Hagar, Weir, Grateful Jam

On Wednesday night, Sammy Hagar joined Grateful Dead singer-guitarist Bob Weir at Weir's TRI Studios in San Rafael, California for a jam session that also included Talking Heads keyboardist and guitarist Jerry Harrison and Lukas Nelson, the son of Willie Nelson. Their set included the Dead's "Friend of the Devil" and "Loose Lucy," as well as The Beatles' "Come Together," Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime" and Nelson's "Boner."

The set was the first in a series of events called the Patron Project. Before they played, the artists took part in a panel discussion along with representatives from Pandora, Microsoft, Red Bull and Dolby. They talked about patronage versus sponsorship and how major corporations can help fund up-and-coming acts, similar to the way record labels used to work.

One idea Hagar presented was to have a patron help pay for a tour so that he could offer $10 tickets in exchange for "free reign with advertising." Afterwards Weir said, "We want to promote the notion of patronage. It's a tradition. It goes back to the church and the Renaissance, and we want to bring that back around. Otherwise, art is going to take a backseat in our culture. It already is. And that’s not right."