Dead Man Good to Go for Obama Benefit
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First Barack Obama raised the Dead. Now he's healing the sick.
Despite a TMZ report that Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir was suffering from recently broken ribs, as well as a killer cold, the musician has no intention of missing a fundraising concert for the Democratic presidential contender.
As for the TMZ item, which said Weir backed out of a weekend concert due to broken ribs suffered during a mishap on his tour bus, the rocker's publicist tells E! News that the injury has been greatly exaggerated.
"It's about as bad a case of reporting in terms of taking minor facts and, by the method of communicating them, completely misrepresenting the situation," says Dead spokesman Dennis McNally. "He had a cold, which is why he really couldn't do the event on Sunday."
The gossip site reported Wednesday that the 60-year-old axeman had fallen on his tour bus when the driver slammed on the brakes and then quoted McNally—out of context, he says—claiming it hurt for Weir "to breathe, hold the guitar, and laugh."
McNally says that Weir's "getting better" and he should be well enough to reunite with the three surviving members of the Dead—bassist Phil Lesh, drummer Bill Kreutzmann and percussionist Mickey Hart—for their first gig in four years on Oct. 13 at Penn State University in State College, Penn., to support the Obama-Biden ticket.
Weir, Lesh and Hart previously played together at a February show dubbed Deadheads for Obama in San Francisco in advance of California's Democratic primary.
But this will be the first time the quartet will take the stage since the summer of 2004, when they toured as the Dead (they retired the "Grateful" moniker following the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia). Allman Brothers Band member Warren Haynes, who also plays with Gov't Mule, will fill in for Garcia.
As for the possibility of a future Dead trek, McNally didn't rule it out completely.
"They want to see how it feels," he said, "but as of now, no."
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