Steve Silberman's tribute to Jerry Garcia, 1942-1995
Skeleton Key:A Dictionary for Deadheads is 400 pages of lore,
history, interviews, and thoughts on the Meaning of It All, from
what guitarist Jerry Garcia calls "the Grateful Dead outback" - the
diverse global community that is nourished by the music of the
Grateful Dead and the shared experience of Dead shows.
Skeleton Key is a labor of love and "deadication" by Deadheads
David Shenk and Steve Silberman, published by Doubleday/Main Street
Books in 1994.Skeleton Key celebrates the magic, humor, and
significance of the Deadhead community, while it investigates the
history of the Long Strange Trip - from the days of be-bop jazz and
the Beat Generation writers whose literary adventures inspired many
Deadheads' own on-the-road journeys, to now, when Deadheads swap
tapes and tales around the virtual campfires of Deadhead
cyberspace.
1995 marks the 30th year of the Dead's experiment in
improvisational telepathy.Skeleton Key is the first detailed road
map of the culture and lifeways of Deadheads, featuring interviews
with hundreds of fans and family, including Elvis Costello and Bill
Walton, and thoughts on the music and community by people like Dead
lyricist Robert Hunter, mythographer Joseph Campbell, and Grateful
Dead Hour host David Gans.
Skeleton Key features a foreword by John Perry Barlow, Dead
lyricist and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.The
psychedelic lettering on the cover is by Alton Kelley, one of the
original San Francisco poster artists, who also designed the covers
for the Dead albums American Beauty and Europe '72.The icon on the
cover of Skeleton Key is a 200-year-old Tibetan thangka used for
meditation, of skeletons dancing in a cloud of fire, an image of
enlightened consciousness awakening even in the midst of
death.
We hope that whether you are a committed Deadhead, or just a
curious Websurfer, you'll poke around this site and get a taste of
the beauty, joy, humor, and mystery of Deadhead life.Feel free to
pop on a tape and make yourself comfortable as the first notes sing
your blues away, and you enter the Skeleton Zone...
A Word from the Authors
Since the publication of Skeleton Key last fall, Steve and I have
been overwhelmed and overjoyed by the nice reviews from fellow
Deadheads and from the press. To me, the best compliments have been
along the lines of, "I can't wait to show this to my Pop - now
maybe he'll understand!"I wanted to help articulate why we all love
this music so much, and report to the world about the generous
spirit of the community which has formed around it.If you haven't
yet, I hope you'll get a chance to check out the entire book
sometime soon.We'd love to hear what you think.Drop us a line at
Skeleton1@aol.com.
Howdy folks!After spending 20 years of my life dancing happily in
the Phil Zone at Dead shows, I'm deeply thankful I was given the
chance to offer something back to the community which has given me
more joy and meaning than any other:a deep picture of our extended
family.I hope you enjoy it, and you may learn a few things along
the way, whether you're an old-time tourhead or a newbie who just
got on the bus.Be well. See you in the Zone! - Steve
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