Cornell Relives Its Past: Grateful Dead Return
Dead's Bob Weir and Phil Lesh set to revisit site of famous 1977
Barton Hall performance
February 12, 2010
By Evan Preminger
The Grateful Dead, although it began on the periphery of mainstream
culture, has secured a place for itself as an iconic American band.
This Sunday, members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh will return to Barton
Hall, the site of one of their most famous performances in 1977, as
part of a new band: Furthur.
Formed as the Warlocks in San Francisco in 1965, the Grateful Dead
contributed much to the development of the psychedelic
counterculture. At Ken Kesey's Acid Tests throughout the Bay Area,
the band found large audiences for its unique musical style, which
combined elements of folk, bluegrass, pop and jazz. The band's
anti-authority message also resonated with young people who had been
disillusioned with the goverment by the war in Vietnam. The Dead's
sound, along with the anarcho-communist views of Diggers and the
psychoactive supplies of the Merry Pranksters, came to represent the
era's iconic lifestyle: living communally in the Haight-Ashbury
district of San Francisco, partaking in large quantities of
hallucinogenic drugs, practicing free love and following the maxim of
"Turn On, Tune In and Drop Out."
After the decline of the hippie movement, the Dead continued to
maintain a massive following. Incorporating aspects of the electronic
"Space Rock" used by David Bowie and Pink Floyd allowed the band to
keep up with the popular shift to progressive rock and hard rock that
occurred over the course of the 1970s.
The band also encouraged fans to record their music, allowing more
than 2,200 of their 2,350 performances to survive.
"The fact that they were not interested in producing singles, they
were not interested in producing commercial music, made it so they
were not well represented in industry-style products. Their albums
are not really what they are all about," said Prof. Judith Peraino,
music. "They were much more about the live band: They encouraged
bootleg recordings. They encouraged that sort of grassroots
engagement with the music."
Followers of the Grateful Dead, or "Deadheads," exchanged
bootleg-recordings of individual shows as a means of circulating the
music. Highly dedicated fans used their tape collections as symbols
of their dedication to the band, citing shows by their specific date
or location.
A New York Times poll in 2009 placed the Dead's performance at Barton
as their greatest. Shortly after the release of their studio album
Terrapin Station in 1977, the band performed at Spring Fling, the
precursor to Slope Day. The band filled two sets with popular entries
from its catalogue like "Morning Dew" and "St. Stephen" as well as
their iconic improvisation.
"It had to be one of the pinnacles of your existence to see the kind
of concert you did at Cornell," said Patricia Garr '79. "To hear that
music, on key, with a million people just bouncing their heads up and
down you thought you yourself: 'Yeah I get it. There is nothing
better than this.'"
Many fans made personal recordings that night. Sound engineer Betty
Cantor-Jackson would frequently record personal stereo bootlegs from
the soundboard, rather than through a microphone. These recordings,
known as the "Betty Boards," first went into circulation in 1987.
Barton Hall, one of the first of these tapes, was heavily circulated
among both Deadheads and casual listeners.
"I don't mean to sound holier than though, or as we in the Deadhead
community say 'Dead-er than thou', but a lot of the popularity and
ranking of the Cornell show as the greatest thing ever comes from the
mass popularity and easy of access to tapes of the shows in general,"
said Noah Weiner, creator of DeadListening.com. "It's like listening
to a Beatles record you have worn thin: you know every song. It's
impossible not to recognize it."
Like any event that has gained a large cult following, rumors and
conspiracy theories have arisen concerning the famous Barton Hall tape.
"When the Internet was just starting to take over and large numbers
of Deadheads were hanging out on the first online message boards, I
can promise you that there were rumors and stories that the Barton
Hall show never happened," Weiner said. "Between that and the snow,
there was always a certain mystic nature to the show."
After the death of lead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia in 1995,
the band took a brief hiatus. It resumed touring in 1998 as The Other
Ones, but later changed its name again to The Dead. The group toured
on and off for the next eleven years with a revolving lineup of
former members of the band and replacements, including Furthur
keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. In September 2009, Weir, Lesh and
Chimenti, joined by John Kadlecik, Jay Lane and Joe Russo, formed
Furthur and began touring throughout the United States.
For many fans, the influence of the music is secondary to the
community it helped create.
"If you're of the ilk of a Deadhead, there is nothing that can quite
compare to strolling into a concert scene and being surrounded by
20-50,000 people who are just like you," Weiner said. "The weird
community release, the comfort happiness, joy, is palpable and
addictive as much as the music is."
Furthur will be performing at Barton Hall at 7:30 pm on Sunday night.
--------
Ex-Dead members pull in Garcia's spirit with Furthur
By Andrew Abramson
February 08, 2010
For Grateful Dead fans too young to see Jerry Garcia in person, and
long-time Deadheads might be a bit dismayed to realize that's almost
anyone under 30, Furthur's done the unthinkable by channeling Jerry
in an uncanny way.
For the rest of the folks, who followed the Dead and have
unsuccessfully tried to fill that small void in their life for the
last 15 years, the party ain't over yet.
No one will ever replace Jerry, but by bringing John Kadlecik to the
mix, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir have added the missing link the man who
sounds so much like Jerry in every way.
Furthur, the new incarnation of the Dead starts with Phil and Bobby,
but it's Kadlecik that could make this the best post-Jerry experience.
Think of Kadlecik like the guy from the movie Rock Star, who spends
his life in the cover band of his favorite group, only to get called
up to the big leagues.
After 12 years fronting Dark Star Orchestra, a fantastic group that
covers Dead shows to a T, Kadleick gives Lesh and Weir a 40-year-old
in his prime that bring a burst of youth to Furthur.
Lesh is just a month away from his 70th birthday and Weir once the
Dead's youth is 62.
Kadleick, at 40, is the same age Garcia was in 1982.
But Friday's show at Miami's Bayfront Park Ampitheater showed that
Furthur isn't just trying to bring Jerry back in a Dark Star sort of
way they're moving further, and in this case, that meant going back.
Yes, the under-30 crowd will revel at the opportunity to experience a
Dead show, but for the earlier Deadheads, Furthur is busting out
tunes long stored in the vault.
On a rainy night in downtown Miami, the band opened with "Born
Cross-Eyed", a song the Dead played nine times in 1968, and none after that.
It's a wonder why the Dead played "The Golden Road To Unlimited
Devotion" throughout 1967, and then dropped it from its repertiore.
It's a fun sing-a-long that Furthur busted out after a lively "Ramble on Rose".
And how about the "Throwin' Stones/Viola Lee Blues/Mason's
Children/Viola" jam? Talk about taking it back. "Viola" was a staple
in the earliest of Dead shows, and a great blues classic to bring
back to the mix.
"Mason's Children", played 15 times between 1969-70, resurfaced for
an energetic Miami crowd that didn't seem to mind intermintent rain.
Phil had high praise for the Miami crowd, acknowledging that the boys
don't make it down enough, but might have to start performing regular
South Florida gigs.
There were still plenty of empty seats in the 10,000-capacity
amphitheater, and you have to wonder if some of the traveling fans
were sitting out this tour opener and waiting to join Furthur in
Orlando? It would make sense since hotel rooms were impossible to
come by on Super Bowl weekend.
With Phil's announcement that there's more Miami left in him, it's a
sign that he's not winding down, an amazing feat not only because he
underwent a liver transplant a decade ago, but because he's turning 70.
As we enter the '10s, many of the '60s rockers are hitting 70.
Lesh's inspired performance at Bayfront Park, complete with his funky
bass illuminated by blue lights, shows that these artists will
continue to awe us long after we expected them to hang it up.
It didn't hurt to add some youth to the band. With 33-year-old Joe
Russo (of the Benevento/Russo Duo) and 45-year-old Jay Lane (of
Primus) on drums, and 41-year-old Jeff Chimenti (Ratdog) on keyboard,
it's old meets new.
Phil Lesh and Bob Weir might be the only Grateful Dead members in
Furthur, but if they want to continue spreading the Dead's word
throughout the 2010s, Furthur is the perfect outlet.
--------
Cornell Braces for Deadhead Hippie Invasion
http://gawker.com/5469712/cornell-braces-for-deadhead-hippie-invasion
By Doree Shafrir
Feb 11, 2010
Cornell students just received an email from the University Police,
warning them about an imminent, and dangerous, threat to their
safety: Deadheads. Hey, we'd be nervous too.
Looks like there's a concert on campus this weekend by the jam-band
Furthur, which was started by former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir
and Phil Lesh. So you know what that means. The Deadheadswith their
pot-smoking, dredlock-sporting, VW van-driving waysare coming, and
they've got nowhere to stay. So the police are concerned that "this
particular group of fans will set up camp wherever they can and will
certainly avail themselves to the warmth of any open building."
Which, you know, might happen! Because they are dirty hippies.
The letterreproduced in full belowwas sent out to the Cornell Greek
community, probably because everyone knows sorority houses are warm
and comfy and would definitely be places where dirty hippies would
try to park their vans, if you know what I mean.
To Cornell Greek Community:
This Sunday, February 14th there will be a concert hosted in Barton
Hall featuring a band called Further [sic]. This band in part has
members from the old Grateful Dead band and will certainly generate
an active crowd of what are affectionately referred to as
"Deadheads". This fan base is very loyal to the Grateful Dead and
their remaining members. We are confident that they will be showing
up in large numbers as early as this Friday.
Our concern is that this particular group of fans will set up camp
wherever they can and will certainly avail themselves to the warmth
of any open building. Even if they do not have tickets to the venue,
they will still come in the hopes of gaining access to the concert,
and they will be seeking shelter from the elements over the weekend.
Please be extra vigilant in securing your buildings this Friday and
throughout the weekend. If you have staff working in the buildings
over the weekend, please request that they secure their areas and
report any persons who look like they may not belong in their
building to the Cornell Police at 255-1111 or if an emergency; 911.
Thank you for your help and support to keep your facilities safe!
Sgt. Philip D. Mospan
Coordinator, Office of Professional Development
Cornell University Police
G-2 Barton Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-1701
T- 607-[redacted]
F- 607-[redacted]
http://www.cupolice.cornell.edu/
--------
Expect big crowd Tuesday for sold-out Further concert
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100208/ENT/100208041/1005/ENT
Tony Kiss
TKiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com
February 8, 2010
Downtown traffic will likely be a little crazy Tuesday night, as more
than 2,200 fans of the band Further arrive for a sold-out show at
Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
The Grateful Dead spin-off features Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. Their
concert is the latest big turnout for a Civic Center show in the past
60 days (the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam pulled more than 6,000 fans
and the Avett Brothers packed the arena). A concert by Willie Nelson,
which was snowed out and then canceled, was also sold out.
As with all big Civic Center/Wolfe Auditorium concerts, downtown
parking will be tight. Fans can park at the city garages at the Civic
Center, Rankin Avenue and Wall Street, at the county parking deck
near the courthouse or in private lots.
But never leave a car anywhere marked no parking, even after hours,
to avoid being towed.
About half of the Further tickets were sold to out-of-town fans, many
of whom will likely fill downtown hotels and restaurants before the show.
The Civic Center and Wolfe Auditorium have more high-profile shows in
the works including "Curious George Live" on Tuesday-Wednesday, the
Moody Blues March 21, rock band Shinedown April 1, Christian singer
Toby Mac April 11, author David Sedaris April 16, singer Norah Jones
May 11 and country duo Sugarland Aug. 12 (tickets are on sale Friday
for that concert).
--------
Furthur Along
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3982&Itemid=147
Written by Tom Kahley
17 February 2010
Bob Weir and Phil Lesh bring a mellow vibe to the Utica Auditorium this weekend
The New Times Interview
Bob Weir is a pioneer. Not because of his penchant for writing and
performing songs about the Wild West, but rather as a founding member
of the Grateful Dead. In 1965 he was one of the earliest settlers of
Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, the band's home base, as well as
neighbors Janis Joplin, the Jefferson Airplane and other "head"
bands. With On the Road cowboy Neal Cassady at the wheel of Key
Kesey's Merry Prankster bus, the Dead took the Haight-Ashbury ideal
on the road as they became the unofficial official band for the One
Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest author's "acid tests," which tuned-in and
turned-on the lysergic lights coast-to-coast. And, well, you know the
rest. . .
For 30 years, Bob Weir was the rhythm guitar ace for the Dead,
playing more than 2,300 live shows with the band. During that time,
he stepped out of the Dead realm and embarked on a few solo
endeavors, but his main focus was always with Jerry Garcia and the
boys. After Garcia signed off the earth on Aug. 9, 1995, Weir's focus
shifted to his band Ratdog, which coincidentally played their first
gig the day before. Since then, he has toured exclusively with
Ratdog, except for a few reunion tours with his former Grateful Dead
bandmates, who hit the road billed first as "The Other Ones," then
just as "The Dead" on subsequent tours.
The Dead's most recent tour came last spring and it was during that
time that Weir reignited the musical spark with another original
founder of the group, bassist Phil Lesh. While those two have jammed
together when their respective bands have crossed paths on the road
(Lesh has been touring since 1999 with his outfit Phil Lesh and
Friends), they have never hit the road together. But after the Dead
tour ended last fall, the duo had the itch to keep the music going,
and decided to form a new band called Furthurpossibly derived from
the name of the aforementioned Merry Prankster bus, also dubbed
Furtheralong with guitarist John Kadlecik from the Dark Star
Orchestra, Weir's Ratdog bandmates Jeff Chimenti on keyboards and Jay
Lane on drums, as well as second percussionist Joe Russo of the
Benevento Russo duo.
On Saturday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m., Furthur will be playing the Utica
Memorial Auditorium, 400 Oriskany St., Utica. If you haven't picked
them up already, tickets cost $49.50 and can be purchased by calling 738-0164.
Weir took some time before a Furthur show in Charlotte, N.C., to chat
with The New Times about reuniting with Lesh, the psychological
impact of digital music, Hunter S. Thompson and recently enjoying a
visit to the White House.
Q
When did you and Phil get the idea for Furthur and what's it been
like touring with him for the first time outside of a Dead-related band?
A
I have jammed with him through the years when Ratdog and his band
played together, but during the Dead tour last year we sort of
rediscovered our relationship and it just kind of developed from there.
Q
How have the audiences been responding on this tour?
A
We take them for a little walk in the woods and they seem to love it.
Q
I've been to quite a few Ratdog and Phil Lesh shows over the years,
and I've noticed that the audience seems to be an equal mix of young
and old. What do you think keeps the audience ever-revolving?
A
My guess is that our kind of music is something of a rite of passage
for a certain kind of person who requires a little bit of adventure
in life and in the music they listen to. And that's what we're more
than happy to provide.
Q
One thing I hear many people say is that they come away with a
different feeling every time they listen to an album like Anthem of
the Sun or any of the other Dead studio or live albums. Would you say
the same goes for you too? And what comes to mind when you listen to
the Grateful Dead?
A
I don't do that that much because I'm way more focused on what we're
about to do than what we've already done. But when I'm listening to
something the Dead has done or one of our more recent bands, I'm way
more focused on the details and what could be done better and what
was well done. So it's almost impossible for me to objectively listen
to it. {Laughs.} Every now and again I get ambushed by a song where
I'll walk into a place and it's already on and I don't immediately
identify it as us and sometimes I'm really pleasantly surprised by
what I hear.
Q
There were many elemental changes in the sound of the Dead from the
"acid test" days to the American Beauty/Workingman's Dead era right
through to the 1990s. Is there a time in the band's evolution that
holds a more personal sentiment for you?
A
Well, the late days, the last two or three years were good ones.
After Jerry came through his coma and came out in really good shape,
the band was just on all cylinders at that time.
Q
I've heard the name "Cowboy Bob" tossed around Dead circles because
of your affinity with the old gunfighter and western ballads. Will
you be dusting off any of those tunes for these Furthur shows?
A
Well, we'll do some of them and sooner or later we'll have them all
worked up. Just the other night we did {Marty Robbins'} "El Paso,"
and we do a nice job with that tune. The original recording was sort
of a ¾-time waltz, and we sort of make it a jazz waltz and have a lot
of fun with it, sort of a walking, tumbling hit. It also seems like
we do a decent job with "Mexicali {Blues}" and we haven't done "Me
and My Uncle" yet, but we'll get to it.
Q
I recently watched that Festival Express documentary about the 1970
train ride through Canada, and the scene with you, Jerry Garcia,
Janis Joplin and Rick Danko kind of stood out in the film. What were
your impressions of that tour and why do you think that kind of
camaraderie no longer exists in contemporary music?
A
My observation is that since the advent of the CD and digital music,
there's an inherent problem with digital music that has yet to be
addressed, and that is it just doesn't sound as good as analog
recordings. As opposed to analog recordings, digital recordings raise
your stress level; your brain doesn't like it much. And for that
reason, music isn't as big in our culture as it was back then. In
recent years, given the digital information age, the fact that if you
want to make a sure bet for yourself, you go into finance and
technology. Music is no longer getting the best and brightest of our
culture. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, if you were bright and had any
musical talent, you went straight for music because you could make a
pretty damn good career for yourself. It's not like it was.
Q
The Dead seemed to be a part of every major musical event during that
timethe Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, Altamont, Watkins Glen. Did
it seem at the time that you were involved in something that now
seems to be mythical moments in the annals of popular music, or were
you just taking it all in stride?
A
I guess we kind of took it for granted back then that we were in a
hell of an era.
Q
How about the festival scene these days? Is it still fun to get out
there and play in front of those large, open-air crowds?
A
It's big fun to play to a lot of folks. There's usually monster sound
systems and it's a fun little workout.
Q
I've read that you're an avid mountain biker and that you're on the
board of the Rex Foundation and the Rainforest Action Network along
with John Densmore of The Doors and a few other notables, but what
are some of the other endeavors outside of the Dead that people might
not know about?
A
Ahh, let's see, what do I do . . Right now, I've got a project
that's not outside of music, but is outside of my normal realm. I've
got a project I'm doing with the Marin Symphony Orchestra. We take a
bunch of Dead tunes and arrange them for a symphony, and learning to
score for a full orchestra is one of the challenges I'm taking on
right now and being in that realm, I'll be able to score movies and
write my own orchestral parts.
Q
You've been singing "The Music Never Stopped" for quite some time
now. Do you still see that being the case and what are maybe some of
your plans beyond this Furthur tour?
A
Right now, I'm tuned in on Furthur. We're learning each other and how
to play our new instrument, which is the new band, and let them play
off of us.
Q
You've been playing with Ratdog for quite some time now, and also
with the Dead, who you obviously have a long history with. Is it a
challenge playing with a new group of guys and learning from each
other to the point where you can just feed off each other?
A
The fun part comes when, for instance, with Ratdog, everybody learns
each other's moves and learns how to intuit each other, the end
ration gets pretty fast and furious. And with Furthur, I'm pretty
confident that by the time we get into this tour, we'll get to that
point and we'll be able to do that kind of stuff. Right now, we're
still learning each other, but we're getting the job done. I've been
doing some listening to our performances, and we're getting there.
Q
Starting with his Hell's Angels book in 1966, the late great Hunter
S. Thompson repeatedly expressed his affinity for the Grateful Dead
in his work. Did the Dead ever cross paths with Hunter?
A
Hunter was a good friend of mine and we had some either glorious or
inglorious moments, depending on how you want to look at it. {Laughs.}
Q
The Dead's reach seems pretty long, influencing everyone from
Thompson to our current president, Barack Obama, a self-professed
Dead fan. The Dead supported Obama during his campaign, for which the
prez repaid you by inviting you to the White House after his
inauguration. How did that come to be and what was it like being in
the White House after experiencing both the Nixon and George W. Bush
presidencies?
A
{Laughs.} I'm not surprised at anything anymore. The Dead were on
tour in the area and one of the higher-ups in the Secret Service
invited us by the White House to take a tour and he opened the door
to the Oval Office and let us go in and we got to spend a little time
with {Obama}, I guess at the taxpayers' expense. {Laughs.} He's a
great guy, and I'm pleased with his performance so far and I think
he's the right man for the job because it's an awful job and I
wouldn't wish it on a mad dog. But you know, if someone has to take
that responsibility and do something with it, I think he's the one.
.
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