Deadheads and Licklider

Another older book still being reviewed is Patrice Flichy's The Internet Imaginaire. (MIT Press, 2007), an introduction to the history of the Internet. Book reviewer Paul E. Ceruzzi admits to being a Deadhead and a heavy user of the concerts available via the Internet Archive. He therefore holds particular interest in Flichy’s chapter 3 which "discusses communities of people who had been excluded from traditional access to computers, among them the fans of the Grateful Dead rock band who traded information on the San Francisco Bay area network, the Well” and to imagining if Deadheads were as important to the creation of the Internet as the visionary computer scientist J.C. R. Licklider. Ceruzzi's review can be found in the March 2009 issue of ISIS, published by the History of Science Society.

Deep Time

Wai Chee Dimock's book Through Other Continents: American Literature Across Deep Time received lots of praise and some criticism when it came out in 2006 from Princeton University Press. It's still being reviewed and it continues to be controversial. A recent review by Paul Giles can be found in the Dec. 2008, Vol. 69, No.4 issue of Modern Language Quarterly. As Ms. Dimock's publisher notes, she reads "American literature as a subset of world literature. Inspired by an unorthodox archive--ranging from epic traditions in Akkadian and Sanskrit to folk art, paintings by Veronese and Tiepolo, and the music of the Grateful Dead-- Dimock constructs a long history of the world, a history she calls "deep time." Giles says the book "is testimony to the often brilliant critical practice that functions through cross-referencing and juxtaposition, illuminating distant and proximate, high culture and low culture, in the light of each other. " No wonder Blues for Allah is an inspiration for Dimock.

Dead reckoning

Close on the heels of the NY Times ranking of favorite Dead shows, now John Swansburg has posted on Slate (4/29/09) his very own humorously sardonic guide to Deadheadedness. Find yourself in Dead Reckoning: What Your Favorite Grateful Dead Song Says About You (http://www.slate.com/id/2217149/)
Hmmm... my favorite song? Not telling.

CA. Capital rocks

The same building that once housed the Oasis Ballroom is soon to become a popular new destination for music fans. The Sacramento Rock and Radio Museum with help from the Tucker Media Group will open in June celebrating 40 years of rock music, rock radio, and rock art. The space will be filled with posters, handbills, and memorabilia of performers like B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, the Ramones, the Rolling Stones, and Nirvana who played local venues. On display will be the poster for the March 11th, 1968 Grateful Dead and Cream show at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

Destiny's children

The visit on April 13th of members of The Dead with President Obama in the White House got lots of great press coverage. The Washington Post, NBC, and other media groups mentioned the many prominent Deadheads amongst the President's senior advisors, who btw all attended the Verizon Center's show in Washington the following night. Special note was made of the Oval Office's decor that included a bouquet of scarlet begonias. Mickey Hart-- as reported in Leah Garchik's SF Chronicle column-- said, "Obama is the reason we were together. We got together over the benefits we put on for him. So in a way, he's become part of our destiny now."

Robert Hunter and Bob Dylan together through life

The press is aflame regarding Bob Dylan's soon to be released new album Together Through Life. In a recent five-part interview with music critic Bill Flanagan Dylan talks about song writing, songwriters, and reveals that (nine) of the songs on the album were co-written with Robert Hunter. What more perfect confluence of poetical writing on love and pain could there be? All parts of the interview are now all available on the official Dylan site www.bobdylan.com/

The Dead Live On and On

Ben Ratliff in an amazing three page color, illustrated article appearing in the April 12th Sunday issue of the NY Times entitled "Bring Out Your Dead" discusses the five different levels of how fans talk about the Grateful Dead. There are those who discuss the band's commercially released albums, those that get into the period or eras, and those that focus on the band's best night, or on particular songs from particular performances. Ratliff then gets to "thinner air" where he says discussion goes to audience vs. soundboard tapes, the mixing bias of engineers, and onward into what he calls "the darkness of obsession." But truly mesmerizing are the online comments from fans that, in response to the article, have voted for their greatest shows and submitted their photos. It's an extraordinary outpouring; find it at "The Dead Live On." nytimes.com/music.