If you can't get a member of the Grateful Dead for your Grateful Dead tribute show -- and who can? -- someone from the Dark Star Orchestra might be the next best thing.
Pittsburgh band theCAUSE will get a hand from the DSO's Jeff Mattson for the annual D-Jam, a "rock against hunger" show Saturday at the Rex Theater, South Side, benefiting the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
The Grateful Dead, as Deadheads well know, will mark its 50th anniversary with a series of "Fare Thee Well" shows over the Fourth of July Weekend at Chicago's Soldier Field with the reunion of surviving members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, plus Phish's Trey Anastasio, Jeff Chimenti and Bruce Hornsby.
This local show will have a similar repertoire and purpose, obviously on a much smaller scale, with singer-guitarist Mattson, who broke into the Dead zone by playing with Phil Lesh and Friends as well as former Dead backup singer Donna Jean Godchaux as Donna Jean and the Tricksters (with his other band, Zen Tricksters). In 2009, Mr. Mattson replaced John Kadlecik in Chicago's Dark Star Orchestra, a tribute band known for performing complete Dead shows.
theCAUSE, which centers its sets around the Grateful Dead, Phish, The Beatles and Bob Dylan, has a history of drawing on the Dead community for D-Jam. Three years ago, they recruited Steve Kimock, who has played in numerous Dead spinoffs, including Phil Lesh and Friends, The Other Ones and RatDog. Two years ago, they got Mr. Mattson, who is managed by Jack Barton, who had prior experience with the Food Bank as an employee at WYEP.
"I had so much fun playing with theCause at the D-Jam two years ago," Mr. Mattson says. "I was thrilled when they asked me to be a part of it again this year. Helping out the Food Bank is a cause that's close to my heart. There is no good reason why at this time everyone in America doesn't have enough to eat. The members of theCause are great musicians and wonderful folks and I can't wait to see what kind of musical mischief we can get into this year."
"Jeff will sing most of the Jerry [Garcia] tunes, and Pappy [Eric Weingrad] most of the Bobby [Weir] tunes, but Jill [Paone Simmons] will also do leads," says David Tauberg, bassist for theCAUSE. "We do have lots of Grateful Dead on the list, but we also are doing a Jeff original, one of our originals and a tune from another well-known jam-band."
Mr. Weingrad says that while he has to change his guitar-playing approach to accommodate a guest musician, "Jeff is a total pro and there's still great space for us to have wonderful interplay with each other, without stepping on each other's toes. It's always a truly special treat to play with a musician of his caliber."
The Dark Star Orchestra starts its spring tour next week and will play the All Good Festival in Summit Point, W.Va., July 9-11.
Tickets for Saturday's 21 and over event are $20 and can be purchased at www.pittsburghfoodbank.org. The Rex is at 1602 E. Carson St. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., music at 8:30 p.m.
The city's landscape is the star in a new video for the song "The Lights on Grant," created by Pittsburgh Musician's for Hunger Relief.
The video premiere will take place at noon Friday at the City-County Building Portico along with a demonstration on urban gardening by Grow Pittsburgh.
The song was written and performed by jazz/rock singer Katie Simone, Steve E. Adams (The Critics, The Left) and Steve Bodner (Damaged Pies) and was shot by his nephew, Ian Bodner, a 16-year-old student at Franklin Regional High School, with sponsorship by Burns White LLC and art and design by Francis Cleetus.
"We are trying to raise awareness and pride in the city highlighting its diversity of architecture, neighborhoods and cultures as well as its natural scenic beauty. We are also trying to increase the profile of WhyHunger and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in the process by images in the video," Mr. Bodner said in a statement.
The release coincides with A Show to Benefit WhyHunger featuring Norman Nardini, Slim Forsythe and His New Payday Loaners and The Damaged Pies at Club Cafe, South Side at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $8; www.whyhunger.org
First Published: March 19, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
