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By Blair Jackson

Chances are, if you’ve been a Dead Head since the 1990s, you likely encountered artist Timothy Truman’s work at some point.

New Book Celebrates "Art of the Dead"

By Blair Jackson

Philip Cushway will not hesitate to tell you that he is not a Dead Head — not a fan of the Dead’s music, particularly. But he loves the art that the band has inspired since the mid -’60s, and he also cares deeply about the artists who created those hundreds upon hundreds of posters, album covers and free-standing art pieces.

The Rex Foundation Keeps Rolling Along

Stanley Mouse’s beautiful logo design for the Rex Foundation,

Spring '90: Ken Friedman’s Photos Are Built to Last:

Spring '90 Profile: Ken Friedman’s Photos Are Built to Last

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Plenty Shakin’ on Shakedown Street

By Blair Jackson

The vending scene outside Dead shows started so innocuously.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog: “Inch Your Way Through Dead Dreams…”

By Blair Jackson

Lights, Camera, Click! A Profile of Spring 1990 Photographer Jim Anderson

Lights, Camera, Click!
A Profile of Spring 1990 Photographer Jim Anderson

By Blair Jackson

Art of the Backstage Pass: A Profile of Spring 1990 Artist Tony Reonegro

Art of the Backstage Pass:
A Profile of Spring ’90 Artist Tony Reonegro

By Blair Jackson

Blair's Golden Road Blog - Where Were You When You Heard the News?

By Blair Jackson

Summer flies and August dies / The world grows dark and mean…
—Robert Hunter, “Days Between”

Blair’s Golden Road Blog—A ’60s Psychedelic Sampler Playlist

By Blair Jackson

Don’t get me wrong—I love 1970s Grateful Dead. It’s the decade they made their greatest albums, introduced most of their coolest songs (both originals and covers) and played hundreds of their finest shows.

Skulls and Indians and Choppers, Oh My! A Profile of Spring '90 Artist Wes Lang

By Blair Jackson

Skulls and Indians and Choppers, Oh My!
A Profile of Spring '90 Artist Wes Lang

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog—In the Shadow of the Moon: Terrapin Station at 35

Drummer Jay Lane: In the Primus of His Life

By Blair Jackson

Much has been made about how, even more than usual, this year’s Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, Connecticut is a Grateful Dead family event, as it features appearances by Phil Lesh & Friends, the duo of Bob Weir and Bruce Hornsby with special guest Branford Marsalis, the Mickey Hart Band and Bill Kreutzmann’s 7 Walkers. Wish I could be there!

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — The 10-Show Plunge

By Blair Jackson

Recently, I’ve been on a kick of listening to big chunks of certain Grateful Dead tours in chronological order. It started after I lauded the summer 1991 tour in this space a few weeks ago.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — Who Can the Weather Command?

By Blair Jackson

I must admit, when the lineup for this year’s Gathering of the Vibes in Connecticut July 19-22 was first announced, it got me seriously salivating.

Bill Payne Collaborates with Hunter on Little Feat’s New Rooster Rag Album

By Blair Jackson

The world is a better place with Little Feat in it.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Santa Cruz GD Archive Set To Open!

By Blair Jackson

After years of painstaking work and many months of preparation, the much-touted Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz is set to open to the public with a celebration on Friday, June 29, between 1 p.m.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - That “Touch of Grey” Summer

By Blair Jackson

On June 19, 1987—25 years ago this week—MTV showed the video of the Dead’s just-released single, “Touch of Grey,” for the first time.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - Bruuuuuuuce!

By Blair Jackson

Last time, we talked mostly about the post-Brent era as it related to Vince and to Jerry’s sad decline.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - After Brent

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — Cornell ’77 Enshrined for the Ages

By Blair Jackson

Mickey “Sonifies” the Golden Gate Bridge for 75th Anniversary + Free Download

By Blair Jackson

Once you’ve “sonified” the Big Bang, the sun, several planets and other assorted celestial phenomena, capturing the sonic essence of San Francisco’s historic Golden Gate Bridge to celebrate the span’s 75th birthday must seem like a fairly simple task. But you know Mickey Hart—he’s always looking for weird challenges.

Spring Fling! Catching Up with Recent Music from Phil, Bob, Mickey and Bill

By Blair Jackson

What a spring it’s been for Dead Heads! Bob, Phil, Mickey and Bill have all been incredibly busy, making damn fine music coast-to-coast in a variety of settings and band configurations.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - "Dark Star crashes..."

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - All Hail the Tapers!

By Blair Jackson

Spurred by a comment I read somewhere online, I decided to download the Dead’s January 10, 1979, concert at Nassau Coliseum.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - “Listen to the river sing sweet songs…”

By Blair Jackson

My 18-year-old daughter just had a week no one should have to experience.

A Perfect Night at the Movies!

By Blair Jackson

I have a slightly bizarre ritual when it comes to listening to shows I'm not familiar with.

Into the Heart of Music: Recording the Mickey Hart Band’s “Mysterium Tremendum”

By Blair Jackson

The Mickey Hart Band’s just-released album, Mysterium Tremendum, is a musical marvel and a sonic masterpiece. Over the course of 12 songs stretching to about 74 minutes, the eight-piece band, together in this form less than a year, sounds like old pros who have been playing together for ages.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - The Persistence of Memory

By Blair Jackson

I’ve been asked many times through the years about “the best” Grateful Dead show I ever attended. With 365 concerts spanning 1970 to 1995 to choose from, that’s an extremely difficult choice. “Best” in what way? Some supposedly objective evaluation of the music? Good luck with that. “Favorite”? Even that is completely loaded.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog — Education or Indoctrination?

By Blair Jackson

Last week we talked about the sometimes onerous and unpleasant task of trying to turn friends on to the Grateful Dead.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - “I’d Love to Turn You On…”

By Blair Jackson

No, not that way. That’s a topic for another time, for sure. But this week I want to talk about the challenges, perils and triumphs of trying to turn friends on to the Grateful Dead.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Finding the Spirit of ’67

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - GD in an MTV World

By Blair Jackson

All the excitement around here about the veritable tsunami of videos submitted for the Dead Covers Project got me thinking about the Grateful Dead’s rather slight contributions to the MTV Age.

Blair's Golden Road Blog - Super Bowl Fantasy

By Blair Jackson

Blair's Golden Road Blog - Diggin' That "Dead Covers Project"!

By Blair Jackson

When Dead.net’s Dead Covers Project began a month or so ago, I thought to myself, “OK, this could be fun.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Santa Cruz GD Archive Opening in Spring

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - The Keyboardist Question

By Blair Jackson

This could verge on the sacrilegious, but I’ve been thinking for some time that Jeff Chimenti may be the best all-around keyboardist to have played with the Grateful Dead or the post-GD bands.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - One Mo’ Time for 2011!

By Blair Jackson

What a wonderful year it was for the various Dead-connected bands crisscrossing the continent.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Finding New Year’s Magic in a Post-GD World

By Blair Jackson

What does it mean that I can clearly remember every New Year’s Eve I spent with the Grateful Dead or post-Dead bands, but can recall almost none of my other December 31sts?

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - New Year’s Eve Memories, Pt. 1

By Blair Jackson

Even though I was a rabid Dead Head when I moved from New York to the Bay Area back in the fall of 1973, I didn’t make it to a Dead New Year’s Eve show until 1981-82.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Jerry Jams for the Rex Foundation

By Blair Jackson

Continuing what has become a cherished early-December tradition for the Grateful Dead Family, the Rex Foundation put on another Wang Dang Doodle of a fundraiser at the Fillmore in San Francisco Dec. 3.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - This Is What It’s All About

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Sticking Up For Road Trips

By Blair Jackson

I’m as excited as everyone else to see what the future brings with Dave’s Picks.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Bill Graham: 20 years Gone

By Blair Jackson

As I write this on the morning of October 25, it is 20 years to the day that Bill Graham was killed in a helicopter crash, along with his girlfriend Melissa Gold and pilot Steve “Killer” Kahn.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Best Covers of Dead Songs?

By Blair Jackson

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Down in Monterey

By Blair Jackson

The people came and listened/ Some of them came and played/ Others gave flowers away, yes they did/ Down in Monterey

Blair's Golden Road Blog—A Cool New Book:Dead Letters: The Very Best Grateful Dead Fan Mail

By Blair Jackson

Chances are you’ve encountered some of Paul Grushkin’s remarkable books through the years.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - Best Dead Tours?

By Blair Jackson

Finding a consensus on almost anything in the Grateful Dead world is a daunting proposition. There are as many opinions about the “best” shows or tours as there are Dead Heads.

Blair’s Golden Road Blog - More Ticket Tales

By Blair Jackson

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was part of a historic ticketing injustice.