Deadhead Cyclist Archives

Deadhead Cyclist Archives

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 13 - March 23, 1974Comic book colors on a violin river

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 13 - March 23, 1974

Comic book colors on a violin river

A few weeks ago we explored the seemingly oxymoronic nature of Grateful Dead as a band name. “Upon scrutiny” we came to the conclusion that the words, “grateful” and “dead,” are not the strange bedfellows they appear to be, but actually complement each other to perfection if considered in the context of the psychedelic-inspired “ego death” experience the band and most Deadheads were engaged in during the Acid Test years (and, of course, well beyond). Still, if there were a Jeopardy category called, “Strange band names of the Sixties,” Grateful Dead would most likely be the “Daily Double.” And there are plenty of other band names that came out of that same period that appear to defy logic, regardless of how hard you try to spin them.

read more
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 14 - March 28, 1981Left-hand monkey wrench

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 14 - March 28, 1981

Left-hand monkey wrench

For musicologist Michael Steven Hartman, music is a direct reflection of the rhythms of the universe and the lifeforms that inhabit it. While his interests in polyrhythmic and exotic percussion are plainly evident during the Drums and Space portion of any Dead concert, many Deadheads are unaware of the lifelong dedication Hartman, A.K.A. Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, has shown in exploring the cosmic common thread that music, and particularly drumming, represents in human consciousness.

read more
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 15 - April 5, 1971Goin’ down the road

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 15 - April 5, 1971

Goin’ down the road

Deadheads invariably have a great story about the moment they knew they were a Deadhead. For most, it was the first time they saw the band live, but for me the magic moment arrived a full four months before my first show. It was the Summer of ’74, and I had returned home from my sophomore year at UCLA, ready to spend the summer working at a day camp, saving money, and partying with my high school friends who had scattered to various colleges in a virtual teenage diaspora.

read more