A touch of grey for Leahy fundraiser

[StoneMtn]

A touch of grey for Leahy fundraiser

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), that old-school deadhead, has done it again. He’s rounded up members of the Grateful Dead — rhythm guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart — for a fundraiser at the Renaissance Marriott next Tuesday.

Weir and Hart have been friends with Leahy for more than 20 years. Leahy has even hosted them in the Senate Dining Room. The two performed at a fundraiser at the Ritz-Carlton downtown in September 2004, when Leahy was up for reelection.

The sixth-term Leahy has no campaign of his own to worry about this year, but the two icons are showing up to benefit Leahy’s Green Mountain Victory Fund, a joint effort of his campaign committee and his PAC.

This time around, Weir and Hart will be accompanied by members of the Flying Other Brothers, a group of former Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who started as a Dead cover band, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, a country-rock outfit that served as a longtime side project for late Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, bassist Phil Lesh and Hart.

Leahy Chief of Staff Ed Pagano said some of the musicians present have not hung out with the Dead in D.C. since 1971. (Wonder if they can remember it.)

Pagano quipped that his boss “is a uniter, not a divider, on Grateful Dead members.â€

The tariff for this one-of-a-kind show: $150 to $5,000.

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