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Sportsman’s Dead: Band, NBA team

March 29, 2013 by 1 Comment
grateful dead nba shirt for bulls

The studio-tanned Grateful Dead weren't known for their athleticism -- unless hourlong workouts on "Dark Star" count -- but the band's sports connection keeps getting stronger. Sports stars and the Dead aren't quite the strange bedfellows they would seem. Perhaps you caught the recent documentary about the band coming to the financial rescue of the 1992 Lithuanian national basketball team. Various sports celebrities professed their Dead fanhood over the years, including official mascot Bill Walton. The former pro basketball star says the band's influence on him was up there with that of UCLA's John Wooden, high praise indeed. Walton is enshrined in the Dead organization's hall of fame and serves on the board of the Rex Foundation, the band's charitable unit. Deadheads dubbed him … [Read more...]

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Tales of ‘Terror’ from the Flaming Lips

January 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips explore their dark side with the release of "The Terror" on April 16. Frontman Wayne Coyne tells fans to brace themselves for "a bleak, disturbing record." The Lips -- the highest-profile band creating psychedelic music these days -- have released at least a dozen other albums over their 30-year history. The latest project under the Lips banner was a mostly faithful re-creation of King Crimson's 1969 stunner "In the Court of the Crimson King." The Flaming Lips and the new music are set for a big-time promo push with their appearance in a Super Bowl commercial for Hyundai. The ad features the propulsive track "Sun Blows Up Today," which is not officially on the new album. Beginning Tuesday, however, fans who preorder "The Terror" on the iTunes Store get the track as … [Read more...]

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Moving Sidewalks in motion again

December 20, 2012 by 1 Comment
moving-sidewalks-gibbons

Moving Sidewalks, the psychedelic rock band that counted among its members ZZ Top star Billy Gibbons, has reunited for a March show in New York. The Texas quartet, which broke up in 1969 when two members were drafted, will play with its original lineup: singer-guitarist Gibbons, drummer Dan Mitchell, bassist Don Summers and keyboardist Tom Moore. The March 30 show at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill is billed as "The Moving Sidewalks featuring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top." Update: Photos of the show by Arnie Goodman. Billy Gibbons with (top) bassist Don Summers and organ player Tom Moore. Read a review of the Moving Sidewalks show. /update "The Moving Sidewalks sound really holds up," Gibbons said of the popular regional act's mix of garage rock, blues and psychedelia. "We've … [Read more...]

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Procol Harum on Rock Hall’s shortlist

October 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
fisher-brooker

Psychedelic-era heavyweights Procol Harum and Deep Purple are among the nominees for the 2013 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They join fellow sonic pioneers Kraftwerk, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Public Enemy and the Meters. Inductees "will be announced in the coming weeks," the Rock Hall said. (Update of Dec. 12: Procol Harum and Deep Purple will have to wait. No psychedelic bands made the cut for 2013. The inductees are Public Enemy, Albert King, Rush, Randy Newman, Heart and Donna Summer.) Other nominees include Rush, Donna Summer, Albert King and Chic (view list of Rock Hall nominees). Psychedelic folk music pioneer Donovan and the Small Faces were among those inducted into the Hall in 2012. Procol Harum recently saw its record catalog get an ambitious … [Read more...]

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Garcia’s 70th birthday bash on Web

July 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
jerry garcia solo album cover

Jerry Garcia would have turned 70 years old on Aug. 1, a temporal touchstone sure to bring together Deadheads everywhere. Longtime "bandmate and co-conspirator" Bob Weir has set a free live webcast for the night of Friday, Aug. 3: "Move Me Brightly: Celebrating Jerry Garcia's 70th Birthday." The event focuses on the music, of course. Skedded to appear are Weir, Mike Gordon (Phish), Benmont Tench (the Heartbreakers), Neal Casal (the Cardinals), Joe Russo (Furthur), ex-Grateful Dead singer Donna Jean Godchaux and the Bay Area singer-songwriter Cass McCombs. More artists update: Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend), and Craig Finn and Tad Kubler (the Hold Steady). Update: View the entire Jerry Garcia tribute. Also: Read the Rolling Stone report on the Garcia show. (end of … [Read more...]

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Joplin gets a star; Doors get skewered

June 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Janis Joplin psychedelic music star

LOS ANGELES -- Janis Joplin would have gotten a big laugh out of it, but the late rock star is slotted for a star on the Hollyood Walk of Fame. Meanwhile, psychedelic brooders Jim Morrison and the Doors are in for a tweaking from one of L.A.'s top comedy groups, the Troubadors. They've set "Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReinDoors" as their annual holiday musical, always a red-hot ticket in L.A. Joplin is most frequently associated with her San Francisco stomping grounds, but she made her final recordings in Hollywood and died a stone's throw away from its tourist center. Joplin, Jane's Addiction and seven other recording artists are in the class of 2013. The rest of the inductees are drawn from the pool of usual suspects, including Ron Howard, Helen Mirren and Katey Segal. The Walk of … [Read more...]

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Fresh Strawberry Alarm Clock album

March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Strawberry Alarm Clock psychedelic band

Psychedelic hitmakers the Strawberry Alarm Clock are back with their first new album in 40 years. The band plans a one-off concert in L.A. to support the CD "Wake Up Where You Are," released in late March by the indie label Global Recording Artists. "We are holding our breaths," keyboardist Mark Weitz says. "It could go somewhere or nowhere. But at least it will go!" (Update: The band played before a youthful and appreciative audience in Silver Lake. The new songs went over very well.) "Wake Up Where You Are" is a mix of new SAC songs, two covers and reinterpretations of some of their psychedelic rock classics (but not "Incense and Peppermints"). The band chose their cover of Sky Saxon's "Mr. Farmer" as the lead-off track. The song may surprise fans with its infectious blast … [Read more...]

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Major Grateful Dead exhibit at Rock Hall

January 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
grateful dead art exhibit at Rock Hall

The exhibition "Grateful Dead: The Long, Strange Trip" opens April 12 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in time for the 2012 artist inductions. Highlights are to include five Jerry Garcia guitars, "finished and working manuscripts" for classic Dead songs, gear from the Owsley "Wall of Sound" PA system, and artworks such as Fillmore posters and album graphics. The Grateful Dead Archive at the University of California-Santa Cruz "loaned a significant number of items" from its collection, the Rock Hall said. Rock Hall curator Howard Kramer said he had full access to the Dead's warehouse. Longtime Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart will perform at the exhibit opening. One of his psychedelic custom-painted drum kits will among the museum offerings. The first major showing of … [Read more...]

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Donovan, Small Faces entering Rock Hall

December 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
rock hall of fame 2012

Donovan and the Small Faces made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, putting a bit of psychedelic seasoning on the class of 2012. Producer/engineer Glyn Johns, who worked with the heaviest of the British psychedelic rock bands, also is to be honored April 14 in Cleveland. Beastie Boys, Guns N' Roses, Laura Nyro and Red Hot Chili Peppers filled out the list of Rock Hall inductees. Faces (with Rod Stewart) share the honor with the band's earlier incarnation, the Small Faces. The early influencer nod went to bluesman Freddy King, the only black artist to be honored this year. Songwriter/TV rock producer Don Kirshner ("The Monkees") is to be memorialized in the non-performer slot. Rock producers Johns and Tom Dowd, and New Orleans studio owner Cosimo Matassa are to receive … [Read more...]

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Iron Butterfly live, heavy at Fillmore East

September 19, 2011 by 8 Comments
rhino handmade album cover Iron Butterfly Fillmore East 1968

They've been going in and out of style since "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" first scorched earth in 1968. Looks like Iron Butterfly is in for another round of retro-appreciation. On Oct. 17, the psychedelic heavies get the Rhino Handmade treatment with a live double-CD set recorded at the Fillmore East. The CDs (and MP3s) capture the "classic" version of Iron Butterfly in April 1968, just after the band was rebuilt in the wake of their debut album. The album "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" would surface several months after these performances. There are 22 songs recorded during a quartet of sets at the Bill Graham concert hall. The line-up is singer/organist Doug Ingle, bassist Lee Dorman, teen guitarist Erik Brann and drummer Ron Bushy. (Update: The Iron Butterfly live set appears to be … [Read more...]

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