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Joan Didion’s 1967 Grateful Dead Interview Draft Unearthed.

5/20/2026

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Summary

Story summary

A draft of Joan Didion's 1967 Grateful Dead interview was found at Public Library and posted on Jeff Weiss’s POW Mag substack.
Didion interviewed Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann in their rehearsal space for the Saturday Evening Post, with Ron “Pigpen” McKernan absent.
The band dismissed Council for A Summer of Love’s Golden Gate Park programming as a “musicians’ union,” opting to play for free without directing crowds.

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Story summary

A draft of Joan Didion's 1967 Grateful Dead interview was found at Public Library and posted on Jeff Weiss’s POW Mag substack.
Didion interviewed Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann in their rehearsal space for the Saturday Evening Post, with Ron “Pigpen” McKernan absent.
The band dismissed Council for A Summer of Love’s Golden Gate Park programming as a “musicians’ union,” opting to play for free without directing crowds.