Jay Gerland’s The Black Dog

Today, my new friend from the Buffalo News, Mary Kunz, did a short blurb on me and the research I’ve been doing on the Grateful Dead’s performance with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at Klienhans Music Hall in Buffalo, NY in March of 1970.

Recently, her brother George emailed me about the page (he must be a deadhead and stumbled on it) and told me that his sister worked at the Buffalo News and might be able to help with leads. Next thing I knew, she emailed me a couple of leads and before I knew it, there’s a write up in the paper!

So, thank you Mary. And if you would like to read what I’ve put together so far, click here.

Enjoy!

Reprint:

For the faithful
by Mary Kunz (Buzz Section)

It was a once-in-a-lifetime musical event. It’s described as “mysterious and legendary.” And a Web site is devoted to its research. Is it … Vladimir Horowitz’s return, after years, to the concert stage? The Beatles’ rooftop concert? Woodstock? No, no, no. It’s the March, 1970, concert by the Grateful Dead and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, which is the subject of www.theblackdog.org run by a Buffalonian named Jay Gerland. “There has been very little information out there on this concert,” writes Gerland. Gerland, who has conferred with BPO historian Ed Yadzinski, tells how the Dead were last-minute replacements for the Byrds, and waived their usual hefty fee for the honor of working with then-Music Director Lukas Foss. And Gerland reprints two reviews, one by The News’ Jim Brennan and one by a Fredonia student writing for a Dead magazine. The Fredonia guy happily describes “a sea of (Dead)heads and patrons, the former in liquid glory and the latter in evening dress, all dancing and clapping.” What a thrill! On Nov. 8, when the BPO will perform the music of Pink Floyd, dare we hope for another triumph?

Filed under: Music on October 28th, 2002