All articles tagged with #grateful dead
The 1939 International Harvester school bus known as 'Furthur,' central to Ken Kesey's 1964 countercultural journey, has left its Oregon storage for the first time in over 50 years. Now displayed in San Francisco as part of the 'Forever Grateful' exhibit, the rusted vehicle serves as a focal point for a preservation effort aimed at restoring the historic artifact.
Gerrit Graham, an actor known for Phantom of the Paradise and a songwriter who co-wrote Victim or The Crime with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, died at 77 in Rhinebeck, NY after lung disease. His career spanned film (Hi Mom!, Greetings, Demon Seed), TV (Seinfeld, Laverne & Shirley, The Wonder Years, Star Trek), and screenwriting work for Disney projects including The Little Mermaid and Oliver & Company, as well as the Prince and The Pauper adaptation. He is survived by his wife Deborah, two sons, his brother, and four grandchildren.
The psychedelic-painted bus Furthur, once driven by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, has returned to San Francisco and serves as the centerpiece of the Forever Grateful/Golden Gate Park exhibit by the Haight Street Art Center, celebrating the Grateful Dead and the psychedelic era with mirrors, a liquid-light immersion room, Grateful Dead artwork, and Jerry Garcia’s BMW, while the Kesey family restoration effort resumes after years of deterioration.
A new Forever Grateful/Golden Gate Park exhibit opens Saturday in San Francisco, centering Ken Kesey’s Furthur bus alongside Jerry Garcia’s BMW, with concert photographs, a psychedelic liquid light show, and immersive experiences; a restoration drive aims to place the bus on permanent display in the Bay Area through partnerships with the Furthur Down the Road Foundation and the Haight Street Art Center.
A San Francisco exhibit at the Haight Street Art Center traces the Grateful Dead’s origins in Ken Kesey’s 1960s acid-test scene, reviving the Furthur bus as a centerpiece and offering photos, immersive experiences, and a restoration push that celebrates Deadhead culture.
Jim James and Jeff Tweedy recount their evolving affection for the Grateful Dead, moving from initial skepticism to a deep appreciation born of the Dead’s fearless live improvisation, moments playing with Bob Weir, and the band’s open, communal culture that shaped how their own fan communities form. They also discuss contributing Dead material to the 2016 Day of the Dead tribute and how these experiences influence Wilco’s and My Morning Jacket’s approach to collaboration, touring, and keeping a welcoming concert environment.
Rolling Stone gathered ballots from 50 musicians, writers, and industry figures (plus one former U.S. senator) to rank the Grateful Dead’s 100 best songs, and the piece lists each voter and explains how their ranked ballots were tallied to produce the final list.
Andy Cohen explains how he became a Deadhead in high school and has kept the Grateful Dead's spirit alive—from early shows at Alpine Valley and Red Rocks to a reawakening during Fare Thee Well and Dead & Company's stadium tours—building lifelong friendships with Bob Weir and John Mayer and planning to stay connected to the music through ongoing shows and new Dead-related projects.
Rolling Stone debuts a fan-driven countdown of the 100 best Grateful Dead songs, celebrating the band’s onstage improvisation and genre-spanning catalog—from bluesy roots and folk to psychedelic jams and late-’80s rock—featuring write-ups for each pick (the list runs from 100 Drums/Space to 51), and highlighting how the Dead’s music evolved over three decades with input from Deadheads and notable fans.
UC Santa Cruz preserves the Grateful Dead Archive—a climate-controlled collection of posters, flyers, letters, and memorabilia—with a related 'Vault' in Southern California housing master recordings and 2,318 live shows; curated by archivists like David Lemieux, the archive safeguards Deadhead culture and improvisational history for scholars and fans, while Rhino Entertainment compiles expansive box sets to keep the music alive.
NPR’s look at Grateful Dead fandom shows a uniquely egalitarian, improvisation‑driven community that has endured across generations. Fans treat each show as part of a shared quest, keeping the Dead’s legacy alive through evolving bands, tribute scenes, and youth‑driven projects like Mason’s Children, while documentary work and films like Summer Tour highlight the ongoing, inclusive culture that sustains live music and collective experience.
John Mayer paid tribute to Bob Weir, calling his three-night Golden Gate Park run with Dead & Company during the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary “one of the greatest acts of heroism” he’s seen, as Weir pressed on despite a serious health battle; the shows—featuring surprise guests—marked Weir’s final onstage appearance, a moment Mayer says exemplified defiance and heart, and the piece notes Weir’s death in January 2026 alongside Mayer’s enduring praise.
Bob Weir navigated Jerry Garcia’s death by reinventing his role from Dead’s youngest guitarist to its elder statesman, guiding new configurations (RatDog, Furthur, Dead & Company, Wolf Bros) while battling grief, pain and health issues. His late-life fitness push, sobriety, Blue Mountain’s country-inflected rebirth, and orchestrated Dead performances helped cement his status as the living embodiment of the Grateful Dead, a legacy that remained central until his death in 2026.
John Mayer recalls joining Dead & Company in 2015, immersing himself in the Grateful Dead repertoire, earning Bob Weir’s trust, and learning to balance tempos and improvisation while guiding the band through Sphere residencies and evolving dynamics, then honors Weir with a heartfelt memorial tribute and reflects on the enduring Dead legacy.
Rolling Stone looks back at 15 performances of the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple” across more than five decades, from its 1970 Fillmore West debut to later renditions by offshoots (the Other Ones, Phil Lesh and Friends, Furthur) and Dead & Company, culminating in John Mayer‑led tributes at Bob Weir’s memorial and beyond, showing how a non-single track became an enduring Deadhead anthem.