While the “Fare Thee Well” Forth of July at Solider Field announcement from the surviving members of The Dead have fans nationwide in pandemonium, California’s Bay Area has already begun celebrating fifty years of Grateful Dead with a number of intimate events. Guitarist Bob Weir has returned to performance with some stellar extended-for-network-TV jamming with host John Mayer on The Late Late Show.

Rock legends John Oates and Bob Weir brought the house down at Oates’ February 8 stop in Mill Valley, CA, when Weir made a guest appearance on guitar.

Oates enthused, “Jamming with Grateful Dead legend Bob Weir at the super-cool Sweetwater was the perfect way to end my West Coast tour.”

It’s been two weeks since the surviving members of Grateful Dead announced that they would be performing a final farewell three-day concert event over Fourth of July weekend at Chicago’s Solider Field. The most important psychedelic rock band in history turned fifty years old this year. Another equally significant anniversary for 2015 is twenty years ago this July were the final performances of the Grateful Dead with lead guitarist and bandleader Jerry Garcia.

I’m searching for phrases to describe Phases of the Moon Music & Art Festival.  It began as a dark side of the moon, but that was just a phase.  As an audience, our hackles were already up, howling at the moon before the weekend ever arrived.  Through no fault of the Phases organizers, RatDog had to cancel their appearance.  Bobby Weir’s lightening is lazy.

TourGigs.com will be streaming a FREE webcast of the HeadCount 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert at 8:30 ET on Wednesday June 4th.Bob Weir & RatDog will be joined by HeadCount co-chair Marc Brownstein (The Disco Biscuits), Brendan Bayliss (Umphrey’s McGee), Eric Krasno (Soulive) and the Lettuce horns section for the celebration at Brooklyn Bowl in New York City.Tickets for the event sold out in 35 minutes, but

Bob Weir and RatDog will join a slew of guest musicians at the HeadCount 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert at the Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY on June 4th. The event will also be the official Kickoff Party for Mountain Jam, a festival that begins the next day at Hunter Mountain in upstate New York and runs through the weekend.

The inaugural Phases Of The Moon Music + Art Festival announces Phase II of artists scheduled to perform at the September 11-14 event.

Donna Jean Godchaux has left her lasting voice on multiple generations and genres of music.

The Grateful Web’s John Schumm recently sat down with RatDog guitarist Mark Karan, currently touring with Terrapin Flyer and Melvin Seals. Mark speaks about being embraced by the Grateful Dead community, touring with Terrapin Flyer, the upcoming RatDog tour, his battle with throat cancer, his solo career, and so much more.

Bob Weir & Ratdog will tour in 2014, and Kimock is on the bus! The line-up is: Bob Weir, Jeff Chimenti, Jay Lane, Steve Kimock, Rob Wasserman and Robin Sylvester.For tickets and info visit www.rat-dog.com/