One radio show is keeping alive a very particular part of the American dream

On the American prog-rock station Martha’s Vineyard Radio (www.mvyradio.com) the presenter Jer Bear settles in for his 61st evening show devoted exclusively to the Grateful Dead. “It’s Big Fat Tuesday, hey-now hey-now, time to chakamaka we are solid with the band. Put on your socks.”

The ultimate Deadhead, Jer previously hosted a show called The Night of the Living Dead out of a local station in New Hampshire, during which he took listeners through the Dead’s multitudinous chord progressions on his guitar. On mvyradio, Jer’s bag is to play entire sections of Dead concerts going back to 1965, featuring especially the songs that never end. This, of course, is not hard, bearing in mind the band never had a playlist as such and preferred to improvise, famously once going ten days without stopping.

The other week, Jer dug out a stretch of a gig from 1983 in Oakland that literally took us from one season to another – I saw the snow melting and my neighbour kicking the rust off his bike; dawn broke; on stage, Jerry Garcia said that George Washington had wooden teeth, which is why he never smiles in photos for the dollar bill – and it vaguely crossed my mind that Jer Bear had gone outside for a bong and died. Which, you know, would have been cool. There are worse places to croak than on the island where they filmed Jaws.

“Just sit back and go nuts,” Jer suddenly piped up, helpfully. “This one’s for the listener who wants to go into the woods and not talk to anybody for a long while.”

That’s me, folks. Not that I’m saying life is a total dive, more that I prefer whatever the Dead chuck at me; this is a band that broke their ass for four solid decades. Not to mention whatever else they could lay their hands on. Last week, during a track that consisted exclusively of a cowbell being rolled across the rungs of a ladder bound in cheesecloth while the crowd occasionally burst into delirious applause at something happening onstage (Jerry sitting up?), I lay there sucking on a squeezy bottle of agave nectar – it seemed like a Dead thing to do – and I kid you not, whoever told you that that shit is low in fructose is tripping, because I went into virtual cardiac arrest just as the track segued into the perfectly elocuted and freakily inexplicable phrase “. . . this is your one-time monkey wrench”. Then, in what felt like exquisite sympathy, Jer switched to something more gospel, and my breathing returned to normal.

I simply cannot fault his show! It’s got groob, it’s got mwark, it’s got potatoes coming out of its ears at the Alamo Ballroom. Then there’s his weekly Dead news (“Mickey’s making another solo drum album. Right on”), and his chats about Life (“God, the more and more I read about the economy it freaks me out. So if you have a job, try’ta keep it, and if you don’t . . . erm . . . I’m with you, man”).

I’d say that mvyradio is definitely worth checking out in general. So far as I can tell, it appears to broadcast exclusively to people who got off the ferry from the mainland for a clambake in 1970 and never left. If its remit widens, I’ll get back to you.

Pick of the week

Archive Hour: a Tibetan Odyssey
7 March, 8pm, Radio 4
Isabel Hilton interviews the Dalai Lama on the 50th anniversary of his flight from Lhasa.

Drama on 3: Bring Me the Head of Philip K Dick
8 March, 8pm, Radio 3
An android head that believes it is the sci-fi guru goes on the run.

Yiddish: Struggle for Survival
13 March, 9.05am, World Service3
Investigating the apparently terminal decline of a language once spoken by two out of three Jews.

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website