WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.720 Hudson River Radio dot com. 2 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:08.839 It beats listening to nothing, my goodness, it's being Frank. 3 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:11.880 Fright were the only way to be is Frank. 4 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.800 Hello everyone, and welcome to Being Frank, where the only 5 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.679 way to be is Frank. I'm your host, Frank Lebuono, 6 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:23.679 and i'd like to thank you for joining us on 7 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:28.120 what we like to call the Intelligent Conversation Podcast, where 8 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:32.079 no conversations out of bounds and all points of view 9 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:35.799 are welcome. Regular listeners know that we go live to 10 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:39.719 tape record, but we try to go straight through from 11 00:00:40.119 --> 00:00:43.159 beginning to end, and I give you the dates, context 12 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:44.359 and relevance. 13 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:48.479 It is the fourteenth of January, our second show of 14 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:54.119 twenty twenty six. In our continuing efforts towards complete transparency, 15 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:57.520 I must make an admission. I'm not a big fan 16 00:00:57.560 --> 00:00:59.960 of the Grateful Dead. I hope that doesn't make me 17 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:02.960 a bad person. I did actually manage to see them 18 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.040 at least once live that I can remember anyway. I 19 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:10.040 think it was maybe nineteen seventy two or seventy three, 20 00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:12.359 and I guess it was about I don't know, seventeen 21 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.159 or eighteen years old, and my older sister took me 22 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.719 to see them at the Old Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. 23 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:22.760 My recollection of the concert was this, the pervasive smell 24 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:26.920 of marijuana, people dancing in the aisles like zombies, and 25 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.799 the band played something like five songs over a four 26 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:33.680 hour period. Be that as it may, I can still 27 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:37.400 acknowledge their greatness and the huge impact they've had on 28 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.840 millions of people around the world. And perhaps no one 29 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:44.359 has had more influence on the Grateful Dead than the 30 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.840 band's co founder, lyricist, guitarist, and many sayed along with 31 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:52.439 the late Jerry Garcia, soul of the band, Bob Weir. 32 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:56.439 In addition to the death of Garcia, Weir's recent passing 33 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:59.040 at the age of seventy eight has left a huge 34 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.760 hole in the hearts of not only his fans, but 35 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:07.000 music lovers everywhere. Few people can say they lived legendary lives. 36 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:10.879 Bob Weir is one who can certainly claim that distinction. 37 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.280 So I brought in an expert to sort out Weir's 38 00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:18.039 real impact in legacy. He's a man who was proud 39 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:21.680 to proclaim himself a deadhead. He is also an addiction counselor, 40 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:25.439 the author of two best selling books on addiction and recovery. 41 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.639 As well as being a regular contributor to psychology today, 42 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:32.319 he has also attended nearly two hundred performances of the 43 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:36.680 Dead and their various incarnations. So who better to share 44 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:40.439 some intelligent conversation on the life and legacy of Bobby 45 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:43.680 Weir than my friend Danny Major. Danny, welcome back. Thank 46 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:45.120 you so much for joining us. 47 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:48.759 Thank you, Frank. It's always a pleasure to be with 48 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:52.439 you on this venue and to have another opportunity to 49 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:53.479 truly be Frank. 50 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:57.479 I appreciate that, and I know you're seeing clients today, 51 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:00.800 so I really do appreciate it your alter go as 52 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.520 an addiction counselor. We'll talk a little bit about that 53 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:06.719 after the break, So I really do appreciate you taking 54 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:10.039 the time. So let's get right into it first, kind 55 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:11.759 of in a broad sense, and then will narrow down 56 00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:13.360 a little bit. Tell us a little bit about your 57 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.719 first experience with the band The Grateful Dead. 58 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:24.000 So you know, I first became engaged with the with 59 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:31.639 the Grateful Dead's music as a mid teenager fourteen fifteen thereabouts, 60 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:37.719 And in fact, that happened during the year hiatus that 61 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.639 The Grateful Dead took from touring. It was during their 62 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:45.560 thirty years from when they first started in nineteen sixty 63 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:50.360 five to Jerry Garcia's unfortunate early passing in nineteen ninety five, 64 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:55.680 they toured virtually continuously, you know, taking a few months 65 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:58.520 off here and there, but over the course of those 66 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:03.000 thirty years they played aid over twenty three hundred concerts, 67 00:04:03.080 --> 00:04:05.800 which is, you know, in the neighborhood of an average 68 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:10.360 of eighty a year, which is unheard of for any 69 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:17.279 band remotely near their stature and their level of success 70 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:22.360 even at that time. So they because after about ten 71 00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:25.959 years together, nine years or so, they decided to take 72 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:28.439 a year off, and that was in part were due 73 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:32.120 to burnout. There was a tremendous amount of drug use 74 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.480 and involvement at the time, and there was a generally 75 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.639 consensus that they needed to take some time off. But 76 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.600 you know, and so The Grateful Dead didn't play for 77 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:45.720 about nine months during nineteen seventy five, but the band 78 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:50.319 members were involved in respective side projects during the time. 79 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:54.240 So actually the first time I saw Bob Weir live 80 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:58.920 was during that hiatus, prior to my seeing The Grateful 81 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:03.000 Dead for the first time, which took place in June 82 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:06.480 of nineteen seventy six at the Boston Music Hall when 83 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.079 they're touring fully resumed. But I saw Bob we Air 84 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:13.720 a couple of times on Long Island and in the city. 85 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:17.720 He was playing with a band called Kingfish at that time, 86 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:22.519 and they were a wonderful ensemble cast and it wasn't 87 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:26.199 called Bob we Are in Kingfish, it was just Kingfish, 88 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:29.279 and he was a member of the band, obviously, you know, 89 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.839 renown and prominent. But another member of that band was 90 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.439 Dave Torbert, who had been the bassist in the New 91 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:40.199 Writers of the Purple Sage for a number of years also, 92 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:43.279 and they were wonderful of one or two of their 93 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:48.480 songs made it into the ongoing Grateful Dead repertoire. But 94 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:52.120 so I saw both Bob we Are and Jerry Garcia 95 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:55.680 in the Jerry Garcia band prior to first seeing The 96 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:59.839 Grateful Dead again June of nineteen seventy six, and between 97 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:07.519 then and when Jerry Garcia passed, I saw them approximately 98 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:10.199 one hundred and twenty times, so you know, and that's 99 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.319 over the course of nineteen years. The last time I 100 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:18.439 saw them play two dates at Giant Stadium the summer 101 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:23.240 of nineteen ninety five, within a couple of months of 102 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:29.079 when Jerry Garcia passed, and the vast majority of shows 103 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:36.800 were wonderful. Many of them were absolutely ecstatic, partly partly 104 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:42.399 contributed to by a wide range of psychoactive substances that 105 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.360 I might have been in conscious contact with at the time. 106 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:48.480 Time. It's what we did. 107 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:53.000 And you know, very very few of those shows, in 108 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:57.480 my experience, were anything but excellent, at least in terms 109 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:02.839 of my level of enjoyment. But but importantly and for 110 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:08.079 our purposes, every show was different. There were runs when 111 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:12.720 in ninety the New Year's Eve run at the Oakland 112 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:18.040 Auditorium Arena. They were still able to play smaller venues 113 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:22.680 at that time, six thousand general admission, and they played 114 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.920 five shows at six nights. I was living in Santa 115 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:30.160 Cruz in northern California, seventy five miles south of the 116 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:32.920 Bay Area at that time, and I was able to 117 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.480 go to all five of those shows, and each show 118 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:40.800 was different. They never played the same show twice, and 119 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:46.720 they very rarely played the same song the same way twice. 120 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:53.680 There were always different individual stylistic improvisational differences. They were 121 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:58.160 really quite remarkable and thoroughly unique in that way. 122 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:03.160 So much to unpack there too. And since it's about 123 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:06.319 Bob Weir, let's go back to what was it about 124 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:10.680 Weir that made him exceptional? What did you see when 125 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:13.839 again you mentioned seeing him live before you actually saw 126 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.199 the entire band. Was there something that sticks out in 127 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:21.639 your mind about him about his performances, style, musical style, 128 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:22.199 et cetera. 129 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:27.680 Well, he was Bob Weir's role in The Grateful Dead 130 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.039 was that was rhythm guitarist and he although he wrote, 131 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:36.240 he wrote a couple of lyrics here and there, he 132 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:42.480 really wasn't a lyricist. There were two main songwriting partnerships 133 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:46.320 within the Grateful Dead. There was Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, 134 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.159 and then Bob Weir's primary he wrote the music for 135 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:54.639 the songs that he that he wrote. Generally speaking, his 136 00:08:54.720 --> 00:09:00.279 lyricist was John Barlow, who was who was a poet 137 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:05.000 and writer who he met in reform school in Wyoming 138 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:08.200 when they were when they were both teenagers. So they 139 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:12.600 had this this lifelong relationship and then they they they 140 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.360 re established contact when Bob Weir was in The Grateful 141 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.879 Dead and basically looking for someone to write his own 142 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:23.240 songs with because he and Hunter had had a falling out, 143 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.120 but the way in which he played guitar was played 144 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:33.000 rhythm guitar was really was really singular. I was blessed 145 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.799 to see many Grateful Dead concerts where where I was 146 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:43.799 up close in proximity to the stage and could see 147 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:50.000 what the musicians were doing in greater detail. And his 148 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:56.000 approach to playing was one of often listening very actively 149 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:02.919 and intently and adjusting how he played based on the 150 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:08.120 interplay between Jerry Garcia's lead guitar and Phil Lesh's bass 151 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.720 guitar playing. And so he was he was in the 152 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:17.879 process of constantly making adjustments to fit with and enhance 153 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:24.600 the flow of particular improvisational jams in the moment. And 154 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.200 I mean he really played rhythm guitar in a way 155 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:31.559 it was different from everyone else. And you know, it's 156 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.320 in terms of influences, you know, the Grateful Dead crust 157 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:41.799 all all sorts of different genres from bluegrass to rock 158 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:43.080 to jazz. 159 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:47.000 Jazz comes to mind with me with their improvisations, which 160 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:51.240 each as you mentioned, each one being different, and like jazz, 161 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:54.679 sometimes either you get it or you don't, but it's 162 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.080 certainly the brilliance of it is within that so I 163 00:10:58.120 --> 00:10:59.639 didn't mean to cut you off, but I just wanted 164 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:04.240 to that came immediately to my mind. It's more jazz 165 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:06.960 like that, you know, I think people think of it 166 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:10.440 almost in terms of folky if you will, I guess 167 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:12.879 to a certain degree, and yet there are certain really 168 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:15.799 strong elements of jazz within that. I just want to 169 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:16.440 throw that in there. 170 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:20.840 Yeah, absolutely, Frank, I mean, they really justified categorization in 171 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:26.240 terms of genre. But you know, to your point, you know, 172 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:31.120 world class jazz saxophonists such as Branford, Marsalis and even 173 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:35.759 or Nick Coleman sat in with them several times and 174 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:41.720 there was this remarkable synchronicity between those musicians and the band, 175 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:46.960 and they all got off playing playing together. But you know, 176 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:52.679 in terms of influences, Garcia occasionally talked about about some 177 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:56.720 of his models, including John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and 178 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:00.840 learning how that the space has been between the notes 179 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.279 were often just as important as the notes that were 180 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:09.360 played themselves. And consistent with that, Bob Weir has often 181 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:14.320 described his approach to playing wasn't modeled on other guitarists 182 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:21.759 or rhythm guitarists, but much more like how McCoy Tyner's 183 00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:28.679 piano playing supported John Coltrane's brilliant, brilliant, free flowing sacks 184 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:33.960 leads in the John Coltrane Quartet, and he used that 185 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:40.200 as a model to support an underlie Garcia's lead playing 186 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:43.480 in a way that was again just thoroughly unique in 187 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:49.600 terms of understanding, approach, and execution. The other thing that was, 188 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.399 you know, I mean, Bob Weir was notable for a 189 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.000 number of reasons, not the least of which that he 190 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:59.360 was easily the most handsome member of the Grateful Dead, 191 00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:03.080 who though renowned for many reasons, not for their looks, 192 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:08.559 not for not for personal esthetics, but Bob Weir had 193 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:12.360 very much the rock star vibe and he played to 194 00:13:12.440 --> 00:13:17.600 that frequently. You know, By the late seventies early eighties, 195 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:22.320 Jerry Garcia had stopped interacting verbally with the with the 196 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:27.440 audience with rare exception, not wanting the responsibility that he 197 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:31.919 figured people might attribute, the influence that people might attribute 198 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.320 to anything he would say, and he didn't want to 199 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:40.480 take the chance of influencing someone in an unintended way. 200 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.639 So Weir was really the band spokesperson with the audience 201 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:48.919 for the last for the last number of years, of 202 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:51.600 the Grateful Dead, and he would go on Mike, you know, 203 00:13:51.960 --> 00:13:56.600 acknowledge technical problems. If in a general admission concert, the 204 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:59.919 front became too crowded, he would lead the crowd in 205 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:04.000 and exercise of taking a step back and another step 206 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:06.759 back and so forth. Every once in a while he 207 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:10.799 would tell an actual joke, typically very corny, but he 208 00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:14.440 would engage with the crowd. He often he dressed differently too. 209 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:17.519 I'm for a lot of the eighties and nineties polo 210 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:22.960 shirts and very short, impressively short cut off jeans that 211 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:28.720 became known as Bobby shorts because they were they were 212 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:33.159 identifiable with him in that particular way. And what was 213 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:36.720 what was really interesting also is that post Grateful Dead, 214 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:40.000 you know, Jerry Garcia died and and you know, the 215 00:14:40.039 --> 00:14:43.279 world mourned, much of the world, i should say, mourned, 216 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:47.000 and dead heads mourned very deeply. You know, you thought 217 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:49.639 you had mentioned that, you know in your introduction that 218 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:51.840 you know you weren't you weren't a grateful dead head. 219 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:57.000 But you know, as Garcia described it, great dead fans 220 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:01.120 are like people who like licorice. Now not everyone likes licorice, 221 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:08.519 but the people who like licorice really really you know. 222 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:13.960 And and uh so the way the way the surviving 223 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.759 band members, you know, it took them, It took them 224 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:20.519 a couple of years, but they began to put together projects, 225 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:28.399 sometimes together, sometimes separately, to continue the legacy of Grateful Dead. 226 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:32.960 Not just Grateful Dead music, the songs which are which 227 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:38.960 are powerful and will last, will last generations because the 228 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:45.919 combination of the of the virtuoso playing with the brilliance, 229 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:51.200 the poetic and timeless qualities of so many of the 230 00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:54.600 lyrics are you know, that's what made what made the 231 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:59.320 music so powerful, This this incredible synchronicity between the words 232 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:04.720 and and music. But but Bob we Are thirty years 233 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:11.960 thirty years on, was playing probably more frequently in other 234 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:15.240 projects than he had with the Grateful Dead. It was 235 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.919 as if his mission was to keep the music alive 236 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:24.919 and to share it with as many people as absolutely possible. 237 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:32.080 And you know, I recall his his initial solo projects, 238 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:38.440 so to say, is his his solo band post Grateful 239 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:43.519 Dead was called rat Dog, and initially rat Dog, the 240 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:50.360 the repertoire song wise consisted much more of Bob Weir songs, 241 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:55.000 so to say, We're Barlow songs than Hunter Garcia songs. 242 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:59.240 And at a certain point, like the early two thousands 243 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:03.120 to the mid watts or so, when when he played 244 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:08.079 he started playing more and more Hunter Garcia songs. And 245 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:13.200 I saw several shows where he played more Hunter Garcia 246 00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:18.000 songs than songs that he had been directly involved in writing. 247 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:21.599 And about the same time, you know, during during The 248 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:27.400 Grateful Dead, Bob We're occasionally had a beard, relatively a short, 249 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:32.480 well trimmed beard for periods of time. But you know, 250 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:36.759 somewhere around the mid waughts, he started to grow his beard. 251 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.720 His hair started to turn a little gray, a touch 252 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.559 of great gray right there, but he started to grow 253 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:47.240 his beard quite a bit longer, you know. And Jerry Garcia, 254 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:52.599 for most of The Grateful Dead's history, had a long, 255 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:57.000 very bushy beard. And so it was as if and 256 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:05.680 and We're talked talked frequently and and and fervently about 257 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:12.519 his continuing connection with Jerry Garcia even subsequent to his passing. 258 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:17.680 And my sense from a psychological perspective is that, you know, 259 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:20.880 one of the things that that Bob Weird did to 260 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:25.400 keep in conscious contact with Jerry Garcia, to keep that 261 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:29.839 relationship very much alive, was to play more of his 262 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.640 music and to take on more of his characteristics, so 263 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.400 to say. Now, that's not necessarily a conscious process, and 264 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:42.720 it's a psychological phenomenon known as identification. Where we lose, 265 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:46.000 we lose people that are important to us, and and 266 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:51.920 the surviving individuals often begin to take on more of 267 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:57.039 the qualities or the characteristics of the person who has 268 00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:01.839 passed or transitioned, and it helps to maintain a a 269 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:08.119 under the surface of conscious awareness connection with them. And 270 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:11.880 that included so in in later years, you know, after 271 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:17.759 after they they celebrated fifty years of since the Grateful 272 00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:21.079 Deads first started playing together with the Fairly Well concerts 273 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:24.279 two at Santa Clara Stadium where the forty nine ers play, 274 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:28.680 and three at Soldier Soldier Field in Chicago, and that 275 00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:33.200 and that included the the four main surviving members of 276 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:36.799 the Grateful Dead Uh, Bob, We're Phil Lesh and the 277 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:41.039 two drummers, Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart, with supporting players 278 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:46.079 Trey Anastasio of Fish one lead guitar, Bruce Hornsby on piano, UH, 279 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:49.319 Jeff Chamente who played with with Bob were and Ratdog 280 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:53.960 on one organ and UH and you know, and that 281 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:57.920 was that was really wonderful. And then after that, you know, 282 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:00.519 Phil phil Lesh had his own thing, fill in Friends, 283 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:06.079 played with this incredible, ever expanding rotating cast, alternating casts 284 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:10.960 of world class musicians playing primarily, but not exclusively, grateful 285 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:14.480 dead songs. And then then the question was, okay, well, 286 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:19.119 what happens after the fair the Well Shows? And you know, 287 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.160 it just turns out that that John Mayer happened to 288 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:27.920 be guest hosting some relatively esoteric late, late, late night show, 289 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:32.359 and Bob Weir was a guest of his, and and 290 00:20:32.839 --> 00:20:35.200 you know, not that many people knew it, but John 291 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:37.839 Mayer had been a deadhead from the time that he 292 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:42.519 was a teenager growing up in Connecticut, and and they 293 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:45.240 had to set up there. Perhaps it was pre planned, 294 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:49.559 but they played a song or two together on on 295 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:54.440 that show, and they clicked. There was a musical simpotico 296 00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:58.480 that you know, musician. I'm not a musician, but musicians 297 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:07.039 easily recognized in one another. And through that initial initial contact, 298 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:14.279 the genesis of Debt and Company was born. And so 299 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:17.920 so later later that year, the Fairly Well Shows, I 300 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:21.839 think the last one was was the day after fourth 301 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:26.640 of July July fifth, twenty fifteen. Dead and Company debuted 302 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:31.319 in the fall of twenty twenty five with but with 303 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.920 Bob Weir, the two drummers Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart, 304 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:38.519 John Mayer on lead one lead guitar, you know, a 305 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:43.279 role of tremendous responsibility and pressure. Jeff Tamenti playing both 306 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:48.240 keyboard and piano, and the bass players Otel Burbridge, who 307 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:51.839 played bass for the Almond Brothers for the last eighteen 308 00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:56.319 years of their existence. At that time, Phil Lesh wasn't 309 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:00.599 interested in doing any sort of really significan and touring. 310 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:05.079 Played many shows, but basically had to select few home 311 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:08.440 bases where he set up shop and would stay. But 312 00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:12.920 Dead and Company before before Bob Weir's passing, played for 313 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:16.160 ten years, and they played, you know, they didn't play 314 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:18.559 as many shows as The Great, as the Grateful Dead. 315 00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:20.880 All of the surviving members you know they were they 316 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:25.200 were in there in their late sixties even early seventies 317 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:30.039 when it when they first started, but played played anywhere 318 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:37.400 from from twenty to forty or forty five shows over 319 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:42.279 those over those ten years, and in my experience seeing 320 00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:47.160 Dead in Company quite a few times from New York 321 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:50.319 to California and in Las Vegas, where I've been living 322 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:54.400 for the last sixteen years, including including quite a few 323 00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:57.720 shows at the Spear during Dead and Company's runs there. 324 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:03.079 Bob We're in interestingly took on more and more of 325 00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:09.359 the of the distance that Jerry Garcia had maintained verbally 326 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:14.359 with the audience during the last number of years that 327 00:23:14.599 --> 00:23:19.480 he was alive, where he very very rarely interacted with 328 00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:25.119 the audience, in contrast to the interplay between him and 329 00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:28.680 the audience that he often initiated with the Grateful Dead. 330 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:32.039 But Dead in Company, although it was different, it could 331 00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:34.720 never be the same. And many people, you know, rendered 332 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:37.880 their garments and gnashed their teeth because well, it wasn't 333 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:41.400 Jerry Garcia, and it wasn't the Grateful Dead. But from 334 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:49.680 the standpoint of someone who who for whom the music 335 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:53.319 and the passion with which and the skill with which 336 00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:57.000 the music is played and the words are sung evoke 337 00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:03.920 tremendous joy and sense of community and continuity. Debt and 338 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:10.279 Company have been a wonderful extension of the Grateful Dead legacy. 339 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.839 And they played, they played there as is off, and 340 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:18.599 they played brilliantly, and too many people's surprise John Mayer 341 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:23.960 proved to be a brilliant fit with them really really 342 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:29.720 appreciating with gratitude and reverence the role that he was 343 00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:35.720 that he had taken on, and the appreciation with which 344 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:42.880 the fans the fans acknowledged his participation. It's really really 345 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:44.759 quite wonderful. 346 00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.559 I want to talk about that very special community because 347 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:51.920 you can't mention the grateful dead without that sense. And 348 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.799 I'm going to get to it a second in a second. 349 00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:57.759 But you also said something about Where's appearance, and it's 350 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:01.079 interesting that I found it interesting too, because my partner 351 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:04.880 Amanda and I was speaking of it just yesterday. If 352 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:07.079 you look at him through the course of time, and 353 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:10.359 it's kind of like a time capsule of the band itself. 354 00:25:10.680 --> 00:25:14.599 He had this kind of almost cherubic face, little boy's face, 355 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:17.519 and at the end it's grizzled, you know, with the 356 00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:23.640 waving wild hair and the big handlebar mustache and bushy beard. 357 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:27.480 And it just as it seemed, he seemed to evolve 358 00:25:28.119 --> 00:25:31.640 and and continue an age in a sense, as the 359 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:35.119 band itself did, and through many incarnations and to to 360 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:38.519 a final one of where he was when he died. 361 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:44.759 And uh and and he very much believed in reincarnation 362 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:48.359 as as he as he put it, uh he saw 363 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:53.519 depth as as the uh well earned reward of a 364 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:57.720 life well lived. And it's certainly and it's certainly not 365 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:00.359 not the not the end. And he, you know, he 366 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.319 talked in terms of as as did Jerry Garcia of 367 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:06.680 you know, and and Phil Lesh to a great extent too. 368 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:10.680 They all they all talked in terms of having built, 369 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:19.240 having created this, this family, this culture of sorts that. 370 00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:23.039 Don't want to talk about that, please expand on that, please. 371 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:26.880 So so I mean basically the grateful dead. They didn't 372 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:30.279 have any particular political leanings, and they very much wanted 373 00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:32.440 to stay away from that, even though they would do 374 00:26:32.519 --> 00:26:37.279 political benefits uh from from or benefits that served some 375 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:42.880 political as well as environmental and social causes from from 376 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:48.200 from time to time. But their their interest was in 377 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:55.519 in contributing to quality of life, both both not just 378 00:26:55.559 --> 00:27:02.759 for themselves and for their audiences, but community writ small 379 00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:07.400 as well as as large, with the with the seeming 380 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:17.599 underlying principle that contributing to people's experiences in a fundamentally positive, 381 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:26.359 peace or oriented way would expand outwards, small pebbles making 382 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:29.480 large ripples. You know, the same way that when you 383 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:32.799 toss a stone into a pond or or a lake, 384 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:36.599 the ripples from the impact expand outward and they start 385 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:39.759 very small, but at a certain point they may encompass 386 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:43.160 the entire surface of the of the of the water. 387 00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:48.279 And UH. And they really, they really emphasized that this 388 00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:52.359 was this was an important part of their their ethos, uh, 389 00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:58.440 living holistically and being socially responsible. UH. And in connection 390 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:02.400 with that, so, for instance, Bob We're worked as a 391 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:10.000 United Nations Development Program Goodwill ambassador. They supported voter registration 392 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:14.720 through a nonprofit organization called Headcount, and in fact, at 393 00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:18.720 a number of Dead End Company shows in recent years, 394 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:23.880 Bob We're's wife Natasha would stand on the side of 395 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:28.039 the stage holding you know, and this was around a 396 00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:33.920 various election cycles, and above her head she would hold 397 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:37.759 the sign that simply said vote, and she would hold 398 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.680 it up above her head for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes 399 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:49.359 at a time, you know, stoically, firmly, you know, in 400 00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:52.920 a way that was absolutely just committed. And although it 401 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.799