The Strange Trip Continues
By: Colin Jerome Ricketts [Photos By: Marc Ricketts]
The Grateful Dead incubated a strong-minded culture through progressive music and experimentation. The culture that grew from the petri dish of music, hallucinogens, love, and openness created a strong body demanding peace. While the ‘War on Drugs’ started by the “reputable” President Nixon fueled a burning furry against drug users ‘ruining our country,’ those same people at the heart of the counterculture-body, including the Grateful Dead, focused on larger issues of human, civil, and environmental rights. The ability to explore one’s self within a safe community is necessary to develop empathetic and wholesome thoughts. The Grateful Dead and the Deadheads that populated Shakedown Street built a global network before the era of social media because they represented a plethora of media forms that all related to the same open-minded place of compassion.
The Grateful Dead allowed for audience recordings, even adding a special area just for them to avoid crowd conflicts of interest. This open access to the music allowed for a diverse representation through amateur recordings, paintings, dance/performance arts, clothing, food, and much more. All of which sustained the micro-economy of Shakedown Street. This was the parking lot that was turned into a tent/tailgate village by the Deadheads who followed them on tour. This cultural bloom allowed for many relating start-up businesses to blossom. Some of these businesses include organic dye companies, clothing companies, food companies, health centers, musical equipment manufacturers, and yoga franchises. Much of the modern sustainability movement was modeled and is sustained by these early start companies.
More than business, the way of thought was also preserved through the pure pursuit of music by the members of the Grateful Dead and their Deadheads. Freedom to pursue one’s own adventure led future generations to say “inspiration move me brightly.” (Grateful Dead) The protection of personal identity has entered almost farcical proportions, yet the message at heart was hippie bread at the start. Saying they “rather be a free man in [their] grave, than living as a puppet or a slave.” (Grateful Dead) Childhood is spent learning what you love; adulthood is riding those loves into the ground until we too eventually end up there.
Morbid to most, this fact is accepted and celebrated by the Deadheads and the Grateful Dead. Life has to begin, and it has to end, at least enjoy the ride. When you enjoy the ride, it is like being a kid again; when you feel like a kid again, finding new loves becomes possible. In 1995 Jerome “Jerry” Garcia died, disbanding the Grateful Dead; I was born later that year and given the middle name of Jerome in his honor. Bob Weir now commonly plays with the Dead & Company and also the Wolf Bros. Phil Lesh owns his own restaurant/bar/venue called Terrapin Crossroads and hosted weekly shows. Both now release online music weekly due to the Covid shut down. Resilient, passionate, we Deadheads keep the message alive through the chaos. “Without love in a dream, it will never come true.” ”If you get confused just listen to the music.” (Grateful Dead)
Dead & Company: Dead & Company — Official Site (deadandcompany.com)
Bob Weir and Wolf Bros: Bob Weir — Home
Terrapin Crossroads: Home | Terrapin Crossroads
Photography Gallery: Grateful Dead Archive Online (gdao.org)
Deadhead’s Recommendation for a Beginner Listener “American Beauty” (1970 studio album): Box of Rain (2013 Remaster) — YouTube
