[net.music.gdead] the name

kathyf@teklds.UUCP (Kathy Friend) (09/14/85)

I went to my first concert this week
and came back with a couple questions:

   Why do they call themselves the Dead?  -- They are so real it doesn't
   make sense -- or is that the point?

   Where have I been all my life?


   kathy friend

   taking joy wherever I find it!

west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) (09/17/85)

In article <1027@teklds.UUCP> tektronix!teklds!kathyf kathyf@teklds.UUCP
(Kathy Friend) writes:
>I went to my first concert this week
>and came back with a couple questions:
>
>   Why do they call themselves the Dead?  -- They are so real it doesn't
>   make sense -- or is that the point?

Well, the story (from several sources, including the rather poor books
by Hank Harrison [check out "Playing in the Band", a new book by other
authors]) goes like this:

	Several members of the band (known as the Warlocks at the time)
	were exploring some hallucinogen (mescaline, perhaps), and
	Jerry just opened a Webster's (probably 2nd international
	edition) and his eye was caught by the definition for Grateful
	Dead.

	You should look for a large Webster's dictionary or perhaps
	an Encyclopedia Brittanica, but the essence is that there is
	a group of European (mainly) myths which go like this:
		A traveler enters a town and finds a widow and children
		crying and being thrown out of their home by some
		greedy landlord or merchant, to whom the deceased
		owed some (usually small) amount of money.   Often,
		the deceased person cannot be buried until the widow
		can find the money to pay the gravediggers.   So the
		traveler pays off the debt (perhaps by working in the
		fields for some time), saves the widow and children
		from destitution, has the corpse buried, and continues
		on his journey.   Some ways down the road, the traveler
		is joined by a man who is quiet but friendly, and joins
		the traveler.   After a while, the pair encounter some
		danger -- highway robbers or the like -- and the
		stranger saves the traveler's life.   After this, the
		stranger leaves, revealing only at the last that he
		is the dead man whose family and corpse the traveler
		has taken care of.   Thus the Grateful Dead.
	There are other variations, such as the dead of a whole town
	coming out and helping in a crisis (saving the crops from burning,
	for example), after some unselfish gesture by the townspeople.

Also of interest is one of the definitions of "deadhead", which is
essentially one who gets into a concert or other event without paying.
(Though the other definition [dull-witted or slow person] seems to
miss the mark...)

Hope this has been of interest...

>   Where have I been all my life?

It's funny how many deadheads missed their first several opportunities
to see the Dead.   But then again, maybe we all just wait until
exactly the right time....

>   kathy friend
>
>   taking joy wherever I find it!

(I think you're on the right track!)
-- 

Larry West				(USA+619-)452-6771
Institute for Cognitive Science		non-business hours: 452-2256
UC San Diego (mailcode C-015)
La Jolla, CA  92093  U.S.A.

ARPA:	<west@nprdc.ARPA>	or	<west@ucsd.ARPA>
UUCP:	{ucbvax,sdcrdcf,decvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!sdcsla!west
  or	{sun,mplvax,gti,ihnss,whuxlb,ulysses}!sdcsla!west

stanley@belker.DEC (David Stanley OEM Tech Support) (09/22/85)

I thought the following would be of interest. This was input into our Dead
note file by JJRitz.

	"We now return our souls to the creator, and as we
	stand on the edge of eternal darkness, let our chant fill
	the void, that others may know:  in the land of the night,
	the ship of the sun is drawn by the grateful dead."

	I believe this is from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, translation
	by Evans-Wentz.  It may be from the Egyptian Book of the Dead;
	I have read through same without finding it, though. (E.A. Wallis
	Budge translation.)

	The quote comes from Ken Kesey in an article in the "Last Supplement 
	to the Whole Earth Catalog", published in the early 70's.

		-JJRitz-


"...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-belker!stanley"

Dave Stanley