Grateful Dead Music Forum

First off - I'm not trying to put down Jerry, but there is *some* evidence that he was shooting up at some low points in his life.

In the book 'Dark Star' someone went to his house in the early 80's, jerry opened the door and said something like "Whatya been doing? I've been a stone cold junkie for a few years" (sorry, I don't have the book in front of me for the exact quote). The witness states that Jerry was shooting into his legs to hide the problem, and that he saw the track marks.

Also, there is a small reference in Rock Scullys book to discovering that lemon juice could be used for shooting up with, although this could of course just imply that Rock was shooting.

I'd say that Jerry *may* have shot up at certain times, but he for sure smoked it most of the time. Possily he shot when low-grade H was all that was availiable.

i read alittle about that "i've been a stone cold junkie" in this article

http://www.levity.com/gans/SFFocus.html

this made me sad

wow, fuck
didn't want to read all this.
but he was a normal guy with his bad sides.

We are all flawed as human beings and not many of us could stand the degree of examination that Jerry life was put under during his lifetime. That being said it was his choice. As we go on and on for pages and pages on this site and other media about what made him great and the great things he provided for us musically we have to be realistic about the negative things as well. Jerry's drug use significantly contributed to his own demise. To go on with excuses like carpal tunnel etc, he only smoked, he was a diabetic to try to excuse the choices he made is just wrong. Does not mean he did not bring a lot of joy to people it just means that he was human and flawed like the rest of us.

"Dark Star" is a hack-job "True Hollywood Stories"-esque dirt-digging bio. I would lend much more more credence to Blair Jackson's or even Scully's or McNally's books. Who cares, really though... hard drugs are hard drugs whether you shoot snort smoke, ingest...

Y'know, Jerry wouldn't have been Jerry without his flaws. All the choices we make, good and bad influence the person that we are which in turn influences the choices we make and so on. We are a combination of our light and dark, good and bad sides. Yin and Yang. The music and the band would have been diffterent if Jerry was different. Excuse him or not, it doesn't matter. That's who he was and this is the legacy that he left, the thing that we all love.

Besides, he's dead, and nothings gonna bring him back. The whole conversation of whether his choices were good or bad and what exactly contributed to his death and how he used his drugs is pointless.

Dunno if this makes much sense, just my 2 cents.

The lyrics of Playin should be drifting through this discussion.

Particularly, "If a man among us got no sin upon his hand..." and "...a man is just a man."

Uncle Jerry, in reality, might not have been the cleanest guy that ever picked a guitar, but he took us places far past this reality and I'll be forever grateful.

Why does it matter? So what if he smelled or he did drugs? It was his choice and he is NO WORSE of a human being at all. He was a great human being in fact. Like you guys said. If he brought joy to people for 40+ years and counting then he must be a great guy. Fuck it let him stink!

This entire discussion is pointless bordering on profane.
What is to be served discussing what someone smelled like 20/30/40 years ago? What is next? His bathroom habits?
We ALL know what Jerry did for us, for music, and for the world...we should perhaps focus on what actually matters.

FWIW, I sat right next to him one evening for about 90 minutes. He smelled like you and I smell.

Agreed... this conversation has so far been pretty lame.

But here is a different take...

I generally am interested in the skills that make a person famous. For example, I could not care less about Michael Jordan's personal life... I cared only about what he did on the basketball court. Everything else is his and his alone, and frankly I don't care.

Jerry was different. Different even than any other artist, musician, or guitar player I've known of. It has a lot to do with the culture that the dead created and grew - and how it influenced my and my friends's adolescence. My entree and time seeing the dead was mostly about friendships and the group of people I hung with. The dead facilitated that in a very unique way.

The dead's music was an important sound track to my upbringing... and effected who I am and how I live. Jerry in particular was a sting part of that. When he sang and played... I felt his pain and joy in ways no other artist has ever touched me. I never met him. Didn't need to. He put it all out there on stage. What I'm lucky enough to have received from Jerry is 100% positive.

RiseandFall wrote:This entire discussion is pointless bordering on profane.
What is to be served discussing what someone smelled like 20/30/40 years ago? What is next? His bathroom habits?
We ALL know what Jerry did for us, for music, and for the world...we should perhaps focus on what actually matters.

FWIW, I sat right next to him one evening for about 90 minutes. He smelled like you and I smell.

This thread has been dead since 2007 and was only resurrected at random by spam. Let it return to the earth from whence it came....

He was a textbook junkie of the highest order and all that goes along with it.


and


So the F what? It was his choice. I dig his axe playing not his lifestyle choices, which are a personal freedom of his and ours to choose.

You know so many of the greats -upon further, deeper review are not such great all-around people. ( Ted Williams, Charlie Parker, Woody Allen, Clinton, Kennedy, Picasso, maybe even JD Salinger, etc.) And maybe thats part of what makes them great. They excel at something – better than most people on Earth, yet they suck at marriage/relationships, they abuse chems (drugs), they suck with money, they like little girls (boys)-whatever. Its like any flawed person- take them for their strengths and enjoy-Jerry was at times a true heroin slob. Its been said that due to his position (in the band/business) he could be that way. And in the permissive environment of Marin 80's/GD scene nobody was going to do much about it. His playing was phenomenal during this period, singing less so. His lifestyle was counter to Bobby's mountain biking, California healthy stuff. I myself am not too fond of the way he broke off relationships sending someone else to do his messy work. But I get it, I'm sympathetic to it- to the pressure, to the need to escape, the desire to maintain a certain peace. And I am thrilled that with that we got the music, the humor, the wisdom, the charisma and the music from him before he left. I'm still enjoying the guy's output almost every day- can't say that about too many people, sloppy or neat.