Cloud Surfing

Hello, friends – happy SUMMER!!

I’ve got three Bay Area gigs this weekend, and I hit the road next week for my first festival of the season.

The in-between gigs are still being confirmed; please see http://www.dgans.com/gigs.html for the latest.

I’m in the middle of an online interview at www.well.com/inkwell – talking with Gary Burnett and other interlocutors about my adventures in the music bizniz, the mysteries of creativity, and various other subjects. You can contribute to the dialogue by sending email to inkwell@well.com

There are some samples of my new recording work at www.dgans.com/private-tunes.html . The new CD will be called Cloud Surfing; I had hoped to have it ready in time for Grateful Fest, but these things take time, and it’s better not to rush. I have been working with two brilliant sound designers – Jeremy Goody and Jim LeBrecht – and I’m just delighted with the work we’ve been doing.

This month has been a tough one on a personal and professional level. My dear friend Tina Loney, who was the “best man” at my wedding and was my close friend and most trusted counselor for twenty years, lost her long battle with lung cancer on June 8. You’ll find a picture of her and a few words at gdhour.com/logblog/?p=126

And before we lost Tina, on June 2, Vince Welnick took his own life. Vince was a member of The Tubes for 20 years and the Grateful Dead for five; in the decade following the end of the Dead, I had many opportunities to play music with him, each of which was a great pleasure and a learning experience to boot. I also worked with Vince on Might as Well: The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead, which I co-produced with Jerry Lawson. Vince and Jerry hit it off during those sessions and remained friends from then on. You’ll find a lot of music, and numerous tributes to Vince’s soulful nature and musical brilliance, all over this site.

I stayed home for most of the month of May in order to spend time with Tina, and I experienced a great burst of creative energy that I’m sure was fallout from the powerful emotions surrounding her passing and Vince’s. The music I play this summer will reflect the energy that came through our lives through these experiences.

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Here’s what I know about the summer as of now:

* Friday, June 23, 7:30-9:30pm: With Mario DeSio and Jeff Pehrson at the Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland CA. No cover, but you have to buy some coffee and/or food

* Saturday, June 24, 9:30 am to 1:30 pm: Grand Lake Farmers’ Market, at Lake Park and Grand Avenues in Oakland CA (across from the Grand Lake Theater). Excellent produce (organic!), prepared foods, and crafts. Free!

* Sunday, June 25: Far West Fest in Olema, California. Benefit for community radio station KWMR, with Alison Brown, The Mother Hips, Hot Buttered Rum, et al., plus local organic food and beverage, crafts, etc. I play an unamplified acoustic set at around 4:30l Aaron Redner of Hot Buttered Rum will
sit in on fiddle.

* Thursday, June 29: The Happy Dog, Cleveland OH. Details TBA
* July 4 weekend: GratefulFest at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park, Garrettsville OH. Dark Star Ochestra, Hot Tuna, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Zen Tricksters, and more! DG plays Friday, Sunday, and Monday

* Friday, July 14: Master Musicians Festival, Somerset KY. (Festival is July 14-15). Donna the Buffalo headlines Friday; others TBA
* Saturday, July 15, 7:30 pm: DG opens for The Waybacks at The Dame, 156 W. Main Street, Lexington KY. $5. 859-)226-9005

* Wednesday, August 9, 7:00 pm: Songs to Fill the Air – A Tribute to Jerry Garcia. DG, Alligator, and the Chickenstand Throwdown Band. (DG plays at 8:40). Makor, 35 W 67th Street (between Columbus Ave & Central Park West), New York City. $15. 212-413-8809
* Thursday, August 10, 9-11pm EDT: DG appears on John Major’s Railroad Earth Happy Hour (probably in the second hour)
* Saturday, August 12, 8 pm: DG and the Shockenaw Mountain Boys (members of Railroad Earth) at the Fountain House, 439 Rt. 94 South, Newton NJ. 973-383-7976

* Fri-Sun, August 18-20: Gathering of the Vibes, Mariaville NY. DG plays Saturday, August 19

* September 22-24: Terrapin Hill Festival, Harrodsburg KY

* October 19-22: MagnoliaFest, Live Oak FL. Donna the Buffalo, Sam Bush, New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Duhks, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice, many more!

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More dates will be added for July, August, and September. Stay tuned.

More information, web links, etc., at www.dgans.com/gigs.html

This is from an email sent out today by Xtra Ticket, an Arizona band that Vince played with many times in recent years.

(Here’s a link to a show they played together on February 19, 2005.)

Vince, you were always a very kind, personable, sweet soul. We remain humbled & honored to have played music with you. Thanks for the many fond memories and stellar performances. From the bottom of hearts we will always burn one bright for you….. Xtra Ticket

One of the most amazing moments of my life was the first time Vince Welnick came down to play with Xtra Ticket at Boston’s. It was one of those magical nights that cannot be described nor duplicated. In the years since that first show with Vince I was fortunate enough to get to know him as a kind, humble and generous soul as well as an extremely talented musician. He always appreciated the love we gave him and I always appreciated the musical experiences he gave us.
- Charlie Gnecco
Xtra Ticket Drummer

I remember after the second time Vince played with Xtra Ticket we had an “after-party” at my house. The party seemed to never end, but as it slowed to a dull roar Vince, his brother Joe, and I were sitting by the pool. I asked Vince what he thought of the Arizona scene. He smiled. Then he corrected me asking, “You mean our scene?”

He was a great musician and a great man, and I will miss him.
– James
Xtra Ticket web/mgr

The first time I saw Vince was 7-1-92 Buckeye Lake Music Center – Hebron, OH with the Grateful Dead Tour and Vinnie Encored the evening with Baba O’Riley->Tomorrow Never Knows the whole crowd went crazy….. Vince was a true blue Rock and Roll Star.
- Chongo De La Sylva
Xtra Ticket Percussion

One of my favorite VW memories is when Cyndi, Jacob and I stayed with Vince in Forestville CA. We bunked in his music room. I remember plugging my nylon string guitar in to a little amplifier, and Vince said, “Oh hey, that was Jerry’s backstage tuning Amp from Dead Tour.” Cool…I played “little Jerry” for a good part of the day, and we talked about cover material that he and Jerry had thought of doing with the Dead and when I played Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain he mentioned that Garcia was entertaining the thought of playing Stardust….I love that Song.
- Dave Abear
XtraTicket Guitar/Vox

When I think of Vince Welnick, one thing stands out: tenderness. He was was a kind, loving individual, always with a positive outlook. I will never forget this one time when Xtra Ticket backed Vince for a Halloween show at the bash, we had just played a particularly moving rendition of Peggy-O and as the last note rang out, I leaned over and asked him how he liked it. His reply? “I cried.” Later he told me it was the first time he played it since Jerry died; then it was my turn to cry.
- Evan Jones
Xtra Ticket Guitar/Vox

Here are a few more pieces that didn’t make it into the six hours of broadcast tribute:

Vince Welnick interview w/ David Gans 6/21/96 Studio E, Sebastopol CA

Friend of the Devil – Mickey Hart Band rehearsal 4/30/00

Vince Welnick and Bobby Vega interview w/ David Gans 6/21/96 Studio E, Sebastopol CA
Playing in the Band – Special K and the Cereal Killers 8/27/94 Fukuoka, Japan
Bob Weir, Vince Welnick, Henry Kaiser, Bobby Vega, Prairie Prince

Audio from the June 14 KPFA tribute to Vince is now available here

The complete playlist is here

I got this in email from Prairie Prince this morning, and he gave me permission to post it here.

Both Vince and Prairie started out in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. Vince was in The Beans; Prairie was in a rival outfit called the Red, White and Blues Band. Prairie eventually joined the Beans, and in the early ’70s they moved to San Francisco and eventually became The Tubes. Prairie also played with Vince in The Affordables, opening some JGB shows in ’92, and he was also a member of Missing Man Formation for a while.

Prairie plays drums with Paul Kantner’s Jefferson Starship Galactic Reunion, and also with the Tubes.

Ode to Vince
1951-2006

the cheshire cat, the cool cat caller,
waterbed loafer, yellow mg
big black cruizer sedan.
Turquoise skids under the catman do.
Monkey posture, cigs n’ beans,
chile n’ reef, ear to ear kind,
red head to toe.
Mucous mambo, samba in the rain,
oh my baby, o, a life in pain.
The comedy and tradgedy of mr. Vw.
An ode to the man,
true blue on report, walkin in the
sand, shortness of breath the
sandman sleeps now, forever, until
the music rises again.
In all the glory that was then.

A musicologist,he taught us to count.
West sider, next of kin baby brother
called “the kid”.
Long way to go home
from high to west high.
Big eyed bean from phoenix.
Oh my, oh my heart, my heart.
The angels’ grin, she sparks
in his eyes, the devil’s red wife.
The beast with ten fingers.
Ebony and ivory keys to every city.
So proud, so dedicated.
Life on the road took the tolls.
Southwestern skies tumble
and fall down with rain on route 66.
Leo the lion fish, the bosa nova king.
Wild indian woman, totem pole life
blows it’s stacks, chopped down
in mid carving, the frog jumps
and cries, the horse swats a fly,
sheds a tear, and flies away from
the smog farm.
Don’t want to wait anymore,
feel it,
feel it coming,
affordables, formation of the missing
man, now the one.
Pima indian patterns on a
broken clay pot, apache tears with a
long, slow burn… all for a song.

Tubular brother where art thou?
Now eaten the cosmos, swallowed you
poland whole.
The dark star, the stark bar,
the long car with the little wheels
in your head telling you
that when you die,
you’re gonna be a long time dead.

P.P. 6-14-06