Get out of the cold later on this winter and join us for the Jam in the Sand. This retreat to Jamaica is the perfect getaway gift for yourself and your favorite someone.We are really fired up for the Jam in the Sand.

Dark Star Orchestra, widely known as one of today's premier improvisational rock bands, will perform their show "Dark Star Orchestra: Recreating the Grateful Dead Experience" at The Egg Center for the Performing Arts in Albany, New York on Wednesday, December 5th, 2012 at 9:00pm. Jeff Chimenti (Furthur, Phil and Friends, Ratdog) will be filling in for Rob Barracco on keys.

Fans of the Grateful Dead have yet another reason to rejoice as the Dark Star Orchestra team has released a soundboard recording of the first set of their October 13, 2012 performance at The Fillmore in San Francisco.

In a move that excited many DSO and Furthur fans across the country, Phil and Friends have pulled off a trade for Rob Barraco, keyboardist for Dark Star Orchestra, sending keyboardist Jeff Chimenti to the chilly east coast to play four DSO dates in New York, Maine, and Massachusetts and Connecticut.

On December 6 - 9 Dark Star Orchestra's Rob Barraco will join Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring and John Molo for a return of Phil Lesh and Friends: The Q. This reunited all-star cast will perform four rare and intimate shows taking place at Phil's concert venue, Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, CA. With December 5-8 being the last four nights of DSO's Fall Tour, the Phil Lesh camp is sending their keyboardist, Jeff Chimenti of Furthur, to fill in for Rob Barraco.

Since I started reviewing shows, I have taken great care to listen not only to the music made on stage, but also to those who bring live improvisation to climactic heights with their ears and energy: the crowd. At any show, the canvas is always painted by the musicians, yet concomitantly framed by the listeners. Two crowd members, in particular, helped me frame Dark Star Orchestra’s superb tour closer at the Boulder Theater last Saturday.

After kicking off our Winter Tour 2013 in Minneapolis, DSO will continue through the Midwest with multiple stops in Wisconsin before hitting Chicago and Detroit. From there they'll wind a trail through Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, before heading southbound, hitting Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia on our way to Florida. Then DSO will shake off the winter chill for six shows before we spin our compass toward Jamaica.

How many Grateful Dead tribute bands does the scene need? The answer could be endlessly debated each way forever. I suppose it’s fair to say that since Dead music is a rolling snowball of endless genres, sporting both originals and reinvented covers with thirty years of varying performances where supposedly “no show was ever the same twice,” that room for countless cover acts isn’t unfound. After all, people still want to listen to their music, obsessively, even though they haven’t been around for seventeen years.