tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post3467277575362677813..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: January 20, 1968: Municipal Auditorium, Eureka CALight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-35706538035942587912018-02-20T20:17:04.164-08:002018-02-20T20:17:04.164-08:00There is nothing about the Dead here...I posted th...There is nothing about the Dead here...I posted these to show how Dead shows were perceived by many people, and written about by the press. (The articles are mostly complete here; I left out mainly lists of names.) <br /><br />McNally writes, "On January 20 the musicians flew to Eureka to begin the tour, exited the plane, and found what appeared to be half the cops in the county there to greet them... [After the show] their cleanup was not perfect, and after the gig, police found roaches and rolling papers, leading the local press to call the show a 'pot orgy.' This news dogged their tracks through the next few weeks." (p.248) <br /><br />I don't think any local paper actually called the show a "pot orgy," but clearly it was a frightening event for local police! Eureka seems to have been stuck in 1957. <br />There's no mention of the music; the show is said to have lasted five hours, and was "wild." Estimates of how many kids attended vary wildly, but they came from all over the county, and evidently they were all in danger of having drugs pushed on them at the show - why, one unfortunate even got "bad acid," freaked out and might go blind! Even the "highly sophisticated" light show was threatening, with its oozing colors and "nude female forms." Those poor souls who attended were being lured into "an idle, lewd, dissolute and immoral life"...and even worse (gasp) some of the pot-smokers even came from wealthy, "prominent" families! <br />But not to worry, the entire police department is working on this with round-the-clock surveillance, and they're certain to nip this dope thing in the bud. They're getting "100 per cent cooperation." <br /><br />Arnie Millsap, who made arrests at the show, later became the Eureka police chief, and recalled: "Look back in the archives of the Eureka paper and you'll see there was a big bust at the Grateful Dead dance. I was an officer at the time. We had people all over the outside and so many inside the fire marshal was getting the hiccups. We had people selling and using marijuana that night. I caught one guy selling LSD tabs. After that we wouldn't allow the Grateful Dead to come back to Eureka." <br />https://www.northcoastjournal.com/121098/people1210.html Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com