Happy 79th Birthday Jerry

what could have been

hb big guy

That song remains unfinished

Open-ended into Eternity

Our Blue Star Kachina

After the shameful gate crashing assholes (phish head losers) fiasco at Highgate, Jerry had enough of what The Scene had become and checked right out. But man it was sumthin before it got tainted.

HBD Jer - Playing you loud today

Phish " heads".  Sad 

Happy Birthday Jerry and Happy Daze Between Zone!

Grate to see you post KK and grate to be posting in your thread . 

I remember when you both flew to this show and when you got back w recordings that we jammed often.

That's a nice version of Stella.  Thanks for posting KK.  Jerry looks about 79 in that video.  Phil at 81 looks younger.

Love to Jerry

Happy woulda been your birthday, Jerry.

I love him and miss him every day. 

Dear Jerry,

Just wanted to update ya on a few things down here on Earth:

1.      I know you'll hate it, but now they have a pot named after you. Garcia brand. It's actually not so bad. But maybe ask them to cut back on the fancy packaging so we can afford to buy more of it. The jar weighs more than the weed inside. That’s just wrong.

2.      Your boy Bobby is still quite the modern troubadour. He’s currently touring with strings and a horn section – and we thought Phil was Mr Orchestra. And with a creepy looking dude who looks like a major drug dealer who always dresses for a thunderstorm but with sunglasses on. Creepy. Bob’s actually become much more of a musical storyteller than ragin rock star, while giving every song he sings copious room “to breathe.” Unfortunately many of the songs die of boredom before they can take another breath.

3.      Phil is still being contrary, as usual. He hates the rest of the guys. All he wants to do is play old Grateful Dead tunes with 20-somethings fresh outta college. He says he doesn’t trust anyone over 30. By then they are jaded and experienced – and will actually read their contract and ask questions. His wife says this is not allowed. And all that talk about exploring the bounds of the possible? And pushin the limits? His wife says that is not allowed either. All that’s over. It’s all about the grandkid’s college fund now.  He hardy tours anymore. I guess his music career started in a pizza parlor and will end in a pizza parlor; except the pizza now costs eighty bucks apiece and is smothered in goat cheese and beets --- yeeech.

4.      Mickey – he’s quite deaf. But won’t ever admit it. The rest of his senses are a little dull, too. The guys took away his drumsticks and replaced them with two feathers and he didn’t even notice. Then they put a colander with some LED s attached to it on his head and told him he was communicating with aliens thru brainwaves and he didn’t ever have to sing anymore. Ha, those road crew guys never change.

5.      Billy has mastered stadium rock. He says he needs the excitement of big arenas but we know with all those alimony and child support payments he probably needs the dough bad. Surprisingly Billy came up with THE happening band – and he found a young bluegrass player with amazing chops, a soulful delivery and unique stage presence…sound familiar? just proving once again that even super stoned dudes can attract good musicians. But you knew that, right?

6.      And the Jerry imposters…. There are thousands of them. Fat ones, Skinny ones. Ones that snort up rocks. Tough ones, sissy ones, even trans-Jers without their cocks. Every town has two or three that try and play just like you.

But we all know that can’t be done. We miss you. A lot. Happy Birthday Jer.

>>>gate crashing assholes (phish head losers) fiasco at Highgate, Jerry had enough of what The Scene<<<

It's understandable that it's important for people to blame "others, not us!" for bad things that happen, and not knowing the details of Highgate maybe there were Phish heads in that particular group of losers, but the gate crashing hoards were born & developed in the early '90s straight from Shakedown/Grateful Dead tours, happening regularly long before Phish was playing anywhere but small clubs & theaters.

And because that "Scene"/gate crashing was a regular, almost constant thing at GD shows by '92, I think if Jerry was going to get fed up with that bullshit he would have long before '95.

Phish heads could definitely be louts, they shut the band out of Red Rocks for years, but everything bad they learned they learned from their elders, the much larger & much worse Shakedown "family" born of the Grateful Dead. There has never been anything remotely like/as ugly as the "scene" surrounding a '90s Grateful Dead tour.

We dead heads have to own it - as a disruptive entity dead heads have always been far worse than Phish heads, or any other group of fans.

>>>what could have been<<<

Dying at 53, that was a common thought many/most of us had after he passed, but after the reality of his death settled in, I always thought the "what could have been" years were everything after his coma in '86, because he probably should have and almost did die then.

Those post-coma years weren't my personal favorites, but I still had many incredible times with him during those years, and think how much music, fun and generations of dead heads would have been missed if he'd passed in '86. (There also wouldn't have been any Shakedown parasite bullshit, but with the good must come some bad).

In my mind the nine more years of Jerry we got were extra and priceless, and we were lucky to have gotten them.

Anyway, 26 years after his death Jerry continues to live on, and by all evidence of the massive ongoing popularity of Grateful Dead music, it's pretty clear that people will continue to "know" Jerry long after we're all gone.

And THAT'S far out.

LONG LIVE JERRY GARCIA!!!!!!!!!!!!

LONG LIVE THE GRATEFUL DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I've posted these often before, but here are my two personal favorite photos that I took of the man. I sure did love ya' Jerry)

Thanks for reminding us that Jerry had a wicked sense of humor, Alan, and thanks for keeping it real, Lance.

And thank you, Jerry. You made some glorious noise and got people to think about stuff.

Glorious Noise.

Jerry's current band name, wherever he is. HBD, Jer.

I took this picture in 89,   It is under glass so hard to do it justice.   I  remember Jerry just beaming with a huge smile looking over at Brent and the drums illuminated  behind him.  

I've never understood wishing a dead person happy birthday. 

or why double posts happen. 

here's hoping he is still doing offroad photo safaris in Mexico !

>>>gate crashing assholes (phish head losers) fiasco at Highgate

There were over 100,000 people there. Phish wasn't that popular. The problem was neither Phish heads nor Deadheads. It was the 90,000 people who were there for the party. I'd hypothesize that most had never seen Phish, and maybe a small percent had seen the Dead once or twice. They came in throngs, without tickets, to rage. It was like that at every show.

The Dead never had control of it, but they went from house band for the psychedelic revolution to background music for large gatherings of douchebags.

i do not wish my father a happy birthday this day that he would have been 97, having lived. i do miss and celebrate him extra though

(((no vibes needed)))

highgate was a fucking puppy pulling wook fest

they didn't have any particular musical allegiance so much as a gimmegimmegimme attitude