TEDxAlcatraz - Bob Weir - Masters of War to Bird Song video

Bob Weir has been on center stage for over 45 years, with as loyal a following as one could imagine. He speaks through poetry and song. A founding member of the Grateful Dead, these days Bob plays with several bands, including Furthur and Ratdog. Bob is also a philanthropist and founder of the Furthur Foundation and Rex Foundation, organizations that both support and champion progressive non-profits. Bob joins the TEDxAlcatraz house band with Alisa Rose on violin, James Nash on lead guitar and London's Peter Gregson playing cello. We chose the TEDx name Alcatraz because of the sense of mystery that Alcatraz invokes. It is a mythic place of opposites, dualities, and polarities: it has held dangerous criminals, and also been a site for cultural revolution when indigenous peoples assembled and occupied the island in the late 60's. Did an inmate ever escape from Alcatraz? And what becomes of it now as it has transitioned from a prison into a national park? And how has this transition changed the symbology of Alcatraz as an icon in the American consciousness? Our plan is to again be on land in 2011 as we plan for a 2012 TEDx event on Alcatraz Island itself. We're looking at, as a target date, the night of December 21, 2012. We'd have ferries to return home in case the end-of-the-world calendars are wrong. We kicked off at Temple Nightclub in downtown San Francisco on December 1, 2010. The evening began at 8PM after a three course dinner, and went until nearly 1AM, as an ...