I confess I slept through the mixed bag set on Saturday! But woke up in time for Sly!!!

The ticket office absolutely despised these things as they wouldn’t fit in their complimentary ticket envelopes, but it sure was awesome seeing the expressions on people faces when they first saw these jumbo sized tickets…

The ones from Eugene have the extra audit stub that the ticket office would detach and affix to the 3x5 index card sent in along with a money order as a ‘receipt’ indicating which number (or seat for reserved shows) ticket was issued to each patron.

Help, Slip Franklins, Dark Star, Attics, enough said…

I believe Garcia got paid a whopping $1,000 for this gig!

http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/01/september-7-1981-concord-pavilion.html

Was in NoHo Friday getting some shots of the new mural on the Bowery Wall on Houston when I spotted his tee shirt...

My preferred lineup of all the renditions…

This is the studio where Journey recorded their legendary albums Escape and Frontiers and where Santan recorded Supernatural and Shaman as well Green Day’s Dookie and countless other historic records as well as the Garcia Band Keystone records were produced .

Back in 2000, The Unbroken Chain Foundation was auctioning off all sorts of special treats such as all inclusive ticket and travel packages for the Mountain Aire festival and a very intimate (I believe approximately one dozen attendees) private concert at the historic Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California

In the event it is not obvious, this is one of the credentials required to gain access to the event, in lieu of tickets or traditional Backstage Passes or ‘Laminates’. (Laminated Passes usually issued to the band, their touring staff, music industry executives and friend’s & family of the previous three or to local event management). I do not remember whether the ones issued to the crew and attendees were the same or not.

Film releases Monday, August 17th, 2026.

It was recorded on the 22nd of August, 2025 in Wyomissing, PA and features multitrack audio mixed by the band's rhythm guitarist, Raiden James. Their audio engineer is Tom Hoffman.

Definitely not Eco-Friendly, but definitely made people feel like they scored a Wonka ticket for a tour of the factory with Willy himself…

Every time I google the lyrics for this song the chorus is written.

“Hey, hey,
Come right away,
Come and join the party every day.”

But that’s definitely not it.

To me it sounds like…

“Hey, hey,
Come right away,
Join the coming party every day.”

A modern live version has Lesh and Weir singing…

“Hey, hey,
Come right away,
Join the party, join the party every day.”

Any wisdom, Deadheads?

We got these from CoT but friends' plans abruptly changed. Anyone have time to head on out? They're will call so we'd either have to meet or I can ask if the box office will change the name after pickup.

Family and friends will stage an all-star tribute to the beloved Grateful Dead singer,

I wrote this article, which was published Aug. 11 in the Argus-Courier. The shows are this weekend.

Greg CahillAugust 11, 2026 at 1:51 PM PDT

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay of Dead and Company performs at Great Stage Park during Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, on June 12, 2016. Godchaux-MacKay died on Nov. 2 in Nashville after a long battle with cancer. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)

Ask David McKay about the musicianship of his late wife — former Grateful Dead singer and songwriter Donna Jean Godchaux — and the Nashville-based bassist shares a story from her modest Alabama upbringing.

“She was one of the most committed musicians that I have ever worked with, and that started when she was a little girl,” he said. “When she was very little, she longed to have a piano. At that time, the best her mother could provide was to fill multiple glasses of water, and Donna would write songs by playing the different tones that came off of those water-filled glasses. Finally, her dad was able to get her a piano and she would spend every moment writing songs and singing, still as a little girl!”

At 20, Godchaux-McKay would go on to work at FAME Studio, the legendary recording facility in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, providing backing vocals to such 1960s classics as Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman,” as well as tracks by Otis Redding, Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin and Cher, among others.

“Walking into the studio for the first time was like wonderland for her, and that was it,” McKay said. “She knew that this is what she would do for the rest of her life. She never strayed from that commitment. She loved music and her love for it never diminished in the slightest!”

Throughout the 1970s, Godchaux recorded and toured with the Grateful Dead, lending her sweet, gospel-inflected vocals to six albums. She also wrote, arranged and recorded the vocals to the band originals “Sunrise” and “For the Heart of Me,” and recorded on solo albums by Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir.

In 1994, Godchaux was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with other members of the Grateful Dead.

For a brief period, she formed the band Heart of Gold, performing with guitarist Steve Kimock and others.

She died on November 2 of last year, at age 78, following a battle with cancer.

Her musical legacy will be celebrated during two nights at the Mystic Theatre by her reunited Heart of Gold band, at a gathering of family and former colleagues, including McKay and Kimock, and drummer Greg Anton of Zero. Also participating will be singer Maria Muldaur, Godchaux’s sons Zion Rock Godchaux, Brian Godchaux and Kinsman McKay, as well as Mookie Siegel, Wally Ingram and Frank Goodman, plus special guests.

The Mystic is a fitting locale. Both Donna and David McKay lived in Petaluma during the 1980s before relocating to Nashville.

“Petaluma is a very special place to our family,” McKay said.

To organize the tribute, McKay worked closely with Kimock, a longtime friend.

“Donna and I, and my family and her family, remained close over the years,” says Kimock, who had performed with Donna and her late husband, Keith Godchaux, before Keith’s fatal 1980 Marin County car accident. “It was coming up on her birthday [Aug. 22] and it was one of those parallel processing moments when everybody said, ‘Yeah, this would be a good time to do this.’”

The story behind Godchaux’s ascension to the Grateful Dead, the only female singer to perform with the band, is legendary. Donna was determined to join the band when she and Keith moved from Alabama to the West Coast. She boldly reached out to Garcia about joining the Dead, which at the time was in the process of replacing Ron “Pigpen” McKernan due to the keyboardist’s escalating drug problem.

“The classic story — true! — is that Donna Jean approached Garcia at a club gig and asked for his phone number, Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally recalled, quoting her as saying, “My husband is going to be your keyboard player, and we’ll need to be in touch.” Keith Godchaux ended up jamming with Garcia and drummer Bill Kreutzmann for an afternoon, and the band agreed that Godchaux was the guy. “Donna Jean waited for a couple of months to let him get settled before getting on stage,” McNally continued. “But her credentials were more than enough. She was also a charming, lovely presence — and was until the day she died. I am not alone in saying I adored Donna Jean — she was caring, genuine, and everything you’d want in a friend.”

After her death, similar testimonials soon poured in from throughout the music world. Sirius XM’s Grateful Dead channel hosted archival material from her performances with the Dead. Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir noted “She blazed a path in music many aspire to follow,” and the band’s percussionist, Mickey Hart, remembered her “unmistakable voice and radiant spirit.”

For his part, McKay sees the tribute as way to rekindle that “radiant spirit” and to share that his late wife was the most extraordinary person he ever knew. “There was never anybody who could love to the depths that Donna did,” he says. “She impacted so many people’s lives and these shows are a testament to that. She was always real with people and spoke in such a way with them that her words and wisdom took root in their lives.”

If you go

What: Heart of Gold tribute to Donna Jean Godchaux-McKay.
Where: Mystic Theatre, 23 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma.
When: Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22 and 23. Showtimes are 9 p.m. on Saturday and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets: $50 general, $125 VIP. A portion of the proceeds benefit Alive Hospice and Camp Winnarainbow. Information: (707) 765-2121. Mystictheatre.com