This is the second of two articles about Dennis McNally’s new book The Last Great Dream: How Bohemians Became Hippies and Created the Sixties. The first article, a review of the book, can be found at https://www.gratefulweb.com/articles/last-great-dream-dennis-mcnally-review.

Dennis McNally’s The Last Great Dream (Da Capo, 2025) won’t help you recreate the 1960s – that ship has sailed. But McNally’s new book provides a clear-eyed, rear-view mirror exploration of the mid-20th century counterculture in the United States. From poetry to politics to psychedelic music, McNally covers a wide waterfront; The Last Great Dream is a wild ride full of factoids and true folk tales from far and wide. It’s a fun and informative read for anyone intrigued by the era. In certain circles, Dennis McNally is best known as the Grateful Dead publicist from the mid-1980s until several years after Jerry Garcia died. He’s also a published historian, with books under his belt about Jack Kerouac, the Grateful Dead, and the evolution of American culture.

Sometimes from within the musical world the cosmos comes together in just such a way, at just such a time that it produces something truly special. In this case, two historic characters, Johnny Cash and Owsley “Bear” Stanley collide with Haight-Ashbury’s famously historic venue, The Carousel, in one of the most historic times in music history, 1968.

Something really remarkable happened at the Fare Thee Well shows in 2015.  Instead of being a goodbye, it was a re-ignition, a passing of the torch in some ways.  Although Jerry was always quick to point out that it was Dead Heads who created themselves, the phenomenon of Dead Head-ism was focused on the band for the first 30 years.  And it was fairly fractured for the next twenty, with some liking some iterations, and others, not.  And the musicians aren’t done, whether it’s Dead & Co. or Phil and Bobby’s recent duo, or the future outings of Billy and Mickey.

Mill Valley’s Sweetwater Music Hall is one of Marin County, California’s select venues that is keeping the classic bay area jam-rock community connected. Many recall that Marin County was where every member of Grateful Dead had migrated to by the early 1970s for much needed solitude and separation from their iconized significance as the rock titans of Haight/Ashbury.