Topline: The Grateful Dead were one of the biggest symbols of the 1960’s counterculture that rebelled against “the establishment” and federal bureaucracy. But even they couldn’t keep their hands out of taxpayers’ wallets, using a $615,000 federal grant to open a museum celebrating their career in 2010.
That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.
Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname "Dr. No" by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn't stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.
Coburn's Wastebook 2010 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $11.5 billion, including the money spent on Grateful Dead memorabilia — which would be worth $886,000 today.
Key facts: The Grateful Dead Archive at the public University of California at Santa Cruz displayed instruments, T-shirts, fan mail and more from the jam band’s legendary career. Most of the credit went to Eileen Law, a friend of the band and their “keeper of stuff,” as their publicist put it.
Christine Bunting, one of the library’s directors, told The New York Times that the band ignored offers from private institutions and chose a public university because “the whole idea of it being public and free was important to them.”
Entry into the museum was only free because the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services helped out.
“Deadheads” didn’t see the problem. Sociologist Rebecca Adams told the Times that there were “millions” of academic projects scholars could complete with the archive. The museum was also a hot topic at the annual meeting of the Grateful Dead Scholars Caucus.
Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.
Summary: The Grateful Dead have sold more than 35 million albums worldwide. Maybe they could have paid for their own archive.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by CEO & founder, Adam Andrzejewski, with Jeremy Portnoy. Learn more at OpenTheBooks.com.
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