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.
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All I Know
The year was 1970, my junior year of high school at Loara High School in Anaheim, California. It was the day of the All Western Band Review, the biggest, most significant high school marching band competition in the state. We had been working towards this moment for months, since the summer when band practice began a full three weeks before the first day of school.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 38 – September 20, 1982
If the spirit’s sleeping then the flesh is ink
Despite being a West Coast band, the Dead had a special relationship with New York City, and played Madison Square Garden a total of 52 times from ’79-’94. As drummer Bill Kreutzmann remarked in 2015 as the band was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame, “Out of about 2300 shows that the Grateful Dead played, the 52 we played here were nothing short of amazing.” T.W.I.G.D.H. features one of those amazing shows, 9/20/82, and a tune that was performed live on that date for only the third time, Throwing Stones.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 25 - June 17, 1975
We just ride
It was a “slam dunk” picking T.W.I.G.D.H. for the week of June 15, since one of the most special nights in the band’s history took place on June 17, 1975 at Winterland. The show was billed as the Bob Fried Memorial Boogie, and it was one of only four times the Dead performed during the year of their interminable hiatus. Bob Fried was an artist who had died of a stroke earlier that same year, but not until he had designed dozens of signature ’60s and ’70s rock posters – most with a decidedly psychedelic spirit.
All Material Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Stewart Sallo