Dark Star Orchestra's spiritual home.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

During the 2002 Oregon Country Fair, the Dark Star Orchestra played several sets of music. For anyone who was there, one of those performances stands out above all the rest.

The Chicago-based tribute band, which re-creates classic Grateful Dead performances note for note, did not restage the Dead's 1972 Veneta Field Trip show, as many fans had hoped. But the group did deliver what could only be described as an electric performance on the Friday night of the fair.

In the midst of the show - an after-hours performance for fair insiders - a summer squall descended upon the area. The clouds rumbled, and the skies lit up just as the group was midway through an encore performance of "The Music Never Stopped."

"Because (Ken) Kesey had just died that previous November, there was big, beautiful photo of Ken's face that they had blown up and was high atop and centered on main stage," recalled Bo Adan, a longtime Dark Star Orchestra fan who was at the show.

"Right around midnight, as the band is jamming and doing the Dead, we get thunder and lightning happening. You've got Kesey, the Dark Star Orchestra, the Country Fair, a lightning storm - and it was just absolutely transcendental."

The Dark Star Orchestra's highly charged late-night performance was deemed good enough to warrant the release of the group's first live album, the newly minted "Thunder and Lightning."

Recorded by well-known Dead archivist Betty Cantor-Jackson, the album marks yet another Eugene moment for the band, which played its first pair of shows here in 1998 at the Wild Duck.

"It's not a cover band or a nostalgia band; they really re-create the same intense Grate- ful Dead energy," said Adan, a Dark Star Orchestra fan who's been attending the group's shows since 1998.

"The musicianship is extraordinary. They study the music diligently. They use the instrumentation of the original shows.

`If you're talking about a 1980s show with (keyboardist) Brent (Mydland), they're using the MIDI, the synthesizer. If it's a Pigpen (organist Ron Mc- Kernan) show from the '60s, they've got the organ happening."

Although not embraced by every local fan of the Grateful Dead - many loyal Deadheads still consider the group to be a poor knockoff of the real thing - the Dark Star Orchestra (or Dark Star or simply DSO) continues to draw crowds and attract converts to its Eugene performances, which lately have been coming at a rate of about two a year.

The group will have a CD release party for "Lightning and Thunder" on Monday at the McDonald Theatre.

"Eugene has become pretty special for us," said Rob Koritz, the drummer and percussionist who plays the role of Mickey Hart in the band, speaking by phone from Santa Monica, Calif. "We always look forward to getting there."

It isn't just a lightning storm that's made DSO feel a connection with Eugene. The group's Country Fair performance grew out of an earlier show in November 2002, which, coincidentally, happened to fall on the day of Kesey's death.

That show at the McDonald Theatre, which is owned by the Kesey family, turned into an informal musical memorial for the late author. It drew many orthodox Deadheads who previously had sworn off the band.

Carolyn `Mountain Girl' Garcia, a Merry Prankster who is Jerry Garcia's ex-wife and the mother of one of Kesey's children, was among those in attendance.

"It was an unfortunate circumstance to be there, but that night we met Mountain Girl and all these other people who have become such good friends of ours," Koritz recalled. "The next day, we were taken out to the (Oregon Country) Fair grounds, where we were having a prayer circle for Ken.

`Getting to be a part of that with all his family and then being invited back to play the fair the next year ...'

Quest for improvement

Founded in 1997 by guitarist John Kadlecik (the Jerry Gar- cia of the band) and keyboardist Scott Larned (the Tom Constanten/Mydland/McKer- nan/Vince Welnick/Keith Godchaux of the group), Dark Star Orchestra has tinkered with its lineup and its formula over the years.

Today, it includes Koritz, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rob Eaton (replicating Bob Weir), drummer and percussionist Dino English (Bill Kreutzmann), vocalist Lisa Mackey (Donna Godchaux) and bassist and vocalist Kevin Rosen (Phil Lesh).

Rather than limiting itself to strict re-enactments of Dead shows, the group occasionally makes up its own set lists. These "elective" shows give the band a chance to stretch its wings and, Koritz said, allows the group to continue to improve.

"Even though we're playing someone else's music, we're still totally improvising. And the longer improvisational musicians play together, in theory, the better they're going to get.

`These last couple of tours, we're taking some of our jams to places we've never gone before."

Of the Grateful Dead's thousands of live shows, Koritz estimated his group has performed 800. Drawing from Eaton's extensive library of live Dead recordings, the group tends to stay away from the 1960s shows (Koritz said Larned, the group's keyboardist, doesn't excel at playing Pigpen), and it doesn't do too many late 1990s performances.

Although Dark Star originally got together to fill the void left by Garcia's 1995 death and the subsequent demise of the Grateful Dead, the group has no plans to hang it up now that the remaining members of the Dead are about to go back out on tour together.

(The survivors will perform at the Gorge in George, Wash., on Sept. 21.)

Not all Deadheads are fans

Given the choice between taking in a Garcia-less Dead concert or reliving the glory at a Dark Star Orchestra show, some local Deadheads would choose neither.

Jeff Harrison, an avid local collector of Grateful Dead live recordings, doesn't care for the Dark Star Orchestra's nostalgia show. And, although he likes the addition of blues singer Joan Osborne to the new Dead lineup, he finds the band's recent performances to be in the "competent average" range.

"In either case, whether it's the Dark Star Orchestra or the Dead, I've got a zillion tapes that need listening to," Harrison said. "I can just sit in the back yard and watch my grandchildren in the pool and listen to a good ol' '77 show.

`I much prefer that."

To avoid potential conflicts with the original band members, the DSO will go off the road when the Dead tour gets into full swing. Although Koritz said his group plans to be at several of the Dead shows, he admitted he too wasn't overly impressed by the Dead's performances so far.

"I think it's great that they want to come and play the music," Koritz said. "Obviously, there was something missing, but it was great to see the core four members of the Dead doing their thing together again."

Koritz was impressed by the playing of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, both in his performances with the Dead and at last year's Oregon Country Fair.

During a daytime show that happened hours before the "Thunder and Lightning" set, Kreutzmann sat in with the Dark Star Orchestra. Koritz was so shellshocked by the experience that he admitted he barely remembers the later show.

"Getting to double-drum with him (Kreutzmann) was pretty damn cool," Koritz said. "I was really dreaming and pretending I was playing with the Grateful Dead.

`It was very surreal to look over and, instead of seeing the guy I've been playing drums with for eight years, to look over and see the guy who tapped me into doing what I'm doing, telling me to go - and having a big smile on his face."

Call it another Eugene moment for the Dark Star Orchestra.

Lewis Taylor can be reached at 338-2512 or [e-mail].

CONCERT PREVIEW

Dark Star Orchestra

What: CD release party

When: 9 p.m. Monday

Where: McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St.

How much: $18 in advance or $20 day of show

GuardLine: To hear music by the Dark Star Orchestra, call the GuardLine at 485-2000 from a touch-tone phone and request category 3475

CAPTION(S):

Rob Eaton (left), Lisa Mackey and John Kadlecik will help the Dark Star Orchestra revive the glory days of the Grateful Dead during a show at the McDonald on Monday night.