• https://www.dead.net/features/gd-radio-hour/grateful-dead-hour-no-261
    Grateful Dead Hour no. 261

    Week of September 20, 1993

    OREGON TRAIL MIX

    Grateful Dead 8/21/93 Autzen Stadium, Eugene OR
    BIRD SONG->
    PROMISED LAND

    Grateful Dead 8/21/93 Autzen Stadium, Eugene OR
    w/ Huey Lewis, harmonica
    TRUCKIN'->
    GOOD MORNING LITTLE SCHOOLGIRL->
    SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING

    "Oregon Trail Mix" is a radio play written by Jack Ellis and featuring the voices of Jack Ellis, Mary Weatherly, Sue Ellis, Ken Nordine, and me. We went to Eugene to broadcast the August 21 and 22 shows live on KLCC (with tons of help from KLCC's "Dead Air" hostess Deb Trist and other KLCC staffers), and Dan Healy thought it would be fun to create a piece of radio drama for the occasion. Dan played it over the PA at Autzen Stadium, too!

    Huey Lewis was in town to appear as Elvis Presley (!) in Ken Kesey's play "Twister," which was presented at the Armory not far from Autzen Stadium. The play was a weird twist on "The Wizard of Oz"; I wish I remembered anything about the play.

    You can browse and/or search the Grateful Dead Hour program logs on the GD Hour web site. Let me know if there's a particular program you'd like to hear, and feel free to post requests and comments here or by email to gdhour [at] dead.net

    Thanks for listening! David Gans
    gdhour [at] dead.net

    Listen Now

    11595
18 comments
sort by
Recent
Reset
Items displayed
  • Default Avatar
    DoubleT
    7 years 10 months ago
    Awwsome
    Epic weekend, Oregon Trail Mix was too damn funny. Remember last week...the TrailBlazers were freaked?
  • docks of the city
    15 years 11 months ago
    Jack & Sue Ellis
    If this is the same Jack & Sue Ellis, he worked on KMPX-FM in San Francisco in probably '69 thru '71. In about '74, he was part of a station, KSML-FM (Secret Mountain Lab) on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. I ran into once in Forestville, California in the early '80s and he was taping the Dead around the bay area and living up there in Sonoma County, about 50miles north of the city. Good man with a really warm smile. I just typed his name in seach here, and this came up. Peace, Love & Happiness to Jack Ellis & family
  • Default Avatar
    Upstate NY
    16 years ago
    thanks david
    I didn't go to this Eugene run but I am diggin the Truckin, Schoolgirl, Smokestack. And the Oregon Trail Mix was a cool addition to this show. Thanks for posting this show. later
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years

Week of September 20, 1993

OREGON TRAIL MIX

Grateful Dead 8/21/93 Autzen Stadium, Eugene OR
BIRD SONG->
PROMISED LAND

Grateful Dead 8/21/93 Autzen Stadium, Eugene OR
w/ Huey Lewis, harmonica
TRUCKIN'->
GOOD MORNING LITTLE SCHOOLGIRL->
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING

"Oregon Trail Mix" is a radio play written by Jack Ellis and featuring the voices of Jack Ellis, Mary Weatherly, Sue Ellis, Ken Nordine, and me. We went to Eugene to broadcast the August 21 and 22 shows live on KLCC (with tons of help from KLCC's "Dead Air" hostess Deb Trist and other KLCC staffers), and Dan Healy thought it would be fun to create a piece of radio drama for the occasion. Dan played it over the PA at Autzen Stadium, too!

Huey Lewis was in town to appear as Elvis Presley (!) in Ken Kesey's play "Twister," which was presented at the Armory not far from Autzen Stadium. The play was a weird twist on "The Wizard of Oz"; I wish I remembered anything about the play.

You can browse and/or search the Grateful Dead Hour program logs on the GD Hour web site. Let me know if there's a particular program you'd like to hear, and feel free to post requests and comments here or by email to gdhour [at] dead.net

Thanks for listening! David Gans
gdhour [at] dead.net

Listen Now

Display on homepage featured list
Off
StreamOS MP3 URL
https://sos2208.akamaized.net/download/rhino/gdead/gdhour/gdh261_podcast.mp3
Feature type

dead comment

user picture

Member for

16 years 5 months
Permalink

from DB Cooper no less?!?! Prairie Home Companion got nothin' on this ensemble...non-commercial non-commercial radio - Gotta love that Oregon Trail Mix!!! ...and the music's pretty darn tasty, too - thanks gdhour, thanks dead.net & thanks DG
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 5 months
Permalink

way too funny , lol .. absoloutly love this weeks show !! : ) Thank you for making me smile this morning ...and DB Cooper , i remember him ,, he was my hero for a while , he he ,,. Thankx David Have a Grate day everyone !! Peace ....
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

Today's newspaper has a short item stating that "a parachute found buried in southwestern Washington is not connected to famed plane hijacker D.B. Cooper." Some kids found it last month and the FBI investigated, but after consulting with parachute experts it was determined to be unrelated to the famous caper. The timing of this GD Hour post was entirely coincidental. I swear!

Gans/GD Hour blog
GD Hour station list

user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years
Permalink

Thanks for getting this up on the site. I thought Oregon Trail Mix was hysterical then and still do! My friends and I had a tape of this circulating and laughed for years at some of the parts of this sketch. The music from the show is great too! "Ken tell them what they didn't win!..." I'm whacked out!
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 9 months
Permalink

oh to be on the oregon trail mix again. nice bird song. peace man.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 9 months
Permalink

that radio play was great. makes me want to write one too.so many hilarious puns. thanks david.now were truckin.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 7 months
Permalink

Out on the road to West Marin... Radio Play's are something that should have never gone away. I have been living in Europe (Sweden) for the past six years. One of the things that I miss is great radio. Yes, I can listen, and do, on the internet. At the sametime it is not the same as tuning in with the faint touch of the hand, driving further to get that perfect reception, or even better, sitting in your backyard on a Sunday listening to what comes up next. Just a thought. The Eugene shows in 93 were great, though. Sam
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

Jack Ellis is a pal of Dan Healy's who worked with us on the Eugene broadcasts. I think he worked with Dan on his radio station, KERG, up in Redway back in the day. Fun guy! Gans/GD Hour blog
GD Hour station list
user picture

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

Thanks for the memories... Those Eugene shows andthe parking lot camping in my 1972 Winnibego was a great time.... I just remember taping the shows then going back to the RV and listening to the shows again.... Then, we ran the battery dead listening to music after the show and had to get a jump to get back on the road... What a hoot... Cheers Woody www.myspace.com/woodyinthebasement
user picture

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

One of the first news feeds about the discovery of (possibly) DB Cooper's parachute commented on the fact that the color of the parachute found was white, the same as DB Cooper's... *rolls eyes and imagines a similar scene* "Y'all got any leads?" "Leads, yeah, sure. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts! Leads..." Great show, Gans! I never got enough of Bob doing "Smokestack Lightning" over the years I followed the band. Also, I think that the Dead were so cool to play with other artists, whenever they had the chance. I usually found there to be a special energy at those shows. Also, one of the voices of the "Trail mix" segment sounded familiar. Were either Jack Ellis or Ken Nordine (I think Ken's is the voice I'm recognizing) involved in other radio themed skits of similar genre? Thanks again!
user picture

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

is Nirvana's workshop!" Great web site (for Ken Nordine)! I really enjoyed "The Mind Reader". Thanks again, David... you've been a most gracious host (as well a good sport). "See" you around (and around). "All energy flows according to the whims of the Great Magnet. What a fool I was to defy him."
user picture

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

reminds me of the ol' fireside theatre skits, puns n'puns o fun, where ever u go there u r
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 3 months
Permalink

I didn't go to this Eugene run but I am diggin the Truckin, Schoolgirl, Smokestack. And the Oregon Trail Mix was a cool addition to this show. Thanks for posting this show. later
user picture

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

If this is the same Jack & Sue Ellis, he worked on KMPX-FM in San Francisco in probably '69 thru '71. In about '74, he was part of a station, KSML-FM (Secret Mountain Lab) on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. I ran into once in Forestville, California in the early '80s and he was taping the Dead around the bay area and living up there in Sonoma County, about 50miles north of the city. Good man with a really warm smile. I just typed his name in seach here, and this came up. Peace, Love & Happiness to Jack Ellis & family
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

Epic weekend, Oregon Trail Mix was too damn funny. Remember last week...the TrailBlazers were freaked?