I have been a Dead head since I was 15 years old, when I saw my first show at the Hollywood Bowl,. I saw literally hundreds of shows from that point in 1974 through Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The Dead fulfilled many roles in my youth. They were a way to see the country. I saw them on the West Coast, the East Coast and many places in the middle. They were the basis of my social life--I traveled with dozens of different people over the years to see them. When I met my spouse, he was wearing a Gratefull Dead shirt and I was on my way to see them in Lewiston, Maine. We had an extra ticket and space in the car, but he declined the invitation to join us--something about having to unload his belongings and return the U-Haul truck he was standing in at the time. Never-the-less, he got swept up in my love of the band, and pretty quickly joined me on the road for tours. It was a culture I belonged to fully.
So when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had h Grateful Dead exhibit, my parents felt I needed to see it. I have to say, I was very disappointed. The exhibit does have a lot of memorabilia (see the list below) but somehow it failed to capture what was exciting about the Grateful Dead--I wish they had had a movie running showing different concerts. They do have Elvis movies playing in the exhibit devoted to him, and that would have been a better rendition of what the band was like. But in many ways, the audience was as much of the experience as the band or the music.
Art and design have always been closely associated with Grateful Dead, and this exhibit does include a collection of original artwork that is immediately recognizable from the band’s album covers and posters--not enough of it, but some. It features numerous instruments used by the Grateful Dead over the years, including keyboards, drums, percussion, guitars and elements from the legendary Wall of Sound PA system.
Additional items include:
· Five Jerry Garcia guitars, including his Travis Bean TB5
· Mickey Hart’s custom-painted drum kit
· Two Bob Weir guitars, including his first Ibanez “cowboy” custom guitar
· Several original lyric manuscripts, including “Truckin’,” “Box of Rain” and “Sugaree”
· Several original Grateful Dead-related artworks, including images from Workingman’s Dead, Without a Net and Fillmore Auditorium poster art
· Bill Graham’s “Father Time” robe
· Four McIntosh MC2300 power amplifiers used on tour by Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia
I have been a Dead head since I was 15 years old, when I saw my first show at the Hollywood Bowl,. I saw literally hundreds of shows from that point in 1974 through Jerry Garcia's death in 1995. The Dead fulfilled many roles in my youth. They were a way to see the country. I saw them on the West Coast, the East Coast and many places in the middle. They were the basis of my social life--I traveled with dozens of different people over the years to see them. When I met my spouse, he was wearing a Gratefull Dead shirt and I was on my way to see them in Lewiston, Maine. We had an extra ticket and space in the car, but he declined the invitation to join us--something about having to unload his belongings and return the U-Haul truck he was standing in at the time. Never-the-less, he got swept up in my love of the band, and pretty quickly joined me on the road for tours. It was a culture I belonged to fully.
So when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had h Grateful Dead exhibit, my parents felt I needed to see it. I have to say, I was very disappointed. The exhibit does have a lot of memorabilia (see the list below) but somehow it failed to capture what was exciting about the Grateful Dead--I wish they had had a movie running showing different concerts. They do have Elvis movies playing in the exhibit devoted to him, and that would have been a better rendition of what the band was like. But in many ways, the audience was as much of the experience as the band or the music.
Art and design have always been closely associated with Grateful Dead, and this exhibit does include a collection of original artwork that is immediately recognizable from the band’s album covers and posters--not enough of it, but some. It features numerous instruments used by the Grateful Dead over the years, including keyboards, drums, percussion, guitars and elements from the legendary Wall of Sound PA system.
Additional items include:
· Five Jerry Garcia guitars, including his Travis Bean TB5
· Mickey Hart’s custom-painted drum kit
· Two Bob Weir guitars, including his first Ibanez “cowboy” custom guitar
· Several original lyric manuscripts, including “Truckin’,” “Box of Rain” and “Sugaree”
· Several original Grateful Dead-related artworks, including images from Workingman’s Dead, Without a Net and Fillmore Auditorium poster art
· Bill Graham’s “Father Time” robe
· Four McIntosh MC2300 power amplifiers used on tour by Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia
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