Band Beyond Description

If the Grateful Dead is your religion, then the Crazy Horse is your church when Third Thursday rolls around. Every month Jonny Mojo (Achilles Wheel), Gary Campus (Deadbeats) and Tim High (Tim High & the Mighty) host a cast of the finest musicians from around the region to conjure lightning in a bottle. BBD is a gathering point for everyone who wants to plug into the feeling of what it was like soaking in the otherworldly sounds at a Dead show while sharing the dance muse with the tribe. The music that bubbles forth from these nights captures the spontaneous, primal, orgasmic spirit that so many of us crave.

Jonny is a proverbial pied-piper who guides the flock to the promised land with his incredibly versatile guitar playing and passion for the music coursing through his veins. He is one of the brightest lights among Nor Cal GD guitar specialists. He lives and breathes this music like a fish swimming in the sea. Gary emanates pure joy in every beat and gracefully molds his style to elevate the strengths of his collaborators. He’s been a rhythmic instigator in the region for 45 years now and is more fired up than ever. Nothing makes Tim happier than singing Grateful Dead songs as is evident by his assertive and heartfelt renditions of the classics as well as obscurities.

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to be privy to the improvisational wizardry of Reed Mathis here at the Crazy Horse on many occasions. There are no normal moments when Reed is onstage. A member of Bill Kreutzmann’s Billy and the Kids and Mahalo Dead, Reed is an expert at turning the GD catalog upside down and inside out. Reed is nothing short of a force of nature as anyone can attest who has witnessed his passion on display with a vast spectrum of bands including Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Electric Beethoven, Tea Leaf Green, Steve Kimock & Friends, Golden Gate Wingmen and Bone Diggers (his most recent regional performance at Rosebud Ranch last October). Spoiler Alert: Reed has a strong affinity toward the Bob Dylan side of the Grateful Dead equation and we most certainly expect he’ll be evoking that muse.

In the need to match Reed’s improvisational prowess, of course we had to invite Samuel Phelps (Philharmonik, Jelly Bread) to provide the interdimensional keyboard counterpoints. Sam summons sounds from the deep wells of the cosmos in ways both mind-bending and beautiful. He is fearless in embracing every opportunity to stretch the boundaries while stepping in to a rocket ship of electro-funk exotica. Providing some sense of earthly grounding and reason amidst all the madness is Mr. Rock-Steady himself, Murph Murphy on bass. He has been a BBD guest more than any because you simply can’t do any better than having this cerebral Jedi spinning the low-end acrobatics in his own quiet way.

Host or Publisher Crazy Horse Saloon and Grill