Missives from Samsara

Well, it wasn’t the obit I was hoping for. Bob Weir, original member of the Grateful Dead, has passed away at the age of 78. It was something I think all Deadheads expected to happen at some point, but I am a bit surprised. He just seemed to keep on keeping on. Apparently he died of lung complications that arose from a fight with cancer.

The first time I saw the Dead was in February of 1991. I was blown away and have been a Deadhead ever since. The last time I saw Bobby perform was last May at the Sphere with Dead and Company. All together I think I saw him perform close to 75 times. Jerry got all the attention, but Bobby was also something special. It is crazy to think that he actually spent a bit more time playing Grateful Dead music after Jerry passed than he did with Jerry.

My favorite Bobby songs include the following:

1. Feel Like a Stranger

This is my all time favorite Bobby tune. Didn’t see it live enough. When my mood is off I can put this on and I immediately feel better. My favorite versions are from the Fall of 1989 and Spring of 1990.

2. Estimated Prophet

The studio version of this song was the first Dead song I fell in love with. This live version from Cornell is worth a listen, too.

3. Cassidy

The lyrics to this song are sublime. John Perry Barlow wrote the lyrics, but Bobby wrote the music and sang the tune. My favorite version is the acoustic one from Reckoning.

4. The Other One

Epic psychedelia. This is one of Bobby’s older tunes and I usually saw him perform coming our of Drums and Space. Always a welcome base line to hear coming out of the freeform madness.

5. Jack Straw

Quintessential Grateful Dead. Always a great show opener. Bobby owned this tune. The version from Europe ‘72 is my fav.

6. Truckin’

Bobby shares the lyrics with Jerry on this one, but his lines are canonical Dead. Hard to beat the studio version of this tune.

7. Black Throated Wind

This not usually a top 10 song for most Deadheads. It was often tucked away in the middle of a first set. It always resonated with me though.

8. Lay My Lilly Down

This tune was on Bobby’s solo record from 2016 called Blue Mountain. Wise Bobby music.

Fare-thee-well now

Let your life proceed by its own design

Nothing to tell now

Let the words be yours, I’m done with mine

With a show on the horizon, I have Phish on the brain. They are all about the jams and the live experience. However, there are a few of their studio versions that I love. Here are a few:

1. Devotion to a Dream off Fuego

2. Undermind off Undermind

3. Petrichor off Big Boat

4. Ocelot off Joy

5. Twist off Farmhouse

I have not seen Petrichor, so I don’t know first hand what the live experience is like. However, Devotion to a Dream hasn’t translated live for me. The other three never fail to deliver in person.

I saw Grateful Dead play 49 times and only once did I see them play Dark Star. It was 32 years ago tonight. The version I saw was nothing to write home about and it was only the first verse (they finished it up a few nights later, but alas, I was not there). Nevertheless, I still remember the feeling the opening notes elicited in my mind. Fans devoted to a jamband will know the feeling.

In honor of my only Dark Star, here is a favorite version from 1971, by the sorely missed YouTuber chasefukuoka61.

Dark star crashes

Pouring its light into ashes

Reason tatters

The forces tear loose from the axis

Searchlight casting

For faults in the clouds of delusion

Shall we go?

You and I while we can

Through

The transitive nightfall of diamonds

Mirror shatters

In formless reflections of matter

Glass hand dissolving

In ice petal flowers revolving

Lady in velvet

Recedes in the nights of goodbye

Shall we go?

You and I while we can

Through

The transitive nightfall of diamonds

Today the dear leader tried to insult Fed Chair Jerome Powell by noting his affinity for the Dead. My initial thought was ‘you know, if he is insulting you, you’re definitely doing something right.’ But then I started thinking about the Dead. What immediately came to mind was how great it was to see the Dead at Cal Expo in Sacramento (I was lucky to see 9 shows there in the early 90s). Then the June 8, 1990 Foolish Heart came to mind. These links in my mind are inexplicable, but with technology what it is, I was listening to it within minutes. I wasn’t actually at this show, but I know it was a good friends' first show. Good times!

I recently came across this funny quote in the YouTube comments of a video I watched. Not much else to say.

On Easter Sunday this past Spring, I celebrated with my family and friends by seeing Phish at the Moda Center in Portland. Natch. It was the first home town Phish show I had seen since 1999. The show was super fun, especially because I could sleep in my own bed afterwards and because I got to hang with a lot of my crew.

One of my buddies wore a shirt admonishing ‘chompers’ to be quiet during the concert. Someone behind us snapped a picture at set break and posted it on Facebook and it kind of went viral. A month later when we saw the Dead & Co. in Vegas, he wore the shirt again and people commented on it, making it clear to use that they’d seen the post from April. The usual reaction to the shirt is ‘right on, cool shirt!’ Two days ago, scrolling the Phish subreddit, I saw the picture again: More than 6 months later the message is still making the rounds.

The message on the shirt resonates because there are often so many people at concerts who basically talk through the show. Now, I get it. People are often out friends who they maybe don’t get to hang out with a lot, they are probably drinking, and the music is loud. They figure no one can hear them, that it’s no big deal–it’s a party, right?! However, the fans of the bands I tend to see are often obsessed with the band and the music. Jambands also play different shows every night, so the songs are often not always played and people who can only see a few shows a year want to hear the music. Some people are chasing particular tunes that are not often played. Phish, for instance, is not like a typical Top 40 band, rolling out the same set list every night.

In the end, I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments on my friend’s shirt. If you want to yap, go into the hallway and have at it. Let those who want to hear the music, hear the music. Tickets aren’t cheap these days, you know?

Growing up in the 70s and 80s as I did, I came to appreciate album covers. Of course, the music on the record mattered, but often my first impression of an album or a band came from the album cover. I think any Gen Xer can related to this perspective. Of course, oftentimes the music didn’t meet the expectation of greatness created by the cover. However, every once and a while a great cover introduced a great album’s worth of music. As I have gotten older, certain album covers create a sense of nostalgia for me, bringing forth the period of my life when that album got a lot of playing time. In those days, we listened to albums, not songs.

Here are a few album covers that I still love that are also great albums.

• Steely Dan: Countdown to Ecstasy

I started listening to Steely Dan in college and haven’t stopped. During my junior year abroad, when I lived in a tiny dorm room in Tapton Hall in Sheffield, England, I listened a lot to this album along with their Katy Lied album. Seeing the cover brings me back without fail to being 20 years old again. If I could have this cover hanging on my wall, I’d have it. Hard to pick a favorite track, but Your Gold Teeth is up there. Hat tip to Phish for playing Showbiz Kids as walk out music after the show I was lucky to see in 2023 at the Hollywood Bowl.

• Rush: Permanent Waves

This album cover was shocking to me when I first saw it in elementary school. It is risque and has a lot going on beyond the obvious. The music on this record is sublime. My favorite track growing up was Freewill, but after seeing Rush live, Natural Science is the new number one in my book.

• Grateful Dead: Terrapin Station

I love the red framing of this cover image. I also love the dancing terrapins. It is unique and its pure Grateful Dead. My favorite track is the first Dead song I fell in love with, Estimated Prophet.

The Grateful Dead lost another band member this week. Donna Jean Godchaux joined the band in the early 70s when her husband Keith became their piano player and left the group in 1979. Her contribution to the band was her singing and it was polarizing. I think most fans would agree that she added some beautiful vocals to some of the great tunes from the 70s (Scarlet Begonia and The Music Never Stopped come to mind), but her performances live could often be a major buzz kill. More than one Playin' in the Band was tanked due to her wailing. Nevertheless, she was in the band and is tied karmically to all the world’s Deadheads.

RIP Donna