The Grateful Dead In Concert: Essays on Live Improvisation

Abstract

"This book of 20 original, scholarly essays and seven reflective writings offers a spirited analysis of the unique improvisational character of Grateful Dead music and its impact on fans. The band's trademark focus is discussed as a function of complex musical improvisation with the band members' collective assimilation of a range of marginal musical forms and lyrical traditions"--Provided by publisher. Foreword: The Grateful Death phenomenon / Stanley Krippner -- Preface: Kaleidoscopic entry to the show -- Introduction: "Shall we go!" -- First set: Musical and lyrical elements of Grateful Dead improvisation. Non-systematic thoughts about improvisation / Cristian Amigo ; Mandalas and the Dead / Graeme M. Boone ; The eccentric revolutions of Phil Lesh / Brent Wood ; American chaos: Charles Ives and the Grateful Dead / Shaugn O'Donnell ; "Mr. Charlie told me so": Heidegger and the Dead's early assimilation to the technology of the Blues / David Malvinni ; Dark star mandala / Graeme M. Boone ; "Where all the pages are my days": metacantric moments in Deadhead lyrical experience / Revell Carr ; "Not just a change of style": reading Workingman's Dead as an American commentary with American roots / Erin McCoy -- Second set: Some philosophical contours of Grateful Dead improvisation. Improvised philosophy / Alan Trist ; "Pouring its light into ashes": exploring the multiplicity of becoming in Grateful Dead improvisation / Jim Tuedio ; "Searching for the sound": Grateful Dead music and interpretive transformation / Jason Kemp Winfree ; Plato's Pharmakon: Grateful Dead concerts and the politics of getting high / Elizabeth Carroll ; When "reason tatters": Nietzsche and the Grateful Dead on living a healthy life / Stan Spector ; The other one and the other: moral lessons from a reluctant teacher / Steven Gimbel ; Innocence and experience in the Grateful Dead: a reading of Stuart Hampshire / Nicholas Meriwether -- Third set: Experiencing community through Grateful Dead improvisation. Modeling improvisation / Mary Goodenough ; "Mysteries dark and vast": Grateful Dead concerts and initiation into the sublime / Eric K. Silverman ; Bears and flags: the Grateful Dead's America and Bohemian nationalism / Jay Williams ; Improvising community: a hermeneutic analysis of Deadheads and virtual communities / Gary Burnett ; Strategic improvisation: management lessons from the Dead / Barry Barnes ; Cultural communication codes among Deadheads: a chronological account of communicative improvisation / Natalie J. Dollar ; Examining Grateful Dead improvisation as a catalyst for creating sustained communitas / Amanda Diederich-Hirsh ; "I can't do anything but lie": studying Deadheads while wearing Simmelian lenses / Rebecca G. Adams -- Epilogue. The thing is the thing is the thing is the thing is there is no thing / Christian Crumlish ; All his children grew and grew (who killed Uncle John?) / David Gans -- Greensleeves. The Grateful Dead came to our house one day (with 20 people and a bottle of LSD): a story about discovering the power of channeling healing energy / Jean Millay.