In 1978, Jay Blakesberg photographed the Grateful Dead at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The rest is history, literally. Less than a decade later, the now 57-year-old photographer became the house photographer at famed Haight Street club The I-Beam. It’s where he shot bands like Jane’s Addiction, the Pixies and Soundgarden, and it’s where Blakesberg launched a career that’s seen him work with a laundry list of rock and roll’s biggest names. He joins Tampa Bay’s longest-running Dead tribute act — Uncle John’s Band — for this concert and photography exhibit which chronicle’s Blakesberg’s long strange trip.
Grateful Dead Nite w/Uncle John’s Band/Jay Blakesberg. Thurs. Nov. 29. 8 p.m. No cover. Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Rd., Tampa. skipperssmokehouse.com.
This article appears in Nov 22-29, 2018.