Tom Constanten
Tom Constanten (born March 19, 1944) is an American keyboardist, best known for playing with Grateful... View more
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Welcome to the Tom Constanten WingTom Constanten is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame keyboard player who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1968 to 1970. After having limited success on the violin in his youth, Tom decided the piano was a better fit for him. He is classically trained and studied with world class instructors such as: Luciano Berio, Henri Pousseur, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Pierre Boulez. It was with Berio at Mills College in San Francisco where Tom shared the class with Phil Lesh, who would become a core member and bassist of the Grateful Dead. During this period…Groups
The Curator added 13 media 6 months ago
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The Tom Constanten Chronicles, Part 6: “Don’t You Have Anything to Say for Yourself?”Step back in time as Tom Constanten narrates a series of personal chronicles. Listen to firsthand accounts of life with Pigpen, musical breakthroughs, and unforgettable moments from the heart of the 60s music scene.It was 1962. I’d just arrived in Milano, just starting to know my way around. I was 18 years old, and I was craving a cheeseburger.Happily, I found one! But, like the pizza I experienced years later in Osaka, it wasn’t quite the same.It was at a place called “Biffi.” Cute name, and…Groups
The Tom Constanten Chronicles, Part 5: “Do not attempt these tricks at home!”Step back in time as Tom Constanten narrates a series of personal chronicles. Listen to firsthand accounts of life with Pigpen, musical breakthroughs, and unforgettable moments from the heart of the 60s music scene.In 1963, Phil, Bill Walker, and I were sharing a house on Eureka Street, and one night we went to the San Francisco Opera House to see Die Walküre. We parked on Van Ness across the street, in front of City Hall, and lit up a joint to prepare for the festivities. We got standing-room…Groups
The Tom Constanten Chronicles, Part 4: “How Mad Is He!?”Step back in time as Tom Constanten narrates a series of personal chronicles. Listen to firsthand accounts of life with Pigpen, musical breakthroughs, and unforgettable moments from the heart of the 60s music scene.The first joint I ever smoked was rolled, lit, and put in my mouth by Bobby Petersen. He dropped by the apartment on Durant Avenue in Berkeley that Phil and I shared. He had this way of using his pocket knife to taper the ends that made them easy to open but kept them secure.One afternoon he and I walked…Groups
The Tom Constanten Chronicles, Part 3: Panic Mode in the DesertStep back in time as Tom Constanten narrates a series of personal chronicles. Listen to firsthand accounts of life with Pigpen, musical breakthroughs, and unforgettable moments from the heart of the 60s music scene.It was the spring of 1962. Phil Lesh and I were enrolled in a class at Mills College with Luciano Berio. Berio told us he would arrange for scholarships for us to attend the courses at Darmstadt, Germany. Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and others held classes there in their music, and there were…Groups
The Tom Constanten Chronicles, Part 2: The Master’s Bouquet.
Step back in time as Tom Constanten narrates a series of personal chronicles. Listen to firsthand accounts of life with Pigpen, musical breakthroughs, and unforgettable moments from the heart of the 60s music scene.
I was born on the Jersey Shore, but I grew up in southern Nevada. Las Vegas, to be specific.
Whenever the band played there, I invited them to join me and see my old haunts. Only one of them accepted my invitation: Bob Weir.
I drove us out to the Valley of Fire, my favorite place on the planet, where I went out with Bill Walker and friends in the mid-sixties and wandered out into the desert, fueled by, well… mescaline, psilocybin, LSD, STP, often overlapping. So Bob Weir accompanied me into the wilderness where we had our psychedelic parties.
“Mouse’s Tank,” the sign said at the parking lot. We walked a while into the desert. The red sandstone was an acoustic wonderland, so Bob took out his guitar and sang “The Master’s Bouquet” for an audience of one.
Beautiful flowers, that will never decay…
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The Tom Constanten Chronicles, Part 1: “All graceful instruments…”Step back in time as Tom Constanten narrates a series of personal chronicles. Listen to firsthand accounts of life with Pigpen, musical breakthroughs, and unforgettable moments from the heart of the 60s music scene.He wore his hat in a Laramie crush. A patch on his denim jacket said “smiling service.” He carried his personal accoutrements in a leather satchel, dubbed the “Pig Bag,” out of which might come anything from a hip flask to a pegboard chess set. He was a princely pirate, a generous genie, a holy…
