Bob Weir [Photo by Susana Millman]This Saturday night, tune in to watch the Grateful Dead's co-founder Bob Weir perform live with members of The National on Yahoo! Music in a free concert entitled "The Bridge Session." The performance will be streamed on-the-spot from Weir's TRI Studios in the Bay Area.
In addition to the music, viewers will be able to ask Weir and guests questions via Twitter during a between-sets panel. Weir, a board member of the voter registration group HeadCount.org, will be joined by independent presidential candidate Buddy Roemer, No Labels co-founder Mark McKinnon (a former media adviser to George W. Bush, John McCain, Lance Armstrong and of course, Bono), climate change activist Jessy Tolkan, and Grateful Dead lyricist and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) co-founder John Perry Barlow. The group will discuss issues including money in politics, the 2012 presidential election and defending the First Amendment.
"We're trying to sort of stir the pot," said Weir. "There are going to be some, shall we say, effervescent personalities involved in these discussions and we're going to make it as entertaining as possible."
Weir will be backed by an ensemble that includes The National's Scott and Bryan Devendorf and Aaron Dessner, along with many longtime friends from Brooklyn's vibrant independent music scene: Thomas "Doveman" Bartlett and Kyle Resnick (both frequent collaborators of The National), Walt Martin of The Walkmen, Conrad Doucette of Takka Takka, and Sam Cohen and Josh Kaufman of the Yellowbirds. Kaufman is also the event's musical director. HeadCount founder Marc Brownstein, a member of the electronic rock band The Disco Biscuits and a Brooklyn native, will serve as emcee.
If you want to submit a question for Weir or any of the other panelists, leave it in the comments below or tweet it using the hashtag #BridgeSession. To watch the concert, come back to Yahoo! Music this Saturday night, March 24 at 9pm ET/6pm PT!