Last night, a number of musicians with longstanding ties to the New
York and Bay Area music scenes participated in a benefit for the Bill
Graham Foundation Fundraiser at, appropriately enough, New York's
Fillmore at Irving Plaza. The evening featured numerous tributes to
the late concert promoter, including video and slide presentations and
speeches both his sons and longtime Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia roadie
Steve Parish. The gruff Parish recounted a number of famous stories
about Graham and his time with the Dead, reminding fans about Graham's
love for New York and experiences surviving the Holocaust. He also
reminisced about the baseball games the Grateful Dead played against
Graham and his staff, where Bob Weir would play first base, Jerry
Garcia would man third base ("though the ball would go through his
legs") and Pigpen would umpire because he "favored both sides
equally."
After an opening set by Moonalice, Blues Traveler's John Popper & Chan
Kinchla, who Graham managed before his untimely death, took the stage
for an acoustic set that consisted of hits and well-known tracks like
"Hook," "Alone," "100 Years," "But Anyway" and "Run-Around." For the
first time since 2006, and only the seventh time since the Spin
Doctors' reunion in the early '00s, Chris Barron sat in with his old
friends on "100 Years." Dark Star Orchestra percussionist Rob Koritz
also joined the group on bongos for the selection, as well as "But
Anyway" and "Run Around." Next up, the Spin Doctors took the stage for
a short, spirited set that opened with the newer song "Nice Talking
To Me" and included staples like "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," "Jimmy
Olsen's Blues" and "Two Princes." As a nod to Graham, the group
debuted a cover of the Grateful Dead's "Ripple" and brought out
saxophonist Erik Lawrence for a take on "How Could You Want Him (When
You Know You Could Have Me)." Popper also returned to the stage for a
length jam built around "Shinbone Alley" and "Lady Kerosene."
The benefit ended with an extended set from Dark Star Orchestra, built
around The Dead's Fillmore-era chestnuts like "Mr. Charlie." As for
Irving Plaza's status as the "new Fillmore," Parish summed it up by
saying, "It kind of looks like a cross between the Fillmore West and
the Fillmore East."
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