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Tour info: Rat-Dog.com | BobWeir.net | TerrapinCrossroads.net | BillKreutzmann.com | MickeyHart.net | BruceHornsby.com | Robert Hunter | Dead.net | GDTSTOO | PollStar | TicketMaster

Official websites: Grateful Dead | Jerry Garcia | The Dead | Furthur | Bob Weir | Phil Lesh | Rhythm Devils | Bill Kreutzmann | Mickey Hart | Robert Hunter | Hornsby | Donna Jean | T.C.

Fan websites: Philzone.com | RatDog.org | OtherOnes.net | DaveClarkLive.net photos | Rabhan.com photos | Bruuuce.com

Updates and Articles

11/18/13 - Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby will play at Stars to the Rescue XXIII (a benefit for the Animal Rescue Foundation) in Walnut Creek, CA on 01/04/14.

11/18/13 - JamBase: Video | Phil Lesh Hints At Performing With Weir Next Summer

11/15/13 - From JamBase:

JAMBASE: We’ll touch on all of your current projects but I want to spend some time on Furthur. What’s your read on why it was time to put Furthur on hiatus?

JOE RUSSO: I have mixed emotions about it, but in my heart, it’s cool we’re taking a break. I honestly don’t think anyone expected this to last as long as it did, and we’ve been going after it so hard. If it’s a break or if it’s the end, I think the last two tours were the best we’ve ever played and I’m so psyched to go out on a high note.

That said, I’m going to miss playing with those guys, but I have a feeling we’ll all be swimming in the same circles and playing together again. It might not be under the Furthur moniker for the foreseeable future, but John and Jeff and I will be playing with Phil, and probably playing with Bob, and that’ll all be nice.

It’s a well-deserved break. Phil and Bob…those guys are monsters. The time, energy and love they put into what they do, they both just deserve a break and to chill and do their own thing. I’d love to say we’ll back in 2015 but I can’t say that.

11/12/13 - Phil Lesh told Pierre Robert of 93.3 WMMR, "Bobby and I will probably do something this summer, but it won't be Furthur."

11/05/13 - From Facebook.com/phil.lesh:

Phil Lesh & Friends start a 3 night run in Philadelphia next Monday, November 11, at the Tower Theatre! There are still a few tickets left, so get yours now for Phil's last Philadelphia-area shows until 2015!

“I’m done with one-nighters,” [Phil Lesh] said before a Phil Lesh and Friends show on Friday at the Capitol Theater here. “I’ve been on the road now for 46 years, and I’ve gotten go to a point where I’m jealous of all the time that I waste on buses and sitting around waiting to go on.”

Grayed and wiry, and still visibly in love with music, Mr. Lesh said he had been searching for a way to play regular concerts yet avoid the grinding tedium of the road. He has found it with an unusual deal to work exclusively with one promoter for 2014, putting on 45 shows in just a handful of venues.

The plan — an indie-scale version of the megadeals that stars like Jay Z and Madonna have made with Live Nation Entertainment — will pair Mr. Lesh with Peter Shapiro, a big Grateful Dead fan who owns the Capitol and runs the Brooklyn Bowl, the combination bowling alley-rock club in Williamsburg that is setting up branches next year in Las Vegas and London.

After a kickoff show in Williamsburg on Nov. 14, the series will start in earnest in early April with the first of at least 30 concerts through the year at the Capitol.

• • • •

Aside from the Capitol shows, Mr. Lesh will play the Las Vegas outpost of the Brooklyn Bowl on April 20, as well as Mr. Shapiro’s Lockn’ festival in Arrington, Va., in September; the only shows he will play not connected with Mr. Shapiro are those at Mr. Lesh’s own club, Terrapin Crossroads, in San Rafael, Calif.

• • • •

“I’m not retiring, and I’m not slowing down,” Mr. Lesh said, sitting with his wife, Jill, who also acts as his manager. “I’m pretty sure I want to make music till I can’t breathe anymore. I just want to do it within the most focused possible way. The future looks really exciting.”

Phil Lesh: I look forward very much to playing with Bob in different contexts over next year and beyond.

Gary Lambert: I suspect since Joe Russo has been a regular member of the whole Phil & Friends rotation and Jeff Chimenti has been and also plays with RatDog, I think we're going to see smaller subsets of Furthur getting together.

Phil Lesh: I’m planning to play with John Kadlecik, Jeff Chimenti, and Joey Russo frequently. Not necessarily at the same time, however…

10/08/13 - For what it's worth, according to a recent RatDog.org Forum post, when Warren Haynes appeared on the 9/30/13 edition of the Bob & Tom radio show he told them that there are big plans in the works for next year's ABB 45th Anniversary and in 2015 with The Dead.

09/25/13 - From a RollingStone.com interview with Les Claypool:

What happened with Jay Lane. . . ?
It's kind of odd - we love Jayski, he's my buddy, and we very much enjoyed playing with him. But he has a relationship with Bob Weir that is very tight, and of course, they started RatDog together many years ago, and RatDog's getting back together this next year. It was conflicting with some stuff that we were doing, and so he opted to go with Bob and RatDog over the Primus stuff.

Furthur
After more than four years of heavy, year-round touring, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir have decided to put their band Furthur on hiatus in 2014. After the four night Furthur run in Mexico in January, the band will take the rest of 2014 off so that Phil and Bob can focus on their countless solo projects.

Furthur came together in September, 2009, and from its inception was a band Phil and Bob were completely committed to, and still are. In the 18 years since the Grateful Dead stopped being a touring entity, Furthur has proven to be the longest-tenured, and most active band featuring two or more former members of the Grateful Dead. With shows that keep the Dead vibe alive while pushing the musical envelope, well, furthur, this band has brought smiles to hundreds of thousands of fans in the past four years. Most impressive is that this has become a true band, and not just Phil and Bob plus some side players. John Kadlecik (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), Joe Russo (drums), and Sunshine Becker and Jeff Pehrson (vocals) have joined the trip to create a band that has become one of the most exciting, honest and inspired touring acts in music today.

What does 2014 hold for Phil and Bob? If their activities outside of Furthur in the past four years are any indication, plenty. Phil’s been playing virtually every night when not on tour with Furthur, whether at his Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, CA, or on the road with Phil Lesh & Friends. Bob’s been hosting one of the most unique web-based variety shows in history, Weir Here, every Wednesday night when he’s not touring, presented live from his TRI Studios in San Rafael. Additionally, Bob’s been having a blast playing his solo acoustic shows, as well as other gigs and tours with newer arrivals to the party. He plans to keep doing what he’s doing, and more of it.

The last time the word “hiatus” was used in regards to the Grateful Dead world was in 1974, and we all know how much good that break inspired. They returned a year and a half later, stronger than ever, and for another 20 years. Furthur’s not breaking up; they’re simply taking a much-needed break. One way or another, we’ll see you around.

09/04/13 - IROCKE Blog: Q&A: TRI Studios’ Chris McCutcheon and Kim Schultz

08/19/13 - From Facebook.com/stevekimock:

Steve Kimock Aug 19 at 10:33pm ·
What a wonderful weekend at The Peach Music Festival playing in the band with Bob Weir and RatDog, sitting in with the allman brothers for Dreams and joining Weir for Brunch with Bobby.... more to come!

[Of] all the former members of rock’s eternal hippies, Hart has strayed farthest from the comfort zone of retreading the old classics by challenging himself and his audience with music from the edge. Still, he doesn’t negate rejoining his old friends at some point.

"Anything is possible. It’s just that everybody is doing what they want to do right now, and it’s working well for everybody," he said. "As long as we’re above ground and in performing state, it could happen if we all wanted it to happen."

07/18/13 - Jambands.com: You Could Celebrate Jerry Garcia’s Birthday at TRI Studios with Bob Weir and Warren Haynes

07/10/13 - Jambands.com: Members of the Grateful Dead to Appear at the Giants’ Grateful Dead Tribute Night

07/09/13 - From Bob Weir's Facebook page:

Due to scheduling conflicts, Jonathan Wilson can no longer join Bob Weir and RatDog at the The Peach Music Festival in August. We look forward to having Jonathan for many more shows with Bob down the road. We are happy to announce Steve Kimock is able join in his place. See you all there. August 16, 17, 18, 2013. Scranton, PA. Bob Weir Jeff Chimenti Steve Kimock Jay Lane Robin Sylvester Rob Wasserman

07/02/13 - American Songwriter: Bob Dylan's Americanarama Tour Touches Down In Nashville

07/01/13 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir Joins Wilco and My Morning Jacket at His Final AmericanaramA Show

06/30/13 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir Sits in with My Morning Jacket and Wilco in Atlanta

06/27/13 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir Sits in with Both Wilco and My Morning Jacket on AmericanaramA Night Two

06/27/13 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir Joins Wilco During AmericanaramA Tour Opener

06/24/13 - Jambands.com: Is Bob Dylan Ready for Some Sit Ins on the Americanarama Tour?

06/23/13 - From Rolling Stone Issue 1186/1187 p.27:

While [My Morning Jacket] have opened for Dylan on other tours, [frontman Jim] James has yet to meet the man. . . But this time around, he's heard Dylan might be open to collaborating with his [Americanarama] tourmates - who also include, on some stops, Beck and Bob Weir - onstage.

06/18/13 - Jambands.com: Robert Hunter to Perform This Fall

06/17/13 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir Sits In with Jonathan Wilson, Jason Crosby & Friends

06/14/13 - Jambands.com: Interlocken Reveals Daily Lineups, Adds Tedeschi Trucks Band, Punch Brothers, Keller & The Keels and More

06/13/13 - Vimeo.com: Bob Weir, Leslie Mendelson, Jay Lane and Dave Schools - Weir Here Over There rehearsals

06/13/13 - From the Marin Independent-Journal:

During an audience participation segment, a fan asked Weir the question that was like the elephant in the room: "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing fine, thanks," Weir replied as the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. "I didn't get in my workout today, and I'm a lot better when I've had my workout, but I'm doing fine."

06/10/13 - Jambands.com: Bob Weir Returns to the Stage

06/06/13 - Jambands.com: Gov’t Mule and Warren Haynes Band Join Interlocken Festival

06/03/13 - From Hidden Track:

HIDDEN TRACK: I was chatting with Jason Crosby a few weeks ago and we talked about both TRI and this community of musicians forming around TRI, Weir Here and individual projects. This sounds like a community that’s just come together organically, and I noticed you’re part of the group Jason’s taking out in a few weeks.

DAVE SCHOOLS: That’s me. This cadre of musicians, and Jason and I have spoken a lot about this…here’s this opportunity to create a new California sound. Not only can Bob do whatever he wants with this imaginarium or flying saucer, as he calls it, and we can do audio chicanery or video chicanery. It’s also a world-class studio for which we have a bunch of musicians always available to be a house band, just like the Meters were a house band, or the MGs were a house band at Stax. You have a reliable bunch of guys and girls, and people coming into it like Leslie Mendelson.

Honestly, this is something that keeps me off the road, which is refreshing after being on it for so long. It’s very alluring to me to go down and work in a studio environment where we can stream performances, or, if we choose, put the cloak of secrecy on and make a record. San Rafael is a half hour from me – that’s a road trip I’m always willing to take.

HT: When do you and Bob first connect? You go back a number of years, correct?

DS: Yeah, I can’t remember when I first met him. I want to say back in the late ’90s probably when he sat in with Panic near Aspen or something. I also played with him at Christmas Jam and in there have been various other things where we’ve crossed paths musically. But what’s going on with Weir Here is exceptionally fun – it’s just a great opportunity to do whatever you want, collaborate, bring in new blood, bring in old blood. All very cool things.

HT: So you will be doing some dates with Jason?

DS: It’s a logical extension of what we’re calling the TRI Allstars. You get one of us, you get us all. Next time, maybe it’ll be Dave Schools and the TRI Allstars, but you can count on the band being a part of that. Anything goes as to what we might play. You should expect the unexpected, but also expect quality and musicianship. Maybe it’s a pool of 10 people and you’re going to get four or five of them.

What’s going on with TRI and with Phil’s place Terrapin Crossroads is this idea of a place of familiarity, musically, but with a rotating pool of dependable and exciting people. Seeing that just warms the cockles of my heart.

Weir Here Over There

Live Streaming from Terrapin Crossroads

Wednesday, June 12 at 6 p.m. PT

We invite you to join us for a very special night of music featuring the TRI Allstars; Bob Weir, Dave Schools, Jason Crosby, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Leslie Mendelson and Jonathan Wilson with special guests Beth Orton and Grateful Dead archivist, David Lemieux (and don't forget Snapper!). Come be a part of our live studio audience and join the festivities! We are broadcasting live from the Grate Room at Phil Lesh's Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California.

Multi-instrumentalist and recent Bay Area transplant Jason Crosby will host a night of music at Mill Valley, CA’s Sweetwater Music Hall on June 16. The evening will feature a band dubbed Jason Crosby & Friends, which will bring together Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools, singer Leslie Mendelson, Primus/RatDog drummer Jay Lane and Furthur/RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. Additional special guests are expected.

05/17/13 - From Jambands.com:

Interlocken, a 4-day music festival, with an emphasis on world class music, locally sourced food and sustainability, will take place September 5 – 8 at Oak Ridge Farm at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Arrington, VA. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Furthur, Zac Brown, The String Cheese Incident, and The Black Crowes will perform. Many of the artists will be performing at Interlocken over multiple days, and will be featured in unique and exciting artist pairings (like the Zac Brown Incident) – with additional artists to be announced soon. Pre-sale tickets will be available at 10am EST on Wednesday, May 22, and general “early bird” tickets will go on sale Thursday, May 23 at 10am EST.

Nancy Dunham: I heard that you, Giovanni Hidalgo, Sikiru Adepoju and Zakir Hussain—Planet Drum, of course—played Berkeley, CA’s Ashkenaz. How did that happen?

Mickey Hart: Yeah, that’s true. What happened was the four of us were actually in town at this one time. And it was the [85th] birthday of Baba Olatunji. So we had dinner together and headed over to Berkeley and played together for the first time in years and it was magic. It was a magic rhythm carpet ride. The four of us have a real thing. It has got a real unique feeling. We are rhythm brothers from way back.

So do you think you’ll do more together?

We might be thinking about reconstituting Global Drum and Planet Drum and all that stuff and maybe going out on the road with this.

What got you interested in doing some of that now? You seem so busy.

Those records— Global Drum and Planet Drum —not only did they both win Grammys but they also set pace for instrumental percussion. People love the percussion ensemble and of course we loved it too, but everybody in the band has their own careers as well. Everybody [lives] all over the map. They have the major maestro and virtuoso statuses so they have those kinds of careers.

Now we are going to get together again and try it out again and see where it takes us.

Do you see yourselves recording or touring?

Probably both touring and recording. We think this may be the right time. I think we really want to play with each other again. You might stay our trigger fingers are itching. The only way you can satisfy that is with the four of us—the core of Planet Drum, Global Drum reuniting. You can’t get that anywhere else. That is the thing about music; if it feels good you want to do it again.

Can you share some details?

We just came up with the notion last week. We don’t know! We can go wherever we want to go. We just have to say we want to go, where we want to go. Now everybody’s looking at their schedules and saying ‘When do you want to go? How do you want to go this?’ Really this is just in the formative stages so it’s funny you should ask me this.

• • • •

So everyone seems very upset about Bob and what has happened with him. What would you say to them?

Just relax, you know?

Bob will be ok. He will be fine. He just needs to take a step back. He will be totally fine. He is totally fine. He needs the rest man.

Man, Bob is a love, man. He is my brother. We have a very, very, very, very — that’s four verys — deep bond. He will be all right. He just needs to rest.

This summer, RatDog is going to have Jonathan on guitar. It seemed like a fun thing to do and we got a big offer to play from The Peach Music Festival. In order to take full advantage of it, I wanted to make it special, so I brought Jonathan in. He’s a really good player—he’s got really good ears and picks up stuff really fast. He has picked up Dead tunes over the years, so on our recent tour, we went with the tunes he knew and the low-hanging fruit. He learned a couple of new ones [as well]. The guy is a good singer, player and songwriter. What I need to do now is learn a little bit of Jonathan’s stuff. [Laughs.]

04/30/13 - From BobWeir.net:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Furthur regretfully will be unable to appear as scheduled at BottleRock Napa Valley on Thursday, May 9. Grateful Dead & Furthur Co-Founder Bob Weir, is unable to perform in any capacity for the next several weeks. Bob looks forward to resuming his "Weir Here" broadcasts from TRI Studios in mid to late June and performing his Solo acoustic shows June 26-30.

Furthur featuring Phil Lesh & Bob Weir look forward to returning to the road as scheduled on July 11 in Brooklyn for their Summer tour, which carries them through early October on the West Coast.

04/22/13 - From Jambands.com:

Weir has confirmed that his Weir Here show will hit the road this fall. . . TRI Studios CEO Chris McCutcheon confirmed that the tour will make stops at the Capitol Theater, Philadelphia’s Tower Theater, Richmond, VA’s The National, San Rafael, CA’s Terrapin Crossroads and Mill Valley, CA’s Sweetwater. In addition to Weir, the evenings will feature [Jay Lane, Jason Crosby,] Furthur/RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, Jonathan Wilson and Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools. Special guests including Leslie Mendelson will also appear on select shows, and Steve Parrish will hold down the couch.

04/12/13 - From Hidden Track:

HIDDEN TRACK: Well first things first, you are based out West full time now, correct?

JASON CROSBY: Yes. I am in Marin County, specifically Mill Valley. It became official in February though I’ve been out here really since the beginning of the year when I came out to do some shows with Phil & Friends. I decided I wanted to stay a few weeks because I’d had such a great time with God Street Wine out here and wanted to see who else I would run into and meet.

I was considering relocating from New York anyway. And then I reconnected with Bob [Weir] and we had begun working on the Weir Here webcasts, so he was really the driving force to getting me out here. He had heard a bit about me maybe moving, and he said to me, there is a lot of stuff we could be doing if you move here. I could tell by the way he said it and the look in his eyes that he meant it.

• • • •

HT: Tell me more about reconnecting with Bob and how you’ve become so involved with TRI.

JC: Well, the Weir Here taping after that week with Phil in January, they had a guest planned who had to reschedule and they needed someone to fill in last minute. I brought Shana Morrison – who I’ve been staying with out here – and immediately we all hit it off. Bob was digging the six-string violin, I don’t think he’d really checked that out much yet. I’m just so impressed with what Weir Here has become, and I’ve been able to play violin and guitar and keys and bass, and with Bob…it’s like we’ve been old friends. I have a real great connection with him and it’s just grown really fast.

Bob was the reason I sat in with Furthur in Colorado. I was already taking my friend for his 40th birthday to the show. I told Bob I was flying out for it – this was before we started the Weir Here work we’re doing now – and after that, he was like, hey, by the way, you’re sitting in Sunday! [laughs] That was it. I was there and I sat in the audience for the first set, then went back and went over the setlist with them during setbreak. So I’ve been doing a lot with Bob and he did urge me to stick around, and now I’ve played Weir Here, I’ve played with RatDog and Furthur and I think I’m going to be playing a more significant role with all the stuff he has going on at TRI.

• • • •

HT: As you expand your role with TRI and Weir Here, what will you be doing exactly?

JC: Signs are pointing to me doing some musical direction for the show, whether that’s help guests learn harmonies or Dead tunes, or give folks a sense of what playing in the studio is like. It’s a unique experience at TRI. You don’t get monitors or in-ears and you’re inside this room, and playing in that room, and it can be a little intimidating the first time. It’s a way I can help, though.

Leslie Mendelson came out, for example. She and I go back to, I think, 1998 from Long Island, but she was going to be out here separate from me, and we were able to meet a few days early and got some tunes and harmonies down. Bob really loves that, you know? Those three-part harmonies. It’s not always easy to do that. So yeah, I think my role will be helping out these artists as well as keeping involved in the show and playing a bunch of instruments and being used on recording projects. They’ve made me feel part of the family.

HT: So a lot of this discussion just sort of developed as you got to know Bob?

JC: Yeah, and it really happened all organically. There wasn’t any agenda, it was, let’s continue to do it and see how far we can take it and what we can do. I think that what Bob and Phil are doing with TRI, Terrapin and Sweetwater are beautiful things. They made their mark musically, and they continue to make it with Furthur, but this is a home base from which they can grow something else. Bob has the ultimate playpen here. Phil has Terrapin where he can watch his kids play and grow musically. It’s amazing.

03/08/13 - From the Hollywood Reporter:

Greek Theatre [Los Angeles, CA]

Oct. 4, 5 & 6: Furthur

TRI Studios
JUST ANNOUNCED: Tune in next week, same time, same place with special guest PHIL LESH!!!

02/26/13 - Jambands.com: Furthur, Pretty Lights, Primus, STS9, Grace Potter and More to Play All Good

02/22/13 - Furthur Spring 2013 dates are up.

02/20/13 - Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will play a run of shows together at Terrapin Crossroads March 11th through 17th.

02/19/13 - Bob Weir & RatDog (featuring Jeff Chimenti, Jay Lane, Robin Sylvester, Rob Wasserman and Jonathan Wilson) will play The Peach Music Festival on August 16 & 17, 2013.

02/14/13 - From a Jambands.com interview with Jonathan Wilson:

Bob [Weir] and I are going to do some touring also. One of the things that I want to do is do some gigs with my band, but with Bob at the helm. That’s what we did at the benefit show. It would be so exciting to take that to some other towns [in the USA] and countries.

01/31/13 - The RatDog Quartet (featuring Bob Weir, Jay Lane, Robin Sylvester, and Jonathan Wilson) will play The Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA on March 3 & 4, 2013.

01/18/13 - Bob Weir Solo Acoustic (with Special Guest Jonathan Wilson) Tour dates are up.

01/17/13 - Jambands.com: A Special Phil Lesh & Friends Lineup for Mountain Jam

01/02/13 - From Facebook.com/TRIstudios:

TRI Studios
Weir Here - Returning to a living room near you on January 23, 2013!

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