JERRY GARCIA was born in
HotLink: Paul Krassner 1985 Interview of Jerry Garcia from "The Realist"
Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead by Phil Lesh (Little, Brown April 2005)
Excerpt from the book by Grateful Dead Bass Player Phil Lesh:
The unique organicity of our music reflects the fact that each of us consciously personalized his playing: to fit with what others were playing and to fit with who each man was as an individual, allowing us to meld our consciousnesses together in the unity of a group mind.
For us, the philosophical basis of this concept was articulated by the science-fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon in his novel More Than Human, wherein the protagonists each have a single paranormal talent – telepathy, psychokinesis, teleportation – and are joined by a quadruple paraplegic who acts as a central processing unit. The process by which they become one is called bleshing, from a combination of mesh and blend. (Today’s archetype would be the X-Men.)
AN ELEGY FOR JERRY by Robert Hunter
Jerry, my friend
you've done it again,
even in your silence
the familiar pressure
comes to bear, demanding
I pull words from the air
with only this morning
and part of the afternoon
to compose an ode worthy
of one so particular
about every turn of phrase,
demanding it hit home
in a thousand ways
before making it his own,
and this I can't do alone.
Now that the singer is gone,
where shall I go for the song?
Without your melody and taste
to lend an attitude of grace
a lyric is an orphan thing,
a hive with neither honey's taste
nor power to truly sting.
What choice have I but to dare and
call your muse who thought to rest
out of the thin blue air
that out of the field of shared time,
a line or two might chance to shine --
As ever when we called,
in hope if not in words,
the muse descends.
How should she desert us now?
Scars of battle on her brow,
bedraggled feathers on her wings,
and yet she sings, she sings!
May she bear thee to thy rest,
the ancient bower of flowers
beyond the solitude of days,
the tyranny of hours--
the wreath of shining laurel lie
upon your shaggy head
bestowing power to play the lyre
to legions of the dead
If some part of that music
is heard in deepest dream,
or on some breeze of Summer
a snatch of golden theme,
we'll know you live inside us
with love that never parts
our good old Jack O'Diamonds
become the King of Hearts.
I feel your silent laughter
at sentiments so bold
that dare to step across the line
to tell what must be told,
so I'll just say I love you,
which I never said before
and let it go at that old friend
the rest you may ignore.
Quoted Below From The Official DEAD HEADS Newsletter (Copyright 1974 Ice Nine Publishing Co.)
"We falter and fall away, nothing holds. Political action is impossible. All we are left with are our arts. I propose we turn our tools away from the service of all but their muses. Great deeds are needed. It is time to retreat. It is time to advance backwards. No longer are there any choices. What a relief."
"People tire and you can only do one thing so long. The band is tired of touring for ten years and needs to take a year and go fishing, because they really do. They all have projects they wish to pursue and new material to write. Anyone who does not want them to do it is wanting them to drop dead on the spot through a collective weariness which only a total change can combat."
"It is the fine response of Dead Heads over the years which leads us to conclude that there is something worth maintaining and that is what we're up to."
Since the above Dead Heads Newsletter announced a temporary vacation, We were blessed with 20 Years more of Grateful Dead Music and We were blessed with 20 Years more of Jerry Garcia, Musician.
Jerry Garcia once said: the journey is important, not the destination.
If we have learned only one thing these past 30 years, it is that one man can make a difference in the lives of millions of Americans. It is up to us all to make this planet Earth a better place, because that 30 Year Trip continues, and the journey is important, not the destination.
Join Jerry in his latest trip. His humble wisdom inspired LOVE in us mortals who call ourselves Dead Heads. Smile for Jerry, a Merry Prankster, still blowing our minds with his cosmic giggle. Jerry Garcia, Rest In Peace.
HotLink: Paul Krassner 1985 Interview of Jerry Garcia from "The Realist"
HotLink: Ted Alvy COSMOS TOPPER Home Page "Cosmic Consciousness with a Cosmic Giggle" featuring 60's L.A. Underground Radio (rebop from beatniks to hipsters to hippies), Mallard, Zoot Horn Rollo, Magic Band, Captain Beefheart, Little Feat, Neon Park, Firesign Theatre, Theodore Sturgeon, Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Paul Krassner, Bruce Lee & Cosmos Topper