Skeleton Key A Dictionary for Deadheads

Steve Silberman's tribute to Jerry Garcia, 1942-1995 Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheadsis 400 pages of lore, history, interviews, and thoughts on the Meaning of It All, from what guitarist Jerry Garcia calls "the Grateful Dead outback" - the diverse global community that is nourished by the music of the Grateful Dead and the shared experience of Dead shows. Skeleton Keyis a labor of love and "deadication" by Deadheads David Shenk and Steve Silberman, published by Doubleday/Main Street Books in 1994. Skeleton Keycelebrates the magic, humor, and significance of the Deadhead community, while it investigates the history of the Long Strange Trip - from the days of be-bop jazz and the Beat Generation writers whose literary adventures inspired many Deadheads' own on-the-road journeys, to now, when Deadheads swap tapes and tales around the virtual campfires of Deadhead cyberspace. 1995 marks the 30th year of the Dead's experiment in improvisational telepathy. Skeleton Keyis the first detailed road map of the culture and lifeways of Deadheads, featuring interviews with hundreds of fans and family, including Elvis Costello and Bill Walton, and thoughts on the music and community by people like Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, mythographer Joseph Campbell, and Grateful Dead Hour host David Gans. Skeleton Keyfeatures a foreword by John Perry Barlow, Dead lyricist and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The psychedelic lettering on the cover is by Alton Kelley, one of the original San Francisco poster artists, who also designed the covers for the Dead albums American Beauty and Europe '72. The icon on the cover ofSkeleton Keyis a 200-year-old Tibetan thangka used for meditation, of skeletons dancing in a cloud of fire, an image of enlightened consciousness awakening even in the midst of death. We hope that whether you are a committed Deadhead, or just a curious Websurfer, you'll poke around this site and get a taste of the beauty, joy, humor, and mystery of Deadhead life. Feel free to pop on a tape and make yourself comfortable as the first notes sing your blues away, and you enter the Skeleton Zone... A Word from the Authors Since the publication ofSkeleton Keylast fall, Steve and I have been overwhelmed and overjoyed by the nice reviews from fellow Deadheads and from the press. To me, the best compliments have been along the lines of, "I can't wait to show this to my Pop - now maybe he'll understand!" I wanted to help articulate why we all love this music so much, and report to the world about the generous spirit of the community which has formed around it. If you haven't yet, I hope you'll get a chance to check out the entire book sometime soon. We'd love to hear what you think. Drop us a line atSkeleton1@aol.com. Howdy folks! After spending 20 years of my life dancing happily in the Phil Zone at Dead shows, I'm deeply thankful I was given the chance to offer something back to the community which has given me more joy and meaning than any other: a deep picture of our extended family. I hope you enjoy it, and you may learn a few things along the way, whether you're

DAVID SHENK is the author of six books, including The Genius in All of Us, Data Smog, and The Immortal Game. His book The Forgetting inspired an Emmy-winning PBS film of the same name and was featured in the Oscar-nominated film “Away From Her.” He has advised the President’s Council on Bioethics and contributed to The New Yorker, National Geographic, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Harper's, Spy, and NPR. Shenk lives in Brooklyn. More at davidshenk.com.

STEVE SILBERMAN is an investigative reporter whose feature articles have appeared in Wired, The New Yorker, and many other national magazines. He is also the author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity (Avery/Penguin 2015) and one of Time's selected science tweeters (@stevesilberman). More at stevesilberman.com.