So you want .net to write your paper?

::ha, awesome premise, good luck, blessings and peace etc etc:;
::why do 'other' people's opinions matter, you are the expert, tell it like it is::

@careful_w_that_axe_Miller said:

So you want .net to write your paper?

::ha, awesome premise, good luck, blessings and peace etc etc:;
::why do 'other' people's opinions matter, you are the expert, tell it like it is::

I'm collecting primary source research data, I will be writing my own paper. I'm mainly concerned with the younger generation of Dead fans, but all stories are welcome.

Do you have an email address for people who are interested can send their responses in to rather than posting an essay on this thread?

I was born in '84 too and will answer your questions, just will be lengthy.

@spiritofjerry

1. The first Dead shows I had were from archive.org

2. I flunked out of law school because I couldn't resist the 2009 Dead reunion. My first show was at the Obama rally at Penn State in 2008. The Obama worship and his self agrandizing video propaganda was absolutely disgusting, and the Allman Brothers opener was one of the worst shows I've ever seen. The Dead sucked for the most part. My initial reaction was "really? this is what this sounds like?" But they hit their stride just as my f***load of acid began to take hold and to this day its probably my favorite day I have ever lived. The Unbroken Chain was pretty nasty, and I got so far out there during Dark Star that I forgot my own name. I saw four shows on the 09 tour, all were pretty bad. Warren Haynes can't play the Dead for shit. And then I drove up to Rothbury where they gave it their best shot, had a few highlights (Shakedown was awesome until the jam, Viola Lee Blues had some great chaos [probably unintended considering the rest of the show] and Slipknot! f***ing raged, Drums/Space was crazy as shit) but they ran off the tracks so many damn times I couldn't tell if it was them or me.

I was so happy to see Furthur pick up John K. He was really my introduction to the Dead. I had just began listening to them a little before I caught DSO at Langerado in 2008. I was having a 24 hour freakout of epic proportions when he blitzed through a Terrapin Station that did so much for my psychological state that it sold me on the whole idea of the Dead and the psychedelic experience in general.

Furthur has been amazing and is my favorite band to see right now. ALBUM ALBUM ALBUM!

3. I actually remember being happy that Jerry had died when I was a kid. I was big into Rush Limbaugh when I was young (I was 11 years old) and I was quite pleased that all the hippies were sad. Now, I think he's one of the more advanced human beings that have ever existed. There weren't many people that came out of the 20th Century, especially in America, that had the Socratic thing down. That is, he recognized what he didn't know, and despite believing what believed and having a huge podium and following, he never really tried to influence politics or start a movement; he was very philosophically grounded despite blasting off into the cosmos for the better part of four decades. That, and he melts my face from 3 to 20 hours every day.

But all in all, dead people are dead. I've heard people say things like "oh Jerry was looking out for me" or "oh he's up there jamming with jesus and ghandi." I'm not one of these people. I let the dead lie dead, and take heed of what they did while they were alive. Anything else is untruthful, bizarre and disrespectful of what they did while they were alive.

4. this site is where I get my dead connection, other than the people I know and going to shows

5. Its the closest thing I have to a religion. All of my most spiritual experiences have occured at Dead/Furthur shows. I have never felt closer to humanity and I am never as in love with the world and myself as I am at the shows. Seeing this strange offshoot from the cultural revolution of the 60s still kicking almost 50 years later and witnessing the vibes that surround it is one of the few things that gives me hope for a better future in this country, although it's a very slim hope.

6. John K. is putting together a great band, and I hope he carries on the legacy of the Dead to some degree. But all in all, once Phish calls it quits, I don't see anyone even remotely close to being able to carry the banner for the large scale jam scene. Sadly, I think there won't be much left of the culture the Dead helped create ten to fifteen years from now.

1. The internet hasn’t played a role in my life in respect to this band.
2. My first show was around 87. I believe it changed the course of my life. I felt part of a family within the first set.
3. I remember Jerry as a leader that helped me personally through the challenging part of being a teenager. I learned many lessons about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Also to just do the right thing- always.
4. The only place I connect with other dead heads is at a Further or Phil show. It was too pure of an experience to junk it up with anything else.
5. I think the band will play until no one is left standing. The culture will remain always as will the recorded music.

I warship Jerry by doing ritualistic human sacrifice with fans of the the disco biscuits or people that think pretty lights is a real band.

Paging @MJZ1974

mt for later

I'll put it out here for .net. Whatever. Born in '84.

1. What role has the Internet played in your connecting with the band and the culture of the Grateful Dead?

It's been my main link. The first time I remember listening to the Dead, I was about 15 and had heard a friend's older brother talking about them who I thought was cool so I downloaded some of their songs. Liked it, started getting some Dick's Picks and started downloading SBDs off archive.org before Bobby put an end to that. I've been able to collect hundreds of shows because of the internet, learn and read about the Dead through the numerous great sites and blogs dedicated to the Dead and its culture on the internet. Even without having seen Grateful Dead, I feel an extremely strong bond to the band and that love for the band was able to grow primarily because of the internet.

2. How did you first experience the Dead, and how has that shaped your view of the band?

Sort of included in 1 above. But, I'll have to say the first time I *experienced* the Dead was taking a dose and watching The Grateful Dead Movie when I was 16. While I felt I *got* the Dead before that, that first LSD trip was a very powerful experience and the Dead was a large part of it. I'd say that's when I really started to obsess over the Dead. All downhill from there (in a good way).

3. What is your experience of Jerry and how do you remember him, even if you might have never seen him play?

I can't say I have an "experience" or "memory" of Jerry since I never saw him. I'd say its more like I've gained knowledge of him over time and hopefully learned a little bit what he was like both as a person outside of shows and as Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead, savior of my soul. I've learned about Garcia through reading Garcia: An American Life, Living with the Dead: Twenty Years on the Bus, Searching for the Sound and numerous websites and blogs, as well as anecdotes from other Deadheads I've met who were able to see Jerry live. But most of all, through his music, his playing--both in Grateful Dead and in Jerry Garcia Band, Legion of Mary, etc.

4. In what forms or spaces do you connect with other Deadheads? (forums, concerts, clubs, meet-ups, etc.)

Well, a lot of my friends like the Dead and/or are Deadheads, so that's nice. I live in Dallas and have the fortune of having one of the best Dead cover bands in the country based here, Forgotten Space, and our community here is amazing. They usually play monthly so for the past few years I get to go hear very well-played Grateful Dead with other Heads. Its always a blast.

5. How has the music of the Grateful Dead impacted your life?

Changed it forever; saved it. Too profoundly for words, to be honest.

6. What is your outlook on the future of the band, the culture, and the music of the Dead?

I think as long as people continue to spread the gospel, it will continue to reverberate with certain individuals in younger generations. I mean, if someone like me can become completely obsessed with a band he never saw or had the chance to see, I'm hopeful others younger will too. The Music Will Never Stop, however.

Good luck with your paper. I could honestly write probably 20-30 pages for your six questions, but felt brevity to be the better tact here.

"
1. What role has the Internet played in your connecting with the band and the culture of the Grateful Dead?
"

When I reconnected with Dead music in 98-99, it was mainly through tapes that were passed down that I hoarded. It was not until joining the Philzone and doing B&P and vines that I became exposed to the larger digital presence. I guess the internet played a great role in digging up historical information, as the online world was largely dominated by trekkies and deadheads in the 90's. Since 2000, I have probably filled up about 10 hard drives with nothing but dead shows, and have burnt those onto DVD's another 3-4 times. The internet has provided context for the shows, reasons why the music changed, what the acid tests were about, who Bear was. One of the great things about the internet in the early 00's for deadheads is that these mythical presences would respond to emails. After reading Bear's theory about the moon mediating tidal destruction on the earth, I emailed to ask him if it was merely divine inspiration that told him that, or if there was good evidence. He responded back, and that illustrates how the internet allowed me to connect with a larger community of likeminded people.

"
2. How did you first experience the Dead, and how has that shaped your view of the band?
"

Although I was born in 1984, like yourself, I am part of that last generation that was able to have a living memory of Jerry, although a child and pre-adolescent memory. I don't remember my first Grateful Dead show, although that is not because I was too high, it was because I was too young. I can remember playing hackisack in lot and on the floor of the knickerbocker in 1990, as well as being at Highgate in 95. The Grateful Dead were part of the fabric of my youth, and like so many things they affected my views in unconscious and conscious ways.

"
3. What is your experience of Jerry and how do you remember him, even if you might have never seen him play?
"

I can remember a few things clearly about experiencing Jerry playing. Once as part of JGB, playing "I'll take a Melody" and having my mind turn over thoughts in an easy and accessible way. The other is from Highgate 95 singing Standing on the Moon, being separated from my parents due to the immense crowd and with a nice family watching over me, and the refrain "Be with You" connecting to a very real and immediate feeling I had at the time. Ultimately I see Jerry as a tragic figure. He did not want to be revered as a God, and was not best suited to be frontman (that was Pig). I see his retreat into heroin addiction to be a response to his elevation to a position he did want or deal with.

"
4. In what forms or spaces do you connect with other Deadheads? (forums, concerts, clubs, meet-ups, etc.)
"

I have been going to shows since I was a baby and will go until I am an old man. I have a digital presence on the Philzone, and have an advisory role to a festival community in Maine. One of the great joys of graduate school has been finding that there is a sizable community of deadheads in the upper echelons of science. There are always people I know have shared in the experience of the Grateful Dead and people that I meet. We are everywhere.

"
5. How has the music of the Grateful Dead impacted your life?
"
The music is part of the fabric of my existence.

"
6. What is your outlook on the future of the band, the culture, and the music of the Dead?
"

The music of the Grateful Dead is Americana and follows in the tradition of folk music. Many of the songs played by the grateful dead have origins that extend long before them, and they did what musicians do, put their twist on things and put it back out into the collective consciousness (and unconsciousness!). The impact of the Grateful Dead is growing and will leave an indelible imprint on the course of human history. The reason why MJ is legal in CO and WA has no small correlation with the numbers of middle/upper white kids from the 60's-80's who were turned on and have since been assimilated into their birthright places in society and have taken what they learned from the experiences that the freedom and relative safety the Grateful Dead culture provided.