40Th Anniv Release Of American Beauty 12/11/10

[stlblues]

St. Louis' GD cover band Jake's Leg will perform this classic album LIVE in its entirety ONE exclusive night only, in two limited-capacity shows (only 100 admissions per show). 9PM and 11PM Saturday December 11, 2010.

http://www.jakesleg.com

Atomic Cowboy

4140 Manchester in The Grove

St. Louis, MO 63110

http://www.atomiccowboystl.com/

With special historical perspective provided by Jim Bruce of KDHX's "Deader Than Ever"

http://kdhx.org/play/radio-shows/deader-than-ever

[New York Steve]

St. Louis' GD cover band Jake's Leg will perform this classic album LIVE in its entirety ONE exclusive night only, in two limited-capacity shows (only 100 admissions per show). 9PM and 11PM Saturday December 11, 2010.

http://www.jakesleg.com

Atomic Cowboy

4140 Manchester in The Grove

St. Louis, MO 63110

http://www.atomiccowboystl.com/

With special historical perspective provided by Jim Bruce of KDHX's "Deader Than Ever"

http://kdhx.org/play/radio-shows/deader-than-ever

I miss deader than ever...great show and better station....

[stlblues]

I miss deader than ever...great show and better station....

KDHX does an archive stream for all their programs, so you can LISTEN to the last two broadcasts of Deader than Ever.

Here's the link to the Deader than Ever archive stream:

http://kdhx.fm/archives/archive_gen.php?show=deaderthanever

[stlblues]

Jake's Leg to play Dead's 'American Beauty' at holiday event

BY KEVIN C. JOHNSON > St. Louis Post-Dispatch Pop Music Critic

Friday, December 10, 2010

When Atomic Cowboy owner Chip Schloss approached the band Jake's Leg with the idea of performing a Grateful Dead album in its entirety for its holiday party this weekend, the response was an easy yes.

But Dave Casper, lead guitarist for the St. Louis band, says "American Beauty" is not the Grateful Dead album he would have selected.

Though they're experts at Grateful Dead material, the 40-year-old classic "American Beauty" poses challenges.

"There's four songs on the album we've never played, and they're tricky. We had to do our homework," he says. "They don't follow the typical songwriting format. There's a reason why we hadn't played those songs."

Casper says "American Beauty" won't have folks in Atomic Cowboy on the floor grooving. "It's a studio album. It doesn't completely fit in a bar."

Still, Casper considers "American Beauty" a masterpiece.

"The album is very different from how they evolved into this very electric, very jam-oriented band," Casper says. "It was very Americana. It had roots in American music. It was acoustic, though they do play electric on it. Every song on it is really well-written. The Dead were great songwriters."

Playing a Grateful Dead album in full is new for Jake's Leg, despite the band's longtime affinity for knocking out Dead material.

Jake's Leg is commonly referred to as a Grateful Dead cover band or tribute band, but Casper says he'd rather answer to neither.

"I try to shy away from being called that," he says. "We don't just play Grateful Dead, though that's the vast majority of it. We do other stuff like the Jerry Garcia Band, which is more straight blues material."

Casper says instead of covering the Dead's music, he and group members Joe Trunko, Randy Furrer, Ryan Wilhite and Bill Noltkamper put their stamp on it with their own interpretations. This is different from a tribute band like Dark Star Orchestra, which plays the entire set list of vintage Dead concerts.

"It's Grateful Dead songs, but the jams and improvs are Jake's Leg, and I don't think I play like Garcia," says Casper, adding he believes Grateful Dead was more laid back than Jake's Leg.

"We put a torch behind it with a different energy," he says.

This isn't the first time Jake's Leg has collaborated with Atomic Cowboy and Schloss.

Over the summer, the band was part of Atomic Cowboy's event in honor of Garcia's birthday. Casper knew Schloss took it seriously when Schloss called the event the Starfire Music Festival, naming it for Garcia's first guitar.

"That was clever of him. That was something only insiders would know," he says. "We were both looking down the line for a relationship between Jake's Leg and the bar. He had this suggestion, and I thought it was a great idea, something different that might attract people who maybe haven't paid attention to us but are fans of the Dead."

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/kevin-johnson/article_0303be65-c48f-5170-8d6f-24562eae32c9.html