2000 This transcript is being distributed to the community courtesy of AOL. I will post it soon on my web page as well, http://www.ggould.com/gdforum Geoff Gould GD Forum sysop ******************************** Copyright 1996 America Online, Inc. and the AOL Grateful Dead Forum Geoff : Welcome everyone. My name is Geoff Gould, I'm the GD Forum host, and we have a return guest tonight. Dennis McNally is the publicist and official biographer for the Grateful Dead Welcome Dennis! Dennis : Thanks, Geoff. Nice to be here. Geoff : OK, let me ask this first: Dennis, when you "go to work" nowadays, does it still feel like the Grateful Dead? Dennis : Umm, good question. Yeah, mostly, but of course really different. Less exciting, but still righteous. But obviously, it can't feel the same. I miss him alot. Geoff : OK, let's get this out of the way too; tell us all you can about the upcoming tour! Dennis : OK, the tour. I'm happy to say that you guys are gonna love it a bunch. Unfortunately, I'm also gonna piss you all off slightly -- no, it's not my fault -- because I can't say everything I know at the moment. But I give you my word that you'll love the stuff I'm not saying. What I can say is this: We'll have a tour, from June 20 to August 4, with 32 gigs, all in amphitheatres, mostly in places (at least the towns) that we've played before, featuring 5 bands. Three of them are Bob Weir's Ratdog, Mickey Hart's new band (created for his album of the same name, which will come out on June 10th on Rykodisc), "Mickey Hart's Mystery Box", and Bruce Hornsby. So obviously, I'm leaving out two names -- all I can say is that they're friends of yours. Also there will be some cool betwen-act entertainment. Also, a fair sampling of vendors will be made welcome on the concourses of the various amphitheatres. The tour will, as currently planned, go east to west -- with lots of variations. Shows will run around 7 hours total. I guess that's the high spots. Geoff : this from Rainman55: Question : How far back does the "vault" go? Dennis : That's really a question for Dick Latvala -- I just asked Geoff if he's ever had Dick on and he says no, but I'm gonna suggest it. You'd like it, and so would Dick. Anyway, my best guess is that there's multitrack stuff from '68 -- which is to say Anthem, the live aspects of Anthem, and then a scattering of cassettes -- literally the earliest cassettes manufactured -- from '69, and then fairly regular tape from 1970 on. Holes, of course. Dennis : All you tapers know about Betty boards, and those aren't the only tapes that should be in the vault and aren't. But of course the closer to the present, the more solid is the stash. Geoff : from RNVP87: Question : how did bob come up with the name RATDOG? Dennis : Beats the living bejaysus out of me. That's just the world-famous Bob Weir sense of humor, which in this case mostly escapes me. He doesn't quite hit your average subject exactly square -- but you've all heard the yellow dog story, I guess. Geoff : I think the next question has to do with the general plan, if there is one! Question : Will more "from the vault" discs be released? Dennis : Oh, sure. That's what Phil and John Cutler do every day -- (some people's idea of heaven, I suppose) which is to sit at the studio and listen to show tapes with the view of what to release next. The last time I saw Cutler at the office, he had nothing specific to say -- nothing had grabbed anybody too hard yet. Geoff : what about the ratio of GDM to commercial releases? Dennis : That's very hard to answer. The distinction is, as I'm sure most of you know, that we have two streams -- Dick's Picks and Vault. Vault releases have been multi-track, and Phil mixes them, and they get released commercially -- because they're a little more representative of the band at its presumed best. Dick's Picks were recorded two-track only, and you can't mix them very much, perhaps just clean them up a little, and they've generally been released only as a mail-order item for the hard core only. As an experiment Phil recently decided to let Dick's Picks #1 go out to record stores through our Arista distribution, just to see what would happen. To answer the question directly, though, I've no idea because I'm not aware if there's any conscious pattern between releases -- whether they're supposed to alternate or what. Fact is, and you know it, we've never put in much time on long-term planning except for touring, and I've always assumed that it was a matter of what was ready first and when. So the short answer is: I'll go ask Cutler if there's a plan and get back to you on that. Geoff : from buspower: Question : Dennis. What can you tell us about the book your working on? Dennis : I'll keep this short, because I'm superstitious about talking about it too much. Jerry asked me long ago -- or rather invited me -- to do a history of the band. When I became the publicist I perceived a conflict of interest -- honest historian v. publicist who is paid to put a good face on things -- and put it aside. I'm slowly beginning to work on it again, but it's a couple of years away anyway -- got to get it just exactly perfect, you know -- and since I'm still working too damn many hours a week for GDP, it's not yet ful time. But puhleeeze keep your interest. Geoff : from Alfus: Question : Dennis, what is the current state of the Dead's offshoot enterprises, and their charity efforts such as the Rex Foundation? Dennis : Good question. I'm real pleased to say that the Rex Board met recently. To be honest, I thought that they were going to decide to give away what's in the bank account and call it a day, but they made me wrong. Instead, they're looking into ways to raise money -- the band was largely the source of all funds -- without going out with a tin cup. So if they can figure it out, they're going to keep on. There's one very cool scheme which it's too early to talk about yet that should raise a very large chunk, and you'll hear about it as soon as I can talk about it. By the way, if you have ideas for Rex -- money making ideas that seem reasonably reasonable -- let us have them. Send 'em to Geoff -- and he'll give them to me. Geoff : Tell us some more about the last guitar Jerry Garcia ever signed. Dennis : Yeah, let's stay with charity. Let me explain a few things. Toward the end of his life, Jerry got to hate signing things in general, and guitars in particular. I can't even tell you particularly why, because I don't know, but it was a good part of my job and it wasn't the most fun -- a pissy Jerry G. was no fun. But he did do it if I asked only once in a while, and in May-June at Shoreline, our old friend, Merl Saunders Jr., who works for Gibson, talked me into getting the band to sign a very nice acoustic for the Taylor Family Foundation, which supports children with AIDS -- they finance a summer camp and also work at the Oakland Children's Hospital and like that. They still have the guitar. So, my question to you all is, do you know anybody rich? Because in Auyust we're going to auction it off. We've already had a bid of $20,000 -- twenty thousand beans -- so I'm serious when I say rich. But what the hay -- it's the last one Jerry signed, and it's nice that it'll be for something really righteous. Let me or Geoff know if there's somebody you think might be interested. Geoff : from buspower: Question : How's Mickey's new band sounding? Dennis : Like nothing you ever heard before or expected from Mickey. When we finished promoting "Planet Drum", he and I were talking one night and I teased him and told him I wanted him to do something a little easier to promote and publicize next time -- and he said, sure. Amazingly enough, he meant it. "Mickey Hart's Mystery Box" is what it -- and the band -- are called. The band features four drummers (bo 1305 y, there's a surprise), including Mickey, my favorite of all time Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, (Baba Olatunji's right-hand, the best talking-drummer in the world), and Dave Garibaldi, from Tower of Power. A bassist -- on the album, Youssou N'Dour's bassist, Habib Faye -- and on the tour, a guy whose name I can't spell and won't try -- and I just realized I don't think it's definite yet so I'll shut up about bass -- but another guy -- and on vocals, yes, vocals, the Mint Juleps, six women from London, who normally sing a capella. Hunter wrote the lyrics. So the songs are what I call experimental rhythm and blues -- grooves, dance tunes for Dead Heads. Very different from Planet Drum or anything you've heard before. Very beautiful. Mickey sings a couple -- well, sings if you think of his old rendition of Fire on the Mountain as singing -- more recites -- and one is called "Down the Road," which is about lost heroes -- you'll dig it. And one is called "Only the Strange Remain", which is industrial chainsaw rap. Very weird. You'll like it too. And one of them is Smokey Robinson in '96, "Where Love Goes." Out June 10 on Rykodisc. You can also go see the first performance at Laguna Seca (near Monterey, California) on May 26. Geoff : from EPinnella: Question : How is Jerry's wife doing ? Dennis : I don't see a lot of her, but as I understand it, she's doing great. Going to India soon. Geoff : again from EPinnella: Question : Will GDTS be handling ticket sales for future events? Dennis : It's not a definite, but I'm hearing that the answer is "Yes" for Laguna Seca, and anything else remains as an open possibility. Geoff : from Wharfie: Question : will there be taping on summer tour? Dennis : Good question which I can't answer. We're still putting real crucial things together -- like gig sites and such -- so I don't think it's been addressed. Thanks for asking, and I'll get an answer. Geoff : from Jammin72: Question : In your opinion dou you think that we on the Right coast will ever see Phil Lesh play again in any format?? Dennis : I'm a San Franciscan, so I'm just going to assume that you're hopelessly lost and think of the East Coast as the "Right Coast", in which case I can only say that I've heard of no plans for him to go anywhere. Those civilized citizens living in God's own land of these Western United States can catch him June 14-16, 1996 at Davies Hall, S.F., where he, Mickey, and Bobby will jam with MTT -- Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor, and the San Francisco Symphony. (Sorry, had to do it). Geoff : A followup from Scrlt Beg: Question : How are the other band members doing these days? Dennis : Seem fine. Mickey's busy as hell with the Mystery Box details; Phil's in the studio; Billy's surfing and studying oceanography; Vince is writing songs and playing with Second Sight; and Bobby's got Ratdog and his work on his play about Satchel Paige, which he's doing with Michael Nash, a Bay Area writer, Taj Mahal and David Murray. Geoff : from RSDEAD: Question : There has been lots of talk of shows on video being released. Where does that stand? Dennis : That's one of the things Phil is working on; otherwise, I don't know where it stands except it won't be soon. Geoff : from MKeller18 Question : how are things coming on a studio album of new stuff from the dead ? Dennis : Ditto. Geoff : In the days since Jerry passed, what's the crassest and nicest things that came out of it? Dennis : I suppose this is a good way to wind all this up, although I like to go out with something smart to say, and I find myself kind of at a loss. I think most of us have been brought closer by our loss -- I know I try (if unsuccessfully) to be nicer to my friends and family, 'cause I'm reminded that they won't always be there -- and I know I'm not the only one. The crass stuff is all pretty obvious -- I guess the guy who called me about three days after Jerry checked out to ask me if we wanted to sell official Jerry Garcia something - or - others at a "nice profit for everybody". You get the picture. Geoff : Take it home Dennis! Dennis : Anyway, thanks for having me on, and keep on. And thanks for the level of questions this time. I thought they were at a nice intelligent level. When I've got more to let you know, I'll be back. And we're going to have Geoff at our press conference to talk about the tour -- hopefully within the next two weeks or so. And remember: in the immortal words of John "Bluto" Belushi in Animal House: "It ain't over 'till we say it's over." Hang in there. Geoff : I'd like to thank Dennis for coming here again, let's all give him a round of applause! We bid you goodnight! . 0