Jerry Garcia Biopic

Well, it’s about time. A new biopic about Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia is slated for the big screen. Focusing on the future counterculture hero’s early years in the Bay Area before he joined the Grateful Dead, the untitled project will be based on Robert Greenfield’s book, ‘Dark Star.’

Producers have reportedly acquired the rights to Greenfield ’s oral history of Garcia, which counts the perspectives of the musicians, relatives and artist friends like Ken Kesey. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the project will focus on Garcia’s stint in the military, his life-changing car accident and his first interactions with members of the San Francisco music scene, including future Dead bassist Phil Lesh.

Although the Grateful Dead have been the subject of number of documentaries, including the Garcia-directed concert film ‘The Grateful Dead Movie’ (1977), the story of Garcia’s life has yet to be explored on film.

The Dead Rock Penn State For Obama

Tie-dyed t-shirts and political slogans made for a heady mixture as the four surviving members of the rock band Grateful Dead put on a concert in support of Barack Obama. Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart hit a Penn State University stage Monday night to play for about 15,000 people.

It was the quartet’s first show together since a 2004 reunion tour. Hart, Weir and Lesh had already jammed together in support of Obama in February in California. Before his set Monday, Hart said in an interview backstage with The Associated Press that he was most impressed with Obama’s views on climate change. “I believe him enough to be able to get up in front of my constituency, these people out there,” Hart said, pointing out the door to his dressing room, “and tell them ‘I believe.’ That’s really important. The Grateful Dead does not take this lightly. We’ve never really done something quite like this.” Andrea Mead, spokeswoman for the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania, said Monday night the main goal was to stir up voter outreach efforts in a critical battleground state.

After Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers Band opened the show, Obama supporters including Penn State assistant football coach Jay Paterno and cornerback Lydell Sargeant took to the stage to endorse him. A taped video message from Obama himself also was projected on a scoreboard. Then it was on to the main attraction as the lights dimmed and the Dead opened with their classic, “Truckin.’” Minutes later, fans were tipping balloons in the air and the arena floor filled with an earthy aroma.

The Dead officially dropped “Grateful” from its name to honor the memory of its lead singer, Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995. Mead said the Dead approached the campaign earlier this year offering help in a battleground state with a large fan base. Brian Cohen, 32, of Wolcott, Vt., drove 10 hours to catch the show. Cohen said he supports Obama but would have attended regardless.

“Obama is really trying to be a good person, which is what Deadheads try to do,” said Wolcott, coining the phrase used to describe the Dead’s legion of fans. “We try to change the world and be good people, change the world by being good people.” A few people weren’t sold on Obama, though, including 38-year-old Jodi Frasier, of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A registered independent, Frasier said she was concerned about Obama’s experience and John McCain’s lack of charisma in campaign speeches.

“Right now, I’m still up in the air.”

Grateful Dead :: Rocking The Cradle

It took 30 years to produce this 2CD/DVD set from the Dead’s legendary September 1978 run at the Sound & Light Theater, outside Cairo, nestled in the dunes just a short mummy-walk from the Great Pyramid and the mysterious Sphinx. Then, Dead Heads had to endure the long, restless weeks between the announcement of the release and when they could actually order it. Dead.net is NOW accepting preorders for this beautiful and historic package, Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978, which includes two exceptional music CDs and a DVD with over 95 minutes of concert footage from the Egypt shows (plus an impressionistic “Vacation Tapes” mini-documentary that shows the band and Dead family at play). What’s more, all preorders placed through dead.net by the official release date, September 30, will receive an exclusive bonus CD of still more great material from the Egypt gigs. Rocking the Cradle will be available everywhere on September 30, but the bonus disc will be exclusively available with dead.net preorders.

To place your order and read more click HERE.

Source: Grateful Dead

Jerry All Day Long!

Listen to your favorite Jerry or GD song and jam live all day long!

Grateful Dead :: Road Trips :: Summer 71′

If you’re up on your Dick’s Picks releases—and we know you are—you’ll recall that Dick’s Picks 35, released in 2005, featured some smokin’ performances from the summer of 1971. The master reels from which it was culled, long believed to have been lost, had turned up miraculously on a houseboat owned by the parents of former GD keyboardist Keith Godchaux, discovered more than 30 years later by Keith’s brother, Brian, and son, Zion. And Keith had these masters because the band wanted him to be able to hear their most recent tour in preparation for his taking the piano seat that fall. It was quite a find, to say the least—the Grateful Dead world equivalent of uncovering a new royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings. To purchase a copy and keep reading click HERE.

Play Dead!

Source: Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead Donates Archives to UCSC

Pictured above at the press conference are (l-r): Nion McEvoy, CEO of Chronicle Books, a trustee of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation, and member of the archive’s advisory committee Slugs and Roses; Virginia Steel, UCSC’s university librarian; UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal; Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir; and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.

The Grateful Dead Archive represents one of the most significant popular cultural collections of the 20th Century. It documents the Dead’s incredible creative activity and influence in contemporary music history from 1965 to 1995, including the phenomena of the Deadheads, the band’s extensive network of devoted fans, and the band’s highly unusual and successful musical business ventures.

The Archive contains original documents, clippings, media, article and other publications about the Dead and its individual members, its tours and performances, productions, and business. Among the resources that will be invaluable for researchers are show files, programs, newsletters, posters, cover art, photographs, tickets and stickers. These artifacts document three decades of the band’s recordings and its performance of thousands of concerts. A collection of stage props, tour exhibit material, and, of course, tee-shirts gives dimension and visual impact to the collection. An unusual feature of the Archive will be the correspondence and art contributed over the years by supportive Deadheads and held as very important by the Dead.

The Archive, when processed, will be widely and freely accessible to fans and scholars It will be housed on the UC Santa Cruz campus, and material from it will be prominently displayed and available for listening, viewing, and research in a dedicated Grateful Dead room located in UCSC’s new and renovated McHenry Library.

It is expected to take two years to process the Archive; parts of the collections will be debuted in stages as processing progresses. Material in the Archive will be physically preserved, its content described in detail in an electronically available finding aid, and digital copies, when appropriate, will be offered for viewing and listening from a UCSC Grateful Dead web site.

Source: UCSC