“Be careful of what you wish for – you might just get it.” And I did…no regrets. After wanting to write the history of the Grateful Dead for seven years, I got to hear the words, “Jerry said, ‘Why not us?’” – which is to say, would I like to do a history of the G.D.? I said I thought I could fit it in. It turned into a 22 year ride, and of course it entirely changed the course of my life.
I had a ton of material that didn’t really fit into a chronological framework, and I devised what I thought of as a hypothetical (and hyper-real) way to depict a typical year (there was such a thing) in the life of the Dead say between 1980 and 1995. And in the course of that year I portrayed a “typical” show (I know, I know – no two shows were alike). So here’s an imaginary – but real for all that – opening of a second set in the Fall…
Sample Chapter
39. Interlude: Into the Zone (Second Set Begins)
September, Madison Square Garden
Garcia is back onstage twenty minutes before the end of the break, infected by the sheer nervous energy that is the Grateful Dead at the corner of 7th Avenue and 33rd Street, the innermost circle of performance rock and roll, the Dead’s home away from home even though it is an antipodal mirror for this bunch of San Franciscans. It is a Monday night in late September, and Ram Rod has a TV perched on his road case with… Read More
Jerry in 1961 – the dashing young guitar teacher. Courtesy of Brigid Meier
And the years pass…Jerry, benign, in 1993. Posing for Susana – they were old pals. Photo by Susana Millman
Dick Latvala in the vault, his true home. Dick introduced me to my future wife, Susana Millman. Not the least of the things I owe him for. Photo by Susana Millman
The GD office staff on the day of shooting the “Hell in a Bucket” video – a video shoot is intrinsically boring (lots of standing around), but it was a fun day. Left to right: Mary Joe Meinolf (who asked about who was going to deal with media and got me my job); Eileen Law, Queen Mother of all Dead Heads and, with Ram Rod, the heart of the G.D.; Sue Stephens, Jerry’s assistant and my mentor; Trixie Garcia, Jerry’s third daughter; Janet Soto-Mayor Knudsen, one of the bookkeeping staff, a great lady; Diane Geoppo, a sweetheart; Frances Shurtliff, wife of crew chief Ram Rod and heart of the GD family; Basia Raizene, another of the number crunchers and a terrific soul; Nancy Mallonee (Chief Financial person and a great boss); Maruska Nelson (tour accountant, wife of David Nelson, and a love); Jon McIntire (band manager – he passed last year); standing behind car – Steve Marcus, head of the ticket office, a true believer. Photo by Susana Millman
One of the great GD adventures – being smuggled onto a Columbia campus locked down by a strike. Boy, did the strike leaders want that sound system! Photo by Rosie McGee
Garcia gives Mickey’s son Taro a guitar lesson. Photo by Susana Millman
Garcia in Central Park, 1968 – sweet early days. Photo by Rosie McGee
Reviews
BOOKS OF THE TIMES; An Insider’s History of the Dead, Both Serious and Profane
Published: September 6, 2002
The first lines of ”A Long Strange Trip” do not bode well. ”Shortly before every Grateful Dead concert, there is a luminous, suspended moment,” Dennis McNally writes. ”Bathed in the subliminal hum of the stage’s electric potential, you smell the ozone of 133,000 burning watts … Read More
BOOK REVIEW
Touch of Great
A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (2002)
Most people who love good music hate the Grateful Dead. They’re wrong, of course, but it isn’t hard to see their point. A flawed band even at its best, the Dead was capable of maddening laziness and ineptitude. Then there were the hardcore fans, a certain highly visible segment of… Read More
