Yeah Furthur is always a treat. John from Dark Star Orchestra is probably the ideal replacement for Jerry in any Dead band... because the guy spent like 15 years or more perfecting his homage note for note, lick for lick. It was scary how awesome DSO could be at times... a few second sets where I had to go back and listen to the original show to decide which version smoked harder.

Of course, no one can replace Jerry... he was a transcendent teddy bear who connected to people on multidimensional levels.

But I am happy with John in Furthur. And while it can be argued rightly that Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring (2 greats among others who have played the part in post Dead bands like P&F, the Dead, The Other Ones etc.) may, in fact, be better guitarists overall... their music isn't really The Grateful Dead. Warren shines best in a Gov't Mule context (or with ABB) where his down and dirty licks match perfectly. And, while Herring can certainly rip Dead tunes into yesterday, I found his best work on the Dead oeuvre to be with Jazz Is Dead... a band which (for me) managed to take the awesomeness of Dead songs and fusion them up to some ridiculous virtuoso heights. It says a lot that some of my favorite versions of Dead songs (all-time including GD) are from JID.

Anyway, here is a sweet Furthur rendition of Terrapin Station for y'all:


And here is a smoking Jazz Is Dead rendition of Help On The Way> Slipknot> Franklin's Tower


Herring should keep doing this ^^ Playing with Phil or Widespread is actually a waste of his incredible fusion chops.

Ya I defintly agree that John hits it right, he's able to connect with new and old heads alike. Jazz is Dead is so nasty. I love Herring but personally I love what he can do with Widespread. Im still hoping for another Dead tour with Bill and Mickey, but with Furthur hitting the back burner in 2013 we can hopefully expect Ratdog.

man, i hope so... i miss Ratdog bad...

& John is great, no doubt... if he was available & willing to do it, i think Steve Kimock is my guy to fill in for Jerry, unfortunately he only likes to do it every once in a while... he & Jimmy killed in on that '98 tour...

Anybody try that GD game yet?

Frickin' trippy shit that is.

Couldn't imagine that it would be interesting, and I'm not a big video game guy... but that was a head warp for sure.

I guess the "Music Never Stopped" was prophetic. Too bad I don't smoke weed anymore. I might have to jump on that for a few minutes next time I'm coming down from an acid trip though, hehehe.

Comes a time is my theme song at the moment... heartwrenching and heartwarming at the same time. My favorite version isn't up on YouTube, but this one does me good. And comes out into an unlikely Other One > Cryptical no less. A lot of the videos on this guys playlist are tremendous... I think if you let it run, it will just go right into Terrapin Station.

And oh my... this is just too awesome not to share. Pro Shot Dark Star from the closing of Winterland.



The Original Hyperspace Soundtrack...