BACK FROM THE DEAD.Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born September 11, 1943) is a percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers from the rock band the Grateful Dead. He and fellow Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann earned the nickname "the rhythm devils". may be among the Dead but he apparently doesn't sleep much. Known for three decades of roaming the world as one of the Grateful Dead's two percussionists, Hart has maintained an enduring fascination with the planet's rhythms. His studies and books on the topic led to his appointment on the board of trustees board of trustees Politics The posse of thugs who oversee an institution's administration. See Board of directors. of the American Folklife Center The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife" (see Public Law 94-201 [1]). The Center incorporates the Archive of Folk Culture, which was established at the Library in 1928 as a at the Library of Congress. There and at the Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution, research and education center, at Washington, D.C.; founded 1846 under terms of the will of James Smithson of London, who in 1829 bequeathed his fortune to the United States to create an establishment for the "increase and diffusion of , Hart is now busy digitizing and preserving the center's vast music collection for America's Recorded Sound Project. Hart is also back in the drum chair with the latest incarnation of the Dead, which has dropped the Grateful part in honor of the late Jerry Garcia. The freely improvising group, the longest-running of San Francisco's 1960s acid-rock bands, now includes the other surviving members (Bob Weir, Phil Lesh Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician and founding member of the rock band, Grateful Dead; he played bass guitar in that group throughout their entire 30-year career. and Bill Kreutzmann Bill Kreutzmann (born May 7, 1946 in Palo Alto, California) was the drummer for legendary rock band the Grateful Dead for their entire 30-year career. Kreutzmann started playing drums at the age of 13, despite having been told by his sixth grade music teacher that he ), augmented by a trio of seasoned musicians (guitarist Jimmy Herring Jimmy Herring was born January 22nd, 1962, is a guitarist originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina. Herring has played with the Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Day By The River, Jazz Is Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends and Project Z and was announced as the new lead , keyboardists Rob Barraco Rob Barraco is a keyboardist who has played with Phil Lesh and Friends, The Dead, Dark Star Orchestra, Chris Robinson & New Earth Mud, The Zen Tricksters, and Red Flannel Hash. and Jeff Chimenti Jeff Chimenti is an American keyboardist, best known for his ongoing work with Ratdog. He was also a member of The Dead, the continuation of the Grateful Dead. A native of the San Francisco Bay area, Chimenti began playing piano when he was four and he studied formally from ) and gutsy r&b singer Joan Osborne. Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, dates will soon be announced; the closest the Dead's summer getaway gets to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. thus far are July dates at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. Longtime Grateful Dead fan Brad Holtzman, 37, a West Los Angeles
``It's good to see everyone back together and playing so well,'' Holtzman said. ``It's still not the same because you do miss Jerry's guitar sound and vocals. Jimmy is a terrific guitarist, but Jerry was something unique.'' As fans rejoice at the reunion news, Hart hasn't abandoned his curiosity about world music. In his fourth book, ``Songcatchers: In Search of the World's Music'' (National Geographic; $30), the percussionist collaborates with author K.M. Kostyal to explain Siberian chants, American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. drumming and singing, music of the rain forest peoples of New Guinea New Guinea (gĭn`ē), island, c.342,000 sq mi (885,780 sq km), SW Pacific, N of Australia; the world's second largest island after Greenland. and the Amazon, and Bali's seductive gamelan gamelan Indigenous orchestra of Java and Bali and, more generally, of Indonesia and Malaysia. A gamelan usually consists largely of gongs, xylophones, and metallophones (rows of tuned metal bars struck with a mallet). Gamelan polyphony is complex and many-voiced. orchestras. ``Mickey has been instrumental in making world music part of common consciousness,'' said Barry Smolin, longtime host of ``The Music Never Stops,'' a three-hour show on KPFK-FM (90.7) at 7 p.m. Fridays that focuses on the Dead and contemporary jam bands. ``Everybody is into world music today, but he was doing it when it was an obscure, unknown field. I've always loved what Mickey brings to us. He's deeply in love with music that comes from the heart space.'' In addition to his work as a musician and author, the New York-born Hart, who turns 60 on Sept. 11, produced the acclaimed series of discs titled ``The World,'' which made a vast range of global music available. Away from the Dead, his ``Planet Drum'' record won the first Grammy Award for world music in 1991. We called Hart at home in bucolic Sonoma County for an update on the Dead's rebirth, the state of world music preservation and his take on the industry. Q: Didn't you once say there would never be a Grateful Dead again after Garcia died? And how do Jimmy Herring and Joan Osborne fit in? A: People change their minds. After Garcia died, we put the band to sleep in honor of 35 years together. It gave us a chance to explore our own projects and personal lives. Then we realized we missed something. And we got in a room together and the love was still there. It's our legacy. It felt so good in rehearsal that we said the beast has awakened. Jimmy (Herring) is not Garcia. He's a viruoso who can play Jerry's signature licks and then go off into his own thing. Joan is the link. She sings lead and choruses and fits in like she's been there forever. Eighteen months ago, we would've said, ``Without Jerry? You've got to be kidding.'' Q: Why is music preservation important? A: The Grateful Dead started because we were inspired by back-porch music - country, Delta blues and jug bands. If we never heard that stuff, there wouldn't have been a Grateful Dead. I happened to grow up before the big corporations took over and I always loved history and research. The history of music and rhythms intrigued me. As a trustee (of the Library of Congress), we've been digitizing everything in the collection. Through history, man has recorded sound on every available surface - acetates, wax, tin, glass, iron oxide The material used to coat the surfaces of magnetic tapes and lower-capacity disks. particles, vinyl - and we're digitizing all of it for the future. But it's like triage triage Division of patients for priority of care, usually into three categories: those who will not survive even with treatment; those who will survive without treatment; and those whose survival depends on treatment. . The source recordings are decaying. Sometimes I'll play something into a computer for the last time it will be played in its original format. This library is the mother lode. It's amazing what we have: auctioneers, field hollars, gospel, drum music, the first recordings of Basie, Ellington, Muddy Waters - everything. And we want young people to know that once we digitize it, it's all coming their way. Q: What is a songcatcher, anyway? People like Jesse Walter Fewkes, who went to Maine to make recordings of Indian songs and folktales in 1890 on an Edison machine. David Lewiston and Alan Lomax came later and traveled much farther - Africa, the Andes, Siberia and the Pacific Islands. These people broadened the definition of music and brought it to Western ears. Q: It's ironic to remember in this contentious era of downloading and file sharing, the Dead made the decision decades ago to allow fans to tape the concerts. A: We decided we didn't want to be cops. I remember this band meeting where we discussed the fans coming to the shows with their tape recorders and Jerry said about the music that when we were finished with it, you can have it. We realized part of our music was the interaction with the audience. That was our rationale. And we figured if they weren't selling it and were just listening and trading it, it was OK. Giving music away is one thing. Having it taken away is another. You have to respect copyrights and intellectual property. Q: Garcia once said that the reason so many people followed the Dead around was there were so few adventures in contemporary American life. A: I totally agree with that. The days of running away and joining the circus or catching a ride on a tramp steamer are gone. This is a time when the major corporations are devouring our brains and people really have to get back to a community or begin developing their own. Fred Shuster, (818) 713-3676 fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- cover -- color) Raising THE DEAD Mickey Hart, inset, brings new life to seminal '60's rock band John Shearer and Steven Tackeff/WireImage.com (3) Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, now of the Dead, is touring with his old bandmates and leading an effort to digitize fast-disappearing music. (4) The Grateful Dead in the '80s: Mickey Hart, left, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir. two heds to choose from |
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