Michael Hinton

Michael Hinton is an alumnus of the Rainforest Band. He toured with them for nine years, and appears on several CDs of the Rainforest Band and other Merl Saunders projects including It's In The Air, Fiesta Amazonica, Still Having Fun, Merl And His Funky Friends Live, and Still Groovin'. He played with Country Joe and Friends, and recorded with Rick Danko on A Tribute To Jerry Garcia--Deadhead Festival in Tokyo, Japan, 1997. He's also on the Roky Erickson CDs Don't Slander Me and You're Gonna Miss Me: The Best Of Roky Erickson. Among his other credits are his membership in the Mickey Hart and Merl Saunders band High Noon, as well as playing on the score for the 1980s remake of the TV show The Twilight Zone with Jerry Garcia, John Cippolina and David Grisman.

The Long Strange Trip: Entheogenic Rituals in the Amazon and Beyond

As a long-time member of the Rainforest Band and other projects by the Grateful Dead family of musicians, Michael has traveled the world and witnessed several rituals performed by the indigenous peoples of the cultures of countries he has visited. In this discussion, he recalls the Coca lodge and Ayahuasca rituals he observed on his trip with Merl Saunders to the Amazonian Rainforest, and other incredible journeys on and off the road.