GOOD OL' GRATEFUL DEADCAST – "Long Strange Tech, Part 2"

Date: November 17, 2022
Hosts: Rich Mahan, Jesse Jarnow

Episode Overview

This episode continues the Deadcast’s journey into the intersection of the Grateful Dead and technology, tracing how the band and its fanbase became key participants in the evolution of digital culture. From pioneering the sharing and modification of musical technology to helping shape the foundations of online community and digital rights activism, the Dead’s influence is revealed to be as relevant in the virtual world as it was in the physical one. Stories from sound engineers, tapers, early internet denizens, and band members illustrate both the technical innovation and enduring community spirit that powered the Dead's long, strange trip into cyberspace.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Grateful Dead and Early Digital Culture (04:44 – 09:36)

• The episode opens by revisiting the US Festival (1982), highlighting the blending of California tech and music scenes at an event thrown by Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder).
• Jesse Jarnow draws parallels between bands like Kraftwerk and the Dead: both at the musical and technological frontier, but with the Dead uniquely magnetizing future-focused energy even as they aged.
• Insight: The Dead’s deep roots in tech go back to the band's willingness and resources to tinker and innovate—a privilege of both place (Northern California) and fortune.

2. The Dead’s Embrace of Digital Sound (09:36 – 13:09)

• Charlie Miller recounts digital recordists showing up at Dead shows in ’82, introducing engineer Dan Healy to PCM Beta digital recording, sparking a five-year stretch of digital Dead tape making.
• The move to computer-controlled lighting and adoption of early, specialized computer gear in live concerts.
• Comment: "We used to patch up all these huge boxes—it was like the old telephone operators." – Dan English (11:45)

3. Deadheads, ARPANET, and Online Community Pioneers (13:10 – 22:30)

• Steve Silberman and Paul Martin recall the Deadhead enclaves at Stanford and MIT labs, using ARPANET for not only redundant communication but as a “village square”. The first documented online commerce: a cross-country dope deal between labs.
• John Perry Barlow (lyricist): "We are a community ourselves...not a commune and not brothers...we’re a community like a small town in Iowa.” (18:55)
• Insight: The Deadhead mailing lists and Usenet groups arise, dividing discourse into show logistics (Dead Heads list) and colorful debate/gossip (Dead Flames list).

4. The Hacker Ethic and Free Software Movement (22:31 – 27:25)

• David Henkel Wallace (“Gumby”) bridges the MIT and Stanford Dead crowds, helping to seed both digital fandom and open source thinking.
• Quote: "There weren’t clear boundaries in my life between Deadheads going to shows, working on computers, sharing stuff. In fact, we would arrange consulting jobs around the tour." – Gumby (25:37)
• Gumby’s influence continues with Cygnus, a company embodying open-source principles.

5. Taping Culture: Technical Hacking for Better Sound (27:26 – 37:13)

• Doug Odie of the Odie brothers details their evolution from recording nature sounds to pioneering true stereo Dead taping, emphasizing authentic soundscapes.
• Multiple technical innovations: open-reel to cassette, custom preamps, removal of noise-inducing components, all to better capture the live Dead experience.
• Quote: "It's much better because it contains the audio cues that we react to emotionally in a very positive manner...you experience the emotion of the performance." – Doug Odie (32:45)

6. The Macintosh, HyperCard, and the Well (37:14 – 55:48)

• The arrival of the Macintosh (with Deadhead Daniel Kottke on the team), HyperCard (inspired by LSD), and desktop publishing open new digital creative horizons; Mary Eisenhart becomes the editor of MicroTimes.
• The longing for connection motivates lone Deadheads to build community via newsletters like The Golden Road and online spaces, culminating in the Well—an iconic Bay Area BBS that becomes an early Deadhead digital hub.
• Memorable Story: The origin of “Light Pole #7” as a mythical show meetup spot (46:54).
• Quote: "The Well was basically completely overrun by Deadheads, which was great for the cash flow, but a little bit of a shock to the culture." – Mary Eisenhart (48:45)

7. Online Culture Grows Up: Communities, Conferences, Memes (55:49 – 1:15:12)

• Expansion of the Well leads to subdivisions: Tapes, Tours, Deadlit, Rumors conferences.
• Deadheads quickly assemble for activism, leveraging their online network. Example: fundraising and organizing a protest billboard against Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2 (1:29:30).
• Usenet flame wars, legendary posts (“Dale the Porsche Guy”), and even intricate jokes, like the Cornell ’77 show as a CIA hoax, take root.
• Quote: "We were tracking the progress of the tour as it went along...literally before the encore was over, Rich had posted the setlist." – Jesse Jarnow on Rich Petlock (57:40)

8. Digital Experimentation Within the Band (1:15:13 – 1:22:54)

• Jerry Garcia explores Macs for art (“I’m a real great mouser...Most of my computer stuff has been graphics, animation...”), even as he’s wary of music software.
• The Dead enthusiastically embrace MIDI, with Bob Bralove helping them use it to translate expressive gestures into digital sound.
• Quote (Garcia): "If you were able to overcome...muscle training, and you were able to convert your ideas directly into music, you’re a musician too. Everybody could produce incredibly beautiful music." (1:22:31) – on the democratizing potential of technology.

9. Toward Digital Rights and Internet Activism (1:22:55 – 1:33:07)

• John Perry Barlow co-founds the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on the Well (1:29:55), championing internet civil liberties and digital free expression.
• Eric Davis explores the libertarian and ecological dimensions of Dead/Barlow philosophy, noting both community-mindedness and a trust in emergent systems—sometimes for good, other times unchecked.

10. Legacy and the DNA of Digital Deadhead Culture (1:33:08 – End)

• The spirit of openness persists in the tape-trader–to–file-sharer evolution, from Taper Trees to SugarMegs FTP to FurtherNet and BitTorrent.
• The Internet Archive’s Live Music Archive (founded 1996) emerges as a Deadhead-driven project, preserving thousands of shows.
• Digital Deadhead communities continue to flourish in new places (Discord, Mastodon, Reddit) despite darker turns in online discourse overall.
• Quote: "I will have more in common with young Deadheads 500 years from now than I will with many non-Deadheads now...It’s a mindset, a set of cultural information, and a set of intentions." – Steve Silberman (1:41:27)

Memorable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• On turning military tech into a village square:
  "Deadheads turned that into a place to be friendly and a place for discovery...it should bring a smile to the face of any outlaw, that this elaborate system developed by five-star generals has been turned into a village square by Deadheads."
  — Steve Silberman (15:24)

• On the Dead’s community experience:
  "We are a community ourselves...like a small town in Iowa, you know, where everybody farms right outside of town."
  — John Perry Barlow (18:55)

• On technical innovation in taping:
  "From my experience recording soundscapes...the idea was to make it as natural sounding as possible, as much like your head was in that space as possible."
  — Doug Odie (34:49)

• On the Well’s Deadhead takeover:
  "The Well was basically completely overrun by Deadheads, which was great for the cash flow, but a little bit of a shock to the culture."
  — Mary Eisenhart (48:45)

• The mythical light pole:
  "Let’s meet under light pole number seven."
  (46:54, story about a non-existent location as Deadhead inside joke)

• Online Deadhead activism:
  “...We decided to buy a billboard and put it up across from the McNichols Arena...a stealy with a pink triangle, ‘Deadheads Against Discrimination. Undo 2.’...Dozens of people coordinated their work to make this happen.”
  — David Gans (1:29:30)

• The Dead and the future of music technology:
  "If you were able to convert your ideas directly into music, you’re a musician too...how many Beethovens are there that just for lack of training and the world doesn’t get exposed to it?"
  — Jerry Garcia (1:22:31)

• On continuing Deadhead culture:
  "I will have more in common with young Deadheads 500 years from now than I will with many non-Deadheads now."
  — Steve Silberman (1:41:27)

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• Early digital Dead and ARPANET: 13:10–22:30
• Taping gear innovation: 27:26–37:13
• Rise of the Well and online community: 46:00–55:48
• Online activism against Colorado’s Amendment 2: 1:29:00–1:31:30
• Barlow and the EFF: 1:29:55–1:32:00
• Transition to file sharing and BitTorrent: 1:35:25–1:38:56
• Memes, myths, and Deadhead folklore online: 1:18:00–1:22:00
• Deadhead cultural persistence: 1:41:20–end

Conclusion

This episode richly documents the Grateful Dead’s deep intermingling with the technological currents of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The Dead weren’t just users of new tech—they and their community often hacked it, adapted it, and shaped its culture, with a particular focus on openness, sharing, and connection. From PCM soundboard tapes to the earliest digital forums, from tape trees to BitTorrent, the Grateful Dead’s legacy endures not only in music, but also in the DNA of the networked world.