Ever since May we’ve been telling you about the movement on the DVD and soundtrack for Frank Zappa’s famed Roxy concerts in 1973. Zappa was backed by arguably the best band he’s played with, including keyboardist George Duke, Don Preston on synth, Ruth Underwood on percussion and Chester Thompson on drums for three shows at The Roxy on Dec. 8 – 10 that were shot in film by multiple cameras and multi-track recordings were made of the audio. Frank’s widow, Gail, has finally revealed details of the audio release of 75 minutes and 49 seconds of Roxy without the Elsewhere, yet we have a feeling Zappateers won’t be happy with the way it’s going down.

In order to raise ONE MILLION dollars to produce the video, Gail has unveiled a concept in which she wants “approximately 1,000 highly motivated, sensitive and discerning individuals” to sign up as distributors for the soundtrack. Her plan is that each of these Zappa fans will give the Zappa Family Trust $1,000 a piece to become distributors. Fans can recoup their money by selling CDs of the soundtrack. Here’s the email Gail Zappa sent out explaining the offer…

Subject:  THE ZAPPA PROJECT/OBJECT of your DREAMS!

Dear People of Earth who are interested in anything & everything concerning The Roxy Performances,

So you’ve always dreamt of being a music mogul and running your own record company, huh?  But you ask yourself, “How could I get a Real Record Deal?” “I mean,” you say to yourself, “I think I could do this as well as anyone – I have important opinions to share.”  Well here’s your chance to be part of Zappa Music Business History and become an AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR of a Real (REAL!)  Live (LIVE!) Zappa Record.  One more time for the world:  Recorded by Zappa, Performed by Zappa, featuring some of your favorite Mothers, and Material, AND all under the Roof you’ve been waiting for:  The Roxy!  No ELSEWHERES about it.

What???  It’s True.  We here at Zappa Records are looking for a few good men and women – approximately 1,000 highly motivated, sensitive and discerning individuals – to sign up as Official Independent Distributors of a never-heretofore-released, thoroughly Authentic Zappa Master Recording.  And this is not just any thoroughly authentic Zappa Master Recording either.  No, this is the one many of you have been beyond craving.  Please sit down to read this part:  This is the Roxy – the Soundtrack – yes, it is the introductory Soundtrack, the Prequel if you will – the Project/Object of your Dreams.  76 unadulterated minutes of fabulous frenzy await you.  And the opportunity of a life-time:  Roxy By Proxy! Should it be determined that you become an Officially Licensed Authorized Zappa RBP Distributor, you can make as many copies of the record as you can possibly distribute – AND except for reporting to us your sales & customers (just like any other record distributor) and paying us the publishing, YOU keep the money. AND you get to collect royalties from what is sold at Barfko-Swill AND you will also be entitled to a special wholesale price available to the OLAZRBPDs (Officially Licensed Authorized Zappa ROXY BY PROXY Distributor) exclusively.

Apart from being Official Release #96 this is a Music Biz First.  How is that you might well ask:  We figured you might like to participate in the wonderment so we have devised a way to let you in behind the scenes of every Artist’s necessity – a music distribution deal – but in this case we’ve cut to the chase.  We need to get the record to you so why  shouldn’t you be part of the process?  You can help us help you by helping you help us.

So here’s the deal:  getsome.zappa.com for all the information and the ACTUAL LICENSE.

Thanks in advance for your Consideration.

xxx,

gz

The site in which you can purchase these $1,000 licenses has a full FAQ to answer some of the many questions this scenario presents. How many other artists have released archival audio and video without such a convoluted scheme? If this was 20 or even 10 years ago, we can see fans being able to recoup their investment but in this age of downloads can you really expect to sell many physical CDs? Not to mention, the FAQ makes it clear copies of the soundtrack will be sold through the Zappa website – so the Zappa Family Trust will compete with these “distributors.” Though, yes, apparently sales of the CD on the Zappa website will lead to “distributors”  getting paid royalties. Confused yet? Join the club.

•  Previously on HT: The Holy Grail: Update on Frank Zappa Roxy Video and Holy Grail of Zappa Releases Inches Closer To Fruition 

Just when we thought we were closer than ever to a Frank Zappa Roxy DVD/Blu-Ray comes this ridiculous plan. We won’t hold our breath waiting to see the Holy Grail of Frank Zappa releases.

A few years back we created an extremely popular B List featuring our ten favorite “Kiddie Phish Videos” in which toddlers and infants groove to the likes of Bouncin’, Contact and more. As promised, we’ve put together another list containing ten more incredibly cute clips.

1. Three-and-a-half-year-old Sophie Cassels gives us an a capella Fee…

2. Luke G. is a Phish fan like all of us. Despite his young age he still wakes up in the morning and wants to see what Phish played the night before. Here’s Luke examining the previous night’s setlist…

3. Little Sammi gets really excited about singing Harry Hood…

4. The adorable Jojo offers her rendition of Wilson…

5. Extra props to Dylan Miles for drumming along with his vocal rendition of Sleeping Monkey…

6. Little Joel sure knows his Phish…

7. Serenity and Cecilia jammin’ out to Birds of a Feather…

8. Teenager Justin has found some success in the music business so he needed to put together a live band for shows. His guitarist, Dan, happens to be a Phish fan and often inserts teases in his performances backing this Justin guy…

9. These babies get their groove on to Gotta Jibboo…

10. And finally we end with young Sol Chase amusing many Phish fans at the Hampton comeback shows with his rendition of Sparkle…

Be sure to leave us any vids you think should make the third installment of this series as a comment.

Last year I caught a Perpetual Groove show at Brooklyn Bowl which featured an opening set by a band called Moon Taxi. I was unfamiliar with the group before the show that night, but left extremely impressed by indie-prog rockers who have an inventive sound and hard-hitting lyrics.

The Nashville-based band made their Bonnaroo debut this year and many of those who caught Moon Taxi for the first time came back raving about them. Four full songs from Moon Taxi’s Bonnaroo 2012 set were just posted on the Bonnaroo 365 YouTube channel. We’ve created a playlist for your listening and viewing enjoyment. See if you dig as much as I did…

Moon Taxi @ Bonnaroo 2012

All The Rage, Gunflower, Cabaret and Mercury

Tonight marks the re-opening of the Grate Room at Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads venue in San Rafael, Calif. The Terrapin Family Band and Deep Dark Woods will open for Greenur – aka Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Joe Russo and Jeff Chimenti of Furthur with Jackie Greene. For those who can’t attend, you can watch via a Pay-Per-View webcast.

For a $7 fee you can catch the action live from Terrapin Crossroads. Head HERE to purchase your pass. The webcast starts at 7PM PT.

The Rolling Stones have just stepped off stage at the 02 Arena in London for their second of two shows at the venue that have opened the 50 & Counting Tour. While tonight’s setlist featured many similarities to what they played on Sunday, there were some notable changes. First off, Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine took over Mary J. Blige’s role in singing Gimme Shelter. Also, instead of having Jeff Beck out to perform on Going Down like they did on Sunday, Eric Clapton emerged to tackle Muddy Waters’ (via McKinley Morganfield) Champagne and Reefer. Both Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman rocked on the same songs they played on earlier this week.

[Photo via @rollingstones]

The Last Time saw action for its run debut as did Lady Jane which was performed for the first time since Brian Jones passed away in 1969. In fact, the last one was thought to have taken place in 1967 – 45 years ago! Let It Bleed track Live With Me got the call for its initial 50 and Counting performance along with Satisfaction.

Setlist…

MAIN SET: Get Off Of My Cloud,  I Wanna Be Your Man,  The Last Time,  Paint It Black,  Gimme Shelter (with Florence Welch),  Lady Jane,  Champagne And Reefer (with Eric Clapton),  Live With Me,  Miss You,  One More Shot,  Doom And Gloom,  It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It) (with Bill Wyman), Honky Tonk Women (with Bill Wyman),  Band Intros,  Before They Make Me Run,  Happy,  Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor),  Start Me Up,  Tumbling Dice,  Brown Sugar,  Sympathy For The Devil

ENCORE  You Can’t Always Get What You Want (w/ Choirs),  Jumpin’ Jack Flash,  (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

The tour continues at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on December 8th.

Palladia airs a recent episode of CMT’s Crossroads featuring legendary singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris teaming up with HT faves Mumford and Sons for an hour’s worth of tunes. Mumford and Sons back Harris on a number of her classics while other parts of the episode find Emmylou adding her distinctive voice to tunes from the quartet’s two albums. Tune in to Palladia on Sunday at 7PM ET to watch.

Friday, November 30 [All Times ET]

• Il Volo on Jay Leno [NBC 11:35PM]
• Ne-Yo on Jimmy Kimmel [ABC Midnight]
• The Wallflowers on Jimmy Fallon [NBC 12:35AM]
• Brandi Carlile on Carson Daly [NBC 1:35AM]

Saturday, December 1

• Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Austin City Limits [PBS]
• Grizzly Bear on Later With Jools Holland [Palladia 4PM]
• Muse on Saturday Night Live [NBC 11:30PM]
• Fleetwood Mac – Live in Boston [AXS TV 2AM]

Sunday, December 2

• Mumford & Sons / Emmylou Harris – Crossroads [Palladia 7PM]
• Dispatch – Live at Red Bull Arena [Palladia 8PM]
• Death Cab For Cutie – Concert Special [AXS TV 9:15PM]
• Walk The Moon on Unplugged [Palladia 11:30PM]

Last year Jonathan Wilson quietly released his fantastic debut album Gentle Spirit, which justly garnered a healthy dose of critical praise for its gorgeous sun-baked, sweeping, psychedelic-folk rock. Since then Wilson, who was mainly known as the producer behind Dawes’ two studio albums, has had his coming out party thanks in part to folks like Jackson Browne, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir singing his praises and welcoming him to the stage to perform with them.

Earlier this week the singer-songwriter released the three-song EP Pity Trials and Tomorrow’s Child, while also dropping the music video for Tom Petty meets Grateful Dead-inspired track The Way I Feel from his full-length record. Let’s check it out…

Jonathan Wilson – The Way I Feel

When bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe was tapped to star in a 1973 PBS special, fiddler Richard Greene was tasked with putting together a band to back the “Father of Bluegrass.” Greene created one of the genre’s first “supergroups” featuring Dave Grisman, Peter Rowan, Clarence White and Bill Keith. The troupe was named Muleskinner and as they awaited Monroe’s arrival, they were informed Bill couldn’t make it. Well you know the old showbiz refrain – “The show must go on.”

After a mere three hours of rehearsal, Muleskinner made their debut before a live audience on February 13, 1973 at the KCET television studios in Hollywood, California. For this week’s Full Show Friday we have about 25 minutes worth of footage from the PBS special that came from Muleskinner’s initial performance. Watch as the group runs through songs such as New Camptown Races, Blackberry Blossom and Red Rocking Chair…

Muleskinner – 1973

1. New Camptown Races @ 0:18
2. Dark Hollow @ 2:14
3. Land Of The Navajo @ 5:10
4. Blackberry Blossom @ 10:56
5. Knockin’ On Your Door @ 13:33
6. Opus 57 In G Minor @ 16:46
7. Red Rocking Chair @ 18:54
8. The Dead March @ 22:21
9. Orange Blossom Special @ 25:05 (Cut)

Upon hearing the news that The Rolling Stones had dusted off Mother’s Little Helper b-side Lady Jane after 45 years last night at the 02 Arena in London, we figured this tune – after one of the lengthiest bust outs in rock history – was the fitting subject for our latest Then and Now column.

Way back in 1966 The Rolling Stones performed Lady Jane on The Ed Sullivan Show. Notice Brian Jones added to the Elizabethan vibe by using a dulcimer.

And now check out one of the first clips to surface of last night’s Lady Jane. More similar to the studio version, Chuck Leavell simulates a harpsichord on keys while Ron Wood tackles the dulcimer part by using a 12-string acoustic guitar.

John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin will appear on the December 3rd (Monday) episode of The Late Show with David Letterman. The show is part of a series of Letterman episodes being taped in Washington D.C., where the Zep fellas will be among those receiving Kennedy Center Honors.

The members of Led Zeppelin are promoting the Celebration Day video release. We look forward to seeing Robert Plant’s reaction when Letterman asks about the possibility of a reunion.

The Grate Room at Terrapin Crossroads has been re-opened after a renovation and following Thursday night’s opening performance featuring a variation on Furthur, the real fun began last night. Lesh put together one of the most talented bands in the history of his “Friends” projects for three nights running from yesterday until Sunday. Joining Phil for the three performances to kick off December at the San Rafael, Calif. venue are Furthur band mate Joe Russo on drums, MMW keyboardist John Medeski, ABB / Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes and jazz guitarist John Scofield.

[Photo by @tweeprise]

For yesterday’s first show, the dream ensemble mixed classics from the Grateful Dead song book with a handful of classic rock covers such as In Memory of Elizabeth Reed by the Allman Brothers Band and The Beatles’ She Said, She Said. Last night’s performance was webcast on a Pay-Per-View basis leading to speculation that the next two nights will be broadcast as well.

Watch a video of Shakedown Street that has popped up on YouTube…

Listen to Eyes > Liz Reed > Eyes and Scarlet > Fire from Set Two…

Setlist…

Set One: Jam > Alligator, Deal, Mississippi Half-Step, Built to Last, She Said She Said, Chinatown Shuffle, Midnight Hour

Set Two: Shakedown St. > Jam > Caution, Crossroads, Just a Little Light, Eyes Of The World > In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed > Eyes Of The World > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain

Encore: donor rap, And It Stoned Me

[via Philzone.org]

Here are a few more videos from last night’s show…

Warren tackled the vocals for Pigpen’s Chinatown Shuffle…

 The band hit its groove during a fierce Fire On The Mountain…

The story behind the Phish original Show Of Life is an interesting one. Trey Anastasio and Steve “Dude Of Life” Pollak wrote the tune together over a sushi in November ’09 and recorded it using the Phish front man’s iPhone. Trey expanded on the process in a Rolling Stone piece on iPhone apps…

“I’m obsessed with this recording app on my iPhone- the Sonoma Wire Works FourTrack. It’s like you have a superpowerful studio in your pocket. I can record basically anywhere. Like, I was having lunch with a friend Steve Pollak in New York recently; he brought a bunch of lyrics, and we stared writing on the spot-we were on the corner of 94th and Amsterdam, singing harmonies and bass lines at the top of our lungs into the earpiece. People eventually started gathering around us. The demo captured that whole vibe-the excitement of being out on the street. I don’t think I would’ve even remembered the melody by the time I got home. We took it to band practice, learned the tune right off the demo, didn’t change one thing. And now we’re going to play the song, “Show of Life,” on this summer’s tour.”

Anastasio took the recording back to his studio and sent Pollak this track…

The demo was shared by the Dude of Life on his Twitter feed. Look for more demos from Pollak to come out soon, so be sure to follow.

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of hip-hop legends Wu-Tang Clan putting out their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Wu-Tang mastermind and trademark holder RZA recently spoke with A.V. Club about the anniversary and revealed that both Bonnaroo and Coachella organizers have gotten in touch with him about bringing a reunited Wu-Tang to their festivals. It appears at least one of those fests was successful in their quest as Weeping Elvis reports that Wu-Tang Clan and Tom Petty will be among the headliners at Bonnaroo 2013 on June 13 – 16 in Manchester, Tenn.

The last Wu Tang Clan studio album, 8 Diagrams, was released in 2007 and featured contributions from all eight members including the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. There have been plenty of rumors that another album and shows were in the works basically since that time, but GZA recently told Pitchfork that “we haven’t been on the same page in years.” If Weeping Elvis’s confirmation holds true, apparently a huge offer from Superfly/AC Entertainment can put them all on the same page.

Tom Petty, who was one of the headliners at Bonnaroo 2006 (watch pro-shot footage of the entire set HERE), returned to the road with The Heartbreakers for a three-month tour earlier this year. The folks at Inforoo have been batting Petty’s name around for the past few months, as well as Wu-Tang, as a potential ‘roo 13 headliner. As of now, the Florida native has no future shows on the books.

Weeping Elvis, part of the HyperVocal network, confirmed that Red Hot Chili Peppers and Radiohead would headline Bonnaroo 2012 way back in February.

Welcome back to the third installment of “The Unofficial 31 Days of Dead.” The past two years were so much fun that I decided to do it again. The idea for these compilations came about after dead.net ran its “30 Days of Dead” in November 2010. While the Deadhead community at large was no doubt thrilled to receive previously unreleased tracks from the band’s vast archives, many of us were hoping for just a bit…more.  Hey, we are Deadheads – we are always hoping for more! Therefore, I thought it might be fun to keep the music flowing by selecting my own daily picks. The month of December seemed more than appropriate since New Year’s Eve celebrations were such a big part of the Grateful Dead. Let’s think of these daily picks as an advent calendar leading up to New Year’s Eve. Unlike the “Official 30 Days of Dead,” there is no contest here. Instead, the prize is the music and the winner is the listener.

[Artwork by Brian Levine]

The parameters of my selections are as follows:

1.      No official releases;

2.      Nothing too predictable or obvious (i.e., 5/8/77 or 8/27/72);

3.      Try to represent different eras and years

NEW in 2012:  Rather than make random selections as in past years, this year I made my selection with a specific sequence in mind so that the music will flow (relatively) seamlessly for a more enjoyable listening experience.

I hope you enjoy this year’s selections!

December 1

Introduction > He Was A Friend of Mine

4/23/69 The Ark, Boston, MA

On the heels of two sensational shows, the Dead wrap up a three-night stint at The Ark in Boston in April 1969 with an epic blowout performance.  Cries of “Speech!” and “Hear, hear!” from the stage begin. This leads to what is arguably the band’s best introduction ever. To set the scene I’ll use the narrative Joe Kolbenschlag wrote to accompany his excellent compilation of these shows titled, Steel Cut Oats Vol. #6: Raiding The Ark:

Unlike with New York’s Fillmore East, the Grateful Dead had yet to establish a solid home base in Boston – up until these three incredible nights, they had only played one other set of shows in the area occurring in late ’67. The lack of a core community in Beantown was made clear before the band kicks off the first night’s set. The crowd was treated to a 5 second ho-hum intro of the group simply as ‘some guys from the West Coast’. Two mind-bending shows later, and before the final night began, the same announcer sheepishly addressed the crowd with one of the most appreciative, stoned, and over-excited intros I’ve ever heard – the band had clearly transformed mere ticket holders into legit fans in just a few nights.

After making such a passionate introduction it would only seem logical that the band would charge right into a well-known rocker like St. Stephen, Not Fade Away, or Hard To Handle.  Wrong!  The band was too young and smart-assed to engage in such predictable behavior.  Instead, they did the opposite by easing into “He Was A Friend of Mine” – an obscure, mellow traditional folk song that had been performed only a handful of times.  The choice makes perfect sense if you think about the Grateful Dead’s history with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.  Seizing the opportunity to pull a prank, the Dead were not going to let this poor guy off the hook that easy for his blunder.  Pranks aside, this long, folky opener is a joy to behold with beautiful three-part harmonies and stellar guitar work by both Jerry and Bobby.  I have always thought that this song may have been the inspiration for “Attics of My Life” which was recorded for American Beauty in 1970.  This run of shows from the Ark is the crème de la crème for 1969.  Where is the official box set?

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?t45p3b6a6ru2h4m

LMA Link: http://archive.org/details/gd1969-04-23.sbd.miller.98968.sbeok.flac16

• Unofficial 31 Days of Dead: 2010 Edition, 2011 Edition

In less than two weeks Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Dave Grohl, Roger Waters, Eddie Vedder, Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys, The Who, Paul McCartney and other music superstars will play a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden called 12-12-12 – The Concert For Sandy Relief. Tickets go on sale this Monday at Noon ET and are expected to move quickly. For those who can’t see the once-in-a-lifetime event in person, there are plenty of options to follow the action.

Cable networks Showtime, HBO, the Sundance Channel and AMC will all air a live simulcast of the show. You can also stream the concert as it happens on Hulu, Yahoo and AOL.

A harp is about the last instrument you’d expect to hear on a Ween cover, yet somehow it works amazingly well. For an example, we came across this amazing video of Australian harpists Kaela and Morgana tackling the White Pepper classic Bananas and Blow using the classical instrument…

Ween’s Bananas and Blow Performed By Harps

The description on YouTube says these talented ladies are students at a performing arts school. Bet their teachers wouldn’t be pleased to see Kaela and Morgana covering a song in part about cocaine but we sure get a kick out of it. Hey, at least it’s not Put The Coke On My Dick.

As we’ve mentioned, the Grate Room at Grateful Dead / Furthur bassist Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads venue in San Rafael, Calif. has been re-opened after a renovation. The first gig at the “new” Grate Room took place on Thursday with a variation on Furthur and continued last night with the first of three Phil & Friends’ performances featuring the unbelievable lineup of Lesh, John Medeski, John Scofield, Warren Haynes and Joe Russo which will be followed by four nights of the fan-favorite “Q” band (Lesh, Haynes, John Molo, Jimmy Herring and Rob Baracco) on Dec. 6th – 9th.

The first two shows from the re-opened Grate Room were webcast on a Pay-Per-View basis for $7 a piece, but there was no word on future webcasts. Well that has changed as now you can buy webcasts of both remaining “Best Friends” shows as well as all four nights of The “Q” via the Terrapin Crossroads website. Great news for those of us out of the area or unable to score tickets.

Welcome back to the third installment of “The Unofficial 31 Days of Dead.” The past two years were so much fun that I decided to do it again. The idea for these compilations came about after dead.net ran its “30 Days of Dead” in November 2010. While the Deadhead community at large was no doubt thrilled to receive previously unreleased tracks from the band’s vast archives, many of us were hoping for just a bit…more.  Hey, we are Deadheads – we are always hoping for more! Therefore, I thought it might be fun to keep the music flowing by selecting my own daily picks. The month of December seemed more than appropriate since New Year’s Eve celebrations were such a big part of the Grateful Dead. Let’s think of these daily picks as an advent calendar leading up to New Year’s Eve. Unlike the “Official 30 Days of Dead,” there is no contest here. Instead, the prize is the music and the winner is the listener.

[Artwork by Brian Levine]

December 2

Jack Straw

1/11/79 Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY

A monster “Straw” taken from a rare January tour in the Northeast that had been rescheduled due to Garcia’s illness in November 1978 (check out the tapes from 11/24/78 if you don’t know what I’m referring to). The weather for this tour was dark, cold and wet. Also looming large was the imminent departure of the Godchauxs. Notwithstanding the morose backdrop, the music was actually quite hot as exemplified by this highly charged version of Jack Straw. Perhaps inspired by Bobby’s ad lib verse, “we used to play for acid now we play for Clive” (a reference to former Arista Records president, Clive Davis), Jerry goes for broke and unleashes a fury of notes at breathtaking speed. The soundboard which just surfaced a few years ago is admittedly a bit sterile making this show a great candidate to receive the matrix treatment. Calling Hunter Seamons!

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?bkvn19ln0uynt7a

LMA Link: http://archive.org/details/gd1979-01-11.sbd.miller.fix-102430.102446.flac16

• Unofficial 31 Days of Dead: 2010 Edition, 2011 Edition, December 1st

Welcome back to the third installment of “The Unofficial 31 Days of Dead.” The past two years were so much fun that I decided to do it again. The idea for these compilations came about after dead.net ran its “30 Days of Dead” in November 2010. While the Deadhead community at large was no doubt thrilled to receive previously unreleased tracks from the band’s vast archives, many of us were hoping for just a bit…more.  Hey, we are Deadheads – we are always hoping for more! Therefore, I thought it might be fun to keep the music flowing by selecting my own daily picks. The month of December seemed more than appropriate since New Year’s Eve celebrations were such a big part of the Grateful Dead. Let’s think of these daily picks as an advent calendar leading up to New Year’s Eve. Unlike the “Official 30 Days of Dead,” there is no contest here. Instead, the prize is the music and the winner is the listener.

[Artwork by Brian Levine]

December 3

Deal
5/1/81 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

This searing version of Deal from the Grateful Dead’s third-ever show at the fabled Hampton Coliseum will certainly burn off both of your little ears!

Download Link:  http://www.mediafire.com/?mlutz99ddlyk62d

LMA Link: http://archive.org/details/gd1981-05-01.mtx.seamons.107749.flac16

• Unofficial 31 Days of Dead: 2010 Edition, 2011 Edition, Dec. 1st and Dec. 2nd

One of the more exciting runs in post-Dead history came to a close last night when Phil Lesh, John Medeski, John Scofield, Warren Haynes and Joe Russo finished a three-night stand at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, Calif. As they did on the first two nights, the extremely talented combo  mixed classics from the Grateful Dead songbook with assorted covers.

[Photo by Scott Gordon]

Among the quintet, Warren Haynes was the lone member known for his singing so he handled vocals for most of the run with Phil chiming in from time to time. Last night saw the group deliver covers of Dear Mr. Fantasy, Amazing Grace, Blue Sky, Sunshine Of Your Love, Hallelujah, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Turn On Your Lovelight and Not Fade Away.

Our pal JRapp captured some audio from yesterday’s festivities. Check out the quintet’s gorgeous take on Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah followed by a transcendent, 35-minute Dark Star > While My Guitar Gently Weeps > Dark Star segment that shows the power of this band…

Set One: Jam >  Dear Mr. Fantasy (WH) >  Here Comes Sunshine (WH), Amazing Grace (WH), Blue Sky, Ramble on Rose (WH), Sunshine of Your Love (WH) >  Cosmic Charlie

Set Two:   Hallelujah (WH) >  Bird Song (PL) >  China Cat Sunflower (WH) >  I Know You Rider, Dark Star v1 >  While My Guitar Gently Weeps (WH) >  Dark Star v2 (PL) >  Not Fade Away > Turn on Your Lovelight (WH), Not Fade Away

Encore: Donor Rap > Stella Blue (WH)

[Setlist via PhilZone.org]

Next up at Terrapin Crossroads is four nights of The “Q” starting Thursday.