From the very beginning the group attracted a cult following that was much more than just a fan club. The two entities were brought together through a mixing of chemistry, karma, good vibes, and the aura of mid-Sixties San Francisco. The odyssey known as the Grateful Dead experience all began in the California town of Palo Alto, just south of San Francisco. This was the town where Jerry Garcia, the bands enigmatic leader, taught guitar by day and played the clubs at night (de Curtis and Henke 372). It was in these clubs that Garcia first began playing his brand of folk, blues, bluegrass, and jug-band music. These are also the clubs where Garcia first played with legendary band members Ron "Pigpen" McKer

In 1987 the Grateful Dead released In the Dark, the album that produced the bands only Top 10 single, "Touch of Gray". Following the release a flood of new converts rushed into the experience and threatened to crush the scene under its own weight. Mainstays on Dead concert tours, such as Berkeley's Greek Theater, and Morrison, Colorado's Red Rocks shrine could no longer capacitate the crowds that the Dead attracted. Even more threatening were the local police and politicians who wanted to keep the Dead out of town, claiming they brought too much commotion, too many drugs, and well too many Deadheads. The most disturbing of all setbacks to the Dead and Deadheads alike were the several controversial deaths that occurred at and around Dead shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Trager 85).

This message encouraged many Deadheads to undertake the task of improving their mini-society. The old encouraged the new not to gatecrash, advised them on concert etiquette, and aided in the calming down of the occasional bad acid trip. Groups such as Greenpeace and others that supported various political ideas began distributing information at shows, and it wasn't before long that the Grateful Dead experience regained its true form. Another contributing factor to the experience's salvation was the tapers, who helped out through their desire to spread the music to as many people as possible.

The series of albums produced, covered a wide spectrum of musical influences, and gained the band a national following of curios fans. They were curios about the music, curious about the band, curios about the drugs, but most of all they were curios about the total experience and wanted to become a part if it. As amazing as the recordings were, the true essence of the Grateful Dead rested in their live performances. It is acknowledged by many Deadheads that their conversion to the lifestyle came from attending a live performance, rather than through listening to an album. The live concerts were surrounded by a mystic only capable of emerging through a magical mixture of band and audience. The Dead recognized this fact and, based on their philosophy that music is the timeless experience of constant change, began to release live recordings, because, they were the most honest record of that experience. The first of these live recordings was Live Dead, in 1970. Subsequent to 1970, all albums released that were of great significance, were those done in concert. Of course, 1970 also produced Workingman's Dead, and American Beauty, perhaps the bands two finest albums. The Grateful Dead had now become an established rock band in America with nation wide allure, calling people to join the family and become a part of the experience, and that's what they did.

nan, Bob Weir, and first collaborated with legendary Dead songwriter, Robert Hunter. Early in 1965 Garcia, Weir, and Pigpen, teamed up with drummer Bill Kreutzmann in a rock & roll band called the Warlocks. The group exchanged their jug band instruments for loud electric axes. But often times their music was too loud and formless. Bay Area club patrons often left a Warlocks' performance feeling confused. Nonetheless, the Warlocks did establish a name for themselves with the local Bay Area gigs, and it was under this name that the band first took part in Ken Kesey's famed Acid Tests.

The band took steps to curb the caravan atmosphere of their shows that had reached critical mass. They did this by urging the ticketless to stay at home, cracking down on the freewheeling vending markets that spontaneously regenerated in parking lots outside shows, and planning hopscotch tour itineraries, that made it difficult for even the most dedicated of Deadheads to navigate their convoys (Trager 85). The band was even forced t

Some common words found in the essay are:
Grateful Dead, Curtis Henke, Dead Deadheads, Deadheads Folktales, Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead's, grateful dead, Summer Love, Bill Kreutzmann, George-Warren Dahl, Ballroom Dead, rock roll, acid tests, san francisco, curtis henke, dead experience, grateful dead experience, de curtis henke, de curtis, curtis henke 373, trager 6, 6 acid, dead continued, grateful dead continued, trager 6 acid,
Approximate Word count = 2555
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)