Aces Back to Back is the most comprehensive, fun, fact-filled and up-to-date history of the Grateful Dead ever written - now updated through August, 2016 From the band's inception, through the death of Jerry Garcia, and on to their incarnations as the Other Ones, the Dead, RatDog, Phil Lesh and Friends, the Mickey Hart Band, 7 Walkers, and Furthur - a replete history complemented by never-before-penned Grateful Dead stories, anecdotes and tales. Our biography features a Foreword from Grateful Dead lyricist and renowned civil libertarian John Perry Barlow. The cover is drawn by acclaimed poster artist Steve Johannsen (Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, RatDog, Furthur, Gov't Mule) and the interior features 18 original illustrations by Steve and the gifted Lauren Kroutil. In his brand-new, updated 2nd edition, available September 1, Scott has added several new, amazing stories to the Grateful Dead canon, never-before-published tales that add to his already fantastic and exacting account of the Dead's history, which is told from their earliest roots - the spring, 1961 introduction of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter - and detailed right up to the Gathering of the Vibes festival in Connecticut in August, 2014. Few moments in the band's history in-between are missed Aces Back to Back celebrates the most minute - Weir gets to sing almost all of the songs at two '78 shows because Jerry is ill - and doesn't forget any of the glory: the Acid Tests, the Sixties, the Haight-Ashbury, Woodstock, Watkins Glen, the Wall of Sound, the band's late-career success with In the Dark, the Warlocks shows in '89, the Deadheads, and so on. All the key players are here, too: Dr. Albert Hofmann, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, the Family Dog, the Mime Troupe, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farm, Tom Constanten, Winterland, lyricists Robert Hunter and John Barlow, Bill Graham, Mouse and Kelley, Betty Cantor-Jackson, Dan Healy, Bill Walton, Jerry's guitar history with luthier Doug Irwin, the Egypt shows, Bob Bralove, John Cutler, et. al. Today, the Grateful Dead's music continues to reverberate within the hearts and souls of their fans - faithful, long-time Deadheads and younger audiences drawn to the band's legendary, magical appeal, making Aces Back to Back a must-read for fans of all ages Scott W. Allen wrote for Relix magazine from 1983 until 1992, serving as Senior Writer, columnist ("Fragments"), and feature arti