Terrapin Flyer feat. Melvin Seals & Mark Karan

also with The Schwag

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 • Doors 8pm • Show 9pm • $15 Advance • $18 Day of Show • Over 18 Only

Terrapin Flyer began in 1999 as the house band for the Sunday Grateful Dead Jam at the Boulevard Cafe in Chicago. Through the many associations developed there and many that have continued since, the band has grown into one of the premier Grateful Dead inspired touring acts in the nation. The band draws from the a variety of skilled musicians including Grateful Dead keyboardists Tom Constanten, Bob Bralove and Vince Welnick (RIP). They also tour with Jerry Garcia Band organist Melvin Seals and Ratdog guitarist Mark Karan. Additionally, they have done one off shows with guest musicians such as grammy award winning blues harpist Sugar Blue, guitar prodigy Fareed Haque, Furthur guitarist John Kadlecik and musician, songwriter and music journalist David Gans. The band has headlined major festivals and prominent venues across the nation.

From the band’s humble beginnings sprang forth an ever growing network of musicians. From a loosely associated group of musicians at a jam night, a band began to develop. The original band came into fruition when they were asked to perform with Grateful Dead keyboardist (1990-1995) Vince Welnick on a cable access television show and festival in Madison, WI. At that time a core band was formed that began performing to larger and larger crowds at the weekly Sunday night jam. The band consisted of two members of what was to be the current line up of Chicago’s progressive bluegrass band Cornmeal. With Kris Nowak on lead guitar and “Wavy” Dave Burlingame on bass, the band was ready to move on to its next potent association.

Today Terrapin Flyer performs with a lineup that continues to bring in new guest musicians,  nationally recognized artists and mix up various members from its history to create new and intriguing musical dynamics to each show performed. Recently, the band has toured with Grateful Dead family lead guitarist Mark Karan.  Mark was the lead guitarist for the post-Grateful Dead band which featured all the former members The Other Ones.  He also performs in founding member of the Grateful Dead Bob Weir’s band Ratdog.  Recently Mark has been consistently performing with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh at his new concert venue Terrapin Crossroads.

So what or who is Terrapin Flyer? As you have likely surmised that is not simple to define. What is at the core of fundamentals of the band is the idea that the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia’s music still has plenty of life in it and that the music being so improvisational in nature can and should go to new places in each performance. No two Terrapin Flyer shows will ever be the same and you never know who might show up to jam at a show, but you can always count on a great time with some of the most recognized artists in the music community.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Past Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.