The Grateful Dead in Concert: Essays on Live Improvisation

by Jim Tuedio (Editor), Stan Spector (Editor)

Overview

This book offers a spirited analysis of the unique improvisational character of Grateful Dead music and its impact on appreciative fans. The 20 essays capture distinct facets of the Grateful Dead phenomenon from a broad range of scholarly angles. The band's trademark synergizing focus is discussed as a function of complex musical improvisation interlaced with the band members' collective assimilation of an impressive range of marginal musical forms and lyrical traditions. These facets are shown to produce a vibrant Deadhead experience, resulting in community influences still morphing in new directions 45 years after the band's initial impact.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786443574
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	02/23/2010
Series:	Performing Arts/Music
Pages:	365
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jim Tuedio, professor of philosophy and director of the university honors program at California State University-Stanislaus, is the author of numerous scholarly articles and is a past president of the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy. He lives in Denair, California. Stan Spector is a professor of philosophy at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California, and is the author of many scholarly articles. He is a past director of the college honors program and is currently co-chair of the Grateful Dead Caucus.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Grateful Dead Phenomenon Stanley Krippner 1

Preface: Kaleidoscopic Entry to the Show 7

Introduction: "Shall We Go?" 11

First Set: Musical and Lyrical Elements of Grateful Dead Improvisation

Non-Systematic Thoughts About Improvisation Cristian Amigo 15

Mandates and the Dead Graeme M. Boone 25

The Eccentric Revolutions of Phil Lesh Brent Wood 43

American Chaos: Charles Ives and the Grateful Dead Shaugn O'Donnell 58

"Mr. Charlie Told Me So": Heidegger and the Dead's Early Assimilation to the Technology of the Blues David Malvinni 71

Dark Star Mandala Graeme M. Boone 85

"Where All the Pages Are My Days": Metacantric Moments in Deadhead Lyrical Experience Revell Carr 107

"Not Just a Change of Style": Reading Workingman's Dead as an American Commentary with Americana Roots Erin McCoy 118

Second Set: Some Philosophical Contours of Grateful Dead Improvisation

Improvised Philosophy Alan Trist 129

"Pouring Its Light Into Ashes": Exploring the Multiplicity of Becoming in Grateful Dead Improvisation Jim Tuedio 133

"Searching for the Sound": Grateful Dead Music and Interpretive Transformation Jason Kemp Winfree 152

Plato's Pharmakon: Grateful Dead Concerts and the Politics of Getting High Elizabeth Carroll 164

When "Reason Tatters": Nietzsche and the Grateful Dead on Living a Healthy Life Stan Spector 180

The Other One and the Other: Moral Lessons from a Reluctant Teacher Steven Gimbel 191

Innocence and Experience in the Grateful Dead: A Reading of Stuart Hampshire Nicholas Meriwether 200

Third Set: Experiencing Community Through Grateful Dead Improvisation

Modeling Improvisation Mary Goodenough 211

"Mysteries Dark and Vast": Grateful Dead Concerts and Initiation into the Sublime Eric K. Silverman 214

Bears and Flags: The Grateful Dead's America and Bohemian Nationalism Jay Williams 232

Improvising Community: A Hermeneutic Analysis of Deadheads and Virtual Communities Gary Burnett 251

Strategic Improvisation: Management Lessons from the Dead Barry Barnes 267

Cultural Communication Codes Among Deadheads: A Chronological Account of Communicative Improvisation Natalie J. Dollar 279

Examining Grateful Dead Improvisation as a Catalyst for Creating Sustained Communitas Amanda Diederich-Hirsh 294

"I Can't Do Anything but Lie": Studying Deadheads While Wearing Simmelian Lenses Rebecca G. Adams 310

Encore

The Thing Is the Thing Is the Thing Is the Thing Is There Is No Thing Christian Crumlish 325

All His Children Grew and Grew (Who Killed Uncle John?) David Gans 329

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 339

Contributors 345

Index 351

Editorial Reviews

fun collection of essays...some great writing in here”—Sacramento Book Review; “producing this volume was obviously a labor of love...remarkable...recommend[ed]...intellectually stimulating, worthwhile contribution”—Critical Studies in Improvisation.

From the Publisher

"producing this volume was obviously a labor of love...remarkable...recommend[ed]...intellectually stimulating, worthwhile contribution"

Critical Studies in Improvisation

fun collection of essays...some great writing in here

Sacramento Book Review