More Road Trips

Kind of slow news day, so let's go with this story about the latest release from the Dead's vault - Road Trips: Vol. 1, Number 2. The two CD set is culled from the band's 1977 swing through the Southwest - read about it here.

For a limited time you'll be able to sample the goods too (well the first disc at least) - give it a listen here.

In other Dead related news for those of us not fortunate enough to be out on the West coast tonight's Deadheads For Obama show the folks over at iClips will be simulcasting it starting around 7:30 PM PST - head here for more info.

Deadheads For Obama

Head here for more info.

12 Years Ago

Grateful Dead - 1984-04-30 - Nassau Coliseum - Uniondale, NY - "He's Gone"

Happy Birthday Jerry!

The fat man would have be 65 today, so let's take a few minutes to take a look at him in action. I always loved when the Dead played acoustic, so here they are with "Deep Elm Blues".....



And here's one more for good measure, Jerry sitting in with Carlos Santana (watch him dance starting around 2:12 - it's fantastic)

I'll Take A Venti Iced Coffee -> China -> Rider

Who knew that the folks over at Hear Music were so heady? As I walked into Starbucks this morning to get my daily dose of caffeine I was caught off guard as the familiar mugs Jerry & Co. were staring back at me from the cover of their latest impulse buy compilation CD - Grateful Dead: Eternally Grateful - check it out....


Here's the track listing from the two disc set....

Disc One: In The Studio

1. Friend of the Devil 2. Box Of Rain 3. Althea 4. Eyes of the World 5. Truckin' 6. Shakedown Street 7. Cream Puff War 8. Scarlet Begonias 9. Touch of Grey 10. Sugar Magnolia 11. Cold Rain And Snow 12. China Cat Sunflower 13. Uncle John's Band 14. Casey Jones 15. Ripple

Disc Two: In Concert

1. Jack Straw 2. Bertha 3. My And My Uncle 4. Cumberland Blues 5. Me And Bobby McGee 6. Brown-Eyed Woman 7. Morning Dew 8. Johnny B. Goode 9. Not Fade Away

As much as people have been up in arms over Paul McCartney signing to Starbucks label and now Joni Mitchell, you really have to hand to them for putting out some quality releases and thinking outside the box about how people buy music these days. Among the other exclusive CDs their promoting this month is a Trojan Records reggae compilation, and a Dave Matthews Band Live Trax compilation, as well as selling the new Common album.

Here's a full list of what's Now Playing in their stores.

Jam_ON Goes Dead

A few months back Sirius announced that it would be adding an exclusive channel dedicated to all things Grateful Dead to launch this summer. Well while the actual launch will be later this summer, they will be offering a "sneak-peak" of sorts on their Jam_ON channel starting on August 1st and running through the 9th (the period covering Jerry's birthday and anniversary of his passing).

Head here for some more info.

Alive Dead

After months of being "Under Construction" the new, improved Grateful Dead website is now live. Here's some info on the new site....

Welcome to the latest evolution of Dead.Net. Before you start clicking around we just wanted to give you three... no, four, informational gems.

1. We want you to know that this site is going to be ever-improving, ever-evolving and never sitting still. Post your ideas, your wish lists, your hopes for what you wish this site could be. We have a million ideas of our own, and we want to build this 'thing' into the best 'thing' it can be. That said, we are brand new, and it's going to be a little rocky for a bit while we find our feet and figure out what is working and what isn't. So bear with us.
2. At the moment, we have not fully merged the community/archives with the store. That means that you are going to have to create a whole 'nother account when you want to go to the store and buy stuff. We are working really hard to make it so that you only need one account. In the meantime,when you do create your User accounts, please use the same email address for both so that we can unite them when the time comes.
3. The store. Yes, the shelves are a little empty right now. We are moving truckloads of merch to a shiny new warehouse, and so it's not all in yet. We will be adding tons of new stuff really soon!
4. That's it! Wander around and check it all out. We hope you're happy with what we're building here, since really, it's all for you.

Some of the cool new features included the ability to check out song lyrics, backstage passes, concert posters as well as the continuation of the Taper's Section - head here and start poking around.

If that's not enough Dead for you, you can also pre-order their newest archive release Three From The Vault - which features a show from the Capital Theater from '71. Pre-order your copy here.

Stop Stealing From Bob Weir

You might want to listen to as much music as you can over on Wolfgang's Vault - seems like some of the artists that the site is currently streaming are none to happy with them at the moment. When groups with names like Led Zeppelin, Santana, The Doors and the always curmudgeonly when it comes to stuff like this the Grateful Dead are suing the you claiming you are "illegally selling recordings and merchandise" it might not be a good sign of things to come.

Here's a statement released by Bob Weir on the topic...

"We have never given permission for our images and material to be used in this way...What Sagan is doing in stealing. He is stealing what is most important to us - our work, our images and our music - and is profiting from the goodwill of our fans."

Read about the whole story here.

Listen away here.

And buy Huey Lewis gear here and other cool retro-band t-shirts here.

Taper's Section

If you haven't been over to the Dead's under-construction, website lately - they've recently started a great new feature on there called the Taper's Section. Here's some intro info from the site...

In this space, every Monday, you will find information on the recorded history of the Grateful Dead’s music as it pertains to that week, specifically focusing on the shows for that week, through the band’s 30 year performing history, that reside in the Grateful Dead’s storied tape vault. Although not everything is in there, with more than 1,600 of the band’s 2,400-odd shows represented, there is plenty about which to talk. Check back weekly for new entries and insight into the vault, as well as exclusive audio clips relating to that week in the Grateful Dead’s recorded history.

They're got some great stuff up so far, here's a sample....

Run Rudolph Run - 1971-12-04

Feels Like A Stranger - 1980-12-30

Looks like their deal with Rhino is already paying off.

Distractions

Ok so it's the Monday after a long weekend and odds are you're not really concentrating on work all that much today so here's a quick quiz to keep you busy about The Beatles post break-up careers.

Not to brag, but I got 10 of 10 - though it's not really all that tough.

Also here's a couple more quizzes for you - match the Grateful Dead album with the year it came out and Dancing Bear's Newbie And Acid Test Dead Trivia Challenge. Good luck.