Grateful Dead starts goodbye tour
The four surviving members of the Grateful Dead launched their farewell mini-tour Saturday in Northern California, where the legendary jam band got its start 50 years ago.
The first of the Dead’s five “Fare Thee Well” shows took place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, not far from the pizzeria where a five-man blues-rock band called The Warlocks played its first gig in May 1965. The group changed its name to the Grateful Dead seven months later and shortly after moved to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, the counterculture hub with which the Dead still are identified.
The band kicked off its Saturday show with “Truckin’ ,” one of the group’s signature songs. They will perform a second show in Santa Clara today before heading to Chicago for three shows at Soldier Field on July 3, 4 and 5. Soldier Field is where the Grateful Dead last played as a group before the death of lead guitarist-songwriter Jerry Garcia in August 1995.
The band’s so-called “core four” – rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and percussionists Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann – insist July 5 will be their last concert together. They recruited Phish front man Trey Anastasio as Garcia’s stand-in on guitar and vocals. Keyboardists Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti, best known for his work with Weir’s band RatDog, will round out the lineup.
Injured hand sidelines Fallon
“Tonight” show host Jimmy Fallon is on the shelf following a hand injury that required minor surgery Friday and forced NBC to cancel a taping of late-night TV’s most popular program.
Fallon tweeted Friday that he tripped and when he caught his fall, his ring caught on the side of a table and “almost ripped my finger off.”
“I’m doing well and thanks for good wishes everyone,” he tweeted.
He has some built-in recovery time since the show was scheduled to be on hiatus for the next two weeks.
“Tonight” was supposed to have Benicio Del Toro, Taylor Kitsch and Penn & Teller as guests Friday. NBC aired a rerun instead.
Rapper DMX arrested before show
Rapper DMX was arrested for failure to pay child support just as he was about to perform at Radio City Music Hall.
A spokesman for the New York City Sheriff’s Department said the 44-year-old rapper was taken into custody Friday for several “issues outstanding.” He said those included $400,000 worth of unpaid child support, a warrant issued by the city of White Plains, New York, for bail jumping and a robbery complaint out of Newark, New Jersey. No charges have been filed in the Newark case.
The rapper’s real name is Earl Simmons. He had been scheduled to perform at the Master of Ceremony concert at Radio City.
The birthday bunch
Comedian-movie director Mel Brooks is 89. Comedian-impressionist John Byner is 78. Actor Bruce Davison is 69. Actress Kathy Bates is 67. Actress Mary Stuart Masterson is 49. Actor John Cusack is 49. Rock musician Mark Stoermer (The Killers) is 38. Country singer Kellie Pickler is 29.