Grateful Dead: 60 Years of Celebration

Forbes

a day ago

Grateful Dead photographed in NYC, June, 1967. Publicity photo from the exhibition and coffee table book: An American beauty - Grateful Dead 1965-1995. © Ron Rakow / Retro Photo Archive Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery
What is it about the Grateful Dead that had tens of thousands of fans heading to Golden Gate Park last weekend for the three-day celebration of their sixty years of music? And tens of thousands more streaming the shows on nugs.net or seeing the final show in Imax theaters or listening to the performances on Sirius XM.
In Los Angeles, the David Kordansky Gallery has an exhibition of photographs, An American Beauty: Grateful Dead 1965-1995 on view until August 16th, and have also put out a gorgeous coffee table book of the exhibition and that includes many more photographs, curated by Jay Blakesberg and his daughter Ricki Blakesberg, with text by Kordansky high school friend, fellow Deadhead and content curator at Kordansky, poet Stuart Krimko, available at the gallery and online.
Wall of Sound, Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, June 8, 1974. Publicity photo from the exhibition and coffee table book: An American beauty - Grateful Dead 1965-1995 Alvan Meyerowtiz/ © Retro Photo Archive, Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery
The Dead's fans span several generations and have outlived many of the original members including Ron McKernan (Pigpen), Jerry Garcia, and Phil Lesh, From the original line up only Bob Weir (who was the youngest member) and Mickey Hart will perform at this weekend's celebration. Bill Kreutzmann, one of the original drummers now lives in Hawaii where he performs with Mahalo Dead, and Grateful Mahalo. In Golden Gate Park, Weir and Hart will be joined by their Dead & Co, confreres John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane. Opening acts for each night are Billy Strings, Sturgill Stimpson, and Trey Attanasio.
I saw the Dead many times in high school, several times later while Garcia was still alive and have, more recently, been to several Dead & Co, and Wolf Brothers Shows.
If I try to think back to what made the band compelling in its original incarnation, surely part of it was the stamina of the band. The New Riders of the Purple Sage often opened the evening with Jerry Garcia sitting in on pedal steel. They would play for two hours or so, and then the Dead would come on and play for anywhere between three to five hours.
What grabbed the audience, then and now, was the feeling of being taken on a voyage, or in many cases a trip, where the evening was one long performance, and it became a game or a matter of insider cred to guess what song they were playing and admire how it morphed into what they would play next. They played a lot of cover songs but when they did, it was always as if it was their song to begin with, and their interpretations could add a layer of emotion be it wistful, joyous, or boastful.
Grateful Dead, Mary Poppins Umbrella Festival and Be-In, El Camino Park, Palo Alto, CA, July 2, 1967. Publicity photo for An American Beauty: Grateful Dead 1965-1995, David Kordansky Gallery © Ron Rakow/ Retro Photo Archive, Courtesy of the artist and David Kordanasky Gallery
In those early days, when Pigpen was on the keyboards and was one of their main vocalists, Good Morning Little School Girl , could be a drawn-out blues jam heavy with lascivious intent. And when they played St. Stephen was an almost reverent incantation into the darker reaches of the universe. Garcia was like some great artisanal weaver, threading the notes and sweet tones of his guitar into the band's rhythms, playing his electric guitar in ways inspired by his bluegrass and blues background. When the Dead ended the night playing Not Fade Away and Johnny B. Goode you were satisfied but wanted to come back for more.
No two performances were alike, and the shows were not all equally good in quality, but attending allowed you to discuss various set lists, songs, etc.… They drew one further into the Dead's world. At times, there was a feeling one had at those shows, an experience, that I can only compare to what golfers, surfers, and skiers are chasing – that moment when you leave the specific and become part of the whole. Dead fans have been chasing those moments since the 1960s.
Deadhead dancing at Grateful Dead concert in Lewiston, ME on September 6, 1980. Publicity photo from the exhibition and coffee table book An American beauty - Grateful Dead 1965-1995 © Jay Blakesberg, courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery
The Grateful Dead were pioneers in allowing audience members to tape their performances and take as many photos as they liked. Many articles and even a Harvard Business School case study have been written about how while other bands focused on record sales, the Grateful Dead gave priority to touring. The Dead focused on audience engagement. The bootleg recordings, photos and merchandise offered at what came to be known as Shakedown Street outside the concerts, built a database of fans, first as a mailing list, and later through email, allowing for direct ticket sales and bypassing ticket agencies and brokers, allowing them to control their revenue streams. Today we would look on the trading of recordings, which they encouraged by having 'taper' areas at concerts to insure better recordings, would be described today as content marketing.
To return to the An American Beauty exhibition at Kordansky Gallery and the lavish book they produced. The text by Stuart Krimko is a thoughtful account of Grateful Dead history along with his own musings on their songs, the experience of seeing them in concert, the various band members over time, and their impact on their fans and society at large.
The photos are curated by Jay Blakesberg and his daughter Ricki Blakesberg and grow out of an exhibition they mounted in Haight Ashbury that was expanded to a show at the Sphere in Las Vegas when Dead & Co., did their residencies there, and became this exhibition and catalogue. Among the photographers included beyond Blakesberg's own work are images by Rosie McGee, Ron Rakow, Paul Kagan, Elizabeth Sunflower, Herb Greene, Alvan Meyerowitz, Ben Haller, Jeffrey Price, Marianne Mayer, Bruce Polonsky, Adrian Boot, among others.
Many of those photographers were present for a panel conversation at Kordansky Gallery for the opening of the exhibition moderated by Stuart Krimko, and Journalist Shirley Halperin. Ron Rakow and Rosie McGee told great stories about the early days of the band. There were stories about 'Bear' Owsley, and his important contributions, chemical and soundwise. And Ron Rakow told a great anecdote about his job interview with Jerry Garcia.
Are these the greatest photos or the best photos ever shot of The Grateful Dead? Or the ultimate collection for a fan? Maybe not. But what I found particularly compelling is that they give you a sense of the band, as young and not so young, and the overwhelming feeling that the people taking the photographs were there, not as tourists, not purely on assignment, but as an extension of the band, as part of the experience. There is a section of photographs just on the crowds attending, which is great because like the bootlegs and photos, they extend what the Grateful Dead have come to mean.
When I looked at the photos at Kordansky Gallery and in the book/ catalogue, I had the feeling of being there myself. That feeling is what makes these photographs so worth seeing, and is the same feeling all those attending, streaming or listening to Dead & Co, were chasing last weekend and will keep chasing.