What's next for the Grateful Dead's legacy?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Zendaya and Tom Holland are back in Spider-Man Brand New Day, and the movie has a more grounded tone than we've seen from the franchise. But does it strike the right balance of fun and darkness? We'll talk about it on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. From NPR Music, I'm Felix Contreras.
And I'm Isabella Gomez-Fermiento.
Isa, do you know what day it is?
Of course I do, because I look forward to it all year. It's Jerry Garcia's birthday today.
August 1st, and it kicks off a week that's known as Days Between.
Between August 1st and August 9th, the day that Jerry Garcia died in 1995.
And it's become more of a celebration than anything else, specifically the celebration of Jerry Garcia's life, but also a celebration of everything Grateful Dead.
Yeah, it's like unofficial Grateful Dead week. I feel like it's the most fun week of the summer because there's always a bunch of different events and gatherings and people get together to talk about why they love the Grateful Dead.
And it's kind of cosmic that it happens in August because the summer tours were such a big part, a grateful deadline for the band and for the fans.
Do you remember, Felix, when you first identified as a deadhead?
Yeah, it was my first show. I'd been listening and exploring. And then when I went to the first show and that first note, when everybody started dancing and I didn't expect it. And I'm like, what is this? And then I felt like, okay, I found my people.
How did Jerry Garcia’s birthday and Days Between set the scene for this episode?
Do you remember the date? It's 5-4-91. Wow. In Sacramento at Cal Expo.
Did you get up and dance?
I did not dance. I'm dance challenged, but that's another story for another time. I find that kind of hard to believe. It's completely true. What about you? When did you first know that you were a Deadhead?
You know, I think it was also my first show. I had really gotten into them towards the end of high school, 2015. And then I went to see Dead & Company at that first fall tour. And we got there kind of late, and we walked in, and they were playing Feel Like a Stranger.
And we were really close. It was, like, easier to get pit tickets at the beginning of those tours, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
And then, you know, then I got on the bus. Then I started going to all the shows.
It's curious that both you and I had a sensation of finding like-minded people because that's such a part of the Grateful Dead experience, being part of that community, being part of the tribe, being part of the family, being part of Deadheads.
Yeah, and it's kind of how we found each other at NPR, too. I remember the very first time I asked you to get coffee with me, you noticed my lightning bolt tattoo. Yeah.
Stood out. Definitely stood out from someone of your generation, because this is you were my first exposure to folks who were coming in long after Garcia died and absorbing the dead and company experience.
Yeah, it's not the original thing. It's not what you saw. It's not Jerry Garcia, you know, playing in the evenings at Shoreline Amphitheater, as you love to tell me. I know. I know that. I recognize that. But there was still a magic. There was still this sense of going to these giant shows and hanging out with people of all ages. And yeah, and feeling like you were a part of something much, much bigger than yourself and much, much bigger than this moment in time. And it's interesting to me that that through line has existed even as... The music and the people who are playing the music on stage has had to sort of reinvent itself, right, or regenerate a new iteration, a new kind of way to get together and play the songs.
The people have kept following and new people have joined. New people like me have gotten on the bus and sort of joined the giant traveling circus of the Grateful Dead over the years. And this summer, it feels like we're reaching another moment where people are kind of are looking around and getting a sense of where the scene is right now.
With Bob Weir's passing in January of this year, Phil Lesh and Donna Gottschall in the last couple of years, and with drummers Billy Kreutzman and Mickey Hart laying low, it definitely feels like a point of transition.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:24
2
How did Jerry Garcia’s birthday and Days Between set the scene for this episode?
1:24–20:13
3
Why did the hosts decide to go on a summer tour to ask ‘what’s next’ for the Grateful Dead?
20:13–25:51
4
What does Grateful Dead historian Dennis McNally say is the band’s musical DNA?
25:51–38:57
5
How did early acid tests and improvisation shape the Dead’s relationship with their audience?
38:57–47:31