Nick Meriwether, editor of All Graceful Instruments: The Contexts of the Grateful Dead Phenomenon,” is being interviewed by Christian Crumlish in the Inkwell, a public forum of The WELL.
From the introduction of the interview:
The Grateful Dead: just a dance band, or something deeper? Or will pursuing the question kill the buzz?
When still waters ripple without a pebble being tossed, something special is happening. The phenomenon of the Dead is something special in its cultural duration and social breadth. Oral historian Nicholas Meriwether, one of the leading researchers of the meaning of The Grateful Dead Experience, is editor of the new volume, “All Graceful Instruments: The Contexts of the Grateful Dead Phenomenon.”
Does the phenomenon of the Dead hold up to academic study? Maybe we can have our buzz and read it, too. The essays in “All Graceful Instruments” explore the artistic and literary significance of the Dead’s work, the social dimensions of the Deadheads, and the implications of their persistence today, without compromising the zest of the trip.
You can read the online interview here, and you can submit a comment or question by emailing inkwell@well.com.