Grateful Dead Series

The iconic Dancing Bears have a hazy history. They first appeared on the back cover of the album Bear’s Choice in 1973. The brainchild of artist Bob Thomas, it is thought that he came up with the idea while look- ing at an antique printer font of a bear. Was it a nod to the Dead’s sound engineer, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, who recorded many of the Dead’s earlier live concerts (and supposedly danced merrily while doing so). Or, were the bears a tribute to the colorful, fun culture embodied by the band and its devoted followers? It’s a mystery you should explore and unfold!

Nothing says “Grateful Dead” more than the iconic Steal Your Face graphic of a skull and lightning bolt. Orig- inally created in 1969 by Owsley Stanley, the band’s sound engineer, and artist Bob Thomas, the symbol was spray painted onto their gear to make identification easy. Years later the art was featured on the cover of the 1976 album Steal Your Face. One of the songs (He’s Gone) contains the lyrics “steal your face right off your head” – a reference to the band’s early (and ungrateful) manager who ran off with funds. They lost money but gained a priceless logo.

Does the iconic skeleton with a headpiece of roses have a name? No, and neither did the 1971 album graced with the iconic artwork. Artists Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse collaborated on the original design in 1966 when it first appeared on a concert poster. Five years later, when the band wanted to title its live album with a risqué two-word phrase for “blow your mind,” it was deemed inappropriate for the public. The band decided to release the unnamed album adorned with the striking image of Skull and Roses. A picture can say a thousand words. Or two. You decide.

The Grateful Dead began as The Warlocks in 1965, but changed their name and moved to San Francisco’s low rent Haight-Ashbury district the next year, just as it was morphing into a hippie mecca for musicians and counterculture devotees. Their communal home at 710 Ashbury Street became the band’s headquarters and party central. The Dead’s funky blend of psychedelic blues, folk, rock and jazz amassed an eclectic cult following, and 1967’s “Summer of Love” launched the band onto the world stage. Open your cube and take a colorful trip back to their magical heyday.