theCAUSE

theCAUSE is a Pittsburgh five-piece — Eric "Pappy" Weingrad (guitar/vocals), David Tauberg (bass/vocals), Mike South (drums), Jill Simmons (vocals) and Michael Cerveris (keys) — who describe their sets as tunes from the Grateful Dead, Phish, The Beatles and Bob Dylan plus originals. Their archived soundboards show the Dead doing most of the work: the 2025 Moondogs show ran Feel Like A Stranger > Franklin's Tower through a Scarlet > Fire and Estimated > Uncle John's Band. Moondogs in Blawnox is effectively their home room, with taped shows there stretching from 2006 to the present and an annual anniversary night. Guests have included Steve Kimock and three members of Dark Star Orchestra.