Mickey's Tao of Wood

From today's Leah Garchik--

" A little bit later, Mickey Hart stood next to his works - paintings, bonsai, prints and most important, wood sculptures - at the opening of "The Tao of Wood," at Dennis Rae Fine Art. Drums were played in the window; further into the gallery, a band of musicians and pals - Bill Walton, Zakir Hussain, Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia, Barry "The Fish" Melton, Sammy Hagar - greeted each other with expressions of awe at Hart's output.

Hart stroked and tapped Ramrod, a 250-pound piece of wood found on land previously owned by the Mendocino Redwood Co. It is 8 feet by 4 feet, in a sort of standing shape determined by nature: growth and ants and wood rot. "You don't want your imprint on the thing," said Hart. "These insects are the great architects of this. This is really their creation."

He "can't tell the sound," said Hart, "until I clean it up and explore the journey, to hear its song." You beat it to make music? I asked. Wrong question. "I don't beat it," said Hart, "more coax the sound, caress it ... find its capabilities."

Working with the wood was "a way of mourning Ramrod," said Hart, referring to Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff, the late crew member ("roadie") of the Grateful Dead. "He was the soul of the Grateful Dead."

Happy Weekend!
Wish I were going to a show! Oh well, soon enough RD3 will be playing at the adorable (It's really small and very cute) 142 Throckmorton Theatre!
....

An interesting and sparkling NEW article on Mickey Hart-



Bob Weir and RatDog keep the Grateful Dead spirit alive
by Ben Horowitz/The Star-Ledger
Friday November 14, 2008, 4:31 PM

ASOCIATED PRESS
Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead performs at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa. during a benefit concert.
Bob Weir and his band, RatDog, are doing an effective job of keeping the Grateful Dead's legacy alive, or at least, one side of his old band's legacy.
The Dead had two main sides: There was the psychedelic, spacey, experimental Dead, the king of the jam bands; and there was the tight yet imaginative group that produced and performed a number of timeless, well-crafted roots-rock songs.
Weir, the Dead's rhythm guitarist whose rich baritone made him the band's most natural singer, thrived in the latter setting. So it was no accident that Wednesday night's concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark achieved its most powerful moments when Weir and RatDog focused on the songs, and didn't go overboard with the jamming.
With the Dead, Weir sang lead on about half the songs. Today, at 61, he sings lead on every song. His booming voice was fully intact Wednesday not only on his own songs, but on strikingly credible versions of such chestnuts as "Brown-Eyed Women" and "Cold Rain and Snow" that were sung by the Dead's legendary lead guitarist, the late Jerry Garcia.
RatDog's lead guitarist, Mark Karan, is a solid player, but he's no Garcia. Karan does a respectable job of exploring Garcia's high, darting flights of fancy on guitar, but RatDog, for the most part, couldn't reach the sonic instrumental heights of the Dead. So that side of the Dead didn't fully come across.
The opening song, an 18-minute "Truckin,'" was a good example. The number began as a casual yet engaging jam that evolved into this Dead favorite. The band hit a danceable groove for the song itself, and the crowd, which didn't need much encouragement, was pumped for the evening. But when the verses ended, Karan and the band went into a purposeless jam that was at least five minutes too long.
Fortunately, that didn't become a pattern. During two sets of music that clocked in at a generous 2 hours and 45 minutes, the only other needless jam came when RatDog attempted to parallel a Dead concert with "Stuff," an instrumental break centered on a drum solo that came midway through the second set.
But the highlights outweighed the low points. A lively, fun-loving rendition of Bob Dylan's "Silvio" seamlessly integrated Kenny Brooks' saxophone solo on "Tequila," delighting the crowd.
Three songs that originated with RatDog showed the six-man band has something to offer of its own. Particularly noteworthy was "Bury Me Standing," a slow, funky, mysterious number abetted by tension-building flourishes from the sax.
RatDog finished the first set in style with a snappy, rousing "Greatest Story Ever Told" that segued into a euphoric "Scarlet Begonias" on which Karan's guitar solo was just right.
An attention-grabbing, acoustic "Me and Bobby McGee" kicked off the second set with authority. And the band pulled itself out of the "Stuff" jam to end the concert on a high note. A stripped-down, atmospheric "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" led to an exhilarating set-closer, a no-holds-barred rendition of the Dead/Weir show-stopper, "Sugar Magnolia."
For its encore and final song, RatDog chose a moving ballad, "Brokedown Palace," a song Garcia co-wrote and sang for his mother after she died. Weir sang the song back to Garcia, showing his respect and affection for his mentor ("Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell").
The song sent the Deadheads, young and old, exiting the elegant building in a mellow, reflective, satisfied mood.
Ben Horowitz can be reached at bhorowitz@starledger.com.