On Wednesday, October 3rd, late Grateful Dead lyricist and Internet pioneer John Perry Barlow would have celebrated his 71st birthday. In honor of Barlow’s first birthday since his death at the age of 70 earlier this year, Relix has announced that they will re-webcast their 2016 “The Songs of Barlow” tribute free of charge.
“The Songs of Barlow” tribute originally took place at Brooklyn Bowl on December 14th, 2016, and featured Terrapin Family Band members Grahame Lesh, Ross James, and Alex Koford with Scott Padden as well as special guest appearances by Eric Krasno, Jackie Greene, Jon Graboff, Karina Rykman, Katie Jacoby, Rob Barraco, Leslie Mendelson, DJ Logic, and more. The re-stream of “The Songs of Barlow” tribute will take place on October 3rd at 10 p.m. ET via the Relix Facebook page.
John Perry Barlow—a frequent Bob Weir collaborator, poet, essayist, political activist, and retired Wyoming cattle rancher—was attributed with helping create Grateful Dead tunes like “Throwing Stones”, “Feel Like A Stranger”, “Cassidy”, “Estimated Prophet”, “Lost Sailor”, “Saint Of Circumstance”, “Mexicali Blues”, “The Music Never Stopped”, and many others.
In addition to his contributions to the Grateful Dead, Barlow was a well-known political activist who identified as a cyberlibertarian, though he worked across the aisle with both Democrats and Republicans to further causes he believed in. He was a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Freedom of the Press Foundation and had, most recently, been particularly vocal in advocating for the preservation of net neutrality. Furthermore, he was a Fellow Emeritus at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and had previously been recognized by Time Magazine in the outlet’s 2012 article, “School of Rock: 10 Supersmart Musicians“.
You can watch the live stream below:
The Songs of Barlow Rebroadcast
[Video: Relix; Directed/Produced by Jonathan Healey]
Happy birthday, John Perry Barlow. Your many contributions to this world are greatly missed.
[H/T Relix]