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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Other Posts

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 11 - March 9-10, 1981A little bit further than you gone before

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 11 - March 9-10, 1981

A little bit further than you gone before

The 1968 Otis Redding tune, Hard To Handle, famously covered by the Grateful Dead in the late ’60s and early ’70s (and twice in 1981 with Etta James on lead vocals), featured the lyric, “Actions speak louder than words.” This contention is supported by researchers and scholars, dating back to Charles Darwin’s 1872 work of evolutionary theory, “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,” in 1872. In the present tense, conventional wisdom suggests that NVC (Non-Verbal Communication) accounts for as much as 70-percent of human communication.

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This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 51 – December 15, 1986We will survive

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 51 – December 15, 1986

We will survive

The irony is inescapable. The very song that became nothing less than an anthem for the entire Grateful Dead community also represented the beginning of the end for the band. Touch of Grey reached #9 on the Billboard “Hot 100” chart in September, 1987, the only time the Dead cracked the top 10 in the entire history of the band. A distant second, Truckin’ reached #64 in December, 1971, and only 4 other songs ever ranked in the top 100.

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This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 2 – January 10, 1978I’ll get a new start

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 2 – January 10, 1978

I’ll get a new start

As we established last week, our essential human nature as storytellers is one coin with two sides to select from. On the “tails” side are the stories we must beware of for their harmful potential: those that are tainted with negative judgments and deceptions that infect our beliefs in ways that lead us to act wrongfully. Fortunately, on the “heads” side is a clean slate upon which we can write stories of inspiration that can shepherd us in the direction of our highest selves. Choosing wisely on which side to pitch your tent is as much a key to success in this life as any I have found.

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Stew Sallo, A.K.A., The Deadhead Cyclist

Stew Sallo is the author of the book, The Deadhead Cyclist, and founder/owner of Boulder Weekly, an award-winning alternative weekly in its 30th year of publication in print and online at BoulderWeekly.com. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz, he cut his teeth as a publisher in Santa Cruz for 10 years before relocating to Boulder to start the Boulder Weekly. He has been a Deadhead since the summer of 1974, attended his first Grateful Dead concert at Winterland in San Francisco on October 19, 1974, and has since been to some 200 Grateful Dead concerts. Stew is an avid mountain biker, plays competitive baseball on three teams in his home state of Colorado, and travels each year to play tournament baseball in California, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, South Dakota and Florida. In 2003, Stew founded the classic rock band, Hindsight. He plays a Martin D-41 in the band and sings lead and backup vocals. Stew lives in Boulder, CO with his wife of 23 years, Mari, and their 12-year-old dog, Bella.

All Material Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Stewart Sallo