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I’ve never been more on the Bus.
I read this book over an 18 month period and the slow burn is the only way I’d recommend reading it. It’s information overload but in the best way. It invokes every possible sense. I could hear Jerry’s guitar playing progress over the years, from 60s bluegrass and blues player to his slicker tones of the late 80s. I could hear Pigpen’s soulful and country-western-twanged vocals, and Phil Lesh’s sporadic bass playing (and his mild arrogance, but he actually kind of comes off as a badass who pursued more profound spaces and genres). I could smell the Dead Heads at every show. I could touch the beats and experimental world music of dual drummers The Rhythm Devils (Mickey Hart and I share a birthday). I could feel Bobby Weir’s passion to prove himself, as the “other” guitarist and the youngest member of the band. I could see and imagine the massive “dysfunctional family” that was the GD’s crew, hard at work building and tearing down the Wall of Sound.
The concept of the Grateful Dead is so much more than just its music. It stands for family, friendship, experimentation, love, and most importantly, community.
I’ll miss reading this book! But at least I have the music (and my parents’ Dead shirts from the 90s).
I read this book over an 18 month period and the slow burn is the only way I’d recommend reading it. It’s information overload but in the best way. It invokes every possible sense. I could hear Jerry’s guitar playing progress over the years, from 60s bluegrass and blues player to his slicker tones of the late 80s. I could hear Pigpen’s soulful and country-western-twanged vocals, and Phil Lesh’s sporadic bass playing (and his mild arrogance, but he actually kind of comes off as a badass who pursued more profound spaces and genres). I could smell the Dead Heads at every show. I could touch the beats and experimental world music of dual drummers The Rhythm Devils (Mickey Hart and I share a birthday). I could feel Bobby Weir’s passion to prove himself, as the “other” guitarist and the youngest member of the band. I could see and imagine the massive “dysfunctional family” that was the GD’s crew, hard at work building and tearing down the Wall of Sound.
The concept of the Grateful Dead is so much more than just its music. It stands for family, friendship, experimentation, love, and most importantly, community.
I’ll miss reading this book! But at least I have the music (and my parents’ Dead shirts from the 90s).
