How many souls you know were called by Grateful Dead management (back summer of 91) for advice on how to try to keep Jerry clean(er) from the hard stuff he pumped in to his body? Dead management had seen the transformation I was able to inject in to Rick Griffin. Am telling ya, in August 1991 Rick and I were working on that very concept project to save one of the kindest souls I ever had the good fortune to meet - and add to his comics collection. I had mentioned incredulously to Rick that Dead management had called me seeking my advice on any thing of suggestions. Rick promptly had lunch with Jerry within a day or so. He came back in to the gallery in The Cannery singing and strumming his guitar saying we were going to host Jerrys very first public art showing. His two dimensional stuff, not this 4th Dimension stuff we are listening to right now. Rick was going to provide the music for a Jerry Garcia art opening in our gallery. I feel fortunate and honored to have called Jerry my friend whom I knew outside of the music world in our world of comics. Soon after Rick was killed, Jerry called me in my Haight Ashbury comic book and poster store that there was a check for $17K coming to me via messenger for me to cut in half and dispense to both of Ricks families. I took that check over to my then Bank of America branch sitting at the end of the Panhandle coming off Golden Gate Park. My bank manager friend of many years cashed it within a couple minutes once I told him what it was for. Flavin came by for Ida within a day or so. Both families were hurting. Jerry was there for Rick on in to the after life. Gina Marie was a bit more difficult to track down that week. No one can take certain honors away from me - ever. I miss both Jerry Garcia and Rick Griffin - my friends - very much like every one else who wanders in to here. These and other tales are going in to my forth-coming book Rick Griffin (Was) Without A Net am more than 25,000 words in to. American Beauty remains my favorite Dead album. As i work every day trying to rebuild my comics business after losing more than half a decade due to evil HMO Aetna canceling my medical policy citing undisclosed pre-existing condition four days before already scheduled surgery back in Oct 2006, songs such as this album with Jerry and his friends shining doing here speak to me more and more now that I am 62 pushing 63 in a few months. Ripple going thru my head as I type these words. Peace.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 06:41:17 +0000
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