Blair's Blog | Grateful Dead

Don’t get me wrong—I love 1970s Grateful Dead. It’s the decade they made their greatest albums, introduced most of their coolest songs (both originals and covers) and played hundreds of their finest shows.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog—In the Shadow of the Moon: Terrapin Station at 35

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - If These Walls Could Talk

By Blair Jackson

I had a wonderful experience last weekend, when Regan and I took a whirlwind trip up to Portland, Ore.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — The 10-Show Plunge

By Blair Jackson

Recently, I’ve been on a kick of listening to big chunks of certain Grateful Dead tours in chronological order. It started after I lauded the summer 1991 tour in this space a few weeks ago.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — Who Can the Weather Command?

By Blair Jackson

I must admit, when the lineup for this year’s Gathering of the Vibes in Connecticut July 19-22 was first announced, it got me seriously salivating.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Santa Cruz GD Archive Set To Open!

By Blair Jackson

After years of painstaking work and many months of preparation, the much-touted Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz is set to open to the public with a celebration on Friday, June 29, between 1 p.m.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - That “Touch of Grey” Summer

By Blair Jackson

On June 19, 1987—25 years ago this week—MTV showed the video of the Dead’s just-released single, “Touch of Grey,” for the first time.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - Bruuuuuuuce!

By Blair Jackson

Last time, we talked mostly about the post-Brent era as it related to Vince and to Jerry’s sad decline.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - After Brent

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — Cornell ’77 Enshrined for the Ages

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - "Dark Star crashes..."

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - All Hail the Tapers!

By Blair Jackson

Spurred by a comment I read somewhere online, I decided to download the Dead’s January 10, 1979, concert at Nassau Coliseum.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - “Listen to the river sing sweet songs…”

By Blair Jackson

My 18-year-old daughter just had a week no one should have to experience.

A Perfect Night at the Movies!

By Blair Jackson

I have a slightly bizarre ritual when it comes to listening to shows I'm not familiar with.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - The Persistence of Memory

By Blair Jackson

I’ve been asked many times through the years about “the best” Grateful Dead show I ever attended. With 365 concerts spanning 1970 to 1995 to choose from, that’s an extremely difficult choice. “Best” in what way? Some supposedly objective evaluation of the music? Good luck with that. “Favorite”? Even that is completely loaded.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — Rainbows, Unicorns and Picky Dead Heads

By Blair Jackson

We live in a cynical age.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — Education or Indoctrination?

By Blair Jackson

Last week we talked about the sometimes onerous and unpleasant task of trying to turn friends on to the Grateful Dead.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - “I’d Love to Turn You On…”

By Blair Jackson

No, not that way. That’s a topic for another time, for sure. But this week I want to talk about the challenges, perils and triumphs of trying to turn friends on to the Grateful Dead.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Finding the Spirit of ’67

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - GD in an MTV World

By Blair Jackson

All the excitement around here about the veritable tsunami of videos submitted for the Dead Covers Project got me thinking about the Grateful Dead’s rather slight contributions to the MTV Age.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - Super Bowl Fantasy

By Blair Jackson

Blair's Golden Road Blog - Diggin' That "Dead Covers Project"!

By Blair Jackson

When Dead.net’s Dead Covers Project began a month or so ago, I thought to myself, “OK, this could be fun.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Santa Cruz GD Archive Opening in Spring

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - The Keyboardist Question

By Blair Jackson

This could verge on the sacrilegious, but I’ve been thinking for some time that Jeff Chimenti may be the best all-around keyboardist to have played with the Grateful Dead or the post-GD bands.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Finding New Year’s Magic in a Post-GD World

By Blair Jackson

What does it mean that I can clearly remember every New Year’s Eve I spent with the Grateful Dead or post-Dead bands, but can recall almost none of my other December 31sts?

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - New Year’s Eve Memories, Pt. 1

By Blair Jackson

Even though I was a rabid Dead Head when I moved from New York to the Bay Area back in the fall of 1973, I didn’t make it to a Dead New Year’s Eve show until 1981-82.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Jerry Jams for the Rex Foundation

By Blair Jackson

Continuing what has become a cherished early-December tradition for the Grateful Dead Family, the Rex Foundation put on another Wang Dang Doodle of a fundraiser at the Fillmore in San Francisco Dec. 3.

Another Guitarist Poll Disses Jerry!

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - This Is What It’s All About

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Sticking Up For Road Trips

By Blair Jackson

I’m as excited as everyone else to see what the future brings with Dave’s Picks.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Bill Graham: 20 years Gone

By Blair Jackson

As I write this on the morning of October 25, it is 20 years to the day that Bill Graham was killed in a helicopter crash, along with his girlfriend Melissa Gold and pilot Steve “Killer” Kahn.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Best Covers of Dead Songs?

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Down in Monterey

By Blair Jackson

The people came and listened/ Some of them came and played/ Others gave flowers away, yes they did/ Down in Monterey

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Persuasions Redux; a Nicky Hopkins Bio

By Blair Jackson

This week I’m catching up on some odds and ends.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Best Dead Tours?

By Blair Jackson

Finding a consensus on almost anything in the Grateful Dead world is a daunting proposition. There are as many opinions about the “best” shows or tours as there are Dead Heads.