Garcia Played Guitar....hard to believe.

[lightningbolt]

Maybe the person who buys this should use the $1295 Adamas pick with it......

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Yamaha-played-by-JERRY-GARCIA-/261040920464?pt=Guitar&hash=item3cc7405790

Been to 150 shows....never seen Jerry in the lot.

[Dozin]

It's a cool story.

[gr8fullfred]

It is worth the current bid $2.25

[paulinnc]

It doesn't sound totally beyond possibility. I don't know what the lot scene was like in 82 but I imagine it wasn't nearly as big as post "Touch of Grey" so it could be a true story. I worked with a guy who met Garcia once, he was a cook at a hotel and it was late night after a show and Jerry was in the hotel coffee shop having some coffee and smoking cigarettes. Dave the guy I worked with, had just finished up his shift and he asked Jerry for a light for a smoke. Garcia invited him to sit down for a minute and chat. Dave, was not a deadhead at all but he knew who Jerry was. Dave told me Garcia was laid back, pretty funny and "Stoned off his fucking ass!!" Dave said he kept nodding off for a few seconds here and there. Hence the late night coffee. Dave sat with him a for a couple of minutes smoked a couple of Jerry's cigarettes and went home.

[lightningbolt]

It doesn't sound totally beyond possibility. I don't know what the lot scene was like in 82 but I imagine it wasn't nearly as big as post "Touch of Grey" so it could be a true story. I worked with a guy who met Garcia once, he was a cook at a hotel and it was late night after a show and Jerry was in the hotel coffee shop having some coffee and smoking cigarettes. Dave the guy I worked with, had just finished up his shift and he asked Jerry for a light for a smoke. Garcia invited him to sit down for a minute and chat. Dave, was not a deadhead at all but he knew who Jerry was. Dave told me Garcia was laid back, pretty funny and "Stoned off his fucking ass!!" Dave said he kept nodding off for a few seconds here and there. Hence the late night coffee. Dave sat with him a for a couple of minutes smoked a couple of Jerry's cigarettes and went home.

I've been on the bus since 5/16/80 at Nassau..saw over 150 shows in total before Jer checked out.....even back then the boys were selling out 20K seat arenas. It was just not possible for Jerry to be one of the guys, melt into the scene and walk around the lot. He certainly would of caused quite a stir and most likely a riot if he decided to pick up a guitar and jam in the lot.

I saw the GD at SPAC at least twice...maybe more...."it all rolls into one", however I was not there in 82. The scene at SPAC which holds about 15K people would have been crazy....even before Go To Heaven....there is just no way this story is true.

I have hung with Brent in a hotel bar....met Billy and Bobby in hotel restaurants and elevators....never once did I see an impromptu jam. Your friends story could be true but I have never ever heard a parking lot story like this.

Anyone ever personally jam with one of the boys in the lot?

With all the GD experience and shows attended by RUKINDers, someone on this forum would have a personal experience if this really did ever happen.

[ebick]

I saw the GD at SPAC at least twice...maybe more...."it all roles into one", however I was not there in 82.

Neither were they......

[lightningbolt]

Too funny.....I must be a lousy detective.....overlooking the basics.

[jeffm725]

Id be shocked. I was around in 82 (but my touring heyday was 84-88), I met Jer a couple times, BRIEFLY, but NEVER, EVER walking lots. Nobody I know from the 80’s has ever even breathed a word of seeing Jer in the lots. 82 was smack in the middle (/pun) of his first 10 year Dragon run. He was not one to hang out at that time, in fact he was reknown as the fastest human alive when the goal was to get through a hotel lobby.
I was in the Dead hotel hospitality suite (in every hotel they had a room for gathering people in the scene and whatever girls they hooked from the show…..they called it the “hostility suite”) more than a handful of times and saw every band member in and out of there at one time or another, some A LOT, but not Jerry, not once did he ever show up there when I was there and I got the feeling he never did (in my time frame at least).

Possible? Sure, but I would put the probability at a tiny fraction of one percent.

But you know what? I HOPE it’s true, it would be great!!! But the SPAC 82 mistake, really goes against that.

[lightningbolt]

I saw the GD at SPAC at least twice...maybe more...."it all rolls into one", however I was not there in 82. The scene at SPAC which holds about 15K people would have been crazy....even before Go To Heaven....there is just no way this story is true.

Just correcting myself...SPAC's capacity is not 15K, it is officially limited to 25,100....see below from WIKI.

SPAC's largest attended performance in its history was by The Grateful Dead in 1985, where a total of 40,231 fans showed up to see the band. Since the show, SPAC limits its capacity to 25,100.

It was a great show... does anybody remember the bad joke between Phil and Bob when some dude was hanging off the balcony?

Hey Phil.....

[Cmnaround]

Got to see the last SPAC show in summer 88 and it was mayhem - great show but the beginning of a tough scene in the lots. When I first read this initial post I was like no way no how was Jerry out and about in the lot. I remember talking to people when at a show on City Island in Harrisburg PA summer 84 and they were like "yeah Jerry is here and in his trailer - wont come out all day until the show" - but I did get to talk to Billy through the fence by the stage. One of my friends got to help load in - he said later that the Dead crew wouldn't let any of the local roadies do anything - they were just like give us your 5 best guys and they got to help carry some stuff. But I think Jerry had more important things on his mind - at least to him - than to be out and about - I'm sure he had people to troll the lots for him.

[jeffm725]

My Dog has no nose.........No nose, how does he smell? ......bloomin' awful.....


And dont hang off the balcony, Hey, yo, BUTCH!!!

[gr8fullfred]

SPAC's largest attended performance in its history was by The Grateful Dead in 1985, where a total of 40,231 fans showed up to see the band. Since the show, SPAC limits its capacity to 25,100.

Those numbers are the official numbers. Not the actual number of fans in attendance.

I was at the SPAC 1988 show. It was a very bad scene. For those that do not know, SPAC has a very long fence around it, that can easily be scaled by a person. 1988 was sold out, but many, many fans were able to enter without tickets. It was very over crowed, and a mess. It was my first experience with the "in the dark heads". The fans rushed the ramps to the balconies, overpowering the security guards, and before the show, security guards were tackling running hippies that had climbed the fence, like right in front of us.

After the 1985 show SPAC did not let the GD play there till 1988, after 88 they never let the GD play there again. Great venue, but the GD attracted too many people for this venue and it was sorta impossible to police the whole fence and keep the gate crashers out. I would bet that there was never more people at a SPAC show then the 1988 Grateful Dead Show there.

BTW, the show was pretty killer, broadcast on the radio, great Bertha on that one, one of best bertha solos IMHO.