Dark Star Orchestra

Celebrate Thanksgiving eve at Penn's Peak with Dark Star Orchestra!!
Dark Star Orchestra
Scott Larned and John Kadlecik started Dark Star Orchestra as just an idea and it has turned into a huge phenomenon with an immense following. John had an idea to perform complete Grateful Dead shows, but none of his bandmates at the time were into the idea. So, John let the idea pass and continued on with various bands. In 1997 John was looking to form a new band and someone suggested he call Scott Larned. When he contacted Scott, the response he received was shocking. Scott told John he had an idea about playing in a band that would cover entire shows out of DeadBase (John Scott's compendium of Grateful Dead setlists.) "I knew something was going to happen," was John's reaction to Scott's statement. After securing a few more band members, and having a brainstorming session for the band name, they managed to book four Tuesday night gigs at Martyrs' in Chicago. The first Tuesday (November 11, 1997) only garnered 78 people. The next week they doubled that number, the third week exponentially doubled that number and, by the fourth week, the show was sold out! Needless to say, they signed on for another four-week stance and, by year's end, they had become the regular Tuesday night houseband. By spring they had toured Colorado and were signed onto another standing gig on Wednesday nights in a West Chicago nightclub. This all due to the fact that they have proved to audiences everywhere that they are capable of recreating historic Grateful Dead set lists with compelling accuracy. One year later, almost to the day, they were performing their regular gig and Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman dropped by. They were still in town from the Phish show the previous night. They were so taken aback by DSO that Fishman sat in with them for the majority of the evening. This caused a buzz in the music world and soon the e-mails and phone calls were pouring in. That fall, during their second tour of Colorado, they practically sold out at every stop. By 1999, DSO was touring full time with some 250 dates per year all across the United States. All along the way they have been joined by such special guests as Tom Constanten, Vince Welnick, David Hidalgo, Bill Payne and David Nelson, just to name a few. Each show they play is a complicated affair. They try to pick a show that coincides with the date of the performance, but due to curfews and venue space, they cannot always make that happen. Whenever they play a show with the same date they feel it gives more cohesion to each performance. Dark Star Orchestra has been performing together from coast to coast for nine years to the tune of nearly 1500 shows. This proves the bands commitment to "raising the Dead."
Opening Act: The Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson
You may recall Donna Jean and The Tricksters playing at Penn's Peak, well they recently evolved into The Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson. Their sound is still the same, original rock and roll with lots of Grateful Dead in the mix, but they have a new name. Donna Jean is no stranger to the music scene having sung on Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" and Boz Scagg's first album. She spent the '70's singing with The Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band, then moved on to her own band, Heart of Gold, while also singing with Phil & Friends. Jeff Mattson joins the mix from the well-known Zen Tricksters. They were a legendary Grateful Dead influenced jam band. Over the years, Jeff has written songs for Donna Jean and Phil Lesh & Friends; whom he played with in 1999. He is a master at lead guitar and a true asset to the band. Rounding out The Donna Jean Godchaux Band is bassist/vocalist David MacKay, percussionist Joe Chirco and keyboardist/vocalist Mark Adler.
Which Grateful Dead show do you think DSO will play this time??
Tickets go on sale Saturday, September 12th at 10:00 am at all Ticketmaster outlets and at the Penn's Peak Ticket Office. Penn's Peak ticket sales are walk-up only, no phone orders.