I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade. I mean, I have been a long-time Grateful Dead fan for many, many years myself. But when they say, that this weekend's Grateful Dead Celebration here in Chicago is the last stand for the band, well, I must dissent. The band ceased being "the Dead" when Jerry Garcia's heart stopped beating in 1995.
Let's say this is the last stand for "The Brand!" Bands come and go, but the brand dies hard!
You want to glory in the Dead? Go back and listen to their studio masterpiece "American Beauty," or check out "Live in 67" or "Europe 72" or those many, many hours of live shows they recorded over the years.
What an amazing group. Always improvising. Every show an experience, and experiment. They had a lightness of touch. Garcia's guitar technique, beautiful, melodic, flowing, surprising, rambling, always changing and morphing.
The Dead were never "heavy" they had a lightening-like brightness about them. I saw them once at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. Made the trip with a car-full of women. I was the designated driver, so I was pretty clear-headed for most of the trip.
The Dead were joyful. Long rolling jams. Two drummers, Garcia, Weir and Lesh just the best intuitive musicianship imaginable. I remember it all as a joyous afternoon, winding into a hushed and beautiful night. It was a carnival. The Dead Heads were kind of like a roving tribe of happy heads.
So yes, celebrate the Grateful Dead. Give a great send off to Weir, Lesh, Kruetzman, Hart, but don't pretend that they are the Dead. Jerry Garcia, Captain Trips - all the music flowed through that man, he was the heart, the soul, the alchemist, the magician, and he was a one of a kind, an American Beauty, totally irreplaceable!
