Cloud Surfing

Week of June 7, 2010

Part 1 26:18
Grateful Dead 11/15/72 Music Hall, Oklahoma City
DEAL
CUMBERLAND BLUES
AROUND AND AROUND
CHINA CAT SUNFLOWER>
I KNOW YOU RIDER

Part 2 29:37
Interview: Sam Cutler
The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack
US BLUES

Continuing the complete unreleased concert of 11/15/72, and concluding the interview with Sam Cutler, who came to the USA in 1969 as the Rolling Stones’ tour manager and then went to work in that capacity (and others) for the Grateful Dead. Fascinating character, great interview! His memoir is titled You Can’t Always Get What You Want: My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Other Wonderful Reprobates, and I recommend it highly.

I came home from Utah with a sore finger, and over the last couple of days it got uglier and more painful. I went to the doctor this morning, thinking “spider bite” but fearing MRSA. Neither appears to be the case, but the middle finger of my fretting hand was sliced open so this purple debris could be squeezed out and the area cleaned. Now I am bandaged and under orders to soak it in hot water three times a day, and various fluids are being analyzed to see if there’s anything more worrisome happening.

In the meantime, I am unable to play and so I must, with regret, cancel my scheduled performance at Pasta Moon in Half Moon Bay tomorrow night.

I expect to be back at full strength in a few days.

Week of May 31, 2010

Part 1 30:24
Grateful Dead 11/15/72 Music Hall, Oklahoma City
CANDYMAN
BIG RIVER
SUGAREE
EL PASO
BOX OF RAIN

Part 2 25:01
Interview: Sam Cutler
Grateful Dead, Workingman’s Dead
NEW SPEEDWAY BOOGIE

Sam Cutler was the tour manager for the Rolling Stones’ 1969 tour, documented in the film Gimme Shelter and the live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out (recently reissued in a deluxe package with some video footage and additional tracks). He was intimately involved in the planning and execution of the free concert at the Altamont Speedway in California, where things went so horribly wrong, and after the Stones left him to face the authorities (and the Hell’s Angels) in the aftermath, Cutler went to ground at Jerry Garcia’s house and then went to work for the Grateful Dead.

Cutler, who has lived in Australia for many years, was in the States recently to promote his memoir, You Can’t Always Get What You Want: My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Other Wonderful Reprobates – a terrific book.

This interview will conclude in next week’s program.

Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from the All Good Festival July 8-11 in Masontown, West Virginia. Furthur featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, Dark Star Orchestra, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Old Crow Medicine Show, George Clinton and P Funk, Keller Williams, Railroad Earth, Dr. Dog, and dozens more – with no overlapping sets. Information and tickets are available at allgoodfestival.com

Week of May 24, 2010

Part 1 26:25
Grateful Dead 11/15/72 Music Hall, Oklahoma City
BERTHA
BEAT IT ON DOWN THE LINE
BIRD SONG
JACK STRAW

Part 2 29:30
David Gans
LIFE IS A JAM->
AFTER BREAK
Great American Taxi, Reckless Habits
AMERICAN BEAUTY
Hot Tuna, Live at New Orleans House 09/69
DEATH DON’T HAVE NO MERCY
Keller and the Keels, Thief
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON

Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:

The Mighty High Festival May 28-30 at the Tuxedo Ridge Ski Area in Tuxedo New York, about 40 miles Northwest of New York City. Dark Star Orchestra, New Riders of the Purple Sage, From Good Homes, Peter Rowan, Commander Cody, The Felice Brothers, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Quest Theory and more. Details and tickets are available at createavibe.com

The Furthur Festival May 28-30 at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, CA featuring two nights of Furthur with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, performing the six complete Grateful Dead’s albums including the 40th anniversaries of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Additional artists include Hot Tuna, Jackie Greene, Galactic, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, and more! More information and tickets are available at furthurfestival.com.

Week of May 10, 2010

Part 1 43:06
Introduction
Grateful Dead, Crimson, White and Indigo (7/7/89)
RAMBLE ON ROSE
Interview: Len Dell’Amico
Grateful Dead, Dead Ahead (10/31/80)
RIPPLE
HENRY KISSINGER SKETCH
Interview: Len Dell’Amico
Grateful Dead, Crimson, White and Indigo (7/7/89)
BLOW AWAY

Part 2 13:19
Jim Lauderdale, Patchwork River
PATCHWORK RIVER
EL DORADO

This week we visit with Len Dell’Amico, longtime video director for the Grateful Dead, whose latest contribution to the GD media library is Crimson, White, and Indigo, the complete concert of July 7, 1989 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Len visited with me at KPFA recently to talk about this project and to tell some great stories about his work with the band over the years.

Patchwork River is the name of the new CD by Jim Lauderdale, and all the songs were written by Jim in collaboration with the Grateful Dead’s resident poet and lyricist, Robert Hunter. Hunter has been on a serious roll of late. He co-wrote all but one of the songs on Bob Dylan’s latest album, Together Through Life; he and David Nelson wrote some fine songs for the New Riders of the Purple Sage CD Where I Come From, and he’s contributed lyrics to Bill Kreutzmann‘s two bands, BK3 and Seven Walkers. To name but a few! Now comes a full CD by the King of Nashville, Jim Lauderdale, continuing a partnership that has been going on for several years and included the 2004 release titled Headed for the Hills. I have been positively hooked on this new one since it arrived in my mailbox a few weeks ago.

Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:

The Nateva Festival July 2-4 in Oxford, Maine, with Furthur featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, moe., The Flaming Lips, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band, STS9, Umphrey’s McGee, Zappa Plays Zappa, Keller Williams, Max Creek, Moonalice, George Clinton and Funkadelic, Lotus, and over a dozen others. Tickets, camping and complete information is available at www.natevafestival.com.

The Mighty High Festival May 28–30 at the Tuxedo Ridge Ski Area in Tuxedo NY, about 40 miles Northwest of New York City. Featuring Dark Star Orchestra, New Riders of the Purple Sage, From Good Homes, Peter Rowan, Commander Cody, The Felice Brothers, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Quest Theory, and more. Complete information available at www.createAvibe.com.

The Furthur Festival May 28–30 at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, CA featuring two nights of Furthur with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, performing the entirety of six of the Grateful Dead’s past albums including the 40th anniversary of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Additional artists include Hot Tuna, Jackie Greene, Galactic, Larry Campell and Teresa Williams, and more! Complete information and tickets are available at www.furthurfestival.com.