“What we have in mind, is the gift of site, for 36 million,” said event emcee and clown-nosed Seva patriarch and advocate Wavy Gravy on October 10, creating a play on words from his famous “breakfast in bed” announcement at Woodstock.
Bob Weir and Steve Kimock along with RatDog alumni Robin Sylvester and Jay Lane were the musical stars of the benefit for SEVA (seva.org) and the Mill Valley Film Festival at the intimate Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California. Displaying an interconnected lead and rhythm guitar synchronicity, Kimock and Weir led the band of four through a compelling 90 minutes of Grateful Dead and RatDog songs. But while Weir, Kimock, and friends elicited the most energetic crowd reaction, they alone did not define the night. The benefit was a celebration of Seva’s four-millionth sight-saving surgery, as well as a celebration of “Open Your Eyes,” an independent film shot in Nepal and produced by Vermilion Films and HBO (HBO plans to broadcast it in early 2016). The movie premiered earlier in the evening down the street at the Throckmorton Theatre.
Here at the Sweetwater, Seva co-founder and film producer Larry Brilliant thanked the crowd for their support and introduced Academy-Award-nominated director Irene Taylor Brodsky, who crafted the touching movie chronicling a three-day journey that allowed two adults in rural Nepal to be surgically gifted the opportunity to see the world – and their families. Ms. Brodsky then complimented the medical providers who made the film possible and spoke about what it took to document their work and present it to the world, before showing the assemblage a short trailer of “Open Your Eyes” (view trailer at: www.youtube.com/watch?t=25&v=
When the band took the stage, they proceeded to offer some purposeful “Bird Song”-evocative noodling that wandered into the opening number, “Josephine,” a jazzy R&B song with a lengthy instrumental arrangement that goes back some 35 years to Weir’s first “Bobby and the Midnights” album. Lane and Sylvester were in lock-step with with Weir and Kimock, who, in addition to communicating musically by the most subtle of glances and gestures, offered music that was tight and presented with a warranted confidence. The set included The Grateful Dead’s “Loose Lucy,” and “Bird Song,” Weir’s oft-covered version of Little Feat’s “Easy to Slip,” and two RatDog slow-tempo originals, “Even So” and “October Queen.” The set ended with a fine rendering of The Grateful Dead powerhouse, “The Other One” and an encore of “One More Saturday Night” capped off the evening,” with Weir offering an old-time spirited scream during the song’s pinnacle.
Preceding Weir and friends, Pakistani guitarist/activist Salman Ahmad, who composed the film’s soundtrack, delivered an inspiring short set of Sufi music. Accompanied by a percussionist, Ahmad’s musical offerings also included John Lennon’s “Imagine,” on the day after what would have been the Beatle’s 75th birthday. A silent auction, which contained hand-woven South Asian art and sculptures, as well as Grateful Dead memorabilia, was also on display and up for grabs.
Check out more photos from the benefit show.
