MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
For Grateful Dead fans, this week is known as the Days Between, marking the days between the anniversaries of the birth and death of Jerry Garcia. Now, the band has not officially existed since 1995, but their fans - Deadheads - still find ways to get together and enjoy the songs. As part of a series from NPR Music about the legacy of the Grateful Dead, Isabella Gomez Sarmiento went to see how fans stay connected.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: You might know Andy Cohen as a TV personality and host of the late-night show "Watch What Happens Live." But another key thing about him - his love for the Grateful Dead. Cohen went to his first Dead concert in 1986. He was a teenager, so he convinced his mom to let him drive from St. Louis, Missouri, to Alpine Valley, Wisconsin, for a show and then sleep in his car after.
ANDY COHEN: It was a formative experience for me in my life, and it was one of the building blocks of who I am in a significant way.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Half-step, Mississippi uptown, toodeloo.
SARMIENTO: CJ Smith is from a different generation. He's 23 years old. Earlier this summer, he drove 10 hours from Eugene, Oregon, to a Grateful Dead tribute show in Monte Rio, California. He says his parents met following the Grateful Dead.
CJ SMITH: Being young, I kind of, like, owe it to them to try to keep that going and keep bringing out people. I always - every show I always go to, I always try to get more of my friends to come out, try to get more people on the scene. And I feel like once they come out once, they just want to keep coming back.
SARMIENTO: At that same show in Monte Rio, Mark Perl was sitting on a grassy field just a few feet away. He's 82, and he's been a Deadhead for decades.
MARK PERL: To me, it's - the people are more important than the music. We're here for the people.
SARMIENTO: It's the collective community of being a Grateful Dead fan - getting together, listening to the music in a big group - that he still cherishes the most.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Singing) I will get by. I will survive.
SARMIENTO: And that's true for new Deadheads, too. Twenty-three-year-old Tyler Goodmoore discovered the Grateful Dead last year through a friend she made at a Santana concert. She never saw an original Grateful Dead member perform. But now, she listens to the band every day. In June, she went to see Dead cover band Mason's Children play in Brooklyn.
TYLER GOODMOORE: And so shows like this really bring everyone together. So it's really nice. I just met someone today, and she lives in New York, and it's like, I get to go to concerts with her, you know? Like, it's super fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MASON'S CHILDREN: (Singing) I thought I heard a young man mourn today.
SARMIENTO: Pete Shapiro owns the Brooklyn Bowl, the venue where Mason's Children played. Shapiro went to his first Grateful Dead show in 1993. Now his whole career is dedicated to promoting live music and jam band culture.
PETE SHAPIRO: I think it's that openness, you know, that Deadheads and fans of this music have, and it's that exploratory nature that is still going today. And I don't think it'll ever shut off.
SARMIENTO: Andy Cohen is in the same boat. He's planning to go to a Dead cover band show before the summer is over.
COHEN: I don't care if it's a bunch of teenagers playing the music. I don't care who's playing it. As long as the music's playing, I'll seek it out with whoever will come with me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RIPPLE")
THE GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Let there be songs to fill the air.
SARMIENTO: Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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