Grateful Dead
The Days Between - Celebrating Jerry's 70th Birthday
It's hard to believe but Jerry would have been 70 this year! We're commemorating his life and legacy with a few touching tributes by Robert Hunter, David Grisman, Mountain Girl, David Crosby, Bruce Hornsby, and more unearthed and brought to you by the good folks behind Dupree's Diamond News. Originally published as part of GARCIA - A Grateful Celebration, be sure to have a hanky handy because these memories certainly caused us to shed a tear or two. If you're looking to remember Jerry through his music, we've got a prime selection of Jerry's finest studio cuts in our exclusive listening party curated by archivist David Lemieux. And join us on a trip back in time with a slideshow of Jerry through the ages. Gone, but most certainly not forgotten...
Honor The Example by Dennis McNally
The Dead stands for something - it stands for a cosmic sense of humor, for a spirit of adventure, for compassion for our fellow beings, for skepticism, for some honesty, for whatever the hell you make of it. We've all got to grieve over Jerry's passing - and then we've all got to go out and honor the example that he, we you have set for the past 30 years. And we shall. To quote Hart, "Failure is not an option."
An Elegy for Jerry by Robert Hunter
|
Jerry, my friend, As ever when we called, |
How should she desert us now? |
Missing Jerry by David Crosby
I remember laughing so hard I got the hiccups. Of course, that might have had something to do with the big sticky buds, but we were a pair of odd ducks anyway, and we cracked each other up a lot.
Jerry, Phil Mickey, and Bill all came to Wally Heider’s many nights when I was recording “If I Could Only Remember My Name.” So much fun, so MUCH music…
What did we lose? One of the best minds in music: articulate, always thinking fresh, original thoughts. Jerry didn’t tell you what he thought you wanted to hear, he told you what he thought.
Many Small Circles by Mountain Girl
Jerry’s passing has shaken and saddened our family members. He was our father, husband, brother, leader, and inspiration. He showed the way by living and thinking creatively. He was filled with gifts and gave freely and humorously to anyone nearby. He shared his imagination and keen sense of fun with everyone, yet also carried the passion for life that manifested clearly in his music.
Losing Jerry by John Perry Barlow
In the time since Jer shuffled off his sorry old meat and flew away, I have found myself incapable of writing about it, or even talking about it very much.
I’ve been silent as a flat coon on this, one of the most important deaths of my death-shadowed life. I’ve received hundreds of e-messages from my fellow bereaved, nearly all of them more eloquent in their grief than I could be in mine, despite their never having personally known the guy.
A Certain Connection by Bruce Hornsby
“To honor the Grateful Dead’s wishes, I’d like to have a moment – a moment of silence – for somebody who brought a lot of love to the world, our dear departed brother, Jerry Garcia.”
My Friend Jerry by David Grisman
Jerome Garcia was a great leader: musically, morally, and spiritually. He didn’t want it, he didn’t seek it, he didn’t ask for it, he may not have even liked it, but he carried that enormous weight with grace, dignity, and a huge sense of responsibility to his fellow man, particularly those less fortunate. If you needed help, he was there.
Jerry's Gone by Ram Dass
And here we are...still.
Made manifest,
Tune in to the Listening Party.
For Jerry Garcia 8/9/12
Yours was a mask of heroes.
You asked no worship
or obedience, only muscle
and music to add to your own.
I followed you into the labyrinth
and rejoiced when you slew the minotaur
and returned our brethren
to their birthright of liberty.
I pledged to sing your stories when the king,
trembling at Cerberus, released you
and generously you carried
the beast home to Hades.
And I wept like a mother
when, felled by the heel,
you returned to Styx
even as Ilium burned.
-Pat Blackman
This is a ode that I wrote for my creative writing class. I chose to write about Jerry because of the music of the Grateful Dead has seen me through many happy as well as sad times in my life.
Ode To Jerry Garcia
“Cosmic Charlie” where have you gone to?
Beyond the veil where your millions cannot follow you.
Creator, Savior, Humanitarian, and Bard.
Music flowed from your nine mesmerizing fingers.
Loved by sages and fools they traveled with you around the world.
Led by your message of peace, joy, and music.
Though your life was not always a “sunshine daydream”.
Time was cut short when your body turned Judas.
Trying to get free from the chains of the snow poppies.
The noise you made outlived you!
Loved by hordes to this day.
Though the sacred river of the Hindus took your body away.
Cosmic Charlie performed by The Grateful Dead
Lyrics By: Robert Hunter
Music By: Jerry Garcia
Sunshine Daydream performed by The Grateful Dead
Lyrics By: Unknown
Music By: Unknown
For sure we will grieve the monumental loss of our friend...Jerry
For a long...long...long...time.
Most likely we will go through some powerful depression
And despair...
We may even court cynicism...
After all...it's not easy to lose your connection.
But Jerry's legacy to us is more profound than all of that.
He is in us...
Just as we have been in him.
We have all been not a tribe... or a family,
But a bubble of awareness
Riding upon the ocean of sound
That is in and beyond the sounds we ear hear.
17 years ago today. Seems like yesterday. I can still tell you the exact spot of ground I was standing on when I got "the phone call" from our friend in California. He said rumors are coming over the news that they had discovered Jerry's body at the rehab center. Of corse I told him f*ck you don't even make a joke about that. He just held the phone up to the tv as news confirmed the sad truth, just minutes before the news started coming over the local radio here in New York.
I'll never forget that moment it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. I just knealt on the floor and cried. I've had many other people I know leave this life, but no one, except when my mother died, effected me that way. What was it about Jerry, someone most of us never even met effect us like that.
Miss ya everyday Jer.......RIP Captain!!
Hey Truckineric - I second that emotion - wholeheartedly.
http://jerrygarcia.shop.musictoday.com
Check out this link, they are taking pre-orders for Vol.1, and have poster and t-shirt packages available.
This is good news, not being mentioned by Dead.net at all is odd.
Phil
Thank you bolo24 and hawk900 for the live reporting. The you tube piece is nice
I, of course, echo all the fine sentiments expressed by my brothers and sisters here. What I'd like to add, as a guitarist with nearly 50 years of experience, is that Jerry was one of the two greatest rock guitarists I've ever seen or heard, the other being Jimi. In my opinion they were both channels, as much as they were guitarists. That, among other things, really set them apart. I lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and got to see Jerry with the Dead and all his side bands, and when you saw him that much you observed the moments, if you were down in front, where he'd look at you while playing - never looking at the fretboard, with a searching gaze like, "Is this good, are we making it?", then a smile, "There, that's more like it." Then invariably he'd gaze into the distance, lock in, and the most amazing endless riffs would soar out. It was an ego-less place, different from where Clapton or Page are coming from. Hendrix knew that place too (see "Voodoo Child" from the Woodstock set) but didn't live long enough to develop to the dimensions that Jerry did. Jimi looked like the Hollywood version of himself, and Jerry like a kindly rabbi, but Jerry could play any kind of music in any band convincingly, and in that, he stands alone.
Maybe it was just me, as I was a bit under the weather, or maybe it was the full moon, but the game didn't have as much of a "Deady" vibe as the two years prior.
They played a lot of non-Dead music between innings (huh??), still used Journey's "Don't Stop Believin" for the late inning sing-along (huh???). I'd have chosen Truckin' if I had a say in that selection. Can you imagine 42,000 people belting out "what a lonnng, strange trip it's been"? That would have been way cool. Or how about Buster Posey strutting up to the plate to "Shakedown Street"? The possibilities are endless!
Also, I would have thrown in some tasty "Other One" or "The Eleven" jams in between innings to freak out the non-Dead crowd. How fun it would have been to see the uninitiated reacting to their freshly-blown minds!
Jerry's youngest daughter, Keelin, threw out the first pitch - a blooper for a strike. Bobby, Jackie Greene and third base coach Tim Flannery sang a really beautiful anthem, although the microphone crapped out a couple times during their performance.
All in all, it's very cool that the Giants do this every year. And aside from the wrong team winning, it was a pleasant evening. Just could use a bit more Deadness, in my opinion.
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I do believe the world is a better place having had you in it. I learned from you. I am glad that the band is carrying the torch in their ways. Nothing to do but smile, smile, smile.