Category Archives: Grateful Dead

From Folk to Acid Rock, How Marty Balin Launched the San Francisco Music Scene

Posted on July 27, 2018 by

Top: Marty Balin at Monterey Pop, 1967. Photo by Suki Hill. Above. Jefferson Airplane enjoyed a close relationship with promoter Bill Graham, who booked the band, which he managed during most of 1967, into the Fillmore in San Francisco and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill Graham, Counterculture, Grateful Dead, Haight-Ashbury, Hippie, Music, Rolling Stones | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Synthedelia: Psychedelic Electronic Music in the 1960s

Posted on July 7, 2018 by

“‘Rock & roll is electronic music – because if you pull the plug, it stops.’ So says Louis ‘Cork’ Marcheschi of Fifty Foot Hose, whose sole album, Cauldron – a pioneering collision of abstract electronics and psychedelic rock originally released … Continue reading →

Posted in Counterculture, Environmental, Grateful Dead, Happenings, Jazz, Music, Street theater | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Space Cowboy’s Curriculum

Posted on June 27, 2018 by

“Ten things I know about John Perry Barlow: 1. John Perry Barlow died this past February at age seventy, but people have been trying to describe him for decades. Among the attempts: ‘Internet guru,’ ‘the thinking man’s Forrest Gump,’ and … Continue reading →

Posted in Counterculture, Grateful Dead, Haight-Ashbury, Ken Kesey, LSD, Merry Pranksters, Music | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Science of the Psychedelic Renaissance

Posted on June 4, 2018 by

Three new books suggest that psychedelic drugs did not necessarily have the power to rewrite society, but, instead, brought on revelations concerning earthly themes. “In 1960, Allen Ginsberg wrote a letter to Timothy Leary, then a professor at Harvard. Leary … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Books, CIA, Grateful Dead, Hippie, Jack Kerouac, Jazz, Ken Kesey, LSD, Marijuana, Merry Pranksters, Music, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ken Kesey Talks About the Meaning of the Acid Test

Posted on May 29, 2018 by

“For me, there have always been at least three Ken Keseys. First, there was the antiauthoritarian author of the madcap 1962 classic One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Inspired by Kesey’s own work as an orderly at a Menlo Park … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Counterculture, Grateful Dead, Haight-Ashbury, Hippie, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, LSD, Merry Pranksters, Timothy Leary | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mantra-Rock Dance

Posted on April 21, 2018 by

The Mantra-Rock Dance poster by Harvey W. Cohen (created December 1966) “The Mantra-Rock Dance was a counterculture music event held on January 29, 1967, at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. It was organized by followers of the International Society for Krishna … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Bill Graham, Counterculture, Grateful Dead, Haight-Ashbury, Hippie, LSD, Marijuana | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Served in Vietnam. Here’s My Soundtrack.

Posted on March 26, 2018 by

Former WRVA News Anchor Paul Bottoms worked with Armed Forces Radio in Saigon. “‘Vietnam.’ The word comes camouflaged in music. Rock ’n’ roll, soul, pop and country. For those who watched the war unfold on the evening news, the music … Continue reading →

Posted in Counterculture, Draft board, Ed Sanders, Grateful Dead, Music, Phil Ochs, Rolling Stones, Saigon, The Beatles, The Fugs, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment