Inspiring Jerry Christmas Party Story

Melvin Seals began playing piano when he was a young boy; he got started in the church, as his father was a musician, choir director and pianist. “There was a piano in the house,” he recalls, “and you know when you ain’t got nothin’ to do, I sat down and started messing with it.” After his father observed his interest in playing, Seals was given lessons, and “it took off from there.”

Seals connected with Garcia through John Kahn, one of Garcia’s longtime collaborators outside the Grateful Dead, but he didn’t know what he was in for. “John heard me several times and kind of offered me the opportunity to play in a band, which was the Garcia Band,” he said. “I didn’t know it at the time; he didn’t say who it was. It was just another band.”

The first time Seals met Garcia was at a rehearsal. Seals knew who the Grateful Dead was but didn’t follow the band or know the names of its members. He remembers his first experience meeting Garcia: “I didn’t understand the organization. I didn’t know much about them at all. When I first went to rehearsal at their warehouse that they owned I saw all kinds of banners and posters of the Grateful Dead with skeletons—a skeleton with a violin in his hand, a skeleton with a rose in his hand, skeleton, skeleton, skeleton—I knew nothing about it. You start thinking it’s that Jim Jones cult. So I was quite nervous going out of town with them because I didn’t know what I was getting into. But, you know, I quickly learned that these are some of the most loving people in the world. No one I’d rather be with.”

One of the most striking memories Seals has of Garcia was his generosity—when one of the girls in the band, Gloria Jones, wanted to buy a house, Jerry co-signed for her. “Have you ever heard the term that someone would literally give you the shirt off their back?” he says. “Jerry was that person, he really was. Anything that you needed, he wanted you to have it. People don’t know much about that kind of stuff, but it’s real. He did a lot of things individually for folks as they needed things and was glad to do it.”

Every Christmas Seals and the other musicians would go to Garcia’s house for a small gathering. Seals recalls one particular Christmas gathering, “One year I went up there and just kinda sat in Jerry’s chair. He had a big designer cushioned chair. I just sat there all night. I didn’t get up and play the piano or anything. I just sat there until I left.” Garcia said to Seals, “Man you sure do look comfortable,” and Seals replied, “Man, this is a great chair.” According to Seals, that’s all he ever said, “and two days later that chair was delivered to my house. I didn’t ask for it or see that coming. I just said that I enjoyed sitting in it in his house and he had it delivered to me.”

Hank Sforzini

August 20, 2012 

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/jerry-garcia/five-musicians-remember...