Jerry Garcia was born in August and died in August. August was a heavy month for old Jerry. And I wanted to mark his birth and passing during the first week of August but I’ll be hohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifnest: I forgot. But better late than never. I thought I’d post my 10 favorite Garcia moments, in order. I was a huge fan of the band. I know it’s weird: I loved the Clash and I loved the Dead, and the bands are really polar opposites: Political vs. Apolitical; short and hard vs. self-indulgent and loosey goosey; punks vs. hippies…What can I say? I’m a man of mysterious tastes.
9 songs in the zip file, and a few are here as savefiles, too.
10. Walking On The Moon/Consider Me Gone/Been Down So Long-Sting with Jerry Garcia. No, it’s not Jerry’s best work, but I do enjoy hearing him play with someone other than Bobby, Phil, Mickey, Bill, and whichever other hanger on is around. And this is a really sweet medley.
9. Desolation Row-Grateful Dead (Bob Dylan cover). From March 26, 1987, Hartford. This is Bobby’s show, for sure, but I really like the accents Jerry tosses in. And the simple solo after the second verse isn’t like most of the other great Garcia moments.
8. Shakedown Street, from November 24, 1978. It’s hard to find crisp versions of my favorite song from their discofunk period.
7. Goodnight Irene-Jerry Garcia and Bob Kahn, acoustic, January 27, 1986. The first Jerry solo tape I ever had. People tend to think of Jerry in terms of his spacey electrical work, forgetting that his roots were in banjo and bluegrass.
6. Okie From Muskogee-The Grateful Dead and The Beach Boys. This is more of the shits-and-giggles variety than a showcase of his ability, but I do love this tune.
5. The Watkins Glen Soundcheck Jam, 1973-The Grateful Dead. They started out testing their equipment, and ended up treating the onlookers to a full fledged show. Remember when making music was about making music, not making money?
4. Dear Prudence-Jerry Garcia Band. From 2/29/80 at the Calderone. Seeing them do this song live was one of the few transcendent moments of my life seeing music live.
3. Terrapin Station-Grateful Dead. 2/26/77. From my first Betty Cantor Soundboard, the first time they ever played this saga, and one of the few times they included the entire suite.
2. Scarlet Begonias/Fire on the Mountain. From the legendary Cornell 1977 show. If you haven’t heard this, you don’t know Dead.
And number one, my all time favorite . . .
1. Is Eyes of the World from the 1973 Dade County bootleg, where Jerry creeps into Eyes out of an extended bass solo. First, there’s just Phil. Then each member of the band creeps in, one at a time. And my copy of the bootleg seems to be MISSING. I am so pissed! Please please please if you have this boot, send it to me. I can’t imagine where my copy has gone to.
