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August 19, 2007
So don't buy the sink, watch the video!
I loved Jerry Garcia. I wept when he died. But really, $16,000 is too much to pay for a stainless steel kitchen sink, even if it came from what was once Garcia's house. There was only one Jerry Garcia, but a sink is still a sink. (And a very plain one at that.) What I like to remember Garcia for is what he did best. His guitar playing. While I know that styles and tastes vary, I just think the man was a true genius at what he did, and of course he worked really hard -- all the time -- on his music, just living and breathing to do just one thing: play guitar. To the point where he made it look easy to others. When I first saw the Grateful Dead, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but the most amazing part was their attitude. They looked like they were just screwing around, casually having fun. Garcia didn't look or act like an ego-bound rock star; if you made your way up to the stage (no security in those days) he'd just look at you and smile without any hint of an attitude. A very un-rock-starrish thing to do. Garcia's whole unassuming style reminds me of what Mikhail Kalashnikov said about his remarkable ability: "To make something simple is a thousand times more difficult than to make something complex."Garcia with his guitar, like Kalashnikov and his guns, made it look devilishly simple to do things that were in fact very witty and sophisticated. In the early 70s, I used to go to a local nightclub in Berkeley where Garcia would play with his own band, the Jerry Garcia Band (also known as "Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders" -- in fact I was there when the CD was recorded). He was even more laid back than when he was playing with the Dead, as there wasn't as much pressure to deliver the mandatory crowd pleasers. He could just be himself and screw around with his guitar, as he does in the video that follows. While it's from 1991 (and it's tough to believe that Jerry was still in his 40s as he looks pretty old), it's a remarkable musical picture of the man's range and style. I doubt he was doing it intentionally, but in retrospect, he left a perfect showcase. The nonchalant, unassuming, humorous attitude, the nearly inaudible voice, that appearance of just casually screwing around on the guitar. But if you watch it, you'll notice he playfully runs circles around just about every note, chord, octave and progession in his reportoire. (Just about everything except the kitchen sink.) The charm of the man's genius is that he seems almost blissfully unaware of it. He's not playing one of his songs, but Eric Clapton's "Lay Down Sally." No responsibility. Just having fun. Working, of course. At the kind of work which Mark Twain didn't consider work at all! I love it, and I loved Jerry. But no, I'm not buying the sink. posted by Eric on 08.19.07 at 01:25 PM
Comments
I loved them, too. The baby boom turned absolutely sour once Jerry accepted his new gig in 1995. Brett · August 20, 2007 08:06 AM That was nice. Thanks. tom scott · August 20, 2007 07:16 PM I miss Jerry so much. L · August 23, 2007 10:58 PM Post a comment
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I've long maintained that the selection of Dead tracks played on the radio was a maskirova intended to prevent the commoners from appreciating them. I like to point to the Fade/Road performance on the Skull and Roses album, which is simply the finest segue in the history of rock and roll.
As for Merle Saunders, he did a eulogy for Jerry in Downbeat in which he described how they met doing advertising session work. He was blown away by the discipline and attention of detail of this hippie he expected to despise.