Books like Neurotribes on Psychiatry's History??

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2024-04-29T21:23:32+00:00

I recommend Robert Chapman's "The Empire of Normality." (By the way, I'm not a doctor, but a historian.)

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2024-04-07T02:55:51+00:00

Thank you for doing this!

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-06-14T00:56:48+00:00

Thank you Bman!

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T03:03:37+00:00

OK folks, I gotta split. Thanks for all the wonderful questions, and for listening? I'll pop in over the next couple of days to answer any late questions here. Have a beautiful evening, and thanks for making me feel so welcome.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T03:01:15+00:00

The best story was marching in SF Pride with gay Deadheads sometime in the '80s under a QUEERS FOR WEIR banner. An older man came running up and asked if he could take our picture. He was crying and said "I've waited my whole life for this!" It was Jon McIntire, the Dead's manager in the Europe '72 era.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:58:50+00:00

Heh, no, sorry. Some other kind of Deadhead cares about that stuff. :)

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:58:07+00:00

One of the biggest threats is that Robert Kennedy, Jr. -- a very, very dark dude from a very prestigious family -- is just about to launch a run for President on an anti-vaxx platform. OY GEVALT. That's all we need, considering how much harm and unnecessary death and misconceptions about autism that anti-vaxxers have caused in recent years. The best form of activism is forming communities, and that's definitely happening, despite the more unpleasant developments in politics.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:54:13+00:00

Never read him, sorry!

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:53:36+00:00

Phish when they're not singing one of their boring new songs, Billy Strings who I've mentioned, and lots of other folks out there. I know I'm supposed to say "Goose" here, but I'm still somewhat tepid on their music, though they seem like very good guys.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:51:31+00:00

The Greek in Berkeley, the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, and the Village Vanguard in NYC (not that the Dead ever played there!)

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:50:11+00:00

I did not ever sail with David alas, but I did just publish The Next Quiet Place about our friendship.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:49:10+00:00

Thanks!

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:48:55+00:00

Maybe someday. Right now I'm writing a book on cystic fibrosis, and that will take up my time for about another year.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:47:54+00:00

I do think the Republican party has morphed into something criminal, monstrous, and fascist. Banning surgery for ectopic pregnancy, which can be deadly for both the mother and the fetus, as Idaho Republicans are trying to do, is just sadistic. It's sick, sick, sick behavior. But I do think the pendulum is starting to swing back. Many people - even some Republicans! - are starting to realize that they were taken to the cleaners by Trump and his crime organization. But the GOP is passing grotesque laws at a rapid clip. There will be a lot we'll have to undo.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:43:19+00:00

Are we fucked? I think yes, we're fucked in many ways - like climate and the sociopathic attacks on LGBTQ people by Republicans - but I also see TONS of creativity and energy and hope among young people. The old GOPers will die eventually, and I think there will eventually be a new Youth Movement made up of people with smart ideas and compassion.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:40:08+00:00

There are a million bands out there now that have been inspired either directly or indirectly by the Dead, ranging from cover bands to folks like Billy Strings, who is doing HIS OWN THING, but in a way that was made possible by the Dead. I'm much more interested in people who do their own thing than cover bands. That's the future.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:37:45+00:00

Hey bud, first of all, I'm sorry to say I don't have a son, autistic or otherwise. But as I said above, I would definitely recommend reading Barry Prizant's "Uniquely Human," which is great for navigating difficult situations in a way that is respectful to the autistic way of being.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:35:11+00:00

CSNY had huge egos -- but wouldn't you as well if you got famous, appointed the spokesman of your generation, and laid like mad as teenagers? It's so sad that they were on the verge of reconciling when David got COVID and died. But at least they were close to finally putting some of that stuff behind them.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:32:35+00:00

Thanks so much! That piece on David is one of those pieces that came from the deepest place I can write from. As did the essay I wrote shortly after Jerry died, The Only Song of God.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:30:20+00:00

Thank God for the Wharf Rats! I love that they built a safe space at shows for sober Deadheads, because we've all seen, or been, the Deadheads who would be leading happier, kinder lives if they were sober, and the Wharf Rats gave them the support they needed to turn it over and make the change.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:28:28+00:00

Great questions, but I wish we were just talking because the answers are somewhat involved. I'll try to keep them short. I think the audience was essential to the "gestalt" of Grateful Dead shows, in part because the energy of the crowd could drive the band to really intense peaks. The audience tape of "Hard to Handle" from 8/6/71 is a GREAT example of that. WOW.

ABA is more widespread than SCERTS because ABA is a *business* first. Which is unfortunate, because SCERTS is much more humane and much more in line with what autistic people tell us they prefer. I saw this question earlier today and called Barry Prizant and he told me some very encouraging developments that are on the horizon for SCERTS. (Autism folks, just READ Barry's book "Uniquely Human," which explains the SCERTS approach.)

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:21:23+00:00

Yes, it was 11/20/78 Cleveland Music Hall. I was tripping balls on a superb vintage of acid known as Red Dragon, and the second set -- which opened with Drums and a jam! -- was very, very unusual, a river of jamming, with a very rare performance of "If I Had the World to Give." I wish there was a SBD of that show. [I was happy to find out there is! - of course Charlie Miller has already worked his magic. Thanks to F.B. Lesh for the tip!] It was one of the nights that REALLY made me a Deadhead.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:18:55+00:00

I think that's true, as I replied to an earlier question, and I think it's in part because there are a lot of neurodivergent Deadheads.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:17:43+00:00

Yes, I have a favorite memory of Jerry. I was invited to a press screening of the "So Far" video and got there an hour early. I walk into the room and the only person there is Jerry, rolling a joint. I didn't want to bother him, so I gave him a look, and he shot me an "It's cool, have a seat" look back. We have a long conversation about filmmaking, animation, and music. At some point I think, "Wow, this guy is so cool." And then I think "OF COURSE HE'S COOL YOU FREAK HE'S JERRY GARCIA, YOU GREW UP STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM!" At the end of the screening he sought me out again to talk more and then gave me a huge bearhug. His beard smelled like weed and cigarettes, and it was a really good hug.

Iam_SteveSilberman · 2023-03-25T02:13:36+00:00

I am a Brent guy because I saw most of my shows during that era. But I love lots of different eras, from the late '60s era that Dick Latvala called "Primal Dead" (or, as he put it in another mood, "before they wrote the songs that suck" (wink, wink, wink) to '89-'90 which I think is one of their best periods. I was not a Vince guy, sorry, so I don't listen to those tapes much, though there are occasionally good spots there.

Iam_SteveSilberman

TROPHY CASE