Steve Parish and The Roadies

If anyone in the Grateful Dead organization had knowledge of the nuances of a venue, it would be Steve Parish. He began working at Alembic. From 1969 to 1995 he worked in approximately 589 venues with the Grateful Dead and over 250 other venues with Jerry's side bands!

Imagine the shock and awe when these guys rolled into a venue that they hadn't been to before! Talk about a takeover!

4/72.Mark Raizene

July 1, 1977

                                                        Photo courtesy of ©1987 robbi cohn/dead images.

June 18, 1985  Steve Parish, Ram Rod, Bill Candelario, Robbie Taylor, Billy Grillo Photo by Bob Sideman. Photo by Bob Seidermann

Can someone please put a name to the faces?

With the Grateful Dead
1969-47 new venues
1970-57 new venues
1971-45 new venues
1972-47 new venues
1973-45 new venues
1974-23 new venues
1975-2 new venues
1976-15 new venues
1977-29 new venues
1978-37 new venues
1979-26 new venues
1980-29 new venues
1981-35 new venues
1982-16 new venues
1983-24 new venues
1984-14 new venues
1985-13 new venues
1986-5 new venues
1987-13 new venues
1988-11 new venues
1989-12 new venues
1990-18 new venues
1991-11 new venues
1992-6 new venues
1993-3 new venues
1994-1 new venue
1995-5 new venues(3)

I'm not sure who chose the venues for Grateful Dead shows but whoever it was, it seems, tried to keep it interesting.

I recently asked Parish if he was the one who chose the venues for Jerry's side bands. He said yes.

Steve and Ken Kesey

Steve Parish was a primary family member of the Grateful Dead for over 30 years. Stumbling onto the scene in 1969, he was absorbed into the band’s organization as a roadie, close friend and confidant. Anyone with a passing knowledge of the band knows the Dead’s road crew wielded an exceptional amount of power and influence. In so many ways, Parish, along with other sprite characters like Ramrod, Kid Cadelerio, Rex Jackson, and Dan Healy, were as vital to the long and strange trip as the band members themselves. Parish not only handled Garcia’s gear; he was also manager of the Jerry Garcia Band. The tight bond between Garcia and Parish lasted right up until the very end, when on August 9, 1995 Jerry Garcia passed away. Parish was one of the last people to see Garcia alive.
Started at Alembic. 

Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.
"We've shown a rough exterior to a lot of people, but that's because you get jumpy on the road after a couple of gigs, getting up at eight in the morning and working till showtime, then spending another four hours tearing everything down so we don't get to quit till four in the morning.
"But we're not gorillas. We're all really sensitive guys."
Part of the gorilla reputation derives from the quippies' former habit of destroying hotel rooms. "Well, yeah," said Steve, grinning and wiping his black mustache, "it used to be a big thing to flip out. We were experts at flippin' out. And we did a lot of machoing out too, brotherhood swaggerin' kind of thing." [18]

Parish has written Home Before Daylight, a delightful book about his experiences with the Grateful Dead that’s heading to the big screen. He has also worked intermittently with various members of the iconic band, as well as been involved with various Jerry Garcia posthumous releases. In addition, he has busied himself with a flurry of other activities, including hosting RoadieRadio.com, an online roundtable where Deadheads can get the inside scoop of life on the road, featuring interviews with band members and other key associates of the inner circle. In keeping with the cutting-edge tradition of the Grateful Dead, Parish told me he was reviving RoadieRadio.com as a podcast.(1)

1977

With most bands, the crew functions as hired help. But with the Dead, you guys were an integral part of band.
We were true brothers. It was a special thing about the band. Jerry’s imprint was on everybody ¬– he was that kind of guy. He claimed we kind of invented ourselves in a way. We started working at a place called Alembic, building a PA. And the Grateful Dead took that PA over and that solidified it. Jerry really respected the people who worked for him. He was a guy who loved the working man ¬– he was raised that way. So he said, “these people are helping us through life, let’s share this thing with them.” It really worked well. If we were sitting around and talking about where to go in the country, there were some really good, intelligent things that people had to say and we tried to make the right moves that way.

"I was lucky because I probably saw Jerry play more than anyone. We had both bands. All the side projects I got to do with him were incredible. He could just go into a studio and play with anybody after hearing a song one time. That was a fantastic gift he had."

"A lot of people think that a big guy isn’t too bright – they put that handle on you. Jerry wanted to disapprove that theory. He put me in the position to do his thinking on how to move his band around. He trusted me explicitly because we had that bond.
But I could not let go of the equipment. I still came in and restrung the guitars and plugged Jerry in and kept that bond with him. Usually, anyone in management drops their roadie stuff and jumps into management. But I kept in both worlds. Really, managing Jerry was pretty easy. We had a lot of opportunities offered to us. It wasn’t like we had to go out and beg for gigs. So I learned at the feet of ten other managers and Jerry knew I could handle it."

"He slept with these instruments," said equipment manager Steve Parish, who handled Garcia's guitars for more than 25 years. " You could lose amps. You could break things, and sometimes we did. But I could never look Jerry in the eye and say, 'I don't have your guitar."  

 
What do you miss most about being on the road with the Grateful Dead?
"That energy, that excitement, that edge you don’t get in regular life. The show much go on and everything coming together at the last minute for that fantastic moment when it was action, lights and show. And we worked our asses off to get to that point each day."

"I remember when we were young and at one of the nightclubs in the city. We were sitting around in the afternoon, and I asked: “Are we going to keep doing this when we’re old?” and Jerry said, “Yeah, I’ll be on a street corner playing and you can pass the hat around.” He wasn’t going to quit no matter what." (1)

In August 1993, Steve Cripe got a call from Steve Parish, Garcia’s guitar tech, who said, “Jerry loved the guitar! He was using it for the Jerry Garcia Band and opening with it with the Grateful Dead.” Cripe said, “Parish went on to ask a lot of questions about the guitar and that’s when we officially named it ‘Lightning Bolt’ and he asked me to build a backup” guitar for Garcia.
Cripe asked Parish to “take measurements or draw a template of the neck” of the guitar. Parish was puzzled to learn that Cripe “winged it”, in terms of shaping the guitar from the video. Parish told him to “wing it” again and Garcia got on the phone and told him to “just do it. If I don’t like it, I’ll send it back”.
His first sale resulted in a check dated December 13, 1993, for $7,000 from Grateful Dead Productions, Inc. The check stub said, “Two Custom Guitars For Garcia OK Per Parish.”
Cripe received tickets and backstage passes to a Dead concert in Tampa, FL, on April 7, 1995. He did not get to see Garcia but he met with Parish who told him “’Lightning Bolt’ held up better than any other guitar Jerry has owned and that Jerry was playing “Top Hat” at home.”(2)

 Here's a video of Steve at the Monte Rio Music Festival, Sonoma County, CA 9/4/11
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonomapicman/6116860253/

In 1978, "Bob Weir looked up at the Great Pyramid and cried out, "What is it!" Actually, it was the place for locals to go on a cheap date. The Pyramids were surrounded by moats of discarded bottlecaps. A bootleg tape of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis doing filthy shtick was being used for a preliminary sound check. Later, an American general complained to stage manager Steve Parish that the decadence of a rock 'n' roll band performing here was a sacrilege to 5,000 years of history.
"Listen," Parish said, "I lost two brothers in 'Nam, and I don't wanna hear this crap."
The general retreated in the face of those imaginary brothers."-Paul Krassner

Steve was Jerry Garcia's Best Man at his wedding.
Grateful Dead roadie Steve Parish was the grandnephew of Mitchell Parish.
Lyricist Mitchell Parish was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on July 10, 1900. His family moved to New York City when Parish was a young boy and he received his education in the public schools, then Columbia and N.Y.U. (Phi Beta Kappa). He eventually abandoned the notion of practicing law to become a songwriter.
In 1919, Parish was hired as a staff writer for music publishers on Tin Pan Alley and began an apprenticeship as a writer of special material for vaudeville acts. He later established himself as a writer of songs for stage, screen and numerous musical revues.[
By the late 1920's Mitchell Parish was a well regarded Tin Pan Alley lyricist in New York City.
His best known works include the lyrics to songs such as "Star Dust", "Sweet Lorraine", "Deep Purple", "Stars Fell on Alabama", "Sophisticated Lady", "Volare" (English lyrics), "Moonlight Serenade", "Mr. Ghost Goes to Town", "Sleigh Ride", "One Morning in May", and "Louisiana Fairy Tale", which was the first theme song used in the PBS Production of This Old House.
"Stardust" is an American popular song composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics added in 1929 by Mitchell Parish.
Parish's grandnephew was the , who described Parish's meeting with Jerry Garcia in his autobiography, "Home Before Day Light".
Mitchell Parish died on March 31, 1993[4] in Manhattan at the age of 92. He was buried in Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York.

Mitchell Parish

Since 2012, Steve Parish is the Stage Manager for Moonalice.

The Road Crew......

We'll keep adding to this until we have them all..they ALL deserve our thanks! If I left out someone, please email slipnut01@gmail.com

Laird Grant AKA Barney
Jerry's boyhood pal.

John Meyer
John Meyer's work with the Grateful Dead extends to the mid-1970s when the band's concerts were heard through McCune Sound Service's JM-10 systems designed by Meyer. The relationship continued through the band's last tour with Jerry Garcia in 1995, supported by Meyer Sound MSL-10 loudspeakers. Meyer Sound systems have been a staple for tours of reunion and spin-off bands during the interim, including the 2005 and 2009 tours equipped with a Meyer Sound MILO system when the core members were known as The Dead. In 2011, the band's Bob Weir installed a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system in his Tamalpais Research Institute (TRI).

6/18/85-Grateful Dead Crew. (L to R): Steve Parish, Ram Rod, Bill Candelario, Robbie Taylor, Billy Grillo


From the left: Dan Healy, Ramrod, Steve Parish. John Hagen Photo by Mark Raizen

Larry Ramrod Schurtliff (4/19/45-5/16/06)
Lawrence "Ram Rod" Shurtliff (1945-2006) served in a number of capacities with the Grateful Dead starting in 1967. He began as truck driver and later fuctioned as crew chief as well as the President of the Grateful Dead's corporate entity.[13] 

"Your basic original quippie was Ramrod," Steve recounts over the cops and robbers noise from an Oklahoma City Hilton TV set. "He's from Pendleton, Oregon, and he came in through Ken Kesey. He got his name because he was like an expert at loading watermelons, so he got in charge of loading the equipment. He held it together by himself for a long time. Also for a while he was co-manager of the group with Scully.[18]

1972

Larry Ramrod Schurtliff

By John Scher 

"Ramrod, from everything I can gather, was their (GD) friend and worked with them from day one. He was a real level headed guy, a bright guy. He was the president of "Grateful Dead Productions" for quite a while. 

The road crew sort of mellowed over the years. When I first started promoting shows with "The Dead" they were brutal. They were brutal on every promoter and every building manager. To a large degree they weren't representing the personalities of the guys in the band. They tried to "out you" in any way they could. 

Ramrod wasn't that way, he could be tough ass, but he was basically a kind gentle guy. He knew the equipment inside and out. He could usually bring reason to whatever cockamamie situation was starting to happen. He called people out pretty easily who were around the periphery and full of it. I miss him a lot."

*excerpt of my 2nd radio interview with JS from April 2015-Jake D. Feinberg

 

Rex Jackson (10/27/45 - 9/6/76)
Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream. Started at Alembic.
The Rex Foundation was created by "members of the Grateful Dead and Friends" in 1983 as a charitable non-profit organization to "proactively provide extensive community support to creative endeavors in the arts, sciences, and education." The organization is named after Rex Jackson, a Grateful Dead roadie and later road manager until his death in 1976.
The Rex Foundation enabled the Grateful Dead to go beyond responding to multiple requests for contributions, and proactively provide extensive community support to creative endeavors in the arts, sciences, and education. The first benefit concerts for the Rex Foundation were held in the spring of 1984 at the Marin Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium. Since 1984 the Rex Foundation has granted $8.2 million to some 1,000 recipients. Virtually all grant recipients are selected through the personal knowledge of decision makers – as a result, grant requests are not solicited. Grants are made once or twice a year.
The Rex Foundation's stated mission is "to help secure a healthy environment, promote individuality in the arts, provide support to critical and necessary social services, assist others less fortunate than ourselves, protect the rights of indigenous people and ensure their cultural survival, build a stronger community, and educate children and adults everywhere."

After a stint on the Rolling Stones tour of November ‘69 he returned to the GD and worked his way up to manager (‘75-6). He fathered a daughter, Cassidy (as in Cassidy), by Eileen Law, and a son, Cole, by Betty Cantor. Ironically having incited a 1974 “drug bonfire” in Europe in response to the rampant cocaine use, Rex’s newfound free time coupled with his rock-band drug connections got the better of him and he drove off the side of the road one night on his way home.[

Sonny Heard

Sonny Heard Photo by Frances Carr

Sonny Heard started at Alembic.
He died about 1982, in Hermiston, Or. (town next to Pendleton). It was Bobby (Weir) who announced it at the Greek just before Brokedown Palace.

Dan Healy

Dan Healy succeeded Alembic and Owsley "Bear" Stanley as the group's chief sound man after the Wall Of Sound in 1974 and subsequent band hiatus through 1975. A favorite amongst Deadheads for many years, he helped to introduce a tapers section at Grateful Dead concert to allow audience recording of live concerts. Healy would sometimes provide direct output from the soundboard for the tapers to directly patch into their recorders. He was a pioneer in rock sound system innovation, and helped Bear along with Ron Wickersham of Alembic design the Dead's "Wall of Sound" concert sound system.^[2] He also helped perfect the ultra-matrix soundboard setup which was used by the Dead from 1986 through 1990. Some fans and collectors of the band's live recordings deem this setup to be the band's best-sounding, and most practical.
Healy has also undertaken record production duties on occasion, such as when he produced the 1960s San Francisco psychedelic band The Charlatans' eponymous debut album. Healy was also the bass player for Hoffman's Bicycle (later Bycycle) that played the Bay Area for 18 months from the Summer of 1968.

Augustus Owsley Stanley III (1/19/35-3/12/11)
Started Alembic.

Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.
It was Bear who turned a set of apeakersaround one day and let the band hear themselves", says Joel Selvin, "thus inventing stage monitors."[25]

Rock Scully

Rock Scully (8/1/41-12/16/14)
Rock Scully points out also that, contrary to the reputation of roadies the world over, this crew is usually too busy to have a shot at picking up groupies, which makes for a certain tension. "Only, after a couple of weeks out," he adds, "one night—you can never predict it—suddenly everybody'll score.[18]

John Barlow-songwriter

Joe Winslow (9/29/48-8/18/12)
Born on September 29th, 1948 in Pendleton Oregon, Joe made his way down to the Bay Area to visit three of his friends that were working with the Grateful Dead. There he met Steve Parish who had just finished working with Quicksilver Messenger Service. After deciding to stay in San Francisco, he got on with the Dead by driving a truck for them which eventually led to working along side with the sound crew engineers. Over time Joe got heavily involved with designing speaker cabinets. One of the original co-founders of the Hard Truckers’, Joe spent his life doing the things he loves.

"Joe Winslow is the other guy from Pendleton. He's in charge of the PA for the left side of the stage—I have the right side. And he's a driver with the 18-foot van that carries the lighting equipment.[18]

Mark "Sparky" Raizene
Started at Alembic.

"Sparky Raizene came to us from Alembic. He's in charge of the monitors, the vocal speakers on the stage for the musicians.[18]
Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.
Sparky and the Ass Bites from Hell. They're Dan on lead guitar, Rex on bass, Steve on drums, Danny on piano and Sparky on harmonica—with Sam Cutler sometimes sitting in on rhythm guitar—and as singer, a friend of theirs, Darlene di Domenico.[18]

Sparky And The Ass Bites From Hell

Billy Grillo
Motorcycle mechanic
The first office space was Billy Grillo's apartment next to the Front Street Studio. Calico and Steven Marcus were eventually joined by Frankie Accardi and Calico.[24]

Billy Grillo

John Hagen
Started at Alembic.

Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.
"Actually the original guy from Pendleton was Johnny Hagen, who was the brother of Kesey's buddy Mike Hagen. He came on when the Dead asked for somebody from the Kesey bus. He left during the Lenny Hart period and later came back to be quippie for the New Riders. All the New Riders' crew is from Pendleton.[18]

Betty Cantor
Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.

Betty Cantor was still in her teens when she began setting up mics and helping to record sound at San Francisco venues— first at the Avalon Ballroom and then, the Carousel (the latter during the Grateful Dead’s brief stab at venue management in 1968). She worked alongside Bob Matthews, initially assisting with setups during the recording of the Dead’s Anthem of the Sun. A true pioneer, as a woman staking her claim in a patriarchal business, she partnered with Matthews into the early 1970s to produce and engineer live multi- track recordings (she had a hand or two in Live/Dead) as well as studio efforts (Aoxomoxoa and Workingman’s Dead).

While she worked for other artists during this period, she maintained a close relationship with the Grateful Dead, catalyzed by her marriage to crew member Rex Jackson, who would die a few years later in an auto accident. (The philanthropic Rex Foundation is named in his honor.)

“My late husband started recording on the road when he was on the equipment crew,” Cantor Jackson explains. “He and I purchased our own gear and tape. I recorded whenever I could get to the gigs. I recorded the Grateful Dead frequently when they were at home venues, I recorded any and all Jerry Garcia Band gigs I could get to for years, in all its configurations, as well as other bands I liked whenever I could. In those days, bands were cool and happy about me getting a feed. Rex was killed in a car accident in ‘76. In ‘77 and ‘78, I was put on Grateful Dead road crew salary, taping and handling Bobby’s stage setup.”

Unable to foot the bill at the storage center in 1986, Cantor-Jackson forfeited the rights to her worldly possessions. She remembers contacting the Grateful Dead office to inform them of the situation, but the group took no action, resulting in a public auction of Cantor-Jackson’s personal assets, which included more than 1,000 reel-to-reel tapes—mostly Grateful Dead recordings, along with performances by Legion of Mary, Kingfish, Jerry Garcia Band, Old and In The Way, the Keith and Donna Band, and New Riders of The Purple Sage.

Moe and Jimmy
They drove the semi truck.[18]

Ben Haller, Bill Schwarzbach and Tom Shoesmith-Lighting Crew
They all come from Fillmore East.[18]

John Curl-sound consultant
Had an office at 60 Brady Street, SF.[19]

Kidd Candelario
Started at Alembic.

Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.
He goes way back to the Pendleton period. He works in the mixing booth out on the stage floor, a hundred yards from the stage.[18]

1972

Candace Brightman-Lighting Designer

If there’s ever a concert lighting hall of fame, Candace will surely be among the first inductees. After launching her career in New York in the 1960's, she started out lighting shows at Madison Square Garden, the legendary Fillmore East and dozens of other arenas up and down the east coast. Her most notable work came from 1972 to 2004, when she served as Lighting Director for The Grateful Dead. With The Dead, she developed their shows into highly sophisticated visual spectacles, incorporating set design, automated lighting and video—technologies in which she is considered an industry pioneer. Most recently, she is overseeing the band’s 50th anniversary show in Chicago. She currently serves as a senior advisor and mentor to the Pulse Lighting.[7]
In 1965, her sister, Carol Brightman, helped found a useful little periodical called Viet-Report, whose well-researched battles against government disinformation helped fuel the antiwar movement. By 1969 she was organizing the Venceremos Brigade, a grander, riskier, more deluded enterprise that sent American radicals to Cuba for the sugar harvest. She spent the early '70s as part of a typically hypercharged and atomized Berkeley collective, fomenting a revolution that never began.[8]

Robbie Taylor
Originally a silversmith who was hired by Stephen Barncard. "I hired him to be my soldering guy", Barncard says. "We worked side by side for almost two years. Later he became a great assistant engineer and eventually became a road manager, and he was with the Dead until the end."[9]

Currently Phil Lesh's production manager.

Robert Leon Nichols
Wrote Truckin' With Grateful Dead To Egypt after being a roadie. He committed suicide in 1997.[27]

Harry Popick-monitor engineer
Mixed the stage monitors during the Grateful Dead's live performances.[17] Resides in Florida.

Mike Fischer-owner Fischer Trucking
Fischer Trucking was pretty much the GD trucking company on their tours. Mike has a special order Petebilt that was built special order just for the Grateful Dead.

Bob Bralove
Bob Bralove is an auxiliary keyboard–synthesizer player who worked as a sound technician with Grateful Dead starting in 1986 through the 1990s. He was influential on their integration of MIDI technology, first working with drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, keyboardist Brent Mydland, and later guitarist Bob Weir and synthesizer/piano player Vince Welnick. He also co-wrote and contributed to such songs as "Picasso Moon", "Way to Go Home", "Easy Answers". Perhaps his biggest project with the band was assembling segments of Dead jams on the 1991 Infrared Roses compilation album. "Parallelogram", "Little Nemo in Nightland" are some of his most notable "compositions" from this release.
In addition to his songwriting, producing, and MIDI programming activities for the Grateful Dead, Bralove is known for his performing and designing with the Grateful Dead and the avant-garde "Drums and Space" segments of their live shows with the Rhythm Devils.^[16]

Willy Legate (Died 11/9/14)
When Jerry Garcia got out of the Army in 1961, he settled in Palo Alto, where the living was a little easier than in San Francisco, and he soon had a number of friends whose kindness and couches were reliable.
One of his best friends was a brilliant eccentric named Willy Legate, who lived at the Peace House, which had been established by Ira Sandperl, Palo Alto and especially Joan Baez’s mentor in pacifism. Willy’s space at the Peace House was something he shared gladly with ne’er-do-wells like Garcia and Robert Hunter. He also offered them an unconventional and very insightful point of view that they greatly appreciated.
Willy Legate was tall and stooped, with an enormous head, a bulging forehead, and thick glasses. Raised in Arkansas, he’d begun reading up on psychic research, the Rosicrucians, the theosophist Annie Besant, and yoga in high school, and while in college in 1959 he learned how to elicit vials of LSD from the manufacturer, Sandoz Pharmaceutical.[28]
Willy remained part of what would turn in to the Grateful Dead family, and might best be known for coining the phrase so popular on bumper stickers, “There is Nothing Like a Grateful Dead Concert.” During the G.D. Records era, he wrote some of the stranger bits for the newsletter.
Jerry didn’t forget, and some years later Willy was the custodian of the Dead’s rehearsal hall/studio, Front Street. Part of that job was to be the first curator of the Dead’s tape archives there, which he eventually handed over to Dick Latvala.
He coined the phrase seen on bumper stickers, "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert".
Post-Garcia and Grateful Dead, Willy moved to Sequim, Washington.
Willy Legate died November 9, 2014, of an apparent heart attack, in Sequim. He was special.
He is survived by his daughter, Margarite Moselle.[15]

Willie Legate
Photo by Susana Millman

Cameron Sears-Tour Manager
The hiring of Cameron Sears in 1987 broke with tradition as well; since the 60's, the Grateful Dead family had been mainly composed of old friends and relatives. Jon McIntire, the Dead's longtime road manager, hired Sears as an assistant; he has previously been a white-water-rafting guide and an environmental activist. Sears would soon permanently replace McIntire; after 1995 he managed RatDog, and in 2001, became President/CEO of Grateful Dead Productions.[14]
He's the Executive Director of the Rex Foundation in 2013.

John Cutler-recording engineer and live house mix engineer.
Produced In The Dark.
His older brother is Bill Cutler, the musician.
Le Mobile engineer.

"My brother (John) started working for "The Grateful Dead" as an "ad hoc" guy in the early seventies. He would repair amps or do one thing or another. When they needed somebody to go to Egypt they asked my brother to be the advance man. That's when he became an employee of "The Grateful Dead." He was no longer an independent contractor. From '77-'78 he was doing that, but even before that they would hire him when they played "Winterland" for a 4 or 5 night run for NYE. They would do a house mix that was being done by Dan Healy. He was the front of house mixer and Harry Poppick would run the board up on stage for the monitors. For the radio broadcast John would make a separate mix that would go out on local radio stations or a television feed.

John learned early on of how to mix the band. After awhile he would be the one to do all the radio mixes and Healy did all of the house stuff.

He also started working in the studios and Jerry started having him as the front of house guy for the "Jerry Garcia Band" whenever they would play. When Dan Healy retired John took over as front of house guy for "The GD."

In between there were all sorts of brilliant engineers like Bob Mathews and Betty Cantor Jackson who recorded Europe '72. Stephen Barncard was the engineer on "American Beauty."-Bill Cutler

Jon McIntire (1941-2/16/12)
From Belleville, Missouri, recruited Jimmy Voss.[11]
Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.

The 32-year-old manager of the Dead and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. When he met the Dead, McIntyre had been pursuing a complicated academic career, never quite obtaining a degree at a series of institutions, but lecturing in philosophy courses such as Symbolic Logic. He'd been alternating teaching with acting, from the National Theater to gigs in Iceland, and as a nightclub singer in Chicago. The Dead, he recalls, "rearranged my internal organs." He got into the trip, becoming successively manager of the Carousel's restaurant, superintendent of concessions and finally hall manager; then after the Carousel's demise, part of the Dead office. Under the management of Lenny Hart, father of drummer Mickey Hart, there were many temporary defections from the office, leaving McIntyre co-manager. When Lenny left, he found himself manager.[18]

Frankie Weir Accario
A former go-go dancer at the Peppermint Lounge in New York, and later, on the TV shows; Hullabaloo and Shindig! dance clubs. She was allegedly the inspiration for Weir's well-known song "Sugar Magnolia". Weir made her acquaintance through Mickey Hart, who dated her briefly he met her following her first Grateful Dead show in New York in 1968. Her real name at that time was Frankie Azzara (from a previous marriage), but used the stage name "Frankie Hart" (after apparently "borrowing" Mickey's last name). Later, although she and Weir never married, she adopted his last name after moving in with him and was subsequently known as Frankie Weir.[29][30][31][32]
The president of Fly By Night Travel
"One reason we got it is that Garcia, for instance, won't come into an agency," said Frankie, who knows from rock & rollers. She danced her way from San Luis Obispo, California, to American Bandstand and was even a Rockette for awhile before being George Harrison's secretary at Apple. "Another reason is that we want to be sure that the bands aren't getting booked into unfriendly or unsuitable places. We're keeping a file on hotels, limousine services, restaurants that stay open late—a clearing house of information on places all over the country. We're going to make this information available to anybody." Comments run from "low key & close to everything" to "hates longhairs" and "The Mayfair is a fleabag and a whorehouse and don't ever send us there again."
Fly By Night has handled about 15 acts, including the Dead and its spin-offs, of course—the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, Garcia's bluegrass group Old and In the Way, and so on—and a number of Bill Graham's groups.{18]

Sam Cutler-Tour Manager
He met the Dead while tour-managing for the Rolling Stones in 1969; indeed, he is the one usually charged with having the inspiration of inviting the Hell's Angels to police the ill-fated Altamont concert. But he had soon become part of the karass; he took over as road manager for the Dead when Rock Scully went into retreat in Woodstock after Altamont, then decided during the Europe tour to start an agency for the band. Now he is mutating from being the Dead's agent to being an independent agent, specializing in Marin County bands, "to maintain a close flow with both musicians and clubs."[18]
Currently lives in Australia.

Rex, rock and Sam, 5/13/72 Lille Fairgrounds

Alan Trist-publisher
Ice-Nine, which publishes all Dead songs and at one time, confesses Trist, was "a sink to keep people on the payroll." Ice-Nine has published three songbooks.[18]
The connection with Alan Trist and the Dead is very difficult to view as a coincidence. There is something going on there. Don't get me wrong - anyone who knows me knows that I champion the benevolent spiritual power of the GD and Phish as much as anyone. But this evidence seems to indicate that there is more going on than meets the eye. Robert Hunter stated that Alan Trist was a "heavy prime mover" in getting him and Jerry to recognize themselves as a group. And Alan Trist's father was head of the Tavistock Institute - that is what I call a Siriusly interesting connection. It suggests that Tavistockian elements helped create the psychedelic counterculture.[25]

David Parker

David Parker-business manager
Grateful Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage financial manager. circa 1971.
Also happens to be an 11-year friend of Jerry Garcia's. At one time he played washboard and kazoo in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, the band that was immediate precursor of the Dead. Next to his office is the New Riders office.[18]

Bob Matthews-sound engineer
Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream. 

He played bass in the first incarnation of New Riders of the Purple Sage and recently received a performance credit for his contribution to a cover of Warren Zevon’s Accidentally Like a Martyr, which appeared on Jerry Garcia’s box set All Good Things, he is best-known as one-half of the well-respected recording team known simply as Bob & Betty. Together, the duo recorded countless hours of concert material and produced the classic albums Live/Dead and Workingman’s Dead.

"There was something very productive about the team of Bob & Betty," Matthews reflected. She had an ability to be an extension of me on the stage and to do what it took (and then some) to make the things happen that needed to happen. We were of a mind-set that was similar to what it is like to play in a band with another musician. When Betty is being my counterpart on stage — dealing with the microphones and where they go, interfacing with the band, and addressing the other technical activities that occur simultaneously with regard to the PA and the equipment — she knows how to do it. That’s what we did together, and she took care of that really well. I could always count on her if something needed to be done, regardless of the challenge."

Recently, the team of Matthews and Betty Cantor-Jackson reunited for the first time in nearly 25 years in order to capture a performance by Dark Star Orchestra at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium on May 8, 2004, and this is the subject of Live at the Fillmore— a DVD and CD set that serves as the first foray for Matthews’ new record label ArSeaEm Recording. Said Matthews, "AreSeaEm Recording is an alternative record company that attempts to bridge the gap between the one extreme of signing your soul away to a label in hopes that you can sell enough to make some money and the other extreme of doing it yourself and being restricted to whatever resources for production, marketing, and distribution that you can afford."[33]

Paul Roulke
Richard Pechner

"I was “there” mostly during the Wall of Sound era, working the shop and taking the WOS on the road."

Danny Rifkin-Band Manager 1966
Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.

Danny Rifkin, a former co-manager of the Grateful Dead, has served on Camp Winnarinbow's board.

Don Pearson-sound engineer
In 1978, he founded Ultra Sound with partner Howard Danchik, and it became the touring sound company for the Dead in 1980.
In 1990, Mr. Pearson earned the nickname Dr. Don when he mended the original 16-track recordings of the live Grateful Dead show at the 1975 Great American Music Hall, which was ultimately released as "One From the Vault," the first in a series of live recordings.
In 1996, after being perilously close to the bomb explosion at the Olympics in Atlanta, Mr. Pearson decided to stick closer to home and focus on large acoustical installations, including a system at Davies Symphony Hall. In 2000, Ultra Sound was sold, but Mr. Pearson continued to install custom audio systems.
Pearson died January 9, 2006.[20]

Howard Danchik
Co-founder of UntraSound.
System tech and occasional mixer for the Grateful Dead.
He first got involved with Meyer Sound in 1979, the same year the company was founded.[21]

Dennis Leonard-Audio engineer

Credited in the film Sunshine Daydream.
Dennis is a feature film Sound Supervisor and Re-recording Mixer at Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound, he has been there for 26 years. He has been in professional audio since 1971 when the Grateful Dead hired him as part of their technical team. He also does independent consultation and was instrumental in both the acoustic and electronic design and construction of Bob Weir’s TRI Studios, he mixed many of the first shows which were Web Cast from TRI and remains a consultant there. He also consulted on the acoustic and electronic design of the Sweetwater Music Hall partially owned by Bob Weir. He has been interested, passionate and involved in sound since his childhood and remembers a time when the quality of sound was one of the most important aspects, a time when folks gathered around a stereo together and listened to recorded music for extended periods of time.[22]
At 25 years old Wiz was in the recording truck during the entire Europe ‘72 tour and was also heavily involved in many other aspects of Grateful audio.  In 1987 he joined LucasFilm with the Sound team and has worked on many high profile feature films including an Academy Award nomination for the 2004 film “The Polar Express.”  Wiz has served as supervising sound editor for: Madagascar 3, The Lorax, Mars Needs Moms, Despicable Me, Madagascar 2, Enchanted, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Shrek 2 and many other high profile films.

Eric Colby
Colby has decades of experience in the production and security of large events, touring and production coordination. He spent some 15 years in production management for major concert tours, including some of those by the Grateful Dead, and 10 years in venue management.
House Manager for the past eight years, Colby has been named San Francisco opera's Technical and Safety Director, responsible for the day to day operation of carpentry, properties, lighting, sound, shipping, and all other technical operations of the production Department.[23]

House Manager for the past eight years, Colby has been named San Francisco Opera's Technical and Safety Director, responsible for the supervision of the day-to-day operation of carpentry, properties, lighting, sound, shipping, and all other technical operations of the Production Department. He will oversee all crew calls and crew activities — a big job. - See more at: https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building#sthash.N0go1zwB.dpuf

he spent some 15 years in production management for major concert tours, including some of those by the Grateful Dead, and 10 years in venue management. - See more at: https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building#sthash.N0go1zwB.dpuf

Colby has decades of experience in the production and security of large scale events, touring and production coordination; he spent some 15 years in production management for major concert tours, including some of those by the Grateful Dead, and 10 years in venue management. - See more at: https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building#sthash.aHSJq6cL.dpuf

House Manager for the past eight years, Colby has been named San Francisco Opera's Technical and Safety Director, responsible for the supervision of the day-to-day operation of carpentry, properties, lighting, sound, shipping, and all other technical operations of the Production Department. He will oversee all crew calls and crew activities — a big job. - See more at: https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building#sthash.aHSJq6cL.dpuf

Mike Brady
UltraSound Crew

Colby has decades of experience in the production and security of large scale events, touring and production coordination; he spent some 15 years in production management for major concert tours, including some of those by the Grateful Dead, and 10 years in venue management. - See more at: https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building#sthash.aHSJq6cL.dpuf

Colby has decades of experience in the production and security of large scale events, touring and production coordination; he spent some 15 years in production management for major concert tours, including some of those by the Grateful Dead, and 10 years in venue management. - See more at: https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building#sthash.aHSJq6cL.dpuf

Colby has decades of experience in the production and security of large scale events, touring and production coordination; he spent some 15 years in production management for major concert tours, including some of those by the Grateful Dead, and 10 years in venue management. - See more at: https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building#sthash.aHSJq6cL.dpufMike Brady

Glen (Chubby) Carrier
UltraSound Crew

Michael Sean Healy
Uwe Willenbacher
"I started touring here in the United States in 1984 with a company called Ultra Sound. They were located in San Rafael, and they toured with the Grateful Dead. I was with them for almost 10 years. I started out as a PA hanger, and then very quickly became the front of house setup/systems engineer. I toured with them until 1994."

Bernie Granat-(Died-January 3, 2003)

UltraSound crew

Derek Featherstone
Currently the director of rentals and touring for Pro Media / UltraSound.
Derek's past experiences include sound design and FOH engineer for The Dead (previously the Grateful Dead).  
Following the Levi's Stadium shows, Grateful Dead continues its tour at Soldier Field in Chicago over 4th of July weekend, using a nearly identical LEO system for three shows. Audio requirements for the shows are handled by Martinez, Calif.-based Pro Media / UltraSound, with system design accomplished by the company's Derek Featherstone, vice president of touring and rental and the band's FOH engineer since 2005. 
 

"The LEO and 1100-LFC system can handle everything we put into it," says Featherstone. "We are also very impressed with the quality control of the Meyer Sound self-powered equipment. Being able to acquire 650 loudspeakers from several different vendors located in multiple states, assemble the large system on site, and have it work seamlessly is no small feat."
Matt Haasch, audio crew chief for Pro Media / Ultrasound adds: "I was impressed with how well the LEO system handled the physical acoustics of a big stadium. Coverage was smooth and practically seamless, with precise imaging for all seating areas."

Jose Neves-asistant recording engineer
Farfetch Discover founder and chief executive.

Jimmy Voss-Head Chef
Cooking for 40 years, yet he’s had only two jobs—both of them doozies. He was lucky enough to cook for his favorite band, the Grateful Dead, while it was touring, and he was the head chef at the legendary, now-departed Duff’s for 30-plus years—gigs he managed to work concurrently. The 57-year-old has recently taken on two more jobs: executive chef at Clarksville Station, on Nathalie Pettus’ Overlook Farm, and at Nathalie’s (opening this fall) in the Central West End—a double-time gig that Voss says will be his last. Then, perhaps, he’ll have time to pen that long-awaited cookbook, Cooking for The Dead.
When two of the Dead’s cooks quit one night in 1986, right in the middle of the tour, one of their managers, Jon McIntire, recruited me. He’d been to Duff’s and liked the vibe and the food. I drove immediately to Akron, Ohio, to the Dead’s show with Bob Dylan and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Next thing I know, Mickey Hart was asking me if I’d make him a roast beef sandwich, and Phil Lesh wanted cake.
Describe a day in your life back then.

I’d set up my kitchen—my little restaurant—at each stop, a bunch of ice coolers and a stove and convection oven retrofitted for propane. I had to have breakfast ready at 8 a.m., then lunch, then dinner, then break down the kitchen after the show, pack it onto the truck, then move on to the next city and do the same thing again the next day. If it was a three-day run, the middle day was sweet—with no set up and no tear down—and really short…like 12 hours.
How many people did you feed per day, typically?

Forty to 75 people each day, three to four meals a day. Although the band was laid back, the union crew was not and had to be fed at precise times each day. I’m proud to say there was never a fine and never an issue involving all those meals, which was commendable because every day was so random.
How so?

If there were problems, the sound crew might have to work through the night to fix problem or to get the sound exactly right. Many times, that translated to cooking a meal with no advance notice in the middle of the night.
Were the band members finicky eaters?

I started off cooking fancy things, pushing the envelope, trying to impress. Not long after, though, I was told basically, “Jimmy, we’re out on the road a lot. What we need is for you to be Mom and Grandma. ” After that, it was meatloaf, prime rib, mashed potatoes—every day home-cooking.
Served buffet-style?

For the crew, yes, and a hand-printed menu for the band members. Because backstage was chaotic, a lot of time I served the band in a little quarantined corner of the stage, which was more secluded than their dressing rooms. And they could practice if they wanted to, in relative peace and quiet.
You were with them 10 years. They must have liked you.

Looking back, they liked me as much because I didn’t bother them as they did for my food. I was quiet and invisible. I wasn’t in their face, asking questions or for pictures and autographs. I was with them from 1986 to 1995, including their last show at Soldier Field. Jerry [Garcia] passed away two weeks later. 
Had Jerry not died…
I might still be with them.

So were you ever at Duff's when the Dead were touring? You couldn't have been... 

Their standard was three one-month tours—spring, summer, and fall—so I was gone for three months at a time. Credit Tim and Karen to let me go for that long, and I have to credit myself for training people to have my back, so I could go do what I loved so much. 


And so you crisscrossed the country, cooking for your favorite band.
Actually, I only worked the East Coast. There was a West Coast team as well. I only went as far west as Kansas City. 


[10]

John Markward-cook
One of the Binky Boys.

Dan Gaess
I got hired on tour with the Dead after building the stage and 12 sound delay towers.

Dave Miller-cook
One of the Binky Boys.

Eric Stein
Karen Candido
Jamie Ulichny
Marty Cohen
Brian Alexander-"I worked for the Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band from 1977 through 1980 as a Piano and Rhodes tuner in various cities in California. I traveled in the big rig for the Dead as a free roadie/passenger to shows around California: Bakersfield, Los Angles and the San Francisco area.
I drove a rental truck with a Yamaha grand piano in it for the Jerry Garcia Band. My direct client was the pianist, Keith Godchaux.
I also tuned and maintained the Steinway concert grand at Front St., in Marin County.
I knew Jerry and Phil well enough for them to call me by name. I was only twenty
years old when I first met the band. They did not think much of me as I was so young.
My bosses were Big Steve and Kid and they were tough but fair. They probably do not
remember me with great fondness for I was not an experienced roadie at the time just
trying to fit in somewhere. Kidd was the first person to show me gaffers tape, god on a roll.
I enjoyed the few years I had with those guys and learned a lot from both of those hard
working band crewmen."[6]

Paul Woods 
Former Grateful Dead roadie Paul Woods is making headlines in America after embarking on a 3,500-mile trek to claim a home left to him by his late mom - on a lawnmower. Woods set off on the trip from Alaska to Virginia back in 2005 but his adventure has only just come to light after well-wishers in Utah discovered who the lawnmower man was. Woods is expected to reach the home he has inherited some time in 2009.[12]

         Steve Marcus

Paul Roehlk. Passed away 1986. Joe Thomas also drove a Grateful Dead truck.

Bonnie Parker-Office staff
Annette Flowers-Office staff
Dale Franklin

Grateful Dead/ NRPS Office Staff, San Rafael. circa 1971. ( L to R ) Dale Franklin, David Parker, Jon McIntire, Sam Cutler, Alan Trist, Bonnie Parker and Annette Flowers. Photo by Michael Vagaries

Rick Turner-Co-founder of Alembic, Inc.
















Grateful Dead Records staff
Angie Blume
joshua Blardo
Steve Brown
Troy Burns, Gerry Buckley, Andy Leonard
Carol Miller
Greg Nelson
Courtney Pollock
Ron Rackow
Caroline Rush
Gayle Turner

Grateful Dead Employees: Merchandising & Productions. Location: GD Warehouse, Novato, CA Spring 2003 Photo: Susana Millman

Lou Calabrese was a roadie with the Grateful Dead He parlayed his concert background into his current role as president of Applied Audio and Theater Supply, Brighton, NY.




1.)^Perry, Shawn, The Steve Parish (Grateful Dead) Interview
2.)^About Cripe, Self Taught Luthier, http://www.cripeguitars.com/guitar.html
3.)^http://www.deadlists.com/default.asp
4.)^Biography, http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C226
5.)^the modern deadhead, Grateful Dead-Fall 1976, 2010-11-01, http://moderndeadhead.blogspot.com/2010/11/grateful-dead-fall-1976.html
6.)^Alexander, Brian, paino tuner and driver 1977-1980, 2015-07-06, email to author
7.)^http://www.concertlighting.com/portfolio/candace-brightman/
8.)^Christgau, Robert, The Little Counterculture That Could, http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bkrev/brightma-lat.php
9.)^Jackson, Blair, Grateful Dead Gear, pg. 154, https://books.google.com/books?id=SiTGAQR-W3YC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=robbie+taylor+grateful+dead&source=bl&ots=PTi8u8t_FV&sig=P4MWmyWhZZK_oXNJNig-27Qw54U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OVSbVeujBMSfgwTRo4KwBg&ved=0CF8Q6AEwDQ#v=onepage&q=robbie%20taylor%20grateful%20dead&f=false
10.)^Mahe, George, Kitchen Q&A:Jimmy Voss, http://www.stlmag.com/Kitchen-Q-A-Jimmy-Voss/
11.)^Peterson, Deb, 2010-11-11, Local chef Jimmy Voss cooks for the Dead, http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/deb-peterson/local-chef-jimmy-voss-cooks-for-the-dead/article_caf7a7f0-ede4-11df-94a6-0017a4a78c22.html
12.)^Falk, Alan, On A Long Strange Trip?, 2007-01-31, http://www.webring.org/l/rd?ring=dead;id=10;url=http%3A%2F%2Fdeadnews.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F03%2Fgrateful-dead-roadie-update.html
13.)^Green, Mike, Relix, posted by SLC Library Boy at Wednesday, March 21, 2007, http://www.webring.org/l/rd?ring=dead;id=10;url=http%3A%2F%2Fdeadnews.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F03%2Fgrateful-dead-roadie-update.html
14.)^Grateful Dead: 1987, 2009-12-26, the modern deadhead, http://moderndeadhead.blogspot.com/2009/12/grateful-dead-1987.html 
15.)^Remembering Willy Legate, http://www.dead.net/features/news/remembering-willy-legate 
16.)^Dose Hermanos: Shadow of the Invisible Man (1999)". The New York Times.
17.)^Weiner, Robert, G., Perspectives on the Grateful Dead: Critical Writings, pg. 70, https://books.google.com/books?id=wFuE229iBwkC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=harry+popick,+grateful+dead&source=bl&ots=QySz9qPM7K&sig=rz3VJvkVSorQ3EEzyQ-9M7ufwlI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cpSdVc7_As_XoATssYS4Bg&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=harry%20popick%2C%20grateful%20dead&f=false
18.)^Perry, Charles, A New Life for the Dead, 1973-11-22,
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/a-new-life-for-the-dead-19731122#ixzz3fPdNaLUA
19.)^Jackson, Blair, Grateful Dead Gear, pg. 123., https://books.google.com/books?id=SiTGAQR-W3YC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=Sparky+Raizene,+grateful+dead&source=bl&ots=PTi8w9y5G-&sig=S_n3IgC5IoD6absAaeM7pndumHE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3J6eVdubMIKNoQT68oF4&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Sparky%20Raizene%2C%20grateful%20dead&f=false
20.)^Ginsburg, Marsha, 2006-01-14, Donald Pearson-audio engineer for Grateful Dead, Olympics, pope, http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Donald-Pearson-audio-engineer-for-Grateful-2524205.php
21.)^30th Anniversary Special: Audio Interview with Howard Danchik, 2009-06, http://www.meyersound.com/news/2009/howard_danchik/
22.)^TEDx Talks, Are we really listening? | Bob Weir and Dennis Leonard | TEDxEas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoMlSVvS7Kc 
23.)^Gereben, Janos, 2013-01-29, Eric Colby Has Not Left The Building, https://www.sfcv.org/article/eric-colby-has-not-left-the-building 
24.)^Grushkin, Paul, Dead Letters: The Very Best Grateful Dead Fan Mail, pg. 8, https://books.google.com/books?id=41_t9Y731lQC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=billy+grillo,+grateful+dead&source=bl&ots=fgvgdhPoLH&sig=nbhv1uWHAS_ixckZ1EQwVVnLzIs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dk2gVfXBFMfxoASdnoDYAg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=billy%20grillo%2C%20grateful%20dead&f=false
25.)^http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15428&hilit=bob+weir+bohemian+grove&sid=4ecd66627f7ce484cd5ac8e141c5d884&start=15
26.)
27.)^Man Copies Cult Suicides, 1997-04-02, The Salina Journal, pg. 6, https://www.newspapers.com/image/346811/?terms=Grateful%2BDead
28.)^McNally, Dennis, Long Strange Trip