About 85 music and art enthusiasts filled the Bahr Gallery in Oyster Bay recently for “A Special Acoustic Evening with Jeff Mattson and Skip Vangelas from Dark Star Orchestra,” a sold-out event that blended live performance with the gallery’s ongoing Grateful Dead-themed poster exhibition.
Gallery owner Ted Bahr said the Sunday evening show represented one of the most successful events the space has hosted.
“I had an interesting comment, which was sent to me by text by a friend of mine,” Bahr said. “He said to me ‘I feel that this was the apex, the zenith, the full nature of what the Bahr Gallery has become.’”
The intimate performance marked the second time Dark Star Orchestra members Jeff Mattson and Skip Vangelas had played the venue. Bahr called the appearance “a real coup,” noting the band’s longstanding reputation among Grateful Dead fans.
“Dark Star Orchestra is very well known,” he said. “They play The Paramount in Huntington every Thanksgiving.”
The event featured lead guitarist Jeff Mattson and bassist Skip Vangelas performing an acoustic set that mixed Grateful Dead material with songs from throughout Jerry Garcia’s later career.
Unlike their previous appearance at the gallery, during which Bahr had asked the musicians to recreate a specific 1982 acoustic performance by Jerry Garcia, this year’s show gave the duo complete freedom over the setlist.
Mattson said the pair intentionally selected songs different from those played at their first Bahr Gallery appearance.
“We just came up with a list of songs on our own,” Mattson said. “I tried to play a bunch of different stuff than what we played the last time.”
The set included Grateful Dead songs as well as related material, including songs Garcia had covered from other artists such as Bob Dylan.
For Mattson, who is accustomed to performing in theaters and larger venues, the smaller gallery setting offered a distinctly different experience.
“There was an intimacy there that you don’t find playing in theaters or big concert venues,” he said. “You can see everybody who’s there.”
Bahr said the event brought together attendees from a wide range of backgrounds, united by their shared appreciation for the music and the artwork lining the walls.
“I have friends here from all different walks of life,” he said. “I see them all walking around and talking and getting together and meeting new people.”
The gallery’s walls remained filled with posters from its fall Grateful Dead exhibition, creating what Bahr described as a “fully integrated art and music event.”
The evening also resulted in several art sales, with Bahr noting that three posters were sold during the event.
Mattson said he was struck by the enduring popularity of Grateful Dead music decades after Garcia’s death.
“It’s a really wonderful phenomenon right now,” he said. “There are more people playing Grateful Dead music than ever before.”
The gallery’s next exhibition, “Revolution Evolution III,” opens April 11 with a public reception from 6 to 8 p.m., the final iteration of Bahr’s multi-year exploration of psychedelic poster art from the late 1960s and early 1970s.
