Grateful Dead by KaufmanK

PLAYIN' IN THE BAND: The keyboardists for the Grateful Dead were notorious for dying young, not that there was any unifying cause. Some died while they were still with the band, others after they had left. Nonetheless, WHO among them HAD THE LONGEST TENURE as Grateful Dead keyboardist?

THE SAME THING: In the over 2000 shows performed by the Dead between 1965 and 1995, the most commonly played song (over 600 performances) was not one of the songs you'd be more likely to hear on the radio, but rather "Me and My Uncle", a quick Old West morality play of a song. The song had been written in a drunken stupor a few years prior to the Dead's picking it up in 1966, by which time the songwriter had achieved fame as the leader of another California group. WHO IS CREDITED with writing "Me and My Uncle," even if he claimed not to remember it?

DAYS BETWEEN: Moving from commonly performed songs to rarer ones, there was a gap of over two decades (September, 1970 - February, 1991) between performances of "New Speedway Boogie", a song first performed live on December 20, 1969, that Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia had written in reaction to WHAT EVENT that had occurred earlier that month?

CASEY JONES: The 2003 movie "Festival Express" documents a short 1970 tour by the Dead and many other acts across Canada, all of them traveling between shows by train. The tour was beset with problems, and both the initial show in Montreal and the finale in Vancouver were cancelled. Only three official shows took place, not counting jams on the train or an unscheduled performance by the Dead to mollify anti-capitalist hippies who were near the point of rioting for a free show. Name TWO OF THE THREE CITIES where Festival Express shows were held.

BROWN EYED WOMEN: While the Grateful Dead were never into making hit singles themselves, one member of the group, Donna Jean Godchaux, had, as a session vocalist, been part of two Billboard Number One singles. One topped the charts in 1966, and the other in 1969; the two songs were performed by artists who died in 2015 and 1977 respectively. Name EITHER OF THE TWO CHART-TOPPING SINGLES.

I'VE BEEN ALL AROUND THIS WORLD: During the famous "Europe '72" tour, the Dead did 8 shows in England, 5 in West Germany, 3 in Denmark, 3 in France, 2 in the Netherlands, and perhaps surprisingly, one performance in WHAT COUNTRY?

FAR FROM ME: All told, all but three Grateful Dead shows took place in the United States, Canada, or Europe. The exceptions were in 1978, when the band checked something off their bucket list, performing three outdoor shows in view of ancient marvels in WHAT COUNTRY?

HAPPINESS IS DRUMMING: Late in the 1970s, the two percussionists began using a lot more equipment, some of their own design, while extending the "Drums" portion of the show. Much of this was due to their work on the soundtrack of WHAT MOVIE, which was nominated for Best Picture, but lost the Oscar to Kramer vs. Kramer?

HEAVEN HELP THE FOOL: The Grateful Dead opened their April 1, 1980 show with nobody on their proper instrument. They proceeded to play an amateurish rendition of one of the Chuck Berry songs they often covered. Upon finishing, the musicians returned to their proper instruments and played a far improved version of that same song, which would get a bump in popularity in 1997 when a cover by Elvis Presley provided the soundtrack to a memorable scene in WHAT MOVIE, the highest grossing picture of 1997 that did not involve a ship hitting an iceberg?

DEATH DON'T HAVE NO MERCY: While the song "He's Gone" was inspired by Mickey Hart's father's embezzlement from the band, band members would often dedicate it to the recently deceased. For instance, during a week in May, 1981, two performances of the song were dedicated to individuals who shared the first name of the Dead's rhythm guitarist. One had died of starvation, and the other was a revolutionary musician who succumbed to cancer. Name EITHER OF THESE memorialized individuals.

I NEED A MIRACLE: In recent years bass player Phil Lesh has become an outspoken advocate for organ donation. He has a personal stake in this, his own life having been saved in 1998 when he was the beneficiary of a donaton of WHAT ORGAN? (Hammond G-3 will not earn you BWA points.)

U.S. BLUES: All in all, over their 30-years together, the Dead performed in 45 of the 50 US states. The unlucky five are Wyoming, the two Dakotas, Arkansas, and WHAT EASILY MISSED EAST-OF-THE-MISSISSIPPI STATE?