Grateful Dead & Nevada Jacks - Did you know.. (2 Viewers)

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Woke up this morning to the news that Dead & Co have announced that next summer will be their final tour. Being a lifelong 'DeadHead', decades of memories rushed over me. Then I popped on PCF with those memories still playing on my mind in the background and something hit me..

DID YOU KNOW???

The very popular Nevada Jack Ceramic Chip ("Skull Design") was actually not the design that was originally intended for release to the public. It was actually never intended to be sold to the public at all. As I recall, the Desert Sands chip was the design that we thought would lead to our success. The Desert Sands was a throw back design paying nostalgic homage to original Las Vegas. Just days prior to launching our DS ceramic chip production, we got word from our trademark attorney that "Desert Sands" may have issues with one or both of the names. We had to postpone its release but had so much invested in manufacturing that had to do something. What to do???

Well, we had commissioned an award winning chip designer to produce the Desert Sands design. During the weeks of back and forth on the Desert Sands design, I spent hours on the phone talking with the designer. We began to talk about other Ideas and things. I told him I was a deadhead and also had love for the gambling themes in their songs. He had love for the Old West. We joked about designing a mash-up chip design with tribute to the Dead with an 'Old Western' theme. Next thing you know he whipped up the Nevada Jack Skull design.. notice it is without the 'S' as the original clay chips had the 'S'.

We were proofing our manufacturing process so I ran the design for testing purposes and my own personal use. I still have the original chips that were produced (Pic Below) Facing the roadblock with Desert Sands and personally loving the Nevada Jack Skull Design, I suggested we move forward with manufacturing Nevada Jack chips with a couple of adjustments until we could get DS figured out. The rest is history..

The following Grateful Dead lyrics seem to say it best...

“ONCE IN A WHILE YOU GET SHOWN THE LIGHT, IN THE STRANGEST OF PLACES IF YOU LOOK AT IT RIGHT”​

PS.. In the spirit of the Dead and community, I am helping to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Thread link here.

Hunter's Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Link

If you enjoyed this story or just feel charitable.. please consider donating to a grate cause.

See you on tour next summer!!!

Inspiration, move me brightly
light the song with sense and color
Hold away despair
more than this I will not ask
Faced with mysteries dark and vast
statements just seem vain at last

IMG_2300.jpg
 
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Saw their 2nd to last show in Chicago. Summer before my senior year of high school at Soldier Field. Incredible!!
I was at that show and the last one. I remember being on a camp bus when hearing that Jerry had died and was just devestated.

I just read that 2023 will be the final year of Dead and Co. End of yet another era!
 
I was at that show and the last one. I remember being on a camp bus when hearing that Jerry had died and was just devestated.

I just read that 2023 will be the final year of Dead and Co. End of yet another era!
An end to another chapter but Bob says he is going to keep going until he drops.
 
Thanks for the story, Jim. Fwiw, I always thought your Desert Sands chips were some of the nicest ceramics made, much more to my liking than the NJ Skull design. Just wish you'd gone with an aligned edge option.
Thank you for the kind words. I was very fond of the red $5 chip. It popped to the eye. And loved the spires.
 
Thanks for the story, Jim. Fwiw, I always thought your Desert Sands chips were some of the nicest ceramics made, much more to my liking than the NJ Skull design. Just wish you'd gone with an aligned edge option.

Ya back in the day I almost got these, but after doing more research I decided I really wanted compression molded chips.
 
Good. What amazes me is just how many 'kids' are there who never knew Jerry.... For whom Dead and Co ARE the Grateful Dead. And it all holds up.
I took my kids (at the time high school and college) to see Dead & Co in Boulder several years running. They loved it. They were actually the ones that sent me the news about the final tour. We are already talking about plans to hit the road with them one last time. My daughter listens to a lot of the old live Grateful Dead.

Another did you know... The Hunter from the charity link below is my son Hunter... named after one of my favorite song writers, Robert Hunter and one of my favorite writers, Hunter S Thompson

Hunter's Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Link
 
Good. What amazes me is just how many 'kids' are there who never knew Jerry.... For whom Dead and Co ARE the Grateful Dead. And it all holds up.
I'm seeing Bob Weir at the Kennedy Center in DC next week.
 
I took my kids (at the time high school and college) to see Dead & Co in Boulder several years running. They loved it. They were actually the ones that sent me the news about the final tour. We are already talking about plans to hit the road with them one last time. My daughter listens to a lot of the old live Grateful Dead.

Another did you know... The Hunter from the charity link below is my son Hunter... named after one of my favorite song writers, Robert Hunter and one of my favorite writers, Hunter S Thompson

Hunter's Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Link
That's all kinds of awesome. Maybe I'll bring my daughter to this next tour. She's 11 years old and has been to about 7 or 8 Phish shows, and a couple festivals when she was too young to still remember.

Would love to bring my son, but since he turned 15 he's been all in on rap like Juice WRLD, and has no interest in music with real instruments :p
 
Thanks for the story, Jim. Fwiw, I always thought your Desert Sands chips were some of the nicest ceramics made, much more to my liking than the NJ Skull design. Just wish you'd gone with an aligned edge option.
Same. I have a set.
 
Great story! I wish I had gotten to see them back in the day but they were just before my time, and my parents were too religious to take us to music shows as kids sadly.

I have some coworkers who are huge dead fans and I like to tease them by saying my favorite dead song is “your body is a wonderland”
 
Lots of heads on this site, some in this thread. A good band is the Jerry Garcia Band, now headlined by Melvin Seals. It’s also great to see all the various local Dead cover bands, especially when they put their own spin on the music, keeping it alive for each generation. God bless the Grateful Dead!
 
Lots of heads on this site, some in this thread. A good band is the Jerry Garcia Band, now headlined by Melvin Seals. It’s also great to see all the various local Dead cover bands, especially when they put their own spin on the music, keeping it alive for each generation. God bless the Grateful Dead!
I've seen Melvin Seals a bunch of times.. JRAD, Ratdog, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros and a ton of other national and local dead bands. Also, love Billy Strings.
 
I really liked the Desert Sands design as well and had plans to build a nice set with them, then got a couple of Nevada Jack sets as bonuses for online play and decided to build it out, by the time I finished I am somewhere in the 1850 chip range with that set. Great chips and my players always seemed to like them
 
Billy Strings is super impressive.

Never got to see the Dead, sadly. I did hear them playing once, '89 maybe, when I was at my cousins house who lived in Orchard Park and they played Rich Stadium. We sat in his driveway and listened to the music all evening and the roar of the crowd.
 
I took my kids (at the time high school and college) to see Dead & Co in Boulder several years running. They loved it. They were actually the ones that sent me the news about the final tour. We are already talking about plans to hit the road with them one last time. My daughter listens to a lot of the old live Grateful Dead.

Another did you know... The Hunter from the charity link below is my son Hunter... named after one of my favorite song writers, Robert Hunter and one of my favorite writers, Hunter S Thompson

Hunter's Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Link
Promontory Rider, Territory Ranger. I feel privileged to have seen Robert Hunter play it twice. The song of the night both times.
 
Just saw Billy Strings.. Pittsburgh and then The Met In Philly... Just wow.. So talented. He could have played just one set and I would have been amazed. 2 Sets was bliss.
 
My brother went the Lowell TABoose show and said TAB should be open for Goose. Goose Electric Avenue cover is so freaking good.
 
My brother went the Lowell TABoose show and said TAB should be open for Goose. Goose Electric Avenue cover is so freaking good.

It's kinda ridiculous how quickly Goose has blown up. Haven't heard that Electric Ave yet though, looking it up.
 
Yeah, he's all kinds of awesome. Jealous!
Did you catch any of the TABoose shows? Been following online and loving it.
Went to Taboose in Reading.. Hate to say this but the Goose portion was better than Trey
 

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