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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...
fuck that
it ain't over till we say its over!
get on with which part of my life??
with all due respect to a 'former' deadhead, fuck that.
what am I going to do? put on a fucking suit and tie and become the MAN?
what am I going to do? change my philosophy of life? -- which, ironically, includes respect for how others choose to live their lives...
so if one wishes to tell another to 'get on with their life', I'll politely listen and after I politely listen, I'll say, "fuck that" that is the NYC deadhead in me. ( -:
but it ain't none of my business how others choose to be or what they choose to do... it is called freedom of personal choice.
I really don't get their opinion... I really don't understand their point. what is over? the shows with Jerry? the shows with Brent? Vince? well shit, the shows with Keith and Donna, and Pig Pen were over long ago, too. What is over? the Grateful Dead as we once knew it?
as long as the music exists to sooth my soul, I will always be a deadhead and always be on the bus.
and it ain't like I don't listen to other music, I certainly do, always have always will. and it ain't like I don't go listen to other bands play, always have always will.
marye, what is their point? I really don't get it.
I would submit that some people who have left the dead in their wake, may never have really saw the light, or perhaps never really 'got it' . case by case, of course.
( -;
peace.
unbelivers in legacy
The legacy lives even if the band is no longer. This is why I am here, to connect with other like-minded people, who understand the feeling that was.I am a baby in the eyes of some of the older folks who have been around a while. But still my life was touched by something that you could never explain to another person who was never there, this is why I am here, that connection that everyone felt at the shows, which is now making my hair stand up just thinking of, the community that always was there and just the shear overwhelming state of calm excitement that came over the audience when the first member walked out on stage.
I guess the folks that say "Get Over It" weren't touched in the same way that most of the people here seem to have been. The Dead were a way of life for a lot of us and a lot of us found our way after the loss of Jerry but there still is that emptiness that is sort of haunting.
Like the man at Laguna Seca Dayz after Jerry died, Bobby and the Boys started into Masterpiece and I was wandering around the vending area and came across a man just crying his eyes out and I just walked up to him and gave him a hug that lasted quite a while as he wept. Slowly he stopped crying and said thank you, we parted ways never introducing each other, but we knew we helped each other out, how can you give up that sort of community.
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty and if it's full may it be again.
Grateful Wishes to you and yours
Faith
well...
I think it kinda goes without saying that there were a lot of different experiences inside the big tie-dye tent. I also think that in the same way (as has been much remarked) one gets on the bus when one gets it and not a minute before, everybody has a different saturation point. So it's kinda not for me to say who did and didn't get it (though, believe me, I have as many opinions on the subject as the next Deadhead).
One point the people in question were making was, look, the surviving bandmembers have moved on. And also, paraphrasing Mickey, the fact that eventually we have to take what the band gave us and do something with it.
So I see their point of view, but I'm not willing to go along with this Over business exactly, either.
"Yeah but....."
"....you're not wrong Walter, you're just an asshole!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
same same but different
I would submit that the experience for the band members was different from that of a deadhead who was not part of the inner 'working' circle. by 'working' circle, I mean those who made a living by somehow being employed by the Grateful Dead. I would also point out that most of the members had their own musical side projects going long before Jerry passed away. If not musical side projects, then they certainly had 'lives' or hobbies / interests separate from the band and separate from the music. don't we all? this is why I am still perplexed as to exactly what I am supposed to move on to? I am not trying to be obtuse here, but I still fail to see their (those that said move on with your life) point.
Bob Weir said something, when asked if he (and maybe Phil?) was going to keep on playing music, something like 'I'm not going to change who I am...' (a paraphrase)
Jerry also said a long time ago, something to the effect of 'if we (the grateful dead) are all you have, then you have nothing'
What we are doing with what the band left us is:
enjoying the music
sharing the music
sharing the experiences that once were
appreciating all things grateful
and,
did I say? enjoying the music.
( -:
peace.
"The band no longer exists, they haven't played for........."
For these people you talked to - the band no longer does exist. They have decided to "move on" with their lives. I am living the same wonderful life full of colors, sounds, tastes, smells, and warmth that made me feel at home the first time I experienced it back in 1979. I enjoy not only reminecing the past experiences but also checking out those new incarnations which were influenced by this thing. This being the 40th anniversary of the summer of love, I would submit that the whole genre is still influencing and is very much alive. These very people, that you spoke with, may catch a second wind and just really feel it in the future. Maybe it is lost to them forever. For me I hope that it never dies.
I have an acute feeling that am extremely fortunate to have existed in the time capsule that I did to have been lucky enough to be there. In very much the same way that a classical lover would have felt who lived during Mozarts time. Those that loved and experienced Mozart's live performances, I am sure, savored and cherished their experiences all the days of their lives and for years beyond his death. We're still in awe.
Wake up and smell the roses. You experienced "grateness", don't be afraid to savor it.
Dougles
it's a mystery
I must admit -- I don't know if I'd be on the bus had I "started" now. My experiences actually seeing the Dead (and arranging my lifestyle around being a Deadhead) are inextricable from my Coming of Age. Before I ever saw them, I had decided that the Dead would be my path from childhood to whatever adulthood was. Strange as it sounds, this came to me in a dream! I saw my first show at 15 in NY, chose Stanford so I could see them more, and kept up faithfully until '95, which was just about the time of my Saturn return. There is something that is "over" for me, but I'm afraid that something is my youth, not my dance with the Dead!
"Study as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow." -- Maria Mitchell
post-dead
i hafta agree- the band does not exist now.
i only saw 'em 12 times.
the post-dead lineups, to me, are like spinoffs from a sitcom, that never, ever, match the quality of the original. gotta admit- haven't seen any of 'em, really don't care to... NOT to say that they aren't any good... it's just that- when you've seen the best, why settle for less? i'd rather listen to my ORIGINAL grateful dead shows, thank you.
the band is over... it WAS fun... the recordings STILL ARE fun... and i have "got on" with my life...
but i still listen to my 1000+ live shows.
Good sense.
The Dead just make good sense to me. For that reason, I am "on the bus". Am I a "Deadhead"? I guess. But, most important, the Dead complement who I am and that's good enough for me.
"From day to day, just lettin' it ride,
You get so far away from how it feels inside,
You can't let go, 'cause you're afraid to fall,
But the day may come when you can't feel at all."
Its not over till we say its
Its not over till we say its over! All non-believers get off the bus. Maybe you were never on in the first place. Plenty of pseudo-heads in the later days. Luckily they were usually easy to spot sleeping in their chairs on the floor with the latest concert T on.
After Jerry.
After Jerry passed it was too painful for me to really listen all that much. I went to one of the Other Ones shows, but after that I just stopped. All I could do was look back in sadness at what had been.Then in 2004, a friend turned me on to all of the digitalization of the dead shows and where to download them. I was blown away... and it rekindled my love of all dead things. I went to the Comes A Time memorial the next year and really enjoyed reliving the memories.
The thing is that the scene will never be the same and the people will never be the same, but the memories always linger. And thanks to Bear (amongst many others), copious shows are out there waiting to entertain and fascinate.
I don't go to any of the post-dead shows any more, and frankly, I'm not very interested in most other so-called 'jam bands''. So for me, this site represents wonderful nostalgia and info on various shows that will continue to entertain me until I die!
Over?
I'm still having fun, I'm still seeing my friends at shows albiet, not Grateful Dead shows, but Bobby's there & Phil & Vince was (RIP) and a cast of many, many more...just enjoying everything as much as I can, and teaching my children how to survive in on this crazy spinning blue marble we call home. Took the family up to the Haight Street Fair a coupla weeks ago and had a total blast. Loved that last band...what's their name? Madame Butterfly...something like that...all day, everywhere people laughing and dancing and enjoying everthing. Over, over, over...maybe they're talking about the marble spinning over? People wearing blinders shouldn't tell others what to do!
Life does go on and we must celebrate what we had, what we have and what good things will come!!!!
Life's too short to be blue...
Interesting topic
I will be the first to tell you that I took Jerry's death and the loss of a life pretty hard. And not in a very mature nature.But still went to work. Still paid my bills and taxes. Still cleaned the bathrooms at home.
A bad painful divorce accompanied the loss of Jerry (some correlation but not much)
I love to see Bob, Phil, and others carry the torch. I love to walk and listen down memory lane, and have made new friends doing so. And certainly relived some KILLER memories of POW, WHAMO, SOCKO from the Largeman & the Fellas. The friends and fellowships of 83-95 will never be forgotten.
I like to look at the younger kids and wonder what they are thinking....
I am only speaking for myself...but there was a candle that used to burn thats no longer, and even though its been 12 years depending on who you ask....there is still a sense of loss and sadness.
Truth is.....deep down I knew it couldn't last forever.....but I wished it would.
I mean I am so grateful for life...I have a new kidney that keeps me rollin and tumblin, and working.
I think its best to be grateful for the gifts we received and shared, and pass on what we can, and live and love the best way we know how. "We will get by!"
"Goin where the water tastes like wine..."
“The Omnipotent Grateful Dead!”
don't let go
Things that touch your life stay with you forever...you cannot discard them like an old T shirt. First love, first trip, watching the whales whatever. For me first hearing of Live Dead is part of that. My attachment waxes and wanes but the chain is unbroken and never will be. No blame for those who loved it and have left it all behind, but please don't deny it..just say
"thank you........for a real good time"
evolution vs. creationism
It's like every morning, roll over and get up again and roll over and get up again.
For me it has been like the tide or phases of the moon, sometimes stronger and brighter than at other times.
But how can something that is ingrained in my DNA like the sound of the Dead die?
This spirit it moves me. And makes me smile, smile, smile.
I can't explain it. It is the soundtrack of my life
The scene evolve's into the next formation - Phil, Ratdog, all of the jam bands. If you take them for what they are and not expect a Dead rehash you should be able to twirl in ecstacy.
Evolution is revolution.
and all those memories, and all of the friends I made and still have and all of the sounds from 35 years of a collection of records, tapes and CDs....and the trips and the wonder.. to infinity and beyond
bliss is bliss - I touch it when I can-did then, do now, I plan on keep on keepin on
The bus came by and I got on - sometimes in the front seat, sometimes in the backseat, sometimes on the roof, sometimes breathing the exhaust and sometimes working on the engine.
Yours truly,
today's cliche king or master folklorist?
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
Dead Ahead?
I think that whatever it is that makes certain music timeless, was captured by the Grateful Dead. Of all the bands I listened to back in the 70's and 80's, well, not many would now make it onto my stereo system for another play. But there is something timeless in the GD's music that breaks through all things. Yeah, you might take a break and listen to other things for a while, but when you put a good Mississippi Half Step back on, from a good 70's show (on the stereo), it just continues to send chills up your spine.
How crappy it is to listen to these "Classic Rock" stations, which continue to play the same old garbage over and over and over (and over); is makes me want to puke. How may times can a person listen to "Sweet home Alabama"? Or Boston's, "It's Been Such a Long Time"? Just back up the garbage truck, and load it up. Keep the Dead, and listen to some College radio when you get sick of it.
I only wish the Dead 2003-2004 tour had continued on. They really did some good shows. I purchased about 12 of the shows before they stopped selling them. I think Bobby is wasting his time with RatDog. Phil on the other hand, puts an occasional Friends together that is just excellent. I think he ought to get Chris Robinson back on vocals; it fits so well with the sound.
I will admit, however, that if Rhino continues at their current pace, people will lose interest, and the Grateful Dead will indeed die, at least in terms of getting enough sales to elicit more concert vault releases.
By the way, a good CD to spin right now is Springsteen's Live in Dublin. That is some excellent stuff from Bruce!
Greg SC
Well, well, well.
OK, you are right, the Grateful Dead are no more. Ratdog and Phil, DSO for that matter, fill a bit of the void. The old tapes, the "Tapers section" (here), they fill a bit. My books - "Living with the Dead", "Searching for the Sound" - they fill a spot, too. Even the "new" bands - SCI, Widespread, moe, Rusted Root, and old guys like Jorma and Hot Tuna, et al, they fill a in a little piece.
What I know we lost, what maybe we are looking for here, is that space where everything you do that makes you happy makes me happy, and visa versa - the state of consensual bliss. There were shows where that was missing, but there were more, so many more, where that was NORMAL. Where you could smile like a goofball, and someone would see you, and they would just break up, give you a hug and everyone was HOME.
I never was one to have no life but the Dead, but I really do like that space. I NEED that place. This place provides a piece of that place, and that is why I come back.
{8^{>
Forget what??
I suppose we are also supposed to get over Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Gershwin, etc. They don't "tour" anymore either! Getting over history is part of how we get ourselves into messes. When it comes to music, the lessons are sweeter. Keep on truckin'.
Get over it?
In my personal opinion the Greatful dead were one of the most significant developments of my lifetime. Dead Heads is the ONLY fan club I EVER joined, and I am proud to be a member today.
I will "get over it" when I am laying dead and cold in the ground, but not until then. Having been a professional performing musician, artist manager, concert promoter and recording/audio engineer, I was deeply touched by the depth of GD music in an age when 3 chord, 12-bar blues seemed to be the extent of the reportoire of most bands. The band was a technically proficient as they were musically adept, and I always appreciated that.
To me, being a Dead head is akin to being a member of the Mafia or Skull and Bones - there just ain't no getting out! I was born to be a Dead Head, I am proudly a Dead head today, and I will die a Dead Head. How could it possibly be any other way?
Never the same twice
Grateful Dead. Never the same twice.
I listen and I listen. Countless hours. thousands upon thousands of hours. No two versions of any song are the same. Seriously, think about that. Not only that, they are recorded.
The crazy thing is that even when the recordings finally disappear (like 700 years from now, maybe) the music won't even stop then. Too many people will be playing these songs for future generations. Real music, I mean real human being generated music doesn't die, ever.
People who think that one "should get on with their lives" should understand that those of here are doing just that. The great thing is that we are here together doing it. For crap's sake, I was at shows with some of you and I am only meeting you now! How about that??
Here is one last thought:
When I went to shows (all 9 of them) our group of friends would scatter when the band started playing and then we always met up at the appropriate rendezvous locations during intermission and after the show.
That is how I see dead.net, one big rendezvous location. Glad we made it here, too!
| I'm just a, well...porpoise. |
Its still real
I am going to see my first post- GD since March 1993 ; - show in Atlanta this July 7th . Ratdog. Don't buy the tag its over. Keep the faith .
They planted the seed...
all we had to do was let it grow. The first note I heard was the planting the rest have been fertilizer - organic of course.If you go see Bobby or Phil or the Dark Star Orchestra or your local groove band it is quite evident that the garden is growing. I've willed my collection to my nephew, now 5 yrs. old, so he can hear 'em as we did - raw and unencumbered.
Get Over It?
Get over it and move onto what? Where are the musical journeys out there that rival how the Grateful Dead, and now the spin-offs (Ratdog, Phil & Friends, etc.) make us feel? This band was unique... the approach to music taken by the musicians was, and still is one of a kind. I can pull out a tape, listen to a killer jam, and still get goose-bumps no matter how many times I may have heard it, and I haven't found any other artists or acts out there who can consistently deliver that kind of high. So until I do, I guess I'll still consider myself "on the bus." As the saying goes (supposedly attributable to the late Bill Graham), "It's not that they're the best at what they do... they're the only ones who do what they do."
I'm still a Dead junkie
I've been catching shows since 80, and when the Dead were not touring I was catching dead cover bands. I still go to see Bobby and Ratdog & Phil Lesh and Freinds, I went to Terrapin Station in Alpine Valley. I have been going to Zen Trickster shows since they were the Volunteers playing Crawdaddy's and the Right Track In. DSO are so much fun as well I love to see them. I miss Jerry. I'm thankful the music he and the boys created is still there for the taking. Some say their moving on & I say ok have fun.
Get over it?
Oh yeah, like I haven´t tried that. The problem is...
The wheel is turning and you can't slow down
You can't let go and you can't hold on
You can't go back and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you then the lightning will
FYI For Bay Area Deadheads
Aug. 5th,2007 --- At McLaren Park [JG's childhood park] there will be a celebration of Jerrys life and music. A day in honor of a local kid who grew up to have an incredible impact on our lives. It is scheduled to start at Noon. I'm not hooked up with the people putting this together but when I get their web address I'll post it here. The Dead "spirit" lives,so lets get together to sing and dance.
THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG
To get more info on the JG celebration go to ...jerryday.org . Take care my friends
MARYE - You stirred up a hornets with this topic
If you read all the comments,there is a current that runs through it all. I think we all agree that the Grateful Dead spirit lives on and always will.The sense of family was our core. We always took care of each other,those that had helped those who didn't.All of you have to admit that when you run into a Deadhead you feel an instant connection. The MUSIC is timeless. Hal R said it better that anyone ..."The music is the soundtrack of my life" This where the argument starts. I have hundreds and hundreds of songs from albums,CD's,dowloads and wherever that I listen to over and over. Sadly,I have no interest in music prior to 8 - 9 - 95. The summer nostalgia bands- The Other Ones/The Dead- were a joke. Different line-ups every yr,no winter tours,no totally new music.Just a bunch of guys rehashing the same shit.The Dead spirit and 30yrs of damn good music is ALIVE.
Nothin' About It
The Grateful Dead will outlive everyone here regardless of what a few people say. I also thoroughly enjoy the post Dead band member projects.
Bach has been dead for 257+ years and people still listen to his music performed by musicians who never met the guy. Beethovin has been dead for 173+ years and same thing. Jimi Hendrix dead for 37 years. Zappa for 14+ years. The list of names go on and my point is that the Dead scene has never died. It's alive and well. The entity known as The Grateful Dead were only one part of this ride and the ride will continue.
I say that if somebody says time to move on because Jerry id dead, they should also tell The London Symphoy Orchestra or The Boston Pops to move on to. Oh wait, they still perform music from guys who died hundreds of years ago and still turn on new fans.
Saw a cool Deadhead today at the Vegas Airport
While waiting for my girlfriend to arrive (back from a computer confrence in KY, stardate: 2007.06.22..10:00am aprox), waiting in the Delta baggage area of the Vegas airport (the big one), I saw this guy with thick black hair, cressent bangs, with a multi-color grateful bears beads, kind of thing, and I thought that was cool, I want some bear beads too.-
So regarding the question: Are Dead Heads just living in the past? Is it time to move on?
Living in the past, living in the future, lving right now, gotta keep on truckin.
When I was 14 in 1967 in Mendocino CA, I was cool and had long hair, but some of these other people had hairstyles from the 1950's (kind of old fashioned), so square.
-
An Anthropological perspective: people 10,000 years back wore cool beads, and were cool people (some were, some did). Always been hip people. Your just lucky to be you.
-
Music for the New Millennium by ARCHURE reg tmrk www.archure.net
ONE LOVE
As I sit and read everyone's posts, I've come to the conclusion that everyone is still grieving in one way or another. Some people are angry over the loss, while others look back and fondly remember the "Good Old Days" We have a responsibility to move on and bring that universal message of "One Love" to the masses, no matter what we are listening to now. After all the music is what brought us together, but the ideals, beliefs & friendships that we discovered at the shows are what kept us together then and is keeping us together now. To all those who say "move on" just because the band is no more, I ask this one question WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? Maybe it's more than just the band, maybe it's the community we all made. The freaks, vendors, twirlers, trippers & potheads showed the world what was possible. So let your freak flag fly, because the world we live in now needs all the help it can get.
the memory remains ...
I have to say, I think about this a lot. For me "The Dead" died the day Jerry did. I was always a Jerry side girl from my first show in 1981 to my last in 1995. That was my tenure. I just can't envision Bobby doing Jerry tunes. But this is me, and for me there is no Dead without Jerry. Sure there are other members, and other bands. But Jerry was such an integral part since day one. For me he was the heart and soul. Does that mean I don't love Bobby and Phil and Mickey and Bill too? Course not.
So, for me, The Dead, the band is over. But for anyone who can still go see a show and feel the magic that was in my blood for 14 years, I say power to you brothers and sisters, because that was my life force. and I know the joy it brings.
Now I have a house and a mortgage, and a job in corporate america, and many would say i sold out to the man. But I am still happy. And my heart still soars when I d/l a show to my mp3 player, and pop the ear buds in at my desk, and crunch my numbers in my spreadsheet; my soul is still in the same place it was at those shows oh so many years ago.
I think that's part of the magic. That it lives on. I don't think there's any getting over it. Life is change. Things evolve and morph very often to our own greatest surprise. But the music and the memory and the magic remains.
A part of me will always be on the bus. And my heart will always belong to Jerry.
Life After Dead ?
Should I give up the music of Bach, Mozart, and Brahms? Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane? The Carter Family, Dock Boggs, Charlie Patton? For me it's all about timelessness...
end of an era?
tj crowley...i don't need to defend my approach to life/living having been stuck (?) in the 60's. it was/is more than just a band/music..it was/is an approach to life.. a set of principles to walk a path that could lead to harmony amoungst fellow denizens of the planet. thru the dead i've learned about other musical genre's that more tha oikely i would not have paid attention to (and no way to find out otherwise). the combination of the ethics..guidelines..principles and the music does not have to end because the boys dis-banded as "WE" have know historically. the 'phoenix' rises continuously taking on new forms but holding onto the approach w/ fellow inhabitants. could you imagine if everyone would practice their philosophy/religion for more tha one hour a week...it's not move on..it's move thru
Over?
Nah, never!
I have my tapes and cd's and even a few bootleg albums. I can slap one of those babies in, sit back and take a ride down memory lane and for a short time be back at my first show in 1976 or back at one of the many memorable shows through the years, with the people I've loved and the other heads I met there.
I drive a mini van now instead of a little whatever, but that mini van always sports a dancing bear or a steal you face on the back window. My kids dance in the living room with me to whatever my fancy is for the day and are pretty savy with the verses. I sew various Dead patches on their jeans.
So is it over? Not for me! I may look like the suburban soccer mommie, but my freak flag is still flying!
As long as there are DeadHeads and the music, the Dead lives on!
JET
This is what I say....
Once a Deadhead...always a Deadhead! And, if you wanted the Dead atmosphere, there have been plenty of opportunites with Bobby, Phil and all. Other than a very few personal events, I cannot remember any other times when I felt so much a part of something as I did when I was at a show, with other Dead fans/friends or even just listening to the music. Once you are into it, it's something that takes hold of your being. The feeling doesn't go away, regardless of whether or not you wear a suit to work everyday. :)
Are you kind?Well, the
Are you kind?
Well, the energy just keeps on radiating like ripples in a pond. Imagine if u could travel in a spaceship fast enough and far enough away. With a powerful enough telescope u could see yourself and the family at the shows you attended. You could look back into time. Freaky huh!? IT is much bigger than the band or any of us. IT is eternal. All things must pass, but it isn't really a thing in that sense... :)
Believe it if u need it, if u don't just pass it on!
Life After The Dead
Considering myself to be a "Deadhead" since the early 1970's (I was a still impressionable 13 year old when I listened to "American Beauty"), I cannot grasp the point of view that holds that Deadheads are living in the past. Granted, the Grateful Dead played their last show at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995 and Jerry passed on to the next level on August 9, 1995, but the essential spirituality, the sense of community that the band and Deadheads created for each other endures. If living in the past means I still enjoy the memories of the music that continues to stir my being to this day, that relieves the stress of everyday life as I near 50 years of age, and that takes me back to a time when I was still a carefree youth (not a middle aged male faced with the reality that I have more days behind me than before me), I'll gladly continue to "live" in the past.
Get on with this life
Well, for one thing, there is no logical reason why "getting on with your life" and being an intense deadhead or even a part time mild deadhead (which simply means appreciating and enjoying the music, whether recorded of the past glory days or current live remnants thereof) have to be mutually exclusive! What a ridiculous notion. We can continue to enjoy the music while getting on with our lives. Duh.
Now if there are those among us who are or have become so obsessive/compulsive about listening to the music or following the remnant bands around that it has caused them to devolve somehow in the pursuit of their heroic life's journey thus making them less of the human beings that they should be, well then, that might be a bad thing. But I doubt it. And, really now, who really believes that? Life is for learning and it inevitably involves going through phases, so live and let live; I'm sure these poor souls who are "stuck in the past" will eventually meet their demons or angels and their life altering crisis and will "get shone the light, in the strangest of places if they look at it right."
And besides, I can't think of a better thing to be obsessed about. It sure beats an angry life of spousal abuse or signing up for the military to kill kill kill eat burnt dead babies. Lord knows there are worse things.
And for another thing, how can one "live in the past" in regards to music, especially good music, when we know that music is a universal language and good songs are TIMELESS!
Does "getting on with your life" mean we should just accept what the conglomerate media shove down out throats as acceptable commercial piped out music? Should I rush out to buy the next Britney Spears album? Must I succumb to hip hop? Should I just join the hordes of death metal sociopaths marching on towards hopeless cynical bloodthirsty dystopia? What are you telling me? You want me to abandon the most avant guard, mediocrity piercing, enlightening, consciousness raising, delirium creating, ground breaking, futuristic genre of music the world has ever heard? I don't think so.
Grateful Dead music just happens to be one of the few things left that still provides an antidote and antithesis to the evils of this world. It generates good karma and soothing, healing vibrations and is more needed today than ever. So there.
get over it?
There's nothing wrong with musical legends, but it was more than that. Live the way you want, follow your bliss, find what you want to do and do it. The Dead showed us the possibilities, along with many others, it's up to you now.
"So what are you saying?"
"When you get divorced you turn in your library card? You get a new license? You stop being Jewish? Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax... You're goddamn right I'm living in the fucking past!"
"Fuck it Dude, let's go bowling...."
We are the dreamer's
Dreaming the dream. The dream can last as long as we like it to. It's all an illusion any way, isn't it? Dream your Dream whatever it may be, as long as it's good for you and who knows hopefully it may be good for other's as well. The Grateful Dead music, makes me feel, happy. The music makes me feel connected with everything around me. That oneness. Now here's the Key, feeling that feeling of happiness, connectedness to all and to everything as much as you can. That's what it is all about right now. What ever brings out your passion, what you love to do, then that's what you should be doing right now. That's the future.
Like attracts like.
it doesn't matter ...
a relative late-comer to the music and lifestyle, but still a child of the 70's, i ignored the GD's music for the most part until i met my husband who took me to my first show in 1988 in Philly. I'd worked OT all week and promptly fell asleep in my exhaustion and exposure to the drift of the smoke in the air. Then we moved back to the west coast and a year or so later saw them in Eugene OR with Little Feat, etc. i was hooked! We followed them as much as we could and for the rest of the time the band was together, we made them part of our lives. i felt profound sorrow when we heard of the passing of band members. And I had tears in my eyes as we revelled in the band's opening show as "the Dead". Now every possible version of the music is available more than ever and it's something that is timeless to me. I can listen to other classic American music like Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue), or big band music and get the same feeling that the GD music inspires. It's become something i listen to almost daily, and if i don't hear it for a week or so, i realize how much i've missed it and will always love it. So what if the band isn't intact anymore....the music certainly is!
kim
"Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world!"
I can't get over my home
Maybe the folks that say "get over it" are just secretly jealous because they don't smile and dance and have the joy that we do.
The dominant paradigm will always seek to marginalize those on the fringe – the seekers and dreamers, the countercultures.. Has been that way throughout history. I love being on the fringe, an outsider, a Deadhead. It is a great tradition. Better love and happiness to the tunes that touch me than greed and a frown. Better to know the possibilities are out there and try them than the straight and narrow.
Reading all these comments brings joy to my heart that there are all these wise beautiful people that are a part of our community.
Beethoven lives! Miles lives! Coltrane lives! Jerry lives! The Dead live! Deadheads live!
Let your freak flag fly!
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
Life After The Dead
I do think that I got stuck listening too exclusively to the Dead for many years. Then in 2001 I saw a live acoustic show of various musicians at the Cactus Club in Austin, Tx. That really blew me away with the power of live acoustic performance and inspired me to take up the guitar to learn folk music. Afterall, that how Jerry & Robert Hunter got started. So it was kind of like going back to the roots of it all. I began to enjoy music as a performer in the camp grounds of a local folk festival. I even learned how to play some favorite Dead songs and they sound great acoustically and people love to hear them. Now I am even writing some of my own songs. I really feel that is how the Dead would want us to live our lives ...in a very creative fashion....just as they have done all these years....they have set the example...the solutions to the Earth's problems will come out of new creative ideas and spiritual experiences....not after going over the same old stuff time after time....that would more be like an addiction that hinders rather than heals....anyway I dig this new web site format.
It was never just about the music--
It was about coming together and the experience, and the fact that my little kid and my 80 year old dad could all understand what was happening and why.
Changed? Yeah, everything changes--the joy is on fancy, high tech shit now, not live--but its still joy and its still about the feelings and the experience we could all share. How many of these "baby bands" get all pissed off when someone samples their music? And the Dead encouraged us to TAPE their shows--the music was to be shared, they knew it belonged to all of us. Music is our spirit and our celebration and our myth--
And the music I want to celebrate my life with is played by a group of guys, who changed constantly, just as the music changed. Deadhead? Yeah, call me that, its cool. But know that to me that label means that I am always playing in the band, and always will live my life, as best I can, being kind and expecting miracles.
Thank you for a real good time--
We all miss Jerry and Pigpen
I was fortunate enough to have met both of them more then once. Pigpen was a nicer guy than I though he'd be and Jerry just wanted to smoke what I had. LOL Yes, there is still a huge base of people that are Deadheads forever. That won't change, we're just getting older , with a touch of Grey :) Wrinkled Sunshine
MORE....TIME TRIPS
Hey folks.......TIME TRIPS......no doubt I have gotton on with my life..I'll be furthur along tomorrow and so will you. The misconception people have is that "we" who grew up "with" the Dead and still religiously listen to them are somehow stuck in this time warp and have'nt moved on...they are unaware of the reality that music is timeless. Because we choose to enjoy everything about the Grateful Dead does'nt mean we are anymore stuck in time than someone who worships Elvis Presley's music and movies, John Lennon, Crosby-Stills-Nash and Young, Frank Sinatra or Bach. I've never met a Dead head who hasn't moved on...if there is one he/she is still sitting in the same spot and has'nt eatin changed clothes or showered since. People who have this conception of us older Dead heads as stuck in the past still tripping our brains out are really mental midgets. They don't understand and are clueless yet they do the same thing or will 30 years down the road. Whats hard to grasp about someone taking from the past and enjoying in the present? I enjoy stuff prior to my birth let alone "Dead stuff" yet I wasn't even around to be in that time long ago and far-away. Music is a powerful force. There are but two types of "Dead heads" those of us who grew up "with" the Grateful Dead and those who wish they did. At 55 yrs. old I grew up "with" the Dead, I dont have to dress in tie-dyes to enjoy them now. The newbie Dead heads are trying to capture the past, the 60's 70's whole cultural thing...they can't... because it's not there anymore... it, like us have moved on...so it leaves them empty and frustrated, wishing and hoping. I can't say I blame them, it WAS a magical time, but it's had it's time and it won't come back anymore than the gasoline price's of that time will...it has moved on. The music and the DVD's are timeless pieces left to enjoy. The kid's today will understand it all 30 years from now. Alot of misunderstanding people don't even realize Jerry Garcia was a heck of banjo player besides being "Captain Trips".........a good way to end is with a quote.
........"There is a road....no simple highway....between the dawn and the dark of night....and if you go...no one may follow...that path is for...your steps alone" -RIPPLE
the road goes on forever
THE THING ABOUT THE WHOLE "DEAD BEING GONE" IS TRUE, THEY ARE INDEED GONE, HOWEVER, PICASSO, ESCHER, DALI, THEY ARE BONES NOW TOO, BUT STILL HAVE A HUGE FAN BASE. I MISS THE GRATEFUL, THERE HASNT BEEN ANYTHING TO MATCH THAT EXPERIENCE, AND I STILL HAVENT "MOVED ON" IN THE SENSE THAT I STILL FIND WISDOM AND ABSOLUTE TRUTH IN THE LYRICS AND MUSIC. LIKE ALL PROPHETS, THEY WILL BE AROUND FOREVER.