If you like these reviews and you want to support me, please consider buying a copy of my book   On This Day In Grateful Dead History: A Daily Listening Journal . They're $50 and I offer free shipping if you subscribe to my mailing list, where you'll get these writeups delivered. No spam, I promise! Over time, as I've written these listening guides, I marked up my copy of the book like this: The underlined songs are the ones I'm calling out as highlights (songs names that are

Hello everyone. I’d like to wish all of you a Happy New Year! This will be my final writeup. I’m going to transition to a different format for 2026. But don’t worry, all of my listening guides will be available on my website. I just can’t do weekly writeups any more. I need to focus on other more personal matters for the time being. But I will try to do some social media posts when I can. Thanks for going on this journey with me over the last year, it’s been a lot of fun, and

For the week of 12/22 – 12/28th, we’re gearing up for New Year’s Eve with some interesting historical year-end shows. It is fascinating to read about the 1970 benefit for Owsley "The Bear" Stanley, where the band likely added a Montessori School to the bill to soften the image of supporting a jailed LSD chemist. I was amused by the 1969 show where Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir had to improvise an acoustic set because drummer Bill Kreutzmann was delayed on a flight over Omaha.  Th

For the week of 12/15 – 12/21, the history of the Grateful Dead offers several deeply emotional and significant moments. I was particularly struck by the description of the crowd's deafening reaction to Jerry Garcia's return to the stage in Oakland in 1986 following his diabetic coma, which marked a joyful reunion for the community. It is also fascinating to read about the 1973 shows in Tampa where Donna Godchaux was absent due to being extremely pregnant, a situation that re