BARACK OBAMA MEETS THE DEAD

Back in the '60s (or even earlier this decade) who would have guessed that former members of The Grateful Dead (now known as The Dead) would get to meet The President of the United States in the Oval Office.  But that's what happened earlier this week. Barack Obama repaid them for their support by meeting with the guys the day of their show. And then, they jammed with special guest drummer/PMRC co-founder Tipper Gore. What a long strange trip, indeed. 

In other Grateful Dead news, and most fans probably know about this, they just released To Terrapin Hartford '77, a live album of what is allegedly one of their greatest shows. They also put out Road Trips Vol. 2 Carousel 2/14/68 (Road Trips has taken the place of the Dick's Picks "bootleg" series).  Also, Pure Jerry, a live recording of Jerry Garcia with bass player John Kahn recorded in San Raphael on 2/28/86. 

SPRINGSTEEN VS. THE DEAD: THE LYRICAL DEBATE

Today on the OutQ In The Morning show, I was saying, as I have before, how Pearl Jam are sort of occupying a space like The Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen: they're at a place where they can pretty much tour whenever they want to, whether or not they have an album out, and sell out multiple nights at huge venues. I mentioned that they were like The Dead (and I know they were influenced by The Dead's business organization big-time, especially when it came to figuring out a fanclub based ticketing system and bootlegging policies) but also like Springsteen, in that their lyrics mean a lot to fans. My Deadhead fan took me to task for that one. I wasn't saying that the Dead's lyrics aren't good - in fact, I think that lyricist Robert Hunter is great - but just that the lyrics aren't central to the experience of their music. Bruce's lyrics are central to the experience of listening to his music.  The Dead covered a lot of country songs and blues songs, and those genres are based around the lyrics - and Bruce is also influenced by blues and country. Yes, I'm a much bigger Bruce fan, but I do own about 15 Dead CDs and I'm a fan. So, no harm intended!