Brow Beat

The Early History of the Grateful Dead, Animated

The latest installment of Blank on Blank from PBS Digital Studios draws on a Joe Smith interview of Jerry Garcia from the late 1980s—a complete copy of which is apparently in the interview catalog at the Library of Congress, though it does not appear to be online. This time, the animations by Patrick Smith are, appropriately, in living color.

Smith and Garcia cover the band’s early days as The Warlocks, their first meetings with Ken Kesey, and their first experiments with acid. Garcia makes it all sound like a blast. Enjoy.