The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Dark Star Orchestra returning  for annual Vets Park jamathon

The Dark Star Orchestra, with new lead guitarist Jeff Mattson (third from left), returns to Veterans Park on July 7.

Taste of Cincinnati expected  to draw 500,000 people
5/23/12
Local ingredients key for bartender
5/16/12
How well do you know Kings Island?
5/13/12
Time cover shows mom breastfeeding 3-year-old
5/11/12
Local heroes bring a touch of realism to 'Avengers' Cleveland set
5/2/12
> More headlines

By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer 4:30 PM Thursday, July 1, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — Being in a tribute band is sort of like being a Civil War re-enactor.

But being in the Dark Star Orchestra is more like cutting off your own leg and giving yourself gangrene, or making your own hardtacks and sticking live weevils inside them.

It’s the difference between acting and method acting or spying and being under deep cover.

After a while, reality bends and blurs — and not just because of the pharmaceuticals — and it’s hard to tell who’s playing a part.

Still technically a Grateful Dead tribute band, Dark Star returns to Veterans Park on July 7 for its annual Summer Arts Fest jamathon.

“A band that plays The Beatles, they’re striving to play notes exactly as they are on the record. That’s the measure of how well they do it,” said Jeff Mattson, 51, who officially joined the DSO as the new lead guitarist last week.

“The Grateful Dead is more of a vocabulary you have to learn. There’s a conversant style you have to learn. There’s so much jamming that’s based on the moment.”

It’s hard to see Paul McCartney wanting to be in a band with one of those guys who glues on a fake mustache and pretends to be him circa 1967.

But the DSO recently lost longtime lead guitarist John Kadlecik to Phil Lesh and Bob Weir themselves. He’s now in the band Furthur with the original Dead members.

DSO keyboard player Rob Barraco was a member of the Phil Lesh Quintet along with Allmans/Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes.

Even Mattson, when he’s not playing in the DSO, plays in the Donna Jean Godchaux Band. (She sang with the Dead throughout the ’70s.)

These guys aren’t just playing a part.

“I’ve been peeking in on the message boards,” he said. “I’m seeing there’s a whole generation of people who are loyal to the DSO in a way that’s not just because they play Grateful Dead music.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.

How to go

Who: Dark Star Orchestra

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 7, rain or shine

Where: Veterans Park, 250 Cliff Park Road, as part of the Summer Arts Festival

Admission: Free

Share this article