Remembering Jerry Garcia

[samlyman]

This day always brings me back to where I was 21 years ago when I first heard of Jerry's passing. It was a Wednesday and I was running morning errands. I stopped at a local bank to cash a check. The teller was the female lead singer in a bluegrass band with me and told me in a very somber tone that she was sorry about Jerry's passing. She assumed I knew because I was wearing a Dead shirt that I picked up at a recent show in Seattle over Memorial Day weekend. I just melted into a puddle right there in the middle of that bank!

All these years later I am grateful for the life lessons I learned when I was one of Jerry's kids - universal acceptance, love and being open to living in the moment.

Thanks Jerry for a real good time!

"Such a long, long time to be gone and a short time to be there."

[bingoccc]

I can't call myself a DeadHead but I do have the Extra Large version (3 CDs) of the Pizza Tapes in my truck CD player right now. It was a great loss.

[barry]

Yeah. It was a Wednesday. Netscape stock had its initial public offering that morning. Up a zillion points. The kickoff to the Internet Stock Bubble of the late 90's. I went to an early lunch with a friend.
When I got back to my office and stepped off the elevator, my receptionist gave me a stack of pink message slips from all of my friends that had been calling with the news.

And I've been bummed out about it for the last 21 years.

[Freddyfingers]

The colors of the world seemed to fade ever so slightly after that. I still see colors, but not as vivid. Can't go back, and ya can't stand still.

[ago]

No more kids for me and my wife. Twins born, the next day Jerry passes. Younger child born, the next day George Harrison died. Treasured both guitarists and don't want to see any more of my favorites go.

[darrylicshon]

I was lucky a few days before he died , i was sent from Phoenix to San Francisco. I had just finished resurfacing some marble in a hotel and had another to do in sanfran. I worked resurfacing marble for most of the 90's. When i heard the news that night i went to the polo field and joined in the memorial and every night i went there that Saturday they had the official memorial went again. It ended really early, but on the bus ride home the bus was full of deadheads most had drums. You would hear drums being played alittle. While i was in Phoenix i had ran across a great deal on a red Jackson guitar and i bought a battery operated amp so i could play it. I had it with me on the bus and i started playing some notes and before you knew it we had a full jam going on the bus driver didn't say a word. When i had to get off everybody said thanks for jamming. That was a great way to end the memorial

[Mark Gunter]

Had a tall, cool drink and re-watched the Bob Weir documentary today in honor of Jerry. Another candle in the wind.

[Phil-D]

I had heard the news while driving to an interview. I was a bit early so to burn some time I went to a local mall and bought a couple of Jerry's ties. I'm not a tie guy but these are two of my favorite. This was long before I started to play mandolin, but as luck would have it, the pattern on one of the ties is David Grisman.

[Jeff Mando]

Didn't know about the ties! Wow! And from a guy who wore black t-shirts his whole life......

[Roger Moss]

Just finished off the day with a little Old And In The Way.

[Steve Ostrander]

universal acceptance, love and being open to living in the moment.

In spite of that, I think it was overwhelming for him to be Jerry Garcia the rock star. He was probably more at ease being Jerry the Bluegrass picker.....

[barry]

In spite of that, I think it was overwhelming for him to be Jerry Garcia the rock star. He was probably more at ease being Jerry the Bluegrass picker.....

Yeah. I think it became progressively more overwhelming throughout the years.

For the record, I met him about 6 months before he died. I found him to be congenial and humble.

When I explained to him that there wasn't much I could say that thousands of groveling fans haven't said before, he replied, "Yeah, yeah, I gotcha....But what you should know is, from my perspective, any time a fan gives me a compliment, it means something, because I know it's sincere."

After which, I jokingly replied, "Oh, so in that case, what's it like to be God?"

He feigned mock exasperation, throwing up his hands before putting them to his forehead and exclaiming, "Ahhhhhggghhhhhh....."

[samlyman]

[mandocrucian]

If you really want to "remember" Jerry Garcia, I'd suggest getting out the albums (or transcribed tune/solo books) and learning his stuff - on mando - as close as you can get it to what he played on guitar (or steel). Workingman's Dead >>> Mars Hotel (including the first Garcia solo album) is the time period to study, imo. ("Touch of Gray" is a little after, but his break is a distillation of "Garcia" guitar).



And don't skip/neglect the backup/rhythm/accompaniment riffs and figures either! ("Deal", "Sugaree", "Candy Man", "Black Peter", "China Cat"). That stuff will help cure you of 'chop-itus' limitations.