Street Bicycles

Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

Something I Said-Concert Review Of Dark Star Orchestra

Something I Said
Dark Star Orchestra
Dwight Hobbes
Twin Cities Daily Planet Never cared much for The Grateful Dead after their first album. The one with incredible cuts like "Cold Rain and Snow" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl". I'd catch them at the Fillmore East (NYC) only because I'd come to see the opener – one time it was Love, another time it was The Allman Brothers. They were just too hit-and-miss. At one gig they'd burn tight. At another, they'd be sloppy as hog jowls. Always a toss-up. So, I was taking a chance going to The Varsity Theater for Dark Star Orchestra, the celebrated Dead tribute band. It panned out quite nicely. A stark characteristic of the Dead was the community that followed the band, them hippie-dippie counterculture folk. Well, just as Dark Star Orchestra is faithful to a tee in their sound, they also have a following that is dyed in the wool counterculture. The huge crowd that packed The Varsity Theater was like one big tribe. People who didn't know each other were friendly toward one another. In fact, even the jostling that generally goes on at a concert was mellow. There was no getting bent out of shape just because somebody was having a nice time and accidentally shoved you or stepped on your foot. And if I ran into person who wanted to know how spoken word ace David Daniels is doing it was at least a half-dozen: The Rasta Bard is very popular among Twin Cities stoners. What Dark Star Orchestra does is pick an actual set The Grateful Dead performed and recreate it. Practically, I'm told, note for note. They even do Dead-like jams, stretching a song out until, if you're powers of perception are sufficiently altered, you could easily forget what song they started out playing. This night, as I meander through wall-to-wall writhing bodies the band is playing a dead-on recreation of "Not Fade Away", that old Buddy Holly cum Rolling Stones hit Jerry Garcia and company managed to remake in their own fashion. The revelers are into it, God bless ‘em with their arrhythmic flouncing about. There is, corny as the saying is, a good vibe that just won't quit. Dark Star Orchestra have a wonderful 3-disc album called Ithaca 30 Years Later. It's gorgeously packaged and has literally hours of vintage-class San Francisco rock, including "Not Fade Away". There is a 15 minute rendering of that haunting classic "Morning Dew'". And it is beautifully done. I don't have much use for cover bands. The few I have seen just seem to mimic their heroes. Dark Star Orchestra pay fitting tribute. It is hard not to have a good time at their show or listening to them on the box.
About the Author

Twin Cities Daily Planet articles archived at www.tcdailyplanet.net/profiles/dwight-hobbes. Dwight Hobbes has written for ESSENCE, Reader's Digest, Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, City Pages, Mpls/St. Paul, MN Law & Politics, Pulse of the Twin Cities, Twin Cities Daily Planet, Women & Word, San Diego Union-Tribune and Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (where he contributes the commentary column Something I Said). He's spoken his mind over National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, Blog Talk Radio's UNOBSTRUCTED and KMOJ in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Was regularly featured as guest commentator on NewsNight Minnesota (KTCA-Minneapolis/St. Paul) and Spectator (Minneapolis Television Network). His monthly column "Hobbes In The House" in MN Spokesman Recorder speaks to domestic abuse and rape. His plays are Shelter - produced at Mixed Blood Theatre by Pangea World Theater, Dues - produced by Mixed Blood Theatre, University of Southern Illinois in Point of Revue, selected for Bedlam Theatre's 10-Minute Play Festival and published by Playscripts, Inc. You Can't Always Sometimes Never Tell - produced by Theater Center Philadelphia, Long Island University, reading at The Kennedy Center and published in the anthology CENTER STAGE, In the Midst - produced by Long Island University, starring Samuel E. Wright. Hobbes spoke on the panel "Farewell To August Wilson" at the Guthrie Theater, broadcast on Conversations With Al McFarlane (KFAI, KMOJ). Singer-songwriter Dwight Hobbes recorded the single "Atlanta Children" (BeatBad Records) and gigged 10 years in the Long Island/NYC area, including The Other End, Kenny's Castaways and My Fathers Place. He fronted the Boston blues band Midlight. In Minneapolis, Hobbes opened for David Daniels at First Street Entry, James Curry at Terminal Bar, sat in with Yohannes Tona, Alicia Wiley at Sol Testimony's Soul Jam, The New Congress at Babalu, Willie Murphy at the Viking Bar and Wain McFarlane & Jahz at Lucille's Kitchen. Dwight Hobbes still drops in at the occasional open mic around town. www.myspace.com/dwighthobbesmusic

Did the grateful dead get kicked out of woodstock?

Did the grateful dead get kicked out of Woodstock? or any other hippy festivals?

woodstock was one of the deads worst shows...and yes, they did not play altamont. they were scheduled to but canceled right before they were to play.

Grateful Dead - Truckin'