Note: All entries subject to disputation, verification,
or augmentation at any time without notice. All information should be considered
hearsay unless otherwise indicated or confirmed. Void where prohibited by law.
People
Greg Anton
Drummer, pianist, composer, co-founder of Zero. Also
lawyer and former chicken-farmer.
Banana
Adopted his monicker fronting a band, Banana and the Bunch, as a teenager in the early
'60s. Former bass player for the Youngbloods, former keyboard
player for Zero, former owner of Scott Wood Gibson-style
F-5 mandolin, present-day rhythm guitarist for Steve Kimock & Friends.
Howard Danchik
Zero soundman.
Martín Fierro
Tenor saxophone player, former member of Mother Earth, Legion of Mary, and Reconstruction,
among others, in Zero since 1985, plays also in Steve
Kimock & Friends, and fronts his own jazz band, the Martín Fierro Quintet
+ 1. Known for his stage outbursts and lunatic wisdom, originator of the expression
Shut Up!
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter's late long-time song-writing collaborator, lead guitarist
of the Grateful Dead, leader of the Jerry Garcia band, former
guitarist for Legion of Mary and Reconstruction, former member of the Wildwood Boys.
Keith Godchaux
Late, former Grateful Dead pianist, former husband of
Donna, former member of the Heart of Gold Band and
the Ghosts, first hired Steve Kimock to work in band
with Greg Anton.
Nicky Hopkins
Late, great British session pianist, former member of Jefferson Airplane,
former member of the Jerry Garcia Band, played in some capacity with
Zero, participated in original Zero demo sessions
with Steve Kimock and Greg Anton.
Robert Hunter
Poet, translator, co-author of the better part of the Grateful
Dead repertoire, Zero lyricist, solo performer,
webmaster, sage, and survivor.
Steve Kimock
Self-effacing guitar prodigy, a man with an ability to express, uncut, pure emotions
through his fingertips, nay the muscles of his entire body, with only a taut guitar
(or similar tool), custom-tampered electronic devices, and a band of listeners.
Donna Jean Godchaux McKay
Singer, a former Muscle Shoals session vocalist (backup singer on Elvis's In the Ghetto),
former Grateful Dead vocalist, former wife and bandmate of
the late Keith Godchaux, now touring with a new album
publicized at her web site.
David Nelson
Former Wildwood Boy, occasional Grateful Dead studio sideman,
member of the Jerry Garcia acoustic band, and co-founder of the New Riders of the
Purple Sage. Plays with Hunter and Rothman
at the office Christmas party every year.
Chip Roland
Mind-melting, inside of organ tampering with, New Orleans voodoun messing with,
Morrison tune bringing in and singing Zero keyboard (mainly
B-3) player since the Psychedelic Guitar Circus sessions, sits in with
Steve Kimock & Friends, and fronts his own play around
downtown San Rafael Namedroppers band.
Sandy Rothman
Former Wildwood Boy, former Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band member, occasional
Robert Hunter journal appearance-maker.
John Cipollina
Former Quicksilver guitarist, Dinosaur, Problem Child, Fish & Chip,
one of Terry's Pirates, Gravenites collaborator, Dead guest on Not Fade
Away/Mona type excursions, early addition to Zero, died in 1989 of
emphysema, still a member of Zero.
Judge Murphy
Throaty blues-eyed soul voice of Zero, whom Martín
Fierro calls "the Yosemite Sam of rock and roll."
Songs
Catalina
One of the earliest Robert
Hunter-Zero collaborations, a
mid-tempo love song with a classically sweet-toned melody line. When first
introduced, controversy among fans boiled for months on whether Judge was
capable of restraining himself from bursting into song when ordering a
salad dressing.
Chance in a Million
A song whose lyrics apparently derive from Hunter musing on
Greg Anton's lament about the tough music business. The music for the song
is based on the outro of a take of Theme from Nancy Germany. The lyrics
have inspired a semi-cryptic bumpersticker available at shows, abbreviating "greater than zero
divided by one" in mathematical terms. The following line is "chance in a million is better
than none."
8 Below Zero
End of the World Blues
Hunter's postapocalyptic psychedelic blues ("and the sun stares
down, like a big red eye") with a touch of populist sentiment ("lost my job, to some younger
guy"), mindbending in concert.
Ermaline
Fairly straight-ahead rock 'n' roll, based on a double-time version of
Home on the Range, from the
new album.
Gregg's Egg's
Home on the Range
Robert Hunter's Marin County take on the traditional
lyric, in which he dreams of a range "where the people don't change."
Pits of Thunder
A sexy funk throb that leads out into space as often as not (or to the planet of
riddim), usually has a huge drum-solo intro, and frequently last ten to twenty-five minutes.
A common show opener.
Possession
Roll Me Over
Spoken For
A Hunter song on
the new album.
Tangled Hangers
One of Zero's eight or so core instrumentals, overtly jazzy, appeared
on the second studio album, Nothing Goes Here,
and the first live album Live: Go Hear Nothing.
Theme from Nancy Germany
Instrumental recorded on Nothing Goes Here
whose name derives from an anecdote described in the
interview.
Bands
Grateful Dead
A man dies too poor for burial and his body is left
on the roadside by his humiliated family. A traveler comes across
the undignified repose of the corpse and gives the remains a sanctified
burial. Later in his travels he encounters misfortune or obstruction
but finds help unexpected and aid from a stranger, who in the end
reveals himself to be the grateful spirit of the honorably buried
dead.
Steve Kimock & Friends
Literally Steve's friends, and a sort of
alternative universe early Zero (minus
Cipollina and Anton, and with Banana on rhythm guitar instead
of keyboards). Already drawing bigger crowds, with its murderer's
row of Kimock, Fierro, and
Roland.
The Youngbloods
With Jesse Colin Young they popularized Get Together ("Come on
people, now, smile on your brother/Everybody get together, try and
love one another, right now").
Zero
"Start from nothing, and... see what comes up."
Zero Records
Chance in a Million
Nothing Goes Here
The second album, all studio cuts except for a live
Gregg's Eggs (complete with manic banter
by Martín on the intro), recorded
after Cipollina's death (except for the live
cut, included on the album partly for that reason).
Zero
Venues
Fillmore
Furthur
Maritime Hall
Hiring hall in San Francisco right near the Bay Bridge,
featuring roots, reggae, rap, psychedelic, jazz, and other music for
the head. Site of short-lived Family Dog revival in 1996.
Miscellany
Chut Up
see Shut Up
Front Street
The Dead's San Rafael recording studio, where Greg
and Steve first worked out a core group of
Zero instrumentals.
A famous illustration of its '70s-era atmospheric charm - it's
in a sketchy area - is the cover of the Dead's
Shakedown Street album.
Gibson (http://www.gibson.com/)
mandatory minimums
"more instrumentals"
Shut Up
see Chut Up
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