Rock Stories #5: Jerry Garcia & John Allen Cassady
The Dead head for high school
John Allen Cassady, son of Neal, Kerouac’s model for On the Road’s Dean Moriarty, and Carolyn, has become something of a legend of the wider Beat Generation community. He has many anecdotes concerning his father and his own friendships with writers and musicians drawn to that creative hub of activity and adventure.
In the summer, John launched our new Rock and the Beat Generation series ‘Rock Stories’ with his memory of an encounter with Carlos Santana. He now shares a further musical recollection with Neal, author Ken Kesey and the Grateful Dead’s frontman at its heart…
Every time that I would run into Jerry Garcia, backstage or wherever, the first thing that he would ask me was, ‘How's your Mom?’ I thought that was very considerate. He was a classy guy. I would say, ‘Thanks for asking, Jerry. She's living in London and still writing. I'm flying over next month,’ etc.
Carolyn was never a big Dead fan. She thought that they did drugs with her husband, Neal, and she didn't approve of that. (What? Neal and the Grateful Dead did drugs? Naw...). But I was a fan, before the term ‘Dead Head’ was born.
I was a sophomore in high school, and I spent $3.50 of my saved-up lunch money on the Dead's first record album at McCool's Music shop in Los Gatos, California. I was reading the liner notes on the album jacket in my bedroom when Dad walked by and asked, ‘What have ya got there, Johnny?’ I had no idea that he knew the band, of course. He looked at the album and went, ‘Hmmm’.
Later, I was sitting in a class at Saratoga High School (CA, not NY). I remember at the front of the room they had a chalkboard (now white boards), a clock and an audio speaker. On this day, the speaker blared, ‘John Cassady, please report to the principal's office.’ The teacher pointed at the door.
I was trudging down the hallway, books in hand, and wondering why. I hadn't been caught smoking (lately), my hair was short, my shirt tail was tucked in (school rules were pretty draconian back then), so when I opened the door to the Principal's office, there was Dad and Kesey leaning on the counter. Wearing Day-Glo Beatle boots, American flag top hats. You get the picture.
The Principal looked pissed, with his knuckles on the counter. I said, ‘’sup, Dad? What are you doing here?’ The Principal said, ‘This man claims to be your father!’ Dad fished his driver's license out of his wallet, because it had a photo ID on it (of course, it expired in 1948, but it had his photo on it). Dad said, ‘Johnny, did you forget about your dentist appointment? Today at 3 o'clock?’ I played along, grabbed my cheek, and said, ‘Oh ya, thanks!’
We walked out to the car, an old Buick 88 I think, and the Dean of Boys was standing on the lawn right behind us, with his arms folded (It reminded me later of that scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off with Mia Sara and the Ferrari, which I think they stole from my story, but whatever). So Kesey opened the back door of the car, and a cloud of pot smoke billowed out. I turned to look at the Dean, and it was like he was thinking, ‘So that’s how this family works!’
I climbed into the back seat where there were three hippie chicks. We stopped at a few houses in San Jose, where I think that drugs were involved, and I kept asking Dad, ‘Where are we going?’ We finally pulled up to another high school with about ten cars behind us: Awalt High School in Mountain View, CA.
Remember in high school they had a ‘teachers’ lounge’? I walked by one when the door was ajar, and there was my 24-year-old English teacher, and she was smoking a cigarette! I thought, ‘She's cool!’ Anyway, at Awalt High School, we all piled into the teachers’ lounge and, lo and behold, there were the Grateful Dead!
Jerry had his black Beatle boots up on a desk while noodling around on his black Gibson Les Paul guitar, talking to about six high school teachers, all in neckties. He was explaining how the universe works. Man, I wish I had one of those little tape recorders that day! Kesey and Dad were in the corner of the room, grinning at how they got me to meet Jerry. When Jerry turned to me, I wanted to say something like, ‘I love your work!’ Instead I said something clever like, ‘Ah, oh ah, ah’.
We went into the gym for their sound-check. Remember those folding benches that came out of the wall? Dad and Kesey sat about eight rows up in one. I was standing right under Jerry, when the doors opened up and 300 students came rushing in. I was pinned against the stage. I looked around, and there were Ken and Dad sitting in the bleachers, with six high school cheerleaders on either side of them! All in uniform. I thought, ‘Oh, shit!’
When the Dead started to play, Ken was nodding up and down to the beat (pot) and Dad was twitching and gesturing (speed). So I just sat back and enjoyed the show.
Thanks for listening,
Keep the Beat,
John Allen Cassady
See also: ‘Rock Stories #4: Elvin Bishop & John Allen Cassady’, November 6th, 2023; ‘Rock Stories #1: Carlos Santana & John Allen Cassady’, August 27th, 2023