2000 Downloaded from http://www.gdhour.com/kreutzmann.031210.html KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley CA Dead to the World Host: David Gans Dec 10, 2003 Bill Kreutzmann with Justin Kreutzmann transcribed by Gary McCarthy Music: Playing in the Band - Bob Weir, Ace David Gans: Whoa, I am just completely out of my tree this evening. Hitting the wrong switch... it's because I realized I left a very important piece of information at home. But you know what, as my guests have reminded me, I do have it in my head, somewhere -- it's just a matter of getting to it. That, of course, was the "Ace" studio version of "Playing in the Band," a great, great Grateful Dead song from Bob Weir's solo debut. The reason I played it was, there is one place in that song that I just love, the cymbal work toward the end. It's just one of those little things about Grateful Dead music that I fell in love with when I was a baby deadhead -- just the way that guy danced on those cymbals. The guy who played that is here with me this evening. His name is Bill Kreutzmann. Bill Kreutzmann: Hello David! DG: Good evening, get a little closer to the mike, would you? BK: Hello, nice to be here tonight! DG: It's great to have you here. We're going to play some music. I asked Bill to bring in some of his favorite music to turn you onto. We're going to play some music from his band The Dead. We're going to take some calls from listeners... Bill, how have you been? BK: I've been great. Been very relaxed. I haven't been on tour, so I've just been taking care of health, and myself. DG: Are you healthy? BK: I'm very healthy, ready to go back on tour again. DG: Is that happening? BK: Well, actually not; the big tour would not happen until June. That's definitely happening. We have two dates coming up on the 30th and 31st. DG: That's here in Oakland at the Coliseum. BK: Yeah, I wish I was out playing more and more than I am. So anyway, nice to be here tonight. DG: You ever just go down to the club, and drop in with some local band? BK: Usually I go see bands that if I tried to drop in with, I would probably really embarrass myself. Ha, Ha, Ha! I don't want to go down and hurt their evening for them. DG: You sat in with String Cheese not long ago. BK: Yeah, but I love playing with those guys. That's way different because their drummer [Michael Travis] plays backwards to traditional drumming. DG: He does? BK: It really works out great to have two drummers, because I'm playing traditional style. It's like a mirror image of each other, so it worked out really good. DG: We heard the recording of you sitting in with the Dark Star Orchestra up at the Oregon Country Fair a couple of weeks ago. BK: I haven't heard that at all. That was just fun doing it. DG: I wish I had known -- I would have brought that in. I think they might be listening tonight. BK: Do you have the stuff from String Cheese? DG: I don't. BK: I don't even know if they even released it yet, or not. There's a DVD coming out and I sit in on it. DG: You're on it. Ah, I'll be on the lookout for that. That's good to know. One of the things we need to talk about this evening is your artwork. You're going to have a show of your art near the Coliseum. BK: It's at the Hilton, I believe. That's on the 30th; it's in the afternoon before the music show. And I hope to see lots of deadheads come out. I love to talk to the folks. It's really fun for me. It's a chance I get to see people one-on-one close. It's good. DG: Let's talk about your art a little bit. You've been doing this for a few years. I went to an art show over at a gallery in Mill Valley a year and half or so ago. How did you get into this? BK: I've always loved art. I mean, everybody loves art, of course. I had a computer, a little laptop, about 10 years ago. We were in LA playing, and I didn't know how to work Photoshop way back then. So I asked Garcia to come to my room. Jerry was always really good with computer stuff, so he showed me how to use Photoshop. It was one of those things you can't leave it alone. The only limit to something like that is your own imagination -- how willing you are to use your imagination. So it just became really fun; it's another way to express myself besides music - just do art. DG: How would you characterize your artistic style? BK: Free, just formless.... It's not impressionist; it's just me. DG: Is there a place online where people could look right now? BK: You can go to, it's called ocean-spirit.net -- you have to put the dash between the ocean and spirit. That's a page where you can see the art. DG: Then they can come to the Coliseum-not the Coliseum-but the Hilton across the freeway. BK: I'm going to be there for a few hours ranting and raving and talking more about art, meeting other fellow artists, with whoever likes to show up. It's really fun. DG: So people can buy digital prints of your artwork and you'll sign them? BK: There's signed Giclee prints, which is a printing process we use. It has eight jet printers. It's quite an expansive printing deal. It looks good. It looks like oil painting, almost. People come up to them and they touch them. DG: Excellent. Why don't we give away some tickets to see The Dead, and play some music from The Dead. And you've brought some... They've taken all the danger out of recording Dead shows. I remember when it was a big thing of sneaking your tape deck in and hoping the roadies didn't come out and cut your cables. BK: Oh! Not to our shows! We allowed taping. DG: Oh that was long time ago, it took a while for things to open up. But now the concerts are all available on CD, and you've brought one in from Mansfield, MA on June 22. We are going to listen to a track from that. We'll listen to this version of Loose Lucy from May -- hello, June 22 in Mansfield, MA. [The wrong song starts] DG: I'm just not having a good night here at the controls, so what I'm going to do is to ask Bill Kreutzmann to talk for just a moment while I cue this to the appropriate track. BK: That obviously wasn't the song I was looking for. That's okay, we all make mistakes. We don't worry about that, we just use those old mistakes like old manure to grow new ideas! DG: Wow, I feel better already. Okay, I've got it cued; here we go! Music: Loose Lucy - The Dead 6/22/03 Mansfield, MA DG: Who was Steve? Was that a guest vocalist? BK: That was Steve Winwood. DG: Ahhh! BK: Ahhh! You didn't know that, huh? DG: No, I heard that great "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" he did with you guys on that tour, but I didn't know he sang "Loose Lucy." BK: Do we have that one around? DG: I don't have it with me. We have tons of music here, though. I'm talking with Bill Kreutzmann.... I'd like to take some calls, if anybody on the line has a question for Bill. Hello, you're on the air! Toby: Hello, Toby here, calling for Bill. BK: Yeah, hi Toby! Toby: I'm wondering where else we could see your art if we can't make it to the 30th. BK: You can go on the internet, an internet address I can give you, if you want to do that: ocean-spirit.net Toby: And then we're headed to Hawaii in March. Any shows over there? BK: Lucky you! No, I don't think so. I'm going to be on this side for awhile. Toby: And who would you like to go see for an art exhibit if you were going to see somebody else? BK: Picasso! Toby: Well thanks. I'm real excited about this. BK: Monet would be okay, too. Toby: Good luck! BK: All right, thanks for calling. Toby: Bye! DG: Have you ever been to the Picasso Museum in Paris? BK: I haven't, I've been to the Pompidou [Center]. I went upstairs on the sixth floor where they have all the modern stuff. It's incredible. I went up there and they run the lights down low -- they have to, becaus 2000 e the paintings are old. I only brought my sunglasses, which are prescription. I was literally standing next to these paintings; my eyes would just start watering. They are so moving. The energy is still held in those paintings. It doesn't go away. It's a beautiful thing of them, right? And when you can stand just a few feet from the real thing, it's overwhelming. It's like visual music. It's just pulls you. DG My wife saw to it that we went to... We saw the Water Lilies at L'Orangerie. We went to the Louvre. The Picasso Museum was just a knockout because they had stuff from every era of his life. Hello, you're on the air with Bill Kreutzmann. Jim: Hey, this is Jim from Palo Alto. DG: Hi Jim! Jim: Hi! Hi Bill! Thanks for all the stuff you've done over the years. BK: Sure! Jim: I have just a question. The Terrapin Station Project, if you're involved with it at all, and where it stands, as far as ever being put in in the city there. BK: It's a good question. It's pretty much on hold right now. We're really focusing on just being a live performing band at the moment. Getting that back again. We're doing that pretty good right now. Jim: Too many irons in the fire. BK: Yeah, it's really on hold right now. Jim: Okay, one other question there -- just my curiosity, when you first... I grew up Palo Alto here, I was a little younger than you guys, not that much, but a little bit. I grew up a block away from the McKernan family. I remember when there were some practices in the old garage there. I was curious when the first time you ever met Pigpen was and if you'd just go over that moment. BK: It was probably like '64 I met him. I saw him playing at ... '64, '65 I saw him playing at the Tangent in Palo Alto with Jerry. He was playing a string bass, a stand-up string bass on ... an old tub, whatever they call that. That was a really amazing night. I sat and I watched Jerry and Pigpen. I went "God, I'm going to follow Jerry forever." I made my mind up right then. This is the guy... I wasn't playing drums with him yet -- it was about two years after that. I saw that in him. I saw the magic that everybody saw in him. Everybody could recognize that. Jim: The old Tangent was... BK: Did you go there? Were you of age to go there? Jim: Like I say, I was a little bit younger, I was more Pig's little brother's age, so we were always just the hangers-on who could never quite get in. BK: Yeah, I know what you mean. That one-year difference. I remember when I was in high school and stuff, a year difference was a monster. Jim: It was big; it was big. We still had a great time. Once again, Bill, thanks for all your efforts. My regards go out to you. I saw your uncle passed a little while back. BK: Yeah, he did. Thank you for saying that. Thanks a lot. Okay, thank you man! Jim: Good night, Bill! BK: Goodbye. DG: Hello, you're on the air with Bill Kreutzmann. John: Hi, this is John in Ann Arbor, Michigan. BK: Hi, John! John: Hi! I'd just like to say first of all that you're probably my favorite drummer in rock, Bill. BK: Thank you! John: I have two questions: First, is that a lot of folks consider the '72-'74 period as the peak for the Grateful Dead, your playing in particular. I'd like to know -- how you feel your playing has changed or developed over the years? BK: Gosh, whew, do we have all night for that answer? I'm more into it today than even then; it's more of a whole being for me. I come with my whole heart now. Because I have more confidence in my playing these days. That was 20-some years ago, thirty years ago. I just feel like more experienced walking in there and having a good time. John: Great. Well, I've got to say I think you're playing better now than ever. BK: Well, thank you. I feel good. John: And my second question is since Jerry died, I've always wondered if you and Mickey have ever thought about taking the Rhythm Devils out on a small theatre tour? BK: Umm, no! That was the answer. And no is a complete sentence, I think. Still is, isn't it? John: Well, thanks a lot, Bill. BK: Yeah, thank you for calling! John: Bye, Bye! DG: Hi, you're on the air with Bill Kreutzmann. Roger: Thanks to both of you guys, and this is Roger from Fairfax. BK: Hi Roger! Roger: Billy, I'm wondering, as a non-musician -- just a listener and a fan -- how would you describe the difference in style that you and Mickey bring to the band as two drummers? BK: It's pretty easy. Mickey plays a much tighter kind of style, like a straight 16th note, da-da-dut-dut-da, and I have more of a relaxed feeling. When you combine those two, you get a really nice thing; you get somewhere in between. I come with more of a triplet -- I think about time more of in triplets than I do in straight 16ths or straight 8th notes, more of a relaxed feeling. Did that help? Roger: It helped a little bit, but you know the main thing is that you guys are sounding great these days. BK: Yeah, that's the best. The way we have it set up on stage now, I can really, really hear him well. We use ear monitors, but I only use one; I use one on my right ear. So my left ear is left wide open to hear that side of the stage. And it really helps a lot. Roger: Well I hope you guys keep on truckin'. BK: Oh, we will. Roger: All right, thanks a lot. BK: Thanks a lot for calling, Bye, Bye! DG: Hi, you're on the air with Bill Kreutzmann. Robert: Hi, my name is Robert. I'm from San Francisco. BK: Hi Robert! Robert: I just want to say thank you, Bill, for the interesting journey that we've been on all these years, through most of my life. BK: You're welcome! Robert: I was wondering about the preparation that you and Mickey do prior to drum sessions, like if you talk it over, or discuss how you are going to approach that night. BK: Yeah, we do. We have different menus for different nights, and we have different strange names which don't really matter now. Just off-the-wall names we identify with. They are different rhythm patterns and different textures that we'll bring up. Robert: Like "tonight is 'chicken souffle"? BK: Yeah, yeah; we might not be quite so hungry. We might go to some other level. We just come up with anything we like, that we've already prerecorded, so we have a bunch. Robert: Could you tell us a couple of the code names? BK: (aside) Gosh, do you know any? Justin Kreutzmann: Not off the top of my head. BK: My son Justin is here in the studio with me so I'm asking if he knows. No, I don't remember them. It doesn't really matter; they are on the sheet so I read them. Yes, we do. We get together before the shows and work out our part. Robert: Great. Well, thanks for everything. I'll see you, but you won't see me, this 30th and 31st. BK: Thanks for calling in. Robert: Have fun out there. DG: That puts me in mind of something. There are recordings from '68 and '69 of the drums, when you and Mickey were really into this stuff. You'd be playing in polyrhythms, and the drums would stop and you guys would talk to each other. There would be this la-la-la-la, tockata-tockata thing. It's sort of this mind-blowing thing, because all of this noise is happening, then it's gone and you guys are still talking in rhythm. Was that part of your entrainment exercises? Or some particular discipline? BK: I love that you trust my memory so much. Ha, Ha! I really am amazed that you trust my memory. We were probably just singing the drum parts and screaming obscenities at each other, as far as I know. I don't remember. That's the answer there. DG: I remember reading in Hank Harrison's book or something that Mickey would hypnotize you. Or that you would hypnotize each other. BK: We played around with that when Phil and I and Mickey were living together in the Haight-Asbury; we did some of that stuff there in the living room as parlor tricks. But we never really did it playing very much. The hippest thing that Hank Harrison ever did was turn the band onto was acid. 2000 That was the coolest thing. DG: He gets the credit for that? BK: He gets the credit. He was the one that came to us and said "hey you guys ought to all take acid!" We went "Okay!" DG: And that worked out all right then? BK: Here we are today, this is how many years later? I never read his book. I heard all this stuff about his book, and I don't even want to get into it. For that one piece of credit, everything he did after that, well, who cares? DG: Yeah. BK: It worked for us. DG: What I'd like to do now is play a little more music. We'll take some more calls after a while, folks. Bill's going to be with us for almost another hour. I want to play some Dead music... because I've got Bill here. We're also going to listen to some of his favorite music in a little while. He brought in some cool stuff. This is from Jones Beach in August. Music: St Stephen - The Dead 8/10/03 Jones Beach NY DG: Oh, I hate to interrupt the music, but we have this live guest here and live guest trumps recorded music. His name is Bill Kreutzmann. He's the drummer on that, in that band called The Dead. We were just talking off-mike about Jerry's first album, which was recorded by Jerry and Bill Kreutzmann in the studio -- just the two of them, Billy on drums, and Jerry playing acoustic guitar and also playing piano on some stuff. What a wonderful project that was. BK: He overdubbed the bass parts, if I remember right. DG: Yeah, and the organ. BK: He didn't do those originally. We just did piano and drums. DG: So that must have been quite the trip? BK: It was wonderful. We did a lot of music pretty fast. That whole album was done in a week, I think. At least all the main recording was. DG: And it's true that Hunter was sitting in the corner writing the words as you worked? BK: Yeah. It was great. He was sitting in the control room listening and watching us and writing the words to the songs as we were playing the rhythm, trying to get the rhythm ideas to work. DG: That's so great! Listen, we have on the line here our mutual friend Rob Koritz, who is one of the drummers in the Dark Star Orchestra. Are you there, Rob? Rob: Yeah! How are you doing? BK: Hey Rob! I'm doing good. How are you? Rob: I'm doing great Bill. Good to talk to you. BK: It's nice to hear ya! Rob: I wanted to first say thank you and what a pleasure it was to play with you last summer. BK: Well, great. Rob: You don't have a recording of it, we'll make sure we get one to you, I'd love for you to hear it. BK: Okay, cool! Rob: Good, fun stuff. I did have a question for you. You and Mickey spent time apart playing, you doing the Trichromes and he was doing his stuff. I'm sure your playing evolved and changed over that time and improved, as you said. Was there a readjustment period that had to take place when you two got back on stage together? BK: I don't know if it's readjustment so much. You just listen differently to different players that you are with. Different things come up, people play different signposts, so to speak -- their personality, and you just know that. That's how you listen to Mickey. If I was playing with other percussionists I would listen differently. Rob: Is it easier now than it was, during the years in the seventies? BK: It's much easier now, yeah. Good question. It's more natural now, it's more in the flow of the rhythm. It doesn't seem like we're having make it work so hard anymore. Rob: Excellent, excellent, we're looking forward to hearing you all again real soon. BK: Are you guys playing a lot? Rob: Yeah, we just finished a long tour and we're on break for the holidays... BK: Oh, good for you. Rob: ...and we'll be back out in January. BK: Cool, I hope it works out well for you. DG: I have a question for you, Rob. What was it like playing with Billy? Rob: Oh, man, probably one of the best days of my life! BK: Wow, thank you, man! Rob: And it was surprisingly easy. Billy made me feel really relaxed and really at ease to get up there and just get on the kit and be myself. It came together really well. It flowed great. To look over next to me and see Billy there with his head back and his eyes closed like I'd seen him from the audience. BK: My eyes rolling back in my head like a madman! Rob: It was really great! I've got some great photos of the two of us up there doing it. BK: Aww cool! I'd like to see them. Rob: I'll try and get them to you, for sure. DG: Hey I just heard about a Rex Foundation Benefit that you guys are doing in March in Chicago. Rob: That's right, we're doing it in Chicago, it'll be at the Park West. I believe it's the first Rex benefit outside of San Francisco that is not a Grateful Dead show. BK: Might be! Rob: We're really thankful that Sandy wanted to do that and we're really looking forward to it. BK: I'm glad you're doing it. Thank you. DG: That's March 6th of 2004 in Chicago. I'll tell you more about it as the time approaches. I just heard about it today, and I thought it would be fun to break the news. BK: We have one coming up Saturday which we might want to talk about. DG: Yeah, we'll have to talk about that one, too. Rob, thanks for calling. Rob: Thank you all very much and you have a great new year! BK: Give my regards to the rest of the band. We'll see you soon. Rob: I sure will. Take care. DG: Hi, you're on the air with Bill Kreutzmann. Reynold: Hi, this is Reynold out in San Venetia. I was just wondering, I've been following your career for quite some time. You know, "Touch of Grey" and "Truckin'" ... I was wondering if you guys have a new record contract and if you are going to be looking forward to some more hits like that, Bill. What do you think? DG: You gonna make another record, Bill? BK: Ask that question again, I was off doing something. Come back with your question. DG: Ask him again! Reynold: I was just wondering, I was kinda looking forward to some more hits like, if you will, "Touch of Grey" or "Truckin'"? BK: Is this Mike Bosco? Who is this? No, probably not, definitely not. DG: You're not going to record? Reynold: No more records? BK: Never again. DG: Never is a long time, Bill. BK: I just thought I would make something up for once tonight. It was getting kinda quiet here. DG: So I don't think you got a really definitive answer there, my friend! I think he hung up! Are you there? Let's take one more call and then we'll play some more music. Hi, you're on the phone, on the air with Bill Kreutzmann. BK: We're very loose here, I hope it's okay with you guys out there. DG: Are you there? Caller: Yeah, I'm here. Hey, Bill, how ya doing? My first show was back in '88 in Miami. I was going to school, studying to become a stockbroker. BK: How'd that go? Caller: I saw my first show, and the first art show you ever pulled off in many, many years. It was my first experience. I got back to school and I decided I was going to not pursue that line of study that any longer. I ended up dropping out. And selling futons by the beach. Reading Suzuki, Zen. BK: Are you blaming me for this? Or are you happy with the end result of your life? DG: Another life ruined by the Grateful... BK: This isn't the case of the parents looking for their 12 year-old daughter, is it? Okay! Caller: I'm sorry? BK: Nothing. Go right ahead, go right ahead. Caller: Anyhow I just wanted to say that... BK: These quick winds come through the studio sometimes and they just take our minds away with it. It goes whoosh -- you ever see that happen? Caller: There they go! But I just wanted to say thank you! My life has been completely transformed and events opened up so much for me and my family and my friends -- the broad community that I would have never have experienced otherwise. BK: Good. I like the word "community". That's a very important thing for us, for all of us Dead Heads. Community, getting along in the family, is the way. Caller: And I'm gonna see you 1f01 guys on New Years. BK: Very good. Thank you very much. Roger: Yeah, we'll see you then.... DG: Okay, take care! Roger: Thanks, bye! DG: There's also... Oh, Bill just discovered the cough button. BK: It doesn't work, does it? DG: It did work, I believe. You push the button and it mutes your mike, if you need to cough. BK: Now I can hear myself. DG: That's why they call it a cough button. BK: It really does work. DG: Fun with radio! Listen we should talk about the Seva benefit, this Saturday night at the Berkeley Community Theatre. It's the 25th anniversary of Seva, which is an organization that has done a phenomenal amount of great humanitarian work around the planet. The Dead will be headlining, along with Jackson Browne, Buffy Ste. Marie, Steve Earle will be playing. Are you guys playing an acoustic set or electric? BK: We're going to play an acoustic set starting about 10 o'clock for a couple hours. DG: You're going to play a long time. BK: I think so. That's what we're scheduled to do. DG: Excellent. That is this Saturday night. Tickets are available through Grateful Dead GDTS-Too at 415-457-6388. They're on the web at gdtstoo.com. And, of course seva.org on the web also for more information about it. It's a great cause and should be a fantastic night of music - Jackson Browne, BK: It'll be wonderful. DG: Steve Earle is a real hero to me, man. He's just gotten right in the face of the fascists with his last album Jerusalem. It's great to get the whole Dead out for a day, too. BK: It'll be a night to be there. So come join us. Please come join us. DG: Shall we play that, or this, next? BK: What was this? DG: This is that. Want to do that or this? BK: Let's do the Missa Luba. I'm throwing a different one in here for us to listen to. It's called Missa Luba and it's one we used to listen to years ago when we were first getting together. And it has a lot of just nice music. It's African choral music, basically. DG: So when you Grateful Dead guys were like living in the same house and stuff you'd all sit and listen to records together? BK: We would listen to... DG: Dig stuff? BK: Yeah, that's the sad thing; I'm thinking about that is; Do people do that today? Do kids get together and sit around the living room and listen to music like we used to? I mean, that used to be the event, we didn't have a computer. We would put the music on and do whatever we did, and listen to music. That was really a fun time, had by all. And the quality of the hi-fi was really important, all that good stuff. Those days we would call it hi-fi, right? Ha, Ha! DG: So what can you tell us about this recording? It's African choral music... BK: It's African choral music. It's a whole orchestra. You'll hear the parts on it. It's spiritual music, it's a celebration of the time, this time of year. DG: The album is called Missa Luba and this particular track is called "Katumbo"; in parentheses it says "Dance." BK: Yeah, it's a dance. A real rhythmic dance. Music: Matumbo (Dance) - Missa Luba DG: Wow that really is beautiful! Thank you! BK: Isn't that a nice piece? DG: I asked Bill to bring in some of his favorite music and he brought in this Missa Luba - "A mass sung in pure Congolese style, and native songs of the Congo sung by Les Troubadours du roi baudouin" - whom I think was the King of the Belgium, when Congo was a Belgian colony. BK: Yeah, it's years old, this piece. DG: It's a great record. Thanks for bringing that in. BK: Yeah! DG: Bill's son Justin is here, who is a video producer whose work I'm sure you've seen if you've been a Dead Head for any length of time. One of the other new pieces of music the Kreutzmann men brought in is something that Justin is going to turn us onto right now. Justin Kreutzmann: Yeah, this is a great band called The Mother Truckers. I've been doing some videos with them. This is the first band I've seen in a long time that made me understand why I love music. DG: Ah, nice! Tell us about this. Is this a live performance, or an album, or what? JK: This is an album they just have coming out called Something Worth Dying For. DG: And the track we're going to hear? JK: "If I Died." DG: Okay, listen to this: it's The Mother Truckers. JK: Yeah, you got to be careful with that. DG: You certainly do! Ha, Ha, Ha! Music: "If I Died" The Mother Truckers, Something Worth Dying For DG: Justin, thanks for bringing that in. That's good music. That's Jazzbeaux Collins' daughter singing lead? JK: Yes it is. Teal Collins. DG: Small freakin' world, ain't it? BK: It's a small world, isn't it? DG: Shall we take a couple more calls before we go to this last cool piece of music? Hello, you're on the air with Bill Kreutzmann. Harry: Hey, what's up? This is Harry calling from Oakland! BK: Hello, Harry from Oakland! DG: We know you; You're my friend, Harry. Harry: Anyway, I was just... this summer, some of you might have noticed up on the screens during Drums and Space. There was some of Bill's art and other crazy stuff up there. Which I think is being controlled by Bill. BK: It was. Some of the tour I was triggering the show, the stuff that was being projected behind me, behind me and Mickey. DG: You mean, what drum you would hit changed the picture? BK: They're called CATS. They're these pads and you hit them. They are basically switches and I would play different, play, yeah, play different pictures. It was fun. Thanks for reminding me! Harry, I forgot I can do that. Harry: Oh, no problem. DG: Thanks Harry. Justin, that reminds me: you're involved in production for the New Years Eve pageantry. JK: Yes, I am. DG: Can you give us a hint? JK: I could, but then you know what would come next. DG: You'd have to kill me? JK: Yeah! No, it's going to be great this year. DG: I don't know if we can swear the whole audience to secrecy, or not. JK: Yeah, if everyone stops listening right now, I can just tell you. DG: I don't want you to give away a big secret, but... BK: Push your cough button! DG: ...I know that you're doing something for the midnight festivities that... JK: We're going to have a few balloons and a couple you know... BK: You could say that it's out of this world. JK: Thrown streamers. It'll be spacy. DG: All right, then: enough said. JK: Enough! DG: Bill brought in another piece of music that he wants to share with you. This is something very cool. This is a recording of Garcia and Saunders from the time when Bill was playing drums with him. Who else is in the band? BK: John Kahn is the bass player; and the horn player... DG: Martin Fierro? BK: Martin, yeah. DG: Okay, so this was recorded Jan 17, 1974 and I think we have time to play the whole thing. Suzy Thompson is on her way in to play a little live music for us in the last half hour. But I think she'll be cool with letting us play a 22-minute piece of music. Because who doesn't love Jerry and Merl? BK: It's just a wonderful piece. DG: With Bill Kreutzmann on drums. Thanks so much for being here. BK: My pleasure! DG: really appreciate you coming out. And Justin as well. Let's listen to some music. This is "mahalo" from Bill Kreutzmann. Music starts DG: NO! I've blown it again! BK: Nice stop! That was a quick stop. You see how fast his fingers work once he gets going. JK: I didn't know you guys did that song in '74. DG: Hold on, hold on! It's a cool song, it was on for a different reason. This is like the worst night of my broadcast career. JK: It's good that we could share it with you, David. DG: Thanks for sharing it! This time for sure! Music: Are You Lonely for Me, Baby? Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders 1/17/74 . 0