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Happy Spring! No tricks here, just music… two great shows this month. I am stoked for the 420 at Toms River Brewing event on 4/20. There will be great beer, food truck and artisan shakedown street as well as three set of live music! Playing an acoustic set followed by two electric sets with the band. The fun starts at 4pm and goes till 9. Free, 21+ and family friendly.

The next weekend I am back at MJ’s in Tinton Falls (map) Saturday 4/27 for a night of acoustic music starting at 7pm. It’s a cool upstairs bar with a laid back vibe. If you are in Monmouth County, or just looking for a great night out, I hope to see you there!

Have you heard the new single “Horizontal Lines“? It’s live on all digital music services including Spotify and Apple, just search for Grateful Dave and enjoy!

Oh yeah, about the fool. It’s from the tarot deck and I’m pretty sure has nothing to do with April Fools’ Day which even the most learned wizards and scholars have been unable to agree upon in terms of the origin of this mischievous holiday, until now. The true origin of April Fool Day comes from my own family tree! My great-great-great-great grandma actually began the tradition of tricking people on April 1st with a variety of pranks like screaming “fire” at church and freezing pints of beer before serving them to patrons at the local pub. She was known as “The Prankster of 8 Mile Road” across the City of Detroit and the entire midwest. So now you know too!

😉

I’m getting Spring fever. At least we have music to keep our spirits up!

On March 11, 2024 I have a new song “Horizontal Line” out on all digital music platforms. It’s an acoustic song and I really love how it turned out. Came up with several versions including one with the band before settling on the final version, a simple acoustic guitar and vocal performance. I’m also proud that the vocal and rhythm guitars were cut live together in one take, I just love the idea of a performance on the recording not a cut and paste production. The cover photo was taken with my phone on a walk down the boardwalk in Island Heights. It was a foggy morning and the river was a smooth as glass. There is no “photoshop” just a little filter to warm it up. Normally you would see the other side of the riverbank, it was just a magic moment!

New Grateful Dave singles playlist on Spotify

This month I will be crazy busy preparing and performing for a run on live theatre dates in the pit orchestra for “Big Fish” at Point Pleasant High School. Lending guitar work to the school musical has become a tradition for me, and although I don’t know show yet, I’m sure the cast will make it memorable. It’s a treat to play in a large orchestra with a mix of other professionals and students. For ticket info visit the PPHS page.

If you don’t already follow on Instagram please do for all the latest updates and random photos and videos from gigs. Looks like the profile will hit 3,000 followers soon!

It’s almost Fat Tuesday and I’m thrilled to announce a new single is dropping on all streaming platforms! The song “In the Groove” has a funky gumbo vibe with a spicy taste of guitar! Recorded live in the studio at Central Avenue Productions in Island Heights, New Jersey and features my buddy Josh Mosh on drums and cymbals with our good pal Bob Sislian on the electric bass. The release date is 2-13-2024 FAT TUESDAY!

I shared the demo version of “In the Groove” with Bob and Josh and then we got together in the studio, to my delight Josh busted out a stone-cold Funky Meters inspired groove and we just jumped in. The sound was awesome and we just did a quick arrangement and hit record. My approach to recording is to “catch lightning in a bottle” and that was what went down at the session. If you dig The Meters, Dr. John or Professor Longhair you will feel those roots in the song for sure. Here is a link to my Spotify Artist Profile for Grateful Dave

Two live gigs back to back this month and I have something special planned for each one. Friday 2-9-2024 at Toms River Brewing is a Grateful Dead heavy acoustic show at my favorite local tasting room. Then Saturday in Point Pleasant at Half Moon Point I’m going to pull out lots of covers from all my favorite artists from rock, pop, reggae and beyond! I hope see you there!

This month I had the pleasure to record the talented Sam Sims who crafts beautiful pop songs with his unique acoustic vibe and captivating vocals. I can’t wait for you to hear that too! March is a busy month of working with a pit orchestra at the Point Boro High School production of “BIG FISH”. Check the link for tickets, these shows tend to sell out every night! Each year I set aside a few weeks to prepare and perform with the pit orchestra for their shows. It’s always a challenge and rewarding experience to play along side their exceptional student musicians as well as our mix of professionals.

See you out there and thank you for listening and supporting live music! Have a great Fat Tuesday and if you make it to a show please come say hey!

Peace, Dave

Hello all and happy new year! I hope you get to enjoy all the little moments in your life that make the effort and passion worth it! I’m looking forward to a busy month of music and also closing the first chapter of “Grateful Dave”.

Back in December of 2022 I began posting covers of my favorite Grateful Dead, Phish and Pink Floyd songs on Instagram. I was pleasantly surprised by the feedback and followers that were enjoying the music so I kept it up, promoted some of the content and started writing and releasing my own original music too. 2023 was a year of live gigs and a ton of fun with new people!

As I look ahead into 2024 it’s both a beginning of a new chapter of music as well as the closing of the first chapter in the “helping friendly book of Dave” as there will never be another beginning like this. Thanks for being a part of it and I will see you in the new year with some more original music and lots of gigs too!

January 4th I’m playing at the Pig & Parrot in Brielle for a little private event then 1/12 join me at Icarus Brewing in Lakewood, NJ for their 7th anniversary celebration (6pm, 1 hour set) and finally this month I am joining the Sam Sims Band on guitar 1/20 for the Light of Day Foundation event at The Asbury Hotel, 9pm.

Thanks for listening and streaming Grateful Dave music on all platforms. When you add the songs to your playlists it really helps me reach more listeners so thanks again! Peace, Dave

Hope all is well and happy holidays and merry Christmas to you all! Played my last two gigs of 2023 and looking forward to a couple January, 2024 dates. I plan to play the “Light of Day” benefit series in Asbury Park with Sam Sims and the Icarus Brewing Anniversary event in Lakewood. Details will be posted on Instagram…

I’m thankful more than ever as I look back on an incredible first year performing as GratefulDave, it’s very rewarding to go out and play all the songs and artists that I love so much. Thanks to everyone that is streaming my music around the world and those that are coming out to local gigs here, down the Jersey Shore.

Have a happy holiday and New Year too!

Peace,

Dave

Where did the summer go? I can’t believe how quickly Halloween came and went and that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. About one year ago I launched my Instagram and started posting videos to YouTube. We just reached 2,500 followers on Instagram and it’s great to have so many new connections around my love of music.

The music streaming has also been slowly gaining followers too. We had a peak of 250 monthly listeners when the first single dropped and have maintained around 90 to a 100 monthly Spotify listeners since then. I have seen about 3,000 streams on Spotify which is another amazing thing I’m grateful for this season.

I plan to record more Grateful Dead cover videos this month and have upgraded my game with a GoPro to hopefully make the video a little higher quality. I have learned a lot more of my favorite Dead tunes and am looking forward to sharing them on YouTube over the next few weeks.

Two live gigs coming up: MJ’s in Tinton Falls on Saturday, December 2nd at 7pm and one more at my favorite local tasting room Toms River Brewing, Friday December 8th at 5pm. If you are in the Jersey Shore area please come out for a real good time!

I’m also working on a new song that I’m calling “Sunshine” and hope to find the time to get a demo done soon and hopefully release it by the end of 2023!

October 2023, and another circle around the sun for me. Life is such and adventure and it’s a treat to have a little more time on earth. I look forward to another year of family, friends and of course music. My last gig of the year is scheduled for December 2nd at MJ’s Tintin Falls, NJ. Follow me on Instagram for the latest updates @gratefuldavemusic

I’m spending the next several weeks rehearsing and recording some of my favorite cover tunes to release on YouTube and also taking some time to rest, reflect and just enjoy myself after a long 2023 season of live gigs. Thanks to Bob and Josh (the band), the venue staff and of course my friends and fans for supporting live music. I’m already looking forward to 2024 and hope to be back to regular live shows for February and beyond!

I have a clip from the last gig on 9/30 at Toms River Brewing that will be posted to YouTube shortly. It’s Sugaree (Grateful Dead), Bug (Phish) and Farmhouse (Phish). There was a technical problem on my recording device so not much past the first 30 minutes made it on the recording.

The single “Beautiful Moments” is now streaming along with my other two originals, “The Way” and “Hug the World”, so please stream, follow and share. It really helps me reach more music fans.

Have a beautiful fall season. Peace, Dave

It’s the most wonderful time of the year on the Jersey Shore, it’s warm, lots of beautiful days and most of the tourists have headed home. It’s called “local summer”. We had a fun gig at the Idle Hour last Friday and it was a pleasure to jam out with the electric trio for a few hours. Thanks to the local community that came out to hear some dead tunes. We went late and also played some cool Stick Figure and Slightly Stooped as the room started to get a little younger near the 1am mark.

Next up I’m playing at Toms River Brewing on September 30th and I have a couple private events before then to round out the weekends.

Two new songs are coming out this month! The first was a request from a fan that wanted a song to enter the wrestling ring to, he’s a self-described ‘psychedelic sweetheart’ that is spreading love through wrestling. Sounds crazy but he’s actually a cool dude! The song “Hug the World” drops Friday 9/15/23.

The second song is one that I spent a lot of time on and means a lot to me. It will be out on world peace day 9/21/23 on all platforms “Beautiful Moments”. Is also has a beautiful bit of artwork on the cover made by a good friend of mine Michael Brzozowski whose work I’ve admired and collected going back many years.

The new song “Beautiful Moments” is set for digital release on September 21, 2023 on all streaming platforms! This date is also World Peace Day which commemorates the founding on the UN (I think) and in a general way peace is something that I believe to be a human right and so the date works for me.

The album artwork is by Michigan artist Michael Brzozowski whose work I’ve admired and collected going back many years. I was stoked when he agreed to let us use this painting for the single. I asked Mike for some info about the work and this is what he told me.

I paddled out one evening and was inspired by the fading light and the setting sun. The interesting part of this place is that you can see the sunrise and sunset. It faces north towards Drummond island. I haven’t titled it but if I did it might be North Coast Son. The original painting was painted at the Port Austin Artist Residency during July 16th using Acrylic Paint on a 48×36 canvas. There is something very intimate and beautiful about being in the water during the evening. I was trying to capture the depth of space and light within this place.  

Michael Brzozowski

Beautiful Moments was written in about 15 minutes and I may release the acoustic demo version later this winter as it’s pretty good in just a raw voice/guitar arrangement. Like most of my music I just want to play and record songs that I like and want to play and share live. I was given great advice about lyrics which is to just tell the truth and that is what guides my writing. As far the the guitar work I had a lot of fun adding some wild effects including my favorite “Jerry Tone” and some heavy duty synth-fuzz madness that is buried in the mix during the jam section. I really hope you enjoy it!

September Gigs

I am playing the Idle Hour in Point Pleasant with the trio on Friday 9/8 with a late start time of 9:30, joking with the promoter that it’s past our bed time. Looking to bust out some early Grateful Dead blues tunes and beyond!

Later this month I am back at my favorite local venue Toms River Brewing for an evening of acoustic music. It’s a great spot with tasty beers so definitely come check it out. Capacity is 60 people, first come first serve seating. Saturday September 30, 4pm.

Hey there, we are gifting OG logo sticker packs to three Instagram followers. The winners will be randomly selected August 26, 2023. It’s just for fun, so head over to the Grateful Dave Music Insta profile to get in on it. Here is a link.