Phish bassist Mike Gordon and his daughter, Tessa, made an appearance on Terrapin Crossroads‘ Terrapin TV streaming series on Sunday night to perform a rendition of the Grateful Dead‘s “Pride of Cucamonga”. The series, hosted by Terrapin Crossroads founder and Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, aims to raise money for the Terrapin Staff Appreciation Fund in an effort to support the staff at the venue while the live event hiatus continues.
To kick off Sunday’s second episode of Terrapin TV, Lesh comes onscreen to introduce the Gordons’ performance of “Pride of Cucamonga”. Rather than going right into the performance, however, the stream first cuts to a message from staff member Molly, whom lower-third text describes as “the biggest Phish fan we know” who “doesn’t know who is performing in the next clip.” As Molly explains in the pre-recorded message, “I am thrilled to introduce our next musical guest, although their identity is still unknown to me. So, it is a surprise for all of us. All I know is that it’s one of my personal favorites, and it’s going to be awesome.”
After Molly’s introduction, however, the video cuts not to the Mike Gordon performance, but to Molly’s reaction to finding out the “mystery” performer’s identity. With Molly’s thrilled reaction playing picture-in-picture-style from the bottom-lefthand corner of the video, Mike and Tessa pop up onscreen by the side of the lake for an acoustic performance of From the Mars Hotel track, “Pride of Cucamonga”.
In the clip, Mike Gordon and his talented young daughter alternate lead vocals and harmony parts while Mike plays along on an acoustic guitar. You can watch the full episode featuring Molly’s intro/reaction and Mike and Tessa Gordon performing “Pride of Cucamonga” below:
Terrapin TV – Episode 2 – 5/10/20
[Video: Terrapin Crossroads]
Other performances featured on Sunday’s Terrapin TV stream included Eric Krasno performing “Ramble On Rose”, the Terrapin Family Band performing a split-screen “Scarlet Begonias”.
You can donate to support the Terrapin Crossroads staff here and keep a lookout for the next episode of Terrapin TV this coming Sunday.