Grateful Dead: View from the Vault III

Drop out of school to ride with the Merry Pranksters. Form America’s most enduring jam band. Become a family man and father. Never stop chasing the muse. Bob Weir took his own path to and through superstardom as rhythm guitarist for The Grateful Dead. Mike Fleiss re-imagines the whole wild journey in this magnetic rock doc and concert film, with memorable input from bandmates, contemporaries, followers, family, and, of course, the inimitable Bob Weir himself.

The tale of the Grateful Dead is inspiring, complicated, and downright messy. A tribe of contrarians, they made art out of open-ended chaos and inadvertently achieved success on their own terms. Never-before-seen footage and interviews offer this unprecedented and unvarnished look at the life of the Dead.

In 1993, Grateful Dead took the stage at Buckeye Lake Music Center in Hebron, OH. On hand that night was Peter Shapiro, at the time a Northwestern film student spending a month on summer tour alongside cameraman Philip Bruell. The Buckeye Lake show opens and the Heads document the swelling Dead scene.

Covering 10 years, this 60 minute art documentary takes an inside look at the artisans, magicians, musicians, and lunatics that make up this cult of devotees, deadicated to a band that originated in 1965. Why these fans leave their schools, families and jobs to be part of these ritualistic tribal celebrations of dance, drugs and community, is a 20th century American cultural phenomenon captured here in this time capsuled video tape.

This project was done with humor, truth, and sarcasm. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, UCSC, where I went to college, there were many fans of The Grateful Dead. They called themselves Deadheads. I had not heard of the band before attending the school. I listened to the music, and I didn't understand why people felt so passionately about the band. I was intrigued. So in 1986, I decided to try and understand these people and the music they loved, and to create a video of my quest. This documentary project is the result. Enjoy.

Recorded on Shakedown Street in Albany, NY during Grateful Dead's Summer Tour, 1992.

Set 1: Shakedown Street(Grateful Dead cover) (Bob and John shared vocals) (>) Bertha(Grateful Dead cover) (John and Bob shared vocals) (>) Ramble On Rose(Grateful Dead cover) It Hurts Me Too(Tampa Red cover) (John Mayer on vocals) Dancing in the Street(Martha Reeves and the Vandellas cover) (John and Bob shared vocals) Althea(Grateful Dead cover) (John Mayer on vocals) Let It Grow(Grateful Dead cover) Set 2: China Cat Sunflower(Grateful Dead cover) (>) I Know You Rider([traditional] cover) St. Stephen(Grateful Dead cover) (Bob and John shared vocals) (>) Uncle John's Band(Grateful Dead cover) (John and Bob shared vocals) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (with Joe Russo) (with Oteil) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) The Eleven(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Stella Blue(Grateful Dead cover) (>) U.S. Blues(Grateful Dead cover) (Bob and John shared vocals) Black Muddy River(Grateful Dead cover) (John Mayer on vocals)

Set 1: Bertha(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Good Lovin'(The Rascals cover) It Must Have Been the Roses(Robert Hunter cover) (Tour Debut) Big River(Johnny Cash cover) (>) Dark Star(Grateful Dead cover) (verse 2) Next Time You See Me(Junior Parker cover) (>) Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Bird Song(Jerry Garcia cover) (>) Don't Ease Me In(Henry Thomas cover) Set 2: Iko Iko(Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters cover) Sugaree(Jerry Garcia cover) China Cat Sunflower(Grateful Dead cover) (>) I Know You Rider([traditional] cover) (>) Uncle John's Band(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Hell in a Bucket(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Wharf Rat(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Turn On Your Love Light(Bobby “Blue” Bland cover) Touch of Grey(Grateful Dead cover)

This documentary explores the Deadhead phenomenon. For thirty years, Jerry Garcia played guitar and sang for the Grateful Dead, and by doing so, inspired a modern cultural phenomenon: the legions of nomadic fans that made a communal way of life out of following Jerry and the Dead, the Deadheads. The End of the Road began shooting three months prior to Garcia's death in 1995, on the road with the wandering family of Deadheads- on what would be the final tour with Jerry and the Grateful Dead. Featuring a soundtrack by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, the film celebrates this social, political and cultural movement in its twilight.

Set 1: Feel Like a Stranger(Grateful Dead cover) Franklin's Tower(Grateful Dead cover) (John Mayer on vocals) Mama Tried(Merle Haggard cover) Alabama Getaway(Grateful Dead cover) (John Mayer on vocals) Dear Mr. Fantasy(Traffic cover) (John and Bob shared vocals) (>) Hey Jude(The Beatles cover) (Coda) (everyone on vocals) Truckin'(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Deal(Jerry Garcia cover) (John Mayer on vocals) Set 2: Scarlet Begonias(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Fire on the Mountain(Grateful Dead cover) (Oteil on vocals) Estimated Prophet(Grateful Dead cover) (with 'Get Up, Stand Up' by The Wailers tease) (>) Eyes of the World(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (with Oteil) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (>) All Blues(Miles Davis cover) (>) Cumberland Blues(Grateful Dead cover) (Bob and John shared vocals) (>) All Along the Watchtower(Bob Dylan cover) Morning Dew(Bonnie Dobson cover) Encore: Brokedown Palace(Grateful Dead cover) (Bob and John shared vocals)

Set 1: Cassidy(Bob Weir song) Brown-Eyed Women(Grateful Dead cover) I Need a Miracle(Grateful Dead cover) Here Comes Sunshine(Grateful Dead cover) Tennessee Jed(Grateful Dead cover) China Doll(Grateful Dead cover) Viola Lee Blues(Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover) The Music Never Stopped(Grateful Dead cover) Set 2: New Speedway Boogie(Grateful Dead cover) Dark Star(Grateful Dead cover) (verse 1) (>) The Other One(Grateful Dead cover) (verse 1) (>) Terrapin Station(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Drums(Grateful Dead cover) (>) Space(Grateful Dead cover) (> Jam (theme mashing up… more ) Black Peter(Grateful Dead cover) Casey Jones(Grateful Dead cover) One More Saturday Night(Bob Weir song)