The Deadcast points to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York, set inside the lush green of a state park & home to some of the wildest Grateful Dead shows of the mid-1980s, with a look at the 1985 parking lot scene.
Summer Magic 1985: Saratoga Performing Arts Center, 6/27 supplementary notes
by Jesse Jarnow
The vast parking lots of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center barely contained the growing Grateful Dead scene of the mid-1980s.
Annabelle Walsh, who speaks with us on this episode about the evolution of fan t-shirts, is the proprietor of the ever-growing Deadhead Style Archive (always looking for contributions). We spoke with Annabelle about late ‘70s Deadhead style on our West Virginia, 4/78 episode.
The Deadhead zine scene was also growing by leaps and bounds in the 1980s. We discussed the early years of Dead In Words in our Duke University, 4/78 episode, and discussed MIKEL and ‘80s zine culture in Madison Square Garden, 9/82. Issues of MIKEL, The Golden Road, and other publications can be found at GDSets.com. PrintKnot’s year-at-a-glance setlists can be seen in their Facebook group.
Guest DNA is a writer, filmmaker, and comedian.
Art by Ronnie Potter, courtesy David Leopold.
PrintKnot's Year at a Glance setlists for 1984, for sale in the lot during the summer 1985 tour for $1 each, courtesy of David Leopold.
