Author Peter Conners got on the bus in '85 and he's been writing about the Grateful Dead, jam bands, and counterculture ever since. He tackled the challenge of chronicling Ithaca, 5/8/77 in his new book Cornell '77 - The Music, The Myth, And The Magnificence of The Grateful Dead's Concert at Barton Hall.
Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead... Vancouver-based artist Bob Masse produced iconic concert posters for a veritable who's who of music and managed to pioneer the emerging psychedelic art genre along the way. Here we get to know the brilliant designer and follow his path from art school to Haight Street to Laurel Canyon.
What was the first concert poster you designed?
One lucky Cornell freshman and amateur photographer had the good fortune of witnessing the magic of the Grateful Dead's Barton Hall gig before, during, and after. That fellow was Larry Reichman and in this edition of All In The Family, he gives us a first-hand account of the evening's festivities, shares his thoughts on why it really IS the "Best Dead Show," and details the recently launched kickstarter campaign for his Cornell coffee table book.
From the Civil Rights and Counterculture movements to the Mets' dugout, Bob Marley's Jamaica, Martha's Vineyard timeless beauty, and beyond, photographer Peter Simon has witnessed countless once-in-a-lifetime moments (sounds like an oxymoron, we know) and captured some extraordinary events and human beings. But none enlivened him, on a personal and professional level, quite like being around the Grateful Dead and its entourage.
There's a fair chance you might not have heard of American cartoonist Paul Pope, but like the superheroes he brings to life, he's been steadily rising up from anonymity for well over 20 years now. From Manga-inspired graphic novels to world-renowned names (ahem Batman!), he’s now bringing his talent to the Grateful Dead. Learn more about the Eisner Award-winning artist and his work on JULY 1978: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS below.
We're extremely pleased to introduce Justin Helton as our Dave's Picks 2016 artist-in-residence. The Knoxville, Tennessee-based designer has been tinkering around in the arts since his high school days, parlaying his skills into a printmaking business that has created works for a veritable who's who in the extended Grateful Dead family.
On occasion we come across a Grateful Dead family member who's been behind-the-scenes yet with us all along. Neal Casal is just that. From first checking out the band live in the 80's to jamming with Phil Lesh And Friends and scoring the Bob Weir documentary, it seems Casal was a natural choice to step into the spotlight as part of the special musical task force (Circles Around The Sun) formed to contribute to the 50th anniversary celebrations.
You may have heard us mention music scribe Jesse Jarnow's name a few times over this past year. He's contributed liner notes to the Dave's Picks series, mapped out Grateful Dead "monuments" for Chicago concert-goers, and put together an astoundingly complete list of the band's entire repertoire for our 30 Trips Around The Sun release.
Dave's Picks 2015 Artist-in-Residence Micah Nelson gives us a little insight into his unconventional upbring (yes, the one and only Willie is his dad) and into how he juggles his time between painting, animating, and playing in not one, not two, but three bands(!) in this edition of All In The Family. Find out what the multi-talented and very busy artist is up to here.
She may be best known as a dancer and a poet, but it was her artwork that first piqued our interest in Jessica Dessner. After seeing the covers she designed for critically acclaimed albums by Sufjan Stevens and The National, we called upon her to lend her talents to our Spring 1990 (The Other One) release.
