Mickey Hart's Big Bang

Photo by Michael Weintrob

Mickey Hart Band

featuring Tim Hockenberry, Crystal Monee Hall, Vir McCoy, Ian “Inx” Herman, Gawain Mathews, Greg Ellis, and Sikiru Adepoju.

Tractor Tavern, Ballard, WA

December 1, 2011

I didn’t need any convincing to go hear Mickey Hart and his new band play a tiny brick warehouse in Seattle last Thursday night. Only 200 people? To hear this legendary seeker and world traveler, who made 22 albums and performed 2,300 live concerts spanning 30 years with the Grateful Dead? Not surprising, the entire crowd was dancing and cheering from the first note on. There’s always a magical “je nais se quoi” around the music and members of the Grateful Dead.

In an article I read recently, Mickey explains his theology. I think it explains his reason for being, and his special passion for music:

“Speaking as Mickey Hart, Rhythmist, it's about the rhythm of things. Everything is interlocked. The world is rhythm. Everything in the world has a vibration. Anything that's alive and moves has a vibration. And if it has a vibration, it has a sound. And if it has a sound, there's an effect emotionally that it can have on you, spiritually perhaps. Whether it be through brain-wave function or something that makes you dance, it's all interconnected. Music is just a miniature for what's happening in the universe and deep space, from the beginning of time 13.7 billion years ago.”

Mickey has been digging deep inside his psyche to explore the frontiers of the cosmos for many years. Some of the Dead’s drums/space jams are legendary for his polyrhythmic sound sculptures. Like this one from June 14, 1989:

Grateful Dead Drums/Space June 14,1989

The show last Thursday night featured an amazing electronic drums-synthesizers cockpit, at the core of which Mickey buzzed, tapped, and pounded, all the while intently commandeering the sound. His set took up half the stage; the other half featured three fine--and previously unknown to me--musicians: a lead guitar player, a fabulous male singer (who did The Other One), and a rich soprano who made a few of us cry when she sang a slow, heartfelt Brokedown Palace. In the background hulked a Shrek-like bass player who at some key moments stole the show with his Lesh-like symphonic stylings.

The Other One from the other night

The band gleefully and comfortably stretched out to explore the vibrations of the Universe. Recently Mickey explained how he actually gathers sounds from space:

“I'm working with NASA and scientists like George Smoot, who won the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his discovery of the big bang. Pulsars, galaxies, supernovas, black holes, stars, planets—they all have a vibration. And since space is a vacuum, there's no sound. The only way those vibrations can travel is through light waves. Once we've gathered those with radio telescopes, I take the algorithms and make sound out of it. And that's what this band I'm touring with now is about. The band will be playing these sounds and having a conversation with the universe. You'll be hearing sounds that no human has ever heard before. The sounds that spawned you. These vibrations that are your ancestors.”

OK, heady stuff for sure. And very cool in theory. In practice, I was a bit relieved to find that the sounds were a lot more accessible cerebrally than I thought they would be. In fact, strangely familiar and danceable. Rich and multi-layered, and very interesting. Distant cousins of techno-world-jazz-fusion-rock. It was also interesting how these primordial sounds so easily slipped into recognizable songs, like a seal into water: did Mickey know some of my favorites are Scarlet Begonias, The Other One, and Brokedown Palace? Or do they just have the vibrations that Mickey (and I) resonate with most?

FURTHUR, THE EXPERIENCE

Furthur's set list, from their Facebook page

Photos by Irene Graham

Legendary Grateful Dead Band plays Remond, Wa
Third of Three Installments

Furthur at Marymoor Park, September 18, 6 p.m.
See the previous two installments:
Furthur, The Music
Furthur, The Band

FURTHUR, THE EXPERIENCE
Cosmically, the rain starts just as we walk through tall trees up to the main gate. As we’re getting our bags checked we rummage for rain ponchos. After that we hardly notice the rain—the focus is all on getting to the stage.

It’s definitely a different experience being up close (4th row center). The supreme professionalism of the stage setup, the caliber and complexity of the sound equipment and the magnificent instruments, is all laid out like a gorgeous banquet. It occurrs to me that Bobby has been touring for 45 years, pretty much non-stop. These guys are all at the very top of their game.

The plastic-sheeted fans are pumped up, ready to party. The band comes out to cheers from new and long-time fans. Familiar faces in the crowd smile knowingly, “Gonna be a party tonight, uh-huh!” as they roll into the first number, Mississippi Half-Step:

Half-step
Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo
Hello baby, I'm gone, goodbye
Half a cup of rock and rye
Farewell to you old southern sky
I'm on my way - on my way

The next song, Stagger Lee, is particularly amazing. I haven’t heard it live in concert for several years, and JohnK does a nice job on the guitar and vocals. I’m haunted by echoes of Miles Davis in the jam…those high held notes... The next few songs roll along in perfect contentment, the fans dancing, singing along, Phil smiling and grooving with Bobby, all having a real good time.

Jerry Garcia is always so palpably missing. His soulfulness came out at the most unexpected moments, through a cracking voice, or that perfect high note on the guitar. It’s hard. But JohnK holds it down. It isn’t until the last song of the first set, Sugaree, that I almost cry...

Just one thing I ask of you
Just one thing for me
Please forget you knew my name
My darlin’ Sugaree

Intermission is almost an emotional relief. I’ve never attended a concert with a friendlier, kinder, happier crowd than at a Dead concert. Tonight is no different. We’re all in it together, the rain, tarps, wet chairs. None of it matters. Just the music.

The band continues to pull at our heart strings as they open the second set with Steve Winwood's classic Dear Mr. Fantasy and then stride right into one of my favorite Bobby songs, Cassidy. It showcases Bobby’s special songwriting skills: his unusual and original chord changes and vocal modalities that I’m only recently coming to fully appreciate. The show is complete for me when they swing into The Wheel and I poignantly remember the Ventura, CA show in 1985, sunset, ocean waves crashing in the background, crowd bouncing on the old wooden bleachers. For me, the concert is an accumulation of special moments, relived across the decades. Some of the best moments in my life.

A lull and maybe still missing Jerry, it feels like Fire on the Mountain is a bit lackluster, and it isn’t until I Know You Rider that the energy is back up to megawattage. They’ve been doing Going Down the Road at a lot of their shows lately, so that is no surprise, but it’s always endearing and fun when they throw in an old cowboy song like that. Next, we all come full circle when they sing Bid You Goodnight, as Dark Star Orchestra performed a superb heartfelt rendition of it on their spring tour.

And, being Saturday, Bobby had to make the set list change at the last minute (I know it was you, Bobby!) and do one of his favorites, because he gets to whale on the rhythm guitar—it’s one of the best whaling strumming songs out there, One More Saturday Night. I know I’m extremely grateful to have had one more Saturday night with this band, and it was clear they felt the same way about us.

FURTHUR, THE BAND

Furthur, Today

Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh in 1974

Phil Lesh-Grateful Dead, Berkeley Greek Theater, San Francisco 1981,

Photo by Irene Graham (I was there!)

Bob Weir, Greek Theater, 1981 ("Bobbyyyy!!!")

John Kadlecik of Furthur, 2010

Legendary Grateful Dead Band FURTHER plays Redmond, WA
Second of Three Installments; see installment #1: Furthur, The Music

Furthur at Marymoor Park, September 18, 6 p.m.

FURTHUR, THE BAND
Grateful Dead founders Bob Weir (rhythm guitar and vocals) and Phil Lesh (lead guitar in the lower register, or bass), are joined by John Kadlecik (little Jerry lead guitar) of Dark Star Orchestra, along with Jeff Chimenti on keyboards (from Bob Weir’s band Ratdog) and Joe Russo on drums (collaborations with Phil Lesh & Friends, and Phish).

The thing about Bob Weir that I’ve only recently begun to fathom, is just how great a rhythm guitar player he really is. Subtle and masterful, he consistently weaves a rich texture in and around the performance, artfully guiding the orchestration while empowering the vocals and other guitars. Listen for his influence in “Help on the Way” and “Let it Grow.” He’s also become a fine singer, although personally, I miss the cute “Bobby” of the early concerts, and wish he’d lose the ZZ Top beard! Bobby was adopted, and in this truly amazing autobiographical article, shares his story about the life-long odyssey of finding his family, and the magic telecaster that finally made The Big Time.

The English language is just plain inadequate for describing the bass playing artistry of Phil Lesh. He sees no reason why a bass guitar can’t be played with as much creativity and soulfulness as a lead guitar, rather than focusing on the downbeat. He rocks my soul. My bass instructor Danny Morris, a huge Phil fan, at Berklee College of Music said, "Wouldn't it be great to tour the world as a jazz improvisation band, disguised as a rock band?" Phil turned 70 on March 15 this year. One of his more personal causes is organ donorship: he successfully survived a liver transplant over 12 years ago. When I think of the many, many fabulous musical moments he has given me, I want to give him a liver, and a kidney, too!

A quick Time Out here to tout two other important causes formed and supported by the Grateful Dead family:
• Furthur Foundation: For nearly 25 years, the Furthur Foundation has been giving money to progressive non-profit groups working on environmental and social change issues.
• Unbroken Chain Foundation: Created in the spring of 1997 by Phil Lesh and friends, the Unbroken Chain Foundation is a nonprofit organization which seeks to perpetuate the long-standing tradition of community service that has been the hallmark of the remarkable three-decade relationship between the Grateful Dead and its audience.

After Jerry Garcia’s passing in 1995, the Grateful Dead went through a few iterations, as The Other Ones, and recently The Dead (The Gorge, May 16 2009), which featured Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers Band) on lead guitar (in the Jerry position). Warren was bluesy and slidy, which was fun and a little country, but I think this is going to be my favorite lineup since Jerry: John Kadlecik on lead. He brings 12 solid years of touring and playing Grateful Dead material with Dark Star Orchestra, a high-powered, professional tour de force. John says, endearingly, “I listened to classical music and my old, hand-me-down Beatles albums, and that’s pretty much all I listened to until high school in ’83-’84. At that time I had some friends who turned me on to The Police and The Cars and Rush and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd—which a lot of people considered to be passé and oldies by that point, I suppose, but I didn’t care.” (Neither do I!!) Through a friend John discovered Grateful Dead music in 1987, and 23 years later he is playing lead guitar with the legends he worshiped!!! Read the entertaining John Kadlecik Interview.

Jeff Chimenti rocks the keyboards. From the further.net site: “Although he had never listened to Grateful Dead music, his relationship with saxophonist Dave Ellis introduced him to Bob Weir, and in 1997 he replaced the legendary Johnnie Johnson (of Chuck Berry fame) in Bob's band "RatDog." He later was the keyboard player for the Dead's re-constituted band "The Other Ones" which officially became "The Dead" with stints in 2002-2004, and then again in 2009.

Joe Russo on drums: Growing up in Northern NJ with walls covered by KISS posters, compelled by fire, make-up, and the ways of rock, Joe Russo began playing drums at the age of 8. Cutting his chops in the shadows of Bonham, his early tendencies leaned strongly to hard rock. At the age of 13, through the guidance of his teacher Frank Marino (Long Island Drum Center of Nyack) Joe began to discover a whole new world of drumming.

Stay tuned for the next installment: Furthur, The Experience

Legendary Grateful Dead Band FURTHUR Plays Redmond, WA

First of three installments
In an attempt to give you context for this amazing event, I’ll be covering three areas over the next few days: The Music; The Band; The Experience

Furthur at Marymoor Park, September 18, 6 p.m.

FURTHUR, THE MUSIC
Furthur is the next evolution of the Grateful Dead, who toured 1965 – 1995—thirty years. To be able to hear this music again, live, with the original bass and rhythm guitar players…!

If you’re a Deadhead, you’re intimately familiar with the grandeur of the lyrics written by Robert Hunter, the foremost poet-collaborator in the GD world. You can thank him for scribing masterpieces like Ripple, St. Stephen, Wharf Rat, Dark Star, and hundreds of others. Hundreds. The sheer magnitude of his contribution is staggering. What may not be commonly known is that Bob Weir also wrote a significant number of well-known songs, the best of which were co-penned by Hunter (Sugar Magnolia) and John Perry Barlow (Cassidy, Looks Like Rain, and Let It Grow).

Deep in our lexicon we’re haunted by lines like “must’ve been the roses” and “let there be songs to fill the air…” Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir put the words in a magic music cauldron and out wafted some of the finest, most soulful musicianship and improvisation in history.

The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics site based at UC Santa Cruz, provides an accurate historical archive of GD’s original song lyrics. You may also have seen my piece about archive.org where you can get high quality live concert recordings for free (last I counted, the Grateful Dead had 7,300 concerts listed there!) In the past few weeks of the Furthur tour, they’ve been including these classics in their set lists, so if you’re going to the show, get ready for some amazing live music moments:
Cassidy
Loser
The Other One
Terrapin Station
Unbroken Chain
Help on the Way/Slipknot
Wharf Rat

It's a miracle that you can still get tickets to the show. You can also purchase live concert recordings from the Furthur tour via digital download. Or order the live shows on CD.

Here's an excerpt from the song “Broke-down Palace”:
River gonna take me
Sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy
all the way back home

It's a far gone lullaby
sung many years ago
Mama, Mama, many worlds I've come
since I first left home

Goin home, goin home
by the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul

Stay tuned for the next installment: FURTHUR, THE BAND