Filling the Big Shoes...

be careful out there and come back safe.

...is that while I enjoy going to Furthur shows and they are the closest thing to a GOGD show from back in the day, they dont speak to my soul the way the GD did. I've talked to a lot of friends about this and I find that folks seem to be in one of three main "camps":

1. JK is amazing and the 'Jerry sound' is alive and well so they're all good.
2. JK is a Jerry clone and they want nothing to do with this side-band incarnation.
3. JK is a Jerry clone but they're willing to either overlook it, or sort of ignore it to have that show experience and to enjoy other band members.

I think I personally fall into the third camp because I can still enjoy a Furthur show with JK, but I sort of tune him out unless I find him playing more like himself and not like Jerry, and that's when I appreciate him more. I do find it really odd though, that people who vehemently love JK will typically say that he's his own man and isn't a Jerry clone but then they usually go on to say that it's so great that he can sound just like Jerry much of the time. Seems a bit contradictory to me but what do I know?

I feel that JK was a lazy choice for the Boys to make. In fact, I was rather shocked when in one interview I heard Bobby say that he was an easy choice because he already knew all the songs even better than they - Phil and Bobby - did. I'm sure he's a really nice guy, but that's just a weird reason to hire someone to fill such big shoes, unless your main goal is to be sort of a tribute band and you want/need to simulate as closely as possible, the actual original sound. Conversely, I've also heard that Steve Kimmock is a really difficult person to work/play with, but you know what? Jerry loved him apparently, and I've seen Steve in person and he's phenomenal. He's definitely his own artist and isn't trying to recreate another artist's sound, if you will. And that is the exact point where JK loses me. When he plays in a non-Jerry like way I prefer him much more. When he plays "just like Jerry", to me it's recreating something that was meant to be 'in the moment' anyway. If we think about the whole raison d'etre of the GOGD, wasn't much of it about creating music in and of the moment? "When we're finished playing a show, we're done with it so the tapers/fans can have it..." Like those old shows where they played based on their mood or where one of them was going in that moment, sans set lists?

Today's Furthur - with the pre-determined set lists and Bobby's constant hand signals instructing band members on what to do next - feels very rehearsed to me. I don't feel that same "whoa!" when they jam now because even the jams are restrained and rehearsed compared to what was. And yes, I cannot help comparing because I was fortunate to see many Jerry shows, both with and without the GD, so how can one not compare when the same music is being played today? People like to say "Furthur is taking it further, mannn..." but I just don't see that at all. They've found a lead guitarist who simulates Jerry to the extreme, they mix up some of the set lists and song pairings, etc. I just don't see that as really taking it all that much further, but then again, YMMV and all that!

Lastly (and then I'll be quiet), I just don't think a person who has made their entire career based on copying note for note, another musician, can then step into that musician's shoes and suddenly be himself and stop copying. Here's the defining difference to me - Jerry created each note *in that moment*. He was a creative artist, drawing on years of influence, knowledge and participation in a myriad of other musical genres, not to mention a life well-lived. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but even when it didn't, I could feel him out there on a limb, reaching for something new to create. He had an artistic vision and drive and was willing to fail in order to sometimes succeed in incredible moments. With JK, I just feel overall that he's trying to play the way Jerry played. He is very proficient to be sure. But I personally don't feel he is a creative artist in the way Jerry was. And therein lies the difference, and a rather huge one at that. So I guess after nearly two years of Furthur, I'm still not thrilled with this lead guitar replacement but I have accepted that for whatever reasons, it's not likely to change so I enjoy what I can from it, and turn to my GOGD music when I need to feel something more deeply.

*steps off soapbox and back into the shadows*

as for the movie - I was reminded visually of the energy Jerry once had that was so sadly lacking in the final days - it actually made me sad --what a waste

i too saw the movie last night. man, those ARE big shoes to fill. what is it about jerry that turned on so many? i think that what made jerry such an amazing artist, was not just his talent, lots of people have talent, but how you felt like you knew jerry, and i mean personally, just by hearing him play. that might be every artists goal, but oh so few can really do it. do you ever just sit back and wonder how lucky we were!

and honestly (having seen the movie last night too) I think John K. would be at the front of the line saying the same. The thing that really struck me at his first Furthur show was not so much how he was a Jerry clone as how he was someone who spoke the Jerry idiom, though, and that was a GREAT thing to have in that band.