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NEWS UPDATE

Press Release

6-22-26

Our Bobby player extraordinaire, Brendan Connolly is back! Healed up and ready to rock! His first show back is Saturday June 27th at The Gateway in Ship Bottom, New Jersey.

A ‘Ripple’ Effect Is Coming to the Gateway

June 17, 2026

By Eric Englund

THE SANDPAPER

Long Beach Island is about to experience a massive wave of 1990s Jersey Shore music nostalgia when Dead To the Core hits the stage at the Gateway in Ship Bottom on Saturday night, June 27.

The performance marks a special homecoming as it brings back the founding members of Ripple, bassist/vocalist Ronnie Penque and drummer/vocalist Clay Cassell.

“We’re back to the exact stage we packed through the 1980s and 1990s,” said Penque. “During that time, Ripple was the undisputed favorite of local Deadheads along the coast, with the Gateway serving as one of the band’s most iconic and beloved regular venues. This special night is specifically aimed at welcoming back old Ripple fans while inviting all tri-state Grateful Dead enthusiasts to witness an authentic, high-energy electric celebration of the Dead’s expansive catalog.”

A Barnegat Township resident, Penque has spent decades touring the country at the highest echelons of the national jam-band community. His distinguished career includes playing bass for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, country-rock pioneers formed by Dead icon Jerry Garcia. Penque also played with the Jerry Garcia Band, another side project that continued after Garcia died in 1995. With Dead To the Core, Penque takes on songs where Garcia was the lead vocalist.

“Clay is also is one of the lead singers, sounding exactly like Bob Weir of the Dead,” he said. “Brendan Connolly’s guitar playing is as close to Bob Weir’s style of guitar playing as one could imagine. Steve Bernstein is the best Jerry Garcia-style guitarist in the post-Grateful Dead screen these days. Jeff Pearlman on keyboards takes on the Pigpen (nickname of original member Ron McKernan) vocals and sounds very closely similar to Pigpen himself. Together, we have more than over 200 years experience in playing Grateful Dead music.

“What stands out at a Dead To The Core show is our attention to detail, lush three-part harmonies, experimental jams and how much fun we and our audience have.”

Penque said the band plays a traditional two-set show, with sets usually lasting around 75 minutes each.

“Like the Grateful Dead, no show is ever exactly the same,” he said. “You’ll hear some of their more well-known songs, some jams and some deep cuts.”

Cassell said he and Penque formed Ripple while they were growing up in Old Tappan, located in northeastern Bergen County. He said while most people assume the name was derived from the title of a song on the band’s 1970 album American Beauty, the name also plays homage to a popular cheap wine at the time.

“We were 18 then, and now we’re 64,” said Cassell. “At that time, there really weren’t any Grateful Dead tribute bands. But now, they’re all over the place, and many of them have been playing in the Jersey Shore area. It just shows how their music still has so much appeal, even to this day.”

The Grateful Dead was founded in the mid-1960s during the rise of the counter-culture movement. But Cassell said what made the band unique was its blend of all types of American music – rock, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass, gospel, world music, psychedelia and more.

While the Grateful Dead has a very voluminous discography, it night be fair to consider “Truckin’” the band’s signature song.

After Garcia died, the remaining band members retired the name and disbanded.

“But they all appeared in different lineups and incarnations over the years,” Cassell said. “They wanted to keep the music going.”

The only surviving members are drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. The last founding member who passed away was Weir, this past January. At the time of his death, he, Kreutzmann and Hart were playing with Dead & Company.

Cassell actually had a chance to play alongside Weir at a special event in New York.

“We did the Bob Dylan song ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece,’ and also the Grateful Dead song ‘The Eyes of the World,’” he said.

For more information, visit dead2thecore.com.

— Eric Englund

Music for the Week: Father’s Day festivities and more fun to enjoy.

https://www.thephoto-news.com/tag/-/meta/stefani-m-c-janelli

THE PHOTO NEWS

At 8 p.m., Vinyl Tap brings their classic rock favorites to the Last Whisky Bar — or head to Fence Road Farm Brewery to catch Dead to the Core delivering all the Grateful Dead tunes you could want.

Dead To The Core -NY

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