (and with it, the fresh energy of many new fans experiencing the music and the scene for the first time). At the same time, however, there was no small amount of sadness, anxiety and uncertainty. What, exactly, was ending here? And what, if anything, would come to the fore to replace it?

Well, if there’s one thing we’ve learned over these last six decades, “final” is a relative and highly malleable concept in Dead World. Things tend not to “end” so much as morph into whatever’s next, as new opportunities, ideas and collaborative possibilities emerge and converge. Maybe it’s helpful to think of the Grateful Dead as the musical equivalent of a sourdough starter – not something finite and meant to be discarded, but a living culture that keeps contributing to the creation of new and delicious things in perpetuity. And so, as the Final Tour wound down in the midsummer of 2023, there was already a growing sense that something new was waiting to be born, even if that something was as of then undefined. Members of Dead & Company expressed confident resolve that there would indeed be more music to make together. As John Mayer put it just after the last notes sounded in San Francisco: “Dead & Company is still a band. We just don’t know what the next show is.” Mickey Hart had also emphatically stated: “It's not the final anything. We never said we'll never play again, but we'll never tour again.”

An eminently sensible declaration, that. As Frank Zappa put it in his epic and surreal cinematic depiction of life on the road, “200 Motels,” touring can make you crazy. And not necessarily the fun kind of crazy. It’s an exhausting enterprise requiring a massive traveling infrastructure of staging, lighting and sound gear, a veritable army of working personnel, complex logistics, aggravating political dealings with local bureaucracies in the places to be visited, added to the tedium and physical wear-and-tear of traveling hundreds of miles on buses between each gig, which becomes significantly less fun as musicians get older.

So, the question was, if not touring, what? Perhaps just occasional one-off appearances at festivals and such? Specially created events in desirable destinations, like the paradisical getaways to Mexico that had occurred for several years? Or maybe extended residencies, where the band could be in one place and the audience would come to them?

Hmmm… residencies… that sounded pretty good. But where, pray tell, could such a residency take place?

And then, in a small miracle of perfect timing came word of the impending completion of a venue unlike any other – a phantasmagorical pleasure dome rising just off the Las Vegas Strip, to be called Sphere (not “the” Sphere, thank you, just Sphere!). To call this new facility “state-of-the-art” would be a terribly insufficient understatement, as the goal was clearly to create a space with the potential to redefine the art of live music presentation, fully immersing audiences in the most advanced audio and mind-blowing visuals available anywhere, in a physically stunning environment. Originally announced in 2018 and requiring exhaustive research and development involving collaborations between preeminent experts in the fields of audio, cinema, architecture and various other arts and sciences, Sphere was finally ready to open in September of 2023 – just a little over two months after the end of DeadCo’s Final Tour – with a 40-show residency by U2, a band that had long incorporated a strong visual flair into its tours supporting such albums as Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop, and response to the shows and the new venue was instantaneous and ecstatic. Members of Dead & Company, their management and creative/technical support teams paid multiple visits to Sphere during the U2 run, and it took almost no time at all to definitively put that “don’t know what the next show is” thing to rest. The next show (and in fact what would turn out to be the next 30 shows) would be at Sphere, commencing in May of 2024 and extending into what would be one very hot Las Vegas summer.

Before the residency was announced, there would be some additional business to be taken care of, like another winter excursion to the sands of the Yucatan - but this time with a lineup that was not quite Dead & Co, as John had other commitments – for an event called “Dead Ahead,” featuring the rest of the gang playing with some of their own individual and collaborative projects and culminating in a couple of jam-happy nights featuring a stellar array of guest stars including Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price, members of Goose and numerous others.

Close on the heels of that delightful tropical diversion came the wildly anticipated announcement of Dead & Company’s Sphere plans, and the reaction and demand for tickets was predictably off-the-hook, buoyed by the existing buzz about the venue generated by the U2 residency, as well as Dead Head joy and relief that the “Final” implied in the previous summer’s tour hadn’t been as all-encompassing as some had feared.

Preparation for this new mode of presentation was going to require a lot more forethought than that demanded by a traditional touring regimen, because Sphere’s amazing immersive capabilities demand a degree of synchronization between what the band is playing and what the audience is seeing all around them on the surface of the venue’s massive dome. While U2 ultimately played ten more nights than Dead & Company would, they worked from essentially the same setlist every time, so the visual cues and coordination with the music remained generally consistent from show to show. When Phish debuted at Sphere shortly after U2 wrapped up, they decided, perhaps wisely, to keep their focus tighter by scheduling a modest four-show run, allowing for greater novelty in the use of visuals, in keeping with that band’s famous capacity for crowd-pleasing spectacle.

Of course, far be it from any Grateful Dead-related entity to make things easier on itself. So, Dead & Company planned their presentation to remain in line with the Dead’s longstanding tradition of setlist variety, while adapting to the demands of making the musical and visual content work together in creative and unexpected ways. It was also determined that while some visual elements would remain consistent, the entire residency would be approached as an ongoing work-in-progress, with new songs and corresponding imagery added with each succeeding three-show run, and existing visual bits altered from show to show to offer as many surprising variations as possible.

And so, after months of planning, preparation and creating the visual content (much of it, incidentally, taking place at what’s been called the Mini-Sphere – a smaller-scale facility built by Sphere’s proprietors where all the tech can be tested), the Dead & Company residency commenced officially on May 16th, with audience excitement and curiosity at a fever pitch.

Could the band, the venue and this untested new form live up to such a level of anticipation?

Oh my, yes.

At this point, dear reader, you’ll have to forgive us, as mere descriptive text becomes woefully inadequate to convey what those inside Sphere experienced in joyous communion. How can you encapsulate in words the phenomenon of 18,000-plus minds being freshly blown night after night? There is no still picture or two-dimensional video that can do the job, either. If we could, maybe we’d send each and every one of you a pair of virtual-reality goggles to get you a little closer to comprehending what it was like, but management firmly but politely informs us that it just ain’t in the budget. Our bad.

We can only tell you that the shows were not only unique and resonant artistic statements unto themselves, but afforded even the crustiest, seen-it-all old ‘heads (raising hand here) a great opportunity to reconsider and rediscover their own relationship to the music and the community with a renewed sense of wonder. And for the many younger people who were perhaps having a Dead-related experience for the first time, approaching it without deeply ingrained preconceptions of how all this is supposed to work, we can only imagine and marvel at how the experience will inform the rest of their music-loving lives. The constant influx of newly-minted Dead Heads is a consistent source of joy and inspiration and a testament to the enduring qualities and values that have always made this scene what it is.
Just to take another stab at describing the indescribable…

We can tell you that each show had a certain narrative quality never before undertaken by any of the various incarnations of the Grateful Dead and its successors – but that narrative changed considerably from night to night between the bookends of a fixed opening and closing sequence. Since we’re past the stage of spoiler alerts… the show would open with a clever bit of what a magician would call “misdirection.” Once the band took the stage and went into a short opening song, what the audience would see was simple projections of the musicians playing on what appeared to be the unfinished, skeletal structural core of the building – a framework of unimpressive scaffolding, platforms and industrial equipment. One seeing this for the first time might wonder what all the fuss was about – until the first song ended and suddenly, accompanied by loud metallic sounds, that structure appeared to crack open and start to come apart, pausing briefly to reveal a jaggedly familiar lightning-bolt shape, then continuing to split apart to display, in stunningly high resolution, a perfectly detailed present-day view of a particular block on Ashbury Street in San Francisco, with a certain much loved old Victorian house at its center. At that point, as the band kicked into the next song, things started to move – the audience POV shifted to above that row of houses and then ascended farther and farther up, exposing a dizzying view of all of San Francisco and the Bay, complete with fog rolling in from the Golden Gate Bridge, and continuing up above all of California, and the North American continent, and then the whole Earth, receding into the distance before we entered deep space

You know… just your typical open to an average rock ‘n’ roll show.

Over the course of the evening, you might find yourself in a tropical rain forest, going on a wild trip with a virtual reboot of the motorcycle-riding skeleton from The Grateful Dead Movie, plunging beneath the sea to frolic with all nature of luminescent aquatic life or taking a tour of some highly stylized renditions of iconic Grateful Dead venues, including Winterland, Radio City Music Hall, Hampton Coliseum, the Great Pyramid of Giza and various others. One of Bobby Weir’s cowboy songs might be accompanied by grainy footage simulating a low-budget Western movie (titled “ACE,” natch). Those are just a few things that could be seen among an ever-changing array of treats for the eyes as well as the ears. And about those ears… all that eye candy, spectacular as it was, wouldn’t have meant much if the band wasn’t making music that could stand on its own merits and not be overwhelmed by the visuals. Well, fear not. As great as Dead & Company sounded on the Final Tour, they managed to find yet another level at Sphere. Part of it surely had something to do with the capabilities of the venue’s permanent audio system, which delivered such astonishing clarity that some veteran ‘heads skirted dangerously close to entertaining such heretical thoughts as “better than the Wall of Sound??” Well, if not better, certainly deserving of a place in the conversation. We can’t start to go into the kind of technical geekery that would sufficiently explain how it all works, but one detail is that the system consists of thousands of speakers, almost entirely hidden from view, that are described as hyperdirectional, delivering focused sound to everyone in a way that essentially makes the entire building the “sweet spot.” The band’s ability to put the music across was also aided by the unusual physical setup, with no big stacks of amps to be seen – the musicians instead use their in-ear monitors to hear the sound of their instruments coming from speakers sequestered in crates somewhere offstage, meaning no one was too loud onstage (for a change). The lack of clutter also let the players stand closer to one another, making for enhanced visual contact, helping to confer a sense of intimacy, even in a venue of such great size. All this resulted in music that was deeply conversational in nature and brimming with fresh ideas. As has been the case with Dead and Company from the start and especially over the course of the Final Tour and the summer at Sphere, the younger members of the band brought their own personalities and perspectives to the music in ways that shed new light on even the most familiar items in the repertoire. And the grizzled veterans responded in kind. Bobby Weir was at the top of his game both vocally and instrumentally, singing with wit and conviction and lending his unparalleled facility for melodic and harmonic invention to the music throughout the Vegas run.

While all the players were in peak form, we would be remiss if we didn’t say that if there was ever a musician who could all by himself justify the existence of Sphere, it’s Mickey Hart, who years ago pointed out that he and the rest of the Grateful Dead weren’t in the entertainment business, but the transportation business (although to be fair, we’ve been pretty comprehensively entertained along the way!). But if transporting us was the goal, Mickey may have found his dream vehicle with this venue. His Drums sequences and deep drone workouts on the Beam have always been transformative experiences on a purely sonic level but having that added dimension of sound that completely enveloped us and visuals that mesmerized us took it all up enough notches that we found ourselves in places where we hadn’t even imagined any more notches existed. The visuals during Drums included, appropriately enough a constantly swirling array of drums from Mickey’s own vast collection, as well as a giant image of a brain (Mickey’s own, which he has proudly and accurately described as quite a handsome brain indeed). Oh, and one more aspect to the Drums presentation: thousands of the seats at Sphere are outfitted with haptic devices that vibrated strongly when Mickey hit one of those big, big drums, or when he got into the lowest frequencies on the Beam, giving audience members an unexpected full body massage at no extra charge.

Another wonderful byproduct of the Sphere experience: at some point early in the residency, some of those on the more roomy and danceable fringes of the GA floor decided to take a load off their feet during Drums and Space, lying flat on their backs and gazing up at the top of the dome. More and more people adopted this new custom as the weeks wore on and it was a wondrous thing to behold.

Now, before we wrap this up, we should tell you one tale of peril turned to triumph. Or, disaster narrowly averted, as Bobby has been known to say.

We all know the lyric “When life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door.” Well, in this all-too-literal instance, the door in question was on a truck, and said door got accidently slammed on the finger of John Mayer with just a couple of weeks left in the residency. And not just any finger – the index finger on his left hand, which guitar players will tell you is THE crucial finger – the one that anchors all the fretwork, forms barre chords and performs many other crucial functions. Said finger was not just a little dinged, but quite thoroughly mashed, leaving John in considerable pain and making playing with any fluidity and facility seem an almost insurmountable obstacle. But our man Mayer did not give even a moment’s thought to canceling shows (or bringing in a relief picker from the bullpen). He spent the few days leading up to the penultimate weekend of shows essentially learning how to negotiate the fretboard in an entirely different manner than that to which he’d been accustomed for so long, likening the process to solving exceptionally challenging geometry puzzles
- all while having to deal with the limited range of motion imposed on the normally functioning fingers by the presence of the protruding, bandaged and painfully throbbing adjacent digit.

Well, we can happily report that John was more than up to the daunting task, aided by the empathetic playing of his bandmates who had his back every step of the way. Making up for any physical limitations with taste and inventiveness, he worked his way around the frets so smoothly that more than one seasoned guitarist said that if they hadn’t known in advance of the injury (and hadn’t seen that bandaged finger on the giant screen), they never would have guessed that anything was amiss. Mayer himself seemed to be increasingly caught up in the fun that came with the challenge, saying that he’d found himself looking at the neck of the guitar in ways he hadn’t had to since he was around 15 years old, and was kind of digging that. With each succeeding show, John played with more confidence and boldness and could be seen smiling with delight when he pulled off something that most guitarists with all fingers fully intact couldn’t have dreamed of doing. By the final weekend, the finger was sufficiently healed (and John was that much more comfortable with the creative workarounds he’d developed) that the last three shows were among the best of the whole summer, and John was even able to take off the bandage at a few points to pull off some of the more complicated passages (like the composed portions of “Help On The Way” and “Slipknot!” that simply can’t be done without all fingers on board). In the end, the prevailing feeling wasn’t “not bad under the circumstances,” but something more akin to “Damn!!” And that extended to the general sense of triumph attached to entire nearly-three-month adventure. Hats off to the band, their entire management and production team and everyone at Sphere, as well-run and staffed a venue as one could ever hope for.

And it goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway… endless thanks to the thousands of Dead Heads who came to Las Vegas - whether for only one show or all 30 – bringing with them their indominable good cheer and love for the music, even when it meant enduring heat usually only found in science fiction (peak temperature, on the Sunday of July 4th weekend: a Vegas single day record of 120°!!!). You’re the reason this beautiful thing has gone on for as long as it has, and we hope it’s not too long before we can gather together again. Oh, about that… it seems like everyone is eager to return to Sphere, although nothing explicit has been said about a timeframe, so we’ll just have to let the process play out.

But on the bright side – no one’s called what we just experienced the “final” Sphere residency, so…

Jerry Garcia

Work on Justin Kreutzmann’s long-awaited Jerry Garcia documentary continues to roll along, with a projected debut in 2025!

In March, the Bluegrass Hall of Fame opened an expansive exhibit titled Jerry Garcia: A Bluegrass Journey, exploring his roots as a musician, fan, and recordist in the folk, bluegrass, and old-timey music scenes. Featuring photos, instruments, and other memorabilia on loan from the Garcia family, his former partner Sara Katz, and other friends and family. The exhibit runs into 2025. Opening weekend in March featured a cavalcade of guest-studded performances, including a reunion of Garcia’s Palo Alto picking buddies David Nelson and Eric Thompson, alongside Peter Rowan, Ronnie McCoury, Sam Grisman, Pete Wernick, Jim Lauderdale, Leftover Salmon, and others.

On the acoustic front, Round Records and David Grisman’s Acoustic Disc are partnering to release Bare Bones on December 13th, presenting 51 tracks from Garcia and Grisman’s early ‘90s duo sessions, minus the overdubs orchestrated for their earlier releases. Featuring a range of alternate takes, unheard songs, and improvisation, it will be available from Garcia Family Provisions as a 3-CD set or three 2-LP volumes. Late last year, Acoustic Disc also issued Old & In the Way’s Live at Sonoma State, 11/4/73, capturing the original group’s penultimate performance, and last as an active band, featuring an appearance by their buddy Ramblin’ Jack Elliot.

And, more electrically, Round released GarciaLive Volume 21: February 13th, 1976 Keystone Berkeley, featuring Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux (along with John Kahn and the inimitable Ronnie Tutt). It features the first known performance of the Rolling Stones’ “Moonlight Mile” with filler from a few days later catching the first known version of Charles Johnson’s “My Brothers and Sisters.” Record Store Day’s Black Friday event on November 29th will also see the first vinyl release of the 3-LP Electric on the Eel: August 29th, 1987 in a limited edition of 4,000 on Orange Sunshine-colored vinyl.

BOBBY WEIR

As always, the latest news on Bobby Weir will be found at his next show. At press time, Bobby is gearing up for Hulaween with String Cheese Incident in Florida. But, in his most grand project of recent years, he is gearing up for the next round of performances with the Wolf Bros. featuring The Wolfpack playing side by side with philharmonic and pops orchestras, this time in Cincinnati, Chicago, and New Orleans. Dive into the Bobby 75 episode of the Deadcast for a deep look at the project with Bobby and collaborator Giancarlo Aqualanti. As Bobby enthused after playing with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra last year, “These kids these days don’t know what can’t be done.”

But to recap Weir’s typically unrecappable year: Between celebrating anniversaries and college graduations (and showing up at the Super Bowl to root for the 49ers), not to mention 30 nights in Las Vegas with Dead & Company–plus a Dead Ahead excursion in Cancun–Bobby Weir stayed the utterly unpredictable course since our last update. Weir’s Wolf Bros. featuring The Wolfpack sent out 2023 with an extended residency in New York and New Year’s shows in Florida.

Bobby continued to make it a nearly full-time job to nurture and conjure collaborations new and old. A small sampling, aside from various guests welcomed to the stage with Wolf Bros.: In January, after teaming up with Sturgill Simpson, Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda, Margo Price, and other friends at the first edition of Dead Ahead, Weir joined Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, and many more to pay tribute to longtime hero Ramblin’ Jack Elliot while celebrating the 30th anniversary of Sweet Relief at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. In March, Weir’s onstage partners included Lukas and Micah Nelson and Promise of the Real (at the Fillmore in San Francisco) and jazz/pop heavies Steve Jordan, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and David Murray (at the Apollo in Harlem). Most recently, he appeared at Life Is A Carnival, a star-studded Robbie Robertson tribute at the Forum in Los Angeles (with Elvis Costello, Bruce Hornsby, Eric Clapton, and too many others to list here), appearing alongside Mavis Staples and Phish’s Trey Anastasio.

This New Year’s, Weir and the gang return to Florida. Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros. featuring The Wolfpack will ring in 2025 with four nights at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, and begin the Year of the Snake with a pair of gigs by Wolf Bros. Trio across town at the Parker Playhouse. A few days later, Bobby will head to the next edition of Dead Ahead in Cancun, picking up musical conversations with Sturgill Simpson, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Rick Mitarotonda, Brittney Spencer, Grace Bowers, and very special guest Brandi Carlile, plus the regular all-stars Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge, Don Was, and Jay Lane.

As always, stay tuned for the latest.

ROBERT HUNTER

The archives of the Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter are just now coming open, with a series of extraordinary discoveries over the past year. Found in the Grateful Dead vault–excavated alongside the Wake of the Flood Angel’s Share and highlighted on the Deadcast–was a barely-rumored November 1973 session titled alternately on the tape as Prelude/Tuesday Night Jam. Over the course of a single evening, Hunter led the Garcia-less Dead in an inspired studio improvisation and arranged songs on top of it, with the purpose of playing it for incoming crowds at Dead shows (which they did the following week at San Francisco’s Winterland), a playful and inspired party.

There was the much-celebrated 50th anniversary reissue of Hunter’s solo debut, Tales of the Great Rum Runners, recorded at Mickey Hart’s Barn in Novato and released almost concurrently with the Dead’s From the Mars Hotel and Jerry Garcia’s Compliments of Garcia. The expanded Rum Runners features the album’s long-lost original draft with a number of outtakes and alternate mixes (with an accompanying Deadcast diving into Hunter’s secretive performing history as “Lefty Banks” with Rodney Albin’s Liberty Hill Aristocrats and an even-more-lost version of the album recorded in London in early 1974 with young British musicians).

This fall, as well, sees the publication of The Silver Snarling Trumpet, Hunter’s vivid real-time scene memoir of Palo Alto circa 1961, which is a lot like a documentary of teenage Hunter, Garcia, and friends, but even better, with verbatim hangout transcripts, existential raps, and more.

PHIL LESH

“Dark Star is always playing somewhere,” Phil Lesh has said, and lately it’s been at the Terrapin Clubhouse. After laying (relatively) low following the closure of Terrapin Crossroads in xx, Phil Lesh, his Terrapin family, and his friends returned to action with the newly dubbed Terrapin Clubhouse. Not that Phil has ever needed a reason to extend and expand the Grateful Dead songbook, but the parallel video series--Clubhouse Sessions and the ongoing Darkstarathon--fit Phil like Olympic-colored wristbands, platforms to send out a range of excellent music made in quiet, chill, playing-oriented environment.

The Sessions feature (slightly) shorter excursions with the likes of Peter Rowan, and Karl Denson, and the Darkstarathons are just that, each picking up where the previous left off, or more accurately, tapped back into. The guest lists is immense, often overlapping, and still growing, including pianist Holly Bowling, harpist Mikala Davis, a range of guitarists including Barry Sless and Dan Leibowitz (both doubling on pedal steel), Stu Allen, Grahame Lesh, and even Oteil Burbridge... on drums, his first instrument. Each adventure a jam, and each jam an adventure.

BILL KREUTZMANN

Bill the Drummer mostly just chilled out in Kauai this year! He closed out 2023 with a few Billy & the Kids shows on the east and west coast. Both set of gigs featured his usual gang alongside Brad and Andrew Barr of The Slip/Barr Bros., honorary Kids setting their course for wilder waters. Check out their Daze of the Dead, recorded over Halloween.

But a drummer’s gotta jam and Billy Kreutzmann recently announced Mahalo Dead, a three-day event on his home island of Kaua’i featuring Daniel Donato, Reed Mathis, Adam MacDougall, Jason Hann, and Jake Brownstein, from November 22nd to 24th.

MICKEY HART

Mickey Hart continued to chase rhythms across multiple dimensions, both inside Dead & Company but also via new routes that only Mickey could conjure. In January, he soundtracked Noche de Ondas at Dead Ahead in Mexico with the new band Mickey and the Miracles, inviting generational guitar hero Derek Trucks and master percussionists Karl Perazzo and Giovanni Hidalgo into the expanding rhythmic space for a late-night of oceanic explorations. But most of Mickey’s work this year charted even newer worlds.

In August, ESPN premiered Rhythm Masters: A Mickey Hart Experience, an hour-long film inspired by the much-missed Bill Walton, but expanded to explore never-mapped connections between the deepest levels of music and sports. With Mickey’s mind setting the course, the conversation includes new and old sports legends from Joe Montana to Marshawn Lynch, Jack Nicklaus to Sheryl Swopes, all joining Mickey in pursuing and understanding the importance of the groove.

Mickey’s visual art has taken centerstage with Dead & Co. for many tours, adorning his drumheads and his curated sonifications during Space segments (including a new partnership with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), but it ascended to the next level this year. Vibrational expressionism, as Mickey calls it, runs the mega-tones of the Beam through subwoofers to vibrate paint across surfaces, creating otherworldly swirls and textures. In April, Mickey’s art was featured on the Exosphere, treating not only Sphere-goers but all of Las Vegas to a blast of color through his piece, Rhythms of the Universe. And, over at the Venetian, was Mickey’s biggest-ever art exhibit, the immersive Art at the Edge of Magic.

FRIENDS & RELATIONS

Music

ANNOUNCING DAVE’S PICKS 2025 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 53

As we enter our 14th year of the Dave's Picks series, heading into Volumes 53-56 in 2025, most days we feel we're just getting started. Every volume of the series is still just as exciting for us as the first few releases in the series back in 2012, and we hope you continue to get as much joy out of listening to them as we get from producing them. One of the greatest thrills we get from working on them is the flexibility to go where the music takes us in making the selections. For 2025, Volume 53 has been selected and is in the can, and we've just entered production on Volume 54 (and the subscribers' Bonus Disc!), but beyond that, it's a blank slate, and we're spending countless hours listening to determine what's to come for Volumes 55 and 56 in the second half of 2025. After the great variety we saw in 2024 (1985 x 2, 1977, 1971, and 1983), we focused on great variety again in 2025. Come along for the ride! If you've never subscribed, this would be a great year to start, as we head into the Grateful Dead's 60th year. There's plenty of room on the bus for everyone!
David Lemieux
October 2024

Watch the Seaside Chat for breaking news on Dave’s Picks 53 and hints on what’s to come in 2025.

For some of you, it’s a done deal. For those of you still on the fence or new around these parts, we’ll lay it all out right here, right now. Dave’s Picks subscribers score all four numbered, limited-edition releases (totaling a minimum of 13 CDs) featuring previously unreleased complete live Grateful Dead shows. You’ll also get the subscription exclusive bonus disc, which remains one of the most highly sought-after collectibles we release, and free U.S. shipping. Subscriber bonus discs are not released outside of this offer. As always, early bird subscribers can nab a sub at $99.98 (regular pricing will be $119.92).

Dave's Picks 2025 will once again be capped at 25,000 copies of each release. Your best bet is to subscribe, sit back, and relax as each show is delivered to your door quarterly.

EARLY BIRD PRICING ENDS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH AT 9:00 PM PT.

GET ONE AND GIFT ONE

LESS THAN 1,000 LEFT
DAVE’S PICKS VOL. 2: DILLION STADIUM, HARTFORD, CT 7/31/24 (7LP SET)

7-LP with 14th Side Etching, 180-Gram Vinyl
2-piece telescope box, with insert featuring photos and liner notes

Mastered by Jeffrey Norman
Produced for release by David Lemieux
Limited Edition of 5000

“Very nearly selected as the inaugural Dave's Picks, 7/31/74 would eventually become the second release in the series in 2012. The Hartford '74 show was the penultimate outdoor concert for the Grateful Dead's Wall Of Sound, which was on the tail end of its existence. DAVE'S PICKS VOL. 2 includes every note the Grateful Dead played that night plus Phil and Ned's Seastones interlude. Featuring a rare "Scarlet Begonias" show-opener, and ending with an encore of Uncle John's Band, Dave's Picks Vol. 2 features three full-length sets, a truly epic, monumental show from 1974, a year many Dead Heads consider the band's greatest. The show includes lengthy workouts on "China>Rider," "Weather Report Suite," "Eyes Of The World>China Doll," and a "Truckin'>Wharf Rat" sequence that includes several thematic jams as the band joins these two classics. The CD sold out immediately in 2012, and we're thrilled to be re-issuing this terrific show on vinyl.” – David Lemieux

GET THE DAVE’S PICKS VOLUME 2 VINYL SET

LESS THAN 1,000 LEFT
FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978

Spring 1978 finds the Dead consistently weaving spontaneous magic, showing signs of great promise and potential - from the no-nonsense rock'n'roll in Tampa, where scholars cite the first "Drumz" leading into "Space," to the lengthy communal get down in Pembroke Pines to Jacksonville where the twain emerge fully formed, offering the primordial opportunity for "soul retrieval." It's evident in the dynamic range delivered on back-to-back nights at the intimate Fox Theatre and through the laid-back unity of the band's performance in Durham at Duke, a comfort that carries over to Virginia and West Virginia where the playing is unbridled, bursting with momentum, threatening to carry itself away. And nowhere can you hear that more clearly than through Betty Cantor-Jackson's original recordings, reliably crisp, bright, and vivid.

Individually numbered to 10,000 copies and exclusive to Dead.net, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978 has been mastered by Audio Engineer Jeffrey Norman using Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction. Steve Vance designed the collection’s custom box, which features a removable wave drum. (We invite you to unleash your inner Rhythm Devil.) Acclaimed artist Matthew Brannon created the set’s original artwork. The collection also includes a 48-page book with original liner notes by author Steve Silberman and photos by James Anderson, Bob Minkin, and more.

GET THE FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978 19 CD SET GET THE FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978 (ALAC) GET THE FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL 1978 (FLAC)

DUKE ‘78

"When the Grateful Dead arrived at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the sixth stop of the first leg of the Spring Tour of 1978, they were a well-oiled machine. The expectation was there amongst concert goers that the Dead would deliver an exceptional show; the consistency of excellence was in full force on this tour. And as great as the previous five shows had been, no one could have known that the X-factor would appear in such force at Duke on April 12, 1978. Opening with a pair of classics, “Jack Straw” and “Dire Wolf,” it was clear from the first 10 minutes of the show that something special was happening. But what was to come couldn't have been predicted; no one could have seen what the next three hours would hold. As the Dead barreled through their first set with "Beat It On Down The Line," and "Peggy-O,"" there was something magical happening on the campus in Durham, NC that night. The Dead, as everyone in the building that night could hear, were determined to play one of their best shows ever at Duke. Ending their first set with exemplary versions of "Loser," "Lazy Lightning > Supplication," the second set began without missing a beat, rocking hard with "Bertha > Good Lovin'." As perfectly executed as ever played "Estimated Prophet>Eyes Of The World" led into one of the Dead's longest, most intense, and most exciting "Rhythm Devils" drum interludes, clocking in at more than 20 minutes. And the only way to beat that? One of the most powerful live versions of "Truckin'" the Grateful Dead ever played, unlike any other rendition of their "big hit." A spectacularly beautiful, perfectly executed "Wharf Rat" leads into more rock 'n' roll, "Around and Around," to end one of the most satisfying shows the Dead had played in the last several years. As an encore, the Dead put the cherry on the cake with a "U.S. Blues" that has Jerry joyously screaming the chorus. The Dead left it all on the stage on April 12, 1978. Thankfully they had the next night off. "
- David Lemieux

GET THE 4LP GET THE 3CD GET THE ALAC GET THE FLAC

FROM THE MARS HOTEL (50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION)

FROM THE MARS HOTEL (50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION) features remastered audio by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer David Glasser, with Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction. Produced for release by Grateful Dead Legacy Manager and Audio Archivist, David Lemieux, the DELUXE EDITION also includes demos of “China Doll” and “Wave That Flag” – the song that became “U.S. Blues” – as well as a previously unreleased live performance of the Grateful Dead at University of Nevada-Reno on 5/12/1974. As the band filled an outdoor football stadium with epic highs like huge “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider,” Mars Hotel cuts including “U.S. Blues” and classics such as “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Tennessee Jed,” “Mississippi Half-Step,” “Truckin',” “Sugar Magnolia,” a massive wind storm was no match for the Wall of Sound. Designed to improve the listening and performance experience at what were becoming larger gigs and longer, more dynamic and varied sets, the Wall of Sound required 21 stage hands, and underlined the resounding effect the Grateful Dead were having on American audiences and culture at the time, even as the entire operation remained homespun and humble.

Recorded in San Francisco’s Coast Recorders studio, FROM THE MARS HOTEL finds Keith Godchaux particularly shining across a variety of keys, from the “China Doll” harpsichord to the pounding piano on Bob Weir’s “Money Money,” to the churchy organ that elevates “Ship Of Fools.” Lyricist Robert Hunter packs “U.S. Blues” with a barrage of imagery, pop-culture references and sardonic asides – as Canadian author Ray Robertson writes in the 50th Anniversary Edition’s liner notes, it “carries an undeniable whiff of late-capitalism ennui…it’s the most fun you’ll ever have dancing to the end of the American Empire.” Jerry Garcia’s jaunty lead guitar drives bouncing melodies across the LP, while guests include Ned Lagin’s unnerving synth effects on “Unbroken Chain,” Clover member John McFee’s country-rock pedal steel on “Pride Of Cucamonga,” and more.

GET THE LP GET THE 3CD GET THE HIGH DEFINITION DOWNLOAD

FROM THE MARS HOTEL (THE ANGEL’S SHARE)

Featuring 16 newly unearthed session recordings, FROM THE MARS HOTEL: THE ANGEL’S SHARE brings you directly into San Francisco’s Coast Recorders during the spring of 1974, revealing the band’s real-time process as they crafted such eternal staples as “Scarlet Begonias,” “Ship Of Fools,” “China Doll,” “U.S. Blues,” “Unbroken Chain” and more that would make up their classic FROM THE MARS HOTEL LP. The evolution of all of those songs and other album highlights is charted throughout this fourth edition of the band’s fan-favorite Angel’s Share series. Like previous installments that accompanied milestone reissues of WORKINGMAN’S DEAD, AMERICAN BEAUTY and WAKE OF THE FLOOD, FROM THE MARS HOTEL: THE ANGEL’S SHARE brings together hours of expertly-curated outtakes, alternate versions, acoustic mixes, unexpected moments and revelations that have never been heard until now.

GET THE FROM THE MARS HOTEL: THE ANGEL’S SHARE DOWNLOAD

ROBERT HUNTER: TALES OF THE GREAT RUM RUNNERS

TALES OF THE GREAT RUM RUNNERS (DELUXE EDITION) introduces a freshly remastered version of Robert Hunter’s original album alongside 16 previously unreleased recordings, including alternate versions of album tracks and several session outtakes. All the music has been remastered from the original master tapes by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer David Glasser using Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction.

Originally released in spring 1974, TALES OF THE GREAT RUM RUNNERS marked the inaugural release on Round Records, an offshoot of the newly formed Grateful Dead Records. Among its 13 tracks were several destined to become staples of Hunter’s live repertoire, like “Boys In The Barroom,” “Rum Runners,” and “It Must Have Been The Roses.”

Recorded at Mickey Hart’s converted barn studio in Novato, California, the album reveals Hunter’s multifaceted talents and features him singing and playing various instruments, including guitar, tin whistle, and bagpipes on “Children’s Lament.” He was accompanied by a revolving cast of Bay Area musicians on the album, including Jerry Garcia, Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux, and Mickey Hart of the Dead, as well as guitarist Barry Melton (Country Joe & The Fish), bassist David Freiberg (Quicksilver Messenger Service/Jefferson Starship), and pedal steel guitarist Buddy Cage (New Riders Of The Purple Sage).

TALES OF THE GREAT RUM RUNNERS (DELUXE EDITION) comes with 16 previously unreleased bonus tracks, offering new insight into the album’s evolution. Among these are alternate versions of six songs that made the album (“Keys To The Rain” and “It Must Have Been The Roses”), plus ten gems that did not (“The Word,” “Buck Dancer’s Choice,” and “Elijah.”)

GET THE 2LP GET THE 2CD GET THE HIGH DEFINITION DOWNLOAD

What's In Store

In The Community

GOOD OL' GRATEFUL DEADCAST

Author and WFMU DJ Jesse Jarnow and singer-songwriter and producer Rich Mahan doubled down this year, with Seasons 9 AND 10, where they went deep with song-by-song explorations celebrating the 50th anniversary of FROM THE MARS HOTEL and truckin' through the new FRIEND OF THE DEVILS boxed set, exploring the band’s new sound for ‘78 and the birth of drums>space, featuring taper tales and rare archival interviews with Jerry Garcia.

Join Jesse and Rich every other Thursday as they continue to weave together stories from Grateful Dead family members, Dead Heads, surprise guests, and historians with rare audio from the band. You never know who will stop by! Oh, and all episodes are now being transcribed for posterity and greater accessibility.

Who are you? Where are you? How are you? We want to hear from you!

Did you hitch an unforgettable ride to the show? Make lifelong friends on Shakedown Street? Marry the gal with scarlet begonias tucked into her curls? Tell us (briefly) about the magic moments, the tryin' times, anything the Grateful Dead helped see you through. You just might find your story on an upcoming episode of The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast. Hit the link below to record a tale or two or leave a text message for the hosts.

BINGE HERE SUBMIT YOUR STORY

30 DAYS OF DEAD

A Dead Head’s most wonderful time of the year starts on November 1st, the kickoff to 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, one for every day of the month, selected by archivist and producer David Lemieux. The tracks are yours, 100% free gua-ran-teed, but the real fun is taking part in the challenge for the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.

You know your Ables from your Bakers from your C's, but can your finely tuned ears differentiate the cosmic "comeback" tour from a spacey 70s show? Each day we'll post a song from one of the Dead's coveted shows. Will it be from that magical night at Madison Square Garden in '93 or from way back when they were just starting to warm it up at Winterland? Is that Pigpen's harmonica we hear? Brent on keys? If you think you know, lob your answer in and you just might find yourself taking home our daily prize of a 2025 Grateful Dead wall calendar or the grand prize – a copy of limited, numbered, FRIEND OF THE DEVILS: APRIL '78 boxed set!

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SOCIALLY GRATEFUL

Make the holiday season that much more GRATEFUL. We've got a handful of festive designs made for your socials in MP4, square, and Stories sizes. Simply download your selected art to your desktop and upload as your profile picture or animation.

GET THEM HERE