San Francisco, 1967. CBS news is there: "This is the house of a popular local band that plays hard rock music. They call themselves the Grateful Dead." In between some seriously heavy-handed editorializing from grand old man of the news Harry Reasoner, you can catch an interview with Garcia and company plus footage of a Golden Gate Park concert. Jump ahead 38 years, and another CBS newsman, a rather more respectful Ed Bradley, pays a friendly visit to grand old man of the 60's, Mr. Zimmerman. [links to Google video]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jan 10, 2007 - 97 comments

Live Dead - First Set
posted by persona non grata on Sep 5, 2006 - 31 comments

The Music Notation Modernization Association ... or possible ways to simplify reading chromatic music (as opposed to diatonic music). Of course, Arnold Schoenberg beat them to it.
posted by persona non grata on Aug 9, 2006 - 20 comments

Eyes Of The World A 14-minute Google video of the Grateful Dead playing a mid-70s classic in New Jersey in 1991.
posted by persona non grata on Jul 19, 2006 - 59 comments

Ann Coulter discusses her love of The Grateful Dead with Jambands.com.
posted by aburd on Jun 23, 2006 - 95 comments

Vince Welnick, former Grateful Dead keyboardist, dies
posted by pyramid termite on Jun 3, 2006 - 40 comments

Hamza el Din, hailed as "the father of Nubian music," has died. El Din's death has not yet been reported in the news, but I'm told he passed away from complications of brain surgery. It's a great loss for music lovers all over the world. "Escalay," performed on oud with the Kronos Quartet on their album Pieces of Africa, is probably his best-known work, but "Ollin Arageed," his haunting piece for handclaps and tar -- a goatskin drum -- was played numerous times onstage with the Grateful Dead, who championed el Din's music and jammed with him at the Great Pyramid in 1978. Eclipse provides an excellent introduction to his work, the ethereal sounds of one of the oldest continuously-inhabited regions on the planet. In the 1960s, el Din's own home village in Egypt was drowned underwater by the construction of the Aswan Dam, as archeologists tried to save what they could.
posted by digaman on May 23, 2006 - 21 comments

Outrage in Deadheadland: fans are furious since the Grateful Dead pulled thousands of freely available concert recordings from Live Music Archive. Some threaten boycotts. Are the Dead really looking out for "Grateful Dead Values" or simply protecting their commercial interests? Have Deadheads been spoiled by free access to the music? Bassist Phil Lesh says he had no say in the matter, Barlow thinks it's "like finding out that your brother is a child molester," and heady bloggers are torn. Or is it all moot anyway? "The idea that they could stop people from trading these files is absurd... It's no longer under anyone's control. People have gigabytes of this stuff." (Previously on Mefi.)
posted by muckster on Nov 30, 2005 - 109 comments

Deadheads go postal.
posted by xowie on Aug 22, 2005 - 35 comments

Today is the 10th anniversary of the death of famed guitarist Jerry Garcia. He remains one of the top earning dead celebrities through his name branded sales of ties, wine and action figures. To commemorate his passing, fans put on Jerry Day in San Francisco on Sunday. Love him or hate him, his legacy lives on through his music. What's your favorite Jerry memory?
posted by grateful on Aug 9, 2005 - 109 comments

10 Years Gone - Today marks 10 years since the Grateful Dead played their very last show at Solider Field. While many folks blame Jerry for the decline in quality of performances in the later years, there were many other problems including the instrumentally and vocally challenged Vince Welnick who joined the band after Brent Mydland died in 1990. Fall 1990 through the middle of 1992 was easier to take when Bruce Hornsby was playing with the boys. But after Bruce split things seemed to decline for a number of different reasons. There were still some shining moments, and one of them was the very beautiful "So Many Roads" Garica played at the last show. While this song exposes many of the flaws of the band in the later years, it also shows the degree to which Jerry had given his everything to the music, to this band, and to deadheads everywhere. The end lines "Lord, I've been walking that road..." which aren't done in any other version of the song, as well as Garcia's reference (slip?) in his last tune "Black Muddy River" sung as "Last Muddy River" makes me wonder if Jerry didn't know that this was the end. I still miss the boys very much. Some of the post Garcia ventures were fun, things have never been the same since. "You know our love will not fade away."

some previous similar content in this thread.
posted by Gankmore on Jul 9, 2005 - 56 comments

While the Grateful Dead were pioneers in the sharing of music, it wasn't too long ago that fans had to meet in-person with other DeadHeads at taping parties to grow their library of "bootlegs." In the late 1990s when CD burners became more prominent, The Dead again led the way. They went on record to say that fans were still welcome to copy, share and trade their music as long as no money changing hands—including no advertising on web sites with downloads. Yesterday, the band again made history when they announced they are releasing the contents of their vast vault electronically (and simultaneouly) on iTunes Music Store and their very own Grateful Dead online store, the latter making the songs available in mp3 (128 and 256kbps) and FLAC .
posted by terrapin on Mar 2, 2005 - 74 comments

Is John Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Grateful Dead lyricist, a threat to national security? "On September 15, 2003, I boarded Delta Flight 310, scheduled to depart San Francisco International Airport for JFK at 7:20 that morning. I was still feeling slightly singed from Burning Man and the hour was one I prefer to see from the other side. I was almost back to sleep when, roughly two minutes before pull-back, I was approached by a Delta employee who informed me that there was 'a problem' of some sort and that it would be necessary to get off the aircraft..."
posted by digaman on Dec 10, 2004 - 172 comments

A Kind of Innocence We'd Never Seen Before: Thoughts on the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, and Collective Consciousness
posted by moonbird on Aug 29, 2004 - 17 comments

A Libertarian for Kerry. John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the EFF and a former campaign manager for Dick Cheney, is taking his libertarianism into the Democratic camp. "...we need something -- and I think it’s governmental -- to reregulate the market and make it free, because the multinationals have taken it away." (More inside).
posted by liam on Aug 12, 2004 - 34 comments

The Leeching Never Stopped! Archive.org is adding the complete live catalog of the Grateful Dead. There are still a few gaps, but they already offer over 1,300 shows for download. Get early favorties, all-time classics, famous guests, the last show, and nearly everything in between, in lossless and mp3 formats.
posted by muckster on May 20, 2004 - 38 comments

Jerry Garcia Autopsy! "A groovy peak inside Captain Trips." CSI meets The Muppets? [via Arettie, bass player for The Sha-pels]
posted by mcsweetie on Dec 5, 2003 - 9 comments

"In the last 13 years I have kept everything you have sent in close to heart and in safe keeping. I now hope to open these files again and share more of the creations given to us by you, the Dead Heads". The keeper of the Dead Files has put online hundreds of emails and newsletters and exuberantly colored and illustrated envelopes and letters from the fans of the Grateful Dead. There are, as you'd expect, many drawings of skeletons and American Beauty roses, but you certainly don't have to be a fan to appreciate all the handiwork, personality, and creativity that went into these. I like the irregularity of the hand drawn lettering. {via coudal}.
posted by iconomy on Feb 6, 2003 - 11 comments

HE's Gone Jam>Cryptical>Other One>Stranger Bird Song Lazy Lightning>Supplication Aiko Estimated>Casey Jones Do you know what that means? A very nice, suprisingy rockin' good concert. What did you think of the Terrapin Station 'reunion/tribute' show? Does anyone care (besides me; be gentle) ?? Rolling Stone sure doesn't care about it...deadheads are not a good demo anymore.
posted by msacheson on Aug 4, 2002 - 34 comments