ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997 TAG: 9704250004
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN ROGERS ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHEN THE GRATEFUL DEAD disbanded at the end of 1995, it was noted as the end of an era. The last authentic, original, intact band born of the 1960s psychedelic period had died.
Turns out the post-mortem might have been premature. For the Dead endures, despite its dispersal four months after the death of its visionary guitarist, Jerry Garcia. It's not a band now, but an institution, and one busier in death, it seems, than it ever was in life.
The group that once took seven years to produce a new album (from 1980's ``Go to Heaven'' to 1987's ``In the Dark'') has had its name on a half-dozen multi-CD releases in the past six months.
``There was a lot of stuff just sort of waiting to happen, and I guess that Jerry's departure brought a little focus to that situation,'' said guitarist Bob Weir, who is busy touring with his group, Ratdog, and putting the finishing touches on a musical about the life of baseball legend Satchel Paige.
When the wave of new-old material began to take shape last fall, there was some grumbling among the Dead's following that the group might be cashing in as it cashed out. Those involved maintain that if money was the intent, there are more lucrative paths they could have followed.
Take, for instance, ``The Missing Album,'' a final studio work featuring Garcia on original, unreleased songs the band played frequently in the '90s. It has been rumored among Deadheads to exist for years.
Turns out it does exist. But its status remains uncertain as band members squabble over whether some of Garcia's unfinished parts should be recorded by others now, or if concert versions will have to do.
``I can certainly take that tape and slam it all together and have something out in a few weeks,'' said Weir. ``But that wouldn't be the way to do it. The way to do it would be the way the Grateful Dead has always done it. That would be to get everybody together and work it out.''
Such a philosophy was once said to frustrate outsiders. They complained that working with the Grateful Dead and its extended family of friends, relatives, employees and advisers made it impossible to get anything done.
Now, though, it seems to have created a situation in which everything is getting done but that final Grateful Dead album. And Weir and others say they even expect the band to come together next year to finish that project.
In the meantime, there is plenty of other stuff to do.
The casual fan can now find such obvious postmortems as a greatest-hits package (``The Arista Years'') and a traditional live album (``Dozin' at the Knick'').
And, for the more devoted, the one who used to put his last 20 bucks into a tank of gas to catch just one more show 500 miles down the road, well, there is ``Dick's Picks.''
``We have something like just over 2,000 shows on tape,'' Grateful Dead archivist Dick Latvala was saying, shouting actually, into a phone, to make himself heard over the music that blared from inside his Petaluma, Calif., home. Then he stopped to double-check his database.
``About 2,200, through 1993,'' he added triumphantly.
``Dick's Picks, Volume 7,'' the latest triple-CD recording culled from those 2,200 shows, came out in March.
Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh, meanwhile, is compiling his own compilation, ``Adventures in the Phil Zone,'' due out this summer.
The classically trained Lesh also is at work on a seven-part symphony based on the band's work. It could make a companion piece of sorts for the ``Blues for Allah Project,'' a big-band rendition of the group's ``Blues for Allah'' album that was released last year by jazz composer Joe Gallant.
Garcia remains ubiquitous.
Beserkely Records recently released a taped interview with him, and a three-CD album of 1990 shows by the Jerry Garcia Band is due out in late April.
Mandolinist David Grisman, whose Acoustic Disc label released the Garcia-Grisman country album ``Shady Grove'' last year, also has plans for several more, including one or two bluegrass albums, a collection of jazz instrumentals, another of traditional folk songs and still another of works by contemporary songwriters. They'll all come from tapes he and Garcia made over more than 20 years.
Grisman laughs at suggestions that his small label, which releases a handful of recordings a year, is capitalizing on its connection to Garcia.
``If I wanted to do that ...'' he said, his voice trailing off.
``Well, I could name some record distributors who were very unfriendly to us before, who called up within two hours of hearing that Jerry had passed away and wanted to buy huge quantities of CDs.''
In the meantime, the road goes on.
While Weir is touring with Ratdog, keyboard player Vince Welnick is out with Missing Man Formation, and drummer Mickey Hart plans (as he did last year) to bring a band of his own to this summer's Dead-sponsored ``Furthr'' tour.
Even the band's once-reclusive lyricist, Robert Hunter, took to the road again this year and is keeping a diary on the Grateful Dead Web page of his travels and performances.
And Weir says he hasn't given up on the idea of re-forming the Grateful Dead, though he notes Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann are holdouts.
In the meantime, he said, he'll keep busy with other things.
``I've never been one to hold onto relationships after they were gone,'' he said of Garcia's death.
``But it just seemed pretty clear to me that, with Jerry gone, there was an appropriate response for me. And that was to pick up the torch and carry it the best way that I could.''
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Guitarist Bob Weir hasn't given up onby CNBthe idea of getting the remaining members of the Grateful Dead back
together again. This summer he's touring with his new band, Ratdog.
color.