Show Notes
“The Grateful Dead viewed the very idea of planning as being some kind of fascist concept” says Sam Culter, the Dead’s tour manager from 1969 to 1974. Cutler is the guy who finally turned the Dead into a business, but it was an uphill battle the whole way. “The business model was made essentially by a kind of strange hippie default mechanism that worked in mysterious ways.” In this episode, stories from inside the strange hippie default mechanism. Emmett sits down with Sam Cutler and the stories get… pretty unbelievable.
More from America's Dead
We arrive at the last episode of our show, and a new understanding of the power of the Dead community. For this one, we’re turning our episode over to Grateful Don, founder of the sobriety group the Wharf Rats, to tell his story.
Branford Marsalis is a world famous jazz saxophonist and three time GRAMMY Award winner. Then, in the early 90s, Marsalis joined the Dead onstage for a series of shows now widely considered to be the best of that era. For Branford, it wasn’t the music that stuck with him from that experience, it was how the audience was listening to it. In this episode, Branford Marsalis on why Deadheads are different from all other music fans.
“The dancing bears, the steal your face logo, they're probably known on Mars at this point,” says artist ESPO. In this episode, we’re asking why these images have such staying power, and Emmett talks to LA streetwear label Online Ceramics, who’s Dead-inspired tee shirts have introduced a whole new generation to the psychedelic era. Once you speak the Dead’s visual language, you’ll see it everywhere.
Lila Downs is a six time GRAMMY winner who has recorded duets with artists from Santana to Nora Jones and even sang for Barack Obama at the white house. But before all that, Lila was living on the road, traveling with the Dead and selling jewelry on Shakedown Street.
Emmett sits down with Mac DeMarco and members of the band Animal Collective, artists who are keeping the spirit of the Dead alive today – not just in the music they make, but in the community they cultivate. In this episode, we look at how bands today draw inspiration from the Dead, from live recordings to prolific touring.