• 323 replies
    marye
    Joined:
    So twice in the last week I've gotten into conversations with folks who were pretty intense Deadheads back in the day, and their general drift was look, the band no longer exists, they haven't played for 12 years. It is so Over. Get on with your life. Which, of course, is a perfectly reasonable point of view. And yet, here we are. And "we" includes people who never saw the band in the first place but definitely consider themselves on the bus now. So what's up with this? Why are we here? Discuss...

Comments

sort by
Recent
Reset
  • Rose_
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Here now
    Well...if the grateful didnt live on then we wouldn't be here now. I remember RH saying at Alpine at the Terrapin Reunion that the Dead live on through us. Its so true.
  • otherone2
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    movin on?
    an experience like the dead cannot be ignored ... just like holding your first born in your hand - when they grow up, that feeling of your newborn child doesn't go away and leaves you ... if you are in tune to it, then you will always feel it the dead's music can continue to be felt even if no new dead music will be made ... there will always be something there to enjoy, shake your head in amazement or to even cry to ...
  • creeping_socialist
    Joined:
    I was reminded how special
    I was reminded how special what we shared, and continue to share, is, when after eight years away, I went to a post-Jerry Dead show, and was treated with such respect, and gentle kindness by perfect strangers; I had forgotten what it was like to be among my fellow Dead Heads. It's not over for me, and won't be, ever, if I can help it.
  • Hal R
    Joined:
    comment on the comments
    "Shall we go, you and I while we can through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?" Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
  • kegger
    Joined:
    Elvis, Mozart,Souza Peolple still listen
    My brothers and a lot of friends rip me for still listening to Dead 80% of the time. My response t them is the subject above. I plan to see Rat Dog this Summer in Camden and can't wait. Yes I wish Phil, Mickey etc werre coming also but give me a break I just want go have good time and yes I will enjoy the Almond brother too. I saw 38 show before Jerry died. Some were beter than others. I have good and bad memories. I saw the darker side to scene and the lighter side(Ying/Yang). People can get what ever they want from the scene we really are/were a diverse group despite the stereo type. I still remeber the the young herion addict I hung out with for a few hours in Landover in the 80's I hypocritically tried to convince her she need to get help as I was burning with her. Conversations with Dr., Attorneys, heads in BMW's or a beat up VW buses, Ann Coulter is a Dead Head that dons't mean I believe in her BS. If you are into music you are into music. I will defend myself when ever some gives me a hard time about still listening and going to whatever event is comming to the Philly area when I have time. I have several friends that want nothing to do with the scene any more I don't judge them and don;t expect to be judged in return. aka Kegger
  • jakmac1
    Joined:
    THIS IS INCREDIBLE!
    I bet this is the first time most of us have had a chance and a forum to not only talk about Jerry and GD but open up to friends who understand our words.We may not all agree on everything but then again we never agreed on the best show,the best EOTW,Phils singing,Drums too long/too short,etc. For the past week I have read everyones post here and I feel like"someone's been reading my mail" or my mind. I just love this shit. The bottom line is we are blessed. Blessed to be part of this long,strange trip and more blessed to have each other. The Grateful Dead will never die . It is alive in all of us.What we have is INCREDIBLE!
  • dawg440
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Once a Deadhead...
    I miss the boys more and more as each summer passes, so many memories. As long as the desire is there to hear and perform these songs, the music will and has lived on; Ratdog and Phil & Friends sound great, not the same, but still great. DSO is pretty cool and The Dead tour from 2004 with Warren Haynes was absolutely fantastic and possibly some of the best music since 1990, the revival of Brent's songs sung by Warren was worth it alone, never thought we'd hear those again. In fact I bought all 36 of those shows as new energy was injected into the music the performances were great. Life goes on, we evolve, we adapt, but never forget, you don't stop being a Deadhead just because the bands' all packed and gone...
  • Marshun
    Joined:
    well...things change and so
    well...things change and so do people. i think you should dig whatever you like and if the dead "scene" or whatever was a phase for folks and they move onto opera or classical or whatever that is ok. for me it is just part of my life. the music has become entwined in the mosaic of my life.15 years of shows that mean a lot to my being...my well-being. i think the world is way to overly serious and regemented and the dead's music and stories have helped me relax and given me dancin' insight beyond words. i have many musical tastes that go in lots of directions. i really like many many new age artists and songs. i also love the blues and newish jazz. i haven't "gotten" the old jazz bug yet but i am open. ottmar liebert, pat metheny, van morrison, and so many other great artists and sounds, yet i keep coming back for another heaping helping of home-cooked dead. took a hiatus myself once or twice. i got the train runnin' to fast a couple of times and had to take a break. took a full year off after a good run from '86-'88...i just had to slow it down and i did and managed a healthy return for a few more saturday nights. i love being able to check in here and connect through other posts. i may have slowed down but i still love the hot jams and the wonderful sets our friends left behind. the music is still on the road coming to town for more dancin' celebrations. "sound of the thunder with the rain pouring down"
  • Bella
    Joined:
    I heard it said best,,,
    ...grateful but NEVER dead.
  • jensenjohn
    Joined:
    the music lives
    I continue to love the Dead's music. I have a life, a family, a good career, and listening to Dead music is still part of my life. There is still that same purity that drew me to their music in the 1st place. I still remember buying SYF when it came out, and I was drawn to the pure sound of the music. At that time I was into Led Zep, but I couldn't believe they could make a Johnny Cash song sound so COOL! I know SYF is not the best of their releases, but it got me on the bus, so to speak. I never got caught up in the band member worship thing, it was always the purity of the music for me. I imagine the last song I listen to on this earth, if it's my choice, will be a Dead song.Peace!
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Forums
So twice in the last week I've gotten into conversations with folks who were pretty intense Deadheads back in the day, and their general drift was look, the band no longer exists, they haven't played for 12 years. It is so Over. Get on with your life. Which, of course, is a perfectly reasonable point of view. And yet, here we are. And "we" includes people who never saw the band in the first place but definitely consider themselves on the bus now. So what's up with this? Why are we here? Discuss...
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

There's nothing wrong with being proud of, or preferring the music of your younger days. In fact, most of the music of the '60s-'70s-early '80's was better than most of the music of the last 20 years. But when I do hear something I like, like Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, or some other good stuff on Austin City Limits, it makes me especially enthusiastic and hopeful for the future. I wouldn't call being hooked-in to a lot of the popular music of the moment a critical asset!
user picture

Member for

14 years 11 months
Permalink

It's All Over Now? I beg to differ. If you have been to see Furthur then you know the boys in the band are still out there. In fact, they are again starting up a whole new interest from younger folks in their 20s and 30s who missed out on all the fun back "in the day." Mickey & Billy are out there somewhere on the road, with their various pick-up bands and projects also. But they seem a bit more transient as they forever shift between various line-ups. Of course, it is all over now as far as Letting The Good Times Roll and mass experiments in consciousness-raising. That is over now. Jerry passed and maybe it was time for the experiment to end. Which isn't to say that you can't do some exploring of inner space on your own. i find it fantastic to see the wide and diverse array that the deadheads have become. It is so over now and yet it is not. Clear, some have not gone Furthur enough and are still pushing their trips to the edge. Bravo Brothers & Sisters! We will survive. In fact we have survived and are thriving. So get over it, you who are "it's so over!"!
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

as the lyricists said back in the day, new ones coming as the old ones go. Or, the future's here, we are it, we are on our own. I mean, just the other day my godson the college student was pointing his parents' Deadhead pals to his latest digitally remixed rendition of Speedway. The music has worked its way into all kinds of corners of life, and the four surviving guys seem to keep finding interesting stuff to do, and people keep finding it interesting enough to follow. Meanwhile, new people keep discovering the old stuff, too. It's good to be along for the ride, or portions thereof.
user picture

Member for

15 years 3 months
Permalink

...cause I consider myself a bigger DH now than what I was from 89-95. It's sad but back then I thought being a deadhead mean't wearing tie-dyes and patchoulie and being stoned out of my fucking skull all the time. Of course I was between 17 and 25 at the time so perhaps I can be forgiven. Now being a deadhead means just listening to good music and to keep trying to be a good/kind person. I don't have the time to go on tour with Furthur or whoever else. I don't wear tie-dyes or get stoned anymore. And life is grand.
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

until something more formal comes along:http://www.jambands.com/news/2012/02/13/bob-weir-warren-haynes-chris-robinson-jackie-greene-and-more-will-help-phil-lesh-open-terrapin-crossroads/ Published: 2012/02/13 Bob Weir, Warren Haynes, Chris Robinson, Jackie Greene and More Will Help Phil Lesh Open Terrapin Crossroads Phil Lesh has confirmed the opening run of shows at his new venue and restaurant Terrapin Crossroads. Lesh will perform in a number of different configurations throughout March and April, including gigs with Bob Weir, Jackie Greene, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Herring, Jaz Sawyer, Jeff Chimenti, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams and Warren Haynes......
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

I missed the P& F webcast last night, but here's the setlist: Althea Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain Saint Stephen > Layla Cryptical Envelopment -> Magic Bus -> The Other One > I Know You Rider E: Unbroken Chain GDTRFB
user picture

Member for

12 years 9 months
Permalink

the music is what keeps it from being over. example jim morrison died in 1971, but the bands popularity with younger fans(im 20 so im in that boat as well) never went away. i love the dead, and so do most of my friends. so it aint over and it will not be over. flower children are still everywhere. plus lets not forget we have bands like phish too.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

Interesting. Life after Dead. Never posted here. The Grateful Dead is Still Rocking and Jamming. It just has different letters in Its' name now. Oh and a number too. Nothings changed. Life after Dead well I will let you know when we get there, if I am here then. Tomorrow Never Knows. I love you, all. It's still true.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

14 years 7 months
Permalink

its quaint that sometimes i hear whispered in the background you know she used to be a dh just because i dont run around in tie dyes and the hipster hippy attire or pack my bags at a drop of the hat to play vagabond for a couple months. its assumedthat the dead is part of my past only something i used to do,but that is further from the truth, seeing shows and going on tour was only part of the picture the music was and is the mainstay, and although ill not see jerry again it doesnt stop the music nor creativity that is and will be immortal bliss what ended was just the bizarre sideshow tours became near the end when shakedown street became more like a dirty boulevard., after 92 it actually started to be a scary world out there and touring lost its appeal. my only regret was that i didnt go to more shows in the last years but made up for it,since then by seeing alot more of bob phil and mickey and many other great preformers and smile everytime something new comes on the radio that i can put my finger on and say wow you can hear the dead influence in that song. btw my favorite is a jerry tune only heard preformed live once in all my tours that u robert hunter for making it possible.and jerry for belting it out that night, and know what i found the keys to the rain afterall.the dead wasnt a lifestyle for me it was a journey and lordy be it was a long strange trip.with many roads still left to go.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

11 years 8 months
Permalink

Hermann Hesse wrote a book titled Journey to the East, the theme of which is that while we are active participants in something we feel it is vibrant and happening but once we drop out of the thing we feel it has stopped for everyone, no matter if it remains as active and progressive for all other participants. Seems to be universal, in my experience.
user picture

Member for

14 years 11 months
Permalink

The time go? I remember being in the parking lot of a show reading a letter from the band with the usual stuff about people without tickets. The warning at the end was "When this stops ain't nothing going to bring it back." But then Jerry went to the limit and that seemed to effect the boys in the band quite a bit. I can imagine that they fely like they were in their prime as musicians and it would be a shame to break it up. Of course the name Grateful Dead was retired, as it should have been but the rest of the members of the band continued unabated. There was a period of a couple years of mourning but by 97' the Furthur Festival was back on tour as well as Ratdog and Phil & Friends shows and various side projects by the drummers. They drifted somewhat apart and to me,the closest they ever got to being back together was the 2002 Other Ones lineup that had Phil & Bruce returning with Baracco on lead. Mickey really stepped up to organize the playing and it was awesome. In 2002 the parking lot scene was still very reminiscent of a Dead show with very quality tie-dyes and other official and unofficial merch. out there. There wasn't the burnt edge of hard drugs being readily available among heads following the tour that became very evident in 2003-2004 as The Dead reunited. Then a few more years of going their separate ways and then one more tour as The Dead in 2009. Now we have Furthur for over three years thanks to Phil's transplant (Happy belated birthday Phil). The point is the scene had quality musicians and momentum and the musicians remaining seem to be willing to carry this body of music to their own deaths. And we can all remain around for the ride for as long or little as we like. Let the naysayers neg. on this one if they want. Jerry is gone along with the Grateful Dead but the music goes on and on and on and from this vantage point I see one or another of the boys carrying on for at least 5 more years. Dedication to The Heart Of Gold Band. You have to be Grateful
user picture

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

They are out, both on MOFI, who are hot right, I am listening to MOFI's SACD of The ABB's "Brothers and Sisters", sounds so exquisite. They have now released "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty". Why isn't there a HDCD of "Mars Hotel" anywhere? Well,groovin' to "Jelly,Jelly"
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

10 years
Permalink

I've been reading in several news articles about a fan club pre sale on feb 9-11 but there's no information confirming that on the dead50 site or the gdtstoo site. I'm a member of several GD fan clubs but am not receiving any emails or info on a presale from them. Does anyone have more info? Thanks brothers and sisters, see you in chi town. Di
user picture

Member for

17 years
Permalink

◾Dead pre sale begins Feb 12th @ 10 a.m. CST via Dead Online Ticketing. Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. Before checking out, all users must create an account after tickets are added and before completing the transaction.
user picture

Member for

9 years 8 months
Permalink

It not JUST about the shows,it's a way of life.It's about Peace,Love,Harmony,Music,Family,and telling those youngsters how it was and can be again.I'm 61,seen everybody from Areosmith to Z Z Top.I have played( drums) for fun & professionally.Most of the people I hang out with are 30-40 years younger than I am.I'm the "Old Hippie" that tells stories of huge gatherings of people from all walks of life to come and hear music and dance in the isles.That there was no black,brown,yellow or white there was only US a peaceful group of like minded individuals. I tell them we don't need no stinkin' guns.Spread the love,share the music,get involved,stand up against social injustice,Make A Difference.Pass those stories of awesome gathering and great shows on to the younger generation and have them pass it along.Is Hendrix,Janis, The Dead & Led Zeppelin still relevant? .........HELL YES Peace The Dude
user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

well, based on the phenomenal interest in Fare Thee Well before,during AND after both runs, I'd say this question is a bit premature. But if you're over it, that works for you. (the generalized "you" of course)
user picture

Member for

17 years 6 months
Permalink

It's safe to say FTW put a different aspect on things...
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

13 years 9 months
Permalink

....don't hear her singing yet..... that's just Donna ;-)
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

Howdy folks, Been a .com member for a long time, but never had much to say...until Fare The Well. Put out for ppv for the first time for the last concert. Best 50 bucks I ever spent. It was profound for me. The Dead have been the sound track of my life since '65 and my wife and me from '72-'12. She would have liked this concert. Wait until November for the cd/dvd release? I'll never make it! Have some good video and instrument, but yet to find a good vocal video. The second set YouTube share of the complete second set from Zoe Alyse is the only video set I've found and the crowd sounds damp the vocals...like if you were there; the vibe is like live. Got the whole soundboard audio, no vid. YouTube is new to an old codger like me. Only Dead vids drew me in and then, not until I got a Roku Streaming Stick to access YouTube on my TV. High recommendation for a really inexpensive entertainment add-on. Just know you don't stream from your device to the TV, you get to access stuff you have "in the Cloud", which is pretty cool getting my Pandora and YouTube playlists played over good speakers and get that body feel and not just audio in my head. You can get me at rickpucko@yahoo.com also.
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Permalink

I think not..for some maybe, but not me.September will be my third straight Lockn Music Festival in VA! Great fun Great vibes Great shows! Phil, Billy with their current bands this year...Bobby the last two as well. Also had the opportunity to meet and converse with Sam Cuttler (former band mgr) last year. Who knows what lies ahead unless you go furthur... Check out the 4 day schedule..so many great reasons to stay on the bus! iGrateful
user picture

Member for

9 years 11 months
Permalink

I never saw Jerry. I have a fear of buses and basically anything that resembles an "us". A friend tells me last December "Listen to an Althea" I was moved. Then I came here and found a beautiful family. I was blessed to be able to attend all 5 FTW shows. I was changed forever. Am I on the bus? Am I a Dead Head? I don't know but I am honored to share this earth with such a beautiful group of human beings.
user picture

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

I have come to embrace the fact that the 'Grateful Dead' is an entity that lives on in all those incredible songs. They have an enduring quality that continues to have meaning for people. They really were Built To Last! Listening to Stu Allen rip it up at the last Jerry Day it occurred to me that Jerry's unique form of mind expanding guitar work could be thought of as a sort of spiritual or wisdom tradition wherein in a lineage of great guitar players could keep the music alive far into the future. I think any so called Head who has decided 'it's over' probably never really went to shows for the music anyway. Not that there weren't a thousand other good reasons to go, I guess. I can understand people not wanting to look back and there's a hell of a lot of great music out there to sustain them. Hey, each to their own.