by David Hafter
Once in a while you get shown the light
In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
- from Scarlet Begonias by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia
Despite persistent but largely ignored warnings shouted over the years from the sidelines, the systematic dismantling of the middle class in our country has finally taken root in the national consciousness – and it carries the sting of both confusion and betrayal. Norman Rockwell’s America is long gone. Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do? How quaint. That notion has been replaced by pure greed. Our laws, now written by corporations and executed by hand-picked legislators through paid-for elections, no longer look out for the best interests of the many.
After WWII, we built a middle class for our returning soldiers with forward-thinking moves like the GI bill, giving them access to affordable houses and education. Money was poured into building a hearty national infrastructure – so there were jobs to be had, jobs which could actually support a family so both parents did not have to work to put the proverbial roof over a family’s head and food on their table. Compared to today, the rich were taxed at a much higher rate and they still did just fine.
This now mostly defunct approach to taking care of one another became part of our prideful national Identity – even though it has always been clear to people of color that this kumbaya vision of America was usually meant for whites only. Progress in civil rights has surely been made over the decades, but today, even those advances are being rolled back. Purposeful voter suppression is an example of this, as is the widespread for-profit jailing system which also suppresses minority voting. No, there is no voter fraud problem in the US.
So, you may fairly ask, what does this liberal rant on modern selfishness have to do with the end of the Grateful Dead as a touring act? Let me digress a bit to explain.
I had always looked askance at the Grateful Dead, not knowing what to make of them. A friend back in college back in ‘76 gave me one of their records (Blues for Allah) and after one listen, I gave it back. I didn’t know what to make of it. (Now, it is a favorite.) Then, in 1982, accompanied by a friend who assured me I would have a good time, I mingled with the odd looking but very friendly San Francisco crowd outside the show and took in the band’s iconography from stickers and t-shirts. I was a religious studies major at Wesleyan and what I saw triggered images from world religions. I was now really curious. I also saw people holding “I Need A Miracle” signs which I learned meant that they had not gotten a ticket and were hoping to get one for free (really?) from a generous somebody with extras. There few scalpers around were mostly ignored. I learned that it was strongly against the Dead culture to sell a ticket for more than its face value and, in fact, many people with extras preferred finding just the right Miracle person on which to bestow their ticket for free. That was apparently part of the fun – giving free tickets to strangers. Wow. I became even more curious. People I met that day who heard this was going to be my first show seemed genuinely excited for me. Some even expressed envy.
Once inside, I saw that behind the soundboard was an entire section of seating devoted to tapers setting up to record the music, with the full cooperation of the band. A few were even allowed to plug directly into the soundboard (soundboard tapes were the holy grail of concert recordings). The most sophisticated mics and recorders of the day were there – times a hundred (at least), to capture the music and share it with whoever asked. The unenforceable agreement between the band and the tapers was that tapers could share their tapes but not sell them. (Over the years, I got dozens of shows sent to me – some several generations of copying down the line – just by asking. The tapers didn’t even charge me for the price of the blank tapes or the shipping costs.) It was looking to me like this rag-tag group of hippie left-overs was representing the best of what America was supposed to be: Remember our invitation to the poor and dispossessed on the Statue of Liberty?
Can you imagine any of this happening today?
I’m Uncle Sam, that’s who I am;
Been hiding out, in a rock and roll band.
- From US Blues by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia
I am a musician and I was one before hearing the Grateful Dead. After hearing that first show, however, I never approached playing music in the same way again. I had never heard or seen such risk-taking in a concert setting. No set list? Following the energy of the crowd, and of the moment, to decide what to play next? Little musical ideas thrown out from one player to the others until one caught fire? Musical arguments? Musical humor? Slipping in and out of song structures while building unimaginable momentum? Wow. And the drumming? Oh my. This wasn’t a drum solo; it was a ritual. I was soon left breathless, dancing with a complete lack of self-consciousness, something I had never before experienced. (I was a pretty uptight guy in those days.) There was a palpable relationship between the band and the Deadheads and the magic born of that interactive relationship is why their music rarely translated well onto records.
When the last note is played at the Chicago shows on July 4th, this chapter of American Music History will end. Few Americans beyond us fans will take notice of the moment, but as for me, there will be a pain in my heart and a real feeling of loss. For me, the Grateful Dead scene embodies the best of the promise of America: kindness and caring for your fellows, fairness, joy, adventure, risk taking for a greater purpose, creativity, and artistic freedom. Since that day in 1982, being a Deadhead and proud American has always gone hand in hand for me.
Critics make light of the long jams in the music; but there is a process happening in those jams, as there is in jazz. As for the songs themselves, many are essentially musical parables describing colorful characters facing life’s challenges and handling them in a variety of very human ways, exposing our flaws and dark sides. These songs made me think; and feel.
Critics also point derisively to the psychedelic drug use of some of the fans to dismiss the scene as morally bad or dangerous. Funny, but no one seems to similarly dismiss bands whose fans are known for excessive alcohol consumption; and for what it’s worth, I never felt as safe as I did in the collective arms of a Grateful Dead crowd. That said, I can’t (and wouldn’t) vouch for the behavior of each person there but I can’t do that for the people at any public event. Meanwhile, I never saw a fight at a Grateful Dead show and I went to lots of them.
As for psychedelics, LSD has a fascinating history, including with the US government. Don’t get me wrong: It was and still is risky business to take psychedelics and I am not recommending it (for one thing, spiritual growth does not require it) but their impact on modern society from music and the arts to psychology (and many areas in between) is undeniable, and therefore very much worth knowing and understanding. Check out the book, Acid Dreams, by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain. It is a well- documented and jaw-dropping story.
For added context, it may help to know that the Grateful Dead was born at a time when LSD was legal. The CIA was exploring how to use it (again, this is very well documented). Some of the Stanford grad students (including author Ken Kesey) who took it as part of government experiments brought some home and began taking it outside the lab with their friends. They were explorers of the psyche. At first they had small, private parties which soon blossomed into massive public ones, known as the Acid Tests (See Tom Wolfe’s book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test). The Grateful Dead, a local band, became the ‘house band’ of the Acid Tests. Meanwhile, a rogue CIA agent whose on-the-job acid trips had led to profound spiritual experiences (a negative reaction, according to his bosses) quietly spread hundreds of thousands of doses to universities in major cities all over the US and the world, contributing to a peace movement that eventually ended the Viet Nam war.
Were there tragic casualties along the way? Absolutely. Some who took the drug had very long lasting negative experiences. But for some perspective, those sad and sometimes fatal acid casualties pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of annual fatalities we still endure from alcohol use. Again, please know that I’m not recommending the taking of psychedelics; I’m just adding a little perspective here. It is hard to listen to people poo-poo the whole Grateful Dead scene, especially without knowing the history, because of its tangential relationship to psychedelics. It is throwing out the baby with the bathwater and that is a shame; it has been such a beautiful musical baby.
It’s very easy to make fun of hippies and the counter-culture in general. It is much safer to align oneself with the majority. But the moral values of the counter-culture are often values which the majority have eschewed, and to their detriment.
Today we struggle to figure out how to save the planet (at least in its ability to sustain us. George Carlin pointed out that the earth is here for the long haul; it will eventually heal itself and be fine. We, on the other hand, “are screwed”). We struggle to figure out how to provide safe food and drinking water for everyone. Maybe as we now say goodbye to the Grateful Dead, we should take another look at this ‘caring for each other’ thing and, humming a familiar tune, give thought to putting the Deadhead/hippie values of kindness and generosity into action.
In the attics of my life, full of cloudy dreams unreal.
Full of tastes no tongue can know, and lights no eye can see.
When there was no ear to hear, you sang to me.
From Attics of My Life by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia
David N Hafter, MFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist living in Davis.
Thank you. As a longtime fan and musician, your commentary reflects my feelings about the band, the era and the endings quite well. As I sit here, my old cherry SG Special at my side, I am listening to a tape of a show at Freeborn Hall c. 1970. The spirit of that era and the sentiments of the music have seen me through a lot. I have managed to pass my passion for both on to my children, who live bravely. Again, Thank you.
;>)/
You are welcome. I’m glad the article struck a chord with you (really? A pun so early in the morning?). Enjoy the shows this weekend.
David
Thanks so much for the wonderful memories and your perspectives on what I remember as a magical time with very warm, welcoming people at the one and only Grateful Dead concert I attended. I am sitting here with a big smile and the glow of that memory and my undying love for their music.
My band, Wealth of Nations, besides playing our originals, specializes in playing Grateful Dead music and I tell you, it is always a thrill to do so. That music carries its own energy.
This is an entertaining read, but typical in how a left leaning artist type sees the world and identifies with its problems.
In his “liberal” view we are losing our good life because of the standard liberal boogiemen… namely those white male CEO-types and their corporations.
It is both hilarious and frustrating to see this routine backwards flapping of liberal gums over what was and what isn’t. There is a steadfast refusal to assess the accomplishments and benefits derived from their boogymen, and conversely, there is a steadfast refusal to assess the negative impacts caused by their savior… large, powerful and growing governemnt and it’s large and growing control of the private economy that it feeds from.
Corporations work to influence government policy to their benefit and to the harm of the middle class, and when they succeed it is the corporations’ fault? What about the government that approved the policies knowing it would harm the middle class? Doesn’t the government hold the decision authority?
I am also a musician that once played in a band. I started and ran the band like a business. The band eventually broke up because three of the five band mates didn’t like the business part. Those three were the most musically talented… they were also more free-spirited… and in keeping in touch with them over the years, I know them all to be liberal in their political views.
One of these old band members now owns a music store. And for many business owners like him, Obamacare and now a $15 minimum wage will likely crush his business.
But liberals demand these things anyway.
And with this example we can see that liberals have a hand in dismantling the American middle class in their support and advocation for redistribution.
Like it or not, business is the source of our good life. If we dislike more of it going to large corporations, then stop advocating for tax and regulatory policies that help kill off the smaller operators. Demand tax and regulatory reform that supports more business starts and growth. Demand more enforcement of anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws already on the books.
With their policy demands for government to take care of them and others, liberals create hostile territory for business and so only the larger and wealthier corporations can survive and thrive.
For example, here in Davis, there should be a lot more music venues supporting our community of musicans. But city liberals (and others) block development that would otherwise increase the number of venues.
frankly can’t even appreciate the grateful dead without turning it into a partisan argument.
I first saw the Dead playing in the Panhandle in Golden Gate Park. They were playing for free as the Diggers were giving away meals to anyone who came. The Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic was there too. With a philosophy that health care is a right, not a privilege, and should be free, humane, demystified and nonjudgemental, the clinic treated the thousands of youths who were arriving in the city in need of medical attention. A doctor named John Jones was a volunteer at the clinic and present at many Panhandle concerts and human Be-Ins. He founded the Davis Free Clinic where he continued the ideas started in the Haight (my significant other volunteered numerous times for his RockMed tent at Grateful Dead and other concerts in the Sacramento area). The Davis Free Clinic of course became Communicare, and today a street in Davis is named John Jones Road. Jones’ legacy is another example of the ethos Mr. Hafner profiles in his essay today.
We were so very fortunate to obtain tickets in the lottery for seats at Levi Stadium this Sunday. Thanks, David, for “setting the stage” even more vividly in our minds.
The Haight-Ashbury also quickly became quite ugly after the original “summer of love”.
That neighborhood went down the tubes behind ‘hard’ drugs methamphetamine and heroin. The Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic stayed true to its vision and recently merged with Walden House to form Healthright 360, an addiction treatment organization. Over the years, these ‘free’ medical services have treated hundreds of thousands of people for everything from hangnails to overdoses. Like those organizations in San Francisco, Communicare continues its mission in Davis and Yolo County. Truly an ennobling endeavour. The ideals of the Summer of Love are worth remembering and promoting, and the Deadhead culture surrounding the band’s gigs today are a reflection of that.
Interesting that a therapist will go on and on about the benefits of LSD when the Grateful Dead themselves were so hugely impacted by the negative affects of drug use.
Keyboardist Brent Mydland died of a drug overdose, and band leader Jerry Garcia had lifelong drug issues and died at the very early age of 53
Given Mr. Hafter’s I’m-not-promoting-drugs stance, but look at all of these wonderful side effects commentary, I’m curious as to his stance on marijuana. Specifically, the number of recent medical studies from prestigious medical institutions detailing the numerous negative effects on adolescent users.
I witnessed hippies and young people “tripping” on acid, and it wasn’t pretty. To a young child, it was scary, and I don’t so how that impression has changed much. I witnessed a party-goer mis-interpret an accident while on drugs (LSD was rumored to be one of them). Believing his minor traffic accident had killed his friend, he drove to a local bridge and jumped off to his death.
Some great sound bites.. Thanks for the trip, so to speak, down Memory Lane. For many of my co-workers, in those days, concerts were the great melting pot of cultures. If you didn’t go or partake of drugs, you weren’t “part of them”.
Therefore, they wanted to be the snobs in charge, instead of the snobs in charge. They had the same greed and flaws as their predecessors, just a different political persuasion. Now that they run the joint (!) they are managing with the same Nepotism and Favoritism. They made fun of “Kinder and Gentler”, now I know why.
“large, powerful and growing governemnt and it’s large and growing control of the private economy that it feeds from.”
My goodness. How you got from The Grateful Dead to a love of big government is completely beyond me. Unless this is article is nothing more to you than an angle to go on your usual anti liberal rant. I was never part of the “hippie movement” but my perception is not that “hippies” or “minimalists” ( the movement with which I most closely associated myself) or “pacifists” ( a position with which I also identify) were lovers of “big government”. As a matter of fact Frankly, because I am too, I see you as more a proponent of “big government” than I am. You unquestioningly stand behind our military and our police which are arguably too of the most powerful branches and arms of our government. You stand behind our foreign interventions even when the cannot possibly be seen as “for defense” since you apparently value American “interests” ( aka wealth) over the lives of citizens of other countries and conveniently exempt these two groups from your governmental criticism and you ceaselessly defend what you know is an oligarchy, not a free market by saying again and again that our system is something that we both know it is not. ( As recognized by your relatively recently adopted modifiers to the term “free market”).
Ironically, the Grateful Dead became a mega-corporation, and a mini welfare institution, as chronicled in Phil Lesh’s book “Playing in the Band”. There he notes that the band had to play larger and larger arenas, and tour endlessly, to support a growing number of employees and they couldn’t get out of this vicious growth cycle without laying off workers. It ultimately lead to Jerry’s early death (yes, it was drugs, but the drugs were an escape from the continuous touring).
I don’t see the relationship between the Grateful Dead and the middle class. The beauty of a dead show was that it was a mix of poor people (even homeless), middle class, and rich. If you like the music, listen to it. If not, then don’t. The Grateful Dead may have allowed a taper section back in the day, but now to watch the Farewell concert you have to watch it on pay-per-view. How hard would have been to set up a webcam and a cheap website to host the show live on the net for all the folks who didn’t get tickets to get inside.
And I’m certain the good folks in charge of the parking lot at Levi stadium would never allow anything resembling an old Grateful Dead parking lot scene.