I can't believe this much time has passed since the last notes were played. Gone at fifty-three years old, a virtual child. I am now more than a decade older than he was when he passed.
I thankfully have never ever let myself get into the shape he fell into, diabetes, massive weight gain, drugs, coma, more weight, drugs, and another coma, and then watching the unstoppable slow painful march towards death. After barely surviving two near-death diabetic comas, your future chances are not very good, but we hoped and prayed, but we could not stop the devil.
The feeling of loss has never ended. And the tragedy is that all of it could have been avoided, but toward the end the people surrounding Jerry were unwilling or unable to intervene and stop the train before what was clearly another wreck about to happen. And then, tragically, on August 9, 1995 the end came. Why Jerry, why? So much magic, so much music, so many lives permanently imprinted with your musical DNA. Permanently. We love you, we miss you every single day.
I think you all are right pops42 and playallnite.
I remember Warren Haynes once said the Allman Brothers should have been like the Rolling Stones and of course not go years without touring like the Stones had, but not tour year after year and skip a year or two here and there to give everyone time apart and time to do other things. It may have kept the big blow up that pushed Dickey out. But Warren went on to say by 1993 a lot of people were counting on the ABB being out there every year because they were band employees and counted on the band being active every year to make a living.
a very sad day. i remember the day he passed. i was 13. my buddies down the street who were a few years older, one was like 15 and his older brother 17, had asked me to go to one of the june 1995 RFK shows. my mom said i was too young and maybe next year. less than 2 months later jerry's death came across the news and i was gutted
yes, very sad.
Too young, but on the other hand his body was much older than 53 for the reasons you stated (+ heavy smoking)
I remember that day very well.
I was in a room at work and someone told me Jerry died. I admit I wasn't surprised but needed a moment. I went to my office. Sitting on my desk were 2 shoe boxes of GD tapes someone had promised me a few weeks prior.
His spirit lives on
Indeed the “weight” that comes with leadership can have a devastating effect over time on a person's mind, body and soul. It’s been studied and evident in something so simple as a signature that over time, for example, many President's signatures went from being legible to a scribble. Accelerated unnatural aging can be seen in time lapsed comparison photographs, stress directly talking it’s toll.
I remember reading Billy Kreutzmann’s book Deal many years ago and he mentioned Jerry would go visit him in Hawaii and they would often go Scuba Diving. Billy said Jerry loved it so much because it was the only place on earth where he could be totally free. Even at the Dive Shops he would have people wanting an autograph, a picture, a conversation and have to put on the game face. Once under the water he could be seen smiling from ear to ear, absolute freedom.
I can only image the responsibility it must have been to be the “North Star” as Warren alludes to in Patchwork Quilt. Sure the drugs and all the unhealthy habits played their role in Jerry’s untimely death but stress was the underlying factor. The weight so many of us would just crumble under.
“I never knew you
But then who really did?
If you were at all like me
You managed to keep yourself hid”
...
“But there’s a banjo moon in a tie-died sky
Hippies dance and babies cry
Church bells ring as a silver haired angel looks down
And the blood of his music runs through the veins of our guitars
Bright lights, Dark Star”
R.I.P. Jerry
I was 49 that day. 73 now. I was in the car driving north of Baltimore and changed stations to hear the top of the hour news. Still remember. On the hour a tone then a sounder and a man said "CBS radio news. I'm Jim Taylor in New York. Jerry Garcia the lead guitarist and singer for The Grateful Dead is.......DEAD!". Then he went into detail. It was the lead story.
Also later I read in the paper the doctor who did an autopsy on Jerry said the 53 year old had the internal organs of an 83 year old man. I guess he was saying his body had the wear of someone 30 years older?
I have a 1975 interview with Dickey and Dickey said he and Duane tried to not think about what they would do during a solo. Just let it come naturally but within the context of the song but keep it very free form. Then he said you never play a solo in a particular song the same way when you play organically and not think about what notes come next and Jerry Garcia plays like that.
I think Dickey and Jerry we're close. I've seen several pictures of them together taken at different times over the years.
I was 16 and saw Jerry and the Dead at The Academy of Music NYC in 72, It was a life changing experience. I choose to remember that Jerry, it feels best.
That was a tough year. We lost Jerry. then Rory Gallagher. Then my Dad.
Bummer. All died much too soon.
