It all started in the Haight Ashbury over 50 years ago: from the psychedelic ballroom bands of the late 1960's, the Grateful Dead emerged and went on to have a robust 30-year career with Jerry Garcia and another 24+ years post-Garcia. Rather than sticking with a scripted set list, the band flowed into the unfamiliar territory of improvisational concert celebrations that broke down the boundaries between musician and audience.

With the sorrowful passing of Robert Hunter, I sense the cool winds of fall sifting through the leaves of the Grateful Dead tree. As the leaves change colors and begin to drift back into the cosmos from which they came, it is ever so easy to become submersed within reflection.

“So swift and bright, strange figures in light, float in air.”

Maybe you were lucky enough and caught a glimpse of what might have been. You swayed to the unfamiliar, floating along with an unknown melody, joining in for a chorus when you felt confident you had it down. Maybe you jotted a fat question mark in your meticulous setlist, certain you'd figure it out before the next show, anticipating a formal introduction in due time.

The Chapel in San Francisco has announced a 50th anniversary celebration of the legendary Grateful Dead albums Aoxomoxoa and Live Dead on October 28 and 29.

Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead are both American musical treasures – but couldn’t be more different in their approach to music. The epitome of precision and setlist free, organic, and loose.  Studio perfectionists and the omnipotent live music band. Yet in spite of these differences, many of us love both these bands. They’re huge parts of the soundtracks of our youth and present day. What better way to celebrate both bands then enjoying a merge of the two in a night of American rock-n-roll supremacy. 

Steve Kimock and Friends wrapped up their mini-tour of the Northeast Saturday night to a sold-out Ardmore Music Hall just outside Philadelphia.  The night was started by Hayley Jane (Hayley Jane and the Primates) performing a solo acoustic set as the crowd worked their way in off the streets.  By the time her set was halfway through the crowd had largely filled the 600-person venue and were often delight

Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart once remarked, “We’re not in the entertainment business, we’re in the transportation business – we move minds.”  That spirit led to a connection between band and audience so profound that it developed into a subculture.  At the University of the Road, Dead Heads actually studied what was going on, whether it was tapers analyzing the finest sound system ever assembled, literature majors contemplating some of the most sophisticated lyrics in rock history, or musicologists studying the vast array of sources for the Dead’s considerable body

Dear Robert,

The sun is coming up and the light is slowly and softly coming through the hotel windows. It’s still quiet out. For the last two days I’ve been trying to find words and I haven’t been able to - and now more days have passed before I finish.

So I thought I’d speak right to you. I don’t want to say goodbye, and I don’t know if I ever can. So I’m not going to do that now, but I want to tell you some things. And thank you.