Latest news with #JerryGarcia
Axios
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
San Francisco events mark Grateful Dead's 60th anniversary
Deadheads, your time is here. San Francisco is launching a multi-week series of events to mark the Grateful Dead's 60th anniversary ahead of Dead & Company's three-day concert at Golden Gate Park next month. Why it matters: The homegrown, psychedelic rock band was a pioneer in the counterculture movement and left a lasting imprint on the Bay Area. Driving the news: The legendary Shakedown Street marketplace will set up shop 10:30am-6pm during Dead & Company's concert days (Aug. 1-3) along JFK Promenade between Transverse and Blue Heron Lake drives. Dead & Company's Aug. 3 performance will also be livestreamed in IMAX locations across the city. Here's some of the planned programming: 🖼️ Mickey Hart: Art at the Edge of Magic: Catch the Grateful Dead drummer's incredible artwork, featuring nearly 100 paintings and prints on canvas, metal, drumheads and more at the Haight Street Art Center. July 24 through Sept. 21, with an opening celebration set for 4-9pm July 31. Free for all museum visitors. 🎙️️ Exploring the Grateful Dead at Manny's: Hear from the Grateful Dead's official historian and other leading experts across three conversations examining the band's legacy. 6pm July 29 and July 30. Tickets start at about $9. 🎶 A Grateful Gathering: Indulge in live music, photo booth fun, live art and local vendors at this outdoor happy hour event. 4-9pm July 31 at Yerba Buena Lane. Free. 🎥 Len Dell'Amico on Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead: Hear firsthand accounts of the band from the man who directed their concert films and music videos. 6pm July 31 at the Main Library. 🎉 Jerry Garcia Sign: The city will formally unveil the new Jerry Garcia street sign on Harrington Street, where the late band co-founder grew up. 11am Aug. 1 on Harrington Street between Alemany Boulevard and Mission Street. 🎸 Jerry Day at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater: The annual music festival will feature a litany of live performances to celebrate Garcia's 83rd birthday. There will also be a pub crawl to support his childhood neighborhood afterwards. 11:30am Aug. 2 at McLaren Park. Free. ⚾️ San Francisco Giants celebrate the Grateful Dead: Join the team for a special evening of music, merch and vibes. 6:45pm Aug. 12 at Oracle Park. Tickets start at about $50.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Deadheads Are Really Going to Love IMAX This Summer
The Grateful Dead is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, from the massive 60-CD box set Enjoying the Ride to a book of rare Jim Marshall photographs. Now, the long, strange trip continues with two separate screenings on IMAX. Dead & Company — the offshoot that celebrated its 10th anniversary this year with another residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas — will livestream the last of their three shows in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. That live IMAX event takes place on Aug. 3, and features an opening set by the Trey Anastasio Band. The tickets come with a poster and lanyard. More from Rolling Stone From Grateful Dead to Metallica, These Band Tees Are Under $30 for the Last Few Hours of Amazon Prime Day Dead & Company's 60th Anniversary Grateful Dead Shows Sold Out, But These Sites Still Have Stubs Add a Little 'Touch of Grey' to Your Cart with Vineyard Vines' New Grateful Dead Collab In addition, The Grateful Dead Movie will hit IMAX screens in select theaters on Aug. 14 (with an advanced preview on Aug. 13). The 1977 film captures the band's five-night stand at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom in October of 1974, what they believed at the time to be their final run of shows. Co-directed by Jerry Garcia and Leon Gast, it marks the film's first time on the big screen in eight years, and its first time being shown via IMAX. Fans can also see the theatrical premiere of a bonus live performance of 'China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider,' which they can catch at the end of the film. 'It was the greatest screening I've ever experienced of a film I've seen hundreds of times,' the band's archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux said of the IMAX screening. In December 2024, the Dead were honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and were celebrated as MusiCares' Persons of the Year in January in Los Angeles. Just before bassist Phil Lesh died last fall, Bobby Weir told Rolling Stone the band was considering reuniting for the anniversary. 'I think when Phil checked out, so did that notion, because we don't have a bass player who's been playing with us for 60 years now,' he said. 'And that was the intriguing prospect. … I think you need somebody holding down the bottom. Phil had all kinds of ideas that were pretty much unique to him. I grew up with Phil holding down the bottom in his unique way.' He added: 'I suppose I could go back out. I wouldn't put anybody in his place, so it would be a trio at this point. It'd be me and two drummers. I'd have to think about that. I haven't thought about it — it's just now occurring to me that it's a possibility that we could do that, since you asked. … I guess we'll just see what the three of us can pull together.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Political Legacy of Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia, the iconic frontman for the Grateful Dead, remains, nearly 30 years after his death, a revered figure, singular in his approach to life and art. A multimillionaire by the time of his death, Mr. Garcia never lost his fundamental understanding of himself as a musician, which makes him among the most relatable, if misunderstood, figures of modern times. Much of the pull he continues to exert on the culture lies in the fact that his music and his life were an exploration of what it means to be free. He was not political, per se. Though he came of age as the American counterculture bloomed — and though he and the Dead stood at the center of many of that period's most memorable occasions — he did his best to shun politics as such. He disdained candidates, avoided campaigns. 'We would all like to live an uncluttered life,' Mr. Garcia said in 1967, 'a simple life, a good life, and think about moving the whole human race ahead a step.' Mr. Garcia lived among artists and built up a community around him that was, psychologically and in some ways practically, impervious to government power. The Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco offered one early experiment in community organization; Dead shows in later years stood as a kind of traveling bubble of freewheeling creativity, dynamic hubs of music and art, blissfully insulated from the outside world. It was, to Mr. Garcia, a ride on the rails — a little dangerous but happily in motion and in contact with others. 'There's a lot of us,' Mr. Garcia said, 'moviemakers, musicians, painters, craftsmen of every sort, people doing all kinds of things. That's what we do. That's the way we live our lives.' Would you like to submit a Letter to the Editor? Use the form below to share your thoughts on this or any other piece published in The New York Times in the past seven days. If your submission is selected, an editor will contact you to review any necessary edits before publication. Most published letters will appear in both the online and print editions. Your submission must be exclusive to The New York Times. We do not publish open letters or third-party letters. Click here for more information about the selection process. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jerry Garcia died almost 30 years ago. We want to hear your memories about the Grateful Dead icon.
Next month will mark the 30th anniversary of Jerry Garcia's death. The legendary Grateful Dead cofounder, guitarist and vocalist died on Aug. 9, 1995, in his room at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility outside of San Francisco. He was 53. Fans of the pioneering psychedelic rock band known as Deadheads — many of whom followed the band across the country from show to show, trading tapes of live recordings of their performances — knew this day would come. Garcia had struggled with drug addiction and diabetes for years, and was in bad shape weeks earlier on what would be his final tour. Still, news of his death was no less shocking. "I'm probably like a lot of people entering the first waves of numbness,' Tom Constanten, a former Grateful Dead keyboardist and a close friend of Garcia's, told San Francisco's KCBS radio that night. Yahoo is asking readers like you to share your memories of Garcia, including where you were when you heard he had died, what he and his music meant to you then and what it means to you today.
Chicago Tribune
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
It's been 30 years since the Grateful Dead's final concerts at Soldier Field in Chicago
The longest, strangest trip embarked upon by a rock 'n' roll band ended 30 years ago this week at Soldier Field. On Sunday, July 9, 1995, the Grateful Dead played what would be its final concert with its full lineup at the stadium — the harmonious echoes of 'Box of Rain' concluding a fascinating musical journey that began in May 1965 at a small pizza parlor in California and encompassed more than 2,300 shows. Coming just before a stifling heat wave engulfed the city, the Grateful Dead's two-night lakefront stand remains memorable for many reasons — some better off forgotten. While the sextet rebounded from a Saturday production that witnessed lead singer Jerry Garcia forgetting lyrics, flubbing notes and demonstrating clear signs of ailing health, the uneven closing show concluded what's now known as the 'Tour from Hell' — a trek haunted by uninspired performances, gate-crashing incidents, weather-related injuries, death threats and deplorable behavior from some fans. Take it from someone who was there: It was a bad scene. An anomaly, really, in the Grateful Dead's local history. Though the band's newest archival trove — 'Enjoying the Ride,' a 60-disc box set themed around the group's ties to select venues — spotlights what was then Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana, and Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, to represent the Midwest, the Dead made Chicago its go-to base in the heartland. Far surpassing the number of its respective appearances in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City and St. Louis, the Grateful Dead played some 70 dates in the Chicago area. Not included in that tally: The regrouped collective's three 'Fare Thee Well' shows in July 2015 at Soldier Field. Clever marketing lingo aside, nothing disguises the fact that the band ceased when Garcia died of a heart attack shortly after turning 53 in August 1995. Here are 10 of the most significant visits from a band that looms perhaps even larger today than during its existence. More than three years after forming, the Grateful Dead arrived for its Chicago debut at a bygone Uptown venue that hosted legends such as Led Zeppelin and The Who before they became massive. Freshly discharged from the Air Force, keyboardist Tom Constanten officially joined the collective earlier in the week. The Grateful Dead is nascent enough that no definitive setlist information survives for either show. Reporting on the second night for the Tribune's youth music column, Robb Baker amusingly observed: 'They have no good vocalist; their material itself is not that memorable (you don't go around humming Dead tunes); and it takes them forever to really get warmed up.' Ultimately, he succumbed to the band's eclectic charms and gave it a rave. The Grateful Dead returned to the same location the following January and again that April. A portion of the latter visit is documented on 'Dick's Picks Volume 26.' Mirroring the right-into-the-fire experience of his predecessor, Constanten, whose brief tenure ended in early 1970, keyboardist Keith Godchaux had one show under his belt when the Grateful Dead arrived for its second of a career total of four residencies at Auditorium Theatre. He was tasked with spelling the playing of beloved original member Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan, on hiatus due to health problems that led to his death in early 1973. Adding to the pressure? The Grateful Dead premiered an array of new tunes ('Tennessee Jed,' 'Comes a Time,' 'Jack Straw,' 'Mexicali Blues' 'One More Saturday Night' among them). And Oak Park radio station WGLD-FM broadcasted night one, which contained the final performance of the obscure ditty 'The Frozen Logger.' Godchaux, who stayed with the Grateful Dead until 1979, passed his test. Both concerts sizzled. The first, which prompted the Chicago Sun-Times to predict 'a revival for dance halls' and Tribune critic Lynn Van Matre to deem the band 'relaxed, yet very much together,' featured a 'St. Stephen'-led encore. The second, chronicled on 'Dave's Picks Volume 3,' sparked with a transcendent 'That's It for the Other One' suite. No regional Grateful Dead show witnessed more back-and-forth planning drama than the band's sole Evanston date. Daily Northwestern archives show that attempts to book the group began in April 1970. Efforts to land the band for the university's 1973 homecoming unfolded over several months. Debates pitted organizers against administrators fearful of issues related to security, safety, cost and behavior by non-campus attendees. Despite opposition from the dean and contractual uncertainty that stretched into mid-October, the student government — with a big assist from Jam Productions — secured the artist it wanted. Northwestern students paid $4.50, one dollar less than the public. But more money than the estimated 50 to 100 people who gained entrance by buying discounted admission from entrepreneurial kids who found untorn tickets discarded under the bleachers by a careless Jam attendant and re-sold them outside. Inside, amid Halloween decor and a capacity crowd, the Grateful Dead played four hours despite guitarist-vocalist Bob Weir reportedly feeling under the weather. Part of the show can be heard on the two-disc 'Wake of the Flood' reissue. The Grateful Dead's second and final concert at the now-demolished Canaryville arena marked the only local appearance of the band's complete, near-mythical Wall of Sound. The subject of 'Loud and Clear,' a brand-new book by Chicago-based writer Brian Anderson, the pioneering sound reinforcement system became as famous for its spectacular fidelity as its immense size. Because the 75-ton array proved incredibly labor-intensive and expensive to schlep from show to show, the group retired it in October 1974. In addition to marking the group's last area gig for nearly two years, this excellent mid-summer performance remains noteworthy for a collaborative interlude between Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh and Ned Lagin. The electronic composer experimented with Lesh nearly two dozen times using the Wall of Sound and released his quadraphonic 'Seastones' album on the group's record label. Garcia, Weir, Lesh and percussionist Mickey Hart's afternoon appearance at Rambler Room — a hybrid cafeteria/gathering space in the now-razed Centennial Forum on Loyola University's Rogers Park campus — doesn't technically qualify as a Grateful Dead show. But few Chicago dates harbor more intrigue than this impromptu 'Bob Weir and Friends' gathering. Seated in front of a hand-drawn Hunger Week poster, the band members performed acoustically together for the first time since 1970. They dug into chestnuts — Jelly Roll Morton's 'Winin' Boy Blues,' the traditional 'Tom Dooley,' the Memphis Jug Band's 'K.C. Moan,' Weir's 'This Time Forever' — the Grateful Dead never before or again attempted in public. The first rendition of 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door,' a Bob Dylan number the full group wouldn't play until 1987, anchored the set. After finishing with a romp through Buddy Holly's 'Oh Boy!,' the quartet headed a couple miles south to Uptown Theatre for its second show of a three-night run. Though the Grateful Dead usually kicked off the year in California or on the East Coast, Chicago got the honor in 1981 when the group launched its spring jaunt at Uptown Theatre — an architectural gem that still sits, decaying, awaiting its second act. The three-night run marked the Grateful Dead's sixth and final hurrah at the movie palace, which closed its doors for good that December. (Jerry Garcia returned in June with his namesake band.) Due to an intimacy and acoustic signature that would cause the balcony to vibrate from certain frequencies, Uptown Theatre quickly became known among fans as a magical spot to see the group. The feeling seemed mutual. In the span of 37 months, the band headlined an astonishing 17 shows at Uptown Theatre, which hosted the Grateful Dead more times than any local venue. A-list examples of early '80s Grateful Dead, these shows should be short-listed for the band's ongoing archival series. Relatedly, the group's Dec. 3, 1979 date at Uptown Theatre comprises 'Dave's Picks Volume 31.' As the Grateful Dead waded into the mid-'80s, the odds of catching a truly great show declined. Garcia, his disheveled hair increasingly gray, ballooned in weight and often lost a beat. The band shunned the studio, releasing no original albums between 1980 and 1987. Yet the concert vibes remained healthy and the scene mellow, free of the toxic misconduct that violated the Deadheads' unspoken 'do no harm' ethic after the group's popularity exploded in the late '80s. Plus, the group still channeled bursts of imagination. This pair of dates represents the Grateful Dead's only appearance at a welcoming outdoor venue that ultimately gave way to a new, far inferior option 60 miles away in Tinley Park. Too bad. Once a favorite among tape traders, June 27 saw the band scamper through one of the first performances of 'Hell in a Bucket' and lock into a fervent 'Scarlet Begonias' into 'Fire on the Mountain' coupling. The next evening sounded nearly equally on point and culminated with the New Orleans staple 'Iko Iko' unveiled as an encore for one of just three occasions in the group's career. Given these concerts capped the Grateful Dead's stellar 1990 summer tour, a trek that piggybacked onto a spring trek that stands as one of the most acclaimed in the band's history, they should evoke only joyous memories. As delightful as the performances remain, they are overshadowed by the death of keyboardist Brent Mydland — whose drug overdose on July 26 permanently altered the trajectory of the band and sent Garcia into a dark spiral — and nightmarish management. Frustrated with limited road access into the venue and impassable traffic jams, fans parked their cars on the highway and walked the rest of the way. Commercial truck traffic ground to a halt. State police closed westbound lanes on I-80 from I-57 to Harlem Avenue, and ordered hundreds of vehicles towed. Unaccustomed to large concerts in their area — World Music Theatre opened that June — neighboring residents also complained about the alleged invasion of Deadheads who cleaned out stores of certain supplies and foodstuffs. Then, there were the insurmountable shortcomings of the venue that, in the words of renowned Grateful Dead sound engineer Dan Healy, constituted 'the most awful sounding place I've ever heard in my life — it's beyond my wildest imagination.' Suffice it to say the band wasn't asked back. The Grateful Dead collaborated onstage in the '90s with esteemed jazz saxophonists Branford Marsalis, Ornette Coleman and David Murray on the coasts, the same regions its brief 1987 trek with Bob Dylan unfolded. Local fans starved for a similar treat lucked out at the first of the band's two-night Soldier Field engagement when opener Steve Miller joined the ensemble for four songs in the second set and an electrifying encore of Them's 'Gloria.' Extending the bluesy motifs, Chicago-based harmonica virtuoso James Cotton also guested on the latter number as well as on a smoky version of Sonny Boy Williamson's 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl' and charged take of Bobby Bland's 'Turn on Your Lovelight.' Such location-cognizant nods and unexpected twists — which extended to a blaring train whistle during the psychedelic 'Space' sequence — confirmed the Grateful Dead could still surprise and awe, even in stadium settings. The Grateful Dead commenced its spring 1993 outing with a radiant 'Here Comes Sunshine' and didn't look back until its second-to-last residency at Rosemont Horizon concluded a few nights later. Reinvigorated with a batch of promising new songs ('Liberty,' 'Days Between,' 'Lazy River Road,' 'Broken Arrow,' 'Eternity') and eager to refine recent material road-tested a year prior ('So Many Roads,' 'Wave to the Wind,' 'Way to Go Home'), the band strongly suggested it had more to offer in its fourth decade together. And yet, bittersweetly, Garcia's beautiful, gospel-etched timbre and choice of poignant material — a somber 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door,' a spiritual 'Standing on the Moon,' a symbolic cover of Dylan's 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' — indicated an acute awareness of endings and mortality. Both would wait. On March 10, the band stunned everyone with the rare, and final, 'Mind Left Body Jam.' At the finale, Chicago word-jazz poet and radio announcer Ken Nordine further shattered sensory perceptions by reciting 'Flibberty Jib' and 'The Island' during the 'Drums' into 'Space' improvisation. We never saw it coming. In other words, signature Grateful Dead. Then, and now, a band beyond description.
