8-9-10

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the death of one Jerome John Garcia, or more affectionately and widely remembered as Jerry Garcia, the undeniable leader of the once Grateful Dead. It was a sad day that summer for the legions of Deadheads as well as the multitudes of music lovers the world over. Mere days after the Dead's Summer of '95 tour ended (and just a few weeks before I was to receive my first west coast mail order tickets for the upcoming Fall Tour), Jerry's heart gave out in the early morning hours on Wednesday, August 9th. Reports at the time stated that Garcia, a frequent drug abuser, had admitted himself to a treatment clinic in Marin County, California to get cleaned up. Perhaps it was one of those "too little, too late" tragic moments...but a tragedy nonetheless.

For me it was both a shock and a surreal moment when I learned of Jerry's death. I was on the west coast, L.A. to be specific, at the annual Siggraph conference. My exact location was a phone booth (remember them?!) on Venice Beach. I called home to check in and immediately my sister on the other end of the line asked how I was handling the news. I asked, "What news?" And she proceeded to tell me what most of the country had learned from radio and television reports. Stunned and saddened I pretty much moped through the rest of the conference. Jerry Garcia is dead. Damn. Being relatively close to the Dead's hometown, a friend and I took to the rails and headed up to San Francisco, crashing mere blocks from the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets.

Pardon the cliche, but...what a trip! It was the right place to be for the very worst of reasons, however I look back on that sad weekend of street corner tributes and candlelight vigils and think how lucky I was to be out there with so many others who felt this same tremendous and sudden loss. The lasting memory of my time in the city by the bay is of Garcia's Memorial Service (and impromptu concert of sorts) held that weekend in Golden Gate Park. I guess, in the end, I did get to go to my first (and only) west coast show after all!

The Grateful Dead's music means so much to me. What it meant back during my touring days was getting together with friends, doing a little shakin', rattlin' and rollin', taking in "the scene" and most importantly being wisked sky high by Garcia's guitar virtuosity. To me, such summer stuff meant goosebumps during a Scarlet Begonia solo:



or "calling" Estimated Prophet before the telltale "waa waa" guitar sounds played:



or experiencing the legendary happenings before and after the show on "Shakedown Street":



Amazing, amazing music. And what a wonderful way to spend the summer days and nights! I look back at the three - four dozen Grateful Dead shows I saw (a mere pittance compared with the hundreds of shows the most loyal of followers took in) and wish that the experience could have lasted forever. How silly is that? Well, at least we have the memories...and those tapes/cds...oh those tapes/cds/mp3s/whatever comes next!!

Continue to rest in peace, Jerry. And God bless the Grateful Dead!

-Marty

Jerry Garcia
Born: August 1, 1942
Died: August 9, 1995

Copyright, Al Hirshfeld