Heavy Metal madness descended on Paso Robles Tuesday night, August 8th, with a triple header of hard core music at the Vina Robles Amphitheater.

There’s always been something mythical about Fleet Foxes’ music; those intricate harmonies and swelling arrangements intertwined with frontman Robin Pecknold’s often-lofty poetry convey intimacy while conjuring up Homeric images of cloudy mountain forests, stormy seas, and some connection to the spirit of the earth long-since forgotten. As such, there’s a risk when bringing their music to the stage that something will get lost in translation.

It was already going to be an unusual evening in Hollywood which is saying something in a town known for its strange excesses especially in the entertainment world. Sufjan Stevens was set to play his new exotic album Planetarium as part of the summer evening concert series at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The series features esoteric artists out of the mainstream of typical pop music.

It’s hard to believe that two years have passed since the gargantuan Grateful Dead: Fare Thee Well five-show run in Santa Clara, California, and Chicago, Illinois. The surviving core four members of Grateful Dead were joined by Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio and Jeff Chimenti for stadium shows that gathered tens of millions in profit and more importantly enduring memories for fans and the band.

It’s bewildering how many devoted fans are out there of late guitar and American music icon Jerry Garcia that never saw him play a single show. Yet they know all about the live music of Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band. They can explore the evolutions and changes in form, structure, and exploration. This is of course due to the tireless efforts of band insider sound technicians and the extended taper culture that surrounded.

Boris Garcia’s new album Around Some Corner is concurrently refreshing and reminiscent. Producer Tim Carbone gelled conspicuously with the pop-Americana sextet, polishing off their most developed offering to date. The Philadelphia based group doesn’t seem to care about proving themselves as genre bending or cutting edge since their songwriting, and musical sincerity shines beyond anything contrived.

On Saturday night Grateful Shred, an Americana Grateful Dead tribute act from Los Angeles, came to Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, CA to Steal the Face off of the High Desert.

Never before had an audience seemed so intrigued by set break music than at GD50, when Circles Around the Sun began streaming through the sound system.  The album, titled Interludes for the Dead, was a piece of music created specifically for that very occasion, the once in a lifetime reunion of the remaining members of the Grateful Dead.

I had the treat to head to Chicago from my northern Indiana home and catch the good ol’ Grateful Dead at Wrigley Field on July 1, 2017. I shouldn't say it was the Grateful Dead, though, as this entity, called Dead and Company, is a very different animal, containing three original members of the Dead (Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart) along with three other, quite accomplished musicians (John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti).

The Grateful Dead brings people together. It’s bigger than the music; it’s the experience that the music creates. And once you get into it, you’re not getting out of it.