NYS Music 202​0

Tag: deadheads

  • ‘Dead And Gone’ Podcast Explores Unsolved Grateful Dead Fan Cases

    Filmmaker Payne Lindsay and podcast company Tenderfoot TV have announced a new podcast called “Dead and Gone.” The true crime podcast’s first two episodes will debut October 15. It will be available on all podcast platforms in partnership with Cadence13.

    Listeners will tune in as unsolved cases of fans of iconic jam band the Grateful Dead are investigated. Hosting the show will be Jake Brennan, who also hosts the podcast “Disgraceland.” Lindsay will handle much of the podcast’s behind-the-scenes work including research and is co-founder of Tenderfoot TV.

    dead and gone podcast

    Lindsey and Brennan ran into few unsettling surprises while investigating the cold cases that span the course of five decades.

    Filmaker Payne Lindsey said of the series:

    “I knew we would encounter surprises throughout this investigation because of the strange coincidences, mysterious circumstances and rock and roll at the center of it all… but I never predicted to come across such a tragic case with so many unanswered questions. Many of these cases have not been thoroughly examined until now, and our goal is to uncover the truth about what really happened that night so justice is served.”

    One such case is the murders of Mary Regina Gioia and Gregory Allen Kniffin, two Grateful Dead-obsessed Berkeley residents. The pair were found beaten and shot to death in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986.

    At the time of the murders, a black man named Ralph International Thomas was found guilty and sentenced to death. After a A “mysterious tip from a fellow Dead Head” it allegedly could be a wrongful accusation. According to the press release “lack of evidence and conflicting witness testimonies” could prove Thomas’ innocence. Lindsey and Brennan credit this tip for the catalyst behind the podcast.

    Beyond the double murder of Gioia and Kniffin, listeners will also dive into the darkness surrounding the band. Included will be tales of the band’s subversive past, the predators among the concert goers, and more. 

    “I’ve studied the history and culture of the band for years, and I think people will be surprised to find that there is a darkness at the core of the Grateful Dead’s music and that darkness is present throughout the band’s history. It has manifested in song and in real life and many of the band’s fans have fallen victim to it. This darkness and the violence and mystery it’s spawned runs contrary to the good intentions of the band and the Grateful Dead’s image of peace, love, good times and music, and that contrast makes for fascinating storytelling.”

    Jake Brennan, Co-Found of Double Elvis Productions

    Listen to the trailer here and be sure to catch new episodes weekly on all platforms. For more information subscribe here.

  • Watch Branford Marsalis join the Grateful Dead for “Eyes of the World”

    It was March 29, 1990 when saxophonist Branford Marsalis joined the Grateful Dead at Nassau Coliseum for much of the show. Notably, the version of “Eyes of the World” stands out, as it was released on Without a Net in September 1990, and later rereleased on Spring 1990 (The Other One) box set in 2014.

    Branford Marsalis had not planned to sit in with the Grateful Dead for more than “Bird Song” that night, as he recalled in talking to Rolling Stone in 2014.

    “I came up for “Bird Song,” and after the set was over, I said, ‘Thanks for letting me play, guys.’ And they’re like, ‘No, no, stay! Play the second half of the show. We’ll do “Dark Star”.’ That had no significance to me. I’m like, ‘ “Dark Star”? Okay. What is it?’ ‘Oh, you’re gonna love it. It’s free, it’s out.’ ‘Great, I can play out.’ They start playing that lick, and the audience goes bananas. Later, I started getting these phone calls on my private number: ‘Man, you were great last night. Thanks for getting them to play “Dark Star”. They haven’t played it in six months.’ I’m like, ‘Who are these people?’… There was almost nothing [the Grateful Dead] couldn’t play—and make it sound authentic. When they played a song by The Band or Bob Dylan, they played it with the same spirit as The Band or Dylan. They didn’t feel the need to write their own arrangement of it. They were all listeners. There is a point where musicians who establish themselves stop listening to music and start listening to their own rhetoric. The Dead didn’t do that. It was obvious in the way they approached a song.” – Branford Marsalis, to Rolling Stone magazine

    Discover Grateful Dead shows from over the years across New York State with our interactive map below

    Anyone who experienced the Spring 1990 shows, or has listened to Without a Net can attest to the benefit Marsalis brings to this version of “Eyes of the World.” The extra element of saxophone layered within the Dead classic gives it a proper place on a pedastal as one of the best versions of the song.

    branford marsalis grateful dead

    Fred Thomas of AllMusic said of the evening,

    “After they whip through a bright first set featuring mostly live staples like ‘Bertha’ and ‘Ramble on Rose’, Marsalis joins in at the start of the second set for stellar, extended takes on the more exploratory side of the Dead catalog. His airy improvisations on classics like ‘Eyes of the World’ and ‘Dark Star’ sound brilliantly natural here, and what’s most palpable is the sense of exhilaration and mutual respect between these two forces of sonic trailblazing.”

    Fred Thomas, AllMusic.com