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This must be mine.
Jun. 5th, 2005 05:53 pmWhen Jerry Garcia died in 1995, it was by far the worst day of my life. I had just been diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease, and given a 60/40 shot at living out a full year. I was in agony from an undiagnosed blood clot in the Major Portal Vein, and couldn't unbend from the fetal position without great effort.
Then Kirsten called me to tell me the news. The Fat Man Rocked no more.
I screamed at the universe. This was NOT FUCKING FAIR! Never again to hear Jerry play Stella Blue? No more Terrapin Station? No more weird Space jams, Waiting for Weirs, and cryptic comments from the gray-maned god of guitars?
It was the lowest I'd ever been. for a short time, I gave up. Then I turned on the radio...
I'm not a spiritual man by any stretch of the imagination, but at that moment, I really felt like Jerry was telling me to get it together, this bus still has some roads to explore.
Fast forward a week or two. I'm in Stanford Medical Center getting treated for the blood clots and Kiri brings me the Rolling Stone tribute to Jerry. Among the articles, there was an ad from VW.. VW microbusses and Deadheads lived in a symbiotic relationship. One of the iconographic symbols of being a Head was the VW bus covered with Dead stickers.. So this ad was a simple line sketch of the front of a classic bus with a single tear falling from the left headlight, and Jerry's dates of birth and death.
It said it all. I still own the magazine, and the image still gets to me.
Today, at work, I saw the image on a t-shirt.
Ten years. It's been ten years since that horrible summer of 1995. Ten years, and "one more day, I find myself alive."
I need to scrape up the money for this shirt.
Then Kirsten called me to tell me the news. The Fat Man Rocked no more.
I screamed at the universe. This was NOT FUCKING FAIR! Never again to hear Jerry play Stella Blue? No more Terrapin Station? No more weird Space jams, Waiting for Weirs, and cryptic comments from the gray-maned god of guitars?
It was the lowest I'd ever been. for a short time, I gave up. Then I turned on the radio...
The shoe is on the hand it fits
There's really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit
cause it's all right.
Oh well a Touch Of Grey
Kind of suits you anyway.
That was all I had to say
It's all right.
I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive
We will get by / We will get by
We will get by / We will survive
I'm not a spiritual man by any stretch of the imagination, but at that moment, I really felt like Jerry was telling me to get it together, this bus still has some roads to explore.
Fast forward a week or two. I'm in Stanford Medical Center getting treated for the blood clots and Kiri brings me the Rolling Stone tribute to Jerry. Among the articles, there was an ad from VW.. VW microbusses and Deadheads lived in a symbiotic relationship. One of the iconographic symbols of being a Head was the VW bus covered with Dead stickers.. So this ad was a simple line sketch of the front of a classic bus with a single tear falling from the left headlight, and Jerry's dates of birth and death.
It said it all. I still own the magazine, and the image still gets to me.
Today, at work, I saw the image on a t-shirt.
Ten years. It's been ten years since that horrible summer of 1995. Ten years, and "one more day, I find myself alive."
I need to scrape up the money for this shirt.
