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David Gans is as comfortable on stage alone with just an acoustic guitar and his voice as he is with an electric guitar in the swirling maelstrom of a psychedelic jam. "To me, the ideal musical experience is great songs strung together with great improvisational grooves, played and sung by people who love what they're doing," says the 46-year-old California native. His songs cover a wide range of musical styles and lyrical approaches, from the lilting sincerity of "Jacqueline" to the documentary urgency of "An American Family" to the surreal intensity of "The Nightmare." Given his day job -- producer/host of the nationally syndicated Grateful Dead Hour and co-producer of the hugely successful Dead boxed set So Many Roads (1965-1995) -- you might think you could size up Gans's musical proclivities. But he says it would be unwise to infer too much from the Dead connection: "I was a musician and songwriter before I'd ever heard of the Grateful Dead," Gans explains. "My sensibility was already formed when I first encountered that weird and wonderful music. Of course the Dead's music is noticeable in mine, but there's so much more to music, and so much more to me, than just that. I count the Beatles, Bob Dylan, traditional country, western swing, and the entire early-'70s singer-songwriter genre as influences, to name just a few. "The place where my solo show and Grateful Dead music intersect is in the ballads. There aren't a lot of jambands out there playing 'Black Peter' or 'Brokedown Palace,' but I really love those songs so I sing them a lot." Gans has also reinterpreted some of the Dead's more upbeat material for the solo format, but he is most definitely not limiting his appeal to the Deadhead audience. Recent tours with Seattle singer-songwriter Jim Page have put Gans in front of some new audiences. "Jim has been a favorite of mine for more than 20 years," he explains. "It's been a pleasure and a thrill to get up onstage with this deeply committed political and cultural commentator and help him put his great songs across." Audiences have responded most favorably to Gans's solo sets at these shows as well. After 25 years of gigging around Northern California while earning his living as a journalist and a radio producer, in the mid-'90s Gans decided it was time to "put my own music back on the front burner where it belongs." In 1997 he and Eric Rawlins released a CD titled Home By Morning, featuring instrumental contributions from David Grisman and others. In the last few years he has expanded his performing horizons across the country, with club dates coast to coast and appearances at music festivals including Suwannee Springfest, MagnoliaFest, Hexfest, High Sierra, the Hog Farm PigNic, and the Gathering of the Vibes. "One of my favorite things is playing with musicians I've never met before," Gans says. "I first met moe. in Purchase, New York, in May 1996. They invited me to jam, taught me the changes to one of their songs, called me up there in the middle of their set, and away we went! It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Since that encounter, Gans has appeared on stage with moe. at three sold-out 1997 shows in San Francisco. He has also performed with the String Cheese Incident, Peter Rowan, Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band, The Gibb Droll Band, Strangefolk, the Ominous Seapods, Zen Tricksters, Blueground Undergrass, Donna the Buffalo, Vince Welnick, and others. Gans is part of a sporadic collaboration called The Merry Danksters, with Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier of moe., Peter Prince of Moon Boot Lover, and Gibb Droll. "It's a busman's holiday and a musical enrichment kind of thing," Gans enthuses. "We book some dates, then get together for a few days and work up a bunch of material - originals and covers. We've learned a lot from each other, and we've had a whole lot of fun along the way." Through most of 1997 Gans played a weekly gig in Berkeley with a band he named The Broken Angels, putting together different combinations of players each week for jams that ranged from song-oriented country-rock to deep-space weird-outs with the likes of Henry Kaiser and Second Sight's Bob Bralove. The Broken Angels also performed several benefit concerts with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh sitting in. The jewel in the crown of that collaboration was a sold-out show at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on January 31, 1998, with Lesh and former Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick as special guests. The Broken Angels released one CD, of Gans' song "Monica Lewinsky," also on Perfectible Recordings. Gans has also contributed electric and acoustic guitar and vocals to several recordings by Henry Kaiser. "I was a songwriter before I ever picked up an electric guitar and before I ever knew what improvisation was all about," says David Gans. "No matter how good you are at jamming, it eventually comes down to the song."

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24 Hour Program Schedule
"The Grateful Dead Hour"
Show Guides			Event Calendar

	Monday Night... Listening to Movies Film music & soundtracks American Mosaic Geoffrey Fontaine Tuesday Night... Keyboard Classics from Schnabel to Argerich Galactic Voyager music for a new age The Romantic Hours poetry, loveletters and music Wednesday Night... Schickele Mix Beyond PDQ Bach KCSN Opera House best performances in the world Thursday Night... CSUN Live Concerts from home and abroad The David and Peter Show Broadway, their way The Romantic Hours poetry, loveletters and music Friday Night... Madly Cocktail shaken not stirred The Green Room Surf music at the millennium Saturday Night... American Routes from PRI The British Invasion Beatles,Stones, Kinks, more Sarcastic Fringehead alternative music undefined Sunday Night... American Routes from PRI Frequencia Latina music from the Latino diaspora The Grateful Dead Hour America's best loved band Ken Nordine's Word Jazz masterful, magical Radio
				An Antigone Story BBC World Service Center Theater Group The Eclectic Orange Performing Arts Festival Getty Center Glendale Symphony Grand Performances Hollywood Bowl Huntington Library, Art collections and Botanical Gardens John Anson Ford Ampitheatre Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles Opera L.A. Philharmonic Los Angeles Public Library Museum of TV & Radio Norton Simon Museum Opera Pacific Pacific Asia Museum Pasadena Playhouse Pasadena Symphony Performance Today Public Radio International San Francisco Symphony Santa Monica Twilight Dance Series Skirball Cultural Center TheaterMania UCLA Performing Arts Valley Cultural Center Will Geer Theatricum
		The nationally syndicated radio show devoted to "exploring the wide musical world of America's best-loved band" plays live performances, obscure studio recordings and interviews with band members on their music and their musings. A venerable radio classic distributed by World Radio, it's hosted by David Gans and originates from KPFA in Berkeley. Right about where it all began, man. SUNDAYS 10 - 11 p.m.

		David Gans

		David Gans is as comfortable on stage alone with just an acoustic guitar and his voice as he is with an electric guitar in the swirling maelstrom of a psychedelic jam. "To me, the ideal musical experience is great songs strung together with great improvisational grooves, played and sung by people who love what they're doing," says the 46-year-old California native. His songs cover a wide range of musical styles and lyrical approaches, from the lilting sincerity of "Jacqueline" to the documentary urgency of "An American Family" to the surreal intensity of "The Nightmare." Given his day job -- producer/host of the nationally syndicated Grateful Dead Hour and co-producer of the hugely successful Dead boxed set So Many Roads (1965-1995) -- you might think you could size up Gans's musical proclivities. But he says it would be unwise to infer too much from the Dead connection: "I was a musician and songwriter before I'd ever heard of the Grateful Dead," Gans explains. "My sensibility was already formed when I first encountered that weird and wonderful music. Of course the Dead's music is noticeable in mine, but there's so much more to music, and so much more to me, than just that. I count the Beatles, Bob Dylan, traditional country, western swing, and the entire early-'70s singer-songwriter genre as influences, to name just a few. "The place where my solo show and Grateful Dead music intersect is in the ballads. There aren't a lot of jambands out there playing 'Black Peter' or 'Brokedown Palace,' but I really love those songs so I sing them a lot." Gans has also reinterpreted some of the Dead's more upbeat material for the solo format, but he is most definitely not limiting his appeal to the Deadhead audience. Recent tours with Seattle singer-songwriter Jim Page have put Gans in front of some new audiences. "Jim has been a favorite of mine for more than 20 years," he explains. "It's been a pleasure and a thrill to get up onstage with this deeply committed political and cultural commentator and help him put his great songs across." Audiences have responded most favorably to Gans's solo sets at these shows as well. After 25 years of gigging around Northern California while earning his living as a journalist and a radio producer, in the mid-'90s Gans decided it was time to "put my own music back on the front burner where it belongs." In 1997 he and Eric Rawlins released a CD titled Home By Morning, featuring instrumental contributions from David Grisman and others. In the last few years he has expanded his performing horizons across the country, with club dates coast to coast and appearances at music festivals including Suwannee Springfest, MagnoliaFest, Hexfest, High Sierra, the Hog Farm PigNic, and the Gathering of the Vibes. "One of my favorite things is playing with musicians I've never met before," Gans says. "I first met moe. in Purchase, New York, in May 1996. They invited me to jam, taught me the changes to one of their songs, called me up there in the middle of their set, and away we went! It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Since that encounter, Gans has appeared on stage with moe. at three sold-out 1997 shows in San Francisco. He has also performed with the String Cheese Incident, Peter Rowan, Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band, The Gibb Droll Band, Strangefolk, the Ominous Seapods, Zen Tricksters, Blueground Undergrass, Donna the Buffalo, Vince Welnick, and others. Gans is part of a sporadic collaboration called The Merry Danksters, with Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier of moe., Peter Prince of Moon Boot Lover, and Gibb Droll. "It's a busman's holiday and a musical enrichment kind of thing," Gans enthuses. "We book some dates, then get together for a few days and work up a bunch of material - originals and covers. We've learned a lot from each other, and we've had a whole lot of fun along the way." Through most of 1997 Gans played a weekly gig in Berkeley with a band he named The Broken Angels, putting together different combinations of players each week for jams that ranged from song-oriented country-rock to deep-space weird-outs with the likes of Henry Kaiser and Second Sight's Bob Bralove. The Broken Angels also performed several benefit concerts with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh sitting in. The jewel in the crown of that collaboration was a sold-out show at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on January 31, 1998, with Lesh and former Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick as special guests. The Broken Angels released one CD, of Gans' song "Monica Lewinsky," also on Perfectible Recordings. Gans has also contributed electric and acoustic guitar and vocals to several recordings by Henry Kaiser. "I was a songwriter before I ever picked up an electric guitar and before I ever knew what improvisation was all about," says David Gans. "No matter how good you are at jamming, it eventually comes down to the song."