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August 9th


Booche

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Well, its been 8 years, and they have been the quickest 8 of my life. I still cant believe it, and I am serious.

For me, this is the day I celebrate the life of Jerome John Garcia. We were living in Kingston, and when the word came, we could only do one thing. Get together and shelter ourselves from the rest of the world. As sad as it all was, and as scared as we were, it was still beautiful and that is what he brought to our lives. Pure beauty.

I miss ya Jer!

" To get really high is to forget yourself. And to forget yourself is to see everything else. And to see everything else is to become an understanding molecule in evolution, a conscious tool of the universe. And I think every human being should be a conscious tool of the universe. That's why I think it's important to get high. "

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As with most of us, I can remember exactly where I was when I found out that Jerry had passed away. A strange story, I am for some reason compelled to share it now.

I was in St. Catherines visiting my friend Pat and his roommate, whom we all affectionately know as Cyberhippie. My buddy had left for work, and Trevor was making breakfast when the phone rang, so he asked me if I could answer it. It was Pat, calling from a pay phone. He said, "I've got some really bad news, and I don't know how to tell you".

I paused for about two seconds, and said, "Jerry's dead, isn't he?" I figured that there was nothing that could have happened that would have been so devastating to me that he would have learned about ahead of me.

Corny as it may sound, it was nice to hear about this from my oldest friend, rather tham on the radio or TV.

At the time Amigo's in Hess Village (now the Funky Monkey, for all you young 'uns) had Grateful -days (what was it, Wednesday, Thursday?), and it happened to be the same day as Jerry's death, and every 'head and hippie in the city showed up that night. It was sad and beautiful at the same time. [Frown][smile]

Thanks, Jerry, for teaching me to listen to music, rather than just hearing it; for opening my mind to so many different forms and styles of music; and, of course, for creating so much gorgeous music yourself.

R.I.P. [Frown]

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Looks like Davey-Boy forgot himself again.

God love him............. [big Grin]

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Yeah, Hamilton, I hear ya. I was trying to search for past August 9th threads from year's past, but it looks like Bouche's move to the new site has hidden those hidden gems. I wanted to link a couple of them. One of my favorites was from Scottieking.

My long and short, a dude from my job at the time called me laughing:

"Hahahahaha, hey man, Jerry is dead."

To be honest, he had no idea what he was about to do to me before he dialed that phone. Needless to say, I got off the phone, didnt believe him but kinda did, and phoned EVERYONE looking for info. Thankfully, no one answered. A short while later, another girl I worked with (that knew I was in distress over this sudden turn of events) got a return call from her husband.

"Andre, it's true."

Its as close as I have ever come to fainting and I can still see that row of boxes in the Toys R Us stockroom go blurry like a wave descending upon my eyes.

I can still hear her voice.................

I ended up being almost happy I was the bearer of bad news for my best friends in the world, so your story sounds the furthest from corny as it possibly can. It was the only way it should have happened for you, and for them.

-

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I was chillin' 'round the fire in Nagagamisis Provincial Park,just north of Hornpayne,it was probally about 10:30pm(aug.9)when we decided to throw on some AM radio,since that was all we could get.

Thats when we got the news.

I said : "Did I hear that right"?

My girlfriend(at that time) just nodded her head.Turned off the radio and musta just sat there for about an hour without saying anything,guess it was just kickin' in.We rolled a huge fatty and smoked it,played a couple songs,but just didnt have the feel at that moment,so we threw on the radio again and what do we hear,but good ol' Jerry singing Attics.That broke my girlfriend right on the spot,kinda left me numb....we watched the northern lights dance to the sound of Attics.

Very sad night.

There truly was and is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert.

Thanks Jerry for the awesome memories.

may the four winds blow you safely home -

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Hey Folks,

Well, it's that time of year again and like Andre, I just can't believe the time has pasted so. It's so funny to think back about the years that have passed since, but even more amazing is the effect that the fat man continues to have on me. The one thing that I have no doubt about is that if anyone was destined to rejoin the universe and become part of its positive energy flow, look no furthur than Jerry. And now by request, a story.

I had just left Grand Bend earlier that morning for my old stompin grounds of Sauble Beach. My friend Andy had just the night before handed me a brand new dead mix that he had created. I was excitedly listening to it all the way there (one of the songs, of course, turned out to be He's Gone, which also probably played just as I entered the outer limits of Sauble) Anyway, my first stop was to visit the old restaurant that I used to work at. As I walked in and said hello to all, a girl came up to me and said "I can't believe you're still getting messages here, but there one for you on the board" I went over to see what it was. It said "Jerry called. Call him right away" OK a little weird. Someone may have even joked about Garcia, but I knew it was a different Jerry, but feared terribly that something had happened in Grand Bend. So I called. And poor Jerry, in the softest way that he could broke the news, amongst the clutter and clang, my good friend tracked me down. I owe him to this day. The rest of the day was spent surprising people, both by being in Sauble and breaking the news. It was ironic too that these were the people I had first discovered the music with. We had a bonfire that night and sang (poorly and drunkenly) all our faves. And I drove home listening to the mix tape that had made me so happy on the way down, deeply saddened as the last song (no word of a lie) was Goin Down the Road Feeling Bad.

I hope this account this similar enough to last year's. I'm sure there are more and maybe it's not such a bad thing to recount them fresh every year. I can't think of a better way to begin the celebration of his life and times.

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Funny,

After listening to music all morning, I decide to turn on the T.V. What is the first thing I see but The Dead doing Casey Jones from Saturday Night Live on Much More Music. I say to myself "What is going on here!" Turns out to be a show on music from Saturday Night Live. Weird. I turned it off and am now listening to "Don't Let Go"

-

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Missed always, forgotten not even once....

Jerry Garcia continues to inspire the way I view music. He had such a deep love and appreciation for the music, that to this day pulls new listeners in. I'm honoured to have stood in the same stadiums with jerry as his guitar snaked it's way through thousands of adoring fans, who all shared a connection with the man.

Acoustic Jerry songs in the living room tonight...just like back in the day. Fare thee well Jerry and Thanks.

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It's kinda strange because i remember where i was, but i was not a deadhead at the time. This person came up to me in the mess hall at camp and said jerry died. From my reaction, she judged correctly and said "oh, i thought you were a deadhead". One year later maples pavillion 73 was playing on our drive back from the jazz fest, jack straw, they love each other, and eyes of the world later, it 'clicked' and i got it. I never met you, or even saw you jerry, however you are an integral part of my life. thank you so so much.

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Lovely,

"there is a quality to Jerry's voice that is soothing"

Well, people used to harp on Jerry when he started to sing back in the 60's, cause they thought he had a shitty voice. Well, thankfully our little Santa Claus didnt care.

Not to mention his guitar is like a warm blanket provided by a mother being wrapped around a baby.

Groove Fetish, we have a little Dicks Picks 9 Morning Dew action going on right now. One of my favorite Jerry's voice songs.............

I miss you guys and hope to visit in the Fall, if invited [Wink]

I'll bring Sloth The Wookie with me [big Grin]

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that day was a lifetime ago.....and yet like yesterday.

i was with friends at an island cottage in the muskokas.....isolated somewhat. 10 of us, with 4 or 5 small children. we took the boat to the marina 30 minutes away....getting gas, renting some sea-doos. i took the older kids up to the little store to get them ice cream. and just inside the door was a newspaper rack with the globe & mail piled in it. and there it was, the headline defying me to believe it. i just remember dropping to my knees and feeling the weak blurriness through my body, and hearing a voice behind me saying....."isn't that the grateful dead guy?"

i'm listening to my 'stella blue' collection.

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We had a nice tribute to Jerry today. Yesterday I picked up Dick's Picks 28 at the Darien Dead show, so we've been listening to it during our travels around Hamilton. We also just finished watching the first show on View From The Vault 4, from Oakland Stadio 1987, and earlier today I watched part of my Tivoli Theater, Copenhagen Denmark 1972 DVD that a friend gave to me earlier this year (pretty amazing if you've ever seen that footage although no real jamming).

Overall though it's been a really sad day. When we returned home today I found out my aunt died of cancer while we were at Darien yesterday. She was only 58 and never even told us she had it although her body was full of it. Now my parents have to fly home to Glasgow Scotland tomorrow....

The day Jerry died was a really sad day. I wasn't really into the Dead in '95, I had grown tired of the scene during fall 1992 and was listening to a lot more indie rock in those days - Pavement, Guided By Voices, Fugazi - but my mom actually called me that day after hearing it on the news. I was living in North York with some pals far removed from the Dead but it did still upset me a lot.

Sorry to be a bummer tonight. Jerry (and Aunt Mary), you're both close to my heart tonight

Raven Space [Wink]

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