Oct 12, 2007 ::
Global Mickey Hart on The Grateful Dead Channel: Sirius Satellite

Mickey and Global Drum Project will be appearing live on Sirius Satellite Radio on The Grateful Dead Channel on Monday October 15th at 1:30pm EST.  Mickey will be playing exclusive live tracks from the recent Global Drum Tour as well as speaking to his bandmates Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hidalgo, and Sikiru Adepoju about their new album just released last week.  Tune In on Monday!

Oct 5, 2007 ::
Global Drum Project Album Release

Now Available:
Shout Factory Store
Amazon
iTunes

Click Here To Preview The New Tracks!


Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart’s innovative Planet Drum CD convened some of the world’s finest drum talent for a collaboration that won the very first GRAMMY for world music—bringing together Nigerian drum legend Babatunde Olatunji, Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, Nigerian talking drum ace Sikiru Adepoju, and Puerto Rico’s master conguero Giovanni Hidalgo, among others. The 1991 album spent an unprecedented 26 weeks at #1 on the Billboard world music chart, and continues to sell as a perennial favorite.

Fifteen years later, the musical partnership of Hart and Hussain—which began with their groundbreaking 1970s world fusion experiment Diga Rhythm Band—resumes, with a fresh collaboration of tranced-out grooves, elegant electronic programming and hypnotic tuned percussion and again enlists the great partnership of Adepoju and Hidalgo. This time they are joined by Taufiq Qureshi on percussion & vocals, Niladari Kumar on sitar, Dilshad Khan on sarangi, and the late, great Olatunji in sampled vocals from the original sessions. Elements from Hart’s various world music recordings, including the Kaluli tribespeople of Papua New Guinea’s rainforest, are woven with the live performances into a danceable, multi-textured celebration of rhythm.

March 1, 2007 ::
Steven Feld's latest projects
Producer of Voices of the Rainforest

THE CASTAWAYS PROJECT
by Virginia Ryan and Steven Feld

Double DVD package includes:
-32 page art catalog of Castaways by Virginia Ryan
-62 minute ambient audio CD, Anomabo Shoreline by Steven Feld
-15 minute video on DVD, Where Water Touches Land by Steven Feld
Now Available: http://cdbaby.com/cd/ryanfeld

POR POR: HONK HORN MUSIC OF GHANA
Smithsonian Folkways - Produced by Steven Feld

72 minute CD, 40 page booklet with 42 color and historic black and white photos and liner notes.
Now Available: http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=3159

Steven Felds Website: http://www.voxlox.net

February 7, 2007 ::
Rhythm Devils Head to the Grammies
Grateful Dead To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at 49th Annual Grammys

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors lifelong artistic contributions to the recording medium while the Trustees Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing capacity. Both awards are decided by vote of The Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY Award recipients are determined by The Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing members and The Academy's Trustees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.

"This year's group of accomplished honorees are as diverse as they are influential as creators of the most renowned and prominent recordings in the world," said Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. "Their contributions exemplify the highest artistic and technical standards that have positively affected the music industry and music fans."

Formal acknowledgment of these special merit awards will be made at an invitation-only ceremony during GRAMMY Week, as well as during the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be held at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.

July 30, 2006 ::
The Rhythm Devils Featuring Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann Hit The Road!

The Rhythm Devils are re-forming in 2006 for a series of appearances beginning this August.Ê After hosting this year's Jammy's in New York City, Mickey & BillÊdecided to take The Rhythm Devils to the next level.Ê Although they existed within The Grateful Dead for over three decades, this willÊmark the first time The Rhythm Devils have appeared as a touring group outside of the Dead.ÊÊThe Rhythm Devils Êwelcomed manyÊspecial guestsÊat their inaugural appearances in New York City thatÊincluded Mike Gordon, Charlie Musselwhite, Babba Maal, Angelique Kidjo, Steve Kimock, Stephen Perkins, and The Mutaytor.

Hart & Kreutzmann'sÊremarkable cohesion, synchronicity, and driving power would a be a hallmark of theÊGrateful Dead'sÊsound forÊover thirty years, earning them the nickname The Rhythm Devils .Ê The percussive duo's sole release was The 'Apocalypse Now Sessions' for which they were recruited by director Francis Ford Coppola to bring together the myriad sounds and "colors" for the legendary film.Ê Coppola was in the process of conceptualizing his musical underpinnings of "Apocalypse Now" when he attended a Grateful Dead concertÊand found the perfect accompaniment for his cinematic vision of the Apocalypse.

Both have kept busy over the years participating in numerous projects from the Grammy winning percussive supergroup Planet Drum which brought Mickey together with Zakir Hussain and many of the world's best drummers, to the one-off power trio SerialPod in which Kreutzmann collaborated with Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon of Phish.ÊÊThe Rhythm Devils areÊbrimming with excitement to get back on the road.ÊÊMickey HartÊsays,Ê"The starsÊare finally aligned to have some of our closest musical friendsÊplaying together in one group."

The Rhythm Devils plan to make high profile appearances at festivals and special events from coast to coast kicking offÊthis AugustÊrolling out new material, choice covers, and a fewÊchestnuts from the GD songbook.ÊÊThey will release a handful of tracks from the New York City Rhythm Devils show at The Canal Room. Stay Tuned for music downloads and more devilish info.
Click Here for Tour Dates

July 30, 2006 ::
Planet Drum On Tour Again!

The Planet Drum 2006 Tour reunites Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo for a September series of West Coast shows in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the ground-breaking album of that name. Planet Drum was released in 1991 on the Rykodisc label and went on to earn the first-ever Grammy in the World Music category. The tour is the groups first in almost a decade. It also marks the resumption of an artistic relationship - between Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain - that goes back to the late 1960s.

For Hart, this reunion is an opportunity to take Planet Drum into new places. ÒThis is a deep drumming groove. We're taking the archaic rhythm worlds into outer space. Planet Drum explores rhythm and noiseÉit's a sound yoga of processed acoustic percussion headed straight for the trance zone that becomes a dance of ancient and modern worlds. Deep drumming is a skeleton key into these realms.Ó
Click Here for Tour Dates

For more on Hamza el Din's life please visit www.hamzaeldin.com.

Later, Weir and Hart performed with Flying Other Brothers for a good chunk of its set, including on such choice numbers as "Uncle John's Band," "New Minglewood Blues," Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," "Down the Road," "Cassidy" and "Iko Iko." All the evening's performers then emerged for final jams based around "Black Muddy River" and "Goin Down the Road Feelin Bad," with Senator Leahy and his wife Marcelle Pomerleau Leahy supplying backup vocals at the end of the night.

After performances from Steve Earle and Gillian Welch, Mickey Hart led an all-star band which included Les Claypool keyboardist Kitaro, RatDog guitarist Mark Karan and drummer Jay Lane. Joan Baez also stopped by to send Wavy Gravy her birthday wishes, joining Hart and singer Linda Tillery for a version of "Iko Iko." Hart's performance later gave way to an all-star drum jam, during which a group of belly dancers fanned Wavy Gravy onstage.

Performing five shows in three days, Hart mixes it up during the Jammy Awards and Green Apple Music Festival taking place in New York throughout the past week. Kicking things off Wednesday night with a stirring performance at the jam packed Canal Room, Hart and Grateful Dead bandmate Bill Kreutzmann appeared for the first time outside of the Grateful Dead as The Rhythm Devils. Hosting an all-star band of Jammys performers, including Mike Gordon of Phish, Steve Kimock, Charlie Musselwhite, Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo, among several additional percussionists, dancers and DJ's known as The Mutaytor. The Rhythm Devils explored a wide range of percussion based sounds, ranging from drum-and-bass electronica to tribal influenced world music.

At the end of the night, Hart led both his ensemble and the entire audience onto the streets for a extended, evening closing drum jam to the tune of "Not Fade Away." Hart and Kreutzmann then co-hosted the Jammy Awards Thursday night, followed by Hart leading the same cadre of artists in front of Grand Central Station for Earth Day, with non other than Walter Cronkite on stage keeping the beat with the relative youngsters.Ê At the end of the performance all Walter wanted to know was, "can we do this again tomorrow. I haven't had so much fun in years. If that wasn't enough, Hart then made the rounds Friday night joining Kimock / Perkins, and then Particle for their respective club dates.

Jammys Highlight More Diverse Scene
ABC News Fri, 21 Apr 2006 3:11 PM PDT
Jammy Awards Highlight More Diverse Jam-Band Scene; New Faces Seen Among Familiar Ones

Jammy Awards handed out in New York
UPI Fri, 21 Apr 2006 5:24 PM PDT
NEW YORK, April 21 (UPI) -- Frank Zappa received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award and Bob Dylan took home video of the year at the sixth annual Jammy Awards in New York.