The Grateful Dead

1. The Grateful Dead • Led by Country and Jazz-influenced guitarist Jerry Garcia (1942-1995). • During the 60s, the band lived in an old Victorian house near the corner of Haight and Ashbury and often played live, spontaneous jams in Golden Gate Park. • Their best album of the period, Workingman’s Dead (1970) featured folk and country style ballads and made no attempt to reproduce their extended instrumental jams. • Their fans, i.e., Deadheads, would make them the most popular live act in the history of rock and roll. The Dead, 1971. SOURCE: Shirley, 87. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead

2. Members:Originals:Jerry Garcia, guitar and vocalsBill Kreutzmann, drumsPhil Lesh, bass guitar and vocalsRon “Pigpen” McKernan, keyboard, percussion, and vocalsBob Weir, guitar and vocals

3. Jerry Garcia • August 1, 1942-August 9, 1995 (age 53) • Guitar & vocals “ As lead guitarist in a rock environment, Jerry Garcia naturally got a lot of attention. But his warm charismatic personality that earned him the affection of millions of Deadheads. He picked up a guitar at age 15, played a little ’50’s rock-n-roll, then moved to the folk acoustic guitar era before becoming a bluegrass banjo player.” Grew up listening to opera, big band & orchestra.

4. Jerry Garcia (cont) • Garcia dropped out of high school and joined the army for several years. • When he came home he picked up the guitar and started playing bluegrass. • The band was originally called the Warlocks (about 1 yr). Jerry was looking through books and came across text referring to the Egyptian Book of the Dead (Remember the Mummy movie?).

5. March 15, 1940 • Bass guitar • One of the strongest intellects & most extraordinary musical talents in rock history. He redefined what the bass could sound like. • Interview “Ripple”

6. Ron “Pigpen” McKernan • September 8, 1942- March 8, 1973 • Organ, Vocal & Harmonica • Starting a rock band was Ron’s idea & he was it’s 1st front man in the early years of the Warlock’s – Grateful Dead. • He was nicknamed “Pigpen” for his funky approach to life & sanitation.

7. Bob Weir • October 16, 1947 • Guitar & Vocals • When the Dead began to play in 1965, he was 17 yrs old., so he was treated as “the kid.” over the years, he grew to the point of being one of rock’s finest & most distinctive rhythm guitarists. • Interview “Sugar Magnolia”

8. Bill Kreutzmann • May 7, 1947 • Drums & Percussion • Less extravagant than his partner in boom, Bill has been the steady beating heart of the Grateful Dead’s rhythm section for over 40 yrs.

9. From 1965 to 1985, the Grateful Dead flourished as one of the beloved, unusual, & accomplished musical entities to every grade American Culture.

10. The Acid Tests (click)“We’re in the transportation business – we move minds” –Mickey Hart The Grateful Dead was started in Palo Alto, California in the mid ‘60s Ken Kesey invited the Dead to play at an acid party The band made an impression and began playing at all of the parties later known as the Acid Tests.

11. Band’s Style While the Dead experimented with all styles of music, they are most famous for playing psychedelic rock and lengthy jams. “We had an opportunity to visit highly experimental places, under the influence of highly experimental chemicals, before a highly experimental audience. Haha! You know, it was ideal.” –Jerry Garcia

12. The Taper Section During the early 1980s, the number of fans (Deadheads) taping shows increased, and the band created a special section for fans who wished to record the show. These tapes are still shared and circulated today. Sometimes the sound crew would let them to connect directly to the soudboard. “One must realize that the Grateful Dead was more than just a rock band. The band earned a place in the 1998 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records under ‘most rock concerts performed’ (182), and played to more people than any other band (an estimated twenty-five million, in audiences of up to eighty thousand for a single performance). –Robert Weiner

13. Deadheads • Were described as “likea tie-dyed traveling circus.” • The Headquarters for this Flower Power was San Francisco.

14. Artwork • Over the years, a number of iconic images have come to be associated with the Grateful Dead. Many of these images originated as artwork for concert posters or album covers. • Steal Your Face skull Perhaps the best-known Grateful Dead art icon is a red, white, and blue skull with a lightning bolt through it. The lightning bolt skull can be found on the cover of the album Steal Your Face, and the image is sometimes known by that name. It was designed by Owsley Stanley and artist Bob Thomas, and was originally used as a logo to mark the band's equipment

15. Dancing bears A series of stylized marching bears was drawn by Bob Thomas as part of the back cover for the album History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice). • Skull and roses The skull and roses design was composed by Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse, who added lettering and color, respectively, to a black and white drawing by Edmund Joseph Sullivan.

16. Dancing terrapins The two dancing terrapins first appeared on the cover of the 1977 album Terrapin Station, which was drawn by Kelley and Mouse, but based on a drawing by Heinrich Kley. Since then these turtles have become one of the Grateful Dead's most recognizable logos. • Uncle Sam skeleton The Uncle Sam skeleton was devised by Gary Gutierrez as part of the animation for The Grateful Dead Movie.[65] The image combines the Grateful Dead skeleton motif with the character of Uncle Sam, a reference to the then-recently written song "U.S. Blues", which the Dead are seen performing near the beginning of the film.

17. Famous Dates ‘66 MGM Singed The Grateful Dead to record label ‘68 first album, Anthem of the Sun, was written in three days ‘69 the Dead played at the Woodstock Festival ‘73 “Pigpen” died ‘77 The Grateful Dead Movie was filmed ‘78 and ‘80 the Dead appeared on SNL TV ’86 the Dead toured with Bob Dylan and Tom Petty ‘86 Jerry lapsed into a diabetic coma for 5 days ‘87 Touch of Grey makes Billboard Top Ten ‘91 the Dead becomes top-grossing band in the US with 79 concerts ‘94 the Dead was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame

18. Fun Facts • 22 albums, 6 compilation albums, 6 box sets, 44 Retrospective Live albums, and hundreds of songs. • They never had a #1 on the Billboard Top 100. • Jerry Garcia NEVER wore tie-dye! • After Garcia passed, the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company commemorated him with his own ice cream (Click) • In 1993, the Grateful Dead sang the National Anthem.

19. Top Songs of the Band