Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcsla.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!sdcsla!west From: west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) Newsgroups: net.music.gdead Subject: Re: the name Message-ID: <980@sdcsla.UUCP> Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 16:26:55 EDT Article-I.D.: sdcsla.980 Posted: Tue Sep 17 16:26:55 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 23-Sep-85 00:18:16 EDT References: <1027@teklds.UUCP> Reply-To: west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) Organization: UC San Diego: Institute for Cognitive Science Lines: 70 In article <1027@teklds.UUCP> tektronix!teklds!kathyf kathyf@teklds.UUCP (Kathy Friend) writes: >I went to my first concert this week >and came back with a couple questions: > > Why do they call themselves the Dead? -- They are so real it doesn't > make sense -- or is that the point? Well, the story (from several sources, including the rather poor books by Hank Harrison [check out "Playing in the Band", a new book by other authors]) goes like this: Several members of the band (known as the Warlocks at the time) were exploring some hallucinogen (mescaline, perhaps), and Jerry just opened a Webster's (probably 2nd international edition) and his eye was caught by the definition for Grateful Dead. You should look for a large Webster's dictionary or perhaps an Encyclopedia Brittanica, but the essence is that there is a group of European (mainly) myths which go like this: A traveler enters a town and finds a widow and children crying and being thrown out of their home by some greedy landlord or merchant, to whom the deceased owed some (usually small) amount of money. Often, the deceased person cannot be buried until the widow can find the money to pay the gravediggers. So the traveler pays off the debt (perhaps by working in the fields for some time), saves the widow and children from destitution, has the corpse buried, and continues on his journey. Some ways down the road, the traveler is joined by a man who is quiet but friendly, and joins the traveler. After a while, the pair encounter some danger -- highway robbers or the like -- and the stranger saves the traveler's life. After this, the stranger leaves, revealing only at the last that he is the dead man whose family and corpse the traveler has taken care of. Thus the Grateful Dead. There are other variations, such as the dead of a whole town coming out and helping in a crisis (saving the crops from burning, for example), after some unselfish gesture by the townspeople. Also of interest is one of the definitions of "deadhead", which is essentially one who gets into a concert or other event without paying. (Though the other definition [dull-witted or slow person] seems to miss the mark...) Hope this has been of interest... > Where have I been all my life? It's funny how many deadheads missed their first several opportunities to see the Dead. But then again, maybe we all just wait until exactly the right time.... > kathy friend > > taking joy wherever I find it! (I think you're on the right track!) -- Larry West (USA+619-)452-6771 Institute for Cognitive Science non-business hours: 452-2256 UC San Diego (mailcode C-015) La Jolla, CA 92093 U.S.A. ARPA:or UUCP: {ucbvax,sdcrdcf,decvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!sdcsla!west or {sun,mplvax,gti,ihnss,whuxlb,ulysses}!sdcsla!west