In and Out Of The Garden: Madison Square Garden, 9/82 supplementary text
by Jesse Jarnow
The Grateful Dead fan scene crystallized in the early 1980s with the help of zines like Michael Linnah’s MIKEL, distributed at Dead shows starting in the fall of 1982. Thankfully, Eric Schwartz preserved a nearly complete collection, readable via GDSets.com. If you happen to have a copy of issues #6, #8, #9, or #10 from 1982, please get in touch! Several years ago, I read through all the available back issues and wrote a piece about MIKEL for Aquarium Drunkard.
Relix editor Dean Budnick investigated Brent Mydland’s lost solo album.
The Grateful Dead Guide provided a through history of the Spanish Jam.
David Gans provided excellent archival audio. His books Conversations With the Dead, This Is All A Dream We Dreamed, and more are available from his site. David is also the author of the immortal essay, “Grateful Dead Concerts Are Like Baseball Games.”
The early 1980s was also when the zine scene began to explode around the United States. Scholar J. Christian Greer spoke with us on this episode and I am extremely excited to read his forthcoming book from Oxford University Press, Angelheaded Hipsters: Psychedelic Militancy in Nineteen Eighties North America, in part about the odd group called the Church of the SubGenius, whose figurehead–J.R. “Bob” Dobbs–later appeared on backstage passes for the Jerry Garcia Band. Christian’s newest book is Kumano Kodo: Pilgrimage to Powerspots.