Robert Hunter
“Ripple”
September 18, 2013
Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
2013 Americana Music Honors & Awards
Robert Hunter was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting
2022 UPDATE: This was cancelled due to the Covid Pandemic. Skull &Roses 4 is taking place in 2022
hey now! I had a fantastic trip to Skull and Roses 3 this past April, and I am super excited to get to do it again. What an amazing lineup this year!
Including the much-heralded return of Billy and the Kids. I believe this is the first appearance of a member of the Grateful Dead at Skull and Roses! I’m excited to add this to my calendar, in advance. This is a small festival, just a few thousand folks, super kind vibe, at the same place the Grateful Dead played.
I encourage you to GO! For what modern concerts cost nowadays this is an incredible bargain and a great weekend and if you can get there Thursday for Stu Allen and Mars Hotel AND Rooster Conspiracy(!), you’ll have four days of fantastic fun and dancing at the beach.
I’ll see you there. ~ happycat!
from the folks at Skull and Roses…
You won’t want to miss Skull & Roses Festival IV | Ventura County, as we return for our biggest year yet!
Join us April 2-5, 2020 at Ventura County Fairgrounds for elevated experiences and an expansive all-star lineup including original Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann in his long-awaited return of Billy & The Kids. He will be joined by other headliners Oteil Burbridge & Friends and Steve Kimock’s Voodoo Dead plus many other incredible artists:
Melvin Seals and JGB * Jackie Greene * Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass * Circles Around The Sun * Ghost Light * Grateful Shred * David Nelson Band * Stu Allen & Mars Hotel * Rooster Conspiracy * Midnight North * Pink Talking Fish are Dead * Cubensis – Grateful Dead Music Experience * Moonalice * Jerry’s Middle Finger * Dave Harrington’s Merry Pranksters * Big Steve and the Ass Bites From Hell * The Alligators Pigpen * Electric Waste Band * Grateful Dub * Marcus Rezak’s Shred Is Dead * Xtra Ticket Featuring Dave A’Bear * David Gans * The Noodles * China Cats * Catfish John
ALL TICKETING & SOCIAL LINKS WILL BE LIVE AT 10AM
TICKET LINK (live FRI for on-sale): Skullandroses.com/passes
FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/538293883627812/
SOCIAL LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/SkullandRoses4
https://twitter.com/skullandrosesCA
https://instagram.com/skullandrosesventura
We can’t wait to party with you in April!
Skull & Roses is a multi-day festival which celebrates the
music and community that formed around iconic American rock band the Grateful Dead. It returns for its 4th and best installment so far at the holy grail of the West Coast Grateful Dead scene, the Ventura County Fairgrounds (California), from April 2-5, 2020.
This year, for the first time, an original member of the Grateful Dead – drummer Bill
Kreutzmann – will appear as one of the festival headliners, sharing the long-awaited return of his side project Billy & the Kids. The event has also evolved from bands exclusively performing music of the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia, to now include those that have been inspired and influenced by their timeless music, including many original acts such as Jackie Greene, Circles Around the Sun, Ghost Light, David Nelson Band, Midnight North, Moonalice, and multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington.
Now four days
Skull & Roses has also expanded to four days, beginning with a Thursday night (April 2) Kick-Off Party featuring Stu Allen and Mars Hotel and a rare performance by Rooster Conspiracy featuring Jay Lane, Reed Mathis, and Todd Stoops. Friday to Sunday, the music will run daily from 11:00am to midnight, and until 7:00pm on Sunday on two alternating stages.
In addition to Billy & the Kids, headliners also include the second Skull & Roses appearance by Oteil & Friends , and the festival debut of Voodoo Dead , Steve Kimock ’s (The Other Ones) unique project which debuted for three sold out late-nights during the 2015 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and have only performed a handful of times outside of Jazz Fest with slightly varied lineups that explore the Dead’s expansive live catalog with a nod to New Orleans.
Kreutzmann will be joined by “The Kids” Tom Hamilton (JRAD), Aron Magner (The Disco Biscuits), and Reed Mathis (Tea Leaf Green). Burbridge, who performs with Dead & Company, will be accompanied by Eric Krasno (Soulive), John Morgan Kimock (Mike Gordon), Jason Crosby (Terrapin Family Band) and more. Kimock’s Voodoo Dead also features Jeff Chimenti (Dead & Company), George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Jackie Greene, and JM Kimock (Mike Gordon).
New experiences
While continuous music will take place on two stages all day long, there will also be new spaces for festival goers to explore including an expanded ‘Shakedown Street’ vending area, an all day and night general store, Shady Grove, where people can relax and cool off, and Franklin’s Tower, a large indoor lounge with chairs, couches, and full-service bars. Plus, a gallery of photos to view and purchase by photographer Jay Blakesberg and posters by Dennis Larkins and others.
Skull & Roses is also introducing a new ticket category, GA Plus, for 500 fans which will offer many great perks including access into the High Time Lounge , a large tent with great views of both stages, furniture, full-service bars, reserved bleacher seating adjacent to the stages, and air-conditioned bathrooms. GA Plus members will have exclusive access to their own section of Franklin’s Tower, which will feature intimate musical performances, meet & greets, and even
admittance to interviews with some of the musicians by Grateful Dead extended family members Steve Parish and Dennis McNally.
Skull & Roses is offering many new lodging options this year including hotel rooms at the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach and Ventura Beach Marriott , RV and tent camping at the nearby Ventura Beach RV Park , and home rentals through our partnership with Vrbo.
Don’t miss this celebration April 2-5 with friends, family and the community where you can expect “strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand.”
Tier 1 tickets will go on sale Friday, November 15th at 10:00am PST starting at $199 while supplies last for General Admission and $399 for GA Plus , also while supplies last . More information and details can be found at: Skullandroses.com
Patti Smith reading Dark Star as poetry, in memory of Robert Hunter, lyricist for the Grateful Dead, who passed away on September 23, 2019. This was a few days later, at an unnamed Synagogue in Brooklyn New York.
Patti Smith has often expressed a great fondness for the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, and Robert Hunter.
Patti Smith once performed a few songs with Robert Hunter, in 1998, at Irving Plaza in New York City, (see tracks 21 and 22 in the embedded Archive.org playlist below, New Speedway Boogie and Franklin’s Tower.)
~
While the song Dark Star was often an extended musical exploration of space beyond, the lyrics are beautifully concise, conveying vast emptiness within a couple of short verses.
In the film “A Long Strange Trip: the Untold Story Of The Grateful Dead” Robert Hunter was asked by the Weirs about the songs meaning… and he recited the lyrics and then replied “What is so unclear about that? It says what it means!”
Dark Star was of the earliest Grateful Dead songs penned by Hunter, and it also in many ways was their signature tune, though they often went many years without playing it.
Here is the studio version of the Grateful Dead Dark Star, that was released on a 45/single, and is possibly the shortest complete musical version of the song:
Robert Hunter – Tiger Rose
1975 Round Records
All songs written by Robert Hunter
A1 Tiger Rose
A2 One Thing To Try
A3 Rose Of Sharon
A4 Wild Bill
A5 Dance A Hole
B1 Cruel White Water
B2 Over The Hills
B3 Last Flash Of Rock ‘N Roll
B4 Yellow Moon
B5 Ariel
Jack O’ Roses
Robert Hunter
1980
DSLP 8001 (Out of Print)
1. Box Of Rain – 0:00
2. Reuben And Cerise – 4:53
3. Talkin’ Money Tree – 10:08
4. Friend Of The Devil – 11:27
5. Delia DeLyon And Stagger Lee – 14:27
6. Lady Of Carlisle – 18:08
7. Book Of Daniel – 22:26
8. Terrapin – 26:31
– Lady With A Fan
– Terrapin Station
– Ivory Wheels/Rosewood Track
– Jack O’ Roses
9. Prodigal Town – 42:27
