News Weirthy

From The Hill:
"What a long, strange fundraiser it’s been

“I really don’t like fundraisers, but I like fun parties,” Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) said Tuesday night.

He got both at the Renaissance Hotel as he rolled out a caravan of hippie nostalgia for a performance by ex-Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, backed by the Flying Other Brothers and the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Introducing Leahy, Dead historian and publicist Dennis McNally recalled always seeing Leahy in a suit until he finally “came to a Grateful Dead concert wearing the rowdiest tie-dye I have ever seen and a pair of shorts. And when I saw him dancing I knew he was our senator.”

The event drew some 500 Leahy/Dead supporters, some unlikelier than others, such as Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police. “It’s a target-rich environment,” he joked.

He didn’t know the half of it. As Hart and Weir — who flew in from California specially for the event — worked the crowd at the pre-show reception, McNally came to usher them backstage so the music could begin. To which Hart abruptly cut off his conversation by saying, “OK, I gotta go smoke some pot.” No, he didn’t really say it; it would be too obvious. OK, yes he did.

By night’s end, about half of the crowd was in possession of a “Deadheads for Leahy 2006” tie-dye ($20 to Leahy’s PAC) and sipping Vermont’s own Magic Hat beer ($4 to Leahy’s PAC).

Aides even passed out glow sticks and ’60s-style concert posters for the crowd.

The only thing missing (besides maybe a tapers’ section) was Jammin’ Jim McDermott. But, it turns out, the Seattle Democrat was only delayed by the evening’s votes, and he arrived just in time for Weir and Hart’s set.

No bad trips were reported.




From the NY Times:
CHRONICLE
Print
Save


By NADINE BROZAN
Published: July 20, 1994
Patrons of the Senate dining room in Washington are usually blase about seeing famous faces in their midst, but heads swiveled on Monday when Senator PATRICK J. LEAHY, Democrat of Vermont, turned up with the Grateful Dead: JERRY GARCIA, BOB WEIR, PHIL LESH and MICKEY HART.

"Senate staff members don't always recognize foreign dignitaries but they certinly recognized the Dead," Joe Jamele, the Senator's press secretary, said yesterday. "Strom Thurmond came by and shook hands with Jerry Garcia, and so did Senator David Pryor," he said, speaking of the Senators from South Carolina and Arkansas. Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, was a guest at the leisurely lunch.

It was Senator Leahy's second public appearance with the band in three days. On Saturday, he sat on stage with the group for a concert in R.F.K. Stadium in Washington. "He did that last year too," Mr. Jamele said. "Warren Christopher got hold of him by phone on the stage and asked him to lower the radio. The Senator said there was no way to lower anything."




From Leah Garchik's column:
"Wavy Gravy's 70th birthday celebration at the Berkeley Community Theater on Saturday included tribute to the late Grateful Dead roadie Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff, who Gravy said had gone "to have his laminate checked by Bill Graham.''

The Chronicle's Mark Hedin was my spy at the event, attended by a fleet of Gravy-ladling Deadheads not generally known for spartan habits. But in addition to campaigning for idealism -- "Keep saying no to the military industrial complex'' -- the honoree recommended clean living: Forgo smoking and "brush 'em if you've got 'em,'' advice that might have come straight from one of those Kaiser "thrive" ads.

Gravy's Seva Foundation, beneficiary of the event, has restored sight to 2 million people since its founding in the '70s. Google has given Seva a $2 million grant. And Seva co-founder Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who works for Google, joined forces with Rebecca Moore from Google Earth, John Cage of Sun Microsystems and many Google workers to create a surprise biographical tribute that included historic photos and aerial images of Gravy history.

P.S.: During the Phil Lesh and Friends show at the Warfield on Friday night, "a guy took a dive off the upper balcony,'' landing on a woman below and knocking her cold, said spy Thomas Todt. She came to in about five minutes; the diver broke his arm. "