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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This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 18 - May 1, 1977
I don’t trust to nothing
As we continue our focus on the Spring ’77 tour, we run head-on into five shows at the Palladium in New York City, April 29 – May 4 (with a well-deserved night off on May 2). The 3000-capacity Palladium played a storied role in rock music history during the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, when the property was purchased by New York University and converted into a student residential hall, affectionately referred to as Palladium Hall.
There’s nothing you can hold for very long
Although there is some ambiguity as to the exact number of concerts the Grateful Dead played over the course of their 30-year history, it is well accepted that the figure is north of 2300. Of those, less than one-percent took place at the stroke of midnight on December 31 (22 to be precise). Statistics aside, the band’s New Year’s shows were nothing less than the stuff of legend.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 6 - February 5, 1989
I will take you home
I became a Deadhead in 1973, during the Keith and Donna era, and was deeply saddened when they left the band in 1979. Keith Godchaux was a phenomenally talented pianist, and to this day I love listening to his mostly understated playing on so many wonderful ’70s recordings. My first show with “the new guy” on keyboards was 10/19/80 at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater, and I was immediately impressed with the skill Brent Mydland displayed on keyboards, but even more so with his vocal contributions. While I understand, but never shared, the widespread antipathy felt by many Deadheads toward Donna Jean Godchaux, Brent’s arrival served to transform the Grateful Dead from a band that was often barely tolerable vocally to one that could really sing.
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