jerry week

Got Memories…

We took Saturday off from Jerry Week because, hopefully, we all had better things to do than sit and read the interwebs on a Saturday. Today, I want to tell you about something that occurs to me on occasion and which struck me just yesterday as I drove listening to Friday night’s Phish show from Berkeley, CA.

Among the new rash of songs that Phish brought out since their return to the road in 2009 is one entitled “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan”. It’s a rocker with an angst-ridden blues guitar riff that, at first didn’t do too much for me. Then I found this shirt.


Some may bristle at the idea of Phish fans appropriating Grateful Dead icons for their lot shirts, but this one carries an awful lot of meaning. The lyrics describe a man living a new life, with new rules and responsibilities. He’s thinking of escaping and recapturing his freer past but knows that it’s not ever going to be the same.

Personally, I don’t dream of escaping my life. But I do often think back to a time that can never come again. Don’t we all? For me, of course, it’s the dream of seeing The Grateful Dead. That, obviously, is not going to happen but there are days when my memories turn into daydreams and those daydreams sometimes turn into real-life adventures (like Phish shows) that may be similar but will never be the same as seeing The Grateful Dead.

This song reminds me of those days but past and present and this shirt (which I’m wering as I type) ties it all together. Not being able to relive the past is a fact of our universe but at least I’ve got memories…

If you don’t know the song, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4fewvLmnuI

Garcia/Grisman

Today I wanted to share one of my favorite Garcia side-projects, Garcia/Grisman. Jerry’s collaborations with Grisman go well back into their younger years. They first met at a bluegrass festival on the East Coast (well before that whole Grateful Dead thing) and a friendship was born. Later, Grisman was key to assembling the crazy successful Old & In The Way band. He played on The Grateful Dead’s American Beauty album and also he plays a bit of mandolin on one of the Garcia/Saunders Keystone records.

Time passed…

Enter the 90s and two old friends begin playing casually at home. Grisman decides to roll some tape. Before long, they decided to cut a record and play some shows around the Bay Area.

That record, the first of many, came to be called “Garcia/Grisman”.  It was an all acoustic affair with the pair accompanied by regular Grisman collaborators, Jim Kerwin on bass and Joe Craven on percussion and fiddle. The songs ranged from originals to covers of blues (“The Thrill Is Gone”) and traditional folk (“Two Soldiers”). At a time when many felt that Jerry Garcia was beyond doing anything new or different, this record came as a revelation.

Personally, I wore out at least one cassette version of the release as it was on constant rotation in my car and college dorm. But don’t just take my word for it.

Here’s their take on the Grateful Dead’s “Friend Of The Devil” :

[youtube width=”480″ height=”385″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JSm5TP13dY[/youtube]

Where the real pleasure of this collaboration arose was in the merger of their two unique styles of music. No song better exemplifies this than Grateful Dawg. Forgive the quality of the video… The audio of this live performance from 1990-12-17 is worth it.

[youtube width=”560″ height=”340″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4-gCehGrcg[/youtube]

The collaboration continued until Jerry’s passing and has, to date, resulted in seven releases (all but two were posthumous.) The second release, a collection of children’s folks tunes and the remaining albums mix folk and jazz and bluegrass much in the manner one would expect of two men so steeped in American music.

I’ll leave you now with one more song.

Here’s “Shady Grove” from The Pizza Tapes (with Tony Rice!)

[youtube width=”425″ height=”25″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ODUbDLS7A[/youtube]

Unbroken Chain 

Today occasional guest-blogger Sophist jumps in with some of his thoughts. -rj

We find ourselves midweek, and it’s none other than that spell binding time of year where we honor the birth and death of one of rock music’s greatest, and most unconventional icons: Jerry Garcia.  He holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons, first and foremost, his uncanny playing style has always stuck out to me, and his innovative and evolving song writing catalog is just as unique today as it was when it unfolded at each show.   Garcia had a way of dancing his legato infused lines into your heart, soul, and mind.  While he could make you smile, at the same time he could hit the darkest depths of your soul and channel the human condition.  Garcia was and is more than music, he is an example of spreading the most carnal experiences of life through music, and this is why his legend will stand the test of time.

Musically speaking, Garcia is in a league of his own.  His use of bluegrass, jazz, blues, rockabilly, and avant garde styles melt into one kaleidoscopic sound wave of sonic bliss.  Garcia was always quoted for his love of leading tones, and his use of them did set him apart from other musicians of that era.  His technique lives on today with a plethora of jam band guitarists emulating their fallen hero night in and night out.

What is most unique about his playing style is his tone.  While other guitarists of the 60’s and 70’s where exploring the inner realm of Hendrix like dichotomies, Garcia found himself carving out a completely different sound.  It was as if instead of having Jimmy Page bitch slap you with 64th notes, Garcia would caress your ears and gently lift you up into the outer hemisphere.   This is what is commonly missed with non deadheads, it wasn’t about jaw dropping finger action, it was about gliding in and out of the confines of the space of the room, adding a new dimension to the venue.

Finally, we must also recognize the role model aspect of Garcia, and how he helped to refine multiple generations by infusing his philosophy world wide.  At the heart of the Grateful Dead is the love, compassion, and understanding that Garcia brought to each show.  He truly was and is a selfless human being.  He set the standard for the hippie movement, and the individuality that permeates the dead scene.  To be is to be.  It is the essence of Beat.  His modesty is something we should also not overlook, for it shows that even in his latter days, he still saw himself as a common man.  In closing, do more than just listen to Dead this week.  Recognize the beauty the fat man brought us, and go forth and make your own beauty in this crazy trip we call life.

-Sophist

The Story So Far…

Today’s Jerry Week entry is not coming to me too easily. So I thought I’d just write a little about my history as a Deadhead.

I probably started listening to the Grateful Dead in the mid-eighties just as I began listening to other groups from the 60’s and mostly rejecting the pop music of the day. Something about the music of the era spoke to me and I filled my twelve-year-old brain with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Bod Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, The Who and, The Grateful Dead. I think it was late in eighth grade when my friend’s dad gave him two cds for his birthday: Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced and Big Brother & The Holding Company – Cheap Thrills. I immediately taped those and began to digest their contents.

With my radio tuned to classic rock and tapes playing as much of the stuff as I could copy from friends or from the radio, I was enveloping myself in the music of the past and loving it. I dubbed copies of American Beauty and Skeletons In The Closet and wore them out. But I soon had all of the albums and, having moved, I made new friends who actually had seen the Grateful Dead. One gave me my first live tape (1981-05-05 Glens Falls, NY) and, that Spring, they invited me to join them for the shows at the Cap Center. My parents denied me those shows just as they had denied me all concerts at that point.

Summer of 1991 approached and, with it, another tour. Then that fateful day of June 14th arrived and my life changed forever.
(Read about it here.)

Anybody who really gets it will tell you that The Grateful Dead were more than just a rock band. And they weren’t just a lifestyle choice, either. They were troubadours bearing a message more complex than peace and love. Theirs was of higher thought and interconnectedness; groupthink and grasping after the elusive “it”. Jerry Garcia, although he casually rejected the mantle of leadership, bore that weight and guided us into places no other music has uncovered.

Have a listen to some of that RFK ’91 show:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3A22B30080BACE40[/youtube]