Life lessons on two wheels to the tunes of the
Grateful Dead
This Week in Grateful Dead History
Week 1
I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train.
Even the most cursory examination of the lyrics of Grateful Dead songs quickly uncovers one of the most fundamental aspects of the band’s identity: This is an American band, rooted in American culture, and built around easily recognizable locales and deeply American principles and history.
Other Posts
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 1 – December 31, 1978
The storyteller makes no choice
The Grateful Dead were famous for their New Year’s shows, and played twenty-one times at the stroke of midnight on December 31, at six different venues, all in the Bay Area. Six of those shows took place at the Winterland Ballroom, an erstwhile ice skating rink which became a storied rock music venue with a capacity of some 5000. Sadly, Winterland was shuttered in 1979, but not until one final concert had taken place. For reasons ranging from its eight-hour length, to the line-up that included the Blues Brothers and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, to the almost-six-hour DVD – The Closing of Winterland – that was made to commemorate the event, this was easily the most famous of the Dead’s New Year’s shows, and the Deadhead Cyclist’s choice for T.W.I.G.D.H., as well as the best New Year’s Eve show of all time.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 23 - June 7, 1977
I will not forgive you
June 7, 1977 was my sixth Grateful Dead concert. But it wasn’t supposed to be. After touring through the East and Midwest, the band was scheduled to play three shows at their home venue, Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, June 7, 8 and 9, to finish off their now-famous Spring ’77 tour. My newly fellow Deadhead sister, Janet, and I had already pocketed tickets for the June 9 show, but during the afternoon of June 7, as we were both working in a health food store in Santa Cruz, one thought began to preoccupy my brain: The Dead are playing tonight at Winterland. The Dead are playing…TONIGHT…just 90 minutes from here. After an hour or so, thought morphed into compulsion.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 19 - May 8, 1977
Take a step back
Accepting the premise that Spring ’77 was the apex of the Grateful Dead’s history, which one of the 30 shows the band performed during that period was the climax of the tour? The third week of the tour – which included stops in Boston, Ithaca, Buffalo, St. Paul, and Chicago – may provide the answer, although choosing any one of these shows as the Dead’s best show of all time may be as futile an endeavor as trying to choose the most beautiful national park, the best full-suspension mountain bike, or the greatest athlete ever.
All Material Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Stewart Sallo