Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

As long as there are Deadheads, August 1st will be a day of celebration. Jerry Garcia's 56th birthday will be celebrated between 8 p.m. and midnight on August 1 on Against the Grain on WICN (90.5 FM). "I'll be playing everything from the bluegrass stuff he did with Old and In the Way up to the Grateful Dead," says host Dave DiBiasio.

Meanwhile "Grateful" George Jodaitis, who celebrates the Grateful Dead every Sunday from 10 p.m. to midnight on Grateful Radio on WCUW (91.3 FM), says he doesn't have a special show planned this week, though people have been known to drop in to share unaired recordings over the airwaves. "I'm just trying to keep some tasty shows on," says Jodaitis, who recently acquired a new tape recorder, which puts him back in the collectors' market. "I'm in the early stages of getting new material."

How does someone choose between hundreds of shows? Jodaitis just picked up the Deadhead's Taping Compendium, a new book by Dupree's Diamond News, a magazine for Deadheads that's similar to the widely distributed Relix Magazine. "The Compendium's helping me narrow down my want list. This volume goes from 1959 with Phil Lesh and [Ron] `Pig Pen' [McKernan] up to 1974. They'll probably have to have at least four more installments, if they want to keep it like this one.

"It goes even further than The Deadlist, which has the set lists for every show [the Dead ever played]. It contains even more research with a history of Dead taping, and all taping in general, including the hassles that were involved. Grateful Dead roadies used to cut your chords if they saw you taping, so people would set up dummy tapers just to throw them off. They eventually got sick of chasing everyone and stopped hassling people, setting up special taping areas and it got big. People would go in with reel-to-reel tape recorders. . . . When the Dead went on an extended hiatus in 1974, [Deadheads] had nothing to do but trade tapes."

Jodaitis recently received two new recordings from Grateful Dead Records. Dick's Pick's #11 is a three-CD set of the Sterling Theater show in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1972. The Sons of Champlin Live is a recent recording of the Bay Area-band who missed out on national success despite having been recognized as one of its best outfits. "They were around but didn't get as much coverage. They weren't your typical '60s psychedelic band. They were the guys on the hill listening to James Brown -- hippies with a funky beat." They reunited after a two-decade break, and those with brain cells intact say they sound better than ever.

Although Grateful Radio is primarily a Grateful Dead showcase, Jodaitis encourages bands, especially those of the jam persuasion, to send in their tapes and CDs for airplay. Send them to Grateful George, WCUW, 910 Main Street, Box 42, Worcester 01610.

THE QUEEN OF CAFFEINE, Boston's Kerri Powers, appears on Richard Fox's CrossTracks on August 4 at 7:30 a.m. on WCUW. He'll find out what she's been up to since releasing 3 Houses (Queen of Caffeine) at the start of the year. The following week, on August 11, Sam Pacetti, a magical guitarist in the style of Martin Simpson (who mesmerized the Plantation Club in December), will be Fox's guest. He earned comparisons to Leo Kottke and John Fahey with 1997's Solitary Travel (Waterbug).