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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Another wolf makes its way into Southern Oregon ... Our View: Let Medford voters decide on marijuana sales ... Reopening of the Siskiyou Line means trucking companies will take a hit ... Another wolf makes its way into Southern Oregon ... Our View: Let Medford voters decide on marijuana sales ... Reopening of the Siskiyou Line means trucking companies will take a hit ... MUSIC Cast of Clowns pays tribute to Grateful Dead at Brickroom in Ashland Cast of Clowns celebrates Grateful Dead's 50th Comment By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted May. 29, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted May. 29, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Grateful Dead has hit its 50th anniversary. Band members first played together May 5, 1965 , under the name The Warlocks at Magoo's Pizza in Menlo Park, Calif. Alas, bandleader Jerry Garcia left the planet in 1995 — Ron "Pigpen" McKernan in 1973 — and the Dead are no more but for the surviving members — Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. The days are gone, but the band is remembered for its original rock 'n' roll that blended American roots music with jazz masters' improvisation. The band's music also tied together two movements of the 20th century: The Beat Generation and the hippies. Dubbed the hippie movement's house band by some, the Grateful Dead took to the new culture and went at it hard, especially with the help of LSD. "Everything about the Dead is open to interpretation," says Craig Wright, an Ashland musician and writer. "But there is truth in that, for sure." Garcia and fellow lyricist Robert Hunter came out of the beatniks, and Neal Cassady, who was on the forefront of the Beat Generation and a hero in Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," came to Haight-Ashbury in the late '60s and lived with the Grateful Dead, Wright says. "They wrote songs about him. He drove their bus. Then Ken Kesey came along with the acid, and the Grateful Dead's music was kind of the soundtrack for that early movement in San Francisco. They became this improvisational arrangement machine that could play for hours. They also were really good songwriters." Nowadays, people think of the Grateful Dead as a quaint, hippie operation, but there was a time when the band was the biggest draw in the country, Wright says. As a 20-year-old in the '80s, Wright worked in various capacities of production around the band. "I was pretty much enamored with them," he says. "I was into that whole on-the-road adventure scene. One of the things I learned was how much preparation and professionalism went into their shows, even though they appeared to be spontaneous and improvisational. "It also was largely how I learned to play music. It had such an influence on me that I somehow can't escape it. The Dead covered so much ground, from cowboy tunes to improvisation jazz and hard blues. As soon as you take that loose, improvisational approach to your music, you are back in their territory." Wright and improvisational jam band Cast of Clowns — drummer Greg Anton of Zero, guitarist Mark Karan of Bob Weir's Ratdog, keyboard player Melvin Seals of the Jerry Garcia Band and bassist Scott Gillan of the Garcia Birthday Band (Portland's newest Grateful Dead cover band) — will present a 50th anniversary tribute to the Dead at The Brickroom, 35 N. Main St., Ashland. The show is at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 31, and is open to all ages. Admission costs $20. In true deadhead fashion, there will be three-dimensional light projections by Palmer Nicklas of Ashland. "We'll do a handful of my originals, a handful of fun and surprising covers that are related to the Grateful Dead, and a handful of Grateful Dead songs," Wright says. "I know bands that play derivative music of the Grateful Dead, some who try to copy the band note for note and others who play their music in a looser, interpretive way. I enjoy the guys I play with because we take an original 21st-century approach to Grateful Dead material, one that pushes the edge a little bit. "I heard it said from a sound engineer who worked for the Dead that some cover bands don't get it as well as guitarist Bill Frisell, that the essence of playing Dead music is risk-taking. It's about making something magical happen at the risk of making a mistake." By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted May. 29, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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