Fans of the Grateful Dead are saying goodbye to the band this weekend. It’s not the first time.
Since the band lost its frontman Jerry Garcia nearly three decades ago, it has re-formed several times, touring continuously and winning over new generations. Along the way, it has given each new set of fans its own chance to mourn, my colleague Marc Tracy writes.
The day Garcia died in 1995, the Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir gave a concert near Boston. One fan, Albie Cullen, recalled that the encore felt like an emotional send-off for Garcia and the band. “Everybody kind of knew that was the end,” Cullen said. But it wasn’t.
In 2015, the surviving members held a series of goodbye concerts. It was another emotional send-off, but it wasn’t the end, either. Within months, a new iteration had formed, Dead & Company. It features the singer-songwriter John Mayer, who was born more than a decade after the original band formed.
During Dead & Company’s eight-year run, the band once again became a cultural touchstone. Longtime fans came to embrace Mayer, a skilled guitar player. Many young fans discovered the group on streaming services or through its deep online archive of live concerts, and the band recently had its best week of record sales in 35 years. When I saw the band perform at Citi Field in New York last month, the stadium’s upper deck was packed with Gen Z fans dressed in tie-dye.
Tonight, Dead & Company is in San Francisco to play the final show of what it says will be its final tour. Even if that turns out not to be true, once again, fans have embraced the ritual.
“We like to say goodbye. We find a usefulness to saying goodbye. It’s almost like practice,” Marc told me. “People genuinely like the bittersweetness of it. You’re not supposed to like sad things, but people go see sad movies all the time.”
Read Marc’s full story here.
NEWS
War in Ukraine
A vast and complex web of land mines is stalling the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Villages in eastern Ukraine, flattened by shelling and filled with mines, risk simply disappearing.
Heat
The brutal temperatures across the southern and western states are expected to peak this weekend, The Washington Post reports.
More than 100 million people have been under excessive heat warnings and advisories.
Politics
Ron DeSantis’s campaign has let go of staff as he struggles in polling against Donald Trump.
Wealthy Democrats have thrown money behind President Biden’s re-election, but so far, small donors aren’t contributing as much as they did in the 2020 campaign.
Recruits who quit Florida’s State Guard, which was billed as an emergency relief organization, said the group was too militarized.
Aging Societies
A coming demographic shift will remake the global balance of power, experts say. These graphics show how.
Aging populations will strain developed countries’ welfare systems, while a young labor force will benefit developing countries.
Britain’s public health service, flooded by older patients, is in the deepest crisis of its history.
International
John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, arrived in China today for three days of talks between the world’s two biggest polluters. Here’s what to expect.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, spent a night in the hospital after feeling dizzy. He was released after tests today.
Other Big Stories
Marketa Vondrousova won the Wimbledon women’s singles title. She beat Ons Jabeur, a Tunisian player who carried the hopes of African and Arab fans.
The suspect in Long Island’s Gilgo Beach serial killings was a detail-oriented architect. Some of his neighbors saw him as a menace.
The start-up Anthropic is trying to compete with ChatGPT while putting guardrails on artificial intelligence.
FROM OPINION
The Supreme Court has lost its discernment about unethical conduct, the federal judge Michael Ponsor writes.
A poem by Amanda Gorman on a recent migrant boat disaster honors the many who drowned.
Here are columns by David Brooks on human intelligence, Michelle Goldberg on British elections and Maureen Dowd on the actors’ strike.
The Sunday question: Should Ukraine join NATO?
To bring Ukraine into NATO would “draw a bright line that Russia dare not cross,” Marc Thiessen and Stephen Biegun write for The Washington Post. But the support Ukraine needs after the war can be achieved “without admitting Ukraine to NATO,” The Los Angeles Times’s editorial board writes.
MORNING READS
Cricket: South Asian communities have helped the sport take hold in South Texas.
Paddleball Paul: He’s fighting a lonely war against pickleball in Central Park.
“They’re outsmarting us”: Some birds are building nests out of spikes meant to keep them away.
Vows: Their breakup was the best thing to happen to them.
Lives Lived: Everett Mendelsohn, a longtime Harvard professor, became known for lecturing on diverse topics — genetic engineering and the making of the atomic bomb — and encouraging students to examine the impact of science. He died at 91.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
On the cover: Greta Gerwig wanted “Barbie” to be a work of art.
Eat: After three generations, fried zucchini takes its final form in a caper-filled pasta.
Read the full issue.
BOOKS
“Onlookers”: Ann Beattie’s new story collection, her “best in more than two decades,” examines the forces shaping America by looking at Charlottesville, Va.
Our editors’ picks: “Directions to Myself,” a poised memoir of parenthood and processing, and eight other books.
Times best sellers: Colleen Hoover is all over the latest paperback trade fiction list.
THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …
Plan the perfect weekend in Telluride.
Use these kitchen compost bins.
Convert your desk into a standing one.
Try these bistros in Paris.
THE WEEK AHEAD
What to Watch For
Novak Djokovic, seeking his third Grand Slam title of the year, faces Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon men’s final today.
Jurors in the trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting will begin considering on Monday whether to recommend that the judge sentence the gunman to death or life in prison.
The Senate is scheduled to begin considering an annual defense bill Tuesday. House Republicans loaded their chamber’s version with social policy provisions.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, will meet with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday.
The Women’s World Cup begins Thursday in Australia and New Zealand.
What to Cook This Week
Margaux Laskey’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter is filled with the low-stress recipes you make when the kids are away at summer camp. Puttanesca chickpea-tomato salad is a simple bean salad you can eat all week, and this caramelized corn and asparagus pasta from Alexa Weibel highlights summer veggie superstars.
NOW TIME TO PLAY
Here are today’s Spelling Bee and the Bee Buddy, which helps you find remaining words. Yesterday’s pangram was deviant.
And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku.
Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at [email protected].
Source: Read Full Article
Home » Analysis & Comment » Remembering the Dead
Remembering the Dead
Fans of the Grateful Dead are saying goodbye to the band this weekend. It’s not the first time.
Since the band lost its frontman Jerry Garcia nearly three decades ago, it has re-formed several times, touring continuously and winning over new generations. Along the way, it has given each new set of fans its own chance to mourn, my colleague Marc Tracy writes.
The day Garcia died in 1995, the Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir gave a concert near Boston. One fan, Albie Cullen, recalled that the encore felt like an emotional send-off for Garcia and the band. “Everybody kind of knew that was the end,” Cullen said. But it wasn’t.
In 2015, the surviving members held a series of goodbye concerts. It was another emotional send-off, but it wasn’t the end, either. Within months, a new iteration had formed, Dead & Company. It features the singer-songwriter John Mayer, who was born more than a decade after the original band formed.
During Dead & Company’s eight-year run, the band once again became a cultural touchstone. Longtime fans came to embrace Mayer, a skilled guitar player. Many young fans discovered the group on streaming services or through its deep online archive of live concerts, and the band recently had its best week of record sales in 35 years. When I saw the band perform at Citi Field in New York last month, the stadium’s upper deck was packed with Gen Z fans dressed in tie-dye.
Tonight, Dead & Company is in San Francisco to play the final show of what it says will be its final tour. Even if that turns out not to be true, once again, fans have embraced the ritual.
“We like to say goodbye. We find a usefulness to saying goodbye. It’s almost like practice,” Marc told me. “People genuinely like the bittersweetness of it. You’re not supposed to like sad things, but people go see sad movies all the time.”
Read Marc’s full story here.
NEWS
War in Ukraine
A vast and complex web of land mines is stalling the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Villages in eastern Ukraine, flattened by shelling and filled with mines, risk simply disappearing.
Heat
The brutal temperatures across the southern and western states are expected to peak this weekend, The Washington Post reports.
More than 100 million people have been under excessive heat warnings and advisories.
Politics
Ron DeSantis’s campaign has let go of staff as he struggles in polling against Donald Trump.
Wealthy Democrats have thrown money behind President Biden’s re-election, but so far, small donors aren’t contributing as much as they did in the 2020 campaign.
Recruits who quit Florida’s State Guard, which was billed as an emergency relief organization, said the group was too militarized.
Aging Societies
A coming demographic shift will remake the global balance of power, experts say. These graphics show how.
Aging populations will strain developed countries’ welfare systems, while a young labor force will benefit developing countries.
Britain’s public health service, flooded by older patients, is in the deepest crisis of its history.
International
John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, arrived in China today for three days of talks between the world’s two biggest polluters. Here’s what to expect.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, spent a night in the hospital after feeling dizzy. He was released after tests today.
Other Big Stories
Marketa Vondrousova won the Wimbledon women’s singles title. She beat Ons Jabeur, a Tunisian player who carried the hopes of African and Arab fans.
The suspect in Long Island’s Gilgo Beach serial killings was a detail-oriented architect. Some of his neighbors saw him as a menace.
The start-up Anthropic is trying to compete with ChatGPT while putting guardrails on artificial intelligence.
FROM OPINION
The Supreme Court has lost its discernment about unethical conduct, the federal judge Michael Ponsor writes.
A poem by Amanda Gorman on a recent migrant boat disaster honors the many who drowned.
Here are columns by David Brooks on human intelligence, Michelle Goldberg on British elections and Maureen Dowd on the actors’ strike.
The Sunday question: Should Ukraine join NATO?
To bring Ukraine into NATO would “draw a bright line that Russia dare not cross,” Marc Thiessen and Stephen Biegun write for The Washington Post. But the support Ukraine needs after the war can be achieved “without admitting Ukraine to NATO,” The Los Angeles Times’s editorial board writes.
MORNING READS
Cricket: South Asian communities have helped the sport take hold in South Texas.
Paddleball Paul: He’s fighting a lonely war against pickleball in Central Park.
“They’re outsmarting us”: Some birds are building nests out of spikes meant to keep them away.
Vows: Their breakup was the best thing to happen to them.
Lives Lived: Everett Mendelsohn, a longtime Harvard professor, became known for lecturing on diverse topics — genetic engineering and the making of the atomic bomb — and encouraging students to examine the impact of science. He died at 91.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
On the cover: Greta Gerwig wanted “Barbie” to be a work of art.
Eat: After three generations, fried zucchini takes its final form in a caper-filled pasta.
Read the full issue.
BOOKS
“Onlookers”: Ann Beattie’s new story collection, her “best in more than two decades,” examines the forces shaping America by looking at Charlottesville, Va.
Our editors’ picks: “Directions to Myself,” a poised memoir of parenthood and processing, and eight other books.
Times best sellers: Colleen Hoover is all over the latest paperback trade fiction list.
THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …
Plan the perfect weekend in Telluride.
Use these kitchen compost bins.
Convert your desk into a standing one.
Try these bistros in Paris.
THE WEEK AHEAD
What to Watch For
Novak Djokovic, seeking his third Grand Slam title of the year, faces Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon men’s final today.
Jurors in the trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting will begin considering on Monday whether to recommend that the judge sentence the gunman to death or life in prison.
The Senate is scheduled to begin considering an annual defense bill Tuesday. House Republicans loaded their chamber’s version with social policy provisions.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, will meet with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday.
The Women’s World Cup begins Thursday in Australia and New Zealand.
What to Cook This Week
Margaux Laskey’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter is filled with the low-stress recipes you make when the kids are away at summer camp. Puttanesca chickpea-tomato salad is a simple bean salad you can eat all week, and this caramelized corn and asparagus pasta from Alexa Weibel highlights summer veggie superstars.
NOW TIME TO PLAY
Here are today’s Spelling Bee and the Bee Buddy, which helps you find remaining words. Yesterday’s pangram was deviant.
And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku.
Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at [email protected].
Source: Read Full Article