George Orr wrote:

I got curious and checked my iTunes...I own six songs by The Grateful Dead (out of 3500).  My favorite is "The Music Never Stopped."  I'm obviously not a big fan; but when a band's been around so long, they're almost sure to put out a few songs you'll like.

I knew a few Deadheads in college.  They mostly talked about how "tight" the band is--fans like how well they play together.  They also talked a lot about the sense of community among Deadheads and their experiences getting to/enjoying/going home from the concerts.  The camaraderie seems to be as much of a draw as the band itself.

Husband™ summed it up for me once when he said that Dead music puts him in mind of old-timey cartoons, the black-and-white kind starring grinning cows with pipe-cleaner limbs.

The lyricists for the band would most likely find Husband's observations a compliment.

The camaraderie was a big part of sustaining the draw. There were other things that had to be seen to understand. It has been said before that there was a very powerful engagement between the audience and the performance. Other musicians invited to make guest appearances would regularly comment on being taken aback at the sheer charge of the interaction with the audience on such a scale. In stead of being completely spoon-fed an experience the fans were invited and encouraged to take an active part.

Recently Garcia's ex wife MG gave a talk at a psychedelics conference in Switzerland looking back at how what her prankster and dead friends were doing influenced the course of her life and the impact it had on people. She is very outspoken in general and free with comments, but she had never written and given a speech like that before. Rough at first it was succinct and profound at the end. Unfortunately the audio I of  it heard was very poor. Hopefully she will write more on the subject.

Last edited by Johnny_Rotten (2008-08-27 21:14:37)