StoneMtn Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 I take back every comment I ever made about him in the early-90s. RIPAnother loss to our family June 2, 2006 The Wheel is turning almightily fast. Life is loss, but our times have turned sorrowful indeed. It is with very heavy hearts that we must tell you that Vince Welnick passed away today, June 2, 2006. His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heart-felt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share. We grieve especially for his widow Lori, his sister Nancy, and the rest of his family. Our Grateful Dead prayer for the repose of his spirit: May the four winds blow him safely home. www.dead.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Boo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Terrible news. I yelled at the subject line. Knocking on Heaven's Door was playing when I read this.Rest in peace Vince. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Wow, sorry to be reading this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaimoe Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Really sad news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 RIP... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Damn. I hear him in my head wailing on Maggie's Farm from Pineknob '91 as I read through this thread. Infernally sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffhead77 Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 that's too bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wooly Mammoth Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 What the...? I cant find any news on the cause - this seems to have come out of nowhere. (and the original lineup of Tubes were supposed to be touring this year)the curse of GD keyboard players continues. RIP Vinny..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcO Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Jeez..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaPink Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 He died of a broken heart because Bobby would let him back in the Dead.RIP Brah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chameleon Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 He died of a broken heart because Bobby would let him back in the Dead.RIP Brah [color:red]OH My fuckin' god!! I am so shocked and bummed out all at once. I loved Vince and his tunes always brought a smile to my face a shows. I love "Way to go Home" & "Samba inthe Rain". He will be missed. What is even crazier is that on his web-site the site admisistrator (who knew vince well) airs a bunch of dirty launrdyabout the Dead. So bad I knew things were wierd when Vince never go to play in any Dead realted stuff. I always wondere why he wasn't invited. Well read this : --------------------------------------- [color:gray]Vince Welnick is gone. He was the sweetest human I have ever known. Kind, generous, funny and warm hearted. He was my friend. He was talented, so fucking talented. I was lucky to know him. So, damned lucky to know him and Lori. God bless you, Lori. I'm so, so sorry. Vince never got over the cruel way that the Grateful Dead band members treated him after Jerry died. He never got over the sorrow of losing Jerry, facing his own demons without his friend and could not understand how the remaining fellow band-members treated him like shit the past several years. I cannot possibly describe to you the hurt and anguish he felt when "The Dead" decided to have a "Family Reunion of the SURVIVING MEMBERS" of Grateful Dead, a band that he was no mere sideman for its last five years, but a full member of by order of Jerry Garcia. How damned insulting was it to have a "surviving members family reunion" and not invite your brother? Did it occur to you how that hurt him, Bill, Bob, Phil, Mickey? The truth is that you selfish bastards did not care if it hurt him. He's a big boy, he just had to get over it, right? I remember seeing Todd Rundgen at the "Walk Down Abbey Road" show in Concord, CA around the same time when that "Family Reunion" was booked. He asked how Vince was, and I told him about this "family reunion" concert of SURVIVING MEMBERS and how Vince was specifically not invited, but in fact was playing a gig at a campground not far from the show. Todd said, "Uh, Vince isn't dead, isn't he a surviving member?" He got the irony. I got the irony, but I also saw the hurt like none of you can believe. Vince kept a brave face about it, trying to remain cheerful, hoping that somehow, someday the tide would turn, the phone would ring and it would be Bob Weir calling him. Calling just to say, "How are you, Vinny?" Something. Anything. I am certain that Jerry would have been completely disgusted with the terrible, cruel and despicable way that Vince was treated by the band, the management, etc. following his death. The lack of compassion displayed toward him, the ostracizing he felt burned and hurt Vince very deeply. He was a sensitive, sweet soul. He just couldn't handle the rejection. He and I spent hours and hours talking about these things, trying to get the demons out, which led to him pouring out his heart when that show happened, right on this website. I told Vince to get his story out, tell everybody what happened on that Ratdog bus, tell them everything. Tell them how Bob and Ratdog sent him, having overdosed on the tour bus, to a hospital in the back of a taxi cab, without a friend in site, and had him checked in as John Doe, and played the show anyway. Tell them, Vince how you were despondent over facing life-threatening cancer, a simultaneous diagnosis of Emphysema, and instead of staying home to try to heal and get immediate surgery, how you chose to give the fans the ill-fated summer 95 Dead tour. Tell them how nobody in the band even acknowledged, though they damned well knew, that Vince was very sick. Tell them Vince, I said, how you didn't want to let the fans and the band down, and how eery it was on the tour knowing all these people who were your "friends" never asked how you were while on the road or even stepped aside with you to acknowledge that struggle you were facing. Tell everyone, Vince, how when you returned from the road, and Jerry was dead, how you were flung into the hell of depression facing lung disease, cancer and now your friend dying, and how you saw your world crash around you ever more when months later the band unceremoniously announced it was over. Tell them Vince, tell everyone and get the demons out. Even more amazing than the band being cold to him, I could never understand why so-called "dead heads" and "fans" spent hours coming into this site and fucking with Vince, taunting him, posting evil, nasty lies about him. I finally had to turn this into a registration-only website to help shield my friend from the cruelness that some people took sport in on the message boards. Vince could take a joke, he could take a lot, but he finally couldn't take any more. I had long, heart to heart talks with him for months before he told some of that story to you here, though not even close to all that detail. Vince didn't want to hurt the other guys, he just fucking wanted to play with them. Do you hear me, Phil? Do you hear me, Mickey? Do you hear me, Bobby? Do you hear me, Bill? That's all he fucking wanted, was to play music with you guys. He loved you and you fucking treated him like shit. To see your "heartfelt" message on Dead.net today sickens me to no end, you fucking bunch of lying hypocrites. There is nothing left to hold back on now. Is it so hard to return the man's phone calls? Is it so hard to understand what he went through back then and how far he had come since that dreadful night on that Ratdog bus? Where is the love? Where is the compassion? Hippy love? Bull-fucking-shit. You guys could have been nice to him, invited him along, not made him feel like an ass and like he was bugging you if he called. Are you happy, Cameron? Are you? Go fuck yourself. -------------------------------- Vince Welnick Nasty Truth Link Im heartbroken by the fact that more of the Grateful Dead's leagcy is being erroded by the sad revelation of the truth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chameleon Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 It gets worse...I just read in the Mercury on-line that it looks like Vince may have killed himself.This is brutal.... Link Mercury news Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Im going home Donny Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Damn. I hear him in my head wailing on Maggie's Farm from Pineknob '91 as I read through this thread. Infernally sad. my first Dead shows....ohmygawd was I happy to hear Maggies farm! RIP up the gates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Im going home Donny Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 shit he was only 55. :crazy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Im going home Donny Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 He died of a broken heart because Bobby would let him back in the Dead.RIP Brah [color:red]OH My fuckin' god!! I am so shocked and bummed out all at once. I loved Vince and his tunes always brought a smile to my face a shows. I love "Way to go Home" & "Samba inthe Rain". He will be missed. What is even crazier is that on his web-site the site admisistrator (who knew vince well) airs a bunch of dirty launrdyabout the Dead. So bad I knew things were wierd when Vince never go to play in any Dead realted stuff. I always wondere why he wasn't invited. Well read this : --------------------------------------- [color:gray]Vince Welnick is gone. He was the sweetest human I have ever known. Kind' date=' generous, funny and warm hearted. He was my friend. He was talented, so fucking talented. I was lucky to know him. So, damned lucky to know him and Lori. God bless you, Lori. I'm so, so sorry. Vince never got over the cruel way that the Grateful Dead band members treated him after Jerry died. He never got over the sorrow of losing Jerry, facing his own demons without his friend and could not understand how the remaining fellow band-members treated him like shit the past several years. I cannot possibly describe to you the hurt and anguish he felt when "The Dead" decided to have a "Family Reunion of the SURVIVING MEMBERS" of Grateful Dead, a band that he was no mere sideman for its last five years, but a full member of by order of Jerry Garcia. How damned insulting was it to have a "surviving members family reunion" and not invite your brother? Did it occur to you how that hurt him, Bill, Bob, Phil, Mickey? The truth is that you selfish bastards did not care if it hurt him. He's a big boy, he just had to get over it, right? I remember seeing Todd Rundgen at the "Walk Down Abbey Road" show in Concord, CA around the same time when that "Family Reunion" was booked. He asked how Vince was, and I told him about this "family reunion" concert of SURVIVING MEMBERS and how Vince was specifically not invited, but in fact was playing a gig at a campground not far from the show. Todd said, "Uh, Vince isn't dead, isn't he a surviving member?" He got the irony. I got the irony, but I also saw the hurt like none of you can believe. Vince kept a brave face about it, trying to remain cheerful, hoping that somehow, someday the tide would turn, the phone would ring and it would be Bob Weir calling him. Calling just to say, "How are you, Vinny?" Something. Anything. I am certain that Jerry would have been completely disgusted with the terrible, cruel and despicable way that Vince was treated by the band, the management, etc. following his death. The lack of compassion displayed toward him, the ostracizing he felt burned and hurt Vince very deeply. He was a sensitive, sweet soul. He just couldn't handle the rejection. He and I spent hours and hours talking about these things, trying to get the demons out, which led to him pouring out his heart when that show happened, right on this website. I told Vince to get his story out, tell everybody what happened on that Ratdog bus, tell them everything. Tell them how Bob and Ratdog sent him, having overdosed on the tour bus, to a hospital in the back of a taxi cab, without a friend in site, and had him checked in as John Doe, and played the show anyway. Tell them, Vince how you were despondent over facing life-threatening cancer, a simultaneous diagnosis of Emphysema, and instead of staying home to try to heal and get immediate surgery, how you chose to give the fans the ill-fated summer 95 Dead tour. Tell them how nobody in the band even acknowledged, though they damned well knew, that Vince was very sick. Tell them Vince, I said, how you didn't want to let the fans and the band down, and how eery it was on the tour knowing all these people who were your "friends" never asked how you were while on the road or even stepped aside with you to acknowledge that struggle you were facing. Tell everyone, Vince, how when you returned from the road, and Jerry was dead, how you were flung into the hell of depression facing lung disease, cancer and now your friend dying, and how you saw your world crash around you ever more when months later the band unceremoniously announced it was over. Tell them Vince, tell everyone and get the demons out. Even more amazing than the band being cold to him, I could never understand why so-called "dead heads" and "fans" spent hours coming into this site and fucking with Vince, taunting him, posting evil, nasty lies about him. I finally had to turn this into a registration-only website to help shield my friend from the cruelness that some people took sport in on the message boards. Vince could take a joke, he could take a lot, but he finally couldn't take any more. I had long, heart to heart talks with him for months before he told some of that story to you here, though not even close to all that detail. Vince didn't want to hurt the other guys, he just fucking wanted to play with them. Do you hear me, Phil? Do you hear me, Mickey? Do you hear me, Bobby? Do you hear me, Bill? That's all he fucking wanted, was to play music with you guys. He loved you and you fucking treated him like shit. To see your "heartfelt" message on Dead.net today sickens me to no end, you fucking bunch of lying hypocrites. There is nothing left to hold back on now. Is it so hard to return the man's phone calls? Is it so hard to understand what he went through back then and how far he had come since that dreadful night on that Ratdog bus? Where is the love? Where is the compassion? Hippy love? Bull-fucking-shit. You guys could have been nice to him, invited him along, not made him feel like an ass and like he was bugging you if he called. Are you happy, Cameron? Are you? Go fuck yourself. [/color'] -------------------------------- Vince Welnick Nasty Truth Link Im heartbroken by the fact that more of the Grateful Dead's leagcy is being erroded by the sad revelation of the truth... Thats pretty fucking depressing, soggy, beans. Though I can't say all that suprising somehow. People sure can be mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewie Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 i find it funny that if this thread were about vince playing with another dead cover band or tour dates for him...there would be a lot of hate, negativity and down right nastiness...you know exactly what i'm talking about...all of the sudden he's a musical vitruoso and a saint?bullshit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Im going home Donny Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 I for one don't know what you're talking about.Don't speak for this kid is all I have to say to that noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bONES Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 i met Vince a few times while working with DSOhe was a nice guynot my favourite Dead keyboardist, but a very kind man.I remember tipping back a 40oz. bottle of whiskey he had brought with him to a show in Tempe, AZwe all got smashed..it was fucking great!RIP man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewie Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 (edited) I for one don't know what you're talking about.Don't speak for this kid is all I have to say to that noise.c'mon man, you got your head in the sand? i'm not claiming to speak for you...but if the name Vince Welnick ever before june 2 2006 got mentioned here, the jokes, comments and other nasty remarks were rampant...PT and jambands.com are worse...the ratdog bus incident gave people more fuel to throw on the fire...and howler b/c my first post was in respose to yours doesnt mean i am saying you perpetuated all the nastiness...just others in our community. Edited June 3, 2006 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 i find it funny that if this thread were about vince playing with another dead cover band or tour dates for him...there would be a lot of hate, negativity and down right nastiness...you know exactly what i'm talking about...all of the sudden he's a musical vitruoso and a saint?bullshit...Let's not go there.Edited to add: Oh well, too late. Of course I know all about the Vince bashing... I did my time on philzone.org... but it's not hard to find compassion for someone who has passed.And personally, I would have loved it if Vince was included in The Dead reunion tours.As you said, Vince was bashed all over the place prior to June 2nd. No reason to contribute to that in his death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay sanislo Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 sad news for sure Gonna have to throw on some 90's dead today. RIP vince. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewie Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 i find it funny that if this thread were about vince playing with another dead cover band or tour dates for him...there would be a lot of hate' date=' negativity and down right nastiness...you know exactly what i'm talking about...all of the sudden he's a musical vitruoso and a saint?bullshit...[/quote'] but it's not hard to find compassion for someone who has passed.And personally, I would have loved it if Vince was included in The Dead reunion tours.that is exactly my point...and i feel truly sorry for the man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Im going home Donny Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 guess my head was in the sand. I don't look at PT or Jambands com & guess I missed the Vince jokes here.I'd never heard about 'the bus' stuff...I don't really delve into that stuff for no particular reason.Sure sounds like his 'friends' were pretty shitty 'friends' though.Pretty sad just how cruel folks can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hux Posted June 3, 2006 Report Share Posted June 3, 2006 Suicide my ass, we all know it was Bob Weir who pulled the trigger, let's just get it out there already.There's a lot more to it than what was posted above, but I'm sure it will all come out when it should and people will regret the rash judgments.RIP Vince. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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