“A Requiem For The Dead”

Forums:

https://www.theringer.com/music/2023/7/27/23808537/grateful-dead-and-com...
 

A good read if you have some spare time.  The writer is a Pitchfork contributor in her late 30s, and gives a good portrait of what the scene looks like from a post-Garcia point of view.

There have been “John Mayer Is Dead to Me” shirts on the lot for years. In San Francisco, I see one that says, simply and provocatively and sincerely, “He is my Jerry.”

this early 30s post garcia deadhead just threw up in the back of his mouth a little bit

 

>>>impossible to imagine Mayer fans wooking out to the red-eyed reggae of “Estimated Prophet”

So funny lines in here but also some misgivings as expectect.  

>>>>there are Garcia songs that, thanks to age and wisdom or maybe just sheer repetition, Weir sings better than Jerry ever did

lost all credibility

^thanks, didn't have to read it.

Days Between 

It's worth reading as an alternate reality exploration. Everything is familiar but it is all just a little off like your clothes are on backward. 

Just seems like yet another fitting facade of the GD-caricature that is DeadCo, right down to the neon Bears and Mayer's cartoonish Wolf knock-off.

Some strong soul surfing in here. 

 

>>>>there are Garcia songs that, thanks to age and wisdom or maybe just sheer repetition, Weir sings better than Jerry ever did

 

yeah; no.

Not even Jerry at peak phlegm.

I guess she gets a couple points for calling out Mayer's shitty tattoos...

And his "blandly virtuosic blues-scorching style."

Speaking of Jerry songs sung by Bob.... Bob has been singing them now longer then Jerry did. Yikes 

I thought it was well written, very much so, even if I did not agree with all the points. I also almost spit milk through my nose a couple of times, but this person (a gal I think) comes to the topic with an open mind and more knowledge than your average music journalist. I thought it funny that Joseph Campbell was described as a psychologist from Mill Valley... But all in all this is really in-depth writing about a topic we care about (or not)... It's touching, in places. But not perfect. Like a good Dead song.

I think what the author did get right is the surprising success, and even growth (commercially) of this version of things. It wasn't a total failure, even if the tempos were slow and the Mayer choice was questionable. In then end, it worked for a whole bunch of folks and that's not a bad thing for "us".

It was a dumb idea, but I did have a few good times custying up and seeing those shows.

 

A few errors here and there - for instance, Weir was 17, not 15 when the GD started - but not too bad. Well-written for sure.