John Perry Barlow
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John Perry Barlow (born October 3, 1947) is an American poet, essayist, retired Wyoming cattle rancher, and former lyricist for the Grateful Dead.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Barlow attended elementary school in a one room schoolhouse. He was a student at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado. There Barlow met Bob Weir, who would later join the music group the Grateful Dead. Weir and Barlow maintained contact throughout the years; a frequent visitor to Timothy Leary's facility in Millbrook, New York, Barlow introduced the musical group to Leary in 1967. In 1969, Barlow graduated with high honors in comparative religion from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and spent two years traveling. In 1971, he began practicing animal husbandry in Cora, Wyoming, at his family's Bar Cross Land and Livestock Company. He sold that business in 1988.
While attending a Grateful Dead show at the Capitol Theater in Portchester, New York in February of 1971, the seeds of the Barlow-Weir collaboration were sown. Until this point, Weir had mostly worked with resident Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Hunter preferred that those who sang his songs stuck to his "canonical" lyrics rather than improvising additions or rearranging words. A feud erupted backstage over a couplet in "Sugar Magnolia" from the band's most recent release (most likely "She can dance a Cajun rhythm/Jump like a Willys in four wheel drive"), culminating in a disgruntled Hunter summoning Barlow and informing Weir to "take him--he's yours". In the fall of 1971, with a deal for a solo album in hand and only two songs completed, Weir and Barlow began to write together for the first time.
Fueled by massive amounts of Wild Turkey and a traditional Native American creativity spell recommended by band friend Rolling Thunder, the twosome hammered out such endearing songs as "Cassidy", "Mexicali Blues", and "Black Throated Wind", all three of which would remain in the repertoires of the Grateful Dead and Weir's varied solo projects for years to come. Other songs to emerge from the Weir-Barlow collaboration include "Let It Grow", "The Music Never Stopped", "Estimated Prophet", "I Need A Miracle", "Lost Sailor", "Saint of Circumstance", and "Throwing Stones". Barlow also did collaborations with Grateful Dead keyboardists, Brent Mydland then later Vince Welnick.
He is a former chairman of the Sublette County Republican Party and served as campaign manager for Dick Cheney during his 1978 Congressional campaign. By the early 2000s, Barlow was unable to reconcile his ardent libertarianism with the prevailing neoconservative movement and "didn't feel tempted to vote for Bush"; after an arrest for possession of a small quantity of marijuana while traveling, he joined the Democratic Party and publicly committed himself to outright political activism for the first time since his spell with the Republican Party.
In 1986, Barlow joined The WELL online community, then known for a strong deadhead presence. He served on the company's board for directors for several years. In 1990, Barlow founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) along with fellow digital rights activists John Gilmore and Mitch Kapor. As a founder of EFF, Barlow helped publicize the Secret Service raid on Steve Jackson Games. Barlow's involvement is later documented in the non-fiction book The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992) by Bruce Sterling[1]. EFF later sponsored the ground-breaking case Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service. Steve Jackson Games won the case in 1993.
He married Elaine Parker Barlow in 1975; they were separated in 1992. They had three daughters: Amelia, Anna Winter, and Leah.
Barlow was a good friend of John F. Kennedy Jr.
[edit] Current Work
Barlow currently serves as vice-chairman of the EFF's board of directors.
He is a Fellow with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School, and a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. He spends much of his time on the road, lecturing and consulting.
Barlow also serves on the advisory board of Clear Path International.
[edit] Writing
From 1971 until 1995, Barlow wrote lyrics for the Grateful Dead, mostly through his relationship with Bob Weir. Amongst others, Barlow's songs include Cassidy (about Neal Cassady), Estimated Prophet, Hell in a Bucket, Mexicali Blues, The Music Never Stopped, and Throwing Stones.
His writings include A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace and The Economy of Ideas - widely circulated articles providing a vision for human creativity online.
Barlow has written extensively for Wired Magazine, as well The New York Times, Nerve and Communications of the ACM.
Barlow has also returned to writing lyrics, most recently contributing with the String Cheese Incident's mandolinist and vocalist Michael Kang, including their popular song "Desert Dawn." Barlow is often seen at String Cheese Incident concerts mixing with the fans and members in the band.
[edit] External links
- Personal blog
- Barlow's EFF homepage
- A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
- The Economy of Ideas
- List of Barlow's lyrical work for the Grateful Dead
- An insightful interview given to Reason magazine
- A 'This American Life' story (at minute 37) about how Barlow met his fiancé at a convention center, and what happened to them afterward
- John Perry Barlow: Wyoming's Estimated Prophet
- Fulbright Chair Speaker Series: John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore with link to podcast of Tuesday, Nov 14, 2006
- Exposure: Proceedings from the Aula Meeting of the Minds, 2003. Includes an insightful essay by Barlow (free download)
- The Pursuit of Emptiness
