 I'm sure everybody in this room it would be very surprising if not if everyone in this room doesn't realize that three blocks That away is Harrington Street where Jerry grew up So that's one of the reasons why the Excelsior Library does this and and why Jerry Day makes Sense and why it's been you know, just is righteous low-key fun sweet event that that I'm That idea that this is sort of connected to and part of and Which is why I'm very pleased to be here. So thank you and thank you to the public library system I was teasing Daniela a minute ago by saying what I truly believe which is that all say all librarians are saints goddesses or gods and the I'm dead serious when I say if there's something better in our mixed-up miserable civilization Western civilization if there's something better Than putting all the information that we have collectively Into a place where it's freely accessible to everybody If there's anything more civilized than that I haven't found it yet and I do think that the public library is like the best thing we've come up with yet as a civilization So this you know, it's a privilege to be here I'm gonna mostly ramble and tell Jerry stories Which is I figure what frankly most folks want to hear about and most of them are kind of funny. I hope You'll have to tell me And then I've been this is kind of cruel, but I decided rather than As they say shoot, you know, give the way the best stuff at the beginning. I'm gonna say for the end As part of all the doodah of this Year of the 50th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of Jerry's passing Jerry's estate Asked me to edit together Transcripts of the interviews that I did with him in the 1980s actually in one of the 70s That you know, we're part of my research when when I finished the research Or some years later, I took all those cassettes as well as all my other virtually all my other files and most of most of my junk From Grateful Dead and all those t-shirts and all you know, we got a lot of t-shirts when you worked on the road You pretty much got a t-shirt a day There's a limit down many Grateful Dead t-shirts a man can wear or a woman And I gave them to the Archives at UC Santa Cruz and eventually the estate came upon these cassettes and said, why don't you make a book out of it? And so I did and it's called Jerry on Jerry and it's Well, I think I think you'll like it. I think it you know, it's it's Jerry talking about all manner of things Mostly because unfortunately, there's at least there's hours missing. I Don't know what happened to them but There are you know, this is what what we got and that's some some great stuff including Tangents these great tangents that had nothing to do with Grateful Dead per se That even then I was thinking this is great stuff But it doesn't you when you're trying to write a book that's already going to be 500 pages or whatever it was You can't put it all in and I didn't and I cut it And it hurt and now you get it and you get it both in written form and better still in Audio form and so there'll be books on tape and I got to say that listening to Jerry rave is You're gonna like this. I promise like I think I can guarantee that and I'm gonna give you a free sample What I'm done because otherwise you might run out on me So There's gonna be so as I say I'm at the end. I want to play a little bit of Jerry talking about one of his favorite musicians Having said that for an introduction. I want to talk about Jerry as a You know as a human being The further away we get from his death The more people I know that you know me that are in awe of his music, but in some cases in many cases It's amazing running across people that never saw him play but still think of him as sort of godlike which was one of the things that troubled him most and and caused him to sort of want to cancel out The long story short for my background and all this is I wrote a book about Jack Kerouac I'm in the process the guy that helped me that gave me an important shove really important shove into writing it specifically by Kerouac was also a deadhead and turned me on to the Grateful Dead and took me to my first show and Gave me my first hit of acid at that show. Just good start, you know good combination and And by the way, I'm gonna interrupt myself a lot I just got hired yesterday to write the liner notes to my second show Which was in Springfield, Massachusetts in March 28th, 1973 good god those guys could play and But at any rate said I wanted to do this book about the Grateful Dead and I saw all these connections Neil Cassidy being the obvious one, but but I didn't know how I was about supposed to reach the Grateful Dead and To make a long story short and by the way that story is is in this plug Okay, now I'm plugging the new book Jerry on good Jerry, but but very briefly Eventually I met Jerry and Mentioned the book and Kerouac and on the road was a really important Moment in his young life. He's he's 15 16 He's a kid going to art school at what is now the Art Institute. It was then called California School of Fine Arts Hanging out in North Beach. He was he always thought of himself as the youngest beatnik. He wasn't a hippie He was the youngest beatnik and that what Kerouac had to say about life and Ginsburg and the rest was Really important to what he called his ethics his sense that you know life was to be lived For the spirit and for the fun and not for the bucks as it happened he managed to pull off the nice trick of Getting it both and and he felt by the way about money that as long as he spent it faster than he had it It was you know, it had no effect. It was just And he died waiting for the next paycheck, you know, you think he was rich, but never saved any which Except there was one large sum he got and his lawyer Accountant said to him. We're stealing this money anyway. Oh, yeah He said yeah, there's this this big check you're gonna get and you're never gonna see it We're putting it into a secret account for your daughters And it's gonna be there when you die and not like all the other money that you're pissing away and he went Good idea and and that money with is the advanced he got for the Harrington Street book speaking of having to stream so Long story short. He said he sent a couple of guys to me To meet with me and they said Jerry says why don't you do us? Which is to say why don't you write a biography of the Grateful Dead? And I was trying to be cool and I said, oh, that sounds like a good idea. I'll give it some thought And then I went home and got drunk and started typing Jerry wants me to do this bus Among the higher moments of my life. I would say So I started that and then eventually I was running out of money and rocks golly had finally been sent to rehab and It took them about three months to notice that he was gone Because he hadn't really done much as a publicist at that point for quite a while and One day there was a band meeting and in the Grateful Dead a band meeting was everybody all employees And when it was just the band it was called a board meeting And One of the rules of the band meeting was that at the at the end of the night The You know the floor was open and everybody who had anything to say could say it you know gripes suggestions whatever and The receptionist raised their hand and said look We keep getting these media calls And nobody calls them back And they have to understand you know the media can understand it if If donald trump doesn't return your call because he's just been caught making a really insanely stupid mistake But generally speaking in the entertainment business people love that attention and they're very you know, they courted it. They need it The Grateful Dead didn't exactly And At any rate at that point the manager was overworked and didn't like the media in the first place So literally nobody would call So then the media would call back annoyed Proceed to annoy the receptionist who Truth be told could annoy pretty easily So She raised the question and jerry said get me now need to do it. He knows that shit Which was kind of true. I'd once done a book tour So I understood that a publicist called up members of the media and said say something nice about my clients Now that was 30 some odd years ago and frankly, I haven't learned a hell of a lot since I know more people but you know That's pretty much publicity. It's not rocket science Then jerry added that uh that uh Send him I'll tell him what he needs to know send him up to the house So I find out that I've gotten this job and I go oh, this is nice and uh, and I go up to the house And sit down and he says Okay, now here's the first thing you have to know We don't suck up to the press And I say okay, okay I think I might have even written it down. Don't suck up and he says That's pretty much it here smoke this Good job training um As as my stories tend to I'm gonna it leads to the next story, which is the only time that I Backdoor jerry that I have disobeyed jerry Brent midland died jerry was Distraught basically I I still swear that um In some limited way He blamed himself. He blamed He blamed what he'd helped create which is namely the Grateful Dead um for Not being And it wasn't I mean these these were six guys that acted toward each other like kind of 19 year olds, you know Like they knew how to give each other shit Warm and tender and not so much and and responsive to everybody's needs shaky And brend had these This is one of the other great puzzles of the Grateful Dead jerry garcy. It was one of the most perceptive Subtle understanding people I will ever know How the fuck he could pick four times in a row The same damaged personality type that went with great talent Um for his keyboard player is one of life's mysteries because they were all the same per Different but the same per each of them had terrible issues of self-esteem which they proceeded to to self medicate And eventually one way the other killed themselves uh God only knows And uh pigpan you're counting pigpan keith brand and vince Uh, and we had two same same ones that that are still alive in in in between in bruce and tc um jerry was pretty distraught after after uh brandtide and and uh They just sort of they couldn't the idea of auditioning people was Made him crazy. I mean this idea of sitting in judgment. You're good. You're not It horrified him the whole thing So they got through four guys and it was like dear god He can he being vince he can you know do some high harmonies and play some keyboard We'll be having bruce and bruce wants me in another you know 10 shows eight shows whatever it was Take him so It was a hasty and and ultimately kind of damaging decision on any number of levels, but It was made and I went up to him after this this uh meeting and I said, uh, how do you want to announce it? And he has said, um I thank we're not going to announce it. I the hell with it. I you know, I Screw it. We know when they when when we do our next show, they'll see who it is Okay, right So we're going to be in cleveland and the cleveland plane dealer is going to scoop the entire nation with who the new keyboard player for the Grateful Dead is I don't think so jerry. Well, obviously I didn't say that. I just went right So then I'm sort of speaking. Okay. How do I deal with this? Let's see Chronicle 30 years of close coverage of the Grateful Dead the people I have to work with every day Plane dealer nice people who gives a rat's ass So the one and only time that I ever went uh-huh, uh-huh and then did what I wanted to do I said Okay So I called up Joel selban And I said, okay, I'm about to tell you off the record who the new keyboard player is for the Grateful Dead And he says well, that's nice, but if it's off the record, you know, what the good does it do me? I said because then you're going to call your good buddy mickey heart and mickey who doesn't listen to jerry In any case and loves to see his name in the paper mickey will tell you exactly who it is And you'll have your story. There won't be any problem. Trust me if I may say so. I was right So I said his name has been swellman End of story Now jerry didn't care that it leaked because of course, you know, there's nothing about the world of the Grateful Dead They didn't you know Immediately leaked to 50 people. You know as soon as you turn your back He just didn't want to be bothered So, you know prime I didn't bother you. I just did it my way Which sort of leads to the final conclusion about being a publicist, which is that Despite that thing about not sucking up and I tried not to The fact is that you find out after a while that when you're a publicist, you have two clients You have those lovely people that sign your paychecks And then you have the media that you work with because you form a relationship with them And you trade favors and when they want something if you can do it They get it and and when you want something that's when you know Get out the thumb screws and remind them of all the favors you've done to them in the past and get it done Let's go back to jerry who as I say The further we get from his death, uh, you know the more hazy people sort of think of him Godlike but they They take him far too seriously one time We his daughter annabelle arranged a kind of a Not miracles. What's the uh When eternally ill kids or sick kids make a wish. Thank you Make a wish kind of situation with a kid in in a wheelchair. He wasn't terminal, but he was you know, and I got you know, I was asked to To monitor it when when it actually happened and the kid was sitting in the I had him in the room where jerry was going to come to and he's sitting and he's he's high He's hyperventilating. He's about ready to pass out with excitement And and I looked him in the eye and I said now listen I have one thing to tell you Jerry farts and he sort of cracked up. I said and he you know snores badly Um Blah blah blah. I said he's human being if you Stay in quite the excited state that you're in he's going to get very nervous and you know And in about three minutes he's going to find an excuse to leave He's absolutely happy to talk with you, but you got to talk to him like a person and not like You know the president And he I might add for once he did the kid did and jerry did and it worked out very nicely Um, but among my favorite Jerry's Jerry's stories Is the one about my wedding My wife Who's a very fine photographer by the name of susana millman? Okay, this is a plug, but at least it's not for me and if you happen to be cruising on the internet, uh, her email address is or her Website is at mama razi dot com m a m a r a z i you've heard of the paparazzi. She's the mama razi Uh, and there are wonderful pictures in there both of the grateful dad and a lot of other stuff. That's too much to She likes to take travel photography too And she had known jerry before I knew her She actually taught jerry his first lessons in mac and talk She was the first adopter of a mac computer. And so she was teaching everybody mac including me and uh We started dating a dick live vola the of dick's pics introduced us And we started seeing each other and at some point in there jerry turned to me said, you know, I hear you're seeing susana That's you know, that makes sense um She was also an insane person with a doctorate as mi so we were the paradox And um At some point he turned to her and said, you know, you ought to you ought to see this I like this McNally thing and She later said that, you know, what she wanted to say was What did he say about me? But that was a little two seventh grade. So she just Kept her mouth shut. Well, eventually we decided to get married And her father had passed when she was four. Um, so she asked jerry to walk her down the aisle The the other person that she would have chosen was out of the country And he said, okay, but but I gotta warn you, you know, none of the weddings. I've ever been part of I've ever worked out And we're up to 30 years now. So 30 years next next month. So, um, I guess it worked out Um, but that's not the story. We we get to the wedding day and Jerry um as the father of the brides father of the bride is uh Sitting in the room with the the bridesmaids and the bride and uh, he is obviously scared shitless And these are all people who I mean all these bridesmaids are other friends of his and old friends One of them had believed that I had dated pigpen in the day. She was about 17 Didn't know any better, but you know and um, she turns to jerry and said you You're you're nervous with no What? And he said, well, of course I'm nervous and she said jerry You stand in front of 50 000 people and play your socks off Everybody out there is your friend or if you don't know them they like you don't worry about it Um, and you know, what are you nervous about? He said I I don't have my axe. It's my magic shield And it was true. He you know with the guitar in his hands It's like susanna with a camera, you know, she'd face charging rhinos with a camera in her hands without it not so much It's a great wedding. I'm my dad The the kicker was my my dear mother-in-law who's Who was not young and and was working in the had been working in the garment district in new york city for about 60 years um went home and and is chatting with the the young people of the company and um, she says, you know, my daughter she got married This nice young man mr. Garcia Was you know part of the ceremony Guys think garcia Yes, my my son-in-law he works for this crazy band called the great Okay, so everybody's ears go up And she says yes, the Garcia was such a nice young man. He helped me on with my quote And one of them says that coat. She said yes Can I touch it? That's when she started learning What the grateful that what her daughter had gotten involved. Well, I had already been Involved with her a long time uh But I repeat in my running theme here is going to be jerry was human. I did see him uh, other than this One time really really flustered and you know nervous One of jack carowax Closest friends very very early on was a man named lucian car Lucian car By the way, there's a horrible horrible movie The hell I can't even remember what it's called now. It's just as well. I've repressed it But it's it's a very bad movie And it's about an incident that did happen in which Lucian killed the man long story and I don't have time to give it fair reading but He paid his debt to society. He got out and he proceeded to be a an editor at united press international for about 50 years And he was my first interview when I did the carowac book And he became a bit of a you know, my father have long since died and he'd become a bit of a father figure to me And we stayed close friends Till you know till he died as a matter of fact, I had dinner with his widow last night who came out to visit. Um, and um Jerry knew lucian's knew very well who lucian was and lucian had moved to dc So I invited him to the show and I said to jerry, would you like to meet lucian car? And he said oh absolutely, but then as it approached he actually you know, it was visibly he was visibly nervous and He he shook hands and and made a wisecrack using the name that he that carac gave him in one of the books He's ah the the real role in major and they talked for a few minutes and then jerry sort of Found an excuse to do well. He had to go to work till this is before the show But I always found it interesting that that you know, that was that was the About the only time Al Gore no problem, you know vice president of the united states Wasn't a problem But uh, but you know lucian car this Interesting, but you know But the fact is that he had to do with the with the beat generation and and that was you know, that was jerry's heroes That was jerry, you know, so it was a genuine hero and and he felt that way But now that I mentioned al al gore Uh one of my favorite moments with garcia Was when we visited the white house Now you have to understand this is 1992. So we've been you know, clearly Banned from the place for the previous to the previous administration was bush and what was before bush one previous 12 years There was no interest in the grateful dead and going to the white house And so 19 this is now spring of 93 and we're coming to dc And a guy named denis alpert who's actually a distant cousin of richard alpert. Otherwise known as baburam das he was Al gore's what they call in politics director of advance what I would call road manager and uh a dead head And a friend of mine And I literally got a phone call saying hi It's our house now you want to come and play So I say to the man, you know who wants to go get a you know insiders tour The white house and we did and That was fine and we get into Vice president clinton was in atlanta that day doing something or other Maybe chasing. What's her name? But um, uh, we uh, vice president gore, you know greets us and and you know I'm standing there and then we he'd come to The show that summer as a matter of fact as senator as merely senator senator's fact. We had plenty of those But he had come and I knew he'd met people but I decided the the situation was formal enough. So Mr. Vice president, you know, mr. Jerry Garcia Down the line of the band everybody was there except bobby For something bobby was lobbying over the at the interior department. He was he was on it, you know Finally, we had a democratic administration that they might listen to him And vice president gore takes us into the oval office, you know, that's It's a hell of a room to walk into obviously And those of you who are my age, which is a lot of you may remember not all May remember that president clinton selected John kennedy's desk Which was at the smithsonian for his and for those of you old enough to Be somewhere near my age You will remember these very famous pictures that were in life magazine In the camelot era of john kennedy of john john who's been about three Plant this desk had a sort of secret door and he was playing hide and seek with with the desk And i'm standing in the corner of the oval office and there's Jerry and vice president gore Talking about this desk And I really had a flash and the flash was this Jerry was wearing sweatpants And some kind of Very grappy to ill it had long sleeves, but you know the equivalent of a black t-shirt There was beard dandruff all over his shirt He looked like an unmade bed And the vice president is wearing a you know a million dollar suit. I mean, you know impeccable The greatest thing about this is the two of them are talking with each other and neither of them I'm sure that the vice president did not speak with anybody nearly as slobbish that week Nor did jerry talk with anybody that well dressed that week And both of them didn't give a shit. They didn't care They were interested in each other's minds and they were just talking to each other and it was really lovely I you know, it's like completely non-judgmental as somebody who's who's since become buddhist i uh I think of that as a great example of Of non-judgmentalness Uh that they both they both achieved um Jerry Was a genuine lover of san francisco One of the things that in his whole life he only did once was not uh Was specifically and only because he loves this city um, and that was in the spring of 1993 The giants came this close to jetting off to tampa bay um and uh peter mcgowan and other people uh swiftly bought them And kept them in san francisco and then hired berry bonds A lot a lot was going to happen later, but let's let's leave that to the side berry bonds You know this incredible young star who has familial connections to the giants And we come to opening day at candlestick park 1993 and we were on the on tour And one of our uh one of our Co my one of my co-employees was the production assistant guy named eric colby who is completely Looney Tunes baseball family His wife among other things worked in the giant's ticket office And he says to the band This is a band. It's now in 1993 23 No 28 years in existence And they've never done the national anthem Now it is a union requirement When you are an up-and-coming band there are two things you have to do you have to do benefits And you have to sing the national anthem and events. It's just it's required and for most people is oh, yeah, sure Not the grateful dead. They've you know, it just had never done it and eric Says to jerry Would you do it or it goes to the whole the three of them were sitting at four of them Phil was not available that day. So it was jerry bobby and vince and bobby says i'll do it and jerry says yeah, okay, i'll do it And vince says oh, okay, of course i'll do it. You know vince had of course many times done it You know, he came from a normal rock and roll background unlike the grateful dead So It gets to the night before i somehow god knows why for my sins. I became the road manager of this event I was in charge And it gets to the eyes suggest to jerry several times. What do you think about scheduling a rehearsal? We've all known, you know Too many horrific examples of people really drop kicking the national anthem And his response was i know the words leave me alone i'm starting to get nervous and this might be the other time that i ever sort of maneuvered jerry um And that was So i i'm now i'm starting to get nervous So i call up vince and i say okay vince because again jerry can say that shit to me He can't say that to a fellow musician So he said vince you got to call him you got to tell him you're freaking out because you haven't rehearsed And you know you want to you know you got to do some rehearsing and He says okay I was later told they actually rehearsed for two and a half hours for a two minute song. It's pretty good for grateful That they they never had that rehearsal to a performance ratio in their entire lives And for those of you who don't recall this or didn't follow baseball They went out And they killed it if i say so myself um, and it was it was just One of the moment i mean i was a giants fan myself to aid to get to stand on the field is kind of cool um The day before one of the crew members from shell remain nameless Turned to colby and said They're gonna suck tomorrow and it's your fault The grateful that are not gonna go did not go into the rock and roll hall of fame based on their singing. Okay You know we'll concede that um but With a little work and a and a decent arrangement what what vince called straight sons of the pioneers, which was the band that backed up Roy rogers Was it glennon? No Gene autry gene autry and the sons of the pioneers anyway legitimate old school four-part harmony or in this case three-part harmony and It was it was a beautiful day. I must say and the giants won and Barry bonds hit a home run his first at bat as a giant at home and I was sitting behind Jerry under these seats they put up on the stage and he's turning to his Then girlfriend and wife to be and saying that's very that's very bones. This is actually important but the punchline to all this is We have a press conference before the the game in the and the line up in the which was fine because i had been like Tap dancing and juggling balls in the air to To distract them from the fact that they had to be there at 10 o'clock in the morning for soundcheck But the game wasn't till one And for and I wasn't there was no way I was letting them leave the facility and go out in that traffic I'd never see them again. So it you know, I was like, how can I distract them from the fact that they're bored silly So eventually they they meet um three X, you know great giants former giants um Which was fun one was gay lord parry and bob Bob we thought had been gay lord parry had been his all-time favorite as a kid. So we're was like You know just over the moon And then they and jerry's meeting willy mccovey now I to this day I'm pretty sure willy didn't have a clue who jerry was but willy mccovey is among the more Manorly and decent human beings on the planet and he's you know, oh, it's a pleasure to meet you mr. Garcia And then I get to willy mays Now, I don't know how many of you know this but willy has a well-earned reputation for being a grump And I say mr. Mr. Mays could I introduce you to jerry garcia. He's going to sing the national anthem No, and then he starts yelling at the other guys. Come on. We got a party to go to let's get out of here Now the punchline of this is You'd think you know jerry might be a little niffed He's laughing hysterically for two reasons one is That he's not going to take this seriously willy mays, you know wasn't personal willy mays sort of hates everybody at least He's lumpy with everybody More importantly and This goes to his entire life um The idea that there was somebody who didn't give a shit about him was so refreshing So relieving so made him so happy. I I once saw him We were in a a Hyatt, you know with the glass elevators and and I watched him get in the ground floor and the ground floor and he was going up And from where I stood on the floor Every time the elevator stopped you'd watch him visibly tense up because of course there were millions of dead heads And they were going to get on the elevator and they were oh jerry and that that you know And it's just like at the moment he just wanted to you know shut up You know drink his coffee, whatever And uh it stops And I literally I watched him tense up And then my wife happened to get on well, you know, this is an exception. You know, she's just as high jerry shuts up and You could just watch him relax Stop one more time And again tension And three latino maids Hotel maids get on And again, you just watch this relaxation pour through and it's like these people do not know who I am They don't care who I am and this is the way I like it So it's understandable Uh A final story about that day with it with the giants. We're doing the uh The press conference. They're sitting in the dugout And I look over and I noticed that an attractive woman has suddenly out of nowhere slid into the dugout sitting next to jerry And it has his has her hand rather high up his thigh And then I realized it's only angela aliotto and she's a politician and you know politicians can't stand the idea of anybody Getting an attention from the the media without you know, sort of easing into the camera So I didn't take it very seriously And finally somebody said well jerry, you know 28 years you've never done this before, you know Why are you doing this and he said well, they asked us and he says well, why do you think they asked you and he says well It's like old whores and bad architecture. Senority will get you everything after a while Which was true Told that story I'll tell you a couple more stories and then I'm going to let you listen to jerry, which is frankly Great improvement on me um the Among the more interesting conversations I ever witnessed jerry take part in again talking about In this case not I want to say he's godlike but talking about one of his real strengths was which was a stunning knowledge of Several subjects one of which is the american song all of it. We're not talking about uh, just the blues or just rock and roll or All of it remember his father was a musician. He went back. He knew old jazz. He one time I Had I've been listening to the europe 72 album approximately a thousand. I exaggerate but many times And yet one time i'm listening to the jam in it uh in truckin And I suddenly realized for the first time it was really startling and I challenge you all to go home and listen to this And I suddenly realized that jerry has quoted woody woodpecker There's no way that that was random I'm suddenly going wow He just quoted woody woodpecker And the next time I saw him I said well, you know, I said shit. I've been listening. I've listened to that 50 times Aha And you you you definitely played it as he said oh shit man You know and you proceeds to give me the complete history Of the woody woodpecker theme which was performed by the woody hermon band And he goes into it in considerable detail The best example of that And I also on my dad saw him um Actually get really disappointed because we were in the basement of the swissonian, right America's attic and we're in the basement with all the good stuff that you know They just don't have room to show you And in their instrument collection Except of course these instruments weren't they were just sitting there So they weren't in tune and they weren't really all that well taken care of and he couldn't play them I mean he was like picking up these ancient banjos and thinking ah, but so but at any rate One of the great moments I ever I ever had with them and it was just really quite a wonderful thing to witness We were uh, uh, it was a Garcia band show and we were at um Madison Square Garden and Jerry's roadie and confidant and and Everything the guy named steve perish And steve had a cousin Some distance removed because the guy's 90 and and steve was then you know, whatever 40 Um named Mitchell Well, Mitchell perish was the man who wrote stardust and stars fell on alabama And a number of American classic songs He was one of the early presidents of the as ask cap, which is the songwriters association Mitchell perish was a big deal. He's also a very ornery guy Which is why he kept changing writing partners Like, you know, he did one song for hoagie car michael, but you notice he didn't do a bunch or maybe he did too so unlike Some of the great, you know rogers and the hammerstein and low or whatever, you know, he tended not to Stay with with his partners and this possibly why he's less well known, but you know stardust alone is one of the gems And uh, he was 90 he came to the show came backstage to the show He uh, had worn out his knees. So he was in a wheelchair, but his brain there was nothing wrong with his brain and He and jerry Get into a wrap. This is after the show he and jerry get into a wrap and Mitchell perish starts it off by saying When I wrote the songs For the marx brothers show coconuts in 1923 and you can bet I looked it up and he wasn't bsing It's like, okay, you know, this is like 1993. So that's 70 years later. We're listening to him I was just it was astonishing Outside of the fact that anybody who worked with the marx brothers is you know godlike And they're going so they go into this wild conversation about songs and sorry what what is amazing is Mitchell perish lived it. He knew those people jerry matched him Word for word story for story song for song. Oh, yeah, that reminds me of Just out of his ears And what was really funny is, you know It's like it's like one of those silent tennis games where there's two people, you know, there's 30 people in the room Every chair is taken. It's you know, there's everybody who could get into the room has gotten into the room and Nobody's saying a word. Everybody's just listening to this this conversation because it you know, frankly, it's worth it It's it was remarkable Including the vice president barrister records Who can't find any seats? So he's sitting on the floor wearing a $2,000 suit, which I loved Both that you know that that he couldn't find a seat and that he was willing to sit on the floor Even with his beautiful suit. Roy was actually a real A real person and I found that charming um I'll just finish by saying If you wanted a lot of guidance Jerry Garcia would have been a terrible boss because you weren't going to get any um Unless you screwed up and I didn't want I Coytsman grabbed me said get him to sign this now And I said, okay, what Billy Coytsman Steps over to you and says get him to sign it now. You generally want to go along with the program Um Except that I hadn't looked at my watch and it was literally, you know, they were just about to go on and Jerry signed it for whatever reason But the only time you ever glared at me where he was like, you know that this is wrong And I looked at my watch. I said, oh, you know, sorry He did compliment me twice um I'll I'll be egotistical enough to share them because it's a little embarrassing, but This is sort of the way you work. I mean I worked for him for 15 years we did a Mickey Mickey put out a cd Um of What the hell was it called the voices of the rainforest I think and it was these jungle chants Mostly in languages that that were The people that all died that you know, literally these obscure languages that didn't even literally no one still spoke What you want to call this a fairly obscure record So he says what are we going to do about this? They said, well, you know There's there's frankly only one thing to do about this if you want, you know a lot of coverage It was in association with the library of congress And I said the only way we're going to get any kind of coverage of this is a Ask the band to shill for you and b um What was the other thing? Oh and get a lot of political friends there So he said sure Okay, I'll ask the band Um, and the whole the whole band came, you know for at least briefly um and I've been doing the publicity at that point for a fair number of years and I had It was it was like one of those games where where I had eight significant media say or 10 And five band members plus a couple of other people from the library that were important And I had you know, it was like one of those puzzles where I had to get everybody to meet with everybody else And I had half an hour or 45 minutes to do it And I couldn't raise my voice and I couldn't run I had a scurry fast, but I couldn't run because because I had people in different corners of The great hall of the library of congress, which is an amazing room and um I I handled it that day. I only glared at one person this this Kid who worked for a senator who you know It was like running around with a brownie camera asking all the band members to take pictures It's like and I finally looked down. I said, you know, this is not amateur hour and you know But mostly I you know, I was like tranquil and I wanted to be Jeeves that day, you know, I sort of slide around impeccably. I came reasonably close. It was a good day Good night and got it all done. I was walking Jerry out to the vehicle and he said, you know You you know, you sort of figured out this gig In the last how at that point had been 10 probably 10 years nine years that I worked for him And I thought that was like one of the great compliments that I ever got the other one Was the greatest compliment I ever got which was the bammies so God help us all with the grateful dead in 1987 We put out an album called in the dark and a song on it called touch of gray The grateful that's one and only hit when I Walked I I was the lucky boy who walked into the dressing room in September of 1987 at Madison Square Garden and said guys, I have some serious news and they'll also look at me You now have a top 10 hit your the song is number nine And Garcia looked at me and said I am appalled and he meant it. I mean, it was something just too strange about having this hit Among other things one of the results. Well, he didn't mind cashing the checks. I might add And he did march out as a result of that hit and by The 16-cylinder BMW that could do 140 or something and he enjoyed that and hunter bought a new house You know, everybody was okay with that part It led to crowd control problems that is a whole different subject It also led to the grateful dead winning every single award at the next march is bammies Bay Area Music Awards, which was our sort of local miniature version of the grammies And you know, theoretically Well for starters The point is it's theoretically at least it wasn't really it was fixed. It was a competition You know, it was the the public voted and the whole idea of a competition and music Struck Jerry is insane, which is why for instance when the grateful dead were Inducted into the rock and roll Hall of Fame. He wouldn't go. He just said why you know, no it's Competition, you know some get in and some don't no leave me out I this was by 93 and I might add that by then he was sliding into the depression that he would be in when he died and He was in 1988 it was a lot. He was, you know, still sober from his The diabetic coma he had in 86 and he recovered and you know, 87 was a great year of health and and Success and fun and and everybody was in a wonderful mood And um, it was still that way in the spring of 88 and I I just kept looking at him and saying No bless oblige You've got friends that you've been playing with Friends you've been seeing around the city for 30 years. They want to celebrate you And finally went all right, I'll do it so We get to that night and the rest of the band is all you know dressed up in their black tie And of course jerry looked like a joe schmo the schlub thank god, but He he pulled up in the back of the of Civic auditorium Got out of the got out of his car Walked up and looked at me and said man I just this is the best compliment I ever got he said I just couldn't figure out a way to leave you holding the bag And I went I thank you for that And there was just everything about it, you know the comp there was an element of competition There was also the fact that they were going to make him play on somebody else's on a Standard amp, which is what as a musician he was really busy about um And in general it was going to be you know 12 people on the stage. It was it was we called it the grateful news It was all of the grateful dead and all of hui louis and the news Playing good morning little school girl, which you know, I mean hui is Absolutely competent to do that both as a harmonica player and a vocalist um When you have you know two of everything or three counting drummers and we had plenty of those to start with It gets less, you know, it might be fun theatrically, but it's it's less than great music. So That said um I want to leave you with gerry As I say, uh, this is going to come out in november and it's called gerry on gerry Come on Thank you. Um And in it there, you know, there's there's historical chapters and then at the end of every historical chapter There's a place where he just sort of Starts raving about something. Uh, there's one about community and one about politics and one about lsd and Rata rata lots of different Ones This one is um Him talking about a man named scottie stoneman scottie stoneman Was the fiddle player for the kentucky kernels scottie was maybe 10 years older than gerry the kernels were his age They were actually the family was from somewhere appropriate But they'd lived in los angeles oddly enough But they were part of the this is in 1963 and they're very hot young bluegrass players and great friends of gerry and scottie who was this Sort of a version of hank williams. He he was not going to live very long Because he drank anything heratonic. You name it that that kind of thing But he was brilliant and I picked this for you if not if only because It is gerry raving about something he loves and his Enthusiasm quotient is at about 100 101 out of a scale of one to ten Which is saying something. I mean he could get enthusiastic about a lot of stuff But this is about the most enthusiastic. I ever heard him It was from scottie stoneman Oh, yeah, well scottie stoneman was one. Well scottie stoneman was one of those guys that opened up music You know because he'd start off with a tune a fiddle tune like uh blackberry blossom or some fiddle tune And and he'd take that sucker out I mean it it'd be like 20 minutes would go by and he was playing ideas that went across Four choruses, you know instead of playing the tune. It would be some crazed Idea that stretched all the way across that. I mean he he was like the Coltrane of country fiddle really I mean have you ever heard him play? I'll have to find you some tapes of him playing really outside. I mean he played so soulfully his playing had so much pain and And uh beautiful You know and plus incredible Sensibilities, man. I mean the incredible freshness and meanness and Of his ideas of just oh, I mean he he's played some of the coolest solos and bluegrass music bar none You know, I mean some of them are so fresh and so exciting I'll have to play in my uh That there I've got one record somewhere. It's a reissue of The kentucky kernels where I do the intro it's I do a live intro from a show that I put on of them and when Scott summons was playing for him and There's some there's two or three tunes on there where he's and this is one he when I heard him play He was sick. He was dying He died from drinking hair tonic You know, he's one of those guys that was now alcoholic by the time he was 14 15 You know another thing and uh, and he died from drinking hair tonic and when I heard when I heard him play He was sick and dying in fact and man his play was so gorgeous and and uh I knew guys that that learned from him Richard green that fiddler learned from him and he he'd asked scottie how he played something scottie would just say I just play it lonesome Beautiful it was interesting because of course your your predecessor when at least when you're playing banjo I think you would acknowledge that one of the guys you were super conscious of Was bill keith simply because he was the the city guy who would you know made it into the real bluegrass world Right, and of course his trip was was you know playing fiddle or banjo Yeah, so and and what I what I liked more than that was the wonderful sense of rhythmic intuition and syncopation He had this plane that was more subtle. It was in his roles And his fiddle stuff was not that I didn't get off on it that much although I learned it of course Uh, but it was his other stuff that knocked me out. I mean he had a fantastic Way of playing things that syncopated in surprising ways and went on and on But had but did it really gracefully boy. He had some cool back up his backup playing The plane that you don't it's not out front that he did was what was really a knockout boy I listened through the singing to what he was doing and just go. Oh my god. You'll listen to that guy, you know Yeah Shoo, you know, I mean that's what I really learned from I learned the gesture of his playing You know something else I can't I don't even know exactly what it is But the thing of being able to extend ideas a little more and to have a Fresh notion of how to syncopate things and that and he did it. I don't know where he got that stuff But boy it was so cool, you know as He brought something to banjo playing for me I mean he influenced me in another way much more than that solos than that fiddle style Although the fiddle style is important It for me the other part of his banjo play was because it was more like the traditional shrug style in it in sense you know, uh But it had another thing all together and that it kind of actually other banjo players didn't pick up on it It's what it's a little detail of his playing that kind of missed the boat, you know The other guys didn't catch and it and it basically comes out of rhythm That's what I feel. Yeah, that's what it belongs to. That's where it's just where you place the notes Where you put them rhythmically And uh and that you know, it's something that's It's affected my playing much more even I mean it's still in my guitar playing and I hear it even if nobody else even if I could never trace it down I hear it, you know well, it's just What you just said is is in a sense a rewrite of a paragraph that I wrote about carowak and parker And actually enchapson pollock in which the response to the modern post world war two world was And again, and it's the natural consequence of going into improvisation and into the intuitive is You you can't necessarily on the intuitive level When it all blows away rhythm is what's going to take you there. Yeah, and and it's That bebop thing for them. It was that bebop thing. You're right about that And the thing is sort of thing mon rose bluegrass is to me On a historical on a cultural speaking as a cultural historian is exactly the same thing as charlie parker Namely, it's white bebop. It's white bebop. It's taking it's taking the old, you know, the basic old stuff pop music gospel blah blah blah And speeding it up. That's right taken in the 1940s and like max roach told me The only thing it doesn't have is it doesn't have the harmonic richness of bebop You know, and I mean, that's that's what it's missing. But it has everything else Well, it really does the direction of the voice and you know But the well like the fiddle playing in the guy like well scottie stoneman was the example of it He was like the charlie parker of country fiddle, you know, I mean you hear him pause all play some stuff for you Sometimes you'll hear it man. You won't will not believe it. It it gives it is out there You know what happened? He'd be playing these fiddle tunes and pretty soon every musician on the stage Would be standing there going ding ding, you know, they they their instruments would like turn to water You know, they they they stopped playing almost entirely and they'd just be listening to scottie And he'd be slawing away man. And I mean things would be coming out of there that was They're like there's incredible excursions Coltrane and those guys took were all of a sudden you're hearing Traffic on the streets and people hollering back and forth and you know what I mean What scottie was diesel trucks in the highway and you know what I mean and Bur in the beast flight from canada and I mean everything you know is all there You know just oh man and burn it like a forest fire, you know Never stopping to take a breath. You know, I mean just Like a fiddle can be so relentless And man when he played it was it it'd go on for 20 minutes and you'd be standing there. I mean I For some of the highest moments I had in the audience in fact the model for For getting high musically for me was the thing of being in an audience listening to scottie play, you know I rest my case. Thank you all very much for coming I am happy to answer questions or but I deny everything so Um, I didn't know about it. So it wasn't scary to me. Um He uh, yeah, uh and I'm not so sure. I wouldn't exaggerate it too much because Um So, you know, we went into this coma in august Um I'm not sure murrell saunders sort of came around and started teaching, you know, reviewing the basics of music with him Um, I do know Uh that In october Um, sandy rothman His old friend, uh would would come visit and um Like a week later would come back with his instruments and uh instrument and I think with david nelson if I recall correctly And they played in jerry, you know, he didn't notice anything out about jerry at all So we're only talking, you know, we're talking about a two month recovery time So it was like a blitz So I I think it I think Either that or murrell is just a hell of a therapist. Uh, but I don't think it it took too long. Um, he Uh, there's an interview. Um, and he talks about it Um, that's in the book, uh stuff that made made it into the book where I did an interview with him I'm not sure uh precisely when but I think it was in november of 86 Which is to say and you know, he was Spot on but he was also talking about The meltdown is the way he referred to it and and and he said that there were certain words or concepts even that he he'd go And he'd have to turn his people and say what's the word for? Fremches of the fing playing and and they go oh that he go, oh, right Um, it's a weird thing about memory, you know, if you don't remember it it isn't there um, but uh it you know it It's not as though you listen to the interviews in 86 and think oh boy. He's lost a few brain cells in the interval. That's uh, you know He's he he recovered pretty quickly. Thank you. Thank you lord Thank you. Grateful dad. Thank you whatever Gods you wish to invoke Anyway, else His dad played a band. There was only records of did he play the war field? Is there any ads and old newspapers or anything like that? I think that you have a job that you just assigned yourself. Uh, not that I'm aware of and I think it but you know, and it's a darn good Question and somebody with even more time than I had as a you know The folks at the archive should assign an intern to go plow through The and look for the name. Jose Garcia in the 20s and early 30s by the middle The story the family legend was that eventually he got booted out of the union for violating some rule And open and in fact did open a bar Uh, uh, zoom will be called joes on the corner first in Harrison, which At different corners as different buildings got built or torn down He he and and then his widow um, uh, mrs. Garcia had until Late in the 50s and that's where jerry, you know jerry would work there and during high school time So But the answer is uh, no, you know, he played the clarinet and other reeds And as jerry said he was a genre player like I am And Don't believe it when jerry says a I heard him playing because he was four when he died and b Don't believe him When he says I saw him died. He died drown he drowned fishing It seems pretty clear that jerry was He heard about it so much as a kid. It's sort of he created a memory, but At any rate he was there. It was around The only time I ever caught him lying Because you know he really went evasive on me when I brought that up The problem for him had been that I had I had Interviewed bobby freeman at a Some play he was playing at some club If it wasn't in the stone's town gallery, it was somewhere in that corner of the city you know a grim gig For well, he was a you know a two hit wonder, uh, but at any rate, uh, and I asked him You know to jerry garcyer And he's well his first response was there wasn't any guitar on that record And I said well everybody else seems to think so and Anyway, whatever it was. It was definitely not jerry garcyer It was clearly a mild little fib That in the early days like when he was you know high school or early sixties The kind of thing that a guy says, you know bob dillon claimed to have recorded with bobby ridell You know etc It was a harmless fib when I asked him about it. He just sort of went I don't remember It's the only time he ever said that to me. So no Like I say, I believe that he did say that to people. No, I don't I don't think so Oh a couple things one can you talk about his relationship with david grissman and also What was he most proud of as far as maybe a collaboration a tour an album music? He was there something that he was really proud of the first four ninth notes of teacher children well He said I hit that And you know all that came in the conversation in which he was talking about um doing the love theme from michelangelo antonioni in zebriski point and Doing one take and antonioni saying brilliant. Thank you And he went no, no, no, I'm just getting started. No, no, no, you're fine Actually david carsby did the same thing to him in the the licks on teacher children. Well, but On reflection jerry said I don't think I could have done it any better that one that one. I got right Grisman 10 seconds Uh, well, he loved david Um, what happened was of course that um David their relationship fell into the aftermath of the collapse of grateful dead records when um Rack out run rack out took the 200 000 that was supposed to finance the record company for the next year and split um and You know that Everybody knew jerry included that that rack out was You know what he referred to himself as a barracuda He was a thief and then you know, he had no ethics but everybody assumed that you know That might work, you know that he might Do you know negative things to people outside the scene but not us right and but to quote rack out, you know Uh, I just I'm a barracuda and I did what barracudas do and after a while you turn on the hand That's feeding you and you bite it and you split um As a result of that and I'm sure there are many other substories But one thing is that grisman had been um owed. I think it was 10 grand, but whatever a figure Significant figure to him Um for his part in producing olden in the way The record And he didn't get it There wasn't any money left Well, you know god loved jerry, but Confronting embarrassing moments was not his strong point And he ducked You know, he didn't he you know, I don't know about him. I would have gone and said We owe you 10 000 eventually will figure out a way to get it to you He you know, he was so humiliated that instead of addressing it he you know And grisman can get cranky and he just went well fuck you and fuck all of you You know and the horse you all wrote in on and he stomped off metaphorically speaking. That's 1974 16 years past uh Jerry I'm not sure of the sequence of all this, but Jerry arranges uh for david to get a rex foundation grant of 10 000 things Well, it may take a while to come around what it does is come around And grisman is very pleased and then they run into each other somewhere. I forget David tells the story and You know They're old friends and The gap is forgotten and he says, you know David has a Little simple recording studio in in the basement of his house in mill valley And he says, you know, why don't you come by and pick a little and jerry said love to Walks in And it was it was just a very sweet scene. I spent a lot of time in those sessions um It was uh, you know They both loved to get stoned and play music simple. That's that's what they did um And the first time jerry was there he walked in and and said I figured it figured it out man You know the way this will make sense is we should just decide we're making a record. So let's make a record and uh and doggy said sure fine and decimal Dave Dave denison who was dog's mixer and and sound guy and recording engineer Turned on the tape recorder and you know, they had the first three songs down the first day Even before It was able to get the rest of his band in to you know to back them up um It was a very sweet scene. I might add that it it in in typical grateful dead fashion it produced much Consternation amongst people around the grateful dead because of course they were saying well, you know, who knows what's going on over there It's like I can tell you the smoking, you know Dog has one vice It's called marijuana And you know, and if jerry's gonna fall off the tracks Neither you nor david can stop it. So, you know, he's making good music stop stop with your nonsense um, and he made wonderful music I was as a tribute to him On I had to do this lecture at uh at Santa Cruz archives So driving down to Santa Cruz on august 1st, and I thought well, okay Let's listen to a bunch of Garcia albums. I haven't listened to in 30 years You know and the albums, you know, it's pretty most pretty pretty much most of them. I mean When was the last time you listened to his first solo album? I don't know about you, but it's been a long time And boy, is it good by the way in case you were wondering and I also listened to To some not for kids only which is another one of my absolute favorites Especially the when they do the the comedy the comedy howdy stranger routine, which is just hysterical But at any rate, um, so yeah, that that was their relationship and it's stayed sweet Till the last music Jerry ever played was in dog's house recording blue yodel number nine for um A tribute to jimmy rogers that bob dillan was putting together Yeah, all that. Yeah, this little this hillside home. I'm sorry Teddy bears picnic all that good stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it was just this little, uh, it was the probably I imagine it started out as two bedrooms downstairs Uh, and they you know knocked it into one fairly large room divided so there was a control room in a recording space and not very big not very fancy, but Whoop, sorry good enough and good enough to get some good sounds and they had a lot of fun. It was very sweet scene That'll wake you up Yeah, and um, uh, dog son monroe, uh shot, um some footage there and along with, um I'm pulling a blank. No, I guess it was his sister um monrose Sister. Yeah, right. Yeah. Dave's dark BAM Anyway, um, yeah all that Some more couple more Yeah Very close to where he was stationed in the studio. Is there any records? It's public records all these army records, I thought San Bruno possibly has them. Is there any photos of him in the army or any records? Um, None that I you know, my father was in the army for 20 years. I knew just enough to know I'm not wasting my time trying to get you know, um, there there's him. There's a wonderfully funny package I repeat. I'm not plugging honest, but The gerry on gerry he he gets into a rap about the army that's hysterical His service in the army and how ridiculous it was and The punchline being that that of course, um, you know, here's here's this kid, you know, 17 Clueless joins the army. He drops out of high school and joins the army, which is standard practice in 1959 or 60 Thinking well, I'll you know, I'll see the world. I'll get around as he put it Shit, I barely got out of san francisco county gets all the way down to fordord And lands at the presidio, which as I said to him, you do realize that that was the best assignment in the entire army Okay, my father 20 year man spent You know, I mentioned this to him once and he was like It's the best duty there is it's just you're in san francisco and you're You're taking care of then and just it's a headquarter situation and blah blah blah And um, there's gerry driving the garbage truck and and uh, and a wrecker and um I'm working on missiles over on marina on the headlands in marin So I looked at my said dizzy, you know That'll really reassure you about the quality of the united states army. Can you imagine gerry garcia working on a missile? Hard to hard to accept but the answer is yes. I mean he was there. I believe him and and I have no doubt of it Um, but as far as records go, I don't know Okay, a couple more He wanted Who was who was in it with him? Whoever was in it with him. They needed the money and he went Shit, this is you know for an afternoon of my time to be able to tighten them up for 10 or whatever thousand dollars that they got Strictly for that reason. He certainly didn't do it for you know to put anything into his pocket Was it the hardest publicist in those last couple of years when the band's Uh, you know performances were lacking. So much as they were gerry and poor health I mean will you find yourself up against? These unfortunate questions from media about gerry's health and and what was that like the media wasn't smart enough to realize that He was playing for shit They didn't know I never had a Critic in the last three years of his life when they should have said What's going on here? This guy's barely on the stage And and um Never once did I get a question like that and I should have absolutely should have uh The first show we did and and this is a little early Although it started there in the fall of 90 we did the europe tour and The story I got from steve was that um Jerry did not have any drugs and so uh And you know, of course, we were all jet lagged. It was it's still and we've been in europe at least two days already but We were zoned and um, anyway, he just took a chunk of hash and ate it At any rate he was barely on the plan at that night Um and the number of people that came up to me and told me how brilliant a show it was was like It's like we and the funny part was Vince This was like vince's 10th show or something early on in the process And he came off the show stage probably at intermission And he was distraught. He was he was convinced it was him And I said no, no, no, you don't understand Sometimes this band really sucks It's not you. It's the band. Trust me. Don't take any responsibility, you know You got five upstanding young men that are gonna help you fuck this up And they're doing it And he sort of you know, I mean, you're sure I said honest really really honest and um You know, um But yeah, oh god, they were awful The first show of your in sweden stock home Atrocious they got better They the by the time we got to paris. There was that was one of the great nights. Somehow it was the sweetest moment of We had that we all People gave you champagne. I don't know why but I keep I kept getting shit bottles of champagne and I I don't drink champagne. So I I had them all and uh, we got to paris and it was a good night they they they kick some ass and We get back to the hotel the grand hotel and the tour manager's suite Had a had a balcony went on the balcony. You could see the opera house the paris opera house, right family opera the whole the original It was it was needed We had We drank all the champagne and you know looked at the opera house. It was like Now this is the way to conquer europe, you know Um but uh, and then I might add that the tour ended With my my favorite dumb ass moment dumb ass as in I talk about clueless We we went into, uh, london. This is the second night. I guess in london maybe the third and uh In the course of doing all my little political nonsense in in In dc I had met this woman Who was like this? She's now a lobbyist as they all become Who's a real political fixer and she was a good buddies with a member of parliament who I'd gotten to know really nice guy Neil Abercrombie and I had said to him As long as they're not tories you can invite anybody you want And uh, one of the people there was tonic Blair who was still it was you know, margaret thatcher We're still prime minister. This is a year or two before he rose and he had played in a rock and roll band at cotton college, you know, so and um So there's about 10 members of parliament. I'm surrounded by the back state. They're just standing backstage side stage and uh The band goes into maggie's farm margaret thatcher it took me Close to a minute before I Why is this place going completely batshit and finally it oh right maggie that that that um But uh, yeah, that that was that was wonderful and and the entire labor party was like ready to you know, elect jerry to the prime ministership And then they really were when But I'll tell you just one story and then I'll shut up. It's a good way to end. Um I happen to go that not this is halloween And I happen to go I hope generally went in the first vehicle to to go to the venue because I wanted to putter around and Meet the security and tell them who they were working for and what they were going to do Um, and so I get there early and jerry always went first so jerry and vince and I are in this bus for 10 Um, and we're we're crossing london and of course, you know, there's no freeways So it was slower than it should have been because wembley's Way the hell ain't going on in the west of london and and we were in uh, this very lovely hotel in mayfair um And we get about halfway there and jerry starts mumbling fuck Grumble grumble grumble And because what vince goes what and he says We got to do werewolves of london And vince go, you know vince, I don't even know if he knew the song, but it was like It's halloween. It's london now. You know, how can you not do this song? And of course vince is gone. I don't know the song It's all right. I'll teach you and um And he does And you know, they do the show um, you know, and It's a good show It's always been my theory, by the way, if you feel free to evaluate my opinion, uh, for what it's worth But it's always been my theory that the last show of a tour Grades very high on the premise that, you know, they consciously want to leave, you know, leave it on the floor Leave it leave it leave it there play, you know blow it out Because tomorrow you ain't gonna be working um and uh They come back out and of course the entire audience is going okay Play put where it was of london, please and It's funny because I mean I've listened to it a couple of times and analyzed it. It's very interesting how They adapted and jerry loved warren zevon warren zevon. I might add open for the grateful dead boy The weirdest opening act the grateful that ever had it was in santa barbra. I was there He was drunk as he admitted. He was drunk at every show he played for the decade. I have a very bad problem and um The audience, you know, it was like he was made welcome at the beginning and he played very badly And after a while he started abusing the audience and the audience being dead heads. They did a brilliant thing They sat down and turned their backs on him because he was Being abusive and boring and you know, then he brings out bonny rate To sing awoo. I when he brought her out. I thought wow they do a song of hers Maybe, you know angel from on company. That would be really cool. No. No, she's brought all the way out Just so she could do awoo during where it was of london, which Jerry had loved, you know, I mean because these these they start playing it um So anyway, they they what I realized that night in london was that um the the melody On as you'd expect on the warren zevon version of course is the piano because the That's what warren was playing and it's his song But jerry of course Transposes it and he's playing it on the guitar Which gives it a snap? frankly that warren's Really didn't have it was in fact, it was great. I can't sing it the way warren did but um But you know, it's a great weird song and um and the grateful day were Pretty good cover band. So it was a great moment. Anyway, um Support your public library and support jerry's day and thank you all for coming