[Maybeck09]

I agree that its sometimes best to enjoy one's heros for what they are good at and leave it at that. That being said, I have no idea what went on in Kentucky but I will say this - I went and saw Mickey Hart Band 9/2, here in Richmond. The show was awesome! Dave Schools is a friend of mine and got us VIP passes - after the show he came up and rapped with all of the ole friends (this is his hometown). Lead singer Crystal Hall is also from Richmond and had a group of family up as well. Most of the band was up there as was Mickey. This guy got almost attacked by friends with the ole " I've loved the Dead since forever and blah, blah" He was patient, nice and sincere. He met a dozen people and took all kinds of pictures and then he left. It was 2:30 am, he had just played for 3 hours, had just cruised in from Ohio (10 hours) and had to go to the next town. He made a point of coming up and hanging with his bandmates' peeps. I was frankly surprised by how nice he was. Again, can't speak to Kentucky, but I was shocked to read about this just days after having such a positive experience with the guy.

[mgbills]

That's great to hear! I like the positives. Easy to be caught up by the negatives.

Thanks for that!
Peace
M

[TI4-1009]

Note that he didn't get on the bus with him....

[WildEye]

There's a lot of perks to fame but none of them are equal to the downside of every moment held up to scrutiny.... I myself don't live in a glass house and am thankful of my mistakes being lost in anonymity.

[TI4-1009]

I'm also in the middle of Blair Jackson's Garcia bio, and as much as I worship Garcia the guitar hero, I'm coming around to view his personal life as close to what Annabelle eulogized him as- "a shitty father", with very strange views of family and married life.

We're all human, with our flaws.

Having said that (and continuing on in the biography it gets worse), I'm sitting here listening to a '77 show on Sirius. Just a beautiful Fennerio solo and I fall for him all over- just like a teenage groupie...

[playingdead]

If you want to see how dark things truly became around Garcia and the Dead, read "Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia." Robert Greenfield interviewed dozens of people, including Mountain Girl, various Garcia ex-wives and girlfriends, band insiders (Justin Kreutzmann), Barlow, Bear, Scully, Ron Rakow, Garcia's childhood friends, his brother Tiff, David Nelson, Sandy Rothman, David Grisman, Merl Saunders, John and Linda Kahn, road managers, lawyers, GD office staff members, housekeepers and doctors, and constructed a spellbinding narrative about Jerry from the time he was a little kid right up until the end. The man was an absolute enigma, especially to those who knew him better than anyone. Fascinating read. The narrative is completely in the exact words of those people and it is mesmerizing.

Jackson's book pales in comparison (although he did use Greenfield's book as a source for numerous quotes). I re-read both recently.

[mgbills]

I read "Dark Star" when it first came out. Guess I need to re-read it.

[Mr.Burns]

That book rules. Greenfield is a genius. I mean, the approach of "oral biography" is the only way to handle a book like that, since it would encounter heavy scrutiny. It has a lot to do with the way I feel about celebrities in general, since when I read it the first time I still possessed the attitude that my heroes could do no wrong. Or at least none that would offend me.

A great thing about that format is reading the excerpts of interviews that are slightly contradictory. Like Bear and Rock Scully disagreeing on some small, almost insignificant details. It gives you a sense of immediacy, kind of like being in the room with them.

I thought some kind of documentary film was being made based on that book? Maybe not, anyone else ever hear that?

[tigger]

I thought they were making a movie out of Steve Parish's book, which I just finished and really disliked.
He (or should I say, his inept ghost writer) is awfully kind to Ms. Koons, compared to Dark Star... you do get the story of the time Jerry was trying to hide from her in the 70s, but her name is left out. Also seemed to be holding back a lot re: Mickey.