#167799  by lbpesq
 
It was 25 years ago today that I was awoken by a call from a friend with the sad news of Jerry’s passing. It seems to have gone by so fast. I’ll be listening to some JGB and Dead today. Miss you, Jerry.

Bill, tgo
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 #167807  by TI4-1009
 
Yup..
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 #167808  by paulinnc
 
I had a dream last night that Jerry and Bob pulled up in this chevy shuttle van, the kind with the 8 rows of bench seats. The side door slid open and Jerry was just sitting in the backseat plucking away on rosebud, Bobby was sitting shotgun just grinning with these big aviator sunglasses on. Jerry just looks at me and says, "hop in kid," with a big grin on his face. The next thing I know we're in a barn and the walls are decked out floor to ceiling with artwork sent in by fans, while in the barn they ask me what songs I know and if I want to play with them. Of course I said yes and I begin to struggle through Uncle John's Band. At this point Jerry and Bobby are essentially giving me guitar lessons and we're working through UJB. I remember asking Jerry about his different guitars and which one was his favorite etc. He said he liked them all for different reasons. I showed him my wolf replica and he played for a few minutes and just said, "That's definitely a wolf." Then I woke up very disoriented not realizing today was 8/9, weird.
 #167888  by LazyLightning72
 
My only true friend/tour buddy (and in all reality he’s been like a brother since our early teens) were talking about how fast it has gone by just yesterday.

I worked as a head chef many many moons ago. As usual I got up and walked the 2 to 3 miles to work. All the while having no clue what had happened. There was this one guy that worked for the prep crew, who despised them. He would always make these little digs when I’d come in about being a Dead Head. It never bothered me, I learned early in life not to concern myself with how others perceived me, imho life isn’t a popularity contest.

The “family staff” consisted of about a dozen people, all of us were really close and would always hit the bar after the last guest was gone and whatnot. Well the night before was the Head waitress’s BDay, so we hit it a lot harder than usual. I was struggling with a huge hangover, and by the time I got to the restaurant I was in no mood for snarky remarks from (his name atm escapes me)

So I come in, walk past the prep stations to go clock in and sit in the cool bar before we opened. He came out to take stuff up to the line and immediately goes “hey Chris”. I stopped him and said as little as I care what you think of me being a Dead Head, I’m not in the mood today. To which he says, you haven’t heard then and though his demeanor had changed I still thought here it comes. Then he said, of all people I’m sure I’m the last you want to hear this from, and I’m like hear what? He then says as politely as possible, Jerry Garcia died last night. I was about to lay him out, but the radio was on in where the rest of the prep crew was. He had no sooner got it out of his mouth, when they started talking about it on the radio.

I felt like a horse kicked me in the gut, he said he was sorry to be the one to tell me, and kind of went back to what he was doing.

It was no secret to the “family staff” I was a Head, my boss came out of his office about 15min later And told me to take the night off.

I remember walking home and thinking how surreal it all was. My above mentioned friend came over that evening, we were up till sunrise listening to a wide variety of songs from all the way back to 65 through a 3 night run we caught in Charlotte 3/22-24/95

As I’m sure all of you guys were too, we felt crushed. Knowing that there would never be a new inspired variation coming from the big man ever again. As well as all the other things that would never truly happen again, with him gone. The only man on earth/in combination with the rest of the boys that could bring both tears to my eyes and joy to my heart with a song was gone forever.

Wow got all sentimental just typing that out.

In closing, my Dad a WWII/Korean war vet. once told me. “In this life there are moments/events in time that both build up and rip you to pieces.”Sometimes referred to as before and after events, they are the sign posts that separate everything before said events to everything after, and how they will be forever changed. Sometimes for the good sometimes for the bad. This was for me one of those events.

Sorry didn’t mean to write a book!
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 #167889  by PurpleTrails
 
LazyLightning72 wrote:
In closing, my Dad a WWII/Korean war vet. once told me. “In this life there are moments/events in time that both build up and rip you to pieces.”Sometimes referred to as before and after events, they are the sign posts that separate everything before said events to everything after, and how they will be forever changed. Sometimes for the good sometimes for the bad. This was for me one of those events.

Sorry didn’t mean to write a book!
Beautiful story, no apologies needed for the length. I'm going to remember what your dad said. Sounds like he was a very wise man.
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 #167890  by Jon S.
 
Jerry's death was a huge dark cloud of sadness to me when I learned of it. What it wasn't was a surprise. I've learned so much from Jerry. I hope it won't be misconstrued if I admit eating healthy, working out, and limiting the drugs (and alcohol) are among those things. Like y'all, I miss Jerry every day.
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 #167892  by LazyLightning72
 
PurpleTrails wrote: Tue Aug 18, 2020 1:57 pm
LazyLightning72 wrote:
In closing, my Dad a WWII/Korean war vet. once told me. “In this life there are moments/events in time that both build up and rip you to pieces.”Sometimes referred to as before and after events, they are the sign posts that separate everything before said events to everything after, and how they will be forever changed. Sometimes for the good sometimes for the bad. This was for me one of those events.

Sorry didn’t mean to write a book!
Beautiful story, no apologies needed for the length. I'm going to remember what your dad said. Sounds like he was a very wise man.
Thank you,
He passed 7 years ago after living a full life to a ripe age of 93, still wasn’t long enough though. He could be a hard ass, even he would admit it. For a long time in my younger years we had a horrible relationship. Then as I started getting older, I finally saw he wasn’t doing it to be mean, he was doing it to prepare me for what can be a cold and cruel world. I’m happy to say our strained relationship didn’t last, in my mid 20s we got as close as and father and son could. They don’t make them like him anymore, that’s for sure.
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 #167894  by paulinnc
 
Always remember that with all his talent, soul and his uncanny ability to seem like he was always singing just to YOU. Jerry was just a regular guy and only human. I was sad when he passed and only got to see him a couple of times but his inspiration and influence on me has been very profound and I am still discovering hidden gems of his musical legacy to this day.
 #167895  by Jon S.
 
paulinnc wrote: Tue Aug 18, 2020 5:16 pm Always remember that with all his talent, soul and his uncanny ability to seem like he was always singing just to YOU. Jerry was just a regular guy and only human.
Reading this made me think of an early '80's Dead show I attended at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan. We had 8th row seats - the closest I've ever been to the stage at a Dead show (except for a very brief foray up to the stage at Roosevelt Stadium in '74). When it got quiet for a moment, I screamed, "Jerry!" He looked right at me and smiled. For that brief moment, he didn't just "seem" like he was singing to just to me, he was looking me in the eyes. :-)
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 #167896  by Jon S.
 
Another Jerry story I can share is my good friend Jon C's Dead show in the late '70's/early '80s time frame where his friend got kicked out of the venue for smoking dope. As Jon C was hanging outside after the show, who walked out the back door of the venue right past him but Jerry! Jon C shouted, "Jerry, they kicked my friend out of your show for smoking dope." As Jon C tells it, Jerry replied, "Bummer, man!"
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 #167913  by bzbz
 
[/quote]
Reading this made me think of an early '80's Dead show I attended at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan. We had 8th row seats - the closest I've ever been to the stage at a Dead show (except for a very brief foray up to the stage at Roosevelt Stadium in '74). When it got quiet for a moment, I screamed, "Jerry!" He looked right at me and smiled. For that brief moment, he didn't just "seem" like he was singing to just to me, he was looking me in the eyes. :-)
[/quote]

I imagine you mean Radio city Music Hall
 #167914  by Jon S.
 
bzbz wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:31 amI imagine you mean Radio city Music Hall
In which case your imagination is flawed but all is forgiven as I led you astray by screwing up the year!

https://www.dead.net/show/june-14-1976