We’ve been hearing rumors of a summer tour…

Nothing is finalized yet. As I was saying earlier, its kind of cosmic how things come together. There has been some offers made. We haven’t really sorted them out yet. Something could happen in August, but I have no idea who it’s going to be. Or where. But there is a possibility.

Speaking of which, since we’re an internet magazine, it’s amazing what a role the internet plays in getting the word out on bands.

Yeah, I’m finding that out just now. In fact we don’t even care if the media come to my shows, we don’t give them free tickets. I don’t care. I get all the feedback I care from the internet. Its certainly a larger statistical sampling than one review that comes with a particular set of prejudices, but it is certainly illuminating, to read everybody’s different comments.

So you read a lot of the reviews on the internet?

You bet. I check out the news groups, the user groups, and I also check out Deadnet central. where a lot of hard-core Deadheads are.

There were a lot of reviews that were tremendously glowing.

Yes there were.

But then there were some that were resistant to other groups like Phish?

Everybody has their own likes and dislikes, but heck I’m just going to play music with people that turn me on. I don’t care where they were first. I don’t care where they started out or came from.

Well there are a lot of talented players to choose from.

It’s a neat thing that there are so many jambands out there. It is truly mind boggling. I mean, just in the Bay area, there is a whole pool of musicians that sort of rotate around and form different kinds of bands you know, doing that kind of music, and it’s really exciting, and that’s how I got started doing what I’m doing, is I discovered there is this whole pool of musicians that knew Grateful Dead material really well. And I went to see some friends of mine who played in one of these outfits, its kind of an ad-hoc outfit where the personnel would change from time to time. And it was hallucinatory, I walked in there and you could hear the music from outside, and it was like one of those dreams I’ve had many times, where it’s like Spinal Tap and I’m in the bowels of some gig, some coliseum somewhere, trying to find my way through the ventilation ducts and the storage areas… yet all the time I can hear the music and the whole band is on stage, and there is even somebody playing bass, and its really strange, so it’s kind of like that, a dream experience to hear this music played like that, not by me.

Is that the first time you have ever seen another group cover your material?

Yeah, pretty much. Well, I should say cover it so well- so that it was almost virtually impossible to distinguish it from what I remember us doing. Then I went there that night and sort of sat in. Then I started playing Phil and Friends gigs with some of these guys and that just started getting the whole thing going.

Well that must have been a thrill.

For everyone, and a weird experience to boot.

Can you talk a little bit about the importance of musicians leading by example and giving back to the community?

Well, you just said it. In a way, that’s always what Grateful Dead did. When we started out, once we could eat and had a roof over our head, we would play for free in the park whenever we could. And then of course, in the old days, there were benefits all the time, and we played as many as we could. But as time went on we couldn’t play every benefit, not even one-tenth of the benefits that were asked of us, so then we started a foundation. In my mind, it’s an obligation for people like us who are so prominent in the public eye to contribute, to give back to the community as many ways as possible. Sometimes that involves playing free shows, which is not as easy to do as it might sound, because of security problems essentially. If you are going to do a free show, where are you going to play it? How many people are going to come there? Are they going to trash the place? What’s the city going to do? Are you going to prepare the local neighborhood for this and so on? If you are an act that’s only known locally, you can get away with this a lot easier. Free gigs are less practical now than they were in the sixties, but I think its the responsibility of each musical organization or individual to do something whether host benefits or perform in benefits or create their own foundation. I really think its an obligation

The Thing about jamband music especially, is that its a metaphor for the kind of cooperation that you can use in society,. You see five or six people up on stage creating something out of thin air as it were, to me that’s a metaphor for what can happen in a community. It only takes a few people to get something going.

What can our readers to get involved in their own communities?

It think it depends on your community, how many people you have around you that are like minded. Every community has its own problems, and it own solutions. My advice would be look around. See what bothers you, see if there is something that seems unjust to you or out of balance, and then find other people who agree and then get together and try to do something about it. There is no set of rules. that you can just follow. The situation is what’s in charge, and you have to tailor your actions to the reality.

You spoke so eloquently about the importance of becoming an organ donor. I feel it bears repeating.

Well, I’m only alive today because someone died and their family was generous enough and courageous enough to donate their organs to whomever might need them. They didn’t know that liver was going to go to me. But in their grief and in that terrible hour of tragedy they had that courage and nobility to give life to others, and if I’m not mistaken the organs from one person can save the lives or improve the quality of life for at least eight people. And the thing about it is there is a tremendous shortage of organs, and there is a tremendous amount of people that are waiting for these organs that are on the verge of death. I just read today that one state is going to offer a reward for organ donations. They’ll defray up to x number of dollars off the funeral expenses. People are trying to figure out incentives for organ donation, which in far as I’m concerned, whatever it takes to get it happening. Individuals, if they do desire to be an organ donor at their death, not only should they fill out the little card with their drivers license, but the most important thing is to notify their families, preferably in writing that it is their irrevocable desire be an organ donor at their death. Remember, its not you that has to make that decision at the moment. You’re gone. Your family at that moment of tremendous grief, and trauma in their lives, will be approached by the doctor who will say “do you wish to donate so and so’s organs?” And a lot of times, people will just say “No, no. I can’t think about that now.” If the family is aware in advance that someone wishes to become an organ donor, it eases that pain and makes it possible for the organs to be donated easily with less trauma. In other words, if the family is prepared, it will be a lot easier on everybody. And the end result will be their will be a lot more organs and more lives will be saved.

Also blood donations are tremendously important. In the Bay area over the Christmas holiday, when there is a lot of accidents, over New Year’s particularly. there is a shortage of whole blood in the Bay area. I think blood donations are equally important. In fact, if anyone knows they are going to have surgery or fears they are going to have problems in the future, you can donate your own blood and have it held for you indefinitely, I believe.

One other thing I need to mention is a lot of doctors are not aware of the realities of special disease, the transplantation parameters. I received misinformation and my wife also received misinformation from qualified medical personnel about the age possibilities of transplants and other various possibilities of that. The doctors need to be more aware of what the current situation is in various specialties. And I would also recommend that if anyone ever has liver problems, or heart problems or lung problems or kidney problems, not to stay with a GP, or if you have a liver problem, don’t stay with your gastrointestinal doctor, go to a specialist, a hepatoligist, go to a cardiologist, etc. Even your insurance company can be tweaked to allow for all this. You have to be aggressive, because there is such an overload of information that the doctors can’t keep up unless they are specialists. I never realized as well as I do now the value of a second, third, or even fourth opinion.

That’s a lesson to be learned.

Yes, it is especially as we all grow older.

While you were recovering, there was a tremendous amount of love and healing energy sent your way. Could you talk a little bit about what that meant to you?

To me, that was the key to my rapid recovery. I must say that from the time that I became ill back in September to the time till now really, the amount of energy, love and healing light that has been sent me has been palpable. I can read about it on the net. I can go back down through these hundreds, thousands of posts that read “Healing love and light to you Phil,” with graphics and beautiful roses, and all kinds of stuff. It’s kind of overwhelming really. At one point they had five minutes of prayer on a Sunday afternoon at noon, and Jill and I went out there on the porch and just opened ourselves up, I mean I could feel it. I could feel this glow, and it wasn’t from the sun. It was from inside. I know what that was , that was the community. Not only did it generate healing power in me, but it brought the community closer together, just in that act of knowing that you’re doing something that thousands of other people are doing at the same time. That creates a sense of community, a sense of value , and a sense of meaning. that is very very powerful.

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