Candid Counter Culture Comedy

Everyone loves the Dead even Tom Davis, writing and performing partner of (soon to be Senator?) Al Franken. In Davis' new memoir Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL From Someone Who Was There (Grove Press, 2009) he talks about coming of age in the 60s, the Grateful Dead, sex, early SNL, drugs, and of course comedy.

Mills Music Gala 2009

Tomorrow --February 21st-- with a gala concert, Mills College (our good friends just over the hill in Oakland) celebrates the reopening of its historic concert hall and 80 years of impressive music. Mills is where Phil Lesh and Steve Reich were students, and this is the hall where John Cage and Lou Harrison performed. (btw, UCSC holds Lou Harrison's archive.)
We wish our colleagues a wonderful MILLS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2009. For info on opening night: http://www.mills.edu/musicfestival/

Congratulations Mickey!

Great news, it's just been announced tonight.... Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo of the Global Drum Project are the winners of the Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Congratulations!!

Trippy tatts

In a fun article in the Feb. 6-8 USA Weekend Magazine, Luke Walton's upper right arm is shown proudly displaying four dancing skeletons. Walton, of the LA Lakers, gets the "G for Grateful Dead" in the NBA Tattoos, from A to Z article. All four skeletons balance basketballs and represent Luke and his three brothers-- it's a multi-generational family thing.

American Beauty Project

Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series recently featured an evening devoted to the lyrics and music of the Grateful Dead. The American Beauty Project, an ensemble of nine musicians, performed pieces with introductions made by Larry Campbell. (Campbell these days often plays with Phil Lesh. To read Blair Jackson's interview with Larry Campbell go to http://www.dead.net/features/interviews.) The evening at Lincoln Center gets a good write up by Stephen Holden in the January 19th issue of the New York Times.

SWTXPCA 2009 Conference: Dead Lessons

The 30th annual meeting of the Southwest Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association is being held this month (Feb. 25-28th) in Albuquerque. Focus sessions on the Grateful Dead have been prominent in previous conferences and this year fourteen are being offered. Speakers are coming from all over the U.S. and include deeply involved scholars such as Nicholas Meriwether, Rebecca Adams and David Gans. This year in a special session devoted to "Dead Lessons: The Grateful Dead Organizational Model" Michael Grabsheid of U.Mass, Amherst and Sandy Sohcot of the Rex Foundation will present, as will UCSC's University Librarian Ginny Steel. Ginny's talk will delve into UCSC's Grateful Dead Archive and is appropriately entitled: "By the Waterside I Will Rest My Bones." For more on the Association, the conference, and to get a complete program go to http://www.swtxpca.org

Peter Rowan

The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band plays locally at Don Quixote's in Felton this Saturday (Jan.16th.) See www.donquixotesmusic.info for details. Rowan with band mates just played last month's Rex Foundation 25th Anniversary bash, and in the 70s was part of Old & In the Way with David Grisman, Jerry, Vassar Clements, etc.