Please join renowned San Francisco photographer Jay Blakesberg as he presents his Grateful Dead slideshow/storytelling event about his adventure photographing the Grateful Dead experience over the last 40 years. The story kicks off with Jay’s colorful teenage years growing up in suburban New Jersey in the late 1970s, where he and his friends lived for the thrill of sex, drugs and rock and roll. He describes how his love for photography began in 1978 after his father gave him an old Pentax camera to shoot the Grateful Dead performing at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Back then, Jay would develop the photos in his mothers basement so he could simply take this self-created memorabilia and plaster it on his bedroom walls.

He shares how after high school he embarked on a wild psychedelic ride, following the Grateful Dead with the music-loving circus of freaks and misfits known as Deadheads – camera in tow. In the mid-80s he settled in San Francisco and began to build a professional career as an in-demand commercial photographer whose work has been published in preeminent books and magazines - including Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, Vanity Fair, Esquire, and Relix – to name a few.

Today, Jay Blakesberg is one of the music industry’s most sought-after rock photographers, known for capturing the explosive energy of the live music experience as well as the intimate moments that happen offstage. Most significantly, Jay is a distinguished fixture on the Jam Band scene whose body of work in this arena makes up a comprehensive photographic archive of the modern day psychedelic rock-and-roll tribe.
This lively and highly entertaining presentation will take you on The Long Strange Trip YOU have all been part of for many years.

Jay will be signing copies of his new book immediately following the presentation. Also on display will be a full print gallery of Jay’s music photography.

This event is presented by WHO KNEW, a very popular event series run by Norfolk native, Tom Truitt.