Now that tonight’s live blogging is over, how about a little Dead blogging?
Not quite the Dead, but Dead light — Jerry Garcia, making a comeback of sorts.
Not just because Garcia has been completely dead these twelve years, but considering that the last time I linked this video it disappeared, I’m delighted to have found it again, so here it is (as long as it lasts).
“Lay Down Sally” from 1991.
As I said in the earlier post,
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!
Comments
2 responses to “Hardly live blogging”
I always thought he never looked like he was in his 40s…or 50s. Somewhere in his thirties, his age doubled. Must have been a good night.
And that’s not “appearance”; “just casually screwing around on the guitar” is exactly what he was good at. The work was already done.
I’m not much of a fan (I only really like the pre-Workingman’s records), but it’s a rare thing he had that we players who haven’t mapped our whole worlds already are jealous of. It’s a long way to “screwing around.”
David Gilmour has that nonchalant style, too.