RIP Jerry Garcia...Where were you when you heard?

[Bennyboy]

12 yrs ago today.

I was at home getting ready for a show, cutting mattes and making frames. My G/F at time called me and told me the news. At the tiem I was selling phtos of musicians at festivals and on grateful Dead tour.

She came home from work and we went to a friends house and thought about what we could do.

So we decided to take all the other artists photos out of the frames and put a GD retrospective in them. We had shots from 66 to Shoreline 95.

That night there was a Jerry Memorial at the CA state capitol. We went to Tower books and found some music compostition books with Mozart on the cover and figured we could get some people's thoughts down in those.

So we took all the JG photos and the books to that memorial. People just poured their hearts out in those books. Our display was very nice. We sold nothing (even though that was our business) we just put it out there for peoople to see.

The next night we did the same thing at a Memorial in Tahoe. More pople wrote some of the most beautiful things in the books.

Then we went to the big thing in GG park. So many more wrote in the books. I made the news and talked to Deborah Koons and other members of the GD Family. They all thanked me for doing this. I still did not sell anything even though many wanted us to.

We kept the books for the summer going and some of the most beautiful things were written in them.

then we got to the Hog farm. And got to dose out with Tim Leary, ken kesey, Wavy, Bob Weir, Leftover Salmon etc... One of the great nights of my life. All of them wrote in the books.

[LynneSin]

1. In line at the Fresh Fields in Montgomeryville PA

I was getting ready to head down to OCMD with my best friend (and 2nd greatest Zeppelin fan)

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. Driving to the bank to get a mortgage refinance...

Heard it on the radio.

Had to pull over.

I wasn't the only one pulled over.

Saw a woman with her head down on the steering wheel, sobbing.

[underpants]

3. At the Village restaurant on Grace street

Richmond VA

The same exact place that I was (all my buddies actually) when we heard that Kurt Cobain had killed himself.

[Hugin]

7. Last year... Right here in the Lounge.

UP told me... :grr: (It's all UP's fault)

UP killed Jerry Garcia!

[underpants]

10. down my pants

You can look it up but the story about Jerry's ashes gets near a Spinal Tap type moment. After much fighting between two of his wives/mothers of his children one finally got some of his ashes and went to have a ceremony in the SF bay. Basically they didn't account for the wind and ...well it was quite a mess.

[Hugin]

11. The Jerry really hit the fans, eh?

Bummer, man.

[Burma Jones]

19. How Lebowskian.......

[auburngrad82]

4. Installing carpet in a home in Atlanta nt

[RetroLounge]

5. Didn't care then, don't care now...

from a musical point of view. Never "got" the dead.

But I did felt badly for his family and friends.

RL

[IndianaJones]

12. thats nice. glad you could share that. nt.

[RetroLounge]

13. Hey, he was a boring drug-addled guitar noodler

It's not he was Barry Bonds or something...

:eyes:

RL

[IndianaJones]

14. You certainly don't hold back. nt.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[RetroLounge]

17. Wow! Nice comeback

Now I feel owned.

:eyes:

RL

[Enjoying_the_Ride]

30. obviously cared enough to view the thread, post, and then make attempts at snark to replies /nt

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

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[Burma Jones]

37. Seeing I broke a rule here.......

Do not draw negative attention to the fact that someone is new, has a low post count, or recently became a member of Democratic Underground.

[RetroLounge]

38. Thanks nanny. I know the rules.

go ahead and alert.

:eyes:

RL

[Bennyboy]

6. Bob Dylan on Jerry Garcia

"There's no way to measure his greatness or magnitude as a person or as a player. I don't think eulogizing will do him justice. He was that great - much more than a superb musician with an uncanny ear and dexterity. He is the very spirit personified of whatever is muddy river country at its core and screams up into the spheres. He really had no equal. To me he wasn't only a musician and friend, he was more like a big brother who taught and showed me more than he'll ever know. There are a lot of spaces and advances between the Carter Family, Buddy Holly and, say, Ornette Coleman, a lot of universes, but he filled them all without being a member of any school. His playing was moody, awesome, sophisticated, hypnotic and subtle. There's no way to convey the loss. It just digs down really deep." - Bob Dylan

[anarch]

8. why didn't anyone tell me Jerry Garcia was dead?

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33756

[EstimatedProphet]

9. I didn't hear until I got back from my study site

I was working on my doctroate, and I had to make weekly trips out to my study area. I didn't hear a word until I got back to town. There was little ojn the radio in Mississippi.

[MrCoffee]

15. Moby told me

it was at lollapalooza, and moby was on stage and announced it to the crowd. he then suggested we eat jerry garcia to end world hunger.

[Burma Jones]

18. At work, had the radio on, news came on, I heard Truckin' and I knew before they said a word

We went down to the Lincoln Memorial that night, we had been married about 6 weeks by then. Summer of 1995 was definitely a big obvious marker of one stage of life ending and another beginning. By 1996, I was a homeowner, ex-smoker and Grad Student, by 1997, I had a Volvo and a kid on the way......

[Rambis]

20. I was at work

I had a bunch of mail in my hand and I dropped it and went to the corner in shock. I felt like somebody knocked me in the head with a hammer.
I was working at a hospital at the time and I went to one division and told a secretary tell Joel Jerry died, she said jerry who? and I said just tell him Jerry died he will know who I mean.
When I got back to my office there was a cardiologist who I went to shows with in there and we both started to weep instantly. I always took at least two weeks off a year to go so my boss knew I was bummed big time (she had no idea really but...)

I had given my tickets to chicago away even though I said to my wife "you never know when the last show will be"
Those were the only tickets I had ever given away (couldn't afford it) but my wife promised me we would do the entire fall tour for our honeymoon. We have never had a honeymoon.

God rest you Jerry!

[XemaSab]

21. I was camping up at Lassen

I can tell you EXACTLY where I was. Campsite 12. :D

[LeftyFingerPop]

22. Wow...some of these posts...

break my heart in a way.

I guess even as Democrats, we can be as judgmental as the next person.

You know, lumping Jerry into the "drug addled hippy" category. Musically insignificant and all that.

Here's my take.

When I think of Jerry, I DON'T think of drugs, tie dye, guitar noodling, being overweight, heroin. etc.

I DO think of the following: the willingness to give of himself and actually fail until from the ashes, a bit of pure musical genius would arise that may only last 3 secomds, but would be in your head a lifetime. A kind man with a gentle soul. A riff that would literally motivate me to push onward during some tough physical and emotional trials.

Some of you people need to get your head out of your ass and stop being so black and white. Open your minds a little, and realize it takes all sorts...and not everyone who loved Jerry is a...well, you know.

[regularguy]

26. I like noodling.

But I can very easily imagine not liking it. I remember someone (maybe on this site) dismisively refering to Jerry's playing as "country-jazz noodling" and I thought that was actually a nice description. Turns out that I love country-jazz noodling. Some people like 3 minute songs. Me? I got time for an extra 5. :)

[RedSpartan]

23. On a college orientation camping trip...

August before freshman year, you spent a week hiking and camping and getting to know other people in your class. At one point, all the different camping groups met and had a big bonfire. Someone announced that Garcia had died, and you'd have thought the world had come to an end. Lots of wailing and sobbing, and one guy broke out his guitar and people started singing Dead songs. Really, I didn't get it. I never liked the Dead, and thought these people really needed to get a grip. What was so special about one guy that caused them to lose it like that? How could this possibly have had such an effect on them?

When the trip was over, my dad picked me up at the school. On the passenger seat was the sports section of the newspaper. Mickey Mantle had died. I cried, and finally understood.

[regularguy]

24. I had just got married and my deadhead days were past,

but I find myself missing him more as time goes on. He (and them other GD ers) started me on a backwards journey into what I'd call "Americana" for lack of a better term. Back through Motown, Bo Diddly, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Del McCoury, John Spence, Libba Cotten,Sam Mcgee,Etta Baker, John Hurt, etc. To me he wasn't so much a rock star (yuck), but part of this great American tradition. David Bromberg, Jorma, Taj Mahal, those New-Grass-Revival dudes, and others keep it going.

[KamaAina]

25. At home in New Haven, having just got back from work

in a nearby town.

Much drinking ensued (nothing else being available at the moment :smoke: ), and, long story short, I straggled into work an hour late the next day (next train).

The boss, who was known to blast Dylan in the office at maximum volume after hours, said "Somehow, I knew you'd be late today"...

[Robb]

27. Who the hell's Jerry Garcia?

Another long lost Baldwin brother? :yoiks:

[Bennyboy]

28. Still fuckenmissem!

[KinkyDem]

29. Getting ready to start school in a new state

College that is.

All alone in a far away country town hundreds of miles away from anyone I knew.

I got in my car and drove to Louisville to see if I could find anything.

I did. It helped.

I saw Rat Dog a few weeks ago at the All Good Music Festival. It's not the same.

I miss you Jerry.

[BrotherBuzz]

31. Having dinner with Donna Godchaux-Mackay and family

She came out from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to visit Jerry in the hospital. She and Keith Godchaux may have had a mutual falling out with the band, but Donna and Jerry remained VERY intimate friends to the end.

[Bennyboy]

33. Wow, great story.

It is nice to see Donna back in the family again, playing with Phil and Zero. She ws the ideal dream hippie chick back in the day.

[jobycom]

32. NOOOO!! They didn't stop making the ice cream, did they?!?!

I never was much of a Dead fan. I guess I never heard them enough, and when I did, they sounded like a weak country band. I know I missed whatever it was that was genius about him, and I'm sad that I did, since he motivated so many people.

I remember when he died, and being a bit shocked and saddened--more because of the loss to the world than to me. But I don't remember exactly what I was doing.

Still, Jerry, :toast: I might not have gotten you, but I couldn't miss the fact that many people I admire most thought you were one hell of a human being. That's enough to earn my respect.

[fizzgig]

34. in the car with my best friend and her mom

we were on the highway north of town, but i don't remember where we were going or from where we had come

i was only 14 at the time, but i knew what it meant for many people, my dad included

[Squatch]

36. Couer d'Alene Lake, Idaho...just got back from Airborne School