San Jose State features conference on The Grateful Dead

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Counterculture is going mainstream at San Jose State University this week, as an academic conference on The Grateful Dead is underway. The band actually played its first gig in San Jose and it's now become a topic of rigorous study.

When you know a subject well enough, you can use it to make a name for yourself. Rock and roll photographer Jay Blakesberg certainly did after years of following The Grateful Dead.

When asked if he ever thought this would turn into a Ph.D.-type of subject, Blakesberg replied, "No. When we were following The Grateful Dead, we were just there to have fun."

But the Ph.D.'s will be listening on Thursday at San Jose State University where for four days academics from around the world will study papers about this iconic traveling band, its influences, history, music and lyrics.

"It is a quintessential representation of many of the tensions in American society and you can absolutely look at the lyrics as literature," Eric Silverman, Ph.D. from Wheelock College said.

Yes, at some universities, The Dead have become a new field of study, and taken as seriously as the classics like history 170, foreign policy, or social statistics.

However, for certain Boomers from the 60's through the 90's, Dead concerts and experiences were a class, even though they might not have known it at the time.

"I mean The Grateful Dead experience, what we did when we were on tour with The Grateful Dead as fans in the early 1980's is sort of the next level after Jack Kerouac and On The Road," Blakesberg said.

Actually, a college campus is the perfect place to talk about the literary, cultural and historical significance of The Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia in American culture, or so we thought.

After asking around at San Jose State, some students said they had never heard of The Grateful Dead or they recognized the name Jerry Garcia only from the ice cream named after him. One student even said, "It doesn't sound like it's grateful. There's nothing grateful about being dead."

"You know I am a college professor. If I'm disappointed at everything my students didn't know, it would be a very grim occupation," Silverman said.

Or maybe not... because with an event like this, teaching a new generation about The Grateful Dead, can be a pretty good living.

If you're interested in going to the conference check out more information here. On Saturday the dead tribute band from Santa Cruz, The China Cats, will play.

Schedule: www.sjsu.edu/somanyroads/schedule