Name: Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia And Bob Weir On Why They Let Fans Record Their Shows | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-02-01T16:01:50.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia And Bob Weir On Why They Let Fans Record Their Shows | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-01. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia And Bob Weir On Why They Let Fans Record Their Shows | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-01. Transcript available.

and my first guest for more than 17 years.
The Grateful Dead have been making rock and roll history
with very few personnel changes
and ecstatic fans known as deadheads.
They are truly a cultural phenomenon,
but the Grateful Dead are more than just a band.
They are a community of about 100 people
whose energies go into their albums, concerts, and films.
Would you please welcome two members of the Grateful Dead,
Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir.
Welcome to the program, gentlemen.
Let me ask you just a question you're probably tired of hearing of.
You probably more than anybody represent San Francisco
and all of the BN and that sort of thing in those days.
And what year would this have been?
60...
Somewhere between 64 and 67.
Now that seems...
No, it was 66 and 69, wasn't it?
Between me?
Yeah, that's not right.
This is close enough.
66 and 69, actually, yeah.
It was that...
It seemed like a very romantic, exotic time.
Was that fun, exciting?
Oh, yeah.
Nothing but fun.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Can you describe your favorite memories from that era?
Well...
I thought there was the acid test,
and that was a barrel of fun.
Yeah.
And more fun than a frog in a glass of milk.
And, uh...
What?
And you were about to say...
I was going to apologize for not having any memory.
Oh.
I'm pretty sure it was fun, though.
Uh-huh.
Did you have any sense that things were forever going to be changed after that?
Well, I guess your memory of taking a hike was one.
Oh, definitely.
Yeah.
The thing about...
The thing...
It seemed as though that...
At the time, it seemed as though things were going to change real fast, you
know?
Because there was this amazing momentum.
I mean, it started out like...
When the acid tests were happening, they started with, you know, 50, 60 people
or something like that.
In a matter of weeks, they'd escalated to 3,000 or something like that.
It had this amazing effect of, you know, this juggernaut quality of picking up
lots of people as it went along.
So it seemed like things were happening with tremendous...
There was a sense of history going on there, you know, at the time.
Everybody was conscious of it.
Now, I mentioned in the introduction here that you have your own self-sustaining
community of about 100 folks that go into the production of films and records
and so forth.
Do you still have that same feeling in your little community?
Yeah, sort of.
Yeah?
Pretty much, yeah.
Do you find yourselves isolated to a certain extent?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is that good?
Probably.
Well, it depends, you know.
It's probably good for us.
Yeah.
We would probably meet more different, interesting people if we weren't so
isolated, but we are.
Maybe, yeah.
That's true.
The phenomenon of...
The phenomenon of your fans, people who enjoy what you do, the deadheads...
I got an ashtray.
An ashtray?
Yeah.
I think we can get you one.
We can certainly send out for one.
Uh, what does that name typify?
Ashtray?
No, no, no.
I'm kind of new here.
So am I.
We've all doing our best.
Yeah.
What does that mean exactly?
The Grateful Dead?
Yeah.
No, no, no, no.
The Dead Heads.
Oh.
Is it just a catchy phrase, or...
Um, yeah, it just sort of turned up, really.
I mean, uh...
Well, there were acid heads, you know, and there were, uh, you know, speed
heads and, uh, grass
heads.
And now it turned into dead heads.
Yeah.
Is that generally thought of as a flattering term, though?
We think so.
Yeah.
With the head fits where it.
Uh, you gentlemen just finished, uh, two nights in, uh, over in, uh, New Jersey.
And, uh, oh, I'm sorry, Nassau.
And, uh, uh, you, you, you continue to do a lot of big concerts, but you don't
sell as
many records as other, uh, traditions.
Big concert groups.
Yeah, yeah, and, and as a matter of fact, you don't mind people taping your
music in
concerts.
Not particularly, no.
Now, why?
That seems to be defeating the, the idea of selling records.
Well, if we ever make a real good record, then, then, uh, then probably they'll
rush out
and buy that anyway.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, they, they, they, and besides, the, the tapes bring back memories to
them and all
that kind of stuff.
And the shows are never the same, ever.
Yeah.
Uh, I mean, not, not even ever, you know what I mean?
And, uh, so it's...
Sometimes they're remotely the same.
Yeah, sort of.
Uh, and, and when we're done with it, they can have it, you know?
Uh-huh.
I was reading articles about your, uh, work today, and, uh, the phrase ex-chemistry
came
up.
Yeah.
And it was in context of something which occurred on stage.
Yeah.
What, uh, what would that be?
Ex-chemistry.
I've never heard this.
I've heard it.
I've heard it.
Well, at least one of you has heard it.
Yeah, right, right.
There are very, various different versions of what it is.
But what it really has to do with is, it just has to do with being on.
Or, uh, the thing of, uh, it happens with anybody who works together, uh, in
some sort
of a group situation.
Like, Bill Walton used to tell us that it was something that would, that it
would happen
when he was playing basketball.
Or gestalt linkage.
Yeah.
It's just, it's...
Gestalt linkage.
Yeah, there you go.
Right.
A Jungian might say that.
Uh-huh.
Uh, it's, uh, the thing of having more happen than, uh, than strictly cause and
effect,
you know?
But also, that's, you're placing yourself in a great deal of jeopardy, uh,
potentially,
right?
Oh, it's taking a chance.
Yeah, sure.
It's taking a chance.
I mean, it used to be that we failed way more than we succeeded.
But you sort of mastered that energy.
Not really.
I couldn't say that we, I couldn't say that we mastered it.
Oh, oh, oh, no, no, no.
Uh, it's an interesting notion, nonetheless.