Hosting the musical memory of one of the Grateful Dead’s most beloved, historic shows, Dark Star Orchestra has pledged to recreate the July 8, 1978 performance at Red Rocks Amphitheater at the iconic venue 40 years to the day of its original performance. The band announces today that original Grateful Dead member Donna Jean Godchaux will be making a guest appearance on stage with the band at the upcoming July 8 performance.

On May 11th, Round Records will release its most ambitious project to date with the long-awaited Jerry Garcia boxed set Before The Dead. The project features a meticulously researched and curated compilation of recordings the iconic Grateful Dead founder made prior to forming the legendary band. Before The Dead includes never before heard performances, recordings that have never been commercially released and a small selection that have.

The Rock and Roll Playhouse, a family concert series hosted at Brooklyn Bowl, The Capitol Theatre, Industry City, Ardmore Music Hall, The Sinclair, Thalia Music Hall, and the Boulder Theater allows kids to “move, play and sing while listening to works from the classic-rock canon” (NY Times). Using the songs created by the most iconic musicians in rock history, The Rock and Roll Playhouse offers its core audience of babies and kids games, movement, and stories and an opportunity to rock out.

Dark Star Orchestra is holding their seventh annual Dark Star Jubilee festival this coming Memorial Day May 25-27 at the venue which is now known as Legend Valley, in Thornville, Ohio. Back in 1993, it was known as Buckeye Lake Music Center, and on June 11, the Grateful Dead rolled into town. Nearly 25 years to the date, and at the same location, Dark Star Orchestra will be recreating the original band’s historic set during one of the night at The Jubilee in a rare, advanced announcement for the band to confirm a show they’re playing.

Ardmore Music Hall will host a massive 2-night fundraiser and concert event on June 8th and 9th with iconic social activist and “official clown” of the Grateful Dead, Wavy Gravy, as the guest of honor and a star studded lineup of musicians to celebrate the music of the Grateful Dead and much more. Unlimited Devotion: A Rex Foundation fundraiser will include performances by Steve Kimock, Eric Krasno, John Kadlecik, Jeff Austin, Tom Hamilton, Holly Bowling and many more.

“This is one the most thrilling albums the Grateful Dead ever produced, mixing portions of live recordings from the first six months of Mickey's tenure with the band, along with studio experimentations that would hint at where the Dead would go when they started recording to 16-track tape the following year. The 1971 remix, produced in order to make the album more accessible to the newer fans who were brought on board with WORKINGMAN'S DEAD and AMERICAN BEAUTY, has been the most commonly heard version for the past 45+ years.

Mood and muse, two inexplicably intertwined elements of an ethereal nature, yet their power to move both body and mind know no bounds.  Flowing throughout the in-between like gravity and wind, these forces are foundational and creative to the many worlds that arise out of the relationship of things, out of the happenings originated by togetherness; a place born betwixt seed and light, lung and tree, heart and rhythm, a place where all things come together to form each thing (each moment) throughout all size and time.  And where all things come together—so too, does mood and muse.<

The unexpected return of the masters of the Grateful Dead's triumphant show at the Albuquerque Civic Auditorium, November 17, 1971, yields great rewards. The Dead came in HOT for their first New Mexico show. Aided by clarity and precision and abetted by confidence and focus, they finessed old standards with definitive takes. With Keith now blending in seamlessly on keys, the first set offered up a triple shot of electric Blues, an exceptional "You Win Again," and a stellar "One More Saturday Night" to wrap things up.

In this retrospective episode of The Light Side, legendary Grateful Dead lighting designer Candace Brightman discusses her 40+ year career lighting live music and explains her design process through four decades of technological evolution. She also reflects on being a woman in a male dominated industry and the role psychedelics played in her career.

The second annual Skull and Roses Festival brought Deadheads from all over California, to the Ventura Fairgrounds, for three days of music inspired by The Grateful Dead. The campground area was nearly full by the time the music started early on Friday afternoon, April 6th. Festival publicist Dennis McNally, who was the publicist for the Grateful Dead from 1984-95 choose the spot because of its significance in the history of the Dead.