Over 50 items from the Jerry Garcia estate will be auctioned on eBay from February 20 to February 27. The items include appliances, bathroom fixtures, kitchen fixtures, and furniture that were in Jerry Garcia’s Nicasio, California house when purchased by Henry Koltys in 1997. All of the proceeds for the auction will go to The Sophia Foundation which is a non profit organization advocating for children that are victims of divorce. What a cool way to own a piece musical history and help out a great organization in the process! If you were wondering what I want for my birthday (not till May, but you can start shopping now) I will take the mail box! Jerry was such an amazing musician whose influence will reach far and deep for many many years to come.
Here is the info from the listing:

By the sale of these items, no disrespect is intended towards the memory of Jerry or his family. This auction and the Sophia Foundation are not affiliated with nor endorsed by either the Jerry Garcia Estate or the Grateful Dead. The Jerry Garcia Estate and the Sophia Foundation have signed a settlement agreement whereby this charity auction may proceed without interruption.

To view photos of the auction items and details, click Favorite Links below: Sophia Foundation — Photos and Details or go to www.sophia-foundation.org

Jerry owned this house from 1993-1995 and in 1997 the new owner removed fixtures and cabinets for a charity auction. The Sophia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to benefit children and families during separation or divorce. Auction proceeds will enable Sophia to donate a free version of KidsFirst! custody agreement and parenting plan software to parents in need. InCap Corporation has donated licenses of KidsFirst! software to Sophia for this use. www.kids-first.com and www.incap.com.

Over fifty interesting fixtures and cabinets removed from Garcia’s last home will be auctioned from Monday, February 20 to February 27. The goal is to raise much-needed funds intended to benefit millions of children each year. Since Sophia is a non-profit, the amount paid in excess of the value estimated by the foundation may be tax deductible depending on the successful bidder’s personal tax situation.Check with your tax professional to be sure.To authenticate the fixtures and cabinets, successful bidders will receive a copy of the deeds of sale to Jerry Garcia and from the Garcia Estate along with a signed declaration by the former owner of the house verifying the items were removed from the house.

And as always for your listening pleasure, the Pure Jerry Sampler:

MP3 Downloads:

Cats Under The Stars
Friend of the Devil
Keystone Jam
Mission in the Rain
Deal
Ripple

You can stream it here or download the flac here!

I miss Leftover Salmon, those guys were such a great slamgrass band! Their live performances were so much fun and pumped full of energy. I think that a huge ingredient in LoS polyethnic cajun slamgrass was frontman Vince Herman. The guy can truly captivate an audience and get the party started. I’ve seen many Leftover Salmon shows where everyone in the crowd was going completely nutty, dancing and hollering and a hooting!

Well, I’m glad to see the void is being filled with Vince Herman performing both solo and in various formations. This past fall, Vince played some gigs with bass virtuoso Rob Wasserman on the Spirit of Guthrie tour. Now, Vince is playing gigs with Randy Crouch and Cliff Starbuck as the Vince Herman Trio. I got my ears on an excellent Vince Herman Trio show from the Fox Theater in Boulder Colorado on January 5, 2006. This is a must listen for all you slamgrass fans out there! Welcome back Vince, and thanks for all the great times!

Here is the info:

The Vince Herman Trio
(first performance)
Fox Theatre
Boulder, Colorado
01-05-2006
Source: Soundboard > Nomad JB3
Taper: Brion Kean

The Vince Herman Trio is:
Vince Herman : guitar, mandolin and vocals
Randy Crouch : fiddle, guitar, and vocals
Cliff Starbuck : bass guitar and banjo

Download it here:

With everybody on broadband these days and thanks to the live music archive, there’s not much live music trading going on anymore. Sure there are the hard core collectors out there that will always be trying to perfect their collections. But for most people there is so much live music available at the click of the mouse that there is no need to strike up a trade or BnP anymore.

The days of trading ftp server logins have been taken over by bittorrent and high quality streams. All the new technology is great and I love having a never ending supply of live music, but I miss the connections that I made as a trader. Something about the whole process of doing a good old fashion snail mail trade was a ton of fun. I’d sit there and burn the CDs and carefully label them and send them off to their happy new owner. I’d constantly be getting great shows in the mail, which is almost like getting a present! Not anymore. Now, all I have to do is point my browser over to the live music archive and queue it up. Way easier, but lacking some of the nostalgic qualities. Maybe I’m just getting old, but part of me misses the good old days when I had to actually work to listen to great live music.

If you are interested in starting up an old school snail trade, check out my list and let me know if you see anything you like!