"On Dec. 4, 1965, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and Phil Lesh played their first official gig as the Grateful Dead at one of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests in downtown San Jose. If one defines "official" as loading equipment, plugging in and playing music at a public event for a few hundred people, then it was official, even though it was at a house on South Fifth Street, right where San Jose City Hall plaza now sits."
"Dan Orloff of San Jose Rocks and former San Jose Mercury-News sports columnist Mark Purdy will illuminate the long strange trip of tracking down the house, where it was relocated, and how they took the plaque concept from idea to execution. An array of characters will speak at the podium, including Jerry Garcia's daughter Trixie and at least one person who attended the gig 60 years ago."
On Dec. 4, 1965, members of the Grateful Dead performed their first official public gig at a Ken Kesey Acid Test in downtown San Jose. The performance took place in a house on South Fifth Street, the present site of San Jose City Hall plaza, and drew a few hundred people. A commemorative plaque will be unveiled at the back of City Hall on the 60th anniversary, with a free public gathering and an official ceremony. Organizers tracked down the house's relocation and developed the plaque project. Speakers will include local historians, Jerry Garcia's daughter, and an attendee from the 1965 gig. Flyers invited Stones concertgoers to the public Acid Test while LSD remained legal, and Tom Wolfe later chronicled the chaotic party in his book.
Read at Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley's Leading Weekly
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