| 28th October 2006 08:00 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
DEAD STAR LESH BATTLING CANCER
GRATEFUL DEAD star PHIL LESH is battling prostate cancer. The 66-year-old rocker has posted his painful announcement on his website, explaining he'll undergo surgery in December (06). He writes, "I fully expect to have a rapid and complete recovery. I am feeling energetic as always, and all my scheduled appearances will occur as planned." His diagnosis has prompted Lesh to urge fans to take prostate cancer seriously. He adds, "Speak to your doctor about having periodic regular PSA screening for early detection of prostate cancer. You may save your own life."
28/10/2006 09:17
contactmusic.com
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| 28th October 2006 08:03 AM |
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| Lazy Bones |
Wow. Speedy recovery, Phil! |
| 28th October 2006 08:53 AM |
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| lotsajizz |
Phil's had some tough health issues the last few years---one of the best bassists ever in rock and a pretty good song writer as well.... |
| 28th October 2006 11:00 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Liberatore: Ex-Dead bassist Phil Lesh introduces new DVD
Paul Liberatore
Article Launched:10/26/2006
Marin Independent
Can you imagine singer Joan Osborne evoking the spirit of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, the Grateful Dead's late keyboard player and blues belter?
Neither can I, but former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh swears he felt Pigpen's presence onstage when the sensual Osborne sang with his Phil & Friends band at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre for two nights back in May.
"It was almost like having Pigpen back," he says. "It's one of those gender-bender kind of things. She has that same sensibility, only she's a girl. Listen to her sing some of that stuff, the way she interprets the music, the way she milks the lyrics. I feel Pigpen very strongly."
I'll tell you this, though, after seeing "Phil & Friends Live at the Warfield," a new DVD of those
shows, the zaftig Ms. Osborne, in a clingy jersey dress with a demure black bow, looks nothing like the scruffy, hard-drinking Pigpen, who died in 1973 and came by his nickname honestly.
"She says she wanted to be the anti-Deadhead in that dress," chuckles Kathy Sunderland, who helps run Lesh's Cygnus Productions in Kentfield. "She looked prim and proper and really sexy - in an old-fashioned way."
Since the breakup of the Grateful Dead in 1995, Lesh has toured and recorded with an ever-changing
lineup of high-caliber musicians.
For the Warfield gigs he brought together Osborne, pedal steel player Larry Campbell, keyboardist Rob Barraco, drummer John Molo and the noted jazz musicians John Scofield on guitar and Greg Osby, playing alto and soprano saxophones.
A New Yorker, Osby has been a sideman for Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie and Jack DeJohnette, among other heavy hitters. Scofield is a seasoned guitarist who spent three years in Miles Davis' band in the 1980s.
Those two nights at the Warfield, a warm-up for last year's Phil & Friends summer tour, were the first times that Osby and Scofield had played together.
"It was a once in a lifetime experience for John and Greg to play our music for the first time together," Lesh says. "That was exciting for me."
That one-off quality adds an extra dash of musical adventure to the DVD, a virtuoso example of musical improvisation, interpreting classic Grateful Dead songs through a melding of rock and jazz.
Former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh has a new DVD, 'Phil & Friends Live at the Warfield.' (Provided by Jim Blakesberg)one of the things I wanted to show," Lesh says of the band's experimental spirit. "That's what Phil Lesh and Friends is all about, just like that's what the Grateful Dead was all about."
As a bonus feature, the DVD includes a conversation between Lesh, Scofield and Osby about their approach to music.
"We talk about improvisation in jazz and rock, and what they bring to rock music, and what rock music can internalize from jazz," Lesh explained.
Produced by San Francisco filmmakers Jay Blakesberg and Bob Sarles with Phil's wife, Jill, serving as executive producer, "Live at the Warfield" is a solo project separate from the landmark licensing deal that Lesh and his three surviving Grateful Dead bandmates recently struck with Rhino Entertainment to release the Dead's vault of live recordings.
"It removes the business part that came between us," Lesh says of the Rhino contract. "That's the area of common endeavor that we always disagreed the most about. So in one stroke that's gone. Now we can be friends again.
"And our fans should appreciate that it's going to speed up the release of this vast archive of Grateful Dead material," he added. "So more of this stuff is going to be coming out to the public faster, as downloads as well as CDs."
It will do nothing to speed up a Grateful Dead reunion, however, which seems like a distant possibility at this point.
"No one has even brought that up to me," Lesh says. "I'm open to all kinds of different things, but we certainly haven't talked about that.
"I do know that Bob (Weir), for instance, is very happy doing what he's doing with his band, RatDog, and I'm really enjoying what I'm doing, and Billy (Kreutzmann) and Mickey (Hart) now have the Rhythm Devils, so they're out there making some music. Everyone's pretty much enjoying their lives and everyone's got a pretty full plate."
This weekend, Lesh teams with former Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio at the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas along with John Medeski on Hammond B-3 organ.
From 2 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 31, he'll be at Amoeba Music in the Haight Ashbury, an old haunt, signing copies of the new DVD.
"I don't know if I'll be in costume," he confesses.
He'll participate in a Bob Dylan tribute Nov. 9 at Lincoln Center in New York, a benefit for Music for Youth. He plans on doing a jammy rendition of "Thunder on the Mountain" from Dylan's sensational new "Modern Times" album.
"That album is so real in contrast with the absolute shallowness of almost everything else you hear," he says.
After that, Lesh, who turned 66 in March, plans to take a break from touring with Phil & Friends until at least next fall, and maybe even longer than that.
"This is like the in-breath," he says of his hiatus from the road. "There seems like a window that's open for me to do some exploratory stuff that I've been looking to do for a long time. Sometimes there's a window, but it's not the right time to open it. As I was saying earlier today, 'Lord please grant me the wisdom to know the difference.'"
Last spring, Lesh's best-selling autobiography "Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead," became the first book written about the band by one of its members.
He's now writing a treatment for a movie that would draw from his experience in rock 'n' roll. "Write what you know," he says. "It might have something to do with rock, but I might put the idea in a different milieu."
And he's been invited to be a visiting composer in the computer music department at Stanford University, where his oldest son is a student.
"That means I can go down to the computer music center, which has been an innovator in music technology for 30 or 40 years, and create really cool surround-sound compositions," he explained. "It would be surround-sound with height and depth. I don't think there's any musical bag you can put that into."
Eight years ago, Lesh had a liver transplant that saved his life. He's had regular medical checkups ever since and says he's grateful to be in the best of health.
"I'm probably one of the more checked over people you know," he says, laughing. "So far, everything's kosher. I'm the luckiest man alive. I know there are other guys who will say the same thing, and they're right. But I'm right, too."
Paul Liberatore can be reached at [email protected]
IF YOU GO
What: Phil Lesh signs copies of his new DVD and CD "Phil Lesh & Friends Live at the Warfield"
When: 2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 31
Where: Amoeba Music on Haight Street in San Francisco
Cost: Free
Information: 415-831-1200 or go to www.phillesh.net
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels]
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
| 28th October 2006 01:29 PM |
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| mojoman |
sorry to hear about phil. would have loved to have gone get his dvd signed but alas i dont live ten miles away from amoeba anymore. |
| 29th October 2006 11:07 AM |
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| Martha |
Get well Phil! |
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