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Learning From the Grateful Dead

Even Grateful Dead tours — those months of escapes into the sweet land of peace, love, and understanding — had moments when the real world intruded.

The band's 2,333 live shows brought countless golden moments spent pondering the mystical beauty of Robert Hunter's poetry spun through Jerry Garcia's guitar. They also brought the occasional lost ticket or mud-filled pit outside the portable toilets.

The "Unbroken Chain" conference, which pulled dozens of authors and academics to Amherst last month for the largest university conference on the religious, philosophical, and economic implications of the Grateful Dead experience, brought its own unplanned lesson for the band's admiring scholars.
Read entire article at Chronicle of Higher Ed