While Neil Diamond and other big moneymakers in the concert world are taking some heat for purposefully letting prime tickets get into the hands of scalpers, The Dead (comprised of former members of the Grateful Dead) are auctioning off tickets to the first five rows of their upcoming tour to the highest bidder among their fans, and proceeds will go to their own Rex Foundation and other charities.

Percussionist Bill Kreutzmann tells Billboard:

"Charities need money. They need help, especially these days. This puts those seats into the hands of our fans, who are not only getting great seats and good music but also know the money is going to charitable organizations."

The Dead have prepared a whopping 150 songs to choose from for this tour, which kicks off April 12th. They'll play on The Late Show with David Letterman April 23rd.

Aoxomoxoa [Expanded]

Happy Birthday Jerry!

Jerry Garcia was born 69 years ago today. Here's one of my favorite Dead tunes. What's yours?

I wasn't really old enough to get in, but when I was still a kid I wound up working at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. I met so many great artists there-- and then I'd book them to come play at my school-- from Jimi Hendrix, Paul Butterfield, the Grateful Dead, the Blues Project, Jefferson Airplane, the Youngbloods, Van Morrison to Richie Havens, James Cotton and Muddy Waters (aka- McKinely Morganfield). Muddy Waters died almost 25 years ago but I'll never forget him as the guy that introduced me to the authentic blues. His influence on rock music is beyond compare and includes almost every important band from the 60s and 70s: the Rolling Stones, Hendrix, Clapton, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, AC/DC... "I Feel Like Going Home" wasn't one of his big hits but gets right to the heart of what made him great.

Happy Halloween from everyone at Crooks and Liars and our Late Night Music Club. Roky Erickson is touring now, not an everyday occurrence. Try to see him live if you can; he is something else! He used to be leader of Austin's 13th Floor Elevators (the Texas Grateful Dead) but I first met him when he recorded an album, The Evil One released by my label in San Francisco. "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" is one of my favorite songs he ever wrote and a real rocked out tune for any night:

You have a favorite Halloween song?

When I had a small indie label in San Francisco, 415 Records, my partner Chris was a Roky Erickson fanatic. I didn't know who he-- or his old band, Texas' 13th Floor Elevators-- were but Chris played me the tapes and told me they were like the Texas version of the Grateful Dead. I was floored by what I heard and we put out The Evil One. In person, Roky was... pretty much just like his music.

Many years later, I was working at Sire Records and I helped another Roky fanatic, Bill Bentley, put together a tribute record of many of Roky's greatest songs. I was surprised such a diverse array of artists-- from R.E.M, Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream and Julian Cope to ZZ Top and Doug Sahm-- were eager to cover songs. This is the actual Roky version of "Two Headed Dog" from the 415 release:

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

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(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

The word "hippie" was just coming into common currency and as chairman of the Student Activities Board at my college I had a six-figure concert budget I was expected to spend on "adult music" like Dave Brubeck and... well, I never quite figured that out; didn't try hard enough. Instead I booked all these bands from California and England no one had ever heard of like the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Big Brother, The Who, the Doors, Moby Grape, and these guys, Country Joe & the Fish. About a third of the students always wanted to kill me and a third thought I was cool and the rest... were studying. I was always just a few votes from being impeached.

Back then long hair, weed, abhoring segregation and the war in Vietnam were all tied up with rock'n'roll. Here are Country Joe & the Fish doing three live songs: "Fixin' to Die Rag," "I Got Love, "Who Am I?"