Free Republic

GREENSBORO - See dozens of photos from The Dead concert in Greensboro, North Carolina on Sunday, April 12th as the iconic band launched the start of their nationwide tour. The original members of the Grateful Dead except for Jerry Garcia, who passed away, reunited for their first concert in years as "The Dead" in Greensboro, the first city on their nationwide tour. The event was sold out in the Greensboro Coliseum and the parking was also filled to capacity. Spaces outside the coliseum were full of "Deadhead" fans, some of whom came in Volkswagen buses, school buses, and even an...

The remaining members of the Grateful Dead — probably the most prolific and enduring psychedelic rock band — have gotten together once again, but this time to endorse Barack Obama for president. The usually apolitical group waded into the presidential campaign Monday in a press conference and a concert that melded the old with the new. The show began with a recorded video message by Obama in which he thanked the members of the band for their support. A fog of marijuana hung over the crowd, the Reuters news agency reported.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Life!) - The Grateful Dead, the San Francisco cult rock band that has played at political events since the 1960s, will reunite on Monday for the first time in four years to rally support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, a spokesman said on Friday. Band leader Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Surviving members have played together occasionally since then, most recently in 2004. On Monday, original members Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will play at a San Francisco theater a day before California's primary. "They have agreed to reunite for this one-time-only event in...

Ahh, cancer. One learns so much from being diagnosed with a death-sentence disease. Of course, 95% of it is stuff you would rather not know, but that other 5% is downright interesting. For example, "America's Next Top Model" is much more fun to watch when you've lost 15 pounds without trying. During chemotherapy, vanilla smells good, but vanilla wafers taste disgusting. And eyelashes really do have a purpose; without them, my eyes are a dust magnet. But the most compelling fact I learned was about my friends. Not just what you would expect: how they cooked for my family and...

Jerry Garcia's guitars spur Grateful Dead auction May 8, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Forty years after the Summer of Love celebrated the free-living ways of the 1960s counterculture, bidders paid more than $1.1 million at auction on Tuesday for Grateful Dead memorabilia. A cream-colored 1975 Travis Bean electric guitar belonging to the band's legendary, late lead guitar player, Jerry Garcia, brought in $312,000 in a brisk sale, auction house said. Enthusiasts also bid $102,000 for an acoustic guitar and $39,000 for a Gibson electric guitar played by Garcia. One of his leather guitar straps sold for $20,400, or four...

ITHACA--In honor of the 30th anniversary of one of the Grateful Dead's most legendary performances that took place on May 8, 1977 at Cornell University's Barton Hall, Ithaca Mayor Carolyn Peterson will declare May 8, Grateful Dead Day in Ithaca. The headlining event of this anniversary celebration is Dark Star Orchestra's recreation of the Legendary May 8, 1977 Grateful Dead concert. Tickets for Dark Star Orchestra are on sale now. They are $24.50 in advance or $26.50 at the door. Go online at www.stateofithaca.com, by phone at 273-4497, or in person at The Ticket Center at Clinton House located at...

A great video that you wouldn't expect.

When I called the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, whose chairwoman gives speeches on topics with titles like "The Failures of Feminism", and told the gatekeeper there that I wanted to do an interview with Ann Coulter solely about the Grateful Dead, there was a small pause. Then she recovered and politely told me to send her an e-mail, which she would forward to Ann. That, I expected, would be the end of it.When I got home that night, and saw an e-mail in my box from Ann Coulter, I thought "how polite of her to send a rejection letter...

The death of Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick, 55, was a suicide, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department confirmed Saturday. An autopsy is expected to be performed Monday or Tuesday, said Lt. Bruce Rochester, who declined to say how the former musician took his life.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Vince Welnick, who took over as the Grateful Dead's keyboard player in 1990 after a succession of predecessors met untimely deaths, has died at the age of 55, according to an announcement on his Web site. "Vince passed from this earth on June 2, 2006 ... after a decade of battling tragedy while creating beauty and light around him," the announcement said. It did not give a cause of death. The San Jose Mercury News said he died in a hospital on Friday after being taken from his home in Forestville, California, and it quoted a...

SONOMA - The long, strange trip continues for Jerry Garcia's toilet. Police say the Grateful Dead leader's commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet. Garcia's salmon-colored toilet was the subject of a legal battle before it was finally moved to Sonoma, to await shipment to a Canadian casino. It's unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police have no suspects or leads. Henry Koltys bought Garcia's Marin County home for $1.39 million in 1997 and removed the toilet and other items he planned...

hello everyone. i have posted a few times regarding the site i created, www.moveOut.biz well, the business side of it has failed. no matter, it was a small investment and i've had fun. i would, however, appreciate it if any of you who lurk at DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND could get the word out over there that this site exists. the most fun i've had is with the few emails i've received from the tin-hatters. i tried to get on DU but was summarily banned even though i picked the che guevara avatar. i appreciate any help you can give in funneling...

Concert-goers at last weekend's reunion of surviving Grateful Dead members surprised people with their good behavior at Alpine Valley, but the two-day festival did generate drug seizures, as well as citations and arrests in connection with drug-related offenses. Among the totals released late last week by the Walworth County Sheriff's Department's drug enforcement unit were: 269 county citations for marijuana possession, which usually means a $407 fine for less than an ounce; 80 arrests for 132 state violations, which carry heavier penalties than county citations; and 10 people charged with possessing hallucinogenic mushrooms and referred to the district attorney. Police...

California group attends dinnerHAVANA -- The latest weapon in the arsenal of American politicians who want warmer relations with Cuba: the humble baked bean. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer came to Cuba with a delegation packed with Californians who brought California-grown beans -- and then ate them at a dinner with Fidel Castro that lasted until 3 a.m. Monday. The California Democrat pronounced her plate of beans "wonderful" and said it was a symbol of the benefits that can be gained when Americans and Cubans cooperate. "There are certain things that pull people together," including food, said Boxer, who criticized the...