Grateful Dead - Playboy After Dark, 1969

They say that three is the magic number, so here's my third post in one day that could be categorized as hippie.

I came across a great video of the Grateful Dead playing Mountains of the Moon and St. Stephen on Playboy After Dark from March 22, 1969. It starts with a great conversation between Jerry Garcia and Hugh Hefner with Jerry explaining that the purpose of the dual drummers was for "mutual annihilation" and that they "chase each other around, it's like, it's kinda like the serpent that eats its own tail" and "if you could stand in between them, uh, they, they make big figure eights in side of your head." This is quite the valuable piece of footage, if not for how sharp, vivacious, and engaged the Dead are, then at least to see the dancing Bunnies, the dudes in tuxes, and the overall squareness of the crowd.

Playboy After Dark was a late-night variety series, which featured popular musicians and comedians performing on a stageset built to look like a Penthouse apartment filled with Playmates. Hosted by Hugh Heffner, the short lived series only ran for 2 seasons. During that time it featured musical performances by Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Canned Heat, Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, Sir Douglas Quintet, Steppenwolf, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Fleetwood Mac, Ike & Tina Turner, Country Joe & The Fish, and James Brown.

The above photo is from a Haight-Ashbury show in 1969. My deceased uncle is pictured in the audience above the snare. No joke.

Grateful Dead on Playboy After Dark - March 22, 1969 (Episode: #1.11)