oh kee pah

Well it was generally a slow news week, as the American masses become more and more focused on the Presidential race, but for our little subculture as well, most eyes were not on the latest jam or update from these rockers. In Phish world, rumors abound and hotels are being booked on a whim, with no confirmation one way or the other. Based bon pure number of times this has been published, I would put money on June 23-26^th will be in Atlantaic City at Bader Field, probably not camping. Otherwise, it’s a totally crapshoot as usual. But to hold us over, another Tom Marshall track was just released and this time it’s a very early version of Farmhouse. The track is supposedly posted by Trey himself, with an accompanying note that explains the story of how they wrote the song- largely an act of chance and luck in none other than a farmhouse.  Check out all of Trey and Tom’s demos on Marshall’s Soundcloud page.

In their 14^th year as a band, Umphrey’s McGee is finally getting the attention they deserve, playing two sold out shows in New York City, and going on to many others in their massive Spring tour. They got rave reviews from phans and critics alike, but check out Hidden Track’s 10 Best Moments of the run. There a plenty of tickets still available to many of the shows on the upcoming tour, so if you were hoping to catch them, don’t lose faith yet. There’s a ton of give aways and after parties to be paying attention to, so check their website for continuous updates and announcement.

The ever-developing Grateful Dead world had a few newsworthy stories, the first being Bob Weir’s very busy week. On Wednesday, the world was treated to a RatDog reunion of epic proportions, performed in and streamed live from Weir’s TriStudios in Marin County, CA. He is also scheduled to open Sweetwater Music Hall tonight (Friday), a venue that he has invested in to bring the music back to Marin County. Buddy and bassist Phil Lesh is also opening a restaurant and venue called Terrapin Crossroads just down the street, but he’ll have to top the line up slated for Sweetwater tonight- all signs point to another RatDog appearance and a few special guests, like Sammy Hagar.

 And while Phil and Bob open venues and tour with their friends, Bill Kreutzmann is doing the same in Jungle Jam with BK3 and Mickey Hart announced a new tour and album in the works for Spring 2012. The album, Mysterium Tremendum, will be the Grammy-winner’s first release in 5 years and was supported by longtime Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, who helped Hart with the words for this effort as well. He’s taking Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), long time bandmate Sikiru Adepoju, and the band on the road with a coast-to-coast 2 month tour starting in March.

Lastly, On February 4^th, Berkley, CA’s KPFA will broadcast it’s annual Grateful Dead fund-raising marathon. They will air archive shows hand picked by annual host David Gans, rare Jerry interviews, live performances and more. Tune in from 9am to 1am to catch some of this music marathon.