Deadheads Can Own a Piece of Rock Legend

What can be said of the Grateful Dead? The legendary band of the 1960's hippie generation spawned their Deadhead following, who can now purchase an official piece of the Dead's memorabilia. Bonhams Butterfields in San Francisco will hold a public auction of Grateful Dead items May 8th that is expected to attract worldwide bidders and press. Rudson Shurtliff, a beneficiary of longtime Grateful Dead road manager "Ram Rod" Shurtliff, kept everything the roadie collected during his decades of managing the band's tour operation. Shurtliff loved the Grateful Dead and wanted them to live on forever, so he saved everything from ticket stubs to guitars.

The young Shurtliff wants to make sure that Deadheads can own a piece of rock memorabilia and enjoy the band's items like his father did. Ram Rod passed away less than a year ago, and his son admits he is sad to see these things go, but it is what his father wanted. One of the guitars that Jerry Garcia played has a broken string, and friends believe Deadheads would even buy that broken string. Some items are expected to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, like the band's "Wall of Sound" gold records, Jerry Garcia's guitar named "The Eagle", and a circa 1975 electric guitar expected to get bids for more than $250,000. The guitar includes a case that still contains items left there by Garcia, who died in 1995. Inside the case are a pack of nonfilter Camel smokes, a tuning fork, some guitar strings, and a string winder.

Other items include flight cases, stickers, posters, prints, tie-dyed speakers, photos, rubber mats and black-and-white prints of the 6-year-old band from 1971. The most cherished item by Shurtliff, is a 1971 Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle that Ram Rod used to drive to the shows, often times carrying the young son on the back. "I'm selling it because my dad wouldn't want me to skin my knees on it," said Shurtliff.

The legendary band received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2007 Grammy Awards. "This year's group of accomplished honorees are as diverse as they are influential as creators of the most renowned and prominent recordings in the world," said Recording Academy President Neil Portnow in a press release. "Their contributions exemplify the highest artistic and technical standards that have positively affected the music industry and music fans." Deadheads will tell you that is an understatement.

The May 8^th auction will take bids on their internet site at www.bonhams.com/us