Grateful Dead

I'll take the NOT STRICTLY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL in Golden Gate Park every Oct. It's grown to cover 3 days and stages. In the past few years they've had hundreds of acts including:Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Ricky Skaggs, Bob Weir and The Waybacks, Dolly Parton, Billy Bragg, Doc Watson, Hot Tuna and many others. It's a great scene (gets a little overwhelming when 20,000 people hit one stage to see Dolly Parton or Willie at once, in a space meant for a lot less) and it's ENTIRELY FREE> First week in Oct. this year. See you in San Fran.

As some of you may already know, during the RatDog set, the actions of some maniac at the Gathering on Saturday night resulted in a Bridgeport, Ct., police officer being injured...The following is a mailing address, as well as eMail for you to send some healing Vibes to that man who was just trying to do his job: Deputy Police Chief James Honis Bridgeport Police Deparment 300 Congress St Bridgeport, CT 06604 honisj0@ci.bridgeport.ct.us

After 4 long years of memories, camping, music, and friendships made in Black River Falls Wisconsin, the long strange trip is over for the Grateful Garcia Gathering.The venue in Black River Falls will no longer be holding music festivals after this summer is over. The new home for the Grateful Garcia Gathering is now hosted at Legend Valley ( www.LegendValley.net ), just 20 minutes East of Columbus Ohio! Legend Valley's (formerly Buckeye Lake Music Center in Ohio) owner Steve Trickle has been in contact with the organizers of the Grateful Garcia Gathering - Tim Sundog Corcoran and Anthony Lee, since last January about the possibility's of holding it at Legend Valley, a place where the Grateful Dead performed June 11th 1993. Steve said, "This would be the natural setting for the Grateful Garcia Gathering to be held each summer". The agreement was made by a mere handshake, and a smile! The 3G's is always set to date in between Jerry Garcia's birthday August 1st, and his untimely passing of August 9th. The Grateful Garcia Gathering is scheduled for the weekend of July 31st - August 2nd 2008. Legend Valley is Ohio's #1 camping, music outdoor amphitheater. Its also home to Hookahville, Cabin Fever Festival, and Built to Last. Many great artists have graced the stages at Legend Valley such as The Grateful Dead, Ratdog, Bruce Hornsby, David Grisman, Arlo Guthrie, Ekoostik Hookah, Blue Travelers, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, AC/DC, Waylon Jennings, just to name a few! "Welcome all you Deadheads, Hippies, and kind folks to this Grateful place, where Garcia fans will be Gathering! www.GratefulGarciaGathering.com www.Myspace.com/GratefulGarciaGathering

"There Ain't Nothing Like A Grateful Garcia Gathering", and ONLY ONE day to go, the bus is up and running again! Its next stop will be the Grateful Garcia Gathering 2007 being held once again on August 2 - August 5. The 3G's will celebrate and pay tribute to the life, art, and music of legendary guitarist Jerry Garcia on what would be his 65th Birthday. This music and camping festival will once again take place at the picturesque Camp NCN Campground located in beautiful Black River Falls, Wisconsin. The campground features 60-plus acres of brilliant surroundings with tall trees that shade your camp site. For your fishing, swimming, and water sports pleasures we have a five-acre natural spring fed lake with sandy beaches, modern bathroom facilities with showers, and other luxurious accommodations. Campers will be able to have campfires at each individual campsite and firewood is available at the campground! There will be plenty of awesome vendors on-site for you to check out, a kind and friendly atmosphere, and a stellar musical lineup for all to enjoy! In addition, there is going to be BEER, WATER, SODA, CHERRY GARICA ICE CREAM, a memorabilia "Jerry Garcia Shrine" near the main stage. All attendees are encouraged to bring pictures, candles, ticket stubs, tie-dyes, old posters with Jerry's signature, any and all related items related to Jerry Garcia, or the Grateful Dead! You can place it at the shrine for all to enjoy! Festival attendees will be able to enjoy the sounds of local and regional bands who were influenced or inspired by The Grateful Dead such as, Rootstand, Chinese Fingertrap, Boney Fingers, Baghdad Scuba Review, Bowser, One Eyed Jack, Grateful Beth & The Volunteers, Jana Holland, Covert Operations, Space Quakers, Macyn Taylor, The Northwoods Band, The Weavils, Downer's Grove, The Wandering Foolz, The High Strung String Band, Bar Tab Band, Run Side Down, CedarTown Boys, The Yokanizu Project, The Orin Project, and many more! We are also opening a second stage for more live music to fill the air! All these bands will all be performing their own original tunes, plus a few covers of The Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band. All this, in tribute and honoring of Jerry Garcia, which will also mark the 12th Anniversary of his untimely passing. Singer/Songwriter Bear, will emcee and perform in between set-ups and take-downs of the performers, and may invite up special guest! In addition, there will be a very special fireworks display (weather and drought conditions permitting) for this exciting weekend of camping, music, friendships, harmony and love! The real thrill of the Grateful Garcia Gathering is the return of Melvin Seals & JGB for TWO NIGHTS! David Kemper (original drummer of the Jerry Garcia Band) will be joining Melvin Seals & JGB. The 3G's just wouldn't be complete without a musical cohort and true friend of Jerry's to be part of these wonderful festivities. Melvin Seals and David Kemper are longtime friends of Jerry Garcia. The vision of the Grateful Garcia Gathering is to keep the spirit of Jerry Garcia's music alive by bringing the music and the Deadhead fans together as family! Opening for Melvin Seals & JGB (For Two Nights) is the Grateful Dead's Donna Jean Godchaux, Mookie Siegel of the David Nelson Band (and formerly a member of both Phil & Friends and Ratdog), Wendy Lanter of Hope in Time, and Jeff Mattson, Tom Circosta, Klyph Black and Dave Diamond, all of the Zen Tricksters, now create music together as "Donna Jean and The Tricksters." MoonAlice is a powerful and talented bunch of musicians many of you have seen and heard jamming throughout jamband scene! This new band will open be opening for "Donna Jean and The Tricksters," featuring Roger & Ann McNamee (The Flying Other Brothers), Barry Sless (pedal steel and lead guitarist from the David Nelson Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, Kingfish, Cowboy Jazz, The Rowan Brothers (Peter, Lorin & Chris), Pete Sears (Rod Stewart, Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, John Lee Hooker, Steve Kimock, Jerry Garcia), G.E. Smith ( click link http://www.greenmirror.com/gebio.html ), Jimmy Sanchez (Dr. John, Roy Rogers, Bonnie Raitt, Maria Muldaur, Tom Waits, Boz Scaggs). Lots of musical talent in this band! Boris Garcia (For Two Nights) will be opening for "MoonAlice." Here's what Dennis McNally (Bob Weir and Ratdog publicist) had to say about Boris Garcia: "During my 25 years with Grateful Dead Productions, I listened to a lot of jamming, both electric and acoustic. Recently, though I still work with Bob Weir, I've been approached by a fair number of bands to help them, and have usually not been moved enough by the music to say yes - until I heard Boris Garcia. They fuse a bluegrass/country/folk sound with a jazzy rock improvisation mode and really excellent songwriting. Some say it reminds them of Tom Petty, others of old Byrds. Either way, I like them, and want to share them with my larger family. So here y'are!" Early Bird Special Weekend Passes for the Grateful Garcia Gathering are on sale on-line NOW at www.GratefulGarciaGathering.com. Ticket Price: $70 before July 31st $80 Day of Show. ~All Ages~ 12 years old and under free with parent! Artists Performing: Melvin Seals & JGB (featuring original Jerry Garcia Band members "Melvin Seals", and "David Kemper") - The Grateful Dead's Donna Jean and The Tricksters (featuring Mookie Siegel of David Nelson Band; formerly Phil & Friends, RatDog), - MoonAlice (featuring Roger & Ann McNamee formerly of the Flying Other Brothers), Barry Sless (of the David Nelson Band-Phil & Friends), G.E.Smith,( SNL, Bob Dylan), and Pete Sears (formerly of Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna), with drummer Jimmy Sanchez, - Boris Garcia - Rootstand - One-Eyed Jack - Baghdad Scuba Review - Bowser - The Northwoods Band, Covert Operations - Chinese Fingertrap - Macyn Taylor - The Orin Project - The Weavils - Grateful Beth & The Volunteers - Bar Tab Band - Jana Holland - Space Quakers - The High Strung String Band - Downer's Grove - The Wandering Fools - The Yokanizu Project - MC Bear - The Weavils - The Cedar Town Boys- and more! 1 DAY LEFT TO GET YOUR ON-LINE TICKETS: Festival Website: http://GratefulGarciaGathering.com "Welcome all you Deadheads, Hippies, and kind folks to this Grateful place, where Garcia fans will be Gathering! www.GratefulGarciaGathering.com www.Myspace.com/GratefulGarciaGathering

It no longer happens, but my favorite festival fo all time was the Rooney Fest. I was lucky enough to be able to go for about 10 years in a row...This was in Deposit, NY (Upstate)... I would love to hear from anyone about this festival, as it was like a big Family Reunion of Freinds and Kind people dancing and getting muddy for 3 days - It always rained! I have not touched base with many in a long time... It was an old-time bluegrass/jam band festival. Once you got off of the road to the festival it was all private land and 'Johnny Law' was not allowed on the premises. Now I live in Big Rapids, Michigan and I think the festival of choice is Dunegrass, previously posted, DSO and Grisman.

For me its Schwagstock, located in southeast MO....festival of around 7,000 located deep in the Mark Twain National forest. A dead tribute band by the name of The Schwag hosts 5-6 of these stocks a year.....on 330 acres of private property, beautiful campgounds, including sinking creek...I could go on & on!Seems everyone on here is from the west, Im from the deep south! LOL! AR baby!

UP-DATE: David Kemper (original Jerry Garcia Band member) will be joining us! We welcome all you Deadheads and friends to this Grateful place, where Garcia fans will be Gathering this summer! This mellow gathering will be a grateful celebration of Jerry Garcia's 65th Birthday, plus the 12th Annivesary of Jerrys untimely passing. This is going to be a very deeply humble, and special time for camping and gathering with friends from everywhere! Fireworks, vendors, a Jerry Garcia Shine, and lots more! The 3G's will Shine with you! Last chance this month to get your on-line tickets before they go up to $80.00 Day of Show! 'Come on, get on the Bus! Artists Performing: Melvin Seals & JGB (featuring two original Jerry Garcia Band members "Melvin Seals", and "David Kemper") - The Grateful Dead's Donna Jean and The Tricksters (featuring Mookie Siegel of David Nelson Band; formerly Phil & Friends, RatDog), - MoonAlice (featuring Roger & Ann McNamee formerly of the Flying Other Brothers), Barry Sless (of the David Nelson Band-Phil & Friends), G.E.Smith,( SNL, Bob Dylan), and Pete Sears (formerly of Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna), with drummer Jimmy Sanchez, - Boris Garcia - Rootstand - One-Eyed Jack - Baghdad Scuba Review - Bowser - The Northwoods Band, Covert Operations - Chinese Fingertrap - Macyn Taylor - The Orin Project - The Weavils - Grateful Beth & The Volunteers - Bar Tab Band - Jana Holland - Space Quakers - The High Strung String Band - Downer's Grove - The Wandering Fools - The Yokanizu Project - MC Bear - The Weavils - The Cedar Town Boys- and more! Tickets at festival web site: Festival Website: http://GratefulGarciaGathering.com "Welcome all you Deadheads, Hippies, and kind folks to this Grateful place, where Garcia fans will be Gathering! www.GratefulGarciaGathering.com www.Myspace.com/GratefulGarciaGathering

that would be pretty darn gorgeous. I was once in that area around that time of year and I'm still amazed. And music too!

Desert Rocks, Moab, UT Memorial Weekend This is a smaller festy, perhaps about 1500 people. The atmosphere is just amazing. It's in the middle of the beautiful red rock desert of southern Utah with primitive camping on site. The music was a mix of local acts including 10-17 year olds in the School of Rock. They blew me away with their talent. Eric Mcfadden Trio, Blue Turtle Seduction, Delta Nove, The Dukes of Ted, Wisebird, Stonefed, Dead Horse Minstrel, Al Howard & the K23 Orchestra, Kan'nal, Puddle Mountain Ramblers, Fire Dancers, Belly Dancers, and much more. The size made it nice and personal, plenty of space to stretch ones self, physically and mentally. Check it out next year if you're in the area!

Not sure if anyone previoulsy put this on here, but 10 years ago I went to the High Sierra Music festival in Bear Valley,CA (now in Quincy) and it was a blast... I believe their website is HighSierraMusic.com Eric