Was working out and listening to the Dead, when it dawned on me that in a few weeks, it will be the anniversary of Brent Mydland’s death. I remember when I found out- I was at gunnery in Germany in Grafenwoehr getting ready for Table VIII, and heard it on the radio. A few days later Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
I can’t believe it has been 18 years. Where does it go?
jake
Tempus Fuckit.
I want to know what happened to the years when I could consider working out without feeling tired.
(GooML!)
junkiebrewster
Thanks for reminding me of how old I am.
May Brent rest in peace. Sadly I never got to see the Dead while he was a member, meaning I missed the last realy good line up.
I did get to see Jerry and David Grisman at the Warfield a few months before Jerry passed.
Crap, does this make me a DFH?
Splitting Image
I know what you mean. I think that was the same year Steve Clark died. He was only 31 at the time, too. He’d barely be 50 if he were still alive.
cleek
was talking to my father last night. he was at the Montreal Jazz fest this past week and noticed that a lot of young people (teens to mid 20s) are really into Jimi Hendrix these days, which was what he listened to when he was a teen – and Hendrix has been dead for nearly forty years now. then he noted that when he was a teen, Robert Johnson had been dead for only thirty years.
Zifnab
Lols. 18 years ago, I was in 2nd Grade. Apparently it goes to my primary and secondary education.
The Grand Panjandrum
Jesus Christ I still think of all the “new” music down at CBGB’s, the Mudd Club … you know … The Talking Heads, the Ramones, etc … I know Dead Heads who are now drawing Social Security.
Time is one relentless motherfucker.
Peter VE
OTOH, for me he was the guy with the weirdly spelled name who joined the Dead after Keith & Donna left, and I had d/evolved to punk by that time.
Incertus
Dude, when I look out into the faces of my one class of freshbastards this fall, I will be looking into the same cohort my daughter is in. Mercifully, she is going to a different school. It’s bad enough as it is.
ResumeMan
Well jeez John if you are gonna start with the Grateful Dead anniversaries, a good one to point out is that yesterday was the 13th anniversary of the last Dead show (from Deadbase):
Usually on anniversaries of notable shows I’ll pull out the show and give it a listen. But, well, that one kinda sucked, so I didn’t :-P
And yes, I feel old…
Rex
It was my birthday and all of my closest friends were Dead fans and I was more of a Zeppelin and Rush guy. Short answer: shitty birthday with a bunch of tearful hippie chicks.
Mustard is Evil
Saw the last Brent and last Jerry shows. (They liked to end tours in Chi-town). As you might imagine, in the case of both untimely deaths, I suspect foul play by mustard.
FWIW, the last Brent (Tinley Park, IL) shows were outstanding. Or, at least they seemed so from out on the lawn….
Joe Momma
I can’t believe it has been 18 years. Where does it go?
It gets worse the older you get, JC. Sometimes the only thing you can say about getting old is it beats the alternative.
gypsy howell
My Dead heartbreak was when Pigpen died. I kind of stopped tuning in after that. They were never the same for me.
Workingman’s Dead is still my “one record on a desert island” album.
Dave_Violence
Interesting Dead tribute: http://www.ink19.com/issues_F/99_04/wet_ink/music_ac/028_box_of_shit.shtml
zzyzx
Put me in the missing Brent club. They should have kept Bruce around longer after that.
Phoenix Woman
Zifnab, I have t-shirts older than you. Be afraid.
jake
Which is now some kind of swanky clothes store of all things. I hope the smell of smoke and sweat and puke and piss and beer seeps out of the walls forever and gets into the merchandise.
But I’ll settle for a lighting strike.
furrythug
i did the last 5 brent shows (2 in deer creek then 3 in tinley park) … it was pretty hot at tinley and i remember thinking it was odd that brent had jeans and long sleeves on while even garcia had shorts on. got back east and two days later i got the call.
i’m pretty partial to ’89-’90, and i got to see a lot of excellent shows during that time. i think it was at alpine ’89 that i first noticed that garcia really seemed to start gravitating toward and enjoying brent on stage more, trading solos and smiles and genuine moments. i think that dynamic was part of what made that last year and a half with brent so great.
my favorite brent moment hands down is the epic 15 minute blow away from 7/7/89 at JFK Stadium. you can grab it from archive.org if you haven’t heard it. the whole show smokes.
Fulcanelli
Played in a bunch of bands in my day (guitar), and covering Dead tunes was always the most fun. Learned more about the instrument from playing those tunes.
My first show was in ’73. As good as Brent was, I’d still trade dozens of those shows for just one of the week long stints they’d do at the Fillmore in NYC with PigPen.
Never been nothin’ like ’em, and never will be again.
Thomas Edward Theadore
Wow. that video is really dreadful.
Never understood the attraction to that off-key Dead noodling.
I saw them twice back in the ’70’s and fell asleep both times. And one of those times i was tripping.
pinola
Yeah, I remember. I was much younger, prettier and totally clueless. But I had just discovered CNN which provided 24/7 coverage of the Gulf War and I was completely hooked and fascinated, even if I really wasn’t sure if we should have gone there or not. Little did I know how that medium would affect media coverage in the years to come and that I would, in the end, avoid that medium like a deadly, highly addictive drug, and curse Ted Turner.