DeadCenter All-Stars:
In the mid- late 1990’s Rob Wolfson, who had been residing and playing music regularly in Fairfield County, Connecticut, decided it was time to move back into Manhattan where the so-called “Jam Band” scene was on fire in the wake of Jerry Garcia’s untimely passing. The epicenter of that scene was the sensational Wetlands Preserve club in downtown Tribeca and the enormous community it had spawned. Upon his arrival back in NYC Rob made a bee-line to the club on a “DeadCenter” Tuesday, an evening that happened to featured the amazing Zen Tricksters band that played the finest interpretations of Grateful Dead music he’d ever heard.

Also that night Rob was introduced to the club’s talent buyer Chris Zahn; Rob & Chris hit it off and within a few days Rob was booked with his band Passage on an upcoming DeadCenter Tuesday. The club became like a second home to Rob and he quickly got to meet many of the fine musicians he still enjoys playing with.

At some point in 1998, Rob gets a call from Chris, who tasks Rob to head up a new, ongoing project called DeadCenter All-Stars. Rob would recruit his fave “DeadCentric” players, on a revolving basis, to explore the variety of musical chemistries that would be bound to turn up in such a format. The project worked out extremely well and endeavored to keep going indefinitely, but tragically, the events of 9/11/01 not only ended Wetlands DeadCenter All-Stars, but closed down Wetlands altogether and pretty much all of what had been a robust downtown music scene.

Fast forward about ten years when Rob bumps into, of all people, Pete Shapiro at a country club buffet dinner (!) and Pete is eager to tell Rob what he’s been up to, namely, an exciting new music venue in Williamsburg named, you guessed it - Brooklyn Bowl, to be followed by the development and restoration of an iconic theater (and eventual nightclub) in Port Chester, NY where Rob had attended many historic concerts in the early 70’s. When the time came Rob calls Pete to ask for his blessing to revive the DeadCenter All-Stars moniker and, well, the rest is history..