Grateful Dead

a US rock band that formed in 1965 in San Francisco. They were known for their many stage performances and their willingness to change songs each time they played them. Their successful albums included Grateful Dead (1967) and American Beauty (1970). Their leader, Jerry Garcia (1942–96), died at a drug treatment centre in California. In 1998 three other original members of the group formed a new group called The Other Ones.

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U.S. rock group.

It was formed in San Francisco in the mid-1960s by Jerry Garcia (1942–95) on guitar, Phil Lesh (b. 1940) on bass, Ron ("Pigpen") McKernan (1945–73) on keyboards, Bob Weir (b. 1947) on guitar, and Bill Kreutzmann (b. 1946) on drums. The Grateful Dead emerged from the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic-drug-and-music scene, later gaining fame for performing at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and Woodstock. Though they regularly released albums, their focus was on live music. They became one of the country's most successful touring bands, known for Garcia's marathon four-hour musical meanderings and for their entourage of "Deadheads," a devoted legion of nomadic fans who followed the band in spirited makeshift communities. In the late 1980s a new generation of fans made the Grateful Dead the most successful touring band in the world. They stopped touring after Garcia died of a heart attack at a drug rehabilitation centre.

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▪ folklore

      in folktales of many cultures, the spirit of a deceased person who bestows benefits on the one responsible for his burial. In the prototypical story, the protagonist is a traveler who encounters the corpse of a debtor, to whom the honour of proper burial has been denied. After the traveler satisfies the debt, or, in some versions, pays for the burial, he goes on his way. In another version of the story, burial is prescribed for religious reasons but prohibited by civil authorities. It is this version that forms the theme of the apocryphal Book of Tobit in the Old Testament.

      The hero is soon joined by another traveler (sometimes in the form of an animal, or, in the story of Tobit, an angel), who helps him in a dramatic way. In some stories the companion saves the hero's life; in others he helps him gain a prize. In many versions, the companion offers to aid the hero, but only on condition that they divide the prize. Then, as the hero is about to comply, the companion reveals himself as the grateful spirit of the deceased whom the hero helped to bury.

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