By David Gans

Week of March 6, 1989

This week's program features live Grateful Dead music recorded February 23-24, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Portchester, New York - including, by popular demand, four numbers featuring Ron "Pigpen" McKernan on the lead vocals, organ and harmonica.

Pigpen was a blues freak who hooked up with Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia in the early Sixties to form Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, and it was his idea to get a rhythm section and some electric instruments and turn it into a blues band that they called the Warlocks and later the Grateful Dead. His health forced him to quit performing with the band in 1972. I learned a lot about him when I interviewed the other band members for my book Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of the Grateful Dead. In a 1984 interview - which was long before I had any idea I'd be working on this radio program, so the recording conditions were a little less than first-class - Mickey Hart talked about Pigpen as a musician and as a friend.

Also: "Little Red Rooster" was a double slide-guitar showcase for the Dead all through the ‘80s. Here’s a recording of it by the guy who wrote it: Willie Dixon.

Mickey Hart talks about Pigpen 11/11/84

Grateful Dead 2/23/71 Capitol Theatre, Portchester NY
BIG BOSS MAN
BERTHA
NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME
SUGAR MAGNOLIA
CASEY JONES

Willie Dixon, I Am the Blues
LITTLE RED ROOSTER

Grateful Dead 2/24/71 Capitol Theatre, Portchester NY
HARD TO HANDLE
ME AND BOBBY McGEE
KING BEE

You can browse and/or search the Grateful Dead Hour program logs on the GD Hour web site. Let me know if there's a particular program you'd like to hear, and feel free to post requests and comments here or by email to gdhour@dead.net

Thanks for listening!
David Gans
gdhour@dead.net

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