A photographic document of the Grateful Dead’s final five “Fare Thee Well” concerts in Santa Clara, Ca. and Chicago, Il.. The book follows the final reunion of the “core four” surviving members of the Grateful Dead - Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir- along with Trey Anastasio from Phish, Jeff Chimenti on keyboards and Bruce Hornsby on piano as they say goodbye with 5 magical nights of music. This historical book presents beautiful spreads of epic and exclusive live and backstage images by Jay Blakesberg and his photo team, and features a foreword by basketball legend and Major Domo Deadhead Bill Walton with an afterword by David Lemieux, the official archivist for the Grateful Dead.
Jay Blakesberg is a San Francisco-based photographer and filmmaker whose work appears regularly in many magazines, including Rolling Stone and Guitar Player. Over the last 30 years his rock & roll journey has seen him work with many legendary artists including The Grateful Dead, Santana, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Radiohead, and Phish. He has published 10 volumes of his work, including books on The Grateful Dead, Primus and The Flaming Lips. His most recent book is Hippie Chick, which includes epic photographs of women as they experience the live music experience in a state of Love and Bliss
Bill Walton is an American retired basketball player and television sportscaster. Walton achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three successive College Player of the Year Awards, while leading the Bruins to two Division I national titles. He then went on to have a prominent career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was a league Most Valuable Player(MVP) and won two NBA championships. Bill has seen the Grateful Dead and their various offshoots perform over 1000 times!
David Lemieux is an audio and film archivist. He has been working as the Grateful Dead's audiovisual archivist and CD/DVD producer since September 1999. He was put in charge of the Grateful Dead's vault after the August 1999 passing of original Grateful Dead tape archivist Dick Latvala. With his producing partner, and long-time Grateful Dead studio engineer, Jeffrey Norman, Lemieux has produced scores of Grateful Dead CD and DVD releases since 2000.