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January's Subject of the Month
Grateful Dead
Selector: Shannon Mcdermitt
“Once in a while you get shown in the light / In the strangest of places if you look at it right” – ‘Scarlet Begonias’
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eBooks
In addition to a vast array of digitized items, the Grateful Dead Online Archive hosts a treasure trove of 1980s and 1990s envelope fan art sent to the San Rafael offices. Expectant concert-goers mailed out their ticket fare to the Dead headquarters in eye-catching decorated envelopes with the intent of ensuring their spot at the show.
"Ed Dutreaux", Grateful Dead Archive Online, accessed January 7, 2025, https://www.gdao.org/items/show/810391.
"J. Severson", Grateful Dead Archive Online, accessed December 19, 2024, https://www.gdao.org/items/show/811239.
"Kelley Sheehan", Grateful Dead Archive Online, accessed August 6, 2024, https://www.gdao.org/items/show/810366.
"Pam Goldman", Grateful Dead Archive Online, accessed August 6, 2024, https://www.gdao.org/items/show/810380.
"Anonymous (286 W. 7th St., Surf City, NJ 08008)", Grateful Dead Archive Online, accessed August 6, 2024, https://www.gdao.org/items/show/811220.
"T. Brolecka", Grateful Dead Archive Online, accessed August 6, 2024, https://www.gdao.org/items/show/814519.
Members (abbreviated)
Baron Wolman Collection, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
- Jerry GarciaThe official website of Jerry Garcia.
Dark Star by ISBN: 0688147828Publication Date: 1996-08-01Weaving together close to 70 interviews with Jerry Garcia's wives, family, friends, fellow musicians, and other well-known figures in the Grateful Dead scene, Dark Star brings to life one of the most influential and enduring stars in American music. It sheds new light on Garcia's childhood in San Francisco, the formation of his musical identity, the Dead's road to rock stardom, and his final, crushing addiction to heroin. At once an evocative chronicle of Garcia's public and private journey and a fascinating look at why his music and his lifestyle had such a tremendous impact on so many, Dark Star is the full, behind-the-scenes story of the making of all icon, and the price of fame.
Garcia by ISBN: 0670886602Publication Date: 1999-08-01He was there when Dylan went electric, when a generation danced naked at Woodstock, and when Ken Kesey started experimenting with acid. Jerry Garcia was one of the most gifted musicians of all time, and he was a member of one of the most worshiped rock 'n' roll bands in history. Now, Blair Jackson, who covered the Grateful Dead for twenty-five years, gives us an unparalleled portrait of Garcia -- the musical genius, the brilliant songwriter, and ultimately, the tortured soul plagued by his own addiction. With more than forty photographs, many of them previously unpublished, Garcia: An American Life is the ultimate tribute to the man who, Bob Dylan said, "had no equal".
Jerry on Jerry by ISBN: 9780316389594Publication Date: 2015-11-24These never-before-published interviews with Jerry Garcia reveal his thoughts on religion, politics, his personal life, and his creative process.
- Grateful DawgThe deeply rooted musical friendship between Jerry Garcia and David Grisman is exquisitely detailed in the 80-minute musical documentary Grateful Dawg. Produced by Acoustic Disc and 11th Hour Productions, and directed by Gillian Grisman, Grateful Dawg includes live Garcia/Grisman performances as well as rare and unique personal moments from the studio, backstage and home-style jam sessions.
- Bob WeirThe official website of Bob Weir.
Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images
Searching for the Sound by ISBN: 9780316009980Publication Date: 2005-04-01The bass player for the greatest improvisational band in American history tells the full, true story of his life, Jerry Garcia, and the Dead.
- Phil LeshOfficial website of Phil Lesh.
- Phil Lesh’s Life in Pictures | The New York TimesLooking back at the career of the Grateful Dead bassist, starting with when the band was clean cut and called the Warlocks.
- Mickey HartOfficial website of Mickey Hart.
- Bill KreutzmannOfficial website of Bill Kreutzmann.
Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead by ISBN: 9781250033796Publication Date: 2015-05-05
Iconography
Stealie
Created by Owsley "Bear" Stanley and Bob Thomas, this iconic logo originally served as stencil art to mark the Grateful Dead's equipment during their 1969 tour.
Skull and Roses ("Bertha")
The iconic skull and roses mascot, which became one of the Grateful Dead's most recognizable symbols, was first introduced on a legendary 1966 poster for their shows at the Avalon Ballroom. Designed by Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse, the skeleton's image is derived from a 1913 illustration by Edmund Joseph Sullivan for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. (Source)
Marching Bears
Bob Thomas designed Grateful Dead's marching bears, which first appeared on the back cover of the 1973 album History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice). The bears are a visual pun on the nickname of the band's sound engineer, Owsley "Bear" Stanley.
Terrapin
The Terrapin turtles represent the band's bond with nature and the spiritual journey of life, first appearing on the cover of their 1977 album Terrapin Station, designed by Kelley and Mouse Studios.
Dancing Skeleton
Designed by Rick Griffin for 1977's What a Long Strange Trip it's Been.
Websites
- dead.netThe official website of the Grateful Dead.
- Good Ol' Grateful DeadcastGather round every Thursday as we tell the tales of Grateful Dead days of yore. Hosts Rich Mahan and Jesse Jarnow will take the lead, picking up special guests from the Dead universe along the way. May the long strange trip continue across the pod!
- Internet Archive - Grateful DeadCreated in 2004 this collection consists of both audience and soundboard recordings. It is not uncommon to find multiple versions of the same show.
Videos
- Classic Albums: Grateful Dead: Anthem to BeautyInterviews and rare footage of the psychedelic legends spotlight the making of two very different albums: “Anthem of the Sun” and “American Beauty.” Available Free with Ads via Tubi (January 2025)
- Long strange trip: the untold story of the Grateful DeadFor 30 years, the Grateful Dead were the most unlikely success story in rock and roll. At the peak of their popularity, they were the highest-grossing concert act in America, but they did it by breaking all the rules.
- Deadhead Documentarian Amir Bar-Lev on the Making of ‘Long Strange Trip’Film Independent, December 8, 2017
Influence on Fashion
Dan Healy T-Shirt Collection - Sotheby's (Healy was a sound engineer for the Dead)
From the Vault: Property of the Grateful Dead and Friends - Sotheby's
The Grateful Dead has had a significant influence on fashion, particularly with its distinct and colorful tie-dye aesthetic that became iconic in the 1960s and 70s. Their concert merchandise, featuring psychedelic artwork and band logos, contributed to the rise of band tees as a fashion staple. The band's laid-back, bohemian style resonated with the counterculture movement, inspiring a trend of vintage, eclectic clothing. Additionally, their emphasis on individuality and self-expression in their music and lifestyle has encouraged a lasting legacy of DIY fashion among fans.
Fashion Resources
Dead Style by ISBN: 9781683358855Publication Date: 2020-07-07An in-depth look at the influence of the Grateful Dead and hippie culture on contemporary fashion and street style by GQ's style-in-the-wild correspondent and fashion expert Since the formation of Dead & Company, a new breed of Deadhead has emerged: someone who appreciates stylish streetwear as much as tie-dye. Dead Style is a book that shows the influence of the Grateful Dead and hippie culture on the current world of fashion. Tie-dyed pieces from designer labels like Louis Vuitton, Off-White, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Missoni, and Burberry have dominated runway looks. Vintage Grateful Dead shirts are fetching hundreds of dollars online (on fashion auction sites and via Instagram sellers alike) and in stores. This book, visually driven and heavily captioned, is a look book for current Deadhead culture. Dead Style is a surprising, provocative, engaging, and fun work, a Grateful Dead book for a new generation.
- The Great Lost Dead ArchiveGQ Style, March 20, 2019
- Here’s What Everyone Wore Camping With Dead & CompanyGQ, June 18, 2019
- Here’s What Everyone Wore to see Dead & Company on HalloweenGQ, November 2, 2019
- When the Parking Lot Is Its Own Strange TripNew York Times, September 1, 2021
- It’s Hip to Be Hippie: Why Fashion is Obsessed with the Grateful DeadWall Street Journal, April 6, 2018
- Life, etc.: The music of the Grateful Dead lives on. So does its fashion influenceLos Angeles Times, June 20, 2019
The Psychedelic '60s
It’s safe to say that in the ninety days or so that the Acid Tests existed, our band took more and longer strides into another realm of musical consciousness, not to mention pure awareness, than ever before or since. At the beginning, we were a band playing a gig. At the end, we had become shamans helping to channel the transcendent into our mundane lives and those of our listeners. (Lesh, 2005: 76)
Bear by ISBN: 9781250081216Publication Date: 2016-11-15Award winning author and biographer Robert Greenfield brings readers the definitive biography of a Grateful Dead legend--Augustus Owsley Stanley III, known better by his nickname, Bear. From extensive interviews with Bear and a major Rolling Stone piece, Greenfield brings readers unparalleled access to one of the most important forces in the rise of the counter-culture of the sixties.Owsley provided the high octane rocket fuel that enabled Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters to put on the Acid Tests. Convinced of The Grateful Dead's potential, Owsley helped loose the band upon the world by supplying the money that kept them going in their early days. He then faithfully recorded many of their greatest live performances before designing and perfecting the Dead's sound system.Greenfield's biography masterfully takes us through the life and times of Owsley--from the acid tests of the sixties through his years with the Dead--to bring us a full picture of this fascinating man for the first time. Full of amazing stories, this book is perfect for Grateful Dead fans and Sixties enthusiasts.
Conversations with Ken Kesey by ISBN: 9781626740167Publication Date: 2014-04-10Ken Kesey (1935-2001) is the author of several works of well-known fiction and other hard-to-classify material. His debut novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was a critical and commercial sensation that was followed soon after by his most substantial and ambitious book, Sometimes a Great Notion. His other books, including Demon Box, Sailor Song, and two children's books, appeared amidst a life of astounding influence. He is maybe best known for his role as the charismatic and proto-hippie leader of the West Coast LSD movement that sparked "The Sixties," as iconically recounted in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In the introduction to "An Impolite Interview with Ken Kesey," Paul Krassner writes, "For a man who says he doesn't like to do interviews, Kesey certainly does a lot of them." What's most surprising about this statement is not the incongruity between disliking and doing interviews but the idea that Kesey could possibly have been less than enthusiastic about being the center of attention. After his two great triumphs, writing played a lesser role in Kesey's life, but in thoughtful interviews he sometimes regrets the books that were sacrificed for the sake of his other pursuits. Interviews trace his arc through success, fame, prison, farming, and tragedy--the death of his son in a car accident profoundly altered his life. These conversations make clear Kesey's central place in American culture and offer his enduring lesson that the freedom exists to create lives as wildly as can be imagined.
Counterculture Kaleidoscope by ISBN: 0472115588Publication Date: 2008-06-10Forty years after the fact, 1960s counterculture---personified by hippies, protest, and the Summer of Love---basks in a nostalgic glow in the popular imagination as a turning point in modern American history and the end of the age of innocence. Yet, while the era has come to be synonymous with rebellion and opposition, its truth is much more complex. In a bold reconsideration of the late sixties San Francisco counterculture movement, Counterculture Kaleidoscope takes a close look at the cultural and musical practices of that era.
Owsley and Me by ISBN: 9780983358930Publication Date: 2013-04-16Owsley and Me is a love story set against the background of the Psychedelic Revolution of the '60s. Owsley "Bear" Stanley met her in Berkeley in 1965, when LSD was still legal and he was the world's largest producer and distributor of LSD. Rhoney found herself working in an LSD laboratory, and the third corner in a love triangle. We all know the stories from the '60s--but never from the point of view of a woman finding her way through twisted trails of love, jealousy, and paranoia, all the while personally connecting to the most iconic events and people of her time. Bear supported the Grateful Dead in their early years and gave away as much LSD as he sold--millions of hits. He designed and engineered the infamous Wall of Sound system of the early '70s, just before he began his two years in prison, with Rhoney raising their infant son. He died one year ago, but the era he helped create is now being rediscovered by a new generation interested in the meaning of it all.
Books in Print
The American Book of the Dead by ISBN: 0684814021Publication Date: 1997-12-04From Simon & Schuster, The American Book of the Dead is Oliver Trager's definitive Grateful Dead encyclopedia and all the information you need to know about the Grateful Dead in one place. The American Book of the Dead is the definitive encyclopedic guidebook to the long, strange cultural trip taken by one of America's most innovative, awe-inspiring rock groups and its fans.
Deadhead Social Science by ISBN: 0742502503Publication Date: 2000-05-30This text is a collection of papers examining various aspects of the complex subculture surrounding the rock band, the Grateful Dead. Deadheads as Grateful Dead fans are called, followed the band from venue to venue until the band announced their dissolution in December of 1995. Lawyers, politicians, college students, and blue-collar workers were just a few of the various types of people who were and are Deadheads.
Traces of the Spirit by ISBN: 0814798098Publication Date: 2002-07-01Most studies of the religious significance of popular music focus on music lyrics, offering little insight into the religious aspects of the music itself. Traces of the Spirit examines the religious dimensions of popular music subcultures, charting the influence and religious aspects of popular music in mainstream culture today and analyzing the religious significance of the audience's experiences, rituals, and worldviews.
Databases
- Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new windowThis database features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies. It is designed to complement the following indexes: ABM, Avery, BHA, BHI, DAAI, Index Islamicus, MLA, Philosopher's Index and RILM.
- Music index. This link opens in a new windowIndex of 725 international music periodicals from over 40 countries and in 23 languages. Covers all styles and genres of classical and popular music, sorted by subject and geographic location.
- Oxford Music Online / Grove Music This link opens in a new windowIncludes the full text with ongoing updates of The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians, 2nd ed., The new Grove dictionary of opera, and The new Grove dictionary of jazz, 2nd ed. Access limited to three simultaneous users.
Articles
Book Chapters
- 10 DANCING SKELETONS: The Subversion of Death Among DeadheadsLuanne K. Roth, Of Corpse: Death and Humor in Folkore and Popular Culture, 2003, pp. 263-293 (33 pages)
MeLCat
Dead & Company
Dead & Company is a rock band formed in 2015, consisting of former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann, along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti. The band performs classic Grateful Dead songs alongside improvisational jams, blending nostalgia with a fresh sound for both old fans and new listeners.
- Reckoning with the Dead at the Sphere | The New YorkerA run of lost Las Vegas weekends for Deadheads prompts a longtime fan to wrestle with what the band has left behind.
- The Inside Story of How an Interstellar Jam Session Came to the Las Vegas Sphere | Smithsonian MagazineA new collaboration between the Smithsonian and Grateful Dead drummer and artistic legend, Grammy award winner Mickey Hart, explores this relationship in a new series of shows at the Las Vegas Sphere.