Back from the Dead
I don't really have a lot to say post dead show, except that it was not all that strange an experience. True, it was a mixed crowd, some full-time deadheads and lots of old and now working deadheads who probably drive audis, but even while I certainly saw people, young ones mostly, either looking for lsd (holding up their index finger and walking around) or clearly already in the 'land,' it was really a very peaceful place.
I saw a lot of punk bands in the early 90's, and those shows never scared me, but they certainly are more scary than a dead show. And I've sat at my share of hard-drinking bars, and those are much more volatile places. Even the kids who were dancing around with that empty eyed look, clearly on acid or something close...those kids seemed quite harmless. When I think back to the 60's I think of the failures, that guy getting stabbed at the stones show, or the dark side of the counterculture (which was certainly real) but truthfully the movement actively reached for peace and love among humanity, and I could feel that even last night. Everyone dances to the dead, but not like any normal dance, just kind of a groove and sway and move your arms around thing. And it's cool.
The music was actually very eclectic. Lots of American folk done in a jazz-like improvisational style. Rock before rock got hard. The dead are not evil, regardless of what my mother thought; in fact, they are talented musicians who, at least now, are socially conscious. As in voter registration drives at the show and a plug for organ donorship (yeah one guy in the band has a liver transplant..wonder what happened to his first one!)
The real hippies there were mostly younger people, and there were a lot of them. Burning sage, smoking weed and some doing other stuff (I took no drugs, including Sierra Nevada) but overall the energy was gentle, communal. The punk and hard rock movement walked away from that decades ago and it hasn't come back. Too bad really.
Do I support hallucinogenic use? Certainly not for myself. I don't think my brain would like it. On experimental occasion for some people it hasn't done any harm; for a few it has. I do think marijuana is probably less hazardous than alcohol, but I don't smoke that either or very rarely; it makes me anxious. Point is there's more to the dead scene than lsd and pot.
The last song they did was an a capella Angel Band, that gorgeous bluegrass tune I know from O Brother. Very nice, even spiritual.
And I now own my first Dead t-shirt with that remarkable art. And I'm not a doper.
Also, I looked up Karen Quinlan; she's the girl who went on life support in 1974 after taking alcohol and pills at a party; this was the first public right to die case in the US. I always remember my mother telling me someone slipped her those pills. That I couldn't find out quickly, but as far as I can tell she took them herself. I did have some fear last night, but it wore off pretty fast, and I'll see the dead when they come back. It's therapeutic for me, relaxing. At least at this show. Next time we'll probably go to s.f. and see how that is. But it's the direct opposite of the uptight world I generally inhabit.
On a final note, I see myself getting very bare on this blog, though I'm not the only one on the Web doing this. The faux anonymity of the internet is working on the positive here. Still, it's scary to do. Thanks for the positive comments.
t
I saw a lot of punk bands in the early 90's, and those shows never scared me, but they certainly are more scary than a dead show. And I've sat at my share of hard-drinking bars, and those are much more volatile places. Even the kids who were dancing around with that empty eyed look, clearly on acid or something close...those kids seemed quite harmless. When I think back to the 60's I think of the failures, that guy getting stabbed at the stones show, or the dark side of the counterculture (which was certainly real) but truthfully the movement actively reached for peace and love among humanity, and I could feel that even last night. Everyone dances to the dead, but not like any normal dance, just kind of a groove and sway and move your arms around thing. And it's cool.
The music was actually very eclectic. Lots of American folk done in a jazz-like improvisational style. Rock before rock got hard. The dead are not evil, regardless of what my mother thought; in fact, they are talented musicians who, at least now, are socially conscious. As in voter registration drives at the show and a plug for organ donorship (yeah one guy in the band has a liver transplant..wonder what happened to his first one!)
The real hippies there were mostly younger people, and there were a lot of them. Burning sage, smoking weed and some doing other stuff (I took no drugs, including Sierra Nevada) but overall the energy was gentle, communal. The punk and hard rock movement walked away from that decades ago and it hasn't come back. Too bad really.
Do I support hallucinogenic use? Certainly not for myself. I don't think my brain would like it. On experimental occasion for some people it hasn't done any harm; for a few it has. I do think marijuana is probably less hazardous than alcohol, but I don't smoke that either or very rarely; it makes me anxious. Point is there's more to the dead scene than lsd and pot.
The last song they did was an a capella Angel Band, that gorgeous bluegrass tune I know from O Brother. Very nice, even spiritual.
And I now own my first Dead t-shirt with that remarkable art. And I'm not a doper.
Also, I looked up Karen Quinlan; she's the girl who went on life support in 1974 after taking alcohol and pills at a party; this was the first public right to die case in the US. I always remember my mother telling me someone slipped her those pills. That I couldn't find out quickly, but as far as I can tell she took them herself. I did have some fear last night, but it wore off pretty fast, and I'll see the dead when they come back. It's therapeutic for me, relaxing. At least at this show. Next time we'll probably go to s.f. and see how that is. But it's the direct opposite of the uptight world I generally inhabit.
On a final note, I see myself getting very bare on this blog, though I'm not the only one on the Web doing this. The faux anonymity of the internet is working on the positive here. Still, it's scary to do. Thanks for the positive comments.
t
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