Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Catfish John” by Jerry Garcia Band It was a tale of two Jerries. By 1980 Jerry Garcia had his day job with the Grateful Dead. During that year, the band released the somewhat weak studio album, Go To Heaven, and took to the road to promote it. While the 1979-1980 shows generally found the band in excellent form, in order to keep things interesting for the fans and themselves, they performed some very special shows. They kicked off their 15th anniversary celebration (1965-1980) with residencies at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and at The Warfield Theater in San Francisco. The shows revived the format of an acoustic...

  Jerry Garcia would have turned 70 on Aug. 1, and to mark the occasion, two days after his birthday members of the Grateful Dead family threw an online musical party that was a live free webcast in HD from bandmate Bob Weir’s TRI Studios in San Rafael.  We present the video of that show below. Actor Luke Wilson (“The Royal Tannenbaums,” “Old School,” “Bottle Rocket”) was the emcee the show, billed as “Move Me Brightly,” after a line in the Garcia/Robert Hunter song “Terrapin Station.” Carlos Santana honored his fellow guitar great via a video interview. David Crosby’s poetic tribute, “Cause I’m Missing Him Tonight,” written specifically for his old friend, was read during the show. Garcia’s daughters,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#978 in the series.) is  Old and In The Way. Five great musicians getting together for some great pickin’ and singin.’ I guess you could call it bluegrass but there’s more than a hint of old fashioned mountain music thrown in. For those of you not familiar with this project, Old and In the Way were Peter Rowan (guitar, vocals), David Grisman (mandolin, vocals), John Kahn (bass), Vassar Clements (fiddle) and Jerry Garcia (banjo, vocals.) Can I name a stand out cut? No, not really since EVERY track is a must listen. There’s no filler on this classic. This live album was recorded and released in October, 1973.  One you should be familiar...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#968 in the Series) is Ten Years After,  A Space In Time When you are three pints in, and the conversation as it inevitably does, turns to the greatest guitar players of all time, and the usual suspects Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and the rest are shouted out from around the bar, the name Alvin Lee is largely and criminally ignored.  As one of the early pioneers of Blues Rock, Lee and his band Ten Years After were mostly known for their spacey psychedelic blues jams that were groovy enough to grab the ears of concert promoter Bill Graham, who brought the band to San Francisco for a series of...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#910 in the Series)is Paul Pena, New Train New Train is the debut release and the “lost record” from blind blues singer Paul Pena. Recorded in 1973, the album was (for a reason known only to the musical gods) shelved until its first proper release in 2000, and is now considered one of the great unearthed Soul-Blues albums. With a voice that floats somewhere between Lenny Kravitz and Lou Rawls, and a vibe that rolls down The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Croce and Bonnie Raitt train track with a side trip down the Joe Cocker Highway, New Train does not show its age at all, and sounds as if it could have...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Foolin’ Around” by Vince Gill & Paul Franklin Paying homage to those who have come before you is nothing new in Country music. Merle Haggard paid tribute to Jimmie Rodgers on his classic 1969 album Same Train Different Time, and also recorded tribute albums to Bob Wills and Elvis Presley.  Buck Owens also did it on albums that saluted the influence that Tommy Collins and Harlan Howard had on him. It’s a tradition that has continued throughout the years with one notable entry being Dwight Yoakam’s 2008 Buck Owens tribute album Dwight Sings Buck. Dwight and Buck were also very good friends who toured together in 1988 (I was lucky enough...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Promised Land” from Sunshine Daydream by Grateful Dead (from the film Sunshine Daydream, Veneta Oregon, 8/27/72) I look all around me and see dead people…” We’re in our local movie theater in Lincolnshire, Illinois waiting for the Third Annual – (Jerry Garcia’s Birthday) -Grateful Dead Meet-up At The Movies to begin. This year’s film is from footage that was shot at a benefit show for the Springfield Creamery (makers of Yogurt) in Veneta Oregon on August 27, 1972. The superb footage in this film is a treat for the eyes …where has this footage been for 41 years? The film captures the band basking in the afterglow of their triumphant...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Good Shepherd” by Jefferson Airplane The epiphany of an eight year old… The backdrop of my childhood played out with images of the Viet Nam war and the unrest that culminated in the protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention coming over the television screen. While I wasn’t privy to what it all meant, I did know that the world around me was changing and that my older sister and her peers were making it happen. And I also knew that I very badly wanted to be a part of it all. I was eight years old in 1969 visiting my grandmother’s house when up the drive came the coolest MG convertible...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Walkin’ The Dog” by Grateful Dead/Record Store Day Recap I’m a dyed in the wool, straight up record collector. I’ve been collecting records for more than 40 years and my thirst for music is pretty much insatiable. Today, I got totally played on by “the man.” I’m talking about “the man” who presses the records I buy. The man that I help keep relevant by going back to the tap and sipping in new music in all different formats. It gives me pleasure and enjoyment. By now, record labels fully how to push record collector buttons to get me back into the record store. They’ve turned record buying into a holiday,...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Midnight At The Oasis” by Maria Muldaur You either loved it…or you completely loathed it, but there’s no doubt that if you were around in 1974, you could not avoid Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight At The Oasis.” Today’s Song Of The Day was released on Muldaur’s eponymously titled first solo album which soared all the way to the #3 position on the Billboard charts on the wings of this David Nichtern-penned top-ten single. Yet, most people don’t know much about Maria Muldaur before she sent her camel to bed in back in 1973. Muldaur’s maiden name was Maria D’Amato and she got her start performing as a member of the Even...