2010

On one fateful evening at the state convention of the International Order of Rainbow Girls in Kansas City, a debutante society of sorts aimed to help girls “experience the excitement of what a productive life has to offer,” Alycen Rowse got her first taste of rock n’ roll. The year was 1984 and ironically enough, Van Halen happened to be staying at the very same hotel. The Hyatt Regency included a rooftop spa of sorts with a workout facility, sauna and a hot tub. While Alycen and a friend were chatting away in the tub, who else jumps in but David Lee Roth? And the rest is history…

[Alycen Rowse w/ B-Real of Cypress Hill]

“I was still 14, but nobody asked back then,” Alycen laughs. “It was the don’t ask, don’t tell policy.” Twenty-five years and 75 rock stars later, Alycen Rowse has become one of the more well-known groupies in the history of rock n‘ roll, due in large part to the fact that she spent the night with John Entwistle of the Who on the night he passed away.

After such a traumatic event as being attached to the death of a rock pioneer, one might think she’d call the groupie lifestyle quits, but Alycen still believes in her scene and believes with conviction. It’s her social circle, not some seedy world of drugs and dishonor, just an exciting way to live. “There’s been a lot of gossip due to John. I’ve been called a hooker, prostitute, murder, and druggie. That has all followed me around. It’s something that will never go away.”

READ ON for more of Ryan’s chat with Alycen…

In 2009 Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy began collaborations with Chicago soul icon Mavis Staples and the resulting 13 tracks can be heard on the new rootsy/gospel Staples release You Are Not Alone.

We covered tons of ground this week on Hidden Track and before we get back to the grind we wanted to recap some of the things we learned…

The new White House Chief of Staff is a Deadhead…

Pete Rouse, the gentleman President Obama tapped this afternoon as his interim Chief of Staff upon the departure of Rahm Emanuel is a Deadhead. He’s the guy who helped get The Dead back together to play a benefit for the then candidate’s campaign according to a New York Times profile. [READ MORE]

Built to Spill has started covering Ripple…

“The New Grateful Dead” has been tossed about in the past describing Built To Spill, it’s a comparison that a lot of Deadheads completely don’t understand – but I think it has some merit once you get past the obvious differences in overall sound. Well this tour, which is massive by the way with very few days off, they have been playing Ripple. The cover starts off slow and somewhat true to the original, but by the end it is a full-on rocker. [READ MORE]

Dark Star Orchestra is experimenting with original material…

JM: Right. We started working on that a little bit, as you said, it’s not going to replace what we do. But everybody also has this itch to be creative, so there’s no reason we can’t write songs and find a place to place them. I don’t think anyone should worry that we’re going to stop playing the Dead – that would upset a lot of people – but that doesn’t make it wrong for us to write and record together. Maybe we, I don’t know, maybe we open for ourselves some time playing original music. So, no one gets cheated out of [his or her] Grateful Dead experience, that’s still happening. But original music is a fairly new development for us. [READ MORE]

READ ON for more things we learned this week…