drum set-ups. When I think of the DSO, I always wonder what it takes to transport all that. RK: Yeah, it’s a lotta drums, man, you know? It depends on what show we’re doing, as far as how much of it actually comes off the truck. Because over the years the drums have changed, but there’s a lot on the truck, that’s for sure! If we’re doing anything from the early 70s, there’s only one drum set; that’s all there is. In ’76 and ’77, it’s just the drum sets. By ’87, it’s all the big drums in the back, and all the electronics. There’s some nights where we don’t have anything on stage but one drum kit, and there’s some nights where there’s 50 drums up there. It depends on what year [of the live Dead catalog] we’re performing, because it changed so much over the years.
Music
Dark Star Orchestra returns
Grateful Dead tribute band returns to the State Theatre March 18
IT: What do you do with the 21 hours a day that you’re not on stage? RK: That’s a great question, man. We all do different things. Some of the guys don’t do anything, they just sit around, watch TV. Some of the guys go exercise. For me, on show days when we’re sitting around 20, 21 hours, I have a podcast that I started during the pandemic, so I work on the podcast. I am involved with some community stuff where I live, with a summer camp I’m involved with, so I’ll do work for that.
By Br yan VanC ampe n
T
he Dark Star Orchestra has long been a popular attraction whenever they make it to Ithaca, and they’ll be in town at the State Theatre for another mystery show culled from the Grateful Dead’s vast catalog of songs. DSO percussionist Rob Koritz talked to the Ithaca Times about COVID, bringing enough drums on the road, and his jam bandbased podcast. Ithaca Times: I know you guys have actually out-toured the Grateful Dead, but how did COVID impact the DSO? Rob Koritz: Well, for the first year or so, we only played maybe 10 shows in 2020. We were stuck at home like everybody else. And then last year, about May 2021, we picked it back up. But we only played weekends; we’d go to one town. So we would just fly in, play some shows and fly out. You know, that way, we weren’t on our bus and we weren’t touring, so to speak. We were able to work, but it was draining flying out every Thursday and flying home every Sunday, week after week. Coming up, when we’re comin’ to you guys now, this’ll be our second real tour; we just did our first one at the end of January-February. That was our first time
IT: Tell me about your podcast. RK: It’s called “The Music Plays the Band.”
Dark Star Orchestra will be at the State Theatre March 18. (Photo: Provided)
back on the bus, goin’ from town to town. It’s definitely different now; we don’t have backstage guests, we don’t spend a whole lot of time in public, we test very regularly just to make sure that we’re all safe. While it’s different, we’re just doin’ what we have to, at the moment anyway IT: I can’t even imagine — 10 shows in a year.
RK: Yeah, it was crazy. But at the same time, it was kinda nice to get to spend more time at home than I ever have. It’s the most time I’ve ever spent with my wife and kids. So there were definitely some positives to it. The negatives were not getting to do what we love, and really not making any money for a year. IT: I know that Billy [Kreutzmann] and Mickey [Hart] used very elaborate
IT: [laughs] RK: And I interview different musicians from in and around the jam scene, not completely from the jam scene, on how they first got turned on to the Grateful Dead, and how it’s affected their careers as far as playing and songwriting and business and what kind of influence the Grateful Dead’s had on them over the years. I’ve had members of the Grateful Dead on, like Donna Jean Godchaux. I’ve had Jorma Kaukonen from Jefferson Airplane. But I’ve also gone outside the band world and had people like Bob Crawford, who’s the bass player in the Avett Brothers, who’s a big Deadhead. The bottom line: musicians that love the Dead love to talk about the Dead.
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