I've never done any research, but my guess is that the band is named after the Ken Kesey bus of the same name/spelling. Perhaps it's also a play at 'some great notion' that since the Grateful Dead cannot be the Grateful Dead without Jerry Garcia, the remaining members have decided to go 'further'.
However, not all the remaining members are in Furthur. Some are in other bands, some do their own thing. Again, this is un-googled, but Furthur is essentially Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and some younger musicians - one of whom I think was the drummer for Primus, and another who was the Jerry Garcia of a GD cover band - Dark Star Orchestra.
None of this means one thing or another, although it's interesting to note that Furthur is probably the most awesome cover band in the history of rock and roll... save for the two members who were actually in the actual band.
But what IS important is how the more things change, the more they stay the same.
In high school, the druggies were into Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Maybe the Doors and The Who as well. Sure, I had those names scrawled on my Trapper Keeper - along with Springsteen and Dylan. But the serious druggies were into the Grateful Dead. I did NOT listen to the Dead then. In my head I imagined they were like Iron Butterfly or Black Sabbath - something über heavy... I just couldn't go there.
But I started listening to the Dead in college. And I was SHOCKED to find it was country jugband music with some improvisation. Whuh?! Of course, once you get into it, you realize the lyrics are open to life-changing interpretation, and a 3 minute pop song played live can turn into a 45 minute magnum opus that goes in and out of several songs and then back to the original song so that when the line 'What a long strange trip it's been' resurfaces, it's MINDBLOWING.
Damn, that works on at least two levels...
I saw the Dead in the 80s and 90s. I've been to several shows. I once 'followed' them over a long weekend. But I am NOT a deadhead. I don't have that kind of commitment. Rather, I am committed to showering regularly and sleeping in a clean bed. But I appreciate the counter culture groove and the unintended irony of being anti-establishment in a sea of tie-dyes and dreadlocks.
The other evening, my friends and I went to Charter One Pavilion to see/hear Furthur. There are always two shows; the one that happens outside the venue and the one that happens inside. Both are entertaining in their own ways. I remember a Dead show in Milwaukee we didn't have tickets for. We just wandered around the parking lot all night. It was awesome.
Shakedown Street is a song AND a mall. Specifically, aside from also being a song, it's the string of tents in the parking lot that sell t-shirts, glass pipes, beads, and vegan burritos. It's where all walks of life walk; a parade of pasta rasta dreads in guatemalan pajamas. Here the whites of people's eyes are red, the older the tie-dye the more authentic, and the air is thick with pot, patchouli, and BO. It's a freak show. I love it.
Walking around Northerly Island before the show, I was struck by how young a lot of the fans are. They're kids, late teens/early 20s. I felt old. But to put it another way, Phil Lesh is 72. I believe that's a generation, right? It's like being a year or two in college and going to see a band whose members are your grandparents age.
Sure, these kids were tripping out of their skulls and wearing their fun freak clothes, but it seemed it was more than just a summer fling before hitting the books in the Fall. They were full on filthy dirty hippies; deadheads walking. If you've tattooed the lyrics of Sugar Magnolia on your ribcage, you're probably in it for the long haul. You believe.
But the walking dead also included people who were at the actual acid tests 50+ years ago as well. Well, maybe not the actual acid tests, but they could have been. There were at least that old. They were of that era.
e·ra (îr, r)
n.
1. A period of time as reckoned from a specific date serving as the basis of its chronological system.
2.
a. A period of time characterized by particular circumstances, events, or personages: the Colonial era of U.S. history; the Reagan era.
b. A point that marks the beginning of such a period of time. See Synonyms at period.
3. The longest division of geologic time, made up of one or more periods.
It's fascinating to see this demographic of the time/space continuum play out. Almost as much as the band itself play out. I've long believed members of the Grateful Dead are merely vessels for the music. There is no, "Hello, Cleveland!" or, "How's it going tonight?' Nothing. They do not talk. They just stand and play, let the music do the talking. Maybe they sway every now and then, but that's it. If they show any emotion, the crowd goes insane.
"BOBBY! BOBBY! PHILLLLLL! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
But here's the bottom line. The band rocks. The band is really truly awesome. Yes, you have to like that kind of music. You have to appreciate all the noodling and solos. But the historical significance of the band/music is HUGE. That is undeniable. If you consider the 60's counterculture revolution as axis points, Bob and Phil were right at X and Y. Or Haight and Ashbury if you will. They KNEW Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. They KNEW Allen Ginsberg. They were ON the bus WITH Ken Kesey. They are friends with Bob Dylan.
Which brings us back to Furthur. The show outside was great. The show inside was great. And I forgot about the other show; the one that happens right in front of you wherever you are. We had front row right behind the VIP section and the VIP box right in front of us was empty. The theater we were witness was awesome. Soooo many 'heads sat in those seats only to be kicked out by the petite Northwestern coed with the walkie talking and green back pack. Almost every one of them took out their actual ticket which clearly showed they were not where they were supposed to be. Dudes, really? It's bad enough she's trapped in a drug addled time warp.
But credit to this woman, she was good. Very earnest, polite. Kudos to her. Although the last fifteen minutes of the show I think she could have let it go a little. Whoever was supposed to show was not going to show now. It's not a crime to sit where you're not supposed to sit. It's not against the law. C'mon, just be cool...
All in all, we had a good time. The band was in good form. I preferred the second set to the first. I thought 'All Along the Watchtower' was awesome. As well as 'Morning Dew'. Getting home was a bit of a challenge, though. Rather, it was a long hot walk.
And somehow we were able to find a pile of buffalo wings at the end of the night. AWESOME!
PS. I had elote as my halftime theater snack. As the band launched into "Feel Like a Stranger' my boys leaned in and were all like, 'Uh, dude, what are you eating?"
"Elote."
"What's elote?"
"Just corn, man. You want some?"
"Uh, no. Wait, what is it?"
Classic.
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