Grateful Dead 2004 News

12/10/04 - From a Jambands.com interview with Melvin Seals:

MS- I think the Jerry Garcia Band's day is about to happen. I was on the phone with the Jerry Garcia Estate the just yesterday. They were telling me all the things they are about to release. They are also going to release a DVD of us from Shoreline, the first DVD of us ever. Then they are going to release everything they can get their hands on.

11/29/04 - RatDog Spring Tour dates are up.

11/18/04 - According to the current issue of ICE Magazine, the fourth installment in the "Pure Jerry" series of live recordings (to be released 12/14/04) is from 09/01/74.

11/12/04 - In book news: Mickey Hart guest edited the recently released Da Capo Best Music Writing 2004; also, Phil Lesh's Searching for the Sound: My Life in the Grateful Dead will be released 04/18/05.

10/26/04 - According to the GD Almanac, Dick's Picks 33 (to be released 11/15/04) is a 4 CD set from 10/09/76 and 10/10/76.

10/22/04 - According to PhilLesh.net, Lesh "will be doing some Phil Lesh & Friends shows, with changing line-ups, in the Bay Area over the winter months. The first set of shows will bring some old and new friends together on December 17,18 and 19 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco." Also, according to Empire Information Services, the Psychedelic Keyboard Trio (Tom Constanten, Vince Welnick, and Bob Bralove) will play the State University of New York at New Paltz on 10/26/04.

10/13/04 - Lunt-Fontanne, New York City: October 31, 1987 and Lunt-Fontanne, New York City: The Best of the Rest of October 1987, the second and third installments in the "Pure Jerry" series of live recordings, are now available for pre-order from jerrygarcia.com.

10/06/04 - From GDTSTOO:

RatDog must regretfully announce the postponement of the Bob Weir and RatDog tour scheduled to begin tomorrow, October 7th, in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Since January, Bob Weir has worked continuously on music dates for RatDog and The Dead, promotional work for his career retrospective album, and a number of nonprofit appearances. It was all simply too much, and he's reached a point of complete physical exhaustion. He anticipates returning to performing in early spring 2005. No one regrets more than he the postponement of these shows, but he and his management concluded that his long-term health was a greater priority. That and his desire to give his fans only the best possible performance outweighed the difficulties of rescheduling the tour.

09/24/04 - The Grateful Dead Movie 2 DVD set is on presale now, along with the GD Movie Soundtrack, "a 5 CD set featuring selections from 10/16/74 through 10/20/74." Also, for a limited time, those who order Beyond Description (1973-1989) from GDStore.com will receive "a special bonus disc containing 75 minutes of additional unreleased material from that era."

09/21/04 - GDForum.com gives the tracklist for the upcoming GD box set Beyond Description (1973-1989).

09/13/04 - A bonus CD will be included for those who pre-order After Midnight -- Kean College, 2/28/80 from jerrygarcia.com.

09/02/04 - According to PR Newswire, on 9/18/04 at Earthdance 2004 Mickey Hart plans to break the Guinness Book of World Records' statistic for the largest drumming circle in history; Bill Kreutzmann and members of Planet Drum will participate.

08/31/04 - According to DVD Times, the Festival Express 2 DVD set will be released 11/02/04.

08/20/04 - According to Billboard, Beyond Description (1973-1989) will also include the live albums Reckoning and Dead Set, both expanded to 2-disc sets with previously unreleased bonus tracks.

08/18/04 - According to USA Today, Beyond Description (1973-1989), a box set of the post-Warner Bros. GD studio albums with previously unreleased bonus tracks, will be released 10/26/04; also, After Midnight, a 3 CD set of JGB from 2/28/80 at Kean College, will be released 09/28/04.

08/12/04 - From Billboard:

Now the concentration has moved over to the live [Jerry Garcia] recordings. Two-track recordings will be cleaned up and released under the "Pure Jerry" banner, while a soon-to-be-announced series of shows captured on multi-track recordings will be released through Warner Strategic Marketing and Rhino.

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Three or four new additions to the ["Pure Jerry"] series will emerge each year, chosen from a library of recordings numbering more than 500. [Jerry Garcia Estate LLC's Christopher] Sabec promises the series will showcase the many sides of Garcia's musical personality.

"It's unbelievably impressive," he says. "In the '70s alone, he performed with something like 35 different ensembles, in one decade. There's a wealth of material to go through, lots of variety."

07/28/04 - RatDog Fall Tour dates are up.

07/12/04 - Dick's Picks Volume 32 is a 2 CD set featuring 8/7/82.

07/10/04 - According to Dead.net, "The Theatrical Premiere [of Festival Express], with members of the Grateful Dead in attendance, is scheduled for July 12th in San Francisco."

06/16/04 - From Reuters:

The [Pure Jerry] series will feature mostly intact performances, usually derived from two-track soundboard tapes. The next release will be from an early 1974 show, followed by a large, two-part set of a multitrack recordings from Garcia's two-week run on Broadway in 1987, [Dennis] McNally said.

06/16/04 - The Grateful Dead Movie 2 DVD set will be released 11/09/04.

06/11/04 - From the Boulder Daily Camera:

In addition to the recent [Dead-related] releases, Rhino has two or three more projects scheduled for the fall, and [James] Austin and [Jimmy] Edwards talk enthusiastically about some "major, major" releases planned for 2005, the 40th anniversary of the band's formation.

05/27/04 - From Contactmusic News:

Those representing Garcia's estate claim they've uncovered over 500 concert recordings and now plan to release four projects a year via official website WWW.JERRYGARCIA.COM.

All albums will be titled PURE JERRY.

05/19/04 - Elvin Jones passed away today at the age of 76.

05/14/04 - According to Variety.com, Bob Weir will write the music for the film version of Steve Parish's book Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road With the Grateful Dead.

05/07/04 - Jerry Garcia Band: Theatre 1839, July 29 & 30, 1977, the first installment in the "Pure Jerry" series of live recordings, is now available for pre-order from jerrygarcia.com.

04/26/04 - Three tunes from the "Dead Mule" Surprise Sit-In at the Warfield on Friday 04/16/04 are available on the Music Page of The Dead's official website.

04/23/04 - Tom Constanten & His Able-Bodied Posse, T.C.'s new Rock/Blues band, will play tonight at the Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte, NC.

04/20/04 - MSN Online Exclusive: Hear the All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions boxed set in its entirety.

04/08/04 - A bonus CD will be included for those who order All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions from jerrygarcia.com.

04/02/04 - There will be an MSN web chat with Bob Weir 04/15/04 at 7:30pm ET. Also, The Dead Wave That Flag Summer Tour 2004 dates are now up on The Dead's official website.

03/31/04 - GD Almanac 11-2 lists the dates for The Dead's Wave That Flag Summer Tour 2004. Check out Dave Rosenberg's great presentation of this info at OtherOnes.Net.

03/29/04 - According to Relix 31-2 (p. 66), Festival Express is "coming to theaters this July. DVD to follow."

03/25/04 - Rockin' the Rhein with the Grateful Dead will be released 05/25/04. A special, limited edition CD will be included for those who pre-order the 3 CD set from GDStore.com.

03/21/04 - A message from Phil

03/15/04 - From the Rocky Mountain News:

The Grateful Dead is still putting its own archive out. Besides standard CD releases, the Dead is finalizing a deal with Apple's I-Tunes to make every live note they've ever recorded available for download.

"Everything, sooner or later, will end up being released on the Web," Weir says. "What we wanna do is digitize our entire catalog, our entire collection of tapes . . . and make that stuff available. I think I-Tunes is up to that."

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And compared to most music at I-Tunes, the Dead's jams are a bargain, he says with a laugh.

"At 99 cents a tune, it's a pretty decent price, because most of our tunes are pretty long."

03/12/04 - Is the next Vault Release from 04/24/72 or 04/29/72? Last month a post on tooboard.net reported that Dennis McNally said the next multitrack release is from Duesseldorf 04/24/72. Now a post on rec.music.gdead reports that David Lemieux appeared on an Albany PBS station and confirmed that Hamburg 04/29/72 will be the next Vault Release in May and that the GD Movie will be on DVD "this Fall, or early 2005."

03/11/04 - Dick's Picks Volume 31 is available.

03/01/04 - According to GD Monthly Flash No. 13, "Dick's Picks rides again ..... #31 will be out around March 15th. It will be a four CD set with almost five hours of music from the last three nights of the 1974 summer tour - August 4-5-6, Philadelphia Civic Center and Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City. More info to come, so stay tuned ...."

02/19/04 - According to Geoff Gould, Weir Here (the 2-CD Weir career retrospective due 03/23/04) is going to include four previously unreleased tracks by the GD. Also, a post on tooboard.net reports that Dennis McNally told Arapahoe Community College (in Littleton, CO) that the next Vault Release is from Duesseldorf 04/24/72 and is scheduled for June.

02/14/04 - From GDTSTOO:

We have just received word that The Dead will be playing the Bonarroo Festival again this year. Mail order information will follow as soon as all the details are sorted out. Stay tuned.

02/13/04 - According to USA Today, the box set All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions will be released 04/20/04.

02/12/04 - Donna Jean sat in with Dark Star Orchestra Monday night in Birmingham, AL. Also, Spincds.com has some details of the upcoming complete Jerry Garcia studio retrospective box set; the Reflections disc bonus tracks will even include "the Dead reveling in an 18-minute+ take on 'Orpheus.'"

02/09/04 - No DP31 announcement yet. Regarding the upcoming (supposedly 6-CD) Garcia boxed set, David Gans also posted, "The Rhino Garcia box is studio stuff, but I am told there will be a live-concert release program starting soon, too." The three songs from the box played on the KPFA Grateful Dead Marathon were "Sugaree" (Garcia outtake, July 1971), "That's a Touch I Like" (Compliments outtake, 1974), and "My Sisters and Brothers" (unreleased 11/76 studio session).

02/06/04 - DP31 and Garcia release updates: There is unofficial word/rumor that Dick's Picks 31 will be announced on tomorrow's KPFA Grateful Dead Marathon. Also, from David Gans: "I have been given permission to play a few tracks from the Jerry Garcia boxed set that's coming out in April. I have three songs that I'm allowed to play, and I will play each one at least twice over the course of the marathon." And: "An official announcement of the boxed set is coming soon."

02/04/04 - Tom Constanten sat in with Dark Star Orchestra last Thursday night in Charlotte, NC. Also, according to Billboard.com, "a live DVD from Traffic's most recent tour, in 1994, is planned for the end of April, featuring a guest performance by Jerry Garcia. . ."

01/16/04 - The Dead's lineup has changed! The band now includes Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jeff Chementi, Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring. They will play their "Second Annual Winter Jam" February 9 at the Warfield Theater, San Francisco, CA. Also, from The Dead's official website:

As we look ahead to the upcoming Summer Tour, it will consist of two legs; the first starting in Mid-June through 4th of July, and the second starting at the end of July and wrapping up in late August. Exact dates and details will be announced shortly, so stay tuned!

01/14/04 - From CMT.com:

[Jim Lauderdale's new] collaborative album with the Grateful Dead's lyricist Robert Hunter, Headed for the Hills, is expected in the spring.

01/13/04 - From IndieWire.com:

THINKFilm has acquired "Festival Express," the chronicle of a Canada's 1970 answer to Woodstock. The film, which debuted at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival, features performances by Janis Joplin, The Band, and The Grateful Dead. The company will release the movie later this year.

01/06/04 - RatDog Winter Tour dates are up.

01/02/04 - From a recent Bill Kreutzmann interview on Dead to the World:

Bill Kreutzmann: I'm very healthy, ready to go back on tour again.

David Gans: Is that happening?

BK: Well, actually not; the big tour would not happen until June. That's definitely happening.