Conversations With The Deadheads

Covering 10 years, this 60 minute art documentary takes an inside look at the artisans, magicians, musicians, and lunatics that make up this cult of devotees, deadicated to a band that originated in 1965. Why these fans leave their schools, families and jobs to be part of these ritualistic tribal celebrations of dance, drugs and community, is a 20th century American cultural phenomenon captured here in this time capsuled video tape.

This project was done with humor, truth, and sarcasm. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, UCSC, where I went to college, there were many fans of The Grateful Dead. They called themselves Deadheads. I had not heard of the band before attending the school. I listened to the music, and I didn't understand why people felt so passionately about the band. I was intrigued. So in 1986, I decided to try and understand these people and the music they loved, and to create a video of my quest. This documentary project is the result. Enjoy.

In 1993, Grateful Dead took the stage at Buckeye Lake Music Center in Hebron, OH. On hand that night was Peter Shapiro, at the time a Northwestern film student spending a month on summer tour alongside cameraman Philip Bruell. The Buckeye Lake show opens and the Heads document the swelling Dead scene.

Drop out of school to ride with the Merry Pranksters. Form America’s most enduring jam band. Become a family man and father. Never stop chasing the muse. Bob Weir took his own path to and through superstardom as rhythm guitarist for The Grateful Dead. Mike Fleiss re-imagines the whole wild journey in this magnetic rock doc and concert film, with memorable input from bandmates, contemporaries, followers, family, and, of course, the inimitable Bob Weir himself.

CBS TV news special hosted by Harry Reasoner explores the way-out world of the Hippies and the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic 1960s LSD scene. Footage of LSDs users experiencing bummer trips. The Diggers, the Oracle and cool street and Golden Gate Park scenes with hippies tripping out. The Grateful Dead are interviewed and are shown performing "Dancin' in the Streets" on a flatbed truck in Golden Gate Park. The Hippie Temptation!

Jerry Garcia, legendary lead guitarist for the Grateful Dead and David Grisman, virtuoso mandolinist and founder of "Dawg" music… Now, for the first time ever, the musical matrimony and extraordinary friendship of Garcia and Grisman is traced in the award-winning documentary Grateful Dawg.

The tale of the Grateful Dead is inspiring, complicated, and downright messy. A tribe of contrarians, they made art out of open-ended chaos and inadvertently achieved success on their own terms. Never-before-seen footage and interviews offer this unprecedented and unvarnished look at the life of the Dead.

View from the Vault, Volume One, sometimes known simply as View from the Vault, is the first release in a series of DVDs and companion soundtracks by the Grateful Dead known as "View from the Vault". The audio is taken from the soundboard and the video from the video screens at the concerts. The first volume was recorded and filmed at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on July 8, 1990 with bonus material recorded two days earlier at Cardinal Stadium, Louisville. The set was certified Gold by the RIAA on February 2, 2001.

This documentary explores the Deadhead phenomenon. For thirty years, Jerry Garcia played guitar and sang for the Grateful Dead, and by doing so, inspired a modern cultural phenomenon: the legions of nomadic fans that made a communal way of life out of following Jerry and the Dead, the Deadheads. The End of the Road began shooting three months prior to Garcia's death in 1995, on the road with the wandering family of Deadheads- on what would be the final tour with Jerry and the Grateful Dead. Featuring a soundtrack by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, the film celebrates this social, political and cultural movement in its twilight.

Grateful Dead show on July 17, 1989 at Alpine Valley.

Set 1: Jam (>) Cassidy (Bob Weir song) (>) Deal (Jerry Garcia cover) Samson and Delilah ([traditional] cover) Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead cover) It Hurts Me Too (Tampa Red cover) Tennessee Jed (Grateful Dead cover) If I Had the World to Give (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Going Down the Road Feeling Bad ([traditional] cover) Set 2: Althea (Grateful Dead cover) Estimated Prophet (Grateful Dead cover) (>) China Cat Sunflower (Grateful Dead cover) (>) I Know You Rider ([traditional] cover) (>) Eyes of the World (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Drums (Grateful Dead cover) (with Oteil Burbridge) (>) Space (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Terrapin Station (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Morning Dew (Bonnie Dobson cover)

Set 1: Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead cover) Cold Rain and Snow (Obray Ramsey cover) Loser (Jerry Garcia cover) Dire Wolf (Grateful Dead cover) Loose Lucy (Grateful Dead cover) The Wheel (Jerry Garcia cover) (>) Bertha (Grateful Dead cover) Let It Grow (Grateful Dead cover) Set 2: Help on the Way (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Slipknot! (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Franklin's Tower (Grateful Dead cover) Fire on the Mountain (Grateful Dead cover) (>) The Other One (Grateful Dead cover) (verse 1) (>) Drums (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space (Grateful Dead cover) (> 'The Other One' verse 2) Black Peter (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead cover) U.S. Blues (Grateful Dead cover)

A short documentary about the Grateful Dead's legendary May 8, 1977 show at Barton Hall at Cornell University.

The Making of "Built to Last" documents a rare behind the scenes look at the Grateful Dead's thirteenth and final studio album, Built to Last. The behind the scenes footage contains members of the band working on three songs for the album: Picasso Moon, Blow Away, & Just a Little Light. The footage was filmed at Club Front Studio in San Rafael, CA on March 1st 1989.

The Grateful Dead performs live at Winterland in San Francisco in October 1974.

Set 1: Truckin'(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Smokestack Lightning(Howlin’ Wolf cover) (with Truckin tag) Althea(Grateful Dead cover) Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo(Grateful Dead cover) High Time(Grateful Dead cover) (>) All Along the Watchtower(Bob Dylan cover) (>) Bertha(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Good Lovin'(The Rascals cover) Set 2: Help on the Way(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Slipknot!(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Franklin's Tower(Grateful Dead cover) St. Stephen(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Uncle John's Band(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Cumberland Blues(Grateful Dead cover) (>) The Other One(Grateful Dead cover) (verse 2) Morning Dew(Bonnie Dobson cover) Encore: Brokedown Palace(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Playing in the Band(Bob Weir song) (Reprise) (>) One More Saturday Night(Bob Weir song)

Set 1: The Music Never Stopped(Grateful Dead cover) Next Time You See Me(Junior Parker cover) Me and My Uncle(John Phillips cover) Row Jimmy(Grateful Dead cover) Dear Mr. Fantasy(Traffic cover) (>) Hey Jude(The Beatles cover) (coda only) Cassidy(Bob Weir song) Iko Iko(Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters cover) Set 2: Here Comes Sunshine(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Viola Lee Blues(Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover) (> 'Cissy Strut' jam >) Looks Like Rain(Bob Weir song) (tour debut) (>) China Cat Sunflower(Grateful Dead cover) (>) I Know You Rider([traditional] cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) The Wheel(Jerry Garcia cover) (>) Wharf Rat(Grateful Dead cover) Casey Jones(Grateful Dead cover) Encore: Touch of Grey(Grateful Dead cover)

Set 1: Good Times(Sam Cooke cover) Big River(Johnny Cash cover) (tour debut) Friend of the Devil(Grateful Dead cover) They Love Each Other(Jerry Garcia cover) Black-Throated Wind(Bob Weir song) (tour debut) Big Railroad Blues(Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover) Dark Star(Grateful Dead cover) (verse 1) Johnny B. Goode(Chuck Berry cover) (tour debut) Set 2: Eyes of the World(Grateful Dead cover) (> 'Dark Star' verse 2) Fire on the Mountain(Grateful Dead cover) Shakedown Street(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) The Eleven(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Death Don't Have No Mercy(Reverend Gary Davis cover) (>) Going Down the Road Feeling Bad([traditional] cover) Encore: Knockin' on Heaven's Door(Bob Dylan cover) (Bobby on acoustic guitar) (tour debut)

Set 1: Playing in the Band(Bob Weir song) (>) Deal(Jerry Garcia cover) (>) Tennessee Jed(Grateful Dead cover) It Hurts Me Too(Tampa Red cover) Ramble On Rose(Grateful Dead cover) Brown-Eyed Women(Grateful Dead cover) Crazy Fingers(Grateful Dead cover) (Tour debut) (>) Dancing in the Street(Martha Reeves and the Vandellas cover) (Tour debut) Set 2: Sugaree(Jerry Garcia cover) Estimated Prophet(Grateful Dead cover) (>) The Other One(Grateful Dead cover) (verse 1) (>) Terrapin Station(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Stella Blue(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Sugar Magnolia(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Scarlet Begonias(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Sunshine Daydream(Grateful Dead cover) Encore: U.S. Blues(Grateful Dead cover)

Set 1: Hell in a Bucket(Grateful Dead cover) Alabama Getaway(Grateful Dead cover) Jack Straw(Grateful Dead cover) Big Boss Man(Jimmy Reed cover) Peggy-O([traditional] cover) Bertha(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Cassidy(Bob Weir song) Don't Ease Me In(Henry Thomas cover) Set 2: Viola Lee Blues(Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover) (>) Truckin'(Grateful Dead cover) (>) China Doll(Grateful Dead cover) (>) China Cat Sunflower(Grateful Dead cover) (>) I Know You Rider([traditional] cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Althea(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Standing on the Moon(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Not Fade Away(The Crickets cover) Encore: The Weight(The Band cover)