Fare Thee Well Was Just The Beginning: Celebrating the Choicest 21st Century Year of Phish & the Dead

by Russell S. Glowatz

 With the New Year upon us, it’s a fitting time to reflect upon the sorcerous year of song currently reaching its conclusion. Musicians across the JamBandaverse have been no doubt firing on all cylinders in 2015, with this energy largely manifesting from the top down, originating from Phish and the surviving members of the Grateful Dead. While I believe trickle-down economics is a big bowl of bullshit, the theory holds water when applied to the jam band scene. And our collective consciousness was given a shot of adrenaline from up top when in January, Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead was announced featuring Trey Anastasio at the helm. It all started there, and through months of preparation, and five transcendent Dead shows, Trey and the boys set the stage for a year in jam unrivaled in recent history.

Grateful Dead University was the most remarkable thing that happened to Trey since drug court. It admittedly tweaked him just right for the second half of 2015. In GDU, Bobby gave Trey a lesson in patience, and Trey allowed himself alone time with his extensive rig. These two facets in the reeducation of Trey, amongst a smattering of other things, set the scene for our favorite redhead to shine all over again. It’s not a stretch to name Big Red as the MVP of Fare Thee Well, let alone 2015 as “The Year of Trey.”

Through GD50, the best summer Phish tour in a generation, a smokin’ hot TAB fall tour, and what already looks like a New Years Run for the record books, Trey’s infectious energy has remained front and center. And as I’ve said in a previous Trey Band review, he’s contagious, as his magic manifests in the players around him wherever he goes. So as this Phish run rounds out, before we find ourselves on the other side of Riviera Maya itching for summer tour 2016, I’m gonna take a moment to thank the immediate Phish family, as they did to us in the final shot of the summer. United We Stand, and not a thing suggests that this string of unimaginable feats won’t continue into the New Year.

Onward to Dead & Company, part II of GD50, brought to us by three of the core four. Their fall tour was alchemical. With the incorporation of John Mayer into the mix, he has largely endeared himself to thousands of deadheads that not too long ago loathed his very existence. While Dead & Company in an all inclusive sense, has not nor ever will reach the heights of the magic embodied in Fare Thee Well (unless John Mayer can piss rainbows, that’d be an impossible feat), this past fall tour has been nothing less than an expectation exceeding modern reinvention of our favorite touring band. With Mayer and Oteil Burbridge seeded in the mix, Dead & Co. reached contemporarily unrivaled peaks, putting forth some of the finest versions of Grateful Dead songs since the days of Jerry.

And while the collective energy level of Santa Clara and Chicago will likely never be reached again, through camaraderie that can only be built in a touring band, the latest GD50 ensemble found themselves getting better all the time. Due to downtime, some ashes, glass, and rust needed to be wiped away during the first few New Years run shows, yet confidence that the band will bring it with them on this eve remains high. Bigger and brighter things lay in wait for Dead & Company if they choose to head out on their rumored 2016 summer tour, but in the present they’ve managed to carry that 50th anniversary magic with further vigor than has been displayed in years. Thanks boys for making 2015 extra special. You’ve inspired many a deadhead and jam band to reach for the skies in their respective endeavors.

So with the preeminent jam bands’ bringing it all back home in the last twelve months, many other acts have followed suit. While there’s no direct connection here, I firmly believe our collective scene energy has played a major part. Case in point, The String Cheese Incident also found themselves at the top of their game this year. The Disco Biscuits have all of a sudden been throwing down like it’s 2009 all over again. Umphrey’s, well they always kill it. Lots of younger acts have tapped in too. From Dopapod and Twiddle reaching new heights, both opening for String Cheese at Red Rocks this past summer, to unparalleled collaborations between Twiddle and the Werks on Twerk Tour, to magic manifested by Turkuaz, Tauk, etcetera, etcetera, all year long. These are only a few bands that quickly come to mind, as many unmentioned have also thrown their hats into this 2015 free-for-all.

In a nutshell, this year was immensely prosperous for fans, musicians, festival goers, and everyone that has a stake in this subculture. If 2016 serves to be half as fruitful, we’re in for a wild ride in the coming year, yet here’s hoping it’s better. To all in the jam band world, all that have supported my writing ventures over the past six months, and all those souls beyond, have a happy, healthy, and hopeful New Year! Next year in Jerusalem!!!

© Stand For Jam, 2015
 

You Ain’t Gonna Learn What You Don’t Want To Know (The Dark Side of the Dead’s Illuminated 50th Year)

(Originally published on Grateful Music)

 
Russell’s Round Room 

Deadheads have always been a critical bunch. For decades we’ve waded and waffled over albums, tapes, set lists, soundboards, and so on, with monotonous detail. We’ve attended shows with aim to transcend the boundaries and limits of day-to-day life, yet when something wasn’t quite up to snuff, we’d be the first to appraise, and offer up notions on how it could’ve been better. Since Jerry checked out we’ve been hypercritical about every show, often unfairly holding them up to concerts from the best days of the Dead. And while sometimes we can frankly be oversensitive imbeciles, it’s this very way that we showcase our dedicated nature that makes us the very best fan base in the world. We don’t mince words. We will tell you if you suck. Likely you don’t blow or we wouldn’t attend your shows, but when you have one of those days, tours, or even one of those sets or songs where you couldn’t tap into the collective synchronicity, you’re going to get an earful. As a musician I can’t imagine a more terrifyingly wonderful prospect, because you will get the credit when it’s due. Genuine is a word that wholeheartedly defines deadheads.

And this year, tons of gratitude has poured from our ranks towards the Core Four, their counterparts and the various 50th anniversary incarnations, yet there has been an incredible level of hogwash as well. And I’m not talking about constructive criticism regarding a show that already went down; rather referring to deadheads a plenty taking their preconceived notions about a certain artist or ensemble and prejudging events that have yet to take place. While it’s far from the bunch, and may be a minority (there’s no way to really know), a group of heads has made an indelible mark in various corners of the interweb with premature expressions of doubt. First with Trey, the hysteria was palpable, and people that practically based part of their very being on hating Phish, were met with a musical identity crisis of massive proportions. Folks flipped their shit, and that vibe wafted throughout our scene, and touched everyone, including Big Red himself. But now that Fare Thee Well has come and gone, the Anastasio bashing has nearly ceased, as most realize they don’t have two legs to stand upon when attacking his abilities. So at this juncture as Trey stands on his merits, some have certainly learned their lesson about prejudgment. Still I can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu with the yet to be road tested Dead & Company and their lead guitarist. John Mayer’s inclusion in Dead and Company has left him as the new public enemy number one. After the unjustified Trey hate barrage, I thought many more would take the high road at this juncture, but my optimism outshined reality, as the trolls and drama queens are at it again. And a message to them: your intransigent non-constructive criticism serves no purpose whatsoever, other than to justify your years held prejudices. Disliking Mayer’s mainstream music should not be basis for condemning the Dead and Company venture. Even Mayer himself believes his pop tunes are garbage, merely a means to pay the bills while pursuing his true passions on the side. Moreover a heaping handful of evidence suggests that Mayer can in fact play guitar, and play it quite well. So instead of condemning the man out of the gate, how about giving him a chance to demonstrate his proficiency without any prepossessed notions. Simply, it’s called open-mindedness, and I thought we were a pretty receptive bunch.

As Mayer has received his fair share of hate from the general public over the years, and has likely grown a thick skin, it’s not his feelings I’m concerned about. It’s our community, and what we tacitly stand for that should be upheld. Many are stoked for these shows. We hear your hate on a daily basis. While you may be ultimately right, and Dead & Company bombs due to the incorporation of Mayer into the collective, you’ll be vindicated based on your prediction, but you won’t be upon your behavior. The name-calling and ad hominem attacks are unbecoming, unnecessary, and your prematurely negative vibes are harshing our widespread mood. So for the betterment of our community, mellow out, open your brain, ears, and heart to the possibility that something good might be brewing. And if you can’t do that, and your irrational hate is so deep-seated, then stuff it for the duration and let us have our good time without the ongoing pessimistic commentary from the peanut gallery.  Ultimately your vibe won’t ruin our experience in the least, but it does take its toll, and perhaps in recognition of that, you’ll take it down a notch.

Whether this tour will be the greatest thing since Fare Thee Well, present itself as a mediocre happening, or crash as an abysmal failure, we don’t know. Those touting the merits of Mayer, or attacking him on insignificant levels, simply have no inkling. So in the vista of uncertainty, why not wax positive. Positivity and transcendent music are the main features of our community that brought us here in the first place. And without the former, the latter often doesn’t come to fruition. Life is a whole lot easier looking upwards and onwards, rather than downwards with a constant eye towards past dwellings. If these shows are second-rate, then take all the time you need to constructively criticize after the fact. I may very well join you. But if the hate parade continues towards Dead & Company’s opening dates, I have to ask: what kind of people are we? We can be the people that live by the creeds commonly suggested in Grateful Dead lyrics, or we can throw everything we’ve learned on this trip to the wind, and devolve into our lesser selves. The choice is yours. “Ain’t no time to hate,” even if it’s John Mayer.

Words: Russell S. Glowatz

Logo: Jeffrey Peltzman

Review: Phil Lesh and Friends, Central Park SummerStage, 9/16/2015

(Originally published on Grateful Music)

 
No venue in Manhattan is quite like Central Park SummerStage at Rumsey Playfield. Centered in the bucolic and historic park, the surroundings themselves are worth the venture alone, yet when a surviving member of the Grateful Dead is playing, the scenery serves merely as a gateway to the main event. With a capacity of roughly 5000 people, SummerStage was packed to the rafters on Wednesday night, yet due to its relatively small size the venue provides an intimate environment, often not seen at many outdoor concert grounds. So strolling through the park prior to the show, I found myself drawn to the nearby rocks where folks regularly congregate before events. Meeting old friends and new, the aura outside was terrific, mellow, and anticipatory for the night to come.

And expectations were wholeheartedly met as Phil Lesh and his current company took the stage and Tony Leone belted out the familiar drumbeat signaling the Samson and Delilah at hand. If folks took this as evidence of a show heading in the direction of late seventies up-tempo Dead, they, as I, were markedly mistaken, as the band forayed into the longtime Jerry staple, Catfish John. The soulful tune allowed ample time for guitarists Eric Krasno, and Neal Casal to open up and cut deep. The interplay between the two lead axemen remained to be a strong point all night long, accentuated by the versatile keysmanship of the latest Black Crowes keyboardist, Adam MacDougall.

As the music moved forward, it was evident that we were in for a blues heavy show with back to back Pig Pen tunes, Hard to Handle, and Easy Wind. As MacDougall, Casal, and Leone are all Chris Robinson collaborators of past and present, a bluesy element emblematic of the Crowes emanated through the players, and created a unique sound relative to past Phil & Friends incarnations. Robinson delved into his roll as lead vocalist with ease and swagger, and at times seemed to be channeling the late great Ron McKernan, not only with voice, but also through a gritty harmonica solo in the midst of Easy Wind. As set one came to a close with Big River, the band presented us with a fresh take, and I found myself reaching a transcendent state for the first time in the evening.

The fact that Phil’s still bringing us full length shows of stellar live music well into his seventies is a blessing and a miracle. For that, I can’t blame him in the least for the extended set breaks that have become commonplace at his shows. I know many folks his age that are long in bed and asleep while he’s raging onward night after night. So while the lengthy intermission allowed Phil and company to reenergize, it gave us heads ample time for bathroom breaks, beer runs, and mingling with our friends and family. As the sun went down on the Park, and the lights brightened on the stage, we all dug in for what was to be a smoking second set.

The He’s Gone opener was met with rip-roaring enthusiasm from the audience, as the song has taken up special meaning since the passing of Jerry Garcia. At this juncture it occurred to me we haven’t heard much from Phil in respect to fronting vocals. While many deadheads have taken umbrage with him appropriating a lead on certain songs, there are a few he has adopted and truly made his own in the post-Jerry years. And as clear as the summer’s sky, his voice shined through in singing Saint Stephen and Franklin’s Tower. With the night winding down, the double encore opened with the recognizable riff of Mr. Charlie, a fitting choice with Robinson’s ability to conjure the essence of Pig Pen. Each band member took a musical bow with respective solos, and in capping it all off, the ensemble left us with a sentimental U.S. Blues that evoked nostalgia of the epic summertime “come and gone.”

All in all this was a well-executed show, with a handful of highs, and some middle of the road moments. For many of the Northeast deadheads in attendance, this was their first opportunity to see Phil live and in the flesh in this fiftieth year of Grateful Dead (or at least since before Fare Thee Well), and that vibe waved wide and high as we danced and sang the night away to our favorite tunes. As a New Yorker, I consider myself to be among the fortunate since Lesh retired from touring, as I’m still able to get my Phil fix fairly frequently. As he rides off into his twilight years, I imagine Phil will venture less commonly from his home at Terrapin Crossroads. So with a run of shows coming up at the Capitol Theater in Portchester, NY at the end of October, I’d encourage all who can make it to catch Phil and his friends as they round out this epic year in Grateful Dead history.

Words: Russell S. Glowatz

Welcome To The Dance: A Dead & Company Editorial 

(Originally published 8/14/2015 on Grateful Music)

Russell’s Round Room

Dear John Mayer Fans: When The Circus Comes To Town, You’re Invited


Hello there John Mayer Heads! Is that what you call yourselves, because I really don’t know? You’ve probably been a Mayer fan for a while, and may be a bit surprised or confused by the fact that he will be touring, as Dead & Company, with these old geezers you likely don’t know. Well, if that’s the case, don’t fret, those elderly dudes can carry a tune, and they’ve been throwing parties like the ones about to take place for fifty years. Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir are three of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead. If you’ve never heard of the Grateful Dead before, welcome. If you have heard of the Grateful Dead before, but don’t really know what they are about, happy to have you with us.

To give you a little background, the Dead and their various incarnations have been traveling the greater United States, and beyond for five decades now, opening minds and hearts to transcendent music, and the vibrant community that surrounds the band. From the outside, we must look a little odd to the masses, but I guarantee that once on the inside, you will see the merits of what we have to offer.

The Dead was officially formed in 1965. They have drawn upon countless different musical genres creating a synthesis of sound that you cannot find anywhere else. Their unofficial and often reluctant leader was Jerry Garcia, a true guitar virtuoso and exemplary songwriter that wrote the music for many of the tunes you will hear on the upcoming Dead & Company tour. Sadly in 1995 he passed away and left a huge void within the deadhead community and the world at large. Since then the surviving members have toured under various names, together and apart, with different lead guitarists, constantly reinventing their music for the masses.

Their tunes often lead into improvisation, and extended jams, and the songs they’ve composed are absolutely inspiring. I understand that for a newcomer, extended jamming can be an acquired taste. That’s the way it was for me and before I could appreciate the live marathon improv sessions, and studio albums were the perfect avenue for my journey into deadhead land. The seed was planted for me when my brother gave me the gift of Shakedown Street for Hanukkah when I was twelve. But I ultimately became a budding Deadhead when I discovered my father’s vinyl copy of American Beauty, arguably the greatest album of all time. There are plenty of other studio albums you can take the leap on as well, but American Beauty is my personal recommendation as a place to start in the lead up to MSG. If you jive with what you listen to perhaps you should jump into the Dead’s live catalog. Live is where they truly shined, and a starting point for many has been the Europe ’72 album. If you’re not feeling it after one listen, don’t give up. I guarantee you will discover something potentially life changing.

 We are absolutely a welcoming clan. While you may catch a few negative comments online about deadheads feeling queasy over the fact that thousands of John Mayer fans may be infiltrating our scene, those comments are not representative of our group as whole. Please don’t listen to the small but vocal group of Negative Nancy’s, as most of us are pretty decent people. At the very least you will have a real good time, and take in some tremendous tunes. If you find yourself a deadhead in training after these shows, you may desire to delve deeper into what we are about, and there is plenty of literature and archived show recordings to get you where you want to go.

Simply put, we aren’t about much that’s definitive. Many of our creeds are interpretive and not set in stone. If a song lyric inspires you, your understanding of that lyric is as valid as it was for the thousands of other heads that found differing meanings. There are no rules in our community, yet a few generally understood ideas do exist. We strive to be kind to the best of our abilities, we aim to be tolerant of all, and firmly believe in the golden rule. If I had to pick a single principle that defines us, it’s karma. So be good and do good, and good things will come back your way.

And just to remind some of my fellow heads about our implicit principles, specifically in respect to newcomers: be karmic, be kind, aim to enlighten, and do your best not to belittle. Everyone was new once, even you, so remember that, and lend a hand to the beginners over the next few months. For many of the commonly young Mayer fans, these shows may very well plant the seeds of the next Deadhead generation, so please be hospitable. Lets set a good example for these folks.

So to all the Mayer fans out there that are intent upon seeing Dead & Company this fall, I am absolutely looking forward to having fresh faces at our perpetual party. Welcome! Be safe and “be kind.” But most importantly, come with an open mind. Let loose and have fun. Take in the music, the collective, and atmosphere, because in essence we are all apart of the show. The band feeds off our energy and vice versa. To sum up what we are all about in one word, it’s synchronicity. Synchronicity in music, mind, body, spirit, and community.

I know even after reading this, you may still have many queries. Feel free to ask me or anyone else. While some folks may give you shit about a so-called silly question, pay them no mind, and go to the next guy or gal for the answer. If you truly have the desire to find out what we are all about, no question is a stupid question, and there’s always Google. Stay kind John Mayer fans, and see you out there at MSG and beyond.

Words: Russell S. Glowatz

 

Dear Deadheads: Please Don’t Get Your Panties in a Twist

Russell’s Round Room 

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My Dearest Deadheads,

Here we are again at the precipice of something big. I was inspired to write this post after reading this piece written by a lovely lady with a name that rhymes with Jerry. You should check it out! Her sentiment is filled with truthiness. Yet I can’t help but add my take on the events that have unfolded and the potential proceedings yet to occur. We have a new Dead incarnation to be thankful for today!

Out there in the vast vista that is the interweb, all the bitching and moaning has begun. Folks are dismayed that they forked over their first-born and took out a second mortgage on their house (among other things) to catch what was billed as the last Dead shows ever to take place. Guess what? They still were the last Dead shows that will ever take place! As someone who could not attend in person (only via the internet simulcast, and IMAX), I would love to go back in time and space with a wad full of cash to catch those shows live and in the flesh.

While I am ever so grateful for the opportunity to have shared those shows with you in real time from hundreds of miles away, and whilst I feel that I had a well-rounded experience in saying goodbye to The Dead, what I did, and what you did, are two different things, and I’m certain what you did was exponentially better. Be grateful for the experience. A happening that you will be recounting for decades to come. An exploit that when retold won’t involve the tidbit about the exorbitant amount of dough you slewed over to Stub Hub in your quest to Santa Clara or Chicago. In the short-term, the money game can be challenging and stressful, but in the long-term it really won’t mean much at all. In the end it’s all about the show.And we have another big show to go to real soon. A show that will blow the socks off many East Coasters and deadheads from around the nation that couldn’t otherwise make it to Fare Thee Well. This will be a show for the ages, and a potential tour to boot at that, but it won’t be the Dead. In the Deadhead Book of World Records, your shows are safe, and already apart of the annals of history. Your experience and everything you forked over for it was worthwhile, and you don’t have to feel “raped,” as one head put it, because some of the boys decided to throw the East Coast a bone as well (all the boys really with Phil at the Cap and Lockn’!).

So now as we embark on getting tickets, making plans, booking hotels, renting cars, taking off work, and amassing the money we need to pull off each of our personal expeditions to MSG, let’s be mindful of what it’s all really about. It’s about the show…the music…the passion…the communion…the spirituality…the gathering…the transcendence. Keep in mind the end result, and while you may eat some bowls of shit along the way, in respect to making all these things happen, let the notion of the end result stay at the forefront.

Be positive. Commiserate, fine. But try to keep it in a positive context, because I can say one thing about this show and potential tour for sure…those heads that maintain the positivity and intend on being in MSG on Halloween, will be in MSG on Halloween. I can’t say with any certainty how easy or hard of a ticket this will be. I can’t say whether some will have to take out a home loan to purchase a show pass on the secondary market. But when you wake up to buy tickets on Friday, August 14th, know that there’s a good shot you won’t get tickets…know there’s a good shot you will get tickets! And know that you not getting tickets from ticketbastard doesn’t mean its end game. Keep mindful. Keep that positivity front and center. Play the waiting game on the secondary market, and when the possible tour gets announced, we may find a plethora of cheap tickets available.

In saying all this, I’m reminding myself of such things, as much as I am directing it towards you. I already feel the potential stress of the journey to Dead & Company in my bones. And some of you probably feel it too. Don’t let it get the best of you. Be better than that, because we are better than that. When you feel the need to bitch and vent online…bitch and vent online. But keep it short and sweet, and end it on a note of positivity. For if you do, I guarantee I will see you in MSG on All Hallows’ Eve.

Sincerely,

Grateful Globotz (Glowatz+Robot=Globotz)

Credit: Matt Groening
Credit: Matt Groening
PS- If you need something to de-stress I suggest you take this Dead Test. It takes some time, concentration, and dedication, but it may be one small thing to take your mind off the lack of tickets in your hand as we play the inevitable waiting game and hustle. Best of luck to all you seekers out there, and stay kind 🙂

~~Like our Facebook page, Grateful Globotz, or follow us on Twitter @GratefulGlobotz.~~

© Watts Glow Grateful Productions, 2015

Dead Test: Trey versus Jerry (versus the Other Ones)

WE WANT YOU! To take the DEAD TEST!

Source: pinterest.com Photo Credit: Matt Groenig?
Source: pinterest.com
Photo Credit: Matt Groenig?
by Rich Saltz & Russell S. Glowatz

After Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead, most of us have been overwhelmingly positive regarding the experience, and the choice the Core Four made in choosing Trey Anastasio as lead guitarist for the five show run. Yet some remain critical of Trey, and even after throwing down, they do not believe he was the right selection. And while much criticism has boiled to the surface over Fare Thee Well, this friction seems to stem from the central question in an ongoing debate that has been happening for the last two decades: can anyone truly fulfill the role of Jerry Garcia in all the various Grateful Dead offshoots and incarnations?

The simple answer is no. There’s no one out there that will truly, 100%, replace the magic that Jerry brought to the stage, time and time again, over a thirty year period. No one can truly mirror Jerry, nor should they. Yet despite this debate, several exemplary musicians have dared to cross the threshold through the years, and bring their own style and cadence into play for our listening pleasure. They’ve created new magic, their own magic, and shared it with the rest of us. These men should be honored; not for emulating Garcia, but for stepping into a situation where, no matter what they do, or how they perform, they will be roasted one way or another. Whether they aim towards replication or reinvention, criticism is often the hallmark of many of these performances. As deadheads, we are a critical bunch, and while it may be unfair to compare the stylings of these men to Garcia himself, we often can not help ourselves.

Nevertheless, each of those that dared are outstanding performers in their own right…the former GD band members would have never chosen them otherwise. For the rumored upcoming tour, the three band members that are allegedly taking John Mayer with them, would not be if it wasn’t for his consummate skills, and his understanding of the Dead canon as a whole. You do not have to be a fan of John Mayer music to appreciate his competence as a guitarist extraordinaire. The band realizes this, and as deadheads we should respect the band’s decisions, and applaud the musicianship of Mayer and the rest these men, even despite our personal opinions.

In the spirit of celebration of 50 years of transcendent music, we present this quiz to test your wits in respect to a handful of these guitar players’ stylings. Rich Saltz, a fellow Deadhead, edited together the below Soundcloud clips, without any labeling, so we deadheads can challenge our preconceived notions about who our favorite deadhead family guitarists have been. With an aim towards open-mindedness, please press play on the below Soundcloud file, and while you’re listening, scroll down and take the quiz. Choose the lead guitarist that you think is playing in each respective clip. Rich chose to take six versions of the first break of Morning Dew, played by six different guitarists, and leave it up to our wits, experience, and overall knowledge to guess who’s who. The original intent was to listen to each clip without the added prejudice of knowing who is playing them, and then decide which one is your favorite…in upping the ante, we’re now asking you to identify each respective player.

While many of you will surely hypothesize correctly, we imagine many of you will not as well. And in making errors in identification, perhaps some folks will drop their preconceived notions relating to who is better than who. If even through doing this, one person develops a new respect for one or more of these impeccable guitarists, then this experiment will be absolutely worthwhile. The most important thing is to be kind through this process, and in any comments thereafter. Criticism is fine, but try to make it constructive and purposeful, and most of all, respectful.

And while only six guitarists were chosen for this test (Jerry Garcia, Trey Anastasio, John Kadlecik, Stu Allen, Jimmy Herring, and Warren Haynes), many more deserve a shout out. Including those mentioned, we’d like to thank the whole bunch of Dead family lead guitarists for continuing to spread the music we hold dear to our hearts. So thank you Steve Kimock, Mark Karan, Jeff Mattson, Larry Campbell, Barry Sless, Jeff Pevar, Al Schnier, Jackie Greene, Robben Ford, Derek Trucks, John Scofield, Stanley Jordan, Keller Williams, and likely a few others as well, for giving us your best over these past couple decades.

Now press play, sit back, and enjoy the Dead Test! And most importantly, have fun!

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/214750022″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

[polldaddy survey=”B3053ECDE70C2C88″ type=”button” title=”Take The DEAD TEST” style=”rounded” text_color=”FFFFFF” back_color=”1A5E18″ width=”1080px” height=”100%”]

[polldaddy type=”iframe” survey=”B3053ECDE70C2C88″ height=”auto” domain=”rsglowatz” id=”dead-test”]

© Watts Glow Grateful Productions, 2015

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Dear Youngins: A Message To Post-Jerry Deadheads

 

youngins
Source: Charles Shultz
by Russell S. Glowatz

This is a message for all those post-Jerry deadheads out there that came of age after 1995, and on occasion feel like they’re perpetually longing for something that occurred before their time. I was inspired to write this after seeing a young deadhead post a “woe is me for not seeing Jerry” YouTube comment under the video of Grateful Dead performing “So Many Roads” at their last concert on July 9th, 1995. That soulful performance represented an increasingly rare, yet strong showing by Garcia in those later years, and I can not deny sometimes feeling a sense of yearning when scrolling through those now old videos. Yet even as post-Jerry heads, we have A LOT to be grateful for.

As post-Jerry Deadheads we’ve had plenty to be thankful for in the recent past, and plenty to be appreciative for in the future. We’re alive. Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart are still kicking and avidly making music for the masses. We are still basking in a stellar five show run featuring arguably the closest replications of bona fide Grateful Dead shows that we will get to see in our lifetimes. Whether in Chi-town, across the greater USA, or just about anywhere on Earth (sans North Korea), we’ve had the opportunity to take in these shows, LIVE! Pay-per-view, IMAX simulcasts, SiriusXM, cable TV, bootleg video streams, taper audio streams, #taperrob, with up to the minute live social networking. None of us have had much an excuse not to celebrate one way or another this past week regardless of our geographic locale. Technology, man. It’s a trip.

“And the band keeps playing’ on!” Weir, Hart, and Kreutzmann are heavily rumored to be going out on tour together this very fall. Phil Lesh has a residency planned starting in October at Peter Shapiro’s Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY. Phil is playing Lockn’ this summer, Bobby and Billy are playing The Peach. Mickey, Bill, Phil, and Bobby have various on and off again side projects of their own. They all play Dead music! They all reinvent this music time and time again. Have you heard Mickey Hart Band? Talk about reinvention! And while Phil plays residencies in New York, he also plays them out west at his very own Terrapin Crossroads. Bobby founded TRI Studios, a state of the art live streaming concert facility. He’s part owner of the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley. Ratdog. Ratdog. Ratdog. We will be seeing lots of Bobby. But yeah, these guys are old, and it’s not the same, and they won’t exactly be around forever, but they’re around now, and its pretty effing good! Take it in.So yeah, one day they’ll all be gone. But guess who will be here? Us post-Jerry deadheads. And Dark Star Orchestra. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Umpteen Grateful Dead cover bands. Some of the national variety, some of the local home-brewed camp. Some will entirely reinvent the music, while some will aim for total replication, and those that do will create scenarios where if you close your eyes you’ll feel like you’re at a genuine authentic Dead show. There’ll be lots of gatherings, albeit smaller than the old days, but they’ll be unforgettable and nostalgic.

There will be bigger shakedowns for younger bands like Phish, Widespread Panic, and The String Cheese Incident, and a plethora of face melting jam bands. And if a handful of older jaded deadheads give you crap about liking Phish, go tell ’em to eff themselves (Let Trey Sing). And then think to yourself that when “the band’s all packed and gone,” we’ll still be here dancing and shaking our bones to so much amazing music. And there will be younger deadheads; a new generation. This is gonna happen, because truly the music never does stop.

And those who, from time to time, make you feel that you missed out by not seeing Jerry…those folks?!? They’ll be dead. And the new generation of deadheads will look to us and ask us “what was it like to see the core four play live and together?” “How good were all their solo projects?” “Where were you for Fare Thee Well?” “Did they really manufacture a rainbow?!?” Some of our generation may make them feel bad because really, assholes exist in every subculture, mainstream and otherwise. So the assholes will be assholes, but you my friend don’t have to be one. Remember how you feel now, and down the road remind the youngins of all the great music that is around for them. Regale them with your stories, but don’t belittle them. For you once were them.

In this never-ending story that is the Grateful Dead, we are the lucky ones. Yes, it would’ve been nice to have been born a few decades earlier (could have dodged this climate change business to boot), but we are pretty damn fortunate. We will be the last to hear the Grateful Dead canon first hand. We will be the last to hear the songwriters and musicians play these songs in the flesh. We will be torch carriers, as was the band and the generation before us, to us. We will take the gospel of the Grateful Dead into the first fully post-Dead generation. It will be passed down. “So it shall be written. So it shall be done.” The Deadhead Community will survive. “We will survive.”

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Source: Charles Shultz

“Some rise, some fall, some climb,” and there will always be deadheads.

© Watts Glow Grateful Productions, 2015.

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Unconventional Church: The Emergence of the Grateful Dead Diaspora

grateful-dead-fare-thee-well-chicago-09-july-3-2015-billboard-650Photo Credit: Jay Blakesberg, July 3, 2015

As articles and segments are being produced and presented on the band by news organizations across the States in celebration of Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead, I decided I'd like to contribute to such happenings. In honor of the weekend festivities, and the end of an era that could be coined as Dead 2.0, I am sharing with you my undergraduate senior thesis that I wrote on the Deadhead community, in 2008, for a history class called Streaking Through The Seventies. At the time I was able to convince my professor to let me cut class so I could attend the 2008 Dead reunion at Penn State University to interview fellow Deadheads as subjects for my historical analysis. While my interviews were few and far between (I was really there for the show and gathering), a few anecdotes ultimately ended up in the following piece. 

I argue something that will likely stir debate and cause some controversy within the Deadhead community; that it is in fact a religious community, a contention of which I know many heads and members of the band would likely disagree with. However, I mean it in the most unconventional and non-deifying way. I also contend that the Deadhead community that emerged by the end of the 1970's resembled a diaspora, a scattered community sharing cultural ideals and spiritual elements. You'll have to check out the below piece to get my drift. Enjoy! 

And enjoy the rest of the Chi-town weekend! Whether you are at Soldier Field, or taking in the shows across the nation and the world at large, this weekend we share communion at the Church of the Dead.

Unconventional Church: The Emergence of the Grateful Dead Diaspora

by Russell S. Glowatz

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Out of the remnants of the Haight-Ashbury counterculture evolved a roaming society founded around a musical phenomenon that was held together as a culturally distinct tribe by its collective tenets of morality and spirituality. At the helm of the traveling circus were the Grateful Dead, a harmonious ensemble spurred by a dedication to music, an intellectual inclination to question reality, and a proclivity to psychedelic exploration. Through the course of the late sixties all the way through the seventies, a mythical aura materialized around the Grateful Dead as a community of dedicated disciples emerged as its following. As many Americans sought peace of mind through new age religious institutions, the Deadheads sought to negotiate the constricted political and social realities of the 1970’s through an unconventional church of their own. The church of the Dead did not come without its pitfalls as Deadheads confronted issues of class, gender, race, and drug use as the community came of age during the 1970’s. As the Grateful Dead following initially aimed to disassociate from mainstream America in a sub-community of its own, it ultimately ended up coming to grips with the realities of the American landscape, seeking to live through those realities on its own terms. An analysis of the emerging “Deadhead” community in the 1970’s can tell us much about the progression of the 1960’s counterculture as well as shed light on the cultural veracity of the 1970’s themselves.

A rejuvenation of the religion of old and a discovery of religion anew took place during the early seventies as it seemed certain that the societal and political ideals confronted through social movements at the end of the sixties had seemingly failed. As many deemed it necessary to take the initiative to better their own lives, they sought spiritual guidance through rejuvenated and contemporary religious movements. The evolution of the Evangelicals, the New Right Christians, and the resurgence of Conservative Judaism all developed with the introduction of New Age or personal awareness movements. Perhaps aligning more closely with concepts accepted in many New Age religions that embraced non-western ideologies, the Grateful Dead emerged as the focal point of a church of its own. As the war in Vietnam raged on, the utopian ideals of the counterculture all but gone as far as the dominant society was concerned, and any faith in leadership trounced by the incriminating actions of Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, Deadheads maintained their zest for life through psychedelic communion at the Church of the Dead.

The church had no boundaries, other than an affinity for the music of the Grateful Dead, a sense of open-mindedness and karmic acceptance. The sacrament of the church may have been smoking a joint, dropping a hit of LSD, to something as benign as listening to the music play. Individuals defined their own level of worship. A correspondent for Time magazine suggested, in 1978, that for the devout Deadheads the “concert was a church they attended, not so much for gospel as for the communion and the community, the hymns and the incense.” In essence, the Church of the Grateful Dead was antithetical to what modern religious institutions usually attain to be. Nowhere do the Dead outline what behavior is good or bad, or right or wrong, as suggested through the Bible in Judaism or Christianity. As no tenets of worship were laid out for the community to inherit, Deadheads developed their own individualized spiritual outlook. In a sense, the band provided a medium, a place, and inspiration for followers to question and develop a religious perspective that remained unique to them. Although commandments or edicts were not presented to the Dead community in an explicit format by the band themselves, a basic gist of what the community attempted to embody presented itself through the lyrics in the songs, and even the band’s name.

Illustrated through the choosing and establishment of the name the Grateful Dead, as the band’s moniker, is the unspoken sentiment that tied intricately into the band and Deadheads’ societal views. When founding member Phil Lesh discovered that another band by the name of the Warlocks recorded an album, the band sat down to ponder a new name. Potential names were thrown back and forth, until one of them decided to pick up a dictionary and leave it up to fate. A young Jerry Garcia picked up a copy of Funk and Wagnall’s New Practical Standard Dictionary, shuffled it open to a random page, and pointed to an arbitrary point. The words “Grateful Dead” peered from below his finger. According to the dictionary, the “grateful dead” referred to a type of ballad coined by Francis Child, a musicologist from the nineteenth-century. The grateful dead folklore entailed a protagonist who came upon someone about to receive an improper burial due to the debt with which he died. The protagonist then paid for the man’s burial in full without any incentive or reward. Later on in his life, someone gave aid to the protagonist in an insurmountable task, and that someone was the gratefully dead man paying his dues to the one who paid for his burial. The ballad of the gratefully dead embodies the spiritual principle of karma and the guiding principle of the Dead community. If it were possible to highlight a succinct ideal that guides the Grateful Dead Church, it would be that ‘If you give when you can, you shall receive when you need.’ In conjunction with “what goes around, comes around” as their primary creed, the Deadhead community emerged out of the San Francisco counterculture in an intricate Diaspora of their own.

To talk about the emergence of a Grateful Dead Diaspora it is necessary to confront the philosophies and beliefs garnered by the members of the band as they navigated their own spiritual journeys. The members of the Grateful Dead tended to stray away from pushing their beliefs upon others, which was reflected in their mutual outlooks. Perhaps their greatest mutual conviction was that of tolerance, which in turn greatly reflected upon the Grateful Dead community. They had a sincere tolerance towards others ideas, as they felt it would be ignorant for them to deduce that they had an understanding of the elemental nature of life. The common belief held amongst band members emanated through the Dead’s improvisational musicianship, and the lyrics evoked in their songs. The lyrics of Robert Hunter, the Dead’s chief lyricist, sometimes equated with modern day prophecy, projected rhetorically to question and encourage audience members to ponder the words deeper on their own spiritual journey. Hunter never intended to provide answers to those who listened, but rather to induce a desire to question the mysteries of life.

In union with the music, the lyrics of Robert Hunter conduced powerful thought that could be applied to Deadheads’ personal plights throughout their lives. While Hunter’s lyrics sometimes pertained to his personal experiences and those of the band, they were presented in an ambiguous context that allowed listeners to find meanings that directly associated with their own multifaceted voyage. First performed in June of 1975, Franklin’s Tower was literally meant to convey a desire to do away with the atomic dew that bogged down societies since the dawn of the atomic age at the end of World War II. Although the song has specific meanings, certain lines communicate messages uniquely to each listener. In one particular line of Franklin’s Tower, Hunter intoned that “some come to laugh their past away, some come to make it just one more day; whichever way your pleasure tends, if you plant ice you’re gonna harvest wind.” Through the uncertainty expressed in the lyric, one could associate it with the Cold War leaders and the policies they brought forward, which seemingly brought no resolution in the eyes of many. If one takes the lyrics out of the atomic context, then greater meanings could be associated with reasons behind ones pilgrimage to a Grateful Dead show, or the greater quandary of living life to the fullest without falling prey to vices and temptation. Hunter’s lyrical poetry embodied a spiritual essence that rang true to the diverse philosophies held within the Dead community.

The lyrics of Hunter suggested the diffused nature of the Grateful Dead Church, as the band members and followers alike did not stake out clear notions and commandments that set boundaries to the community ideology. The vagueness of the lyrics showed a benevolent respect towards the religious development and freedom of their audience to think for themselves. “Deadheads usually [saw] themselves as searching souls on a journey that’s a little hard to explain, except that it’s definitely with the Dead.” The collective openness conveyed by the band to the community conduced an environment where people felt comfortable to explore their individuality and group mentality to eccentric levels.

Encouragement of eccentricity became a facet of Dead performances at the Acid Tests in the mid-sixties. Although the Dead performed at the Acid Tests, people did not come to watch them play; those who attended were considered to be part of the show as well. The collective identity between the Dead and their audience was thus forged early in their career. Deadheads sensed the feeling of collectivism at shows and gatherings, yet at the same time community objectives went tacitly understood.

Embodied in both the music and the Grateful Dead community, there was a belief in a scattered synchronicity of energy that bound the collective together. It is difficult to identify a singular force behind the communal spirituality, but the closest example would be that of Jerry Garcia, the symbolic and practical figurehead of the Grateful Dead. Garcia may have been the focal point of Dead society, yet he would not coherently lead his flock, which in time spawned the dissociated tenets of the Grateful Dead religious philosophy. Garcia had a strong motivation to do what he wanted to do in life, but that required him to first find out what he wanted to do. In many instances, he would discover a new hobby such as painting or drawing, or pick up a book on a new philosophy, only to find that it was not what he was looking for, and then subsequently drop it altogether. The ambivalence and ambiguity he reflected in his personal ventures would reflect upon the social makeup of the Grateful Dead and its following. With his ambivalent nature, he would not make decisions that largely affected those who were in the band and the extended crew and family. It was not in his character to make executive demands that could be flat wrong, and he recognized that as he always questioned his fundamental beliefs. Although his character defined an ambivalence that ran throughout the hierarchy of the Dead community, he also set the precedent of trusting one’s instinctive disposition.

There were times when Jerry Garcia trusted his intuition enough to set a course for the Grateful Dead’s future enterprises. Garcia appeared a very receptive person, able to sense quickly whether he could work well with someone. Back when the Grateful Dead were still the Warlocks, a young Phil Lesh showed up at a gig at a pizza place in Menlo Park. Lesh recalled enjoying the show to such a level that for the majority of the time the Warlocks played, he danced front and center of the stage. Garcia noticed that the gangly looking dancing man had some rhythm in his steps, and recalled seeing him with a bass guitar in his hand at another time. When the show was over he cornered Lesh and bellowed, “Hey, man—you’re going to be the bass player in this band,” as Lesh remembered. Instances such as Garcia’s encounter with Lesh speak to the general spontaneity and intuitiveness that Garcia’s diffused leadership brought to the Grateful Dead and its community. Spontaneous decisions and outbursts guided the direction the band would take in many instances in their music and their basic outlook. In turn, Deadheads embraced the practice of following their intuition when they faced the challenges of life.

The effect of LSD upon the beliefs of the band and the community should not remain understated. From the mid-sixties into the early seventies, LSD was highly circulated amongst the countercultural communities in Haight-Ashbury, Palo Alto, as well as other hippie enclaves. As LSD was legal until 1966, it was embraced by the counterculture community after members of the subculture experimented with it through government sanctioned research. The members of the Dead embraced LSD not to meagerly get high, but as a tool to expand their greater perception of reality. Improvisation is what the band based their aims in music around, and when LSD was presented to them, psychedelic exploration seemed like a natural progression in confluence with their aim for synchronicity in music and thought. Jerry Garcia loved taking LSD as “a mental exercise, finding it ‘incredibly optimistic.’” To equate LSD as the binding reason for the band’s musical improvisation and the communal dedication of its followers, as many mainstream Americans deemed to be the case, would be foolish. Prior to the introduction of LSD into their lives, the members of the Grateful Dead established the fundamentals of what they believed and practiced. The tenets of their philosophy aimed to accept no specific way of thinking, and with that LSD came along and served as a catalyst or a medium that took the very nature of their improvisation to a higher level.

Through experiments with LSD and other illicit substances, the band desired to discover alternative outlooks in regard to reality. The band came into regular contact with LSD as they lived in communal environments in Olompali and the Haight-District in the late sixties. Their provider, also known as the bands “alchemist” was Owsley “Bear” Stanley. Owsley mirrored the sentiments of the Deadhead community, and Aldous Huxley, widely known as the mystical patriarch of the counterculture, as he believed the psychedelic experience should not be construed as distorting one’s reality, but rather as an alternative course to view the universe as the drug breaks down one’s everyday mind-set to perceive reality as a collection of connected occurrences. He believed LSD truly had the potential to set the mind free of the boundaries and norms instilled upon humanity. The experiences of taking LSD in confluence with experiences in the Dead community are beyond boundaries of concise explanation, and with that, concluding an all-encompassing explanation is counterintuitive to the experience of taking LSD, and the tacit aims of the Grateful Dead community.

For the Grateful Dead and its extended family, the idealism of the 1960’s and the ‘acid culture’ that ensued ended on a summer’s day in August of 1967, when the Diggers organized the “Death of the Hippie” ceremony, formally eulogizing the name “hippie” that mainstream society attached to members of the San Francisco subculture. As the youth of the nation swarmed into the Haight District during that so-called “Summer of Love” in 1967, the once formerly quaint oasis of communalism that the Grateful Dead held as a home had become ensconced with mobs of aspiring “hippies” and the mainstream media. With newfound attention to the area, the police finally saw fit to restore order to the chaotic enclave, and the Grateful Dead moved along on their “long, strange trip.” The crumbling scene in San Francisco spurred the Dead to play elsewhere, and proved to be a catalyst for an East Coast tour.

The band more or less said goodbye to the Haight, with an impromptu free concert in March of 1968. After a nasty skirmish between the police and hippies a few weeks earlier, the city declared a street festival for March 3rd, opening the way for the Dead to play as they seldom passed up an opportunity to play music in the streets. The performance would be the last for the Dead in their mythical stomping grounds, and they were eager to tour onwards to other regions in the United States. Although the collective atmosphere of the Haight District failed to spurn a lasting cooperative community, the Dead and their growing family took their ideals with them wherever they toured. This would not be the first time the Dead left the confines of California to explore abroad, as they spent the prior summer, “The Summer of Love,” on their first East Coast tour. They would find that the shows they played in New York, and the subsequent followers they garnered would be the foundation for the beginnings of a Grateful Dead Diaspora.

As the mainstream media demonized the happenings in the Haight District, the Grateful Dead moved along on their first tour to the East Coast of the United States. First stop was on June 1st in Tompkins Square Park in New York City, where band members and crew cited that the vibe between the Dead and the audience was of an odd nature. To add to the peculiar environment at the first New York show, someone threw a framed lithograph of Jesus into Bill Kreutzman’s base drum. Whether or not the incident was taken as an omen, the band members found themselves in a comfortable environment at the second East Coast show. On June 3rd, the Dead and their crew traveled fifty miles out onto Long Island to play in the gymnasium of a fledgling university. “Consequently, the Dead’s first paying East Coast gig was at Stony Brook, widely considered to be the stonedest campus in the East.” Whether or not the relatively liberal use of drugs had anything to do with the hospitable nature of the Stony Brook campus, the Dead immediately accrued dedicated fans from the college community.

When a college freshman arrived on the Stony Brook campus for his first semester in the 1970’s, one of his first encounters was with a dorm mate that played him some bona fide Grateful Dead music. The student recalled arriving at the Stony Brook Campus listening to his “little old Grateful Dead tape” and when he settled down in his dorm room a lanky looking fellow from across the hall invited him over to “listen to some real Grateful Dead.” Once he discovered that a genuine Deadhead lived across the hall, he realized that he had finally arrived at college. While he came to college to acquire an academic education on the exterior, he sought a higher form of education in self-discovery and spirituality through new-fangled life experiences and newfound acquaintances. With an aim towards enlightenment, students on college campuses across the nation found solace and illumination through the music and the community of the Grateful Dead. As a community of college aged people sought contemporary and offbeat experiences of their own, ambitious minds on the Stony Brook campus paved the way for the Grateful Dead to play on campus and connect with the innovative young minds on the precipice of adulthood.

The chairman of the Student Activities Board at Stony Brook was Howie Klein, who booked the Dead and brought their Long Island following to fruition. Klein also served to be a disc jockey at the campus radio station, and with his close friend Sandy Pearlman, the student body president and the editor of Crawdaddy, a flagship rock publication, Klein was able to book the Dead on college campuses all across Long Island. As Pearlman garnered connections in the music business through his position at Crawdaddy, he often received prerelease albums from record companies. When Pearlman came upon a copy of the Dead’s first album, he shared it with Klein, who immediately was taken by the music. Klein’s appreciation for the music motivated him to promote the Grateful Dead throughout the Long Island area. Due to the aspirations and motivations of a few progressive Stony Brook students, the first facet of the Grateful Dead Diaspora developed on Long Island. The area would remain an essential Grateful Dead territory into the next decade.

The Dead replicated their experience at Stony Brook and the greater Long Island area all over the country. From 1967 and out through the 1970’s they toured from east to west, north and south, to Canada and back, in the process. Dead communities developed throughout North America. By 1980, a Rolling Stone columnist expressed the sense that “in all, it looks like a village gathering, except that these people who greet each other as old friends [at concerts] so familiarly are from all over the country.” The great nomadic tribe found its roots in the late sixties into the seventies, to the extent that by 1980, networks of Deadheads from geographically distant locations fermented friendships with their fellow brethren.

It became clear that by the early 1980’s an established Deadhead community existed throughout the United States, and within the larger community there existed Deadheads that committed to the church at different levels of devotion. A religious spectrum developed amongst the Deadhead community, as certain people tended to see a show whenever their daily lives would permit the excursion, while more orthodox Deadheads committed to building their lives and ultimate sustainability around the band’s touring schedule. Large numbers of followers tended to track the Dead throughout the country on their various show stops. Orthodox Deadheads intended on seeing as many shows as humanly and financially possible in their travels. The people that followed the Dead in this nature tended to financially support their endeavors by selling crafts, food, drugs, and various other items to fellow Deadheads in parking lots outside of venues on strips that became known as “shakedown streets.” The orthodox members of the Dead community attempted to reflect the communal atmosphere of a traveling Haight-Ashbury as best they could.

On the other end of the religious spectrum lay the secular Deadheads. Secular Deadheads tended to recognize the value of the communal atmosphere a Grateful Dead concert provided, yet they did not insert themselves as deeply into the environment as their orthodox counterparts did. They may have indulged in community vices, or just appreciated the intricacies of the Dead’s improvisational repertoire. A secular Deadhead, who attended as many concerts as he could in the early 1970’s, reflected that he envied the lifestyle of the orthodox Deadheads, yet had personal responsibilities that required his attention at home. Sometimes obstacles of life provided to be too encompassing for one to drop everything and follow a musical group around, yet even the secular Deadheads embraced a certain mentality and spiritual outlook that was conveyed at the concerts. When a secular Deadhead was confronted with the question: If you could define your experiences with the Grateful Dead in a few words, what would you say? He replied, “Be Kind.” Although secular Deadheads did not embrace the Church of the Dead as a total lifestyle, they tended to take the spiritual essence of what defined the community and applied it to their life as best as they could.

Another sector in the religious spectrum included the scribes of the sacred community. Those who devoutly taped the shows of the Grateful Dead created an oral bible of sorts that allowed the community to reflect upon the music even if they could not attend a particular show. The tapers avidly procured the best sound equipment possible, and staked out the best areas to record at a show, to bring the live music of the Dead to anyone who chose to listen to it. The band appreciated the work that the tapers did and in turn allowed them to openly record shows, even providing a reserved section behind the sound mixer for their use only. Other musical groups usually frowned upon the practice of recording their live music, otherwise known as “bootlegging.” In allowing the taping and subsequent trading of their live shows, the members of the Grateful Dead set the stage for their melodious bible to flourish in all ends of the Diaspora.

As tapes of Dead shows popped up throughout the Grateful Dead Diaspora, a trading circuit followed that allowed the musical canon to be transferred to all ends of the community. The phenomenon of the tapers provided Deadheads, who were unable or unwilling to traverse the greater United States to follow the band on tour, an ability to keep up with the events of the nomadic community. The tapers provided invaluable connections to immobile members of the Diaspora who intended to embrace the message and music of the Grateful Dead, yet could not take communion first hand. The recorded shows also provided an opportunity for those who experienced the shows to hold onto an inkling of their experience. Lastly, the taper circuits created a conduit for non-Deadheads to experience and embrace the music of the Dead. As the taping and transfer of Dead shows persevered throughout the 1970’s, the Diaspora community garnered new members as people novice to the Dead came in contact with their music and philosophy.

A feature of the Diaspora community tended to rely around the common identity held with the music and philosophies of the Grateful Dead. When one displayed his or her “freak flag,” which entailed a Grateful Dead T-shirt modeled after an album cover, a dead bear sticker gracing the side of a Volkswagen Beatle, or a lyric such as “I Need A Miracle” on the bumper of an automobile, they sent out a signal of affability to any Deadheads who viewed it. Displaying a signal to fellow Deadheads when intermingling in the greater society reaffirmed their individual connections to the Dead community, while simultaneously presenting a signal to other Deadheads. Similar to someone of the Jewish faith wearing a Star of David, or a person of the Christian religion wearing a cross, the various symbols embodied in the Dead community conveyed the Deadheads’ identity as unique to that specific community.

Sometimes this process of identification could develop on more than one level, and that is seen through the emergence of a subculture of Jewish Deadheads. Although not explicitly defined, there is a large minority of Jewish Deadheads within the greater Diaspora. A past Deadhead found a new friend in someone that crossed their path with a “steal your face” logo on their shirt, and “Grateful Dead” etched below it in phonetic Hebrew. That Deadhead identified immediately with their fellow tribe member, not only as a Deadhead, but also as a Jewish Deadhead. A Jewish subculture does exist amongst the greater population of Deadheads. Perhaps Jewish people identify with the scattered dynamic that makes up the Dead community, as it is structured similarly to the international Jewish Diaspora. The history of the Jewish people in the United States, and their tendencies to lean towards progressive ideals may also contribute to the appeal of the Grateful Dead amongst Jews.

While the Deadhead community appeared totally inclusive, the base of the community tended to be generally middle class and Caucasian. Within the seemingly stratified community, there existed a large cross section of Deadheads, which spanned across all spectrums of age and intellectual development. From the young and naïve to Owen Chamberlain, a Nobel laureate physicist who appreciated the unique nature of having two drummers in the band, Deadheads may have been predominately white and middle class, yet they lived very different lives as individuals. A working class Deadhead by the name of Tony attended as many shows as he could throughout the seventies, while holding down a blue-collar job to put food on the table for his family. Tony loved the environment of the shakedown street, the energy of the music, and the good nature of the Deadheads. He considered himself a secular Deadhead of sorts, and envied those who could live life on the road traveling to the beat of the band. He acknowledged the ethnic and social stratified nature of the Dead community, yet he also attested that the community tended to be generally open-minded and tolerant towards people of other ethnicities and classes. It goes against the fundamental nature of tolerance instilled within the Dead culture to malign those of other races and classes from entering the community. Perhaps there is a greater appeal in the music and art of the Dead that appeals to the middle class in particular, but further analysis is necessary to make conclusions of that nature.

Throughout the seventies gender tended to be an issue of contention amongst the community as well. Even with advances in women’s rights through feminist movements of the sixties and seventies that the Dead community greatly embraced as well, some gender stratification that commonly existed in mainstream society trickled into the Dead Diaspora as well. Jerry Garcia’s wife, and a member of the Merry Pranksters, Mountain Girl Garcia, recalled her desire to drive the Merry Prankster bus that they trolled around in on their escapades out and about from the Haight District. Never was her dream realized, as she believed she was maligned due to her gender, and perhaps the stereotype that women could not drive as well as men. Regardless of her position as the spouse of the leader of the Grateful Dead community, and one who had lived through the ups and downs of all those years, she never felt as if she was a fully equal member of the society. Mountain Girl Garcia’s convictions speak to the Dead community’s inability to take all of the negative norms of mainstream society out of their environment. Some of the harmful stereotypes that continued on in the dominant culture tended to parallel the level of progressiveness with the Church of the Dead. Although members may have not explicitly stated sentiments of women inferior to men, the feelings may have existed deep within the collective psyche of the community.

While the Deadhead community embodied progressive ideals with an eye towards complete equality amongst the people, it fell prey to some of the stereotypes and generalizations that mainstream America embraced. With that, it is fair to say that religious communities throughout times gone by have fell victim to prejudices, vices, and hostilities. Regardless of the pitfalls confronted involving issues of class, gender, race, and drug use, the Grateful Dead and its disciples emerged as a religious community during the 1970’s, with a system of beliefs that were held with passion and conviction. As the future of mainstream society seemed bleak during the seventies, Americans turned to religion of old and new in large numbers as they sought to negotiate the dreary political, social, and economic realities they faced. The Deadhead community emerged out of the same sociopolitical context, seeking to disassociate from the gloom and doom of modern society, yet ultimately navigating the American actuality in its own distinct way. After the disintegration of the Haight-Ashbury countercultural community, the Grateful Dead toured throughout the United States and beyond, conveying their philosophies and spiritual inclinations to a materializing group of devoted believers. As the 1970’s came to a close the formerly fledging Deadhead community emerged as the Grateful Dead Diaspora.

© Watts Glow Grateful Productions, 2008.

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Sources:

[1]  Bruce J. Schulman, The Seventies (New York: The Free Press, 2001), 96.

[2] Brent Wood, “Robert Hunter’s Oral Poetry: Mind, Metaphor, and Community,” Poetics Today 24, no. 1 (2003), http://z3950.muse.jhu.edu.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/journals/ poetics_today/v024/24.1wood.html.

[3] David Hajdu, “How the Dead Came to Life,” Rolling Stone, no. 982 (2005), http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790e7a3b10a3113e85a225f5176c58a77351585e9c45a5664e2f1d115544a398174c&fmt=C.

[4] Paul Basken, “Learning from the Dead,” Chronicle of Higher Education54, no. 16 (2007), http://web.ebscohost.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=15&sid=ca71f91c-b018-4f7a-9a5a-9eba748cc2e8%40sessionmgr2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl 2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ehh&AN=28105283.

[5] Alan Trist and David Dodd, eds., The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics (New York: Free Press, 2005), 189.

[6] Trist, Dead Lyrics, 189.

[7]  Holly George-Warren, ed., Garcia: By the Editors of Rolling Stone (New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1995), 148.

[8] George-Warren, Garcia, 148.

[9] Hajdu, “Dead Came to Life.”

[10] Hajdu, “Dead Came to Life.”

[11] Dennis McNally, A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (New York: Broadway Books, 2002), 103.

[12] McNally, Long Strange Trip, 105.

[13] Wood, “Hunter’s Oral Poetry.”

[14] Trist, Dead Lyrics, 135.

[15] Jake Woodward, ed., Grateful Dead: The Illustrated Trip (New York: DK Publishing, 2003), 67.

[16] Woodward, Illustrated Trip, 70.

[17] McNally, Long Strange Trip, 198.

[18] Kerri Tinucci, et. al., interview by authors, Stony Brook, New York, October 18, 2008.

[19] McNally, Long Strange Trip, 198.

[20] McNally, Long Strange Trip, 198.

[21] George-Warren, Garcia, 148.

[22] Trist, Dead Lyrics, 290.

[23] Russell Glowatz, interview by author, State College, Pennsylvania, October 13, 2008.

[24] Glowatz, interview.

[25] Trist, Dead Lyrics, 102.

[26] Glowatz, interview.

[27] McNally, Long Strange Trip, 387.

[28] Glowatz, interview.

[29] Basken, “Learning from the Dead.”