It was a sad day for the Marin County music scene when , the San Rafael restaurant, bar and music venue founded by former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, . The shutdown ended a nearly 10-year run for Terrapin as a joyful gathering place for a devoted community of musicians and live music fans, particularly those in the Grateful Dead universe. Or did it? In announcing the closing, Lesh left the door open for Terrapin to return, at least in spirit, “in some form, somewhere down the road.
” That road has led to McNears Beach Park in San Rafael, where Terrapin Crossroads returns in the form of a pair of outdoor festivals this summer. Called Sunday Daydream Volumes 3 and 4, the shows, set for July and August, are headlined by Phil Lesh and Friends, an ever-changing ensemble built around the venerable bassist and featuring a revolving cast of top local and national musicians, including jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, multi-instrumentalist Jason Crosby and Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of the L.A.
folk-rock band Dawes. The prime movers behind the daylong festivals are Lesh’s sons, Grahame, 37, and Brian, 34. “Last year, Grahame and I were kicking around ideas about how to bring the Terrapin community back together and do something fun,” Brian Lesh says.
Inspired by the outdoor shows that Terrapin staged during the pandemic in Beach Park, a city-owned space on the San Rafael Canal adjacent to the restaurant, they tried out the festival concept with two Sunday Daydream gatheri.