Bill Kreutzmann Makes The Rounds In Bay Area

Beloved Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann has been keeping busy in the Bay Area as of late as he gears up for a big 2015 in which he’ll release his autobiography and will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his legendary band. In just the past week, we’ve seen Billy K jam with Les Claypool in Sebastopol and debut a new group called TryptoBand in Petaluma. Kreutzmann was back out on Friday as he met up with some of his old band mates at TRI Studios and then sat in with Steve Kimock’s Garcia tribute band in Mill Valley.

Post by Bob Minkin Photography.

Post by Bob Minkin Photography

First up for Billy was a visit to Bob Weir’s TRI Studios, where he was photographed with both Weir and Mickey Hart. No word on what went down at TRI, but it warms the heart to see three of the core four together. We’ll soon find out exactly how the Grateful Dead’s core four plan to honor the 50th anniversary of the group.

Friday afternoon at TRI Studios.

A photo posted by Matt Busch (@mattbusch28) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:40pm PST

[photo by Matt Busch on Facebook]

Later in the evening, Kreutzmann headed to Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California to guest with Steve Kimock, Bill Vitt, Jeff Chimenti, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, John Morgan Kimock and Bobby Vega. Kimock assembled the sextet to honor the roots and R&B wing of Jerry Garcia’s live repertoire. Friday night marked the first of three performances for the band at Sweetwater. Billy emerged at the end of the first set for an instrumental run through “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower.” John Morgan Kimock gave up his seat to Billy as Kreutzmann paired with Vitt to propel the group through a lengthy version of the instrumental triumvirate. The capacity crowd provided the lyrics to “Franklin’s,” which made for a joyous scene in Mill Valley. Jason Crosby also guested with Kimock’s group on “Bertha” in the second set.

Watch “Help”/”Slip”/”Franklin’s” shot by C.N. Miller:

Where will Billy K turn up next? We’ll see if he has anything in store before he debuts Billy & The Kids one week from tonight at Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in Asheville.