I miss you Jerry :'(

Jerry Garcia August 1, 1942 - August 9, 1995

I believe many people remember, not just Deadheads. - That's how I started my comment on: "Jerry Garcia's long, strange trip rolls on 15 years after his death, Grateful Dead leader's influence ingrained in culture."

I started trading tapes of Grateful Dead shows in 1995. Yes, that's cassette tapes, usually from master DATs.

My best friend from a little coffee house in Stuart, FL known as the Java Joint gave me my first show: 5/5/77 New Haven, CT. My favorite tune from the show is Estimated Prophet. We'd ride around down-town Stuart in his car when he was on break and I just remember how magical it sounded to me. I had listened to "Skeletons in the Closet" before and a few other best-of albums, but this wasn't an album. This was listening to history (a live concert recording).

My father who grew up during the counter-culture 60's - 70's didn't care for the Grateful Dead. He loved Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin. (He just never go into the Dead). He became an over-the-road truck driver in the early 2000's. By this time I had digitized my entire tape collection either to CDs or on a hard drive. Now he's a huge fan. That's an example of generational love for the Grateful Dead in reverse.

Some people get it, some don't. Even though I cut the long hair; when I go to any type of jam band concert now, I still get the "knowing" nod from "Deadheads" who are strangers. I think we can just sense each other.

It's unvelievable to me now that it has already been 15 years since Jerry passed.

I believe Chuck Palahniuk said it best, "We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will."

So with a tear in my eye, I stand up and applaud you Jerry. Wherever you are, you helped create something so very special and the songs are still filling the air.

For myself and many, many others, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and the depths of my soul.

~bbryon