It was another jam-packed night outside the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. You would have thought you were seeing Furthur on New Year’s Eve 2009 all over again. It was just about impossible to get into line outside the arena as there were so many people walking up and down the cordons with their pointer fingers in the air hoping for some miracle ticket to gain entry into DeadHeads kingdom; a Furthur show.

From now through July 4th, one of the nation's great repositories of history will play host to a remarkable and significant collection of cultural treasures: "The Grateful Dead – Now Appearing at the New-York Historical Society" is the first-ever traveling exhibition of materials on loan from the Dead's own vast archive of art, documents, photographs and memorabilia, which the band donated in 2008 to the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Furthur, featuring Phil Lesh & Bob Weir played the brand new 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado on March 5th & March 6th, 2010.  The Grateful Web was on hand to check out the show, take some photos, shoot some videos and soak in seeing the band a mere 1

Road Trips 2, Number 2 finds us deep in the heart of Grateful Dead's prime. Presented in its entirety, this spectacular performance was captured at the Austin Municipal Auditorium on November 15th, 1971.   Highly revered for its improvisation and loaded with beautiful musical turns, the show features on this 2-disc set spotlights the Dead jamming through soon-to-be classics and dusting off their "Star" for the Lone Star State.

On a cool Saturday night my buddy Dean and I drove down to the Ashkenaz on San Pablo Ave. to catch two outstanding Grateful Dead cover bands I have seen quite frequently in the Bay Area over the last year, The Dead Guise and Play Live Dead (formerly known as Live Dead.) Dean had never been to a show at Ashkenaz, nor had he seen either band, so I was quite excited to introduce him to this incredible live music, especially because he was a big fan of The Dead like myself.

The anticipation outside San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Center was at an all time peak! Dead Heads everywhere with their long hair, dread locks, beards, hemp necklaces and tie-dyed clothing were lined up outside the venue either in line or holding up their pointer finger praying for a miracle ticket. This was the kind of atmosphere I had dreamt about for years! It was beyond a rock n’ roll concert! It was the indescribable coming together of thousands of Dead Heads, who are a tribe, who become joined into one strong force once they step a foot through those auditorium doors.

Amid the recent and exciting “Shakedowns” amongst the currently touring Grateful Dead threaded projects, I had the good fortune of swapping some very interesting and eloquent emails with my friend Jeff Mattson.

After years at the helm of The Zen Tricksters, a stint with Phil Lesh and Friends, a terrific and on-going run with Donna Jean Godchaux and her various recent incarnations, Mattson now steps into John Kadlicek’s shoes with the freight train that is the Dark Star Orchestra.

Discovery Bay Games today announced the release of Grateful Dead-Opoly, available in stores and online in time for the 2009 Holiday shopping season. The board game was created by music industry veteran and longtime Grateful Dead associate Debbie Gold, with artwork by comic book illustrator Timothy Truman.

Live Dead were quite the frequenters of the Starry Plough in the Spring and early parts of the summer of 2009. During a short hiatus away from Berkeley the band toured other parts of California such as South Lake Tahoe, Eureka, and the famous Brookdale Lodge in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Happy 62nd Birthday, Bobby Weir.   I saw Bobby 20 years ago tonight at the Brendan Byrne arena in East Rutherford, NJ, which ended up being an epic show.  -- Bobby is the ultimate road warrior and really cannot thank you enough... My fav Ratdog show was in July 2007 at Red Rocks.  Favorite Bobby screws up... too many to count.