Lately it occurs to me: Grateful Dead tapes will drive broadband subs

Ten years after his passing, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia is doing his part to sell broadband Internet access.

Im serious. And no, I haven't adapted any of the habits historically associated with some GD fans.  

But put it this way. As my colleague Alorie Gilbert reported the other day, the Internet Archive, closest thing we have to a living history of the Web almost since its inception, has once again made a large collection of rare Grateful Dead concert tapes available for streaming.

The tapes had been offered before but were pulled down, due to a misunderstanding.

"We at Archive.org now realize that our mistaken attempts to move quickly were based on what we thought the Grateful Dead wanted," director Brewster Kahle said in the site's discussion forum. "For this, we apologize both to the Grateful Dead and their community."
Former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh also posted an apology of sorts on his Web site on Wednesday.
"We are musicians not businessmen and have made good and bad decisions on our journey. We do love and care about our community as you helped us make the music," he wrote in the posting. "Your concerns have been heard and I am sure are being respectfully addressed."

OK, so what does this have to do with Jerry, with driving high-speed broadband Internet access subscriptions?

Well, let's take the last matter first. Streaming music sounds so much better over high speed Internet connections than dial-up. And most Deadheads I've known have been very sensitized to every lick. Many of those licks were played by Jerry.

Although many if not most Dead fans have broadband already, I would think this availability of rare Dead concert tracks for streaming would push those who have been on the fence about jumping from dial-up to broadband to do just that.

Oh, and Jerry? He was one- many would say the one who fostered the "community" of Grateful Dead devotees that 10 years after his depth, could bring the Internet Archive to reconsider.

Broadband, anyone? 

Or, as Jerry might have said, "you better watch your (broadband) speed.."