Jerry Garcia - 10 Years Gone

August 9, 2005 6:56 AM

"Nothing's Gonna Bring Him Back" 10 years ago Jerry Garcia checked out for good and for many of us the world has never been the same since.

"There's no way to measure his greatness or magnitude as a person or as a player. I don't think eulogizing will do him justice. He was that great - much more than a superb musician with an uncanny ear and dexterity. He is the very spirit personified of whatever is muddy river country at its core and screams up into the spheres. He really had no equal. To me he wasn't only a musician and friend, he was more like a big brother who taught and showed me more than he'll ever know. There are a lot of spaces and advances between the Carter Family, Buddy Holly and, say, Ornette Coleman, a lot of universes, but he filled them all without being a member of any school. His playing was moody, awesome, sophisticated, hypnotic and subtle. There's no way to convey the loss. It just digs down really deep." - Bob Dylan

Check out some of Jerry's non GD stuff on bt.etree.org.

Where were you when you heard the news? What's the 10 years in between been like for you?
Previously discussed here.
posted by Gankmore (30 comments total)

Um, I like the Dead as much as the next head, but did you have to but that big-ass image on the front page? It tends to be... frowned upon.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:58 AM on August 9, 2005

IEEE! An inline image in an FPP?! What are you thinking?!
posted by Plutor at 6:58 AM on August 9, 2005

Uh oh...
posted by Robot Johnny at 7:00 AM on August 9, 2005

Boo the image! Boo I say! Buuuuuuurn it!
posted by baphomet at 7:00 AM on August 9, 2005

While I'm as big a Jerry fan as anyone, you should really, really avoid embedding graphics in your front page posts as well as a [MI] tag to cut down on the size of the post.
posted by fenriq at 7:00 AM on August 9, 2005

speaking of jerry garcia... i don't care about jerry garcia... i'm gonna go over there.
posted by cusack at 7:01 AM on August 9, 2005

It is a nice photo.
posted by zach4000 at 7:02 AM on August 9, 2005

10 years ago? I was 21. I didn't even notice the event in the news. Today? Well, you've crapped a nice big image on the front page about some dead american rock bloke. Good work! That'll get us to read the links! Noone'll just open the thread to snark now!

Oh, wait...
posted by handee at 7:03 AM on August 9, 2005

Dude, didn't we cover the dead last month?
posted by ODiV at 7:03 AM on August 9, 2005

NY Times Article of Interest.
posted by Gankmore at 7:05 AM on August 9, 2005

Self link too.
posted by sciurus at 7:05 AM on August 9, 2005

Bring Me The Head Of Jerry Garcia!

couldn't resist.
posted by jonmc at 7:05 AM on August 9, 2005

It's a great photo. Yes. But damn ... on the front page?

That being said, I've never been a Grateful Dead fan. I've admired them for their influence and importance in rock history, but an actual appreciation has eluded me. This might belong on AskMeFi, but if anyone has a moment ... what are the three or four albums/concerts a person must hear to get a positive first impression of the Dead?
posted by grabbingsand at 7:06 AM on August 9, 2005

BANNINATE!
posted by sciurus at 7:06 AM on August 9, 2005

ODiV: "Dude, didn't we cover the dead last month?"

Better yet, the author of this FPP and the author of the last one are both the same deadhead.
posted by Plutor at 7:06 AM on August 9, 2005

i liked some of there earlier stuff... before they got all corporate.
posted by cusack at 7:06 AM on August 9, 2005

That photo does a good job at summing up why it's difficult to take Garcia, his fans, and a lot of "classic rock" seriously. Thanks for the laughs.
posted by dobbs at 7:07 AM on August 9, 2005

Oh. Wow. It's also a self-post .... dang.
posted by grabbingsand at 7:07 AM on August 9, 2005

Tsk tsk.

Erm. "Magnitude as a person"? Ornette Coleman?

I would have to espectfully beg to disagree.

'Course I don't like Dylan either, that's just me.
posted by jokeefe at 7:07 AM on August 9, 2005

Not to mention the self link to gobbeldygook. What crap. And to think I didn't think it got much worse than the discovery is landing play by play.
posted by Eekacat at 7:08 AM on August 9, 2005

I predict this thread'll be whacked by about noon Eastern time.
posted by alumshubby at 7:08 AM on August 9, 2005

And even more, I would have to respectfully beg to disagree.
posted by jokeefe at 7:08 AM on August 9, 2005

run Gankmore, run!
posted by shoepal at 7:10 AM on August 9, 2005

That photo does a good job at summing up why it's difficult to take Garcia, his fans, and a lot of "classic rock" seriously.

He played the guitar well for a man with only nine fingers.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 7:11 AM on August 9, 2005

damn hippies!
posted by Mach5 at 7:11 AM on August 9, 2005

Oh I get it, it's a once a month Garcia post. Blew his wad on last months, so all he has left is a lame self link.
posted by Eekacat at 7:12 AM on August 9, 2005

I was on my way into the lab near Chicago when I heard the news; I was still a grad student at the time. Yahoo! was still relatively new but I used it to find everything that I could about his death, the radio announcement not saying very much. I discovered CNN.com that day as well. [For the historians among us, I was using Mosaic on a PowerMac Centris 610.]

It was a sad day, indeed. But it was also the day I realized that "the web" was truly a magnificent thing outside of scientific circles. The ability to search and find information related to ongoing events struck me very deep.

Just thought I'd contribute something other than "Boo! You broke our precious rules!" (Which you really shouldn't have done Gankmore.) ;-)
posted by Qubit at 7:13 AM on August 9, 2005

He played the guitar well for a man with only nine fingers.

Photoshop a wifebeater onto him and he looks like he's flashing an amateur "West Side!"
posted by dobbs at 7:14 AM on August 9, 2005

That's also the worst-hidden self-link in the history of MeFi. And Matt sleeps soundly in California...
posted by pardonyou? at 7:14 AM on August 9, 2005

Is that guy the devil? His eyes tell me to kill little floppy-eared puppies.

This is, like, chatfilter in the blue, man. This kind of aggression will not stand, man.
posted by selfnoise at 7:14 AM on August 9, 2005