By Jim Brennan
We at Hooniverse have some of the best fans on the internet. Want Proof? Well we received this tip from Steve Cabella about a lost treasure (well, treasure is in the eye of the beholder…) found in Berkley, California. The fact that it was rediscovered in Berkley is absolute karma.
Steve set up a website called “The Lost Grateful Dead Truck” in which he describes the history of this 1949 Studebaker one-ton truck. Here is a brief paragraph from the site:
The Grateful Dead’s Truck from 1966, originally known to deadheads as “The Dred.” Starting in early 1966, this 1949 one-ton Studebaker truck was purchased and used by Stanley Owsley to move the grateful dead’s sound equipment to various gigs in the bay area, from the mid 60s to the early 70’s. Among other journeys into the rock and roll history of the grateful dead, Owsley also used this truck to move the Grateful Dead down to L.A. for a recording gig and for the appearance of the Dead at the Acid Tests in L.A in mid 1966.
Go to Steve’s site here. It has a video attached, and it takes some time to load, so be patient. If you want to drop Steve a line asking for any other information, or to pass some of your knowledge of the truck, send them to our tip line, and we will pass them along.
Christian "Mental" Ward 
Antti Kautonen 
Jeff Glucker
Oh wow, man.
Small correction: It wasn't Stanley Owsley, but (Augustus) Owsley Stanley (III), AKA "The Bear". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_Stanley While looking this up, I discovered that he died in a car crash in Australia earlier this year.
Talk about the perfect ride for hauling your wares to Shakedown Street.
Curious – How many Hoons caught a Dead show?
I saw them in 1982. I'm not a Deadhead or even a fan, but they were impressive live. By the way, "Shakedown Street" is Disco Dead.
Nor was I, but living in California in the mid-80s it was just one of those things you do.
As I understand it, Shakedown Street also refers to the row of vendors accompanying a rock festival.
Yeah, you're right, I think they had to do that album to fulfill contractual obligations, but I still like it. Hey, you can't fault the Gilbert Shelton cover art. Probably better than the album contained within. I have a copy of it on vinyl, and I swear the cover was never used to sort any kind of vegetable material.
Studio albums weren't really the Dead's strength, particularly in later years. To me, Terrapin Station was the last decent one and even the ones that came before were spotty. They were always best live, which explains the endless popularity of their concert recordings.
I absolutely love Terrapin Station. The title track is epic. Good call.
Phil Lesh and Bob Weir are touring with a new lineup, calling themselves Furthur after the famous bus from back in the day.
<img src="http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/srv1965/Janis%20Joplin/further.jpg" width="500">
I have tickets for two of the three dates they are playing in Eugene OR in September (see http://www.furthur.net/ for details).
Here is some Shakedown Street for ya!
[youtube 7R3WBhod0sE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3WBhod0sE youtube]
It's like an Acid Trip…..Appear!
Oh hell yes, I saw the Dead at Parkwest, Utah, in I think 1987. It was a great concert, but of course that opinion may have been affected by various things that I ate and smoked during the experience. I've always liked the Dead, even though I tended to be more of a punk than a hippy. I like the fact that they used a lot of jazz and blues influences in their mess of a style. That's even more up my alley.
Best jug band there ever was.
What a long, strange trip it's been.
Love or hate the Dead, it matters not. That truck is an important part of American history and I'm glad it's being cared for. Also, I was going to point out that it's sad that this truck is being saved and the Merry Pranksters' bus "Furthur" was rotting in a swamp, but I can't because it's being restored too. That makes my day.
The bus wasn't really rotting in a swamp was it? If so that's a damn shame.
It really was. Check it: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/10792061/ns/today-e…
For those of you who would like to get their Dead on, tune into
"Lone Star Dead" on KNON 89.3 here in Dallas, TX. Fri nights
8 to 10 CST