A self-described fan of both Jesus and The Grateful Dead will be in Squamish this weekend as part of an event to mark the annual "Day of the Dead."
For many Christians around the world, Saturday (Nov. 2) is All Souls' Day - a.k.a. Day of the Dead or "dia de los muertos" in much of Latin America.
During an event titled "The Gospel and The Grateful Dead" on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at St. John the Divine Anglican Church, Rev. Dr. Pitman Potter -Anglican minister, academic and lifelong aficionado of the band The Grateful Dead - plans to offer a presentation on a forthcoming book he's writing that explores what he calls the "resonances" between scripture and the work of the iconic band from the 1960s.
The term "Grateful Dead," though, later came to be associated with a series of English folk stories in which the protagonist comes upon a group of people refusing to bury the body of a pauper because he had been unable to pay his debts. The hero pays for the burial, and later comes into contact with a person who later provides the hero with assistance - and finally reveals himself to be the person the hero befriended in death, or "the grateful dead."
Dr. Potter, a professor of law at UBC who is also an ordained minister and holds Master of Theology from Vancouver School of Divinity, says Jerry Garcia and the other original members of The Grateful Dead originally chose the name from a dictionary.
However, in his forthcoming book, Potter writes about how the Dead's message and ethos resonate in Christian scripture - especially as is relates to compassion for and solidarity with the poor, downtrodden and marginalized in society, he told The Chief.
As a group, the original band members -Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron McKernan, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann -"were just doing their thing and by and large were not interested in Christian scripture," Potter said, "but if you go through content of scripture and the Dead's work, the parallels are very clear. I'm looking at them through that lens and I see a lot of resonance there. I'll go through some of those connections in the talk.
"It's not really preaching the church to the Dead folks; it's about preaching the Dead to the church. There's a real resonance of values and commitment there."
The evening will also include music from Vancouver-based FOMO, which plays some of the Dead's music, as well as dancing. Potter, who plays guitar and has performed in a number of bands, said he and others plan to join in on some numbers.
Admission is a $10 donation and fittingly, proceeds go to Helping Hands, which runs Squamish's only homeless shelter. For information, email [email protected]
