Grateful Dead: Live in the Oval Office
Posted April 14, 2009 5:00 PM

by Mark Silva (Chicago Tribune)

We haven't seen any Jerry Garcia ties on President Barack Obama lately, but the Washington Post's "Sleuth'' has a great off-the-schedule sighting:

"The surviving (and formerly feuding) members of the Grateful Dead had a secret impromptu meeting Monday evening with the man they credit with reuniting them: President Obama. The president welcomed all the members of The Dead, who are performing tonight at the Verizon Center in Washington, to the Oval Office just before dinner last night.

"Apparently the band was quite taken with how tidy the president keeps his desk. And how down-to-earth he seemed, according a source who was there. "The president was so gracious. Really, really nice and so welcoming. It hit you: you're in the Oval Office, but it was so normal," the source told the Sleuth.

The visitors: The four surviving members of the Dead - Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann - plus keyboardist Jeff Chimenti (from Weir's Ratdog) and Warren Haynes, joining the Dead on their Spring tour as lead vocalist and guitarist -- the late Garcia's old job.