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Example research essay topic: Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia - 2,015 words

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Grateful Dead I wanna tell you how it's gonna be, you " re gonna give your love to me, I wanna love you night and day, you know my love not fade away. You know my love not fade away, not fade away! -- Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead (Skull-Fuck and Roses), 1971 In the summer of 1995, following the death of Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead stopped touring. For thirty years, their concerts served as a gathering place for a diverse group of followers, nicknamed Deadheads. Coming from all walks of life, they exemplified the hippie-culture ideologies of peace, generosity, and sharing. The era of the three-season Grateful Dead tour has ended and the fans need to fill the apparent void left by its absence. This is a report of an Internet survey of Deadheads (see Appendix for online interview demographics) illustrating how they have compensated for this lack to different degrees and in a variety of ways.

These include following other tours and bands, communicating on the Internet, and other creative pursuits. A great number have just gone on with their lives, better off for being touched by the music of the Dead. Sometimes the light's all shining on me, other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me, what a long strange trip it's been. -- Grateful Dead, American Beauty, 1970 Online questionnaire opinions tell of the feelings toward the various styles and musical groups. "Phish is musically talented and innovative-not focused on a mentality of kindness, that informs their life as were the Dead -- and thus a bit empty by comparison" (Online Interview 4). They don't have the original hippie zeal or mission of change. All who have heard Phish attest to their musical capabilities.

It is in (unfair) comparison to the Dead that the group falls short. Common reactions to their concerts include, "Going to Phish makes me feel old (I'm 30) because of the young following they attract" (Online Interview 20) and "Their music seems to attract more of the jack, punky element that really began to be a serious pain in the ass the last few years the Dead were around" (Online Interview 19). The comparison to the Dead "just may be the silliest damned thing anybody has ever attempted. [Phish has] A completely different approach to music, outside of the open-ended jamming that both groups draw from" (Online Interview 9). It is their similar "noodling" that the media has keyed in on. The sentiments of many who have forgone traveling are summed up as follows: "Have seen Phish a couple of times. I admire their unique talent and their energy and enthusiasm.

But I'm not willing to follow them around the country" (Online Interview 3). With most Deadheads unwilling to follow a new band across the country, more support for the Furthur Fest (Furthur was the name given to the bus used during Ken Key's legendary Acid Tests that featured the emerging Dead) would be expected (She and Silberman). Remaining members of the Dead Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bruce Hornsby along with their new bands, haw; grouped together to try to fill in the summer months left empty by the end of the Grateful Dead tour (Catlin). "Musicians gotta play, Deadheads. gotta dance, " says Hart. "Considering they never heard the songs before, the fans are on their feet all night. They " re getting it. It's all a little strange at first, but after a few minutes they get into the groove and go for a ride.

They depend on the succession of the notes. It's a habit for them. It's a healing process for me too to get out and play again. It felt good to get back in the familiar groove. It was like revisiting an old lover, like good sex with an old girlfriend" (Susman). After two years, fans looking to re-create the Dead scene appear disappointed: "Furthur is an evolving reincarnation of various band members' new musical efforts.

Last year one could still detect the spaces left in the music that Jerry used to fill" (Online Interview 20). Still others acknowledge there is no going back: "Furthur Fest is a nice try. I admire the other bands that participate, however it can't replace the Dead. They are fun shows, and I went last year and will go again this year because I love live music and there will be bands that I like.

But I won't go thinking that the Grateful Dead will be playing. I will go to see some old friends that I haven't met yet and hear some familiar music played just a bit differently than I'm used to" (Online Interview 9). Much of the lack of interest has been attributed to the tour creators' intentions. When ticket sales weren't as brisk as anticipated, headline acts such as the Black Crowes were added to the bill. "IT]he promoters are trying to reach beyond those who want to see acts with some connection to the Dead and get anyone with a credit card to show up.

The problem with the last few years of the Dead tour WAS that everyone with a credit card was showing up" (Online Interview 19). Many of the older fans still have a lingering mixed reaction to the "newbies" (fans new to the bus, new to the culture). Many see the experience of following the group as the equivalent of running away to join the circus. There is freedom in the utopian vision of the hippies -- it wasn't all just peace, love, and kindness. But it seems that as new fans got on the bus, these visions changed forever.

The parking lots during the last concert tour are most brutally described as "a haven for overindulged white kids who were looking to rebel against their parents, but not rebel so far as to never be able to return at the first sign of trouble" (Online Interview 1). While older Deadheads feel some responsibility to be guides for the youths recently attracted to the scene, a large portion are turned off by the new attitudes they embody. In the last few tours, references were made to groups of families called "the Wrecking Crew" or "the Five Families. " (It is common to refer to an immediate group of Deadhead friends as "family. ") The main focus of these loosely knit groups was selling beer, burritos, and (nitrous oxide-filled) balloons. Most Heads gave them a wide berth. These groups staked out territory at each venue for selling their wares and it was rumored they carried guns. There was some suspicion that they were involved with the government or with the police as informants. "They'd get picked up by the cops, you'd see it at one show, and they would be back out the next day, which was weird" (Online Interview 22).

There was little respect for the clique aspect of these groups: "IT]he five families were business people, I think. Never cared much for them... they were moneychangers then, and still are, I think, just with different scams" (Online Interview 18). What has happened to these people now that the tour has ended? According to one Deadhead: "My beliefs are that those in it for economic interests followed their interests... economics" (Online Interview 5).

The biggest commodity outside the stadiums was drugs. The dealers have just moved on: "I have seen several friends who are still surviving quite nicely in their old trade, even though the venue has changed. I think there are enough other bands and tour attractions to keep the entrepreneurs active for quite some time. Trust me, if they have to sell stuff at a Metallica concert, they will" (Online Interview 1).

While the band continues to sell and put out CD sets from their archives (available through the Grateful Dead Almanac), an amazing aspect of the Dead is the availability of their music free of charge. It has the largest trading market of its kind, fully sanctioned and encouraged by the band itself. Each concert arena was set up in different sections. There was a spinners section, where those who danced by spinning in circles could have a large area for unrestricted movement. There were the ticketed seat areas (which it appears nobody really sat in for a whole show). Last, there was the tapers area.

The taper section was partitioned for the "bootleggers" to set up their tape decks and microphones to get the best sound. Anyone with a tapers ticket could record the show and make copies for the Heads who requested them. They could be seen as a branch on a tree (with the band as the trunk). The tapes they dubbed for others became leaves. With the ready access to the Internet, the tape trade has been bustling.

A blank tape is sent to a "branch, " who then sends back your "leaf. " Thus, the quality of the tapes being disseminated is assured, at least as far as keeping the music at a second generation of copying (Online Interview 14). No money changes hands in this process, just tapes. These collections range from the modest to the extensive: "I've only got about 200 tapes, I mean you should see my friend Jeff, he has like 7 times as many" (Online Interview 14). Admirably, this truly is about "getting the music out there. " To mention or believe in a large-scale for-profit "bootleg tape industry" is to seriously offend any true Deadhead and show yourself to be an outsider. (In Online Interview 7 I was taken to task on this issue. ) The interviewee pointed out the need to define [humanize] myself within the context of the Deadheads. They needed to know that I was not an intruder and was genuinely interested for academic, as well as personal, reasons.

I was pretty far off "the bus" or even the road they were traveling on! In their effort to educate me, I received more detailed responses on a fairly general questionnaire. The definitive answer came as: "There is no 'industry' and we actively try to destroy anyone's chances of profiting off of Grateful Dead tapes. They are a gift from the band" [Online Interview 7 ]. ) Shall we go, you and I while we can?

Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds. -- Grateful Dead, American Beauty, 1970 After Jerry Garcia's death, "Deadheads, some belonging to on-line communities and others not, found solace on the Internet. This was particularly important for those isolated from local communities of Deadheads" (Adams). There is great activity among Deadheads on the Internet. They can be found at the official website of the Grateful Dead (web). Deadbase (web) has hundreds of personal Deadhead home pages. America Online has the "Dead Forum, " and The Well (telnet: well.

sf. ca. us. ) is the best-known electronic bulletin board service with a large Dead membership. Through the Internet, Deadheads gather in much the same way they did outside a concert. They catch up on the years, months, or days since they were last together. Tape trading is a favorite pastime at the tape site (which can be accessed through Dead.

net). Dead. net offers several different areas to explore. Heads visit Deadnet Central, which has bulletin board files for questions. This includes the Robert Hunter Journal site, where anyone can read current anecdotal stories about the lyricist's life and his personal plans for the future. There is a sense of connection on these lines.

Many Deadheads bought computers specifically to keep in touch with each other, either when they stopped touring or after the tour ceased. "Part of touring for me was meeting fellow Deadheads from around the country. I've been able to meet many of those people on-line and even in person from time to time. I am a 'bus driver' (chat room supervisor) in the AOL Dead Forum, and this allows me to not only be in touch with other long-time heads, but to teach the kind and peace-loving nature of us to the newbies" (Susman). In the electronic age, instead...


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Research essay sample on Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia

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