WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.780 You know, I was thinking about this on the drive 00:00:01.780 --> 00:00:05.259 in today about the concept of the rock god. When 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.860 we think of that archetype, the, you know, the 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:11.019 quintessential rock star, we usually have a very 00:00:11.019 --> 00:00:14.320 specific, almost cartoonish image in our heads. 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:16.699 It's the guy in the leather pants, chest out, 00:00:16.739 --> 00:00:18.739 just demanding the spotlight. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.420 Yeah. You picture the swaggering front man. Yeah. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.800 The Mick Jaggers, the Robert Plants, the Steven 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:26.320 Tylers, those people who were actively conducting 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.359 the energy of the stadium, basically screaming, 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:32.259 look at me. I is the boss. It's a very ego driven 00:00:32.259 --> 00:00:34.420 role. It's all about control and projection. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.920 Exactly. But today we are doing a deep dive into 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.880 a man who just. He breaks that mold entirely. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.439 We're talking about a man who was arguably the 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:45.520 biggest cult leader in the history of American 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:48.240 music, a man who helmed a cultural phenomenon 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:50.960 that lasted 30 years, spanned the globe. And 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.439 I mean, it generated a level of devotion that 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:55.560 really borders on religious. And yet, if you 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:57.340 asked him, he would tell you he wasn't the leader. 00:00:57.630 --> 00:00:58.890 He would probably tell you he didn't even want 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:01.810 the job. He personally disavowed the role. It's 00:01:01.810 --> 00:01:04.409 this massive contradiction. A man who became 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:06.969 the sun that an entire universe orbited around, 00:01:07.189 --> 00:01:09.870 but who just wanted to be a planet. And that 00:01:09.870 --> 00:01:12.390 is the central paradox of Jerry Garcia, the anti 00:01:12.390 --> 00:01:14.750 -star. Here you have a guy who becomes the face 00:01:14.750 --> 00:01:16.909 of a massive counterculture movement, yet he 00:01:16.909 --> 00:01:20.540 had a profound, almost... pathological struggle 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:23.560 with the idea of deciding, of picking a path. 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:25.540 He wanted to make it up as he went along. He 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:27.579 wanted to be part of the music, not above it. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.540 So that is our mission for this deep dive. We 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:32.420 want to move past the caricature. We all know 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:34.719 the iconography, the dancing bears, the tie -dye 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:36.939 shirts, the skeletons, the hazy smoke -filled 00:01:36.939 --> 00:01:40.340 arenas. It's so easy to stop there, to just say, 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:43.680 oh, the hippie guy. Oh, but when you look at 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.519 the stack of research we've pulled together for 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.319 today, the biographies, the equipment logs, the 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:52.120 medical history, you find a much more complex 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:54.739 and, frankly, a much more tragic human being. 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:57.879 It's a fascinating psychological profile. Really. 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.079 We aren't just looking at a hippie with a guitar. 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:04.060 We're going to look at the severe childhood trauma 00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:06.879 that really shaped his brain. We're going to 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:10.180 unpack his obsession with improvisation, not 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:13.400 just as a musical choice, but as a survival mechanism. 00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:16.180 And for the gearheads listening, and I know you're 00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:18.300 out there, we are going to get into the weeds 00:02:18.300 --> 00:02:21.159 on the technical side. Because the tools he used, 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:23.699 those famous custom guitars, they tell a story 00:02:23.699 --> 00:02:25.800 all their own. And finally, we have to look at 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:28.199 the cost. The health battles and the personal 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:30.699 struggles that, well, they parallel that rise 00:02:30.699 --> 00:02:33.699 to fame because you don't live that kind of life 00:02:33.699 --> 00:02:35.699 without paying a price. So let's start at the 00:02:35.699 --> 00:02:38.120 beginning. And I mean the real beginning, because 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:40.400 I think a lot of casual listeners assume Jerry 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:43.460 Garcia just sort of floated out of a cloud of 00:02:43.460 --> 00:02:46.419 marijuana smoke in San Francisco in 1965, fully 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:48.699 formed. Right. Like he was born wearing tie dye 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:51.219 and holding a joint. Exactly. But his origin 00:02:51.219 --> 00:02:53.319 story doesn't read like a peace and love fairy 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:55.719 tale. It reads more like a tragedy. It really 00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:58.000 does. I mean, if you want to understand the resilience 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.419 and the detachment that defined his later life, 00:03:01.539 --> 00:03:04.139 you have to look at his childhood in the 1940s. 00:03:04.419 --> 00:03:06.699 Specifically, there were two events that happened 00:03:06.699 --> 00:03:09.419 within a year of each other that just shattered 00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:12.120 his world and in many ways built the Jerry Garcia 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.960 we know. The first one involves a physical scar 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:17.400 that he carried his whole life. And honestly, 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:19.900 it's one of those facts that casual fans are 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:22.400 always sharp to learn. The finger. The finger. 00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:26.840 Jerry Garcia. A world -ranked guitarist, a man 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:29.219 whose hands were his livelihood, was missing 00:03:29.219 --> 00:03:31.479 two -thirds of his right middle finger. It's 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:34.319 almost inconceivable for a musician. But here's 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.060 the context. It's 1946. Jerry is only four years 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:40.360 old. The family is on vacation in the Santa Cruz 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:42.860 Mountains. Jerry and his older brother, Tiff, 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:45.460 are given a chore. They're chopping wood. Which, 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:47.400 let's be honest, giving an ax to young children 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:50.139 is already a terrifying sentence for any parent 00:03:50.139 --> 00:03:51.919 listening. It was a different time. For sure. 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:54.960 So Tiff is doing the chopping and Jerry being 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:57.180 the little brother is tasked with steadying the 00:03:57.180 --> 00:03:58.560 wood on the block. You can see where this is 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:01.400 going. Makes me wince just thinking about it. 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:05.199 Tiff miscalculates. The axe comes down and it 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:07.659 severs Jerry's middle finger on his right hand. 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:10.199 That is a traumatic event for an adult, let alone 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.099 a four -year -old. But what I found fascinating 00:04:13.099 --> 00:04:15.539 in the research is Jerry's reaction to this as 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:18.050 he grew up. He didn't seem to develop a complex 00:04:18.050 --> 00:04:20.709 about it. No, not at all. He didn't hide it. 00:04:20.790 --> 00:04:22.970 He didn't keep his hand in his pocket. In fact, 00:04:22.990 --> 00:04:25.470 he kind of used it to show off. He was the kid 00:04:25.470 --> 00:04:27.910 on the playground waving the nub around to freak 00:04:27.910 --> 00:04:30.970 out the other kids. He turned a deficit into 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:33.329 a distinction. So he owned it. He absolutely 00:04:33.329 --> 00:04:35.810 owned it. And from a musical standpoint, this 00:04:35.810 --> 00:04:38.470 is crucial. Think about it. When he started learning 00:04:38.470 --> 00:04:41.529 guitar, he couldn't use the standard textbook 00:04:41.529 --> 00:04:44.290 finger -picking techniques. He physically couldn't 00:04:44.290 --> 00:04:47.490 do it. So he had to adapt. He had to invent his 00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:50.089 own way of attacking the strings. So that unique 00:04:50.089 --> 00:04:53.449 Garcia sound, that articulation, partly comes 00:04:53.449 --> 00:04:56.069 from a physical limitation. Exactly. It taught 00:04:56.069 --> 00:04:57.769 him a lesson that would define the rest of his 00:04:57.769 --> 00:05:00.490 life. If the situation isn't perfect, you don't 00:05:00.490 --> 00:05:03.649 stop. You adjust your grip. You improvise. You 00:05:03.649 --> 00:05:06.129 work with what you have, not what you wish you 00:05:06.129 --> 00:05:09.069 had. But the physical trauma was just the prelude. 00:05:09.389 --> 00:05:11.889 Because less than a year after the finger accident, 00:05:12.149 --> 00:05:15.290 something infinitely worse happened. Yes. The 00:05:15.290 --> 00:05:18.089 death of his father, Jose Ramon Garcia. This 00:05:18.089 --> 00:05:20.870 completely shattered the family dynamic, didn't 00:05:20.870 --> 00:05:24.050 it? Instantly. Jose was a musician himself, actually. 00:05:24.170 --> 00:05:27.029 A jazz clarinetist and a bartender. He was on 00:05:27.029 --> 00:05:29.350 a fishing trip near Arcata in Northern California. 00:05:29.810 --> 00:05:32.810 He was fly fishing in the Trinity River. Now, 00:05:32.870 --> 00:05:34.769 fly fishing sounds peaceful, but the Trinity 00:05:34.769 --> 00:05:37.350 is a serious river. He slipped on the rocks, 00:05:37.470 --> 00:05:40.230 the current was strong, his waders filled with 00:05:40.230 --> 00:05:42.769 water, and he drowned before the other fishermen 00:05:42.769 --> 00:05:44.920 could reach him. There's a bit of a myth about 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:47.120 this moment, right? I've heard stories that Jerry 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.199 was actually there on the bank and watched it 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:51.680 happen. It's a very contested point among biographers. 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:54.339 Later in life, Jerry claimed he saw it. He had 00:05:54.339 --> 00:05:56.680 a memory of it. But researchers like Dennis McNally 00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:59.300 and Blair Jackson have dug into the archives. 00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:02.019 The local newspaper reports from the time don't 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:04.740 mention a child being present. McNally argues 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:06.839 that Jerry likely constructed that memory later, 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.519 piecing it together from hearing the adults retell 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:11.800 the story over and over again. Which is a trauma 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.420 response in itself. Imagining yourself into the 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:17.399 scene of the tragedy. 100%. Whether he saw it 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:20.160 with his eyes or just with his mind, the impact 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:23.579 was seismic. His mother, Ruth, was suddenly a 00:06:23.579 --> 00:06:26.139 widow. She had to take over the family bar to 00:06:26.139 --> 00:06:28.839 survive financially. She was working constantly. 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:32.339 So Jerry goes from a nuclear family to what? 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:35.100 He becomes a latchkey kid before the term existed. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:37.439 He was sent to live with his grandparents for 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.600 five years. But, and here is the silver lining. 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:43.180 This is where the music enters the picture. The 00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:45.540 grandmother. His grandmother was a huge fan of 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:48.160 the Grand Ole Opry. She listened to it religiously. 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:50.220 So here's this kid living in San Francisco, but 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:52.899 his ears are being tuned to the banjo, to country 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:55.779 music, to that high, lonesome sound of bluegrass. 00:06:55.980 --> 00:06:57.319 It's interesting because when you think of the 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:00.160 San Francisco sound, you think psychedelic rock. 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:04.040 But Jerry's foundation was pure Americana. That's 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:06.199 why he's playing. Always had that melodic storytelling 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:08.459 quality. He wasn't trying to be Jimi Hendrix. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:10.240 He was trying to be a bluegrass picker. Just 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:11.959 not an electric guitar. He was trying to replicate 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:14.839 the role of a banjo. So we fast forward a bit. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.060 He's a teenager. He's back living with his mother. 00:07:17.220 --> 00:07:19.680 But he's clearly troubled. He's an outsider. 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:22.000 He's rebellious. He's skipping school, getting 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.639 into fights. And then in 1957, he discovers marijuana. 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:28.000 A pivotal moment in the history of rock and roll. 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:30.779 He described it as a revelation. He said it was 00:07:30.779 --> 00:07:33.120 like skipping down the streets doing funny things. 00:07:33.689 --> 00:07:36.189 It brought him joy. It slowed the world down 00:07:36.189 --> 00:07:40.269 for him. But he was still aimless. So in 1960, 00:07:40.610 --> 00:07:44.470 he steals his mother's car. Not exactly a mastermind 00:07:44.470 --> 00:07:46.990 criminal move. No, not at all. And the judge 00:07:46.990 --> 00:07:49.509 gave him a classic ultimatum. Go to prison or 00:07:49.509 --> 00:07:52.250 join the army. Jerry Garcia in the army, I honestly 00:07:52.250 --> 00:07:55.470 cannot conjure a more incongruous image. The 00:07:55.470 --> 00:07:58.170 man who hates rules in the ultimate rule -based 00:07:58.170 --> 00:08:00.689 organization. And it went exactly as well as 00:08:00.689 --> 00:08:02.930 you'd expect. He was a disaster. He went AWOL 00:08:02.930 --> 00:08:05.189 constantly. He missed roll call. He didn't like 00:08:05.189 --> 00:08:06.889 authority. He got a general discharge within 00:08:06.889 --> 00:08:10.310 a year. But then, then comes the moment. The 00:08:10.310 --> 00:08:12.529 moment that changes everything. The slingshot. 00:08:12.670 --> 00:08:14.449 I love this metaphor. Tell us about the crash. 00:08:14.829 --> 00:08:18.709 It's 1961. Garcia is out of the army, drifting 00:08:18.709 --> 00:08:21.079 around Palo Alto. He's playing a little guitar, 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:22.839 but he's also really into visual arts, drawing, 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.459 painting. He's not committed to anything. One 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:27.639 night, he's in a car with some friends. The driver 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:30.079 is a guy named Lee Adams. And they aren't exactly 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:32.480 driving safely. They're doing 90 miles per hour 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:37.539 in a 1961 vehicle. That is terrifying. A 1961 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:41.019 car is basically a metal box with no seatbelts, 00:08:41.019 --> 00:08:44.519 stiff steering, and bad brakes. Doing 90 is a 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:47.519 death wish. It was. They hit a curve near the 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:50.059 Veterans Hospital. The car rolls. It's a violent 00:08:50.059 --> 00:08:52.820 crash. The force is so extreme that Garcia is 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:54.779 thrown through the windshield. Really thrown 00:08:54.779 --> 00:08:57.179 out of the car. He was launched with such velocity 00:08:57.179 --> 00:08:59.500 that he was thrown out of his shoes. Yeah. Lands 00:08:59.500 --> 00:09:01.679 in a field. He's alive. He has a broken collarbone, 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:04.139 but he's alive. The driver is thrown out too. 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:06.960 But their friend, Paul Spiegel, who is still 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:10.120 in the car, he didn't make it. He was killed 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:12.980 instantly. That is a classic survivor moment. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.059 The guilt. The shock. It's the pivot point of 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:19.509 his entire existence. Garcia referred to this 00:09:19.509 --> 00:09:30.350 explicitly as the slingshot. He said, So the 00:09:30.350 --> 00:09:33.049 trauma acted as a propulsion system. He realized 00:09:33.049 --> 00:09:35.409 time was finite. He realized he could die at 00:09:35.409 --> 00:09:37.450 any moment. He stopped idling. He dropped the 00:09:37.450 --> 00:09:39.509 painting. He dropped the drifting. He picked 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:41.470 up the guitar and he became obsessed. He realized 00:09:41.470 --> 00:09:44.570 he had to get serious. That legendary work ethic 00:09:44.570 --> 00:09:47.350 we see later, the guy playing 2 ,000 shows, it 00:09:47.350 --> 00:09:49.750 starts in that field looking at the wreck of 00:09:49.750 --> 00:09:51.970 that car. It's amazing how trauma can clarify 00:09:51.970 --> 00:09:55.129 things. So he has the drive now. He starts meeting 00:09:55.129 --> 00:09:57.789 the cast of characters, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, 00:09:57.809 --> 00:10:00.429 Bill Kreutzman, and they form a band. Originally 00:10:00.429 --> 00:10:02.350 called the Warlocks. Which is a cool name, but 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:04.009 it was taken. Right. They find out another band 00:10:04.009 --> 00:10:06.169 has a name, so they need a new one. And this 00:10:06.169 --> 00:10:08.149 leads to the naming of the Grateful Dead, which 00:10:08.149 --> 00:10:11.350 I think is the perfect encapsulation of Garcia's 00:10:11.350 --> 00:10:14.090 life philosophy. Set the scene for us. They're 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:16.929 at Phil Lesch's house. Jerry is sitting there, 00:10:17.009 --> 00:10:19.350 probably stoned, and he picks up a dictionary 00:10:19.350 --> 00:10:23.129 of Fund and Wagnalls. He doesn't look for a word. 00:10:23.190 --> 00:10:25.690 He just opens it randomly. The Finger of Fate 00:10:25.690 --> 00:10:28.429 again. Literally. His finger lands on the phrase. 00:10:28.809 --> 00:10:30.950 Grateful Dead. And for those who don't know the 00:10:30.950 --> 00:10:32.710 folklore definition, what does it actually mean? 00:10:32.929 --> 00:10:35.730 The entry defined a Grateful Dead as a folklore 00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:40.250 concept. A dead person or his angel showing gratitude 00:10:40.250 --> 00:10:43.009 to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged 00:10:43.009 --> 00:10:46.129 their burial. It's spooky. It's esoteric. It's 00:10:46.129 --> 00:10:48.549 got this weird karma to it. And the rest of the 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:51.450 band hated it. Really? Oh, they loathed it. Bob 00:10:51.450 --> 00:10:53.370 Weir didn't like it. Koizman thought it was creepy. 00:10:53.610 --> 00:10:56.549 But Jerry. Jerry felt the power of it. He said 00:10:56.549 --> 00:10:59.230 he didn't even like it per se, but he recognized 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:02.570 it. It was powerful. And that's the key. He didn't 00:11:02.570 --> 00:11:05.029 choose it because it was marketable. He accepted 00:11:05.029 --> 00:11:07.889 it because the universe offered it to him. This 00:11:07.889 --> 00:11:10.009 brings us to the core philosophy of the dead 00:11:10.009 --> 00:11:12.070 and really the core philosophy of Jerry Garcia, 00:11:12.370 --> 00:11:15.409 the hatred of deciding. This is the thread that 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:17.830 runs through his music and his life. There's 00:11:17.830 --> 00:11:20.250 a famous quote from Garcia where he says, the 00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:23.200 idea of picking. of eliminating possibilities 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:26.539 by deciding, that's difficult for me. Which is 00:11:26.539 --> 00:11:28.519 a beautiful way to look at improvisation, but 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:30.379 maybe a difficult way to run a business or a 00:11:30.379 --> 00:11:33.480 personal life. Precisely. In the music, it was 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:35.820 magic. This approach originated from the acid 00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:38.279 tests in the mid -60s. We should explain the 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:40.379 acid tests for the younger listener. These were 00:11:40.379 --> 00:11:44.100 wild, chaotic parties hosted by Ken Kesey and 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:46.779 the Merry Pranksters. The Kool -Aid was literally 00:11:46.779 --> 00:11:49.700 laced with LSD. The band wasn't there to perform 00:11:49.700 --> 00:11:52.100 a show. They were there to provide a soundtrack 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:54.100 to the collective trip. They weren't playing 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:56.840 songs. They were exploring sound. So the goal 00:11:56.840 --> 00:11:59.580 wasn't get from the verse to the chorus. The 00:11:59.580 --> 00:12:02.519 goal was find out what happens next. Exactly. 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:06.480 Never play a song the same way twice. That became 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.639 the mandate. And think about the pressure that 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:11.700 puts on a musician. If you're a pop act, you 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:14.179 perfect your set. You go out, you execute, you 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:17.820 get the applause. If you're Garcia. You are walking 00:12:17.820 --> 00:12:20.279 onto a stage in front of 20 ,000 people with 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.919 no safety net. You have to create something new 00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:25.679 every single night. And he was the engine of 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.320 that, right? Even though he didn't want to lead. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.980 He was the melodic center. He had this fascinating 00:12:29.980 --> 00:12:33.440 interplay with Bob Weir. Garcia said he often 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:36.620 took his cues from Weir. Because the drummers 00:12:36.620 --> 00:12:38.980 and Phil Lesch, the bassist, they were often 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:41.159 playing in the swirling, non -traditional way. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:44.480 Garcia relied on Weir to be the bridge. But ultimately, 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.529 the audience looked to Jerry. He was the wizard. 00:12:47.649 --> 00:12:49.870 And that role, the wizard who must conjure magic 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:52.750 on command, is a heavy burden. Okay, let's unpack 00:12:52.750 --> 00:12:54.830 the wizard's wand here because we have a section 00:12:54.830 --> 00:12:56.470 in the notes on the tools of the trade. And for 00:12:56.470 --> 00:12:57.950 the gearheads listening, this is where it gets 00:12:57.950 --> 00:12:59.610 really interesting. I think there's a misconception 00:12:59.610 --> 00:13:01.690 that because they were hippies, they were playing 00:13:01.690 --> 00:13:04.389 beat -up instruments. Oh, not at all. Jerry was 00:13:04.389 --> 00:13:06.909 a gearhead. His pursuit of tone was scientific. 00:13:07.110 --> 00:13:09.710 It was engineering. He started with standard 00:13:09.710 --> 00:13:12.889 stuff. Guild starfires, Les Pauls, the famous 00:13:12.889 --> 00:13:15.490 alligator strat. But then we get into the custom 00:13:15.490 --> 00:13:19.149 era. The Doug Irwin guitars. This is the Wolf 00:13:19.149 --> 00:13:21.049 and Tiger era. These aren't just instruments. 00:13:21.250 --> 00:13:24.490 They are pieces of art and highly complex machinery. 00:13:24.809 --> 00:13:28.470 Let's talk about Wolf first. 1973. So, he buys 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:31.450 a guitar from this luthier Doug Irwin. He loves 00:13:31.450 --> 00:13:33.690 it so much, he orders a custom one. That becomes 00:13:33.690 --> 00:13:38.269 Wolf. It costs $1 ,500. Now, in 1973 dollars, 00:13:38.529 --> 00:13:41.169 that is an exorbitant amount of money for a guitar. 00:13:41.450 --> 00:13:43.809 That's the price of a decent car back then. It 00:13:43.809 --> 00:13:46.549 had a purple heartwood core, crazy intricate 00:13:46.549 --> 00:13:48.970 inlays. It was the guitar he used during a huge 00:13:48.970 --> 00:13:51.750 peak in the 70s. That guitar eventually sold 00:13:51.750 --> 00:13:54.710 at auction for nearly $2 million. But then things 00:13:54.710 --> 00:13:57.450 get heavier. Literally. Let's talk about Tiger. 00:13:57.649 --> 00:14:00.049 Tiger. This is the guitar I visualize when I 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:02.549 think of older Jerry. The dark wood, the intricate 00:14:02.549 --> 00:14:06.210 inlay. He got it in 1979. He played it for 11 00:14:06.210 --> 00:14:09.919 years. Longer than any other guitar. And it is 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.659 a beast. The body is made of cocobolo with a 00:14:12.659 --> 00:14:15.899 maple stripe and vermilion. But the most shocking 00:14:15.899 --> 00:14:19.639 stat is the weight. It weighed 13 .5 pounds. 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:23.120 13 .5 pounds. For context, a typical Stratocaster 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.320 is maybe 7 or 8 pounds. A heavy Les Paul is maybe 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.419 9 or 10. Holding 13 .5 pounds around your neck 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:33.679 for three hours a night, that is physical labor. 00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:36.779 It took a massive physical toll on his spine. 00:14:37.419 --> 00:14:40.080 But he needed that mass for the sustain. He wanted 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:43.000 the note to ring out forever. Physics dictates 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.519 that a heavier, denser body absorbs less string 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:48.539 energy, so the string vibrates longer. And the 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:50.460 electronics were fascinating, too. It wasn't 00:14:50.460 --> 00:14:53.159 just wood. No, it had an effects bypass loop. 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:55.360 Break that down for us non -engineers. Why did 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:57.299 he need that? Okay, so usually if you turn down 00:14:57.299 --> 00:14:59.940 the volume knob on your guitar, it changes the 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:01.960 electrical impedance going to your pedals. It 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:04.159 changes the tone, usually making it muddier or 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.980 cleaning up the distortion when you don't want 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:08.279 to. Jerry didn't want that. He wanted to control 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:10.460 the volume of the output without changing the 00:15:10.460 --> 00:15:12.600 tone of the effects. He wanted the distortion 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.779 to sound exactly the same, just quieter. Exactly. 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:18.419 So he had a system built into the guitar where 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:21.460 he could turn down the master volume. But the 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:23.919 signal going to the pedals was still full strength. 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:27.679 It gave him total control. That is such a specific 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.399 control freak detail for a guy who supposedly 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:33.059 hated making decisions. Isn't it? When it came 00:15:33.059 --> 00:15:36.559 to the sound, he was incredibly decisive. He 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:41.139 also used this massive amp, the Macintosh MC2300, 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:43.850 known as the Budman. because it had a Budweiser 00:15:43.850 --> 00:15:45.710 sticker on it. And this wasn't even a guitar 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:48.149 amp, right? No, it was a Hi -Fi power amp. It 00:15:48.149 --> 00:15:50.789 was designed for audiophile stereo systems. It 00:15:50.789 --> 00:15:52.950 was designed to be ultra clean. He didn't want 00:15:52.950 --> 00:15:55.570 the amp to distort. He wanted pure, uncolored 00:15:55.570 --> 00:15:57.710 volume so his pedals and his fingers could do 00:15:57.710 --> 00:16:00.129 the talking. He used that amp for two decades. 00:16:00.470 --> 00:16:02.950 So you have this high -tech, custom -engineered 00:16:02.950 --> 00:16:05.169 rig. This wasn't just hippie jamming on a porch. 00:16:05.250 --> 00:16:08.190 This was sonic architecture. It really was. And 00:16:08.190 --> 00:16:11.019 he kept pushing. His later guitar, Rosebud, had 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:12.960 MIDI controls built in so he could sound like 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.000 a flute or a trumpet. He was always looking for 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:17.360 the next sound. Now, we've established he's the 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:20.519 reluctant leader of the dead. But the man simply 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:23.100 loved to play. It wasn't enough to do the dead 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:25.779 tours. He had a work ethic that bordered on workaholism. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.679 The Renaissance, man. This is what people forget. 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:31.620 The dead would come off a grueling tour, everyone 00:16:31.620 --> 00:16:34.059 else would go home to rest, and Jerry would immediately 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:37.200 go play a gig with the Jerry Garcia band. Or... 00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:40.090 Old and in the way, his bluegrass group. He just 00:16:40.090 --> 00:16:42.230 couldn't stop. He couldn't idle. He goes back 00:16:42.230 --> 00:16:44.330 to the car crash. He felt the clock ticking. 00:16:44.850 --> 00:16:48.070 And his tastes were so eclectic. Bluegrass, jazz, 00:16:48.429 --> 00:16:51.450 folk, reggae. And he was a session musician. 00:16:51.690 --> 00:16:54.090 He shows up on albums you wouldn't expect. Like 00:16:54.090 --> 00:16:56.129 Jefferson Airplane. Yes, on their masterpiece 00:16:56.129 --> 00:16:58.990 Surrealistic Pillow. He's listed in the credits 00:16:58.990 --> 00:17:01.669 as spiritual advisor, which is hilarious, but 00:17:01.669 --> 00:17:04.220 he actually played guitar on today. And coming 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:06.279 back to me, he was in the studio helping them 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:08.799 shape their sound. And there's a famous connection 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.240 to CSNY Crosby stills, Nash and Young. This is 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:14.559 my favorite session story. You know the song 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:16.740 Teach Your Children. Of course. Teach Your Children 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.359 Well. It's a classic. That iconic pedal steel 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:22.299 guitar part that just lifts the whole song. That's 00:17:22.299 --> 00:17:24.579 Jerry Garcia. No way. I've heard that song a 00:17:24.579 --> 00:17:26.900 thousand times. That's him. And here's the best 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:29.319 part. He was just learning pedal steel at the 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:31.579 time. He wasn't a master yet. He was experimenting. 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:35.339 He didn't do it for cash. He recorded that track 00:17:35.339 --> 00:17:38.039 in exchange for giving the band harmony lessons. 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:41.579 A barter system. Yes. The Dead were working on 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:44.039 their album Working Man's Dead at the time, and 00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:45.720 they wanted to move away from the psychedelic 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:48.299 chaos and learn how to sing tight harmonies like 00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:51.569 CSNY. So Jerry said, I'll play steel on your 00:17:51.569 --> 00:17:54.309 record. You teach my guys how to sing. A handshake 00:17:54.309 --> 00:17:57.710 deal among rock legends. I love it. And we can't 00:17:57.710 --> 00:18:00.930 skip the visual art. In the late 80s and 90s, 00:18:00.930 --> 00:18:03.230 he went back to his roots, sketching, digital 00:18:03.230 --> 00:18:05.750 art. This became a massive business, the Jay 00:18:05.750 --> 00:18:08.650 Garcia ties. Oh, the ties. I remember those vividly. 00:18:08.650 --> 00:18:10.390 In the 90s, I felt like every dad in America 00:18:10.390 --> 00:18:13.130 had a Garcia tie. It was a phenomenon. Stonehenge 00:18:13.130 --> 00:18:15.630 LTD produced them. It showed that his creativity 00:18:15.630 --> 00:18:18.170 wasn't limited to music. He just had to be making 00:18:18.170 --> 00:18:20.150 something. If he wasn't playing, he was drawing. 00:18:20.410 --> 00:18:23.049 But, and there's always a but in these stories, 00:18:23.250 --> 00:18:26.089 while the creativity was flowing, the body was 00:18:26.089 --> 00:18:28.190 failing, we have to talk about the struggle. 00:18:28.450 --> 00:18:30.970 This is the tragic parallel. As the fame grew, 00:18:31.210 --> 00:18:34.190 so did the isolation. You can't be a wizard to 00:18:34.190 --> 00:18:35.910 20 ,000 people and then just go to the grocery 00:18:35.910 --> 00:18:38.670 store. And with the isolation came the addiction. 00:18:38.930 --> 00:18:41.630 It wasn't just partying anymore. No. It was a 00:18:41.630 --> 00:18:44.769 toxic mix. He was a heavy smoker, three packs 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:47.630 of Camel unfiltered a day sometimes. He was obese. 00:18:48.170 --> 00:18:50.930 partly from bad diet and lack of exercise. He 00:18:50.930 --> 00:18:53.369 had untreated sleep apnea, so he wasn't sleeping. 00:18:53.990 --> 00:18:56.950 And he had a severe drug addiction. It progressed 00:18:56.950 --> 00:18:59.950 from cocaine to heroin, specifically Persian 00:18:59.950 --> 00:19:02.910 base. Persian base? That sounds specific. What 00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:05.210 is that? It's a form of heroin that isn't injected. 00:19:05.349 --> 00:19:07.430 It's smoked. It's an opiate. It creates this 00:19:07.430 --> 00:19:10.529 warm, numb cocoon. We see this pattern so often 00:19:10.529 --> 00:19:13.109 with superstars. The drug becomes the only place 00:19:13.109 --> 00:19:15.529 where they can get peace. By the 80s, he had 00:19:15.529 --> 00:19:19.680 a $700 a day habit. The band, the people who 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:21.319 relied on him for their own livelihoods, were 00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:23.420 watching him crumble. They held an intervention 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:27.220 in 1985. But the real wake -up call, or what 00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:29.799 should have been the wake -up call, was in 1986. 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:34.309 A diabetic coma. July 1986, he collapses. He 00:19:34.309 --> 00:19:36.670 falls into a diabetic coma for five full days. 00:19:36.789 --> 00:19:38.750 He nearly died. And when he woke up, he had this 00:19:38.750 --> 00:19:41.309 surreal description of what it was like. Yeah, 00:19:41.329 --> 00:19:43.529 it's very Garcia. He said he felt like he was 00:19:43.529 --> 00:19:46.029 little hunks of protoplasm stuck together like 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:49.170 stamps. No ego, no self, just biological matter. 00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:51.809 But the terrifying part for a musician, when 00:19:51.809 --> 00:19:53.990 he woke up, he had forgotten how to play the 00:19:53.990 --> 00:19:56.130 guitar. He had to relearn. He had to relearn 00:19:56.130 --> 00:19:58.210 basic motor skills. He had to retrain his hands. 00:19:58.329 --> 00:20:01.059 But he did it. There was this brief, beautiful 00:20:01.059 --> 00:20:03.519 resurgence. The album In the Dark comes out in 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:06.359 1987. Touch of Gray becomes their only top ten 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:09.279 hit. I will get by. I will survive. It became 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:11.859 an anthem. Exactly. It felt like a victory lap. 00:20:13.059 --> 00:20:16.279 But the machine of the Grateful Dead was bigger 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:19.299 than ever. They were filling stadiums now. The 00:20:19.299 --> 00:20:21.960 overhead was massive. They had to keep touring 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.299 to pay the crew, the staff, the families. The 00:20:24.299 --> 00:20:26.680 pressure was immense. He was the goose that laid 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:28.380 the golden egg, and they couldn't let him rest. 00:20:28.500 --> 00:20:31.839 And by the 90s, he relapsed. The band chemistry 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:35.339 was, as Phil Lesch described it, cracking and 00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:38.160 crumbling. You have this massive infrastructure 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.240 all resting on the shoulders of a guy who just 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.480 wants to sit in a room and play banjo, but who 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:44.740 is medicating himself to numbness to deal with 00:20:44.740 --> 00:20:46.279 the pressure. There was another intervention 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:48.559 in Denver later on, right? Yes, and it was a 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.940 disaster. Jerry promised to go to a methadone 00:20:50.940 --> 00:20:53.160 clinic, but you could sense the light was fading. 00:20:53.339 --> 00:20:57.480 And then August 9, 1995. He was at a rehab facility, 00:20:57.819 --> 00:21:00.140 Serenity Knowles. He died of a heart attack in 00:21:00.140 --> 00:21:03.329 his sleep. He was only 53 years old. 53? That 00:21:03.329 --> 00:21:06.089 stops me in my tracks every time. By modern standards, 00:21:06.329 --> 00:21:09.069 53 is young. That's the age where many artists 00:21:09.069 --> 00:21:11.650 are entering a second prime. It highlights just 00:21:11.650 --> 00:21:14.789 how hard he lived those 53 years. He packed about 00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:18.190 100 years of living into them. So the man passes, 00:21:18.230 --> 00:21:22.230 but the legacy, the legacy somehow gets even 00:21:22.230 --> 00:21:25.230 bigger. It's everywhere. Culturally, he's an 00:21:25.230 --> 00:21:27.549 icon. We mentioned the ice cream Ben & Jerry's 00:21:27.549 --> 00:21:30.480 Cherry Garcia. It launched in 1987. It was the 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:32.519 first ice cream flavor named after a musician. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.859 And fittingly, it's delicious. It is. But it 00:21:36.859 --> 00:21:40.180 goes deeper. Science. There is an asteroid named 00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:42.380 after him orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. 00:21:42.900 --> 00:21:45.440 And, perhaps more humbly, a species of roach. 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:49.579 A roach? Cryptocyrcus garciae. Discovered in 00:21:49.579 --> 00:21:52.740 1998, it's a wood -eating roach. I feel like 00:21:52.740 --> 00:21:54.599 Jerry might have appreciated the humor in that. 00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:57.140 I think so, too. But the real legacy is the vault. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:21:59.460 The tapes. Because the Dead allowed fans, the 00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:01.480 tapers, to record their shows, and because the 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:03.819 band recorded everything themselves, we have 00:22:03.819 --> 00:22:07.319 an unprecedented archive. Henry Kaiser, a guitarist 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:10.119 and peer, estimates there are 15 ,000 hours of 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:12.000 Jerry Garcia's guitar work preserved on tape. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:15.220 That is a staggering statistic. 15 ,000 hours 00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:17.400 you could listen for years and never repeat a 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:19.940 track. And because of the improvisation philosophy 00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:22.220 we talked about earlier, you'd never hear the 00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:25.420 same musical idea twice. He is likely the most 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:28.119 recorded guitarist in human history. His funeral 00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:30.740 was massive, of course. A memorial in Golden 00:22:30.740 --> 00:22:34.920 Gate Park drew 25 ,000 people. But the disposal 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.619 of his ashes was very personal and tells the 00:22:37.619 --> 00:22:40.559 final part of the story. Half were spread in 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:42.559 the San Francisco Bay, which makes sense. That 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:45.000 was his home. But the other half were taken to 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.049 India. Bob Weir and Jerry's widow, Deborah Coons, 00:22:48.089 --> 00:22:50.410 took them to the Ganges River. From the Trinity 00:22:50.410 --> 00:22:52.349 River, where his father died, to the Ganges, 00:22:52.470 --> 00:22:55.529 it's a complete circle. It is. So let's try to 00:22:55.529 --> 00:22:58.069 synthesize this for the listener. We have the 00:22:58.069 --> 00:23:00.789 anti -star, the man who wouldn't lead, leading 00:23:00.789 --> 00:23:03.210 the biggest parade in town. I think the tragedy 00:23:03.210 --> 00:23:05.690 and the beauty are intertwined. He sought total 00:23:05.690 --> 00:23:09.029 freedom. He found it in improvisation, in that 00:23:09.029 --> 00:23:10.789 space where you don't have to decide, you just 00:23:10.789 --> 00:23:13.970 are. But the real world requires decisions. It 00:23:13.970 --> 00:23:16.549 requires maintenance of the body. And the massive 00:23:16.549 --> 00:23:18.650 machine of the Grateful Dead eventually trapped 00:23:18.650 --> 00:23:20.930 him. It goes back to that car crash in 1961. 00:23:21.250 --> 00:23:25.009 The slingshot. Yes. That second chance at life 00:23:25.009 --> 00:23:28.509 created 30 years of incredible art. He didn't 00:23:28.509 --> 00:23:31.650 idle. He burned the engine hot. But engines that 00:23:31.650 --> 00:23:34.170 run that hot, without maintenance, eventually 00:23:34.170 --> 00:23:37.349 break down. He gave everything to the music. 00:23:37.819 --> 00:23:40.000 quite literally at the expense of his own well 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:42.099 -being. It leaves us with a lot to think about 00:23:42.099 --> 00:23:44.559 regarding the cost of genius. And the cost of 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:46.859 freedom. Here is a final thought for you to chew 00:23:46.859 --> 00:23:50.380 on, listener. Jerry Garcia believed that deciding 00:23:50.380 --> 00:23:53.359 eliminated possibilities. He wanted to keep every 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:56.200 door open, musically and philosophically. But 00:23:56.200 --> 00:23:58.720 in our own lives, do we do the opposite? Do we 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:00.900 limit ourselves by picking a path too early? 00:24:01.650 --> 00:24:03.930 or do we have the courage to make it up as we 00:24:03.930 --> 00:24:06.329 go along despite the risks? Sometimes the most 00:24:06.329 --> 00:24:07.809 beautiful notes are the ones you didn't plan 00:24:07.809 --> 00:24:10.109 to play. Exactly. Thanks for diving deep with 00:24:10.109 --> 00:24:12.009 us into the life of Jerry Garcia. We'll see you 00:24:12.009 --> 00:24:12.589 on the next one.