The Good Old Grateful Dead Blog

I know that Bob Weir and RatDog and particularly also the
Allman Brothers Band play, and Rock....

It might have been all these weird preachers that you hear
and see about the TV these days, but more than likely my
eye problem was the culprit.
Ruby.

We are pleased to report:
Bob Wier and Ratdog with the Allman Brothers Band
will pray the following 2 shows:

Wednesday, August 27 at the DTE Energy Music Theatre
at Clarkson, MI. All ages welcome.
Doors open at 5:00 PM. Show time is 6:30 PM.
Reserved seats are available at $53.50 per ticket.
Lawn tickets are $24.00 per ticket.
Prices include parking.
========
Wednesday, August 28 at the Charter One Pavilion
@Northerly Island. Doors open at :5.30 PM.
Show time is 6:30 PM. All ages welcome.
All seats are reserved. Prices are at 2 levels:
$69.00 per ticket and $33.50 per ticket.
A small batch of taper tickets are available at $53.50.
========
First postmark days for these 2 shows will be Wednesday
May 28 through Friday, May 30. Mail order will remain
open beyond these dates.
========
One more time: Tickets are available for all shows
posted on our web site at www.gdtstoo.com
It's going to be Summer sooner than we think...

The Crew of GDTSTOO
5.19.228

"For every musical supergroup that makes a connection, 10 more fail to bottle any lightning whatsoever. More often than not, it’s a case of clashing egos, or maybe a surfeit of politeness and mutual reverence such that no one member dares to step out and be him or herself...So by that token, it’s no surprise that the best supergroups are ones that keep things fun – minimal agenda, familiar repertoire – and that’s the case with Kreutzmann, Burbridge, Murawski: cumbersomely, if straightforwardly named, and a group of new friends coming together with a “we’ll see” and “don’t overthink it” modus operandi...If you’re versed in jamband, those surnames are probably familiar..."

"...This week we'll cover 20 years in the Grateful Dead's recorded history, from 1973 to 1993, with a little taste of something in between....."

San Francisco's Warfield Theater has played host to many storied moments in Grateful Dead history and Phil Lesh's recent five night run at the storied venue only added to the historic link between the venue and the band. For the first four nights, Lesh & Friends - Larry Campbell, Jackie Greene, Steve Molitz and John Molo - recreated the Grateful Dead's self-titled debut, Anthem Of The Sun, Aoxomoxoa, Live Dead, Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Grateful Dead (Skullf**k) and Dead Set. As if the (practically) full-album sets weren't enough to whet the appetites of Deadheads everywhere, Bob Weir sat in for a healthy portion of the Dead/Anthem night and David Nelson joined the band for the Workingman's Dead/American Beauty evening.

"...This week we're going to jump right into a nice, big jam from 1969, followed my some great music from throughout the band's recorded history...."

"By 1973 the Grateful Dead had entered the second era of its 30-year run (1965-95). With the death of singer Ron "Pigpen" McKernan that March, the band had lost its bawdy blues soul. But Bob Weir's full flowering as a rhythm guitarist and songwriter gave the band another front man in addition to Jerry Garcia.

The band's songwriting prowess and productivity also transformed the structure of its shows -- from free-form jam-fests taking off from a handful of numbers the musicians played most every night to performances centered on their growing stable of songs. The Dead could still unleash 40-minute jams, but the improvisational playing was increasingly corralled between the lyrics of set numbers.

The superb new nine-disc box set, "Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings," captures the band on three hot November nights at its favorite San Francisco venue. The band rips through 72 songs in its inimitable blend of country, folk, jazz and psychedelia..."

"Bill Kreutzmann with Oteil Burbridge and Scott Murawski
will play the following show:

Friday, May 30 at the New Alhembra Arena, Philadelphia, PA.
Doors open at 8:00 PM. Show time at 9:00 PM.
Age limit: 21 and older. This is a General Admission show.
Mail order tickets are available at $34.00 per ticket.
Will/call only.
========
The Mickey Hart Band will play the following show:
Saturday, July 19 at the Palace Theatre, Greensburg, PA.
Doors open at 7:15 PM. Show time is 9:00 PM.
All ages welcome. This is a Reserved Seat show.
Mail order tickets are available at $39.00 per ticket.
========
First post marks for these shows will be Saturday, May 17
through Wednesday, May 21. As per usual mail order will
remain open until further notice.

Please note that tickets are available for all shows currently
on the schedule at our web site at gdtstoo.com
========

We can also report that Bill Kreutzmann has been added
to the line up at the Gathering of the Vibes.
We must also report that the 3 day tickets for this Festival
is now up to $189.00 per person.

The Crew of GDTSTOO
May 16, 2008"

"Last night Phil Lesh & Friends opened a five-night run at San Francisco’s famed Warfield Theater. To the surprise of nearly everyone in attendance, Lesh and his friends ran through a complete version of the Grateful Dead’s 1967 self-titled debut during their first set, with Bob Weir joining his estranged bandmate for “Cream Puff War,” ”Morning Dew,” “New Minglewood Blues” and “Viola Lee Blues.” Weir returned at the start of Lesh’s second set as the bassist jumped headfirst into the Dead’s 1968 sophomore effort Anthem of the Sun , which includes classics like “That's It For The Other One” and early rave-ups such as “Alligator.” At the end of the night, Lesh closed his set with the Buddy Holly sing-a-long “Not Fade Away.” With eight sets and eleven albums to go, it’s a fair bet that Lesh will run through the Grateful Dead’s entire recorded canon over the next few days. Phil & Friends will return to the Warfield this evening. As of press time, the venue's future is uncertain."

"This week we have some nice music from 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 and 1981, so without further ado, on to the music..."

"Bob Weir and RatDog with Gov't Mule will play the following show:

Thursday, July 3 at The Joint, Las Vegas, NV.
Show time is 8:00 PM. 6 years and older are welcome.
this is a General Admission show. Mail order tickets are
available at $44.50 per ticket.
========
Bill Kreutzmann with Oteil Burbridge and Scott Murawski will
play the following show:

Tuesday, June 3 at the Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry, NH.
Show time is 8:00 PM. All ages welcome.
Mail order tickets are available at $53.00 per ticket.
Will/call only. No taping...
========
Tickets are available for all shows listed on our web site at
www.gdtstoo.com

The Crew of GDTSTOO
May 8, 2008"

"Bill Kreutzmann with Oteil Burbridge, Bass and Scott Murawski, Guitar
will play the following shows:

Wednesday, May 28 at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, Providence, RI.
Doors open at 8:00 PM. Show time is 9:00 PM.
All ages welcome. This is a General Admission show.
Mail order tickets are available at $18.00 per ticket.
========
Thursday, May 29 at the State Theatre, Falls Church, VA.
Doors open at 7:00 PM. Show time is 9:00 PM.
Age limit: 18 and older. General Admission.
Mail order tickets are available at $24.00 per ticket.
========
Saturday, May 31 at the Recher Theater, Towson, MD.
Doors open at 8:00 PM. Show time is 9:00 PM.
All ages welcome. General Admission.
Mail order tickets are available at $24.00 per ticket.
========
Thursday, June 5 at the Roxy, Boston, MA.
Doors open at 8:00 PM. Show time is 9:00 PM.
21 and older only. General Admission.
Mail order tickets are available at $20.50 per ticket.
========
Thursday, June 6 at Toad's Place, New Haven, CT.
Doors open at 8:00 PM. Show time is 9:00 PM.
All ages welcome. General Admission.
Mail order tickets are available at $18.00 per ticket (price?)
========
All these shows are for will/call only.
A few more shows with this band will be posted soon.
First post mark dates for the 5 shows in his post will be
Wednesday, May 7 through Monday, May 11.
As per usual mail order will remain open for these shows
beyond those dates.
==============================================
Tickets for all shows with Bob Weir and RatDog, and
Mickey Hart are still available.

The Crew of GDTSTOO
May 6, 2008"

"While LSD is commonly known as a drug used and popularized in the 60’s, Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia warns that its use is still widespread. LSD, or acid, is the strongest hallucinogenic substance known....Signs of LSD Abuse: A person who has take LSD or other psychedelics will manifest glassy eyes and have a blank, vacant stare. Often they appear to be daydreaming and needs to be spoken to several times before responding. They will be found to have inappropriate and extended interest in common objects. For example, examining an ashtray or a drawing for a long time, turning it, viewing it from different angles. The person may also have a similar interest in body parts, such as a finger, hand or food. Conversation tends to be esoteric, like a "head trip." They will hallucinate. They will experience anxiety for no apparent reason. They may have dilated pupils and may be inexplicably high-strung..."

"This week we have some very, very classic Grateful Dead, as well as a unique jam from 1972..."

"In the 1960s and early '70s, when I was a youth, LSD was supposed to be more than an abusable substance. It was nonconformity and peace and truth.

It was yellow submarines and profound Jimi Hendrix guitar solos. A path to God or nirvana or oneness with nature, or at any rate the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. It opened "the gates of perception." Dropping acid was an act of revolution.

For better and worse, people no longer think of LSD - or any drug - this way. They think of drugs with desperation, feel chained to them, are destroyed by them. They think of them in terms of law enforcement or D.A.R.E.

Or they think of them as forms of entertainment or as fashion accessories, along with their Wii and iPod, their cologne and designer handbag.

Why think of LSD today? Last week, its inventor, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman, died at age 102.

Like many great scientific discoveries, acid was an accident. Hoffman, in 1938, discovered it while researching plant fungi.

On the once-famous "Bicycle Day," Hoffman, having slaved over a hot lab all day (inhaling or absorbing his new creation through his skin), rode his bike home and began to see radiant colors, bent space and collapsing dimensions. Three days later, he took a whopping dose on purpose and had a mondo bad trip.

Hoffman hoped that lysergic acid diethylamide could be used to treat mental illness, and though there have been many experiments along those lines, it actually seemed more effective at inducing insanity than controlling it. But some people seemed to like the insanity it produced, or to believe it was a profound escape from and perspective on the everyday world.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the covert CIA program Project MK-ULTRA experimented with acid, hoping to come up with techniques of mind control or a truth serum. The CIA often administered the drug without the knowledge, much less consent, of the subjects. Said subjects were no doubt surprised when they started to hallucinate, and Frank Olson, for one, an Army biochemist, is thought by many to have committed suicide as a result of his induced psychosis in 1953.

The next year, the British author Aldous Huxley published The Doors of Perception, celebrating hallucinogens as a path to enlightenment. And before too long, Beat generation and counterculture figures such as Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary and Owsley Stanley were giving the stuff away. Cue the Summer of Love.

LSD became a symbol of open-mindedness and peace, and gave us the colors and design styles and musical approaches associated with "psychedelia." The Beatles sang coyly of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," while the Stones declared, equally coyly, that "she comes in colors." In San Francisco, the Jefferson Airplane saw white rabbits, and Grateful Dead shows became festivals of collective hallucination.

Soon the stuff had penetrated to middle America, and high school students were "dropping" "orange blotter" and "purple microdot," "Mr. Natural," and "windowpane" - all names for product lines of LSD..."

"There are some boats young people are glad they missed. The Titanic, for example.

But it’s a different story for members of the generation that never got to see the Grateful Dead live but who have listened to bootlegged and official recordings, heard stories of life-changing shows and craved an otherworldly human experience — that energy exchange between audience and band.

For some of these people, a ripple of sadness runs through their relationship with the Dead’s music. Sure, would-be Deadheads have toured with Phish or might make a summer of following String Cheese Incident around, but nothing has ever really matched the way the Grateful Dead captivated its listeners and spawned a subculture.

It’s not the Dead, but the Dark Star Orchestra is as close as you’re going to get..."

"Bob Weir and RatDog and the Allman Brothers Band will
play the following show:

Tuesday, August 19 at SPAC, Saratoga Springs, NY.
Doors and show time to be announced. All ages welcome.
Reserved seats are available at $63.50 per ticket.
Lawn tickets are available at $24.00.
Ticket prices include parking.
=====================
Correction:
Instead of Gov't Mule, Bob Weir and RatDog will play
with the Allman Brothers Band at Red Rocks.
Saturday, August 30 at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre,
Morrison, CO. All ages are welcome. Show time is 7:00 PM.
Reserved seats are available at $62.50 per ticket.
General admission tickets are available at $54.75.
=====================
First post mark dates for these shows are Friday, May 2
through Tuesday, May 6.
As per usual mail order will remain open beyond these
dates.
===============================================
As we usually do we are also offering mail order tickets for
this year's Gathering of the Vibes, at Seaside Park,
Bridgeport, CT from Friday, August 1 through Sunday,
August 3. Current price is $169.00 per person. This
price will eventually be increased.

For more information about this event, please go to our
web site at www.gdtstoo.com for more information.
=====================

The Crew of GDTSTOO
May 1, 2008

" May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Four decades after the Grateful Dead and Timothy Leary made acid trips a counter-cultural rite of passage, Rick Doblin is trying to shake the drug's hippie image and reclaim its use as a medicine.

Doblin, who leads a group sponsoring the first study of LSD as a therapy in 36 years, says the new Swiss research may show the drug helps ease anxiety and pain in patients suffering from illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.

The research is a homecoming for LSD, which was created in 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, who died this week at the age of 102. The hallucinogen was banned in the 1960s, and detractors say Harvard psychology professor Leary's advice that people use LSD to ``turn on, tune in, drop out'' clashes with modern psychiatry. Doblin says lingering stereotypes stand in the way of tests that may show therapeutic uses..."