Just yesterday I found out that a new independent documentary is coming out about the Deadhead community. San Francisco director Lonnie Frazier’s movie, “Box of Rain”, is available to watch by streaming it on Vimeo and tells the story of the Grateful Dead fans through her own experiences and those of her friends and others in the community.
Not long ago I read Linda Kelly’s book, Deadheads. Kelly herself wasn’t a Deadhead in the sense that some people view them. She attended some shows but didn’t follow the band around. She did, however, click with the vibe of the music, musicians and community so much so that she decided to gather memories, information, stories and more from people who either were Deadheads in the real sense of that term or served the group in some way (musically, providing food, drugs, etc. or simply by being friends with them).
I was a Deadhead for a brief period. I first saw them in 1985. I was twenty years old and like Linda had no prior interest in the band. However, it only took that first show to make me realize that there was something going on there, not only with the music but within the fan base. A late bloomer, I also smoked my first joint at that show even though I didn’t get high. Undeterred, I proceeded to immerse myself in the Grateful Dead and drug experience. Only two weeks after my first show (at Irvine Meadows in Irvine, CA) I was on my way to Palo Alto for two shows at the Frost Amphitheater. And just like that I was a Deadhead.
With the third and final book in my trilogy completed and being readied for release I realized that I had several characters who might qualify as Deadheads or at least dedicated Grateful Dead fans. In the second book a group of friends travel to Berkeley for a six show run to celebrate a marriage. In the third book many of those same friends gather in Golden Gate Park to mourn the untimely death of Jerry Garcia. Although I only spent a short time as a Deadhead myself, the band, the music, the atmosphere and vibe and the community left a lasting impression on me and I think of those years as some of the best of my life.
INTERVIEW WITH LINDA KELLY, AUTHOR OF DEADHEADS
L.V.S.: So, the Sex Pistols was your first concert. That’s pretty amazing! My first concert was Jefferson Starship & Heart in 1976. My dad took me; I was 11. After your first show were you hooked on live music? What type of shows did you attend after the Pistols?
L.K.: TOTALLY hooked! My mama was very sick with cancer (for 5 years) and my older sisters took me to the Sex Pistols to try and cheer me up. Amazingly, it did as it made me forget about my sadness for a good couple of hours. All live music for me creates a sacred space where we can let go and connect to the energy of the cosmos, collectively. It’s very much to me like a vision quest or deep meditation.
Other shows: Tom Petty at Winterland, 1978, lots of shows at Mabuhay Gardens on Broadway (DEVO, Blondie, local punks), The Police, Iggy Pop, U2, Echo & the Bunnymen, so many amazing bands at the iBeam and Nightbreak on Haight … also the Kabuki Theater (now a real movie theater).
L.V.S.: When you met Jerry Garcia in New York were you already familiar with the Dead’s music?
L.K.: Yes, but when I was here in SF, before I split to NYC, I couldn’t stand the GD and all that damn hippie crap LOL. As mentioned in my book, I was dragged to my first GD show in 1985 by Blair Jackson (Dead enthusiast) at the Henry J. Kaiser, cuz he saw how depressed I was. Those shows DID make me happy for a bit. Coulda been the MDMA!
L.V.S.: That’s funny because I hated all of that hippie crap, too! I was into the Goth music scene right before my first Dead show. A friend of mine was a Deadhead and he kept raving on and on about them. He stuck a live cassette recording, a New Year’s Eve show, but I don’t remember from what year or where, into my tape player in my VW Bug and it got stuck in there! I couldn’t eject it and it kept playing in my car. I hated the music and yet I was forced to listen to it endlessly until I finally got the tape out of my deck. It was a precursor of days to come, I suppose!
L.V.S.: Reading your book, I just kept nodding my head along with these people’s experiences and descriptions. Although I was only a Deadhead for a couple of years, I really threw myself into the whole thing. We saw as many shows as we could in CA (north & south-52 in total). I remember the parking lot scenes, the whole process for getting the online tickets (3 x 5 card ONLY!!), driving either my ’68 Bug or my roommate’s ’71 Bus. I could particularly relate to the feeling of family and doing things that you wouldn’t normally do, like picking up hitchhikers or staying with strangers. Why do you think that Deadheads were so trusting within the community?
L.K.: The lyrics! They suggest that we all have ups/downs, we are all human, we all have a dark/light side — so there is a common understanding, a knowing that Deadheads all share.
L.V.S.: What elements do you think have helped maintain the Dead’s ongoing dedication from their fans? The community at large isn’t necessarily “there” anymore, but when you meet another fan generally something clicks between you.
L.K.: Again, the lyrics, the vibe, the whole experience. It’s a tribe. It’s a communal, loving, accepting, anything-goes environment. Take care of each other, be kind, love one another.
L.V.S.: Yes. I remember in particular a concert at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland. There was a nice man that we ended up sitting next to up in the bleachers. He got up to leave before the show ended and we were shocked. He explained that if he didn’t leave right then he would miss the last bus back to San Francisco where he lived. We had set up camp earlier in the day in the hills above Oakland but felt a really creepy vibe up there and weren’t sure that we were going to return that evening. The man, who was a little older than us, offered to let us stay at his apartment if we would drive him home after the show. We did and he saw us off the next morning, taking us to breakfast first. Later he came down south for some event and we met him for dinner. People were like that within the community. You could trust them.
L.V.S.: Do you think that there are other bands that generate a similar dedication, community and family scene? I recently became a big Ween fan and I have been stunned by the similarities within their fan community and the Dead’s. I feel like a gained a country-wide family within the Ween community. People open their hearts and homes and are so kind and dedicated. It’s very similar.
L.K.: I LOVE Ween!!!!! Yes, same vibe. I’d say perhaps Patti Smith fans, again, people KNOW her songs, her words, her message.
L.V.S.: So, tell me a little about your current project, Haight Street Voice. You’re back living in your native San Francisco, in the Haight. What do you hope to accomplish with your magazine and other projects?
L.K.: Community. Shining a light on EVERYONE who wants to be heard. A voice for the people. It’s AMAZING to come full circle after 7 years in NYC and live right here in the Haight where I lived when attending SF State and studying journalism with Ben Fong-Torres (who just last week gave me and HSV a shout-out on Moonalice Radio!). Connection. Creativity. There is nowhere like this place in the world. It’s magical and deserves to be documented. And to be working with Dr. David E. Smith of Smith Family Foundation is just beyond amazing. And? Stanley Mouse is coming down for an art exhibit in June in “my” pop-up space! Full circle with some of the people who were THERE when it all exploded in 1965. Grateful indeed!
You can follow Linda on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HaightStreetVoice and subscribe to Haight Street Voice Magazine online at https://www.patreon.com/haight_street_voice/posts. Her book, Deadheads, is available on Amazon but you can buy autographed copies directly from the author along with groovy trucker hats at haightstreetvoice@gmail.com! Linda’s website is http://www.haightstreetvoice.com. Please contact her for more information!
lvsage 