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Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician  and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career.

After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side project Phil Lesh and Friends, which pays homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Phil and Friends have helped keep a legitimate entity for the band's music to continue, and is viewed by many fans as the premier post-Dead band.

Musical background

Although Lesh started out as a violin player, in high school he switched to trumpet. Studying under Bob Hansen, he had a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, and future Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten). While still a college student he met then-bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. Despite antipodal musical interests, they formed a friendship and eventually Lesh was talked into becoming the bass guitarist for Garcia's new rock group, then known as the Warlocks. According to Lesh, the first song he rehearsed with the band was "I Know You Rider". He joined them for their third or fourth gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end. Lesh noticed that another group had made a record under the name Warlocks when he found their single on Columbia Records at a record store [Phil Lesh/Searching For The Sound, pg. 61]. It turns out that the band "The Warlocks" on that single also ended up changing their name to The Velvet Underground. He suggested to the other band members that they change their name.

Lesh had never played bass before joining the band, which meant he learned "on the job", but it also meant he had no preconceived attitudes about the instrument's traditional "rhythm section" role. Indeed, he has said that his playing style was influenced more by Bach counterpoint than by rock or soul bass players (although one can also hear the fluidity and power of a jazz bassist such as Charles Mingus or Jimmy Garrison in Lesh's work, along with stylistic allusions to fellow San Francisco psychedelic-era bassist Jack Casady).

Music

Lesh, along with other musicians that include James Jamerson, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, Brian Wilson, Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, and Jack Casady, was an innovator in the new role that the electric bass developed during the mid-1960s. These players adopted a more melodic, contrapuntal approach to the instrument; before this, bass players in rock had generally played a conventional timekeeping role within the beat of the song, and within (or underpinning) the song's harmonic or chord structure. While not abandoning these aspects, Lesh took his own improvised excursions during a song or instrumental. This was a characteristic aspect of the so-called San Francisco Sound in the new rock music. In many Dead jams, Lesh's bass is, in essence, as much a lead instrument as Garcia's guitar.

Lesh was not a prolific composer or singer with the Grateful Dead, although some of the songs he did contribute—"New Potato Caboose", "Box of Rain", "Unbroken Chain", and "Pride of Cucamonga"—are among the best-loved in the band's repertoire. Lesh's high tenor voice contributed greatly to the Grateful Dead's four-part harmony sections in their group vocals in the early days of the band, until he relinquished singing high parts to Donna Godchaux. In the 1980s, he resumed singing, but as a baritone. His interest in avant-garde music was a crucial influence on the Dead, pushing them into new territory, and he was an essential part of the group and its mystique, best summed-up in the Deadhead truism: "If Phil's on, the band's on". Also, a snippet of tape of Lesh on trumpet in college can be heard on the Bob Weir-composed "Born Cross-Eyed."

Post-Dead

After the disbanding of the Grateful Dead, Lesh continued to play with its offshoots The Other Ones and The Dead, as well as performing with his own band, Phil Lesh and Friends.  One memorable tour paired him with Bob Dylan.

Additionally, Lesh and his wife Jill administer their charitable organization, the Unbroken Chain Foundation. The couple have two children together, Grahame and Brian. Both Grahame and Brian follow in their father's musical footsteps, and the three frequently play together both publicly and privately.

In 1998 Lesh underwent a liver transplant as a result of chronic hepatitis C infection; since then, he has become an outspoken advocate for organ donor programs and when performing regularly encourages members of the audience to become organ donors (tracks identified as the "donor rap" on the live recordings of his various performances).

In April, 2005, Lesh's book Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead (ISBN 0-316-00998-9) was published. The book takes its name from the lyrics of a Grateful Dead song entitled "Unbroken Chain," from their album From the Mars Hotel. "Unbroken Chain" is one of the few songs Lesh sings. This is the only book about the Grateful Dead written by a member of the band.

On October 26, 2006, Lesh released a statement on his official website, revealing that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer — the disease that killed his father — and would be undergoing an operation in December 2006 to have it removed. On December 7, 2006, Lesh released a statement stating that he had undergone prostate surgery with the cancer being removed.

In March 2008, Phil Lesh did a guest voice on the Comedy Central series Lil' Bush on the second season episode "Big Pharm".

In 2009, Lesh went back on tour with the remaining members of The Grateful Dead and called it The Reunion Tour. Following the 2009 summer tour Lesh proceeded to found a new band with Bob Weir named Furthur, which debuted in September 2009.

Phil Lesh & Friends have not performed since New Year's Eve 2008-2009.

(wikipedia)

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(http://books.google.com/)

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"The Inner Light" is a song written by George Harrison that was first released by The Beatles as a B-side to "Lady Madonna". It was the first Harrison composition to be featured on a Beatles single. The lyrics are a rendering of the 47th chapter (sometimes titled "Viewing the Distant" in translations) of the Taoist Tao Te Ching. The song is also available on the Beatles' compilation albums Por Siempre Beatles; Rarities; Past Masters, Volume Two; and Mono Masters (the companion edition to Past Masters), the latter CD available only on The Beatles in Mono box set.

The Beatles' recording of this song features lead vocals from Harrison and brief backing vocals from John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The instrumental track was recorded in Bombay, India, during the sessions for Harrison's Wonderwall Music (a soundtrack album), during January 1968.

Melody

Pedler quotes McCartney as describing this as a "beautiful melody," and claims this may be because of the unusual tritone intervals, the background static harmony of the harmonium, drone, tabla rhythm and Eastern-sounding flute, which are far removed from usual 'pop tunes'.

Lyrics

In his biography Harrison claims that the song was inspired by a letter from Juan Mascaró, a Sanskrit scholar at Cambridge University, which stated "... might it not be interesting to put into your music a few words of Tao Te Ching, for example number 48, page 66 of the book." Harrison states: "In the original poem, the verse says 'Without going out of my door, I can know the ways of heaven.' And so to prevent any misinterpretations — and also to make the song a bit longer — I did repeat that as a second verse but made it: "Without going out of your door/You can know all things on earth/ Without looking out of your window/ You can know the ways of heaven" — so that it included everybody".  The passage Harrison refers to, however, corresponds to what English translations normally number as "47", rather than "48". DC Lau's translation of the Tao Te Ching chapter XLVII (47), for example, which was first published in 1963 states: "Without stirring abroad/One can know the whole world;/Without looking out of the window/One can see the way of heaven."

Recording

In early January 1968 Harrison traveled to Bombay to record some of the score to the movie Wonderwall using local musicians. The Wonderwall recordings were completed on January 12, and on January 13 Harrison recorded some additional tracks for possible later use. The instrumental track for "The Inner Light" was one of these, and was recorded in five takes on a two-track recorder at EMI's Bombay studio; the final take was the one used for the released song. The specific musicians on this track are not known, but would have been among those Harrison was known to have employed for these tracks: Ashish Khan (sarod), Mahapurush Misra (tablas and pakhavaj), Sharad Jadev and Hanuman Jadev (shehnai), Shambu-Das, Indril Bhattacharya and Shankar Ghosh (sitar), Chandra Shakher (surbahar), Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor), S.R. Kenkarae and Hari Prasad Chaurasia (flute), Vinayak Vohra (tar shehnai), and Rijram Desad (dholak, harmonium and tabla tarang). Harrison did not play on the instrumental track.

Harrison overdubbed his lead vocal on February 6 at the EMI Abbey Road studios. On February 8, John Lennon and Paul McCartney overdubbed some background vocals at the very end of the song.

Release

The mono version of the song that was released as the B-Side of the "Lady Madonna" single (and later on the Rarities compilation) is slightly different from the stereo version available on Past Masters: Volume Two. The mono mix features an extra horn riff during the intro and overdubbed vocals, whereas the stereo mix lacks the extra horn and features a single vocal track.

"The Inner Light" was one of the last Beatles songs to not be readily available on an album in the English-speaking world. Although the song had been included in Por Siempre Beatles, a compilation album released only in Spain in 1971, it was not available on a British or American long-playing record until the release of Rarities (which had been included in the British and American boxed set, The Beatles Collection, in 1978, and released separately as an album in the United Kingdom in 1979). The first stand-alone American album to feature "The Inner Light" was The Beatles Rarities, which was released in 1980. "The Inner Light" is available on CD on Past Masters: Volume Two and Mono Masters.

Chart performance

"The Inner Light" spent one week on the Billboard Hot 100 at #96, on March 30, 1968.

Personnel

    * George Harrison: lead vocals
    * John Lennon: harmony vocals
    * Paul McCartney: harmony vocals
    * Sharad Jadev, Hanuman Jadev: shehnai
    * S.R. Kenkarae, Hari Prasad Chaurasia: flute
    * Ashish Khan: sarod
    * Mehapurush Misra: tabla, pakhavaj
    * Shambu-Das, Indril Bhattacharya, Shankar Ghosh: sitar
    * Rijram Desad: dholak, harmonium

Performances

Jeff Lynne of ELO, who worked frequently with George Harrison, sang the song accompanied by his acoustic guitar, Anoushka Shankar on sitar, George's son Dhani on piano, and an ensemble of Indian musicians in 2002's Concert for George.

Part of the song appears mixed alongside another Harrison composition, "Here Comes the Sun", on the 2006 Cirque du Soleil album, Love.

A-side "Lady Madonna"
Released 15 March 1968 (UK)
18 March 1968 (US)
Format 7"
Recorded EMI Studios, Mumbai, India 12 January 1968 & Abbey Road Studios, 6 & 8 February 1968
Genre Raga rock
Length 2:36
Label Parlophone/EMI(UK)
Capitol Records(US)
Writer(s) George Harrison
Producer George Martin

(wikipedia)

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The Inner Light
The history of this classic Beatles song

The Inner Light
Written by: George Harrison (100%)
Recorded: January 12, 1968 (EMI Studios, Mumbai, India); February 6 and 8, 1968 (Studio 2, Abbey Road Studios, London, England)
Mixed: February 6 and 8, 1968; January 27, 1970
Length: 2:35
Takes: 6
Musicians: John Lennon: harmony vocals
Paul McCartney: harmony vocals
George Harrison: lead vocals
Sharad Gosh: shenai
Hariprasad Chaurasia: flute
Ashish Khan: sarod
Mehapurush Misra: tabla, pakavaj
Rij Ram Desad: harmonium
First released: March 15, 1968 (UK: Parlophone R5675), March 18, 1968 (US: Capitol 2138); b-side to "Lady Madonna"
Available on: (CDs in bold)

    Past Masters Volume Two, (Parlophone CDP 7 90044 2)

Highest chart position: US: 96 (March 30, 1968)
History:

    While the Beatles wrote a number of songs in India (most of which wound up on the album The Beatles, commonly known as "The White Album"), this is the one Beatles song actually recorded there, at least in part. On January 7, 1968, George Harrison traveled to Bombay (now Mumbai) India to record a soundtrack of authentic Indian music for the upcoming film Wonderwall, for which he had specifically singled out by first-time director Joe Massot. Harrison came up with this backing track during the sessions, and liked it so much that he added vocals.
    George's lyrics to this song are adapted from the book Tao Te Ching, written by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu in the Sixth century B.C. Specifically, it references Chapter 47:

    Without going outside, you may know the whole world.
    Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.
    The farther you go, the less you know.

    Thus the sage knows without travelling;
    He sees without looking;
    He works without doing.

    It is seen as an essential distillation of the taoist ethic. The book was first brought to Harrison's attention by Cambridge University English supervisor and noted translator Juan Mascaro.
    The finished product was so favored by John and Paul that they encouraged its release on a Beatles single; after adding their harmonies to it in the Abbey Road studios, it was released as the b-side to "Lady Madonna" in 1968.
    George's lead vocal was recorded at Abbey Road on February 6, 1968, just before the final "Lady Madonna" sessions; the harmonies were recorded on February 8, just before the final sessions for "Across The Universe." Harrison was reluctant to sing the lead, thinking it out of his range, but was convinced by John and Paul to give it a try anyway.

Trivia:

    This is the first George Harrison composition to be featured on a Beatles single, although he had sung lead vocal on "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" and "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You."
    The original mix released was in mono; a stereo version was mixed in 1970 but unused until the advent of Past Masters. The mono mix features an extra Indian instrument in the intro that did not make it to the stereo version.
    "The Inner Light" took the longest of all Beatles non-album cuts to make it on a compilation, finally appearing on the Rarities album (released in the UK in 1978 and the US in 1980, and since made irrelevant by the Past Masters CDs released in 1987).
    ELO's Jeff Lynne, a longtime Harrison friend and admirer, performed this at George's 2002 memorial show The Concert For George.

Covered by: Jeff Lynne, Junior Parker


(http://oldies.about.com/)


THE INNER LIGHT
(Harrison)

PAUL 1968: "Forget the Indian music and listen to the melody. Don't you think it's a beautiful melody? It's really lovely."


(http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/)

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Yep!  Can't believe he's 72 now.  Crazy. 

In relation to the Life Magazine article, here's an article about Henry Luce, who owned Life Magazine, and he and his wife's love for LSD and how they influenced the psychedelic movement.  I bolded some of my favorite parts. 

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The Time and Life Acid Trip
How Henry R. Luce and Clare Boothe Luce helped turn America on to LSD.

By Jack Shafer|Posted Monday, June 21, 2010, at 6:52 PM


Alan Brinkley's comprehensive new biography of Time magazine co-founder Henry R. Luce, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century, has but one flaw. Then again, this "shortcoming" has more to do with my obsessions than it does with any inadequacy on Brinkley's part. My idiosyncratic complaint: Brinkley doesn't spend near enough space on the proselytizing enthusiasm the mogul and his wife, Clare Boothe Luce, had for LSD and how that enthusiasm bled into Luce's Time and Life.

The Publisher limits its discussion of the Luces' personal interest in the hallucinogen to about three pages, noting that Clare's devotion to LSD far exceeded Henry's. He took it just once or maybe twice compared with Clare's multiple trips—she later claimed it "saved our marriage." But for a deeper look at how Luce's magazines helped popularize the drug, we must turn to scholar Stephen Siff's 2008 paper "Henry Luce's Strange Trip: Coverage of LSD in Time and Life, 1954-68" (PDF).

Siff draws on the favorable coverage of the drug in the Luce magazines as well as the letters and papers of Clare Boothe Luce to depict the couple as LSD believers. He writes:

    Time and Life were fascinated by LSD. Henry Luce's magazines discovered LSD in 1954 and remained enthusiastic even as the drug was becoming popular with recreational users, frequently discussing the experience in an explicitly biblical framework. Scare stories were balanced with endorsements of LSD by professors, businessmen, and celebrities, and some articles even read like advertisements. One, published [in Time in 1966] eight weeks after "Mysticism in the Lab" [also in Time] began: "What kind of person is likely to enjoy a trip on LSD? Only the extravert, Alabama Psychiatrist Patrick H. Linton suggested last week at a regional meeting of the National Association for Mental Health."

The Luces' role in spreading LSD wasn't lost on 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman, Siff writes. In his 1980 memoir, Soon To Be a Major Motion Picture,Hoffman writes, "I've always maintained that Henry Luce did much more to popularize acid than Timothy Leary. Years later I met Clare Booth Luce at the Republican convention in Miami. She did not disagree with this opinion."

Luce's magazines accentuated the potential of LSD and other hallucinogens over the dangers they posed long before either Henry or Clare took them. The first Time article, "Dream Stuff," published in 1954, reported on LSD's use as an adjunct to psychotherapy. "LSD 25, while it has no direct curative powers, can be of great benefit to mental patients," the magazine stated. Life magazine gave J.P. Morgan Vice President R. Gordon Wasson a first-person platform to describe his positive encounters with Mexican hallucinogenic mushrooms in a 1957 article titled "Seeking the Magic Mushroom."

Time magazine got to the LSD story before other magazines, writes Siff, and wrote about it more frequently. Its stories were longer on average than the pieces run by its competition and were largely sympathetic, as typified by the 1960 Time piece "The Psyche in 3-D," about celebrities taking LSD under the supervision of their doctors; or this Life editorial from 1966 urging regulation, not prohibition, of LSD; or, from 1968, an early debunking of the gone-blind-on-LSD urban myth. So intense was the Luces' interest in the topic that both reviewed the 1963 Life article "The Chemical Mind-Changers" prior to its publication, writes Siff. Not every column inch of LSD copy in Time was adulatory or "balanced." In "An Epidemic of Acid Heads" from 1966, Time blamed a wave of psychotic illnesses on the recreational use of LSD. (Siff allows that some of the sympathetic coverage may have been a result of reporters' over-reliance on past stories.)

Clare's acid trips, which she recorded in her papers now at the Library of Congress, were of the garden variety. She sorts mosaic glass by her swimming pool. She entertains herself looking through a kaleidoscope. During a March 11, 1959, trip, Richard Nixon telephoned Clare at her Phoenix home. An active Republican who served in Congress and as an ambassador, Clare declined to speak to Nixon. How history might have changed if she had shared a little acid with him!

Both writers reconstruct Henry Luce's maiden trip on LSD, taken at Clare's urging, from her papers. After Henry took his dose, he lit a cigarette at his desk and started reading Lionel Trilling's biography of Matthew Arnold. An hour and a half later, Clare placed some flowers near him and asked if their color was vivid. "No," said the grounded Henry. A half-hour later, the acid and not Henry was "in command." An observer recorded Luce's observations:

    Now things are getting sharper, ... I'm beginning to see what Clare said. The aliveness. ... This perception is wonderful.


(http://www.slate.com/)

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