...... so why this choice of name within the web site and e-mail address? Apart from the suggestion of experience and sagacity, it's also an appropriate song title with some suitable lyrics for someone entering the self-employed field, from a band beyond description.

A song with this title was probably the only chart success in 1987 for a band that became far better known for its live concerts. The non-sequitur lyrics can be found at www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/intro.htm - then insert "touch of grey" in the search box.

The origins of the Grateful Dead lie in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the folk clubs of Palo Alto and Berkeley, in the early 1960's. The blend of folk, blues, traditional music, jazz and rock and roll, combining conventional song structures with long improvisional jams, was unique. The band existed from about 1965 until 1995, when lead guitarist Jerry Garcia passed on. During these years, they played over 2,300 concerts, many preserved on tape and freely accessible to listeners.  For the uninitiated, probably the two best places to find their music are:

- at a website called the Internet Archive, a perfectly reputable historical research site.  Try www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead 

- at the Grateful Dead home page - www.dead.net/ - where there are links to weekly streams in the taper section and a weekly jam section.

And a latest offering from the good people at Dead.net - 30 Days of the Dead during November 2013. Each day, a live recording from the vault is being made available for both streaming and download.  Downloads seem to be easier using Safari rather than Internet Explorer.  Check out - http://www.dead.net/30daysofdead/ - enjoy!

And since then, the idea has caught on, and there are other locations where sublime pieces of Grateful Dead history are on offer from time to time. The latest one was on offer on each day in December 2013. It was called the "Unofficial 31 Days of the Dead" and can still be found at http://phantasytour.com/bands/1/posts?page=1&topic_id=3613569.

Their entry on Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead - provides a lengthy summary of the band's history, and is regularly updated.

The surviving members of the band have played on in various combinations, and still do. I was fortunate enough to see the latest incarnation, Further - www.furthur.net/ - at Broomfield, Colorado in February 2011. There are several places on the web where you can hear their material - here's just one, a stream of about 5 live songs per week on the forum pages of their web site at www.furthur.net/forum/6-streaming.

Further ended an 8-night run at the Beacon Theatre in New York in April 2012.  In 8 nights, each night's set list was different - hardly a single song repeated along the way.  Not many bands can achieve this - but this is typical of Further and was typical of the Dead.

Just for good measure, I'm experimenting with inserting video for the first time below ....